For the journalistic twist: JK Simmons pretty much defined and perfect it as J. Jonah Jameson.

It's definitely become a cheap move, but any horrific violence set to unmatching music, be it pop or otherwise, still has a visceral effect on me. Similarly, seeing V for Vendetta and hearing the bombs go off to the 1812 overture on the big ass theater speakers absolutely kicked ass. Come to think of it, big ass…

The cousin of this cliche, the "nerdy guy ends up with hot girl who understands him" (a la 40 Year Old Virgin, et al) gets me every time, for obvious reasons. I know it's pandering escapist wish-fulfillment, but I can't not get caught up in it.

as awesome as this can be in movies, I hate when it happens IRL. I make it a point to clap at a different tempo than the audience to avoid any kind of pervading rhythm in an applause.

I don't know much about guns, but I doubt they make as much noise as they typically do in movies. Still, it's soooooo awesome.

Saul Rosenbear wins

and to clarify, by "no business being as good as they are," I mean "as mere mortals." I wasn't trying to make a back-handed compliment. They are just divine.

DBT have no business being as good as they are, but I agree the Dylan cover is a miss. Dylan's definitive recording of it was perfect, and if you cover it all you can really do is try to sound like Dylan did, which Dylan doesn't even do nowadays.

that fucking cat…

That's an interesting point, Tentacle Rape. Like Karatloz says in the original post, as annoying as these cliches are, it's almost always funny when they're exploited and parodied. I don't think I'll ever get tired of the way mobsters talk and act in Matt Groening shows. Also, tweaking common devices and cliches…

totally agree with Madcap (and others further up) about the lameness of the "Dad is an idiot" trope. the current commercial for one of the big internet providers (ATT? SBC? I'm not looking it up, I don't give a shit) is dripping with guilt for this. It's super cheap comedy, it can only end with smirky, unfunny "Oh,…

I think lots of items in this thread are not cliches, but deficiencies or technical inaccuracies used for dramatic effect. Example:

It's not so much a problem that the two characters have a shared history. It's common for people who've suffered to want to help those who have suffered similarly. But presenting dramatic tropes on a wide scale, which movies tend to do when depicting therapy, gives the impression that they're facts, and that's…

Wrecking Ball
is a nice later-period album of hers. It might be a bit too 1990's for some, but it was produced by Daniel Lanois, has Larry Mullen (U2) on drums, and covers/guest spots from Neil Young, Lucinda Williams, and Steve Earle. All the ingredients of a great mid-90's alt-country album, except it's by someone…

definitely. they've played together, and might've composed new music together? does anyone know that for sure?

Throw Lucinda Williams in the middle and I'm all for it. It could be too many chefs in that case, but she's worked with both of them so it might help to have her around to bridge the gap. Come to think of it, the less room Costello has to spread out, the better. I love his music but he's not always at his best when…

should this be the covers thread? the slightly shameful covers thread?

I disagree with that last thing you said, TomWaits. There's definitely some hate going on in the show, but I think it's mostly self-directed hate, of the sort you find on 4chan and its ilk, where a guy who was a protracted virgin makes fun of protracted virgins because he used to be there and now HE can relish not…

What If: England had triumphed in the Revolutionary War, and the Thing was imbued with the Power Cosmic?

@TransducerX (way up there)