Ebert's "Glossary of Movie Terms" is a particular favorite, because nearly all the observations Ebert makes ring true and most are hilarious. A few examples:
Fallacy of the Talking Killer: The villain wants to kill the hero. He has him cornered at gunpoint. All he has to do is pull the trigger. But he always talks first. He explains the hero's mistakes to him. Jeers. Laughs.And gives the hero time to think his way out of the situation, or be rescued by his buddy. Cf. most JAMES BOND movies.There are a lot more at the link. RIP.
Bullitt Shift: Cars in high-speed chases can shift through more gears than they have. Cf. Steve McQueen's car upshifts more than 16 times.
Rising Sidewalk: No female character in an action film can flee more than 50 feet before falling flat on her face. Someone then has to go back and help her up, while the monster/villain/enemy gains ground.
Fallacy of the Predictable Tree: The logical error committed every time the good guy is able to predict exactly what the bad guy is going to do. For example, in FIRST BLOOD, law enforcement officials are searching the woods for John Rambo. A cop pauses under a tree. Rambo drops on him. Question: Out of all the trees in the forest, how did Rambo know which one the guy would pause under?
2 comments:
because he is Rambo, dammit! Rambo knows that shit, he got it all figured, been trained by the CIA, Duh!
Ebert took Rambo wrong. Rambo was not a character created for a movie. He was a comic book type super-hero presented in human flesh instead of ink and paper, more/less in the tradition of James Bond.
forest for the trees, ya know??? he didnt get it.
I got Rambo from the start, so why didnt he?
btw: Ebert is your doppleganger. intellectually, as well. he was a fine writer.
Ebert is your doppleganger. intellectually, as well.
I could do worse than that. Thank you, my friend.
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