People outrunning a fireball. I swear that every action movie made since 1980 includes this scene.
Candles in a love scene. Sometimes it can be downright silly. I remember watching a movie in which a man and woman were on the run and hiding out in a sleazy motel. There's a love scene and suddenly the room was filled with candles. And not just any candles. They were all white candles. Where the hell did they come from? Do sleazy motels stock up on romantic candles or something?
Instant death from wounds that shouldn't kill. How many times have you seen a dead body in a movie or on TV and the only injury looks to be some slashes across the face? It shows up a lot in horror films.
The other big one is someone being killed instantly by being stabbed in the stomach. Usually, this happens when the villain is about to strike the fatal blow and lifts his weapon in the air, and then the hero stabs him (see Gowron's death on DS9). This is especially annoying when you can see that the hero's blade has only gone in about a quarter inch.
Zomibe movies in which you have to shoot them in the head. Stop ripping off George Romero! Also, in these movies, there are two types of people: those that keep shooting the zombies in the body even though they know better, and those that can hit a running zombie in the head at 400 yards.
The sheriff was in on it all along. Do I need to say more?
"Heroes" who aren't held accountable. Now, I'm not talking about vigillante movies like Deathwish and The Punisher here. I'm talking about the cop, soldier, or whatever who "doesn't play by the rules". Look at the remake of Planet Of The Apes. Marky Mark disobeys orders and pretty much gets everyone killed. Why is he the hero?
I remember a review of, I think, The Lost World, in which the "morally righteous" heroes try to protect the dinosaurs and get a bunch of people killed.
There are a million more, but I'm tired of typing.
