Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
headrest
May 1, 2009
What not-immediately obvious movie moments have you caught that made you appreciate the movie more? Intentional moments, please, not subtle continuity or prop errors.

Near the beginning of Signs, Mel Gibson's character tells one of his kids to call a doctor when their dog is ill. His son points out that the doctor doesn't treat animals, Mel Gibson basically tells him to shut up and just do it. Later on we meet the character who accidentally killed Mel's wife. We learn by seeing his mailbox that he's the town veterinarian.

In The Ring, a birth certificate of Samarah (evil girl who climbs out of TVs) is shown. Her sex is marked as male. (I know I said no continuity/prop errors, but I think this was intentional and just adds to the weirdness of that family)

In The Avengers, we see two ravens fly by Thor and Loki as they talk on the ridge. Ravens are what Odin uses to keep tabs on stuff.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Clarington Grey
Dec 4, 2007

Subtle but delightful.
In The Empire Strikes Back, there's the scene where Darth Vader disposes of Admiral Ozzel with the psychic stranglehold. As the Admiral collapses to the floor, some guy sitting at a console in the background does a great double-take where he looks down at the Admiral, then up at Vader with an "oh poo poo" expression, then goes right back to work.

In There Will Be Blood, after Daniel Plainview murders the imposter who'd been posing as his brother, he reads the man's diary. Oddly, the diary features at least three different styles of handwriting. You'll notice if you look close.

I think the birth certificate in The Ring is a nod back to the original Japanese story, in which Sadako is revealed to have been a hermaphrodite.

In Seven, when the detectives enter the apartment where the SLOTH victim is found, they find a box containing photos of the victim's year-long degeneration. It's on screen for less than a second, but written on the front of the box is a message from John Doe: To the world, from me.

GulagDolls
Jun 4, 2011

This part of Memento blew my mind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MUnDhxAif0

ungulateman
Apr 18, 2012

pretentious fuckwit who isn't half as literate or insightful or clever as he thinks he is
Might as well get it on the first page so that it doesn't get over-posted: Inception's ending scene with the top. Not :aaaaa: subtle, but it's drat good for a blockbuster movie rather than some artsy piece of cinema.

Strudel Man
May 19, 2003
ROME DID NOT HAVE ROBOTS, FUCKWIT

ungulateman posted:

Might as well get it on the first page so that it doesn't get over-posted: Inception's ending scene with the top. Not :aaaaa: subtle, but it's drat good for a blockbuster movie rather than some artsy piece of cinema.
I don't think I understand. The ambiguity of the ending was about as unsubtle as you can make such a thing.

Guilty
May 3, 2003
Ask me about how people having a bad reaction to MSG makes them racist, because I've never heard of gluten sensitivity

ungulateman posted:

Might as well get it on the first page so that it doesn't get over-posted: Inception's ending scene with the top. Not :aaaaa: subtle, but it's drat good for a blockbuster movie rather than some artsy piece of cinema.

Fyi, blockbuster and artsy are not mutually exclusive

JediTalentAgent
Jun 5, 2005
Hey, look. Look, if- if you screw me on this, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine, you rat bastard!
I don't know if this counts or not, since it's from a TV show, but in the British superhero show Misfits the recreation center where all the superpowered kids have to do their work is the Wertham Community Center.

In the 50s in the US, Dr. Wertham was the author of a book that was critical of the sex, delinquency, depravity and violence contained in comics and that he thought comic books caused.

Holy Cow
Dec 8, 2006

headrest posted:


In The Ring, a birth certificate of Samarah (evil girl who climbs out of TVs) is shown. Her sex is marked as male. (I know I said no continuity/prop errors, but I think this was intentional and just adds to the weirdness of that family)


In the original novel Sadako/Samara is a hermaphrodite, so I suppose it could be a reference to that.

Atticus Bongman
Oct 12, 2009
Club Dread's legendary machete-wielding psycho, Phil Coletti, is known as Machete Phil.

Leercore
Nov 2, 2007

Clarington Grey posted:

In Seven, when the detectives enter the apartment where the SLOTH victim is found, they find a box containing photos of the victim's year-long degeneration. It's on screen for less than a second, but written on the front of the box is a message from John Doe: To the world, from me.

I recall an old Cracked article, which detailed some of the incredible detail the propmaster put into that film, it's worth a read to get an idea, but I did a bit of follow up reading on it because it's pretty creepy/cool.

BonesJackson
Aug 12, 2005
*grumble grumble*
Synecdoche New York is full of these small details. I've seen the movie at least three or four times and on each viewing I discover something new. Just a handful I can remember off the top of my head (spoiler tagged, just to be safe):

Time shifts. Watch all the clocks/calendars/newspapers/etc. They're never consistent with the actual flow of the scene. The breakfast scene at the start jumps by minutes, then days, then months. Also the alarm clock in the first shot displays 7:45. Then in the last scene Caden sees a clock face drawn on the wall of the rundown city that shows 7:45, so there's a cyclical thing going on that also plays to the movie's theme of interconnectedness of everything, the end being contained in the beginning and vice versa.

Sammy looming in the background of most of the shots in the first twenty minutes of the movie. He's not so obvious the first time you watch it, but on repeat viewings you start to wonder how you didn't notice him at all before.

Caden interchanging with the various characters around him. This becomes a major plot point by the end, but there are some subtle points leading up to it that are cool when you notice them on repeat viewings--the character in his daughter's cartoons being one, Little Winky in the book his therapist introduces him to being another.

Caden's project becomes increasingly larger in scale while his ex-wife's paintings become increasingly smaller, to the point where they're microscopic.

There are also some moments that aren't subtle at all--they're quite overt--but they make me laugh every time I think about them. The "everyone is tattooed" moment is great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2KstIkFPIU#t=48m03s

If you can't guess, I really love this movie.

BonesJackson has a new favorite as of 19:02 on May 25, 2012

Rupert Buttermilk
Apr 15, 2007

🚣RowboatMan: ❄️Freezing time🕰️ is an old P.I. 🥧trick...

Ghostbusters. The moment when they're charging the Sedgewick Hotel their fees, Peter has no idea what to charge. Egon puts his hand up near his face, like just a random, slow gesture, holding up the amount Peter has to ask for.

I've watched this film since I was 4 years old, I can quote it back to front, and I didn't notice this until someone in the GB thread in CD pointed it out.

LoveisOver
Aug 8, 2011
In SCREAM 2 that dude is keeping the killer busy on the phone and he says "What's your favorite scary movie?" A great little throwback to the memorable opening of the superior SCREAM.

Pirate Radar
Apr 18, 2008

You're not my Ruthie!
You're not my Debbie!
You're not my Sherry!
In Pulp Fiction, when Jules and Vincent go to Jimmy's house and Jules is trying to pacify Jimmy he has that line where he complements the coffee and Jimmy gives that speech about how he doesn't need Jules to tell him the coffee's good, he's the one who buys it.

Later Winston Wolfe shows up, asks Jimmy for a cup of coffee, takes a sip and in the middle of his sentence looks at Jimmy, smiles, and nods appreciatively. Subtle, but once you notice it, it's a great detail.

Farbtoner
May 17, 2011

by Y Kant Ozma Post
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMR5JVo21wQ

The way they shot the scenes with the Studebaker in the original Muppet movie was that they had a custom car that was controlled and steered in the trunk with the help of video monitors so that the puppeteers could hide down in the front seat to control the puppets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSFLZ-MzIhM

Also, the way that they shot the opening scene was by having Jim Henson crawl into a metal tube underneath the lake with a hole for his arm to go up through the log to control the Kermit puppet.

Watching the old Muppet movies you don't really realize how much effort and creativity they went into making the puppets believable characters in and of themselves.

Bruce Leroy
Jun 10, 2010

Chantilly Say posted:

In Pulp Fiction, when Jules and Vincent go to Jimmy's house and Jules is trying to pacify Jimmy he has that line where he complements the coffee and Jimmy gives that speech about how he doesn't need Jules to tell him the coffee's good, he's the one who buys it.

Later Winston Wolfe shows up, asks Jimmy for a cup of coffee, takes a sip and in the middle of his sentence looks at Jimmy, smiles, and nods appreciatively. Subtle, but once you notice it, it's a great detail.

My favorite movie.

-Vincent brings Mia to Lance's house after she overdoses and lays her on the floor. You can clearly see the board game "Operation" on a table near her in several shots before Vincent gives her a shot of adrenaline.

-Butch sneaks through his neighborhood to get back to his apartment to get his father's wristwatch, going through one fence, over another, and down an alley. Going down the alley, he walks past an open window with a radio playing inside. If you listen closely, you can hear a radio ad for Jack Rabbit Slim's, the restaurant Mia and Vincent visit.

-If you've seen Reservoir Dogs, you'd know that Mr. Blonde's (played by Michael Madsen) real name is Vic Vega. It turns out that Pulp Fiction's Vincent Vega is Vic Vega's brother, which was supposed to be more obvious than it is, as Madsen was originally supposed to play Vincent Vega, too.

Bip Roberts
Mar 29, 2005
I've always enjoyed the dialogue change from
"Any of you loving pricks move, and I'll execute every motherfucking last one of ya"
to
"Any of you loving pricks move, and I'll execute everyone of you mother fucker"

Coulis
Feb 22, 2009

<:haw:>
At the end of The Thing, only Kurt Russell & Keith David apparently survived but they have no way of knowing if the other is human or the thing. So they wait facing each other in the middle of the burning camp.

In the documentary film called Big John, Carpenter made me realize that only Kurt Russell is breathing, you can't see Keith David's breath. Therefore, he is the thing..

The Saddest Rhino
Apr 29, 2009

Put it all together.
Solve the world.
One conversation at a time.



Coulis posted:

At the end of The Thing, only Kurt Russell & Keith David apparently survived but they have no way of knowing if the other is human or the thing. So they wait facing each other in the middle of the burning camp.

In the documentary film called Big John, Carpenter made me realize that only Kurt Russell is breathing, you can't see Keith David's breath. Therefore, he is the thing..

As a counterpoint, I haven't watched the first film for a while but I seem to recall that the second film resolved the mystery by establishing that the Thing is unable to replicate metal objects such as teeth fillings and earrings, the latter being a major plot point in the third act of the 2011 film. In the first film, Keith David had his earring on in the last scene.

Speaking of The Thing, I don't know if it was supposed to be subtle as I didn't catch it the first time watching it (which may mean I'm just :downs:), but when the crew went out to visit Wilford Brimley in his little shed he had a noose hanging in the background and kept going "I'm okay now." At first glance it sounds like Brimley was totally over being suicidal and wants to survive like the rest. The scene is actually broadcasting the fact that he has already died and been assimilated, hence his no longer needing a noose, and he wants to join the rest because he wants to kill all of them.

Coulis
Feb 22, 2009

<:haw:>
Nice ! I got the part where he wanted to get back with the group but I never made the noose connection so I guess I'm :downs: too.
Here is the documentary film I was talking about, it's in french though, except for the interview parts.

SecretOfSteel
Apr 29, 2007

The secret of steel has always
carried with it a mystery.

In Fight Club at the beginning of the film Edward Norton's character is asked if he has anything to say before he's shot and he says 'i can't think of anything...'. The movie then flashes back to tell the story of how things came to be. When it all comes full circle and we're back at where we began and again Norton is asked if he has anything to say this time he says 'i still can't think of anything...'

'ah, flashback humor'!

Farbtoner
May 17, 2011

by Y Kant Ozma Post

SecretOfSteel posted:

In Fight Club at the beginning of the film Edward Norton's character is asked if he has anything to say before he's shot and he says 'i can't think of anything...'. The movie then flashes back to tell the story of how things came to be. When it all comes full circle and we're back at where we began and again Norton is asked if he has anything to say this time he says 'i still can't think of anything...'

'ah, flashback humor'!

I see your flashback humor and raise you FBI warning humor:



Also, one thing I love about Fight Club is that Durden's entire speech about working as a projectionist is untrue: subliminal messages don't work and those little dots in the upper-right corner had never been called "cigarette burns" until Fight Club popularized the term. Even if it wasn't intentional, right up front you know Tyler Durden is full of poo poo.

My Lovely Horse
Aug 21, 2010

Speaking of Fight Club, Tyler Durden appears a few times before he shows up as a character, mostly in single-frame inserts during the first third or so. He's also in one of the scenes of the narrator at the airport, right when the voiceover says, "Could you wake up as a different person?"

Just checked the imdb trivia page to make sure I got that right and remembered how much more stuff there was that pointed to Tyler being the narrator: members of Fight Club look at the narrator when they're talking to Tyler, after the car crash the narrator, who had been in the passenger seat, is pulled from the driver's side, a lot of little nods like that.

I remember reading something about Kill Bill. If you look closely at background characters, you realize it takes place in a world where it's commonplace to carry a katana. Not only are they not banned on planes, the seats have sword holders.

Rollersnake
May 9, 2005

Please, please don't let me end up in a threesome with the lunch lady and a gay pirate. That would hit a little too close to home.
Unlockable Ben
In Brazil, there's a scene where Sam surprises Jack (Michael Palin) by walking in on him while he's washing blood off his hands. This is exactly how the Monty Python "homicidal barber" sketch begins.

Vincent Van Goatse
Nov 8, 2006

Enjoy every sandwich.

Smellrose
At one point in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three a police car crashes. Later on in the film you see it getting hoisted up by a tow truck as a car full of other characters drive past the intersection where the accident happened.

Nemesis Of Moles
Jul 25, 2007

My favorites of these is in Terminator 2. Lots of people see it as just an awesome action movie but there is so much subtle play with the idea of hero and villain and role reversal going on that if you watch the first and second back to back your head will spin. I'm by no means an expert but I'll try and show off some of it.

First off, the intro in both movies are incredible at what they do. First movie; Kyle steals, procures and scavenges what he can where he can, he doesn't kill anyone at all and spends most of his time in an alleyway. Arnie murders 2 people, steals their clothes and their sweet ride and does the same to get weapons. Really nice way of going 'This guy is good, this one is bad' and sets up the strength and power of the Terminator without shoving it down your throat.

But then Terminator 2 happens. If any of you manage to find someone who has never seen Terminator 2 or know too much about it? Show them this and watch them. The intro is perfectly reversed. The T-100 seemingly kills and terrorizes a biker bar while the T-1000 quietly robs a police officer. Right up until the second we see Arnie blow a hole in the T-1000, the roles are perfectly reversed. Same poo poo happens at the ending too. Both endings take place in a big industrial building, the T-100 ends up with basically the same injuries as before, Sarah takes Kyles role and does almost the same stuff he did.

The movie does this throughout, subtly playing on the first one and just tweaking it cleverly here and there. It's pretty rad.

Awesome thread idea OP. I'll have to have a think for more of these.

Edit: And So I did

Back to the Future. Holy poo poo what a series, best trilogy ever, maybe, whatever, lots of this stuff, here we go;

1: The scene from the first movie and the third one, with the model of the town explaining the plan are identical. Marty and the Doc go over the model, someone interrupts them and they cover everything up with sheets. Including the car, which in the third one is a car with the word "Time Machine" on it.

2: Biff is knocked out at the same time stamp in all three movies

3: The record on sale in the first movie is on sale in the same shop as the Almanac in the second movie.

4: 1.21 comes up constantly. Einstien the Dogs stop watch has it, the elapsed time between him disappearing and coming back is 1 Min 21 seconds, and of course the Flux Capacitor needs 1.21 gigawatts.

5: In Docs house all of his clocks show 7:50something, except for one, next to a box of Plutonium that reads 8:20.

The whole series is just bursting with subtle "aha!" moments. If you can, give the DVD collection a watch, its got a great commentary track that just points out neat little details you'd probably miss.

Nemesis Of Moles has a new favorite as of 14:35 on May 26, 2012

Schlinky
Mar 12, 2009

...Too much drink.
Having recently watched Cypher, I guess this is the most fresh in my memory. While it's an okay Sci-Fi film, I found the ending scene absolutely brilliant:

At the end of the film, we find out that our protagonist Morgan Sullivan is in fact Sebastian Rooks, the man who was supposedly assisting Morgan throughout his ordeal. What I loved is that the character is played by Jeremy Northam, an English actor, who puts on a generic croaky American accent (a bit like how Hugh Laurie does in House). However, at the very end when Morgan has reverted back to being Rooks, he returns to speaking in an English accent.

It's only a few lines at most, and it's a very subtle voice change, but it works incredibly well. The central point of the plot being about brainwashing and end up being someone else completely - for Rooks, that includes believing yourself to being an American, complete with psuedo accent.

Missus Dill
May 8, 2007

Nemesis Of Moles posted:

Back to the Future. Holy poo poo what a series, best trilogy ever, maybe, whatever, lots of this stuff, here we go;

1: The scene from the first movie and the third one, with the model of the town explaining the plan are identical. Marty and the Doc go over the model, someone interrupts them and they cover everything up with sheets. Including the car, which in the third one is a car with the word "Time Machine" on it.

2: Biff is knocked out at the same time stamp in all three movies

3: The record on sale in the first movie is on sale in the same shop as the Almanac in the second movie.

4: 1.21 comes up constantly. Einstien the Dogs stop watch has it, the elapsed time between him disappearing and coming back is 1 Min 21 seconds, and of course the Flux Capacitor needs 1.21 gigawatts.

5: In Docs house all of his clocks show 7:50something, except for one, next to a box of Plutonium that reads 8:20.

The whole series is just bursting with subtle "aha!" moments. If you can, give the DVD collection a watch, its got a great commentary track that just points out neat little details you'd probably miss.

On that Back to the Future note, ever notice that the Twin Pines Mall is called the Lone Pine Mall after Marty runs over the farmer's pine with the DeLorean in 1955?

Septic Knothead
Jul 23, 2009

Boris S Wart
The Second Meanest Man In The World
In Boogie Nights when the Colonel asks to see Eddie's cock for the first time. Eddie drops his trunks and the Colonel looks down and you can see his eyes change focus as he registers his surprise.

Strudel Man
May 19, 2003
ROME DID NOT HAVE ROBOTS, FUCKWIT

The Saddest Rhino posted:

As a counterpoint, I haven't watched the first film for a while but I seem to recall that the second film resolved the mystery by establishing that the Thing is unable to replicate metal objects such as teeth fillings and earrings, the latter being a major plot point in the third act of the 2011 film. In the first film, Keith David had his earring on in the last scene.
Problems with projecting back information in a sequel aside, even if it can't replicate metal objects, it can still physically pick them up and stick them in. After all, in the 2011 film, whatsherface didn't know that the other guy was the thing because he was missing his earring, but because the earring was in the wrong ear.

This also has it's own problem, which is why the hell didn't the other guy put the earring in the correct ear? Everything in the past suggests that the thing gets the memories of the person it assimilates.


Bad movie.

edit: Or was it actually missing altogether? I can't remember for sure, and internet is giving me conflicting information. I thought I remembered it being in the wrong place.

Strudel Man has a new favorite as of 18:39 on May 26, 2012

carry on then
Jul 10, 2010

by VideoGames

(and can't post for 10 years!)

This may have just been my own inattentiveness, but when I first saw North by Northwest, I thought the two thugs picked up Thornhill because he happened to look like their target, but when I watched it again, I paid attention to the audio and heard when George Kaplan was paged, right before Thornhill flags the server down.

Vicissitude
Jan 26, 2004

You ever do the chicken dance at a wake? That really bothers people.

At the end of BttF, there's a guy who rides by on a bike looking ridiculous. In BttF 2, it turns out that's Doc's Future self who's decked out in secondhand clothing from the Salvation Army or something.

I think the bum on the park bench in 1985 was the mayor in 1955, but I could be misremembering. ...Which is the perfect excuse to watch it again!

HaB
Jan 5, 2001

What are the odds?
Donnie Darko

During the 'Mad World' montage of all the characters, they are all doing something that ties them back to the storyline, but my favorite is the guy who plays Frank reaches up as the camera pans across and rubs his eye. The same eye he gets shot in by Donnie.

Such a nice subtle touch.

Strudel Man
May 19, 2003
ROME DID NOT HAVE ROBOTS, FUCKWIT

Vicissitude posted:

I think the bum on the park bench in 1985 was the mayor in 1955, but I could be misremembering. ...Which is the perfect excuse to watch it again!
They're both called 'Red,' but apparently not. (The mayor is Red Thomas)

quote:

Though largely thought to be the same character as Red the Bum, they are not. According to Bob Gale's commentary on the Back to the Future DVD set, the name of the bum was ad-libbed by Michael J. Fox. Gale also commented that the photo of the mayor in 1955 on the side of the campaign van was that of set decorator Hal Gausman, whereas the bum was played by George "Buck" Flower.

Zaekkor
May 12, 2010

Oh, let's break it down!

Dusseldorf posted:

I've always enjoyed the dialogue change from
"Any of you loving pricks move, and I'll execute every motherfucking last one of ya"
to
"Any of you loving pricks move, and I'll execute everyone of you mother fucker"

You ever notice that in the coffee shop scene, when the owner is told to not be a hero he says "I'm not a hero! I'm just a coffee shop!"

:psyduck: as gently caress on that one.

Bruce Leroy
Jun 10, 2010

Septic Knothead posted:

In Boogie Nights when the Colonel asks to see Eddie's cock for the first time. Eddie drops his trunks and the Colonel looks down and you can see his eyes change focus as he registers his surprise.

Almost every character has this moment when they see Eddie/Dirk's dick the first time, e.g. Rollergirl does a double take and looks up at his face before she blows him for the first time, Becky Barnett and Reed Rothchild both tilt their heads to the side when he has his first scene with Amber Waves, etc.

Nemesis Of Moles
Jul 25, 2007

Obscurity posted:

You ever notice that in the coffee shop scene, when the owner is told to not be a hero he says "I'm not a hero! I'm just a coffee shop!"

:psyduck: as gently caress on that one.

I'm almost 100% certain he says 'Coffee Shop Owner'. I only watched this two nights ago but I could be wrong here.

Every time Vincent Vega uses a toilet, something terrible happens.

Beartaco
Apr 10, 2007

by sebmojo

Nemesis Of Moles posted:

I'm almost 100% certain he says 'Coffee Shop Owner'. I only watched this two nights ago but I could be wrong here.

Every time Vincent Vega uses a toilet, something terrible happens.

I just had a look, he starts to say 'manager' before he's cut off.

Bruce Leroy
Jun 10, 2010

Nemesis Of Moles posted:

I'm almost 100% certain he says 'Coffee Shop Owner'. I only watched this two nights ago but I could be wrong here.

Every time Vincent Vega uses a toilet, something terrible happens.

And he's reading the same book every time he goes to the bathroom, e.g. Butch's apartment, the restaurant.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

future trophy wife
Feb 2, 2011

LOVE ME,
A DINOSAUR

Law posted:

I just had a look, he starts to say 'manager' before he's cut off.

And as a result he's credited as 'Coffee Shop'.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply