JM McNab
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While some movies barely manage to throw together a half-assed screenplay involving giant robots and the Mark Wahlbergs they've come to love, others put painstaking amounts of intricate details onscreen ... only to show them to us for, like, half a second. Since only complete losers (read: us) would ever notice these things, let us tell you about the coolest ones in recent memory.
WARNING: The following will spoil the heck out of some recent films!
The controversial ending of Star Wars: The Last Jedi finds bearded hermit / alien colostrum connoisseur Luke Skywalker returning to save the day. In a moment that made us all wonder whether midichlorians provide no defenses against senility, he confidently struts alone toward an entire army of Space Neo-Nazis.
Lucasfilm"I was just coming to pick up some salt for my alien boob stew, but might as well ..."
But we soon discover that Luke isn't truly on the planet Crait. He's still on the Island of Misfit Jedi, astral projecting an image of himself -- a trick Jedi usually reserve for faking visits home at Thanksgiving. Other than the fact that Luke suddenly has a midlife-crisis-like dye job, there are a few other tiny clues to what's going on before the twist is revealed.
Like, remember how the planet's red surface is covered in a layer of salt (which we learn thanks to the Resistance's resident planet taster)? As they duel, Kylo Ren creates red footprints, but Luke doesn't.
Lucasfilm
LucasfilmBut a previous scene established that Skywalkers can fly, so ...
Luke is also wielding his familiar blue lightsaber, which you may recall got wishboned earlier in the movie.
Lucasfilm"I had to buy a new one from some nerd at Comic-Con."
Even more subtly, the falling salt snow never lands on Luke or his lightsaber. Even when he brushes his shoulder like the "before" guy in a commercial for Galactic Head & Shoulders, there's nothing there.
LucasfilmBack in the island, a Porg took a crap on his shoulder at that moment.
Conversely, we specifically see the flakes land on Kylo Ren, and even hear them hitting his janky lightsaber.
Lucasfilm
And if all that wasn't enough, right before all this goes down, Luke winks at C-3PO, as if to suggest he's secretly up to something. Either that or he had nothing to say to the annoying robot butler his dad built as a nine-year-old. Which, fair enough.
Arguably, the true villain of IT isn't Pennywise the Clown ... though it's possible we have a bias toward frustrated humorists who sometimes have to squat in a sewer. The real evil in the story is the town of Derry, and even adulthood itself. Lending credence to this idea is the fact that the movie Where's Waldo'd Pennywise throughout the town. First, he appears in a mural on the side of a building, like some kind of child-murdering Banksy.
Warner Bros. PicturesAre they trying to tell us that Stephen King was Banksy all along?
Then, you can barely see a blurry Pennywise photobombing a bunch of old-timey kids in one of Derry's history books.
Warner Bros. Pictures"Wait, we'll have to take it again. Magic clown in the back, can you stay still this time?"
"Sorry, sorry."
And most pants-wettingly, in the scene in which Ben visits the library, there's an old woman creepily glaring at him in the background ...
Warner Bros. Pictures
... who turns into a red balloon in the next shot. This implies that Pennywise can manifest as an elderly librarian, making us wonder why he even bothers with the clown form.
Warner Bros. PicturesThat, or it's Pennywise's grandma.
Near the end of the movie, bully Henry Bowers murders his dad after falling under the spell of a kid's TV show controlled by Pennywise. He's plainly visible in the TV ...
Warner Bros. Pictures
... but what you might not have noticed is that this same show popped up earlier in the movie. It's on the TV in the living room in Beverly's house, and being watched by Eddie's mom when we first meet her.
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. PicturesHey, even outer-dimensional demons need a day job.
Of course, these scenes all occur prior to the scene with Henry, so we have no way of knowing that what looks like Lamb Chop's Play-Along is brainwashing people into an evil stupor, like ... well, like most TV shows, frankly.
While it disappointingly wasn't the cross between The Fast And The Furious and Boss Baby that we were all secretly hoping for, Baby Driver turned out to be a delightful caper about a young man named Baby who never stops listening to his iPod. It's basically 2006: The Movie.
As we've mentioned once or twice, director Edgar Wright likes to cram his movies full of as many Easter egg-y details as physically possible, and Baby Driver is no exception. You might have already caught that an early scene of Baby channel-surfing foreshadows later scenes. For instance, Baby cribs a line from Monsters Inc. while later talking to actual monster Kevin Spacey.
But most significantly, Baby catches a few minutes of a bullfight, in which the bull is "bloody and unrelenting," and the matador has to "end this on foot."
TriStar Pictures
TriStar Pictures
TriStar PicturesWhat do you mean you don't get the Senseless Animal Gore Channel in your cable package?
Later, Jon Hamm's character Buddy is oddly likened to a bull. He's "relentless" and will attack when he "sees red".
TriStar Pictures
TriStar PicturesAlso, they're constantly making out, so it's established that he's "horny."
When Buddy and Baby eventually face off in a dramatic climax, their confrontation mirrors the bullfight -- with Buddy literally seeing red.
TriStar Pictures
TriStar PicturesPictured: Mad Man
Like with the bullfight, Buddy is "bloodied but unrelenting," and Baby must get out of his car and "try to end this on foot." Buddy's bull-like status is also underscored by the fact that he's constantly clashing with Jamie Foxx, whose character is exclusively draped in red.
TriStar Pictures
TriStar PicturesHis name is "Bats," and if several bats bite you, you end up red. Holy crap!
If all that wasn't enough, in a movie stuffed full of deep cut music nerd references, it's possible that Hamm's character is named after legendary drummer Buddy Rich. And Rich happened to have an album called ... The Bull. Or that's just a coincidence and this is all BS.
Sure, the Guardians of the Galaxy have done some good and saved some lives, but let's not forget that they all met up in prison and escaped before serving their sentences. Plus, it's one of those maximum security space jails, so it's doubtful they were arrested for things like jaywalking or illegally torrenting a pleasant mix of '70s soft rock.
Marvel StudiosOr keeping wildlife without a permit.
So what did they do to land in the joint? One Redditor came up with the theory that their crimes were denoted by elaborate patterns on their prison-issued pants. Unlike most internet movie theories, this one was confirmed by director James Gunn, who went on to clarify that each color represented a different category of crime, and the dots and lines were an expression of its severity, kind of like a "Morse code" for felonies.
Marvel StudiosWhich one of the lines on Chris Pratt means "Being in Passengers"?
Gunn also recalls that the non-figurative laundry list of crimes included "grievous bodily harm" and arson for Rocket, while Gamora's impressive list includes all the murders she committed for Thanos. Star Lord's offences were mostly small-time robberies ... with the exception of "having sex with members of a royal family." As for Groot's lack of incriminating trousers, that was going to be explained with a scene wherein he tears his pants off like he's at a freakish alien bachelorette party.
If you're a fan of Black Mirror, you ... well, you're probably not reading this, because all your computers and devices are in a garbage bag in the woods where they can't decide to murder you. When the show began, it seemed like a straightforward anthology series, like The Twilight Zone or that show where Freddy Krueger introduced scary stories while occasionally performing electric guitar solos.
In the most recent season, though, a bunch of props suggest that the show takes place in one universe, hopping between places and time periods. This was most evident in the season finale, "Black Museum," in which the titular tourist trap is full of mementos from previous episodes, such as the lollipop and digital cloning machine from "U.S.S. Callister" ...
Netflix
... the bathtub where the woman from "Crocodile" went full Jason Voorhees for some reason ...
Netflix
... and one of the robot bees from the previous season's "Hated In The Nation."
NetflixYet nothing in this museum is crazier than the time the prime minister fucked a pig on TV.
But it's not only this room full of garbage that introduced the idea of Black Mirror-verse. The entire show has an insane number of connecting threads. In the episode "Arkangel," the daughter has a poster that says "Tusk" -- not because in this twisted dystopia, teens are super into Kevin Smith body horror movies, but as a reference to the rapper Tusk from "Hated In The Nation."
NetflixIncidentally, both episode titles are good names for rap albums.
In the beloved "San Junipero," the digital afterlife's bar is named Tucker's, which we later find out is because the San Junipero simulation was made by "TCKR Systems." Well, if you routinely scour Netflix with a magnifying glass, you would have already heard of TCKR from a magazine cover seen in an earlier episode, "Playtest."
Netflix
Netflix
NetflixTo be fair, that's a pretty common name for a company.
Even the robot-dog-infested apocalyptic future of "Metalhead" is hinted at in "Black Museum," when a cable news ticker announces "autonomous military 'dogs' unveiled."
Netflix
NetflixThat milk jug is probably foreshadowing an episode about cows. Just cows. They're sinister enough.
Presumably, all of this is paving the way for an epic series finale in which it's revealed that the entire show has been a simulation inside of another simulation created by a company trying to build the perfect simulation. And, like, your phone hates you or something.
OK, we said this article was about "recent" films, but honestly, who doesn't watch Jurassic Park at least once a week? Seriously, tell us so we can block you. It's a movie full of symbolism hiding in minor details, from a broken seat belt that foreshadows an important plot twist to a giant pile of shit that foreshadows the future sequels. And while you probably didn't notice at the time, that brief scene in which John Hammond decides to eat his feelings with Jurassic Park's assortment of ice creams was actually crucial to the story.
How? In one of the most exciting moments in the movie, Hammond's grandson Tim escapes a velociraptor by noticing that the kitchen's walk-in freezer is open, which gives him an idea.
Universal Pictures"A fast food restaurant that serves dinosaur meat! Brilliant!"
After darting into the freezer but not shutting the door in time, the raptor follows Tim -- but the floor is completely iced over, and they both slip like the Wet Bandits.
Since the raptor was smart enough to open a door, but not quite smart enough to throw on a pair of sneakers before the chase, Tim is able to get up quicker and condemn the raptor to the same fate as a box of Hot Pockets.
Universal PicturesBeing stolen by your roommate?
So why was the floor covered with ice? It makes total sense in the context of the movie. The power was out overnight, then restored by Laura Dern right in time for everything to freeze again. And why was the freezer door open in the first place? It's not commented on, but earlier in the movie, Hammond is seen eating all the ice cream -- because apparently sparing no expense also means not letting frozen treats go to waste. Or maybe he figured that if he was going to get eaten by dinos, he may as well have a tummy full of rocky road.
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures"Can you eat some chocolate sauce too? I love it." -- the T. Rex
If it wasn't for the fact that Hammond was downing Ben & Jerry's like he was going through a bad break-up, that freezer door would have been closed, Tim likely would have been raptor food, and he never would have grown into Chris Pratt. (We think. Who's paying attention anymore?)
Blade Runner 2049 is the latest in a series of belated sequels wherein Harrison Ford throws on some comfy clothes to reprise an iconic role (look forward to an all-pajama-party sequel to Witness). The central mystery surrounds the child of Deckard and Rachael from the first movie, who turns out to be the reclusive Dr. Stelline. But what if it's not her after all? What if the movie is subtly hinting that Deckard's kid is, in fact, the villain's main henchwoman, Luv?
First of all, Luv more closely resembles Rachael, and has the same job at Wallace's HQ.
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. PicturesOne has considerably mightier shoulders, though.
The movie gives us other visual suggestions that the two characters are linked, such as showing Luv shed a single tear out the same eye as Rachael does in the original.
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. PicturesMaybe literally the same eye, if they believe in recycling.
When the duplicate Rachael shows up in 2049, the arrangement of the characters aligns so that Luv almost appears to be a reflection of Rachael.
Warner Bros. Pictures"You're not gonna superglue my dong to my leg, are you?"
In the same scene, Deckard rebukes Wallace's offering of a duplicate Rachael, pointing out that the original's eyes were green. When K (Ryan Gosling) later kills Luv, the camera lingers on her open eyes, which appear to be ... green.
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. PicturesDo-do-do do do ...
This doesn't even really contradict anything in the movie, since there's no confirmation that Stelline is Deckard's daughter, other than K's deduction. And what if Deckard's child really was hidden in the last place anyone would think of: right under the nose of Wallace, the guy looking for her?
This would also explain her name. She's the object of Deckard's love, which he sacrificed everything for. It would also explain the odd moment when she tenderly strokes Harrison Ford's grizzled cheek.
Warner Bros. PicturesAt least she didn't impale him with a laser sword like her brother.
Plus -- prepare to put on your tinfoil hats, folks -- remember that weird poem K has to repeat every time he clocks out at the police station?
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures
That's a quote from Vladimir Nabokov's Pale Fire, which is also the book K has in his apartment.
Warner Bros. PicturesEmpty glasses naturally materialize the longer you leave Russian literature on a table.
Part of the novel is an extended epic poem about a protagonist whose daughter drowns. So isn't it possible that this is hinting that the hero's real daughter is the one who drowns at the end? We'd drop the mic, but probably shouldn't, in case microphones have feelings and dreams about unicorns.
You (yes, you) should follow JM on Twitter, or check out the podcast Rewatchability.
Nabokov is really quite the author, might we recommend a collection of his works?
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For more, check out 23 Movies That Put Insane Detail Into Stuff You Missed and 7 Movies That Put Insane Detail Into Stuff You Never Noticed.
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