KMC Forums - Jumping the Shark/Growing the Beard

The phrases in the Subject Line of this thread come from TV:

- "Jumping the Shark" refers to the Fonz's act of performing a water skiing jump over a shark in Happy Days. "Jumping the shark" means a point in the lifecycle of a TV show that marked the departure from what the TV show stood for thematically. This point can also pinpoint when said TV show began to dip in production quality.

- "Growing the Beard" refers to Commander Riker growing his beard out in Star Trek: The Next Generation's 2nd season compared to his clean-shaven self in the first season. This is the antonym of "jumping the shark"; a TV show begins to noticeably improve in quality if and when it "grows the beard".

My query posed by this thread: what could be the equivalent phrases for movies? For example:

- "Meeting the Architect" is the "jumping the shark" scene for The Matrix series.
- "Iron Man Fights Thor" is the "growing the beard" scene for The Avengers.

Any ideas?