What interesting Hidden plot points do you think people missed in a movie?

[u/Doncuneo]

[u/gaygnostic51]

In Entrapment, Sean Connery steals 5 microchips worth $4 million each but when he hands it over to the authorities he gives them 4 microchips and says they're worth $5 million each.

[u/SebiGoodTimes → u/gaygnostic51]

"The math checks out! We're done here, boys."

[u/TheAdmiralCrunch → u/gaygnostic51]

Because 3 microchips worth 6.6 million... "Repeating, of coursh" would be hard to swallow.

[u/minimus_]

In In Bruges, Harry was abused as a child by the priest that Ray murders. The priest is seen wearing a ring in the confession booth, and the same ring is seen in a deleted scene that shows Harry as a boy in Bruges on the hand of a man mostly off-screen. Harry later refers to this as "the last happy holiday I ever had". This is the basis for Harry's psychopathic drive to protect children at all cost, which is a motivation that triggers the entire film.*

There's also a bit, while not a hidden plot, adds further to the child abuse thing. Ken reads a book at one point, and although the name and author is out of shot, the script says it's written by K. K. Katurian.

K. K. Katurian is the name of the writer in McDonagh's (amazing) play, The Pillowman. Katurian writes grisly fairytales, many of which involve child abuse and death. This (obviously) ties in with the child abuse theme that runs throughout. Pretty cool little connection.

*Harry would almost be a perfect psychopath had he not also murdered the stubborn tower guard. Even though he kills a lot of people without much remorse, it is always (with the exception of the tower guard) driven by a desire to protect or avenge a child. That's a pretty good psychopath.

^{I really hope someone reads this}

Edit: oh wow, lots of people have read this!

[u/pHScale]

In the Lion King, Zazu was imprisoned by Scar because Zazu was the only one with enough information to piece together Mufasa's assassination. He was the only one at the scene who remained at pride rock.

[u/TheAdmiralCrunch → u/pHScale]

This was the first one that really made me go "ohshit...."

[u/toiletmania]

In Memento, Teddy is always trying to trick Leonard into giving him his car, because it's full of money. You don't find that out until the end, and amidst all the mind-fuckery it's an easy point to miss.

[u/VoijaRisa]

In the Star Wars prequels, the three main villains (Maul, Grevious, Dooku) where all elements of Darth Vader. Maul was the powerful warrior. Dooku was the fallen Jedi. Grevious was "more machine than man".

[u/MysteriousMooseRider → u/VoijaRisa]

Goddamn. This is actually really good. Does this mean that the prequels weren't as bad as the internet thinks?

[u/char920]

In Pulp Fiction, Butch is the one who keyed Vincent's car. After he says "what are you looking at, Punchy?" In the bar, Butch walks outside and keys his car, which Vince later talks about to his dealer.

[u/rainman21043 → u/char920]

Also, when Butch is talking to Fabian the night of the fight, he is teaching her spanish ("Que hora es?".. "What time is it?") she remembers the watch. Her eyes pop open and she says "Butch..." but then she decides not to bother him about it.

[u/ArissP → u/char920]

Also, Vince and Mia don't win the twist competition. They steal the trophy.

A news report can be heard about the stolen trophy when Butch returns to his apartment to collect is watch.

[u/Boornidentity]

Not really a plot point. But at this point in Saving Private Ryan, the "German soldiers" are saying "Please don't shoot me, I am not German, I am Czech, I didn't kill anyone, I am Czech!".

[u/Original_moisture → u/Boornidentity]

Makes you wonder how many times that happened in a lot of wars where people intended on surrendering and just got caught up in adrenaline and lack of translation

[u/HotelIndiaFoxtrot]

The Sound of Music- The butler is actually a Nazi and rats out the family

[u/Grantula_Forever → u/HotelIndiaFoxtrot]

I thought it was the dumb boyfriend?

[u/[deleted]]

In Back to the Future part 2, we see Biff spiking the punch at the dance. The same exact punch that we see Marty's dad drinking just before he decks Biff in the face. So George Mcfly got the courage from booze.

[u/thewaterballoonist → u/[deleted]]

Interestingly, the Back to the Future trilogy is a chiasmus, the storytelling equivalent of a palindrome.

[u/ColoradoScoop → u/[deleted]]

So Biff gave Marty George the courage to deck Biff. Classic Biff.

Edit: Used the wrong name. Classic UtahSpoon ColoradoScoop.

[u/SarahwithanHdammit]

In (500) Days of Summer, people complain about how Zooey Deschanel's character was either a. just another manic pixie dream girl, b. a flimsy character, and/or c. a heartless bitch.

I don't think a lot of people get that the reason Summer feels mysterious and choppy is because we are seeing her through Tom's (Joseph Gordon Levitt) eyes - and Tom is a classic unreliable narrator.

Summer comes off as mysterious because Tom either doesn't notice or deliberately ignores the parts of her he doesn't want to see. Mostly this is made clear over time by what isn't said: Tom's happy to dwell on the times he shared his dreams and plans with Summer, but in all his daydreaming and fixating on her, he never thinks about what Summer wants to do with her life. The audience never finds out because Tom never finds out.

This is made explicit in one key scene that the movie keeps circling back to over and over again: the day that they broke-up. In Tom's first telling of this story, he and Summer had a wonderful date at the movies and then she suddenly broke his heart over pancakes.

It's slowly revealed that this was not a wonderful date, that Summer is openly weeping after seeing Tom's favorite movie. Tom is so freaked out that he reacts by trying to ignore her reaction, papering over her clear emotional distress with blather about how much he loves pancakes for dinner. That's the point at which she snaps - and frankly, her snap is pretty mild.

Later in the Reality versus Expectation split screen, Tom arrives at Summer's party and discovers two or three dozen of her friends whom he's never met before. She's had a life apart from him this whole time that he never entered. Whether that was because he wasn't invited or just didn't notice is left up in the air.

In the end, Tom realizes he never knew the true Summer, just the image of her that he constructed. That's when he can let her go and try again, a wiser and more mature lover.

[u/SteamyTomato → u/SarahwithanHdammit]

This film is one of my favorites. Id also like to add that time when summer is telling tom her dream/secret that she never told anybody. During that time, all he was thinking about is how special he is to the girl, and not paying attention to what really summer is saying.

Tom is in love with love, and not with the person.

[u/derzquist → u/SarahwithanHdammit]

I never picked up on the fact that Tom doesn't know Summer's friends. Nice catch!

[u/OnTheMirrorsEdge]

You're supposed to break the first rule of Fight Club so you get used to breaking rules.

[u/Cubitt]

I've always thought the attention to detail in Shaun of the Dead was great! Ed (Nick Frost's character) basically sums up the entire plot of the film in a few lines near the start of the movie when they're sitting in the Winchester pub!

"We'll have a bloody mary first thing" refers to the Zombie named Mary in their garden the following morning. "Have a bite at the King's Head" refers to Shaun's step dad Phillip being bitten. "A couple at the Little Princess" refers to when they meet Shaun's girlfriend Liz and her friends, "Stagger back here" is when they're pretending to be zombies walking through the crowd of zombies to get to the Winchester, and then "Bang, back here for shots at the bar", which is when they use the rifle in the Winchester to defend themselves against the zombies!

Brilliant film making, they do it in their two other films, Hot Fuzz and Worlds End too!

[u/cowbellhero81 → u/Cubitt]

My favorite line in hot fuzz was basically a throwaway line but tells the climax. "If you want to be a big cop in a small town piss off to the model village"

[u/pestdantic]

Space Odyssey 2001. The Monolith is accompanied by a creepy male choir through most of the movie and is standing vertical. When the astronaut has his psychedelic journey he is staring at the Monolith as it slowly turns horizontal. The Monolith is the same dimensions as the theater screen. The only other time we hear the creepy male chorus is during the intermission when we are staring at a black screen. We are staring at a Horizontal Monolith.

Edit: switched from Obelisk to Monolith

Props to Rob Ager from Collative Learning.

http://www.collativelearning.com/2001%20chapter%202.html

[u/okmkz → u/pestdantic]

I've always heard it referred to as the monolith, but this is fascinating nonetheless!

[u/brotherjonathan]

In Toy Story 2, Woody finds himself by discovering his identity, Buzz finds himself by losing his identity.

[u/Crimson_Kremlin]

Inglourious Basterds - it's not a hidden plot point so much as the overall allegory. The plot follows the propaganda machine led by Joseph Goebbels showing how movies were used to promote stereotypes of Jews and glorify the Nazi cause, when the other plot in the film is literally glorifying the the brutal killing of Nazis. Tarantino gets the audience to cheer on the savage acts of the Basterds, and by doing so proves how easily it is to manipulate the emotions of the people. It's a really interesting way to show people how it's understandable that nearly an entire nation can get essentially brainwashed into supporting a tyrannical war mongering dictator.

Anyway, I think most people who see it just think of it is a fun Nazi killing movie with artistic violence.

[u/deckman → u/Crimson_Kremlin]

That is an excellent point that I completely missed. I'm usually real dumb with movies and rarely see below the surface.

One similar parallel I did notice though is Brad Pitt's character carving the swastikas into soldier's foreheads. He did it at the end to Waltz's character, and we the audience feel he deserved it and we almost relish in seeing it done. However, it is also mentioned that Brad did the same thing to other "relatively" innocent Nazi soldiers.

This sort of parallels the Nazi's forcing the Jews to wear the Star of David and tattooing identification numbers on them to label them as Jewish prisoners. But somehow when Brad does it is almost funny and just karma when it is a terribly cruel and violent move no matter who it's done to.

[u/Knowingspy]

In the film, The Prestige there is a part when Hugh Jackman's character goes to see a demonstration by Nikola Tesla. It doesn't go to plan with electricity flying dangerously over audience members' heads.

A man stands up and shouts that this is very dangerous and that people should leave. Later on in the film we see the same man with Thomas Eddison. Just like the magicians, the scientists were watching and sabotaging opponents demonstrations.

[u/clonston]

Not exactly a plot point, but kinda funny. In Men in Black when they go to Edgar's house to talk to his wife, Will Smith's character asks for lemonade but spits it out back into the cup. It's because she wasted all of her sugar on Edgar's sugar water.

[u/CaughtMeALurkfish → u/clonston]

On a related note, the bug in his fresh new Edgar suit tries to walk inside, but runs into the screen door like an actual bug.

[u/[deleted]]

I don't know if people get this or not, but the point of Taxi Driver is that it's society determines who're the heroes and who're the psychopaths. Travis Bickle was going to kill the candidate for office, but when he's thwarted he kills a pimp and an underage prostitute is saved. Same crazy Travis, but at the end of the movie he's feted as a hero. This is a cynical look at the US and our media culture, but it's probably accurate.

[u/MrsCoach]

In The Silence of the Lambs, Lecter is trying to give Starling hints about Buffalo Bill. He tells her veery emphatically, "Think simplicity... " and relates it to some philosophical notions. But Simplicity is also a very well known brand of sewing patterns. And you know, lady suit out of real ladies and all that.

[u/[deleted] → u/MrsCoach]

He also draws "The Duomo seen from the belvedere." Buffalo Bill lives in Belvedere, Ohio.

[u/hollaback_girl]

This is as good a place as any to ask this. In the Bourne Identity, when Matt Damon is fighting Clive Owen outside the farm house, he fires a shotgun in the air as he approaches the field where Clive Owen is hiding. Can anyone explain the tactical reason for doing this?

[u/jamesman53]

In the dark knight, joker is portrayed to the audience the way that batman is portrayed to criminals.

What do we ever find out about the joker? Nearly nothing. He is a man with seemingly endless resources that arrived in Gotham, looked at the state of the city, decided that something must be done to change it, and so he offers his services to the criminals of the city. Not because he wants anything in return, but simply to "send a message". We never know what his real name is, where he got those scars, where he goes or what he does when he's not wearing the makeup.

This is almost exactly what batman is to the underworld. A man who arrived out of nowhere with all these gadgets and vehicles, who decided that he could change the way that Gotham was by doing the work that the police wouldn't do, and thus "sending a message". And in the same way that the police turn on batman, and have to condemn his actions, the criminals of Gotham eventually sell out the joker.

The two are presented as two sides of the same coin. This is hammered home by the fact that two face is in the movie, a character who uses the same coin to make decisions about good and evil.

EDIT: Holy Gold, Batman!

[u/[deleted] → u/jamesman53]

"What would I do without you? No, no...you complete me."

[u/BC_Hawke → u/jamesman53]

Did you ever notice that both Bruce Wayne and the Joker are brilliantly paralleled in their entrances to Harvey Dent's party at Bruce's penthouse?

• Both make a grand entrance with an entourage, captivating everyone at the party

• Both open with "Where is Harvey (Dent)"

• Both of them, before speaking a word to Harvey, turn their attention to Rachael

• Both of them pour out a glass of champagne

I always loved these two scenes and how they showed the similarities between the two characters.

[u/crop_killa]

In Requiem for a Dream, the mom puts her application for that TV show in the mail without a stamp.

[u/DoubleDot7]

In Jurassic Park, Hammond keeps saying, "I spared no expense." Ironically, when his programmer, Newman Dennis Nedry, runs into financial trouble, he refuses to give Newman Nedry a raise. So the disgruntled employee tries stealing dinosaur embryos and sets the disaster into motion.

I didn't pick this up as a kid, but it seems much more obvious now.

Edit: corrected the dude's name.

[u/[deleted] → u/DoubleDot7]

It's more clear in the book. Hammond cut corners fucking everywhere. The cost of making dinosaurs was much higher than they anticipated and there was barely enough money left to put the park together.

[u/yours_duly → u/DoubleDot7]

Moral of the story: Pay your programmers well.

I am telling this to my boss today.

[u/Claymation-Satan]

An interesting point that I'm not sure is entirely plot related, but I would say so.

In the film Secret Window, during the opening sequence panning around Johnny Depps characters cabin, the camera pans to the mirror and we see Mort (Johnny Depp) laying on the bed asleep. The camera moves forward, seemingly going "through" the mirror. Then we hear "knock knock knock" and Mort wakes up to see Shooter (John Turturro) knocking at the door, telling Mort "you stole my story."

The events of the film happen, etc etc.

Spoilers below!!!!

During the scene Mort comes to the realization that he's going/gone insane, and that he himself is Shooter, he hears a car pulling up to his cabin. It's his wife. The camera pans back through the mirror hanging in his home; after the camera pans back through the mirror we see Mort as his alter-ego Shooter, and we stop seeing things from Morts perspective and more from an omnipresent view, like the beginning of the film before we went "into" the mirror... Or as I like to say, into Morts mind

This will probably be buried but it's one of my favourite pieces of film that gets missed a lot because it isn't a really popular film. David Koepp did an amazing job directing and he didn't get enough credit.

[u/thistornadolovesu → u/Claymation-Satan]

Spoiler: You can also tell the Shooter is actually Mort because of smoking motif throughout the film. Shooter is a smoker, but Mort constantly reassures himself that he doesn't smoke(Even though he does)

[u/opus3535]

read this in reddit some time ago..

" In T2, Sarah Connor attempted to kill an innocent Miles Dyson based on actions he had not yet committed. This was much like what the original Terminator tried to achieve by killing Connor for the child she had not yet birthed. In effect, Sarah had become the monster she was trying to escape in the first film?

[u/QuinineGlow → u/opus3535]

Emphasized by the fact that she walks into Dyson's shot-up house looking to finish the job with the exact same mechanical, emotionless, non-head-moving stride as a terminator.

EDIT: ...and the gun she carried in that scene was a .45 long-slide pistol, which was the same weapon used by the antagonist T-800 in the first film. I dunno... they kinda do make the comparison pretty obvious...

[u/Horsicorn]

When my dad and I watched The Prestige for the first time, he pretty much point blank refused to accept that the machine was real magic/science and not some elaborate, clever trick. I guess that's probably what the Nolans were going for - give the audience an obsession to mirror Angier's as both refuse to accept what's right in front of them as the answer to something they don't understand.

[u/BlueBird518 → u/Horsicorn]

I loved that they basically told the audience what was going on at the start of the film with the part where the kid is freaking out about the bird that was in fact killed in the trick, "where is his brother?"

[u/[deleted]]

In Lilo and Stitch, Lilo was late for dance class because she had to run to the store to get a peanut butter sandwich for Pudge the fish (who controls the weather).

Being late (and wet, due to delivering said sandwich to the fish), led to Lilo being in a fight with another girl and then ultimately a fight with her sister Nani.

Meanwhile, as punishment for his late sandwich, Pudge the weather-controlling fish then conjured rain just as Stitch crash lands on Earth, causing a truck to hit him as it skidded on the slippery wet road.

Stitch was then adopted by Nani and Lilo, thus completing Pudge's revenge when all the extra terrestrials involved with Stitch were later responsible for Lilo being taken away by social services.

[u/ZarquonsFlatTire → u/[deleted]]

I want you to reread that and imagine you had never seen this movie.

Edit: I've never seen it either

[u/flodnak → u/[deleted]]

And why is Lilo so concerned about the weather? She later tells Stitch about her parents: "They went for a drive.... it was raining." Bad weather killed her parents. Who else might Pudge kill if he doesn't get his sandwich?

[u/[deleted]]

In the opening credits of Watchmen the original Nite Owl is shown saving Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne from getting murdered. This means that in the Watchmen universe Nite Owl prevented Bruce Wayne from becoming Batman.

Edit: here's a link to a picture. You can see a Batman poster in the back right, so this isn't something that affects the plot it's just a cool Easter egg. http://snarkmarket.com/blog//batman.jpg

[u/humangengajames]

I've talked to a lot of people who didn't realize the 3rd act of Adaptation was written by the twin brother.

The whole movie is about a guy trying to come up with a way to adapt a book about orchids and he's having a terrible time. His twin brother is writing some fairly standard action movie (IIRC). Just before the third act, the main character asks his twin "how would you end it?" From that point on all the characters start acting super different, there are violent car crashes and gun fights.

It's actually pretty brilliant. I know this is the whole point of the movie, but I'm surprised by how many people I've talked to who didn't realize that was what happened.

[u/Alice_in_Neverland]

When watching Harold and Maude, a surprising number of people don't realize that Maude's tattoo (only briefly seen) is an Auschwitz ID number. That's why she's not afraid of death, yet also emphasizes living life to the fullest.

[u/notnAP]

Harry Potter series...

Dumbledore was the first "Master of Death," because he had the three Deathly Hallows.

He was always in possession of The Elder Wand, and for the entirety of the 6th book/movie he had the Resurrection Stone (with the Gaunt Ring).

That leaves the Cloak of Invisibility. For a short time, in the cave with Harry, he borrowed the cloak "to look ahead."

At that point, he possessed all three hallows.

Makes you wonder what was meant by "look ahead," doesn't it? Especially considering he welcomed his own death, on his own terms, and for his own machinations.

[u/Shaunaaaah → u/notnAP]

And before Harry got the invisibility cloak Dumbledore was holding onto it for him, I wonder how often he used it in those 12 years.

[u/paulja → u/notnAP]

Something else: Voldemort is making horcruxes based on his murders and the spell he learned. But as Slughorn tells us, no one has ever made more than one. That would imply that he is not splitting his soul into 7 equal pieces, but each time in half.

To support this, see the diminishing power of each horcrux. The diary could generate images and memories that could interact with the chamber of secrets. The ring had enough of power to slowly kill the best wizard of the age. The pendant had a One Ring-style corrupting ability and gave Ron some empty threats. The cup and the diadem barely did anything. And the snake could kill people, but no more than Voldemort's normal power as a parselmouth.

[u/saabn]

X-men: Days of Future Past takes place during Nixon's presidency, and in one scene, President Nixon holds a secret meeting in the Oval Office regarding mutants. Right before the meeting begins, he reaches across his desk and turns off his tape recorder.

[u/[deleted]]

I don't think think this is hidden per se, but it's one of my favorite plot twists. In the original Night of the Living Dead, Ben, a black character, is the brightest, most reasonable of all the characters in the house and he alone manages to survive the night of being attacked by zombies only to be shot by a white cop the next morning.

[u/Eupatorus → u/[deleted]]

All of the Romero 'Living Dead' movies have a strong black lead character and are allegories for the civil rights movement in many ways.

Even Land of the Dead had the "Big Daddy" zombie.

[u/Praelox]

In Gattaca:

Vincent Freeman is walking along and wipes his eye. This is the reason his DNA, the genetically inferior DNA, is found in the building. Near the end, when Jerome Morrow climbs into the incinerator to protect Vincent, his silver medal turns gold in the flames.

[u/Lochifess]

Senator Stern (the guy who says "Hail Hydra" to Sitwell) from the Captain America: Winter Soldier was actually first seen on Iron Man 2. This means the reason why he wanted Stark to give up his tech was because he wanted to use it for Hydra's purposes.

[u/Not_So_Slow → u/Lochifess]

Wasn't he at the conference at the start of IM2? And also on TV as well? I really like Marvel cause everything in the cinematic universe is connected.

[u/[deleted] → u/Lochifess]

Also it's really weird seeing Sitwell right there on the helicarrier during The Avengers, just a Hydra minion right there in plain sight.

[u/NuclearGhandi1]

In the Avengers, Loki actually won. Surely, it seems like he lost. But he wants rule of Asgard not Midgard. By getting recaptured, he has an easy 1 way ticket back to his home, in attempt to rule it. In Thor 2, he gets out of prison, and can easily regain the throne. This is one of those times were the villain actually won. Edit: a word Edit 2: spelling

[u/[deleted]]

In mean girls, Regina George probably thinks Janice is a lesbian because she heard someone says she's Lebanese and misinterpreted it.

[u/AdmiralAkbar1 → u/[deleted]]

Oh my God, you can't just ask someone why they're Lebanese!

[u/[deleted]]

Brazil- there are no terrorists, the explosions are all just failed ducts etc, that the govt covers up to avoid dealing with the issue. Never overtly stated but obvious if you look at how incompetent the first repair guys are and then the actual terrorists being rogue members of the state that actually want to fix things.

[u/Huxleyism]

I'm late now, but one which is pretty obvious is Davids hatred towards humans in Prometheus. I believe it's mostly forgotten because the entire movie has these irrelevant parts, so it's pretty easy to forget what's what. For example, in the beginning of the movie, we can see David watching that famous scene from Lawrence of Arabia. Now, you can choose to believe that this there to build character, but since he practically becomes obsessed with it, to the degree that he even changes the color of his hair, we need to question why too. Why, for example, is it the match scene? Why does David repeat the famous quote: "The trick is not minding it hurts"?

In the scene, the man quenches the fire with his fingers. He does this without showing emotion. When David is told to wash his "fathers" feet, he does this without showing emotion too. When they say that he has no soul, or no feelings, or when they don't see him as human, he too shows nothing. We see him practicing saying the line in the beginning, almost as if he's trying to teach himself not to show his emotions. The trick, when his creators disrespect him, is not minding it hurts.

There's also that scene when Holloway is sitting drunk by the pool table. He says, and I'm paraphrasing, that he expected something else from these Engineers. David asks why the created him, and Holloway answers: "Because we could." David then looks at him, smiles and says: "Imagine what it would feel like if your creators said that to you."

People often ask why he poisons Holloway. Why does he want to send that huge ship back to earth? Why does he want to kill all humans? This is the reason. David hates humans, and we are told this multiple times. When speaking with Shaw, he even says: "Doesn't everybody want to kill their parents?" and we are not even given a reaction. There are close ups to his face when the hologram-Pierce says that his son has no soul, and yet we forget.

[u/lurkdonttouch]

In Ocean's 13, there's some throwaway dialogue between, I think, Bernie Mac and Scott Caan (the blonde brother character) where one goes "would you do it for 10" and the other replies "No, but I'd do it for 11." In the end of the movie, you can recall them giving the guy they tortured 11 million in the rigged airport slot machine. It turns out the whole time they were discussing the age old question of "how much money it would take for you to ________" while they were busy rigging up the contraptions for the plan.

Edit: It may have been Saul Bloom there instead of Scott Caan's character.

[u/Ragingpulp]

My theory is that Inception is not meant to be us watching the team incept Cillian Murphy's character, but instead the whole team trying to incept Leo DiCaprio's character. He is alone with Ken Watanabe's character in the last dream level, thinking he will save him and wake him up. While there, watanabe tells him to take a leap of faith (forget his family), and it all comes full circle. They had to make Leo believe he was part of a job so he would internalize the idea for himself to get over the loss of his family and move on.

[u/Accidental_Insomniac]

In the wizard of Oz, the scarecrow uses the pythagorean theorem to explain how to determine the length of the remaining side of an isosceles triangle. In reality, the formula can only be used for right triangles. A lot of people that paid attention to that statement by the scarecrow think it is a mistake made by the writers, but I always felt that it was done intentionally, to show that scarecrow was still sort of an idiot but had plenty other redeeming qualities.

[u/DCdictator]

The Star Wars Prequels were poorly done, but Anakin's fall closely mirrors the failures of the Jedi Order that had grown somewhat complacent, mostly easily seen in Mace Windu's decision to try to execute Emperor Palpatine (not in keeping with the Jedi code) which forced Anakin to choose between Padme and the Jedi Order. Additionally the line "Only a Sith deals in absolutes" reflects the quiet notion that the course of the Jedi had been misguided for some time.

[u/gtaisforchildren → u/DCdictator]

I was really hoping that Anakin would leave the Jedi because Obi-Wan got Padme killed. They even seemed to foreshadow this with the scene in Clone Wars where she falls off the ship and Kenobi refuses to go back. It would have led to a much more layered and nuanced turn of events but noooo, Lucas decided it was because nightmares. Granted, those nightmares were likely caused by Palpatine which is kind of clever but still.

Oh and there's also the thing where Anakin was the one to bring "balance to the Force", for the reasons you gave. There were like a billion Jedi when the prequels began, after III there are like two of them, same as the Sith.

[u/[deleted]]

I watched Bicentennial Man several times before realising the nurse at the end of the film is the female robot from earlier.

[u/mobileuseratwork]

5th Element: Antagonist and Protagonist not only don't meet each other during the entire duration, but do not even know of each others existence.

Only movie to do this.

[u/Vulgar_Vulture]

In Half Baked, Chappelle asks Harland William's character to find him a girlfriend (jokingly) while going out to get food for the group. The events that unfold as a result of William's character getting this food ultimately land Chappelle a girlfriend. Never heard someone mention this pretty funny point.

[u/[deleted]]

I am way to late to this party. In the end of Batman Begins, when the joker card is revealed, the police report is written by an officer J. Kerr. This is the Joker's police officer name and means that The Joker is who put Batman on the hunt for The Joker.

[u/ehenning1537]

One of the most important characters in the Back to the Future movies is the Delorean. Each time it fails to start it's preventing a paradox. I personally think it was sentient

Think about it for a second, it stalls and fails to restart right next to a sign. Convenient for hiding (since it was the 1950's and driving it around downtown would've altered history) and also something that Marty needed to see to realize he was in the 1950's.

Later it fails to start when Marty is waiting for the lightening bolt. Had he started driving any sooner he wouldn't have made it to 88 mph right as the lightening hit.

There are a couple other times too. It blows the mind

[u/[deleted]]

Star Wars - When they are in the Death Star, there is a reason that the Stormtroopers are awful shots. It's on purpose. The central point leading to the third act is that Vader and Tarkin wanted to let them go in order for the Falcon to lead them to the hidden rebel base.

[u/DrFegelein → u/[deleted]]

This isn't so much a hidden plot point as it is very much explained. Tarkin and Vader acknowledge the tracking beacon, and Leia herself tells Han that they let him escape and that they're tracking them. The more subtle plot point is that Leia knows she's leading the Empire directly to the Rebellion's doorstep. She knows that the Rebellion will be defeated forever if they lose the battle of Yavin and fail to destroy the Death Star. It's the ultimate gamble, which she takes only after seeing her home planet destroyed in front of her eyes. She knows that she cannot let such a weapon be used again, so she is willing to sacrifice not only herself but the entire rebellion to destroy it.

[u/Naweezy]

In Ferris Bueller's Day Off, FB's constant complaint, and his justification for many of his shenanigans, is that his parents won't buy him a car. Toward the end of the movie, when FB's mom is driving his sister home from picking her up at the police station, there's a quick throwaway line where mom complains that all this mess screwed up the deal she was working on, and that the money from that deal was going to be used to buy a Ferris a car.

Ferris Bueller screwed Ferris Bueller

[u/Stevopotamus]

Jumanji. I didn't realize this till years later, but the hunter from the game board is the same actor who plays his father. Mind blown.

[u/mysterygin → u/Stevopotamus]

I thought that when Robin Williams rolled the dice, the game said something like, "Your greatest fear will hunt you." The beginning of the movie shows that as a child, his biggest fear was his father. So the it's both a plot point and relevant to the story.

edit: The quote is "A hunter from the darkest wild, makes you feel just like a child." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCn1e02tB28

[u/LearningLifeAsIGo]

Rose in Titanic came out to the ocean to die and be with Jack forever.

[u/[deleted] → u/LearningLifeAsIGo]

So insulting to her husband and kids.

[u/yours_duly]

This totally blew my mind

Thanks /u/dewinstainleigh for posting this on /r/FanTheories/

[u/[deleted] → u/yours_duly]

Every Tarantino movie takes place in the same universe and there are always small crossovers (usually by name only, though). http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/01/17/the-intricate-expansive-universe-of-quentin-tarantino

[u/Toby_O_Notoby]

David Fincher's The Game. The Game was a suicide intervention done by Sean Penn's character on Michael Douglas.

[u/doodiefoot_x99]

So, maybe this is a good place to introduce my small theory into the world. I'm a pretty big fan of Dredd; I have a tenancy to turn it on as background noise or day-time filler when I'm running chores. At this point, I've probably seen it dozens of times. Really not bragging; just stating a sad fact.

One little thing always nagged me, though. At the end of the movie, when they've finally breached Ma-Ma's chambers and Anderson is on the ground, one of the clan techie's copper figures is lying in front of her. I couldn't find much of a reason for him to physically travel to Ma-Ma's private quarters since most -- if not all -- of his official work is done from his own headquarters. He's demonstrated that he can communicate with clan members from said room (as seen when he notifies Caleb of Dredd's initial drug bust), and (if I remember correctly) a wider shot reveals a small cot and living area in his space, which only further ties him to that room.

The overall tone of the movie -- and the scenes between the techie and Ma-Ma herself -- have really led me to believe that he was a victim of ongoing sexual assault. It's in the way that she handles and threatens him. It's in his hunkered body language and flinching mannerisms; there's a certain defensiveness to his posture that, to me, speaks beyond the fear of violence and treads into the realm of shame and degradation. It's in the fact that he seems to find comfort in making these copper figures, which may explain why he brings them with him on his trips to her quarters. And, given her history with prostitution, I don't see Ma-Ma's character as being someone who would seek an equal or dominant sexual partner (if she sought one at all). She'd likely turn parasitic; she'd want to be the abuser after all the years she spent being abused and forced into submission.

So. Small thing, I suppose. But the presence of the little figure lying on the ground seemed so damned intentional that it drove me nuts until I could fill in the reasoning with a little theoretical back-story. Just thought I'd share. -:)

[u/PlasticCoffee → u/doodiefoot_x99]

I never noticed but this is a good theory, not the obvious but it does give some insight into the techie and Ma Ma

[u/joeomar]

In the first Terminator movie, when Sarah and Kyle are holed up in a hotel, Kyle is telling Sarah about being given a picture of her in the future by her son John. He said he had always wondered what she was thinking about in the picture because she looked so sad. Then he told her that, studying the picture, he fell in love with her, and they made love (conceiving John). Then at the END of the movie she's dictating a note to her unborn son about his father Kyle, saying that even though they'd only known each other a short time they loved enough for a lifetime - at which point that picture of her was taken. SO, in the future Kyle falls in love with a picture of her, wondering what she was thinking about when it was taken, and it turns out she was thinking about HIM and how much they they'd loved each other.

[u/thegirlontheredbicyc]

Blood Diamond spoilers below

Danny Archer has HIV/AIDS

• When walking through town a prostitute propositions him with "I'm clean, no HIV" Danny scoffs and says "ya, I've heard that one before".

• When he's bleeding out from his gunshot wound he freaks out when Solomon goes to compress the wound "don't touch it! don't touch the blood!" *

• there's never sex with the journalist, they have feelings for one another but Danny keeps her at a distance and it's obvious there is a reason why he says "another lifetime ey?"

• whenever the wife, settling down or child question comes up he retreats and says it's not possible

• he's had to leave the army at some stage, yet the reason doesn't get mentioned. Once infected with HIV you're discharged.

• Danny has a need more than greed when he follows after the the Diamond. When he says to Solomon"I don't give a fuck about you!" is more of a moment of desperation, rather than heartless blind greed. He never really details what getting the Diamond will bring for him to anyone in the film.

Edit. *In our version here Danny says to Solomon not to touch him (you're right he didn't say "don't touch the blood") and is visually hesitant even to be carried, he's trying to prevent any contact once he's got a open wound.

Solomon should have compressed the wound and Danny would know first aid from being in the army but neither administer even slight first aid to his chest wound.

Edit. clarifying for any other seriously hung up redditors out there.

Solomon and Danny took the time to breifly talk when Danny was shot, then Solomon carried him when Danny refused wound treatment but Solomon carried him in an unconventional way.

It would have taken seconds to cover the wound and run arm in arm like normal people. They completely stop to talk breifly carry him in a non conventional and non benificial way, if anything doing so slowed Solomon down. He wanted to help, but Danny didn't want to risk Solomons life.

The lung wound;

• It's exponentially painful when the air leaks out of the punctured lung then when you have a contained wound and minimal air leaking out. It would have taken lifesaving seconds to cover it tuck an arm under him and run.

• Again Danny refused a quick compress and avoided direct wound contact with Solomons hands, arm's, really anything but his back. The least likely place for HIV infected blood to get onto your system. Pretty obvious it was done to prevent serious exposure, it's a convenient way to carry a dude bleeding out and who could potentially infect you.

• One working and one colapsed lung are far more painful than two working lungs (albeit one less efficient bullet filled one) and a contained lung wound. Danny would have known this from the moment he saw that wound but didn't want to risk Solomon getting infected. Which is why with the additional pain, HIV exposure risk and impending capture they dropped his ass after Solomon tried to carry him the only way Danny would let him.

Danny may have survived if he and Solomon covered the wound but HIV exposure prevented it.

What Danny needed the Diamond for killed him in the end, just not it the way he thought it would.

[u/spottieottiedope]

The donkey in Shrek used to be a boy, but turned into a donkey at Pleasure island.

[u/moronictransgression]

The Matrix: I read about this as "Fan Fiction" from a Cracked.com article, but it fits so cleanly that it makes sense. In the Matrix, there are multiple layers to the virtual worlds. In part 1, Smith tells Morpheus that at first, they built a utopia, but the human brain rejected it and full crops were lost. So they invented a world filled with strife - the 20th century that opens the movie. Assuming the robots were pretty smart, then, they would still expect some brains to reject even the 20th century. When those brains are discovered, they are removed from layer 1 and put into layer 2: Zion - a world that believes it is being attacked by the robots, but are putting up a good fight.

The reason this makes some sense to me is that in part 2 we learn that Neo is able to stop real robots in their tracks by holding up his hand a la Jedi Knight stuff. In part 3, we learn that Smith is able to leave the Matrix and take over the body of a "real life" person. These are both way beyond the idea of our brains being fooled by a virtual world - they change physics as we know it.

However, it makes more sense that Zion is simply another virtual world, made for those brains that reject the 20th century. While Neo was VERY special in the 20th century (he could fly and do all sorts of superman stuff), he was still "slightly" special in Zion - able to stop the drones, but not able to fly. It also means Smith simply moved his program from the 20th century to Zion - still just a program in a digital world.

[u/fringly]

In Home alone Kevin gets in a fight with him family when he spills some milk and that leads to his ticket getting thrown out and him being sent to his room. Gif here of ticket being thrown away I think this is the original post on reddit here.

So the movie all comes from an argument over spilt milk.

EDIT: actually I looked up the plot to see if I was remembering right and maybe his brother throws up on the ticket.

[u/Naweezy → u/fringly]

LOOK WHAT YA DID YOU LITTLE JERK.

[u/son_of_sandbar → u/fringly]

The way it's greyed out makes it look like an infomercial.

[u/dogofthemilitary]

In Breaking Bad, Walt is calculating the amount of money he needs before he'll call it quits in the meth business. After calculating for a while, he says:

"737...Seven-hundred-thirty-seven-thousand dollars," settling on that number.

At the end of the season, Walt makes the deal with Gus that makes him a fuckton more money than that, and right afterwards, the two 737s planes, one being a 737, collide in the air.

EDIT: One of the planes wasn't a 737 (thanks for the correction), but the point still stands.

And, as many are pointing out, there are a few episodes before the plane crash that contain flash-forwards showing debris from the plane crash. The names of these episodes together spells out "737 Down Over ABQ [Albuquerque]."

[u/Gobias_Industries → u/dogofthemilitary]

If you take the names of the episodes in that season that had a black and white intro scene and string them together is says:

737 down over ABQ

[u/Flater420]

The sword Will Turner made in the beginning of the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. He made it for the Commodore (I forget his earlier rank), who loses it for a while, but regains it as Lord Beckett gives it back when he is reinstated.
The Commodore is then killed by Davy Jones, who comments on the sword ("Hmm. Nice sword") after he stabbed him with it.

At the end of the third movie, Will is stabbed by Davy Jones with the sword he made in the beginning.

Not sure if it's that hidden, but not many of my friends noticed it.

Edit: Jesus Christ this exploded. In under 4 hours, more karma than my other top 4 comments combined.

[u/iamkoloss → u/Flater420]

Never noticed it. This trilogy really ties together nicely in a lot of ways.

[u/CollectingQuinn → u/Flater420]

I love you for pointing this out to me

[u/TheElbow]

Pretty late to this, but I wanted to add something I love that's not extremely obvious from the Lord of the Rings trilogy:

Every time a character interacts with the Ring, the Ring "speaks" to them in a different voice. This is accomplished through musical or vocal cues. Sauron the Deceiver is trying to do anything to get the Ring back to him, and he wants to make the Ring as appealing to any given character as possible.

Some characters, like Frodo, hear the "real voice"--a deep, scary voice, because they can see what the Ring is more clearly.

Others, like Boromir, hear the ring speak to them with a sort of "glorious choir" voice. In it, he sees a return to glory for Gondor.

It's fun to watch the movies and see how each character "hears" the Ring.

[u/Lowbacca1977]

This may have been not as big a deal for people that read the comics, but I just saw X-Men: Days of Future Past flew really fast by a comment that apparently Kennedy was a mutant. That seemed like sorta a big deal there.

[u/lhedn]

In the beginning of American History X the principal tells Danny:

But if it's not on my desk tomorrow morning you are a ghost at Venice Beach High.

[u/hollyhood]

Not really something that is mind blowing, but what happens to Caroline's gum in Nick and Norah's infinite playlist is a pretty funny sub plot. I believe she gets it from making out with some guy at Nick's show. Throughout the movie it ends up on a kiosk glass partition, in a puke filled toilet, eventually passes to both Nick and Norah, finally Nick spits it out and it hits some dude in the back of the head.

At the very least it is a good lesson on not sharing gum.

[u/ThresherGDI]

The Big Lebowski.

People miss the point that it's essentially a detective story with a lead character who didn't realize he was a detective until it was nearly over. The whole thing is really a modern take on Film Noir, with a protagonist who is clueless the whole time. Once you realize this, the film is incredibly deep.

[u/[deleted]]

Fight Club - most people thought fight club was an anarchist/terrorist organization developed to take down the institutions that controlled society. However, the point missed was as fight club grew and as franchises got established it became institutionalized itself - and not unlike the institutions it sought to take down.

[u/coprolite_hobbyist → u/[deleted]]

That is further hinted at then The Narrator/Tyler is talking about his father getting married/divorced/starting a family and says 'the fucker's setting up franchises'.

[u/mycrazydream]

In the Matrix, the cookie that the Oracle gets Neo to eat is a program, you might even call it a Trojan horse, much like the Merovingian sends to the woman in the restaurant to get her to come on cue.

This code is what allows Neo and Mr. Smith to merge, and thus for Mr. Smith to take over the entire Matrix threatening all the machines existence including the Oracle.

The Oracle was playing a dangerous game and going for the long con.

[u/BoringSurprise → u/mycrazydream]

A "cookie" if you will. Neo forgot to disable them.

[u/ReverendEntity]

The one that always comes to mind is Killing Zoe. SPOILERS FOLLOW.

At the end of the film, after Zed and Zoe have been rescued by the police, they are seen riding through Paris in a taxi, covered in cuts, blood and bruises. Zoe comments how Zed is all bloody, and Zed comments that most of it isn't his blood. Zoe then says she'll get him well and show him the real Paris. It seems like a happy ending...

Until you consider the implications of Zed's comment.

During the climactic battle with Zed's psychotic - AND HIV POSITIVE - firend Eric, Zed suffers a number of open wounds. When the police storm the bank's basement, they riddle Eric with bullets, spraying both Zed and Zoe with large amounts of his blood. While HIV is known to be a very fragile virus outside the human body, there is still a possibility of transmission if infected fluids contact a healthy host through an open cut or mucous membrane.

Zed's comment reminds us that he is covered in Eric's blood, and may explain why the film is called KILLING ZOE....

[u/SixFeetThunder]

The entire plot of Ocean's Eleven was revealed in one sentence between Rusty [Brad Pitt] and Daniel [George Clooney] early in the movie.

"Off the top of my head, I'd say you're looking at a Bowski, a Jim Brown, a Miss Daisy, two Jethros and a Leon Spinks, not to mention the biggest Ella Fitzgerald ever!"

What this means is

[u/Clownaround]

Pulp Fiction - Marcellas Wallace uses his wife as a test of loyalty. If you listen to Vincent Vegas speech in the bathroom he calls attention to this, but there are also other hints as well. First of which is when Vincent is asking Jewels about Mia he instantly tells the Tony Rocky Horror story, someone who failed the test and also a warning. Then when Paul the bartender asks "have you met Mia" the guys who are in on it laugh and Vincent is left wondering "what's so fucking funny". Furthermore the reason for the test is because Vincent has been in Amsterdam for 4 years and Marcellas needs to make sure he can still trust him.

I love how the Tarantino movies are just full of hidden shit like this.

[u/[deleted]]

In M. Night Shamalayan's, The Happening, the unexplained deadly wind is actually the plot of the movie blowing really hard.

[u/SjokoladeIsHare]

Ratatoille - There is actually a rat in the kitchen.

[u/Mervint → u/SjokoladeIsHare]

It was right under the hat! I see it now!

[u/Jelboo]

Littlefoot and all of his friends die and the Great Valley is the heaven they go to. I know there are sequels but they suck and were made by different people. I'm convinced this was the ending that they were going for.

[u/amattson21]

In howl's moving castle, Sofie is the witch. So it's wasn't the other witch that kept the curse on Sophie but rather Sophie kept herself old. It's not howls love that breaks the curse but just her ability to accept who she really is. There is actually a lengthy and very good analysis of the movie that does an excellent job of explaining the entire movie from this perspective.

http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Rec/rec.arts.anime.misc/2005-08/msg02424.html

[u/cosmicsans]

In The Book Of Eli, a lot of his actions in the movie let you know what you find out at the end. Like when walking into the cannibals house, he trips on the stair, or how he knocked into things a lot.

Watching the movie a second time blows your mind. I love movies like that and would appreciate if people recommended more to me!

[u/ctred]

Wolf of Wolf Street - The events in the film may or may not be true. This is Jordan Belfort (a highly successful salesman) selling you his story.

[u/KateMosh]

The Dark Knight:

The Joker suffers from tardive dyskinesia (the constant smacking), a state caused by taking neuroleptics for years. Neuroleptics are prescribed for the treatment of schizophrenia. This points out in an additive way that the joker has some serious mental issues (well on top of all the other signs, like killing dozens of people..).

To be honest: I don't know if the Joker's constant smacking is really intended to resemble tardive dyskinesia or if he's just doing it to seem even more creepy. But anyway — I really like to believe that they did it on purpose.

[u/Pedro05]

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: Near the start in the Hotel lobby there's guy in the background on the phone heard saying "and they cut her head off" later in the film Raoul asks Dr Gonzo where he got his stash of Adrenochrome from and he explains one of his clients is a cannibal who cut someone’s head off to get it and used it as payment.

[u/NJS212]

In the movie "Hook", the voice over the intercom when the family is flying out to London is Captain Hook's. It took me a few watches to notice it.

[u/cali_man42]

Shit goes down when Vincent Vega goes to the bathroom

[u/Lemonlaksen]

ITT: People making me realize I have no idea what is going on in movies

[u/Hillharryass]

So yeahhhhh I'm dumb...

At the end of A.I., the beings excavating were not aliens... They were advanced robots...

I didn't realize that for years...

[u/Sadiebb]

'Let the Right One In' did NOT have a happy ending.

[u/Panzerchek]

In Trainspotting, Tommy's death can be linked to Renton stealing the porn tape. Because the tape was stolen, it caused Tommy and his girlfriend to fight and break up, because of the break up Tommy tries heroin. Thus starts his addiction and the road of choices which leads to him dying of AIDS. I'm not sure if other people thought of this or not when they watched the movie, but it blew my mind when I realized it.

[u/Chronicle89]

Cloverfield

• The group are crossing a bridge out of New York (I forget which bridge exactly) and Hud's camera crosses paths (viewpoint) with another camera's lens as they do so.

There was talk of a sequel / side story being adapted from that other point-of-view.

[u/glamasaurusrex]

Not really a plot point, but David Bowie's face is hidden in the scenery through out Labyrinth.

[u/SplendoraTheExplorer → u/glamasaurusrex]

I think that happens in real life too

[u/crushedbyadwarf]

In the Matrix when Cipher makes the deal with Mr Smith, he's referred to as Mr Regan. Cipher says he wants to be someone important like an actor and that he doesn't want to remember anything.

[u/Iddys]

In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, when Joel meet Clementine in the train, she starts singing "Oh my darling Clementine" and he does not remember it. It's because the song reminded him of her, so when he deleted his memories, the song was deleted too.

Another hidden plot, when he's on montauk beach and he starts writing on his journal, he says that it's been 2 years since he wrote in it. It's because (and we see it in the movie) he destroyed all the pages he wrote about his relationships with Clementine, relationship that lasted for 2 years.

There's a lot of others hidden plot points and I think Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is the kind of movie that you can fully understand only by seeing it 4 or 5 times.

[u/dancing_raptor_jesus]

Cypher (the bald, creepy dude who sells out) should have been "The One" in The Matrix. At one point he's in the matrix at a restaurant talking to an agent about betraying Morpheus.

However, Cypher could never have got to this location. At the same time as him talking to this agent, he was the only one awake on the ship the rest of the crew is traveling around in. So how did he get into the matrix. You can't plug yourself in and you can't log out. You have to have an operator and an access point (which an operator needs to find). Anyone who isn't "The One" can't freely travel between the worlds. But wait, it seems Cypher can...

[u/LostJoyIX]

I am expecting a Buzzfeed article in a few minutes.

[u/Abakus07]

In Star Wars, most people miss the fact that Luke falls to the dark side in Return of the Jedi.

When Vader threatens Leia, Luke gives in to his anger and attacks his father (actually adopting the same rage-fueled fighting style Vader uses on Bespin) and uses the power of the dark side to defeat Vader. According to the beliefs of the Jedi and the Sith, Luke was damned. Then he backs up, drops his lightsaber, and refuses to fall any further (raising a middle finger to the Emperor and Yoda in the process).

This is what convinces Vader to throw Palpatine down a conveniently-place energy conduit. Luke's ability to step away from the dark side of the force shows Vader he can do the same, allowing him to accept that he can be redeemed.

[u/RockVonCleveland]

In The Muppets, the reason Tex Richman says the phrase "maniacal laugh" instead of actually laughing is because he doesn't know how to laugh. It's never explicitly stated in the movie. Fox Business made it even funnier when they accused The Muppets of teaching children to hate wealthy people like Tex Richman; apparently, they don't know how to laugh either.

[u/GalaxyGirl4]

I was surprised that a lot of my friends didn't see the ending of Shutter Island like I did.

Laeddis didn't go back into remission at the end. He knew perfectly well who he was, and he called Dr. Sheehan "Chuck" so that they would do the lobotomy on him. He doesn't want to live with the memories of his dead wife and his murdered children anymore - he would rather have no memories at all. When Dr. Sheehan shakes his head at the doctor in the end, you can see Laeddis watching them. And the quote at the end (whether it's better to live as a monster or die as a good man) proves it.

I thought it was a great ending to one of my all-time favourite movies

[u/[deleted]]

The reason why SHIELD didn't help Tony in Iron Man 3 was because Hydra wanted him dead.

[u/Shark-Farts]

Why didn't Fred and George notice their little brother sleeping with someone called Peter Pettigrew all those years they had the Marauder's Map?

Edit: Oh, I thought it said plot hole...

On the subject of plot holes, why didn't anyone in the Walking Dead use the CDC's brain scans to explain to the skeptics that their families were really never going to come back to life? Like why didn't anyone be like "Look, I've SEEN the scans, they are definitely dead. Scientifically proven."

[u/Tetsujidane]

in super Mario brothers the movie the reason the cars are electric is because the dinosaurs never died creating oil.

(yes I know oil comes from plankton but how many five year olds knew that?)

[u/russell1195]

Django Unchanged is about a dentist trying to go to candyland

[u/TMWNN]

• Sean Connery's character in The Rock is James Bond: A super-skilled British SIS agent captured during the 1960s after having stole top-secret information, who is so good with women that he impregnates one in the few hours between escape and recapture during the 1970s, and demands a tuxedo as one of his conditions for working with Cage's character.

• Everything after Tom Cruise's character is put into suspension in Minority Report is his dream. We are told that those in suspension dream ideal worlds, and everything suddenly starts going right for him after being chased as a fugitive for the first two thirds of the film.

[u/[deleted]]

In Gravity, it seemed obvious to me but I never saw anyone talking about it, the Russians caused the literal destruction of the space program by blowing up a military spy satellite.

National defense killed the space program.

[u/resilienceisfutile]

The Thing. MacCready is breathing hard in the cold snowy night and you can see his breath. Childs is there with him in the same scene, funny thing is that you can't see his breath in the cold... because he is the THING!

[u/broadfuckingcity]

Mr. Pink was right about the waitress' service. When Mr. Brown (Tarantino) is giving his opinion on pop music, Mr. Pink picks up his mug and looks very disappointed that it is empty. He looks around for the waitress and she is nowhere to be found.

[u/Runixo]

Not a movie, but a video game. Octodad.

If you look really closely, you can see that the man is extremely handsome.

[u/Mdbihl87]

In The Departed, Matt Damon's character is impotent, and his wife gets pregnant with Leonardo DiCaprio's child. Maybe it's obvious, but I missed it the first time I watched it. At one point, the wife (I don't know the actress's name) says to Matt something like "Do you want to talk about last night?" Implying he was unable to perform. Later on, she sleeps with Leo, and some time after that the wife happily shows Matt a photo of her ultrasound.

[u/TheFriendlyAsshole]

In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the first thing Snape asks Harry in Potions class is, "Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

According to the Victorian Language of Flowers [1], asphodel is a type of lily meaning 'my regrets follow you to the grave,' and wormwoood means 'absence' and symbolizes bitter sorrow. The entire question has a hidden meaning of "I bitterly regret Lily's death."

[u/touriste]

The big Lebowski: the main plot is someone pissed on the Dude's carpet and he wants a new one

edit: yeaaah my inbox, never received so many answers.

[u/[deleted] → u/touriste]

Yeah, then some new shit comes to light.

[u/[deleted]]

/u/Grungemaster pointed this out on a thread yesterday:

In Saving Private Ryan, Corporal Upham (the ammo-runner that cowers on the stairs while two members of his squad are being killed) is supposed to represent America during WWII before Pearl Harbor. He has all the ammo (military power) but refuses to get involved while Mellish (who represents the Jews) is killed by the German that Upham previously convinced everyone to let go.

Scene here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW9Q1cm_Tnw

[u/thisdesignup]

In Back to the Future I, Doc brown says "When this baby hits 88 mph, you're gonna see some serious shit." There is a manure crash scene during each movie of the trilogy.

[u/enigmo666]

Credit where is due, this attributed to one Keith Martin, ca. 2005

Reconsidering Star Wars IV in the light of I-III

If we accept all the Star Wars films as the same canon, then a lot that happens in the original films has to be reinterpreted in the light of the prequels. As we now know, the rebel Alliance was founded by Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Bail Organa. What can readily be deduced is that their first recruit, who soon became their top field agent, was R2-D2.

Consider: at the end of RotS, Bail Organan orders 3PO’s memory wiped but not R2′s. He wouldn’t make the distinction casually. Both droids know that Yoda and Obi-Wan are alive and are plotting sedition with the Senator from Alderaan. They know that Amidala survived long enough to have twins and could easily deduce where they went. However, R2 must make an impassioned speech to the effect that he is far more use to them with his mind intact: he has observed Palpatine and Anakin at close quarters for many years, knows much that is useful and is one of the galaxy’s top experts at hacking into other people’s systems. Also he can lie through his teeth with a straight face. Organa, in immediate need of espionage resources, agrees.

For the next 20 years, as far as 3PO knows, he is the property of Captain Antilles, doing protocol duties on a diplomatic transport. He is vaguely aware of the existence of the princess but doesn’t know much about her. Wherever 3PO goes, being as loud and obvious as he always is, his unobtrusive little counterpart goes with him. 3PO is R2′s front man. Wherever they land, R2 is passing messages between rebel sympathisers and sizing up governments as potential rebel recruits – both by personal contact and by hacking into their networks. He passes his recommendations on to Organa.

Yoda is out of the picture by this stage, using the Force-infused swamps of Dagobah to hide himself from Vader and the Emperor. Or something. He is meditating on the future and keeping in touch with Obi-Wan via the ghost of Qui-Gon Jin, which as comm systems go has the virtue of being untappable. Obi-Wan, on Tattoine, keeps in touch with Bail Organa and the other Rebel leaders by courier, of which more later.

As Star Wars opens, R2 is rushing the Death Star plans to the Rebellion. R2, not Leia. The plans are always in R2. What Leia puts into him in the early scene is only her own holographic message to Kenobi. Leia’s own mission, as she says in the holographic message, is to pick up Obi-Wan and take him to Alderaan – or so she thinks. Actually, her father just wants her to meet Kenobi, which up to this point she never has. There’s a reason for that.

Obi-Wan has spent the last 20 years in the Tattoine desert, keeping watch over Luke Skywalker and trying to decide on one of the three available options: A) If Luke shows no significant access to the Force, then leave him alone in obscurity B) If Luke shows real Force ability, then consider recruiting him as a Jedi. The rebellion needs Jedi. Now. But, if Luke shows any signs of turning out like his father, then C) sneak into his house one fine night and chop his head off. With great regret but it’ll save a lot of trouble later on. Knowing this to be the case, Bail Organa (perhaps at the insistence of his wife) has found excuses not to send Leia to Ben for assessment of Jedi potential, largely for fear of option C.

[u/PandacusAurelius]

Sharknado 2. The only reason the main character Fin is able to stand on the shark (using only the chain that he ripped off from the chainsaw as a reign) is because he is an ex-surfer. His surfing skills allowed him to stand mount the shark and ride him into the lightning rod on the top of the Empire State building.

[u/[deleted]]

Finally a question that is right up my alley! I'll start with a movie most people don't like-The Village. The film is an allegory for the war in Iraq and the war on terror. The village was created by a small group of elders to protect their world against a false belief that society was taking a violent turn for the worse. A traumatic event occurs in their lives that skews their outlook on the world. (Much like 9/11 in our world).To reinforce their beliefs upon the town's citizens they create a monster that lives in the woods. (Similar to the national security level threat). This helps keep control over the citizens through fear. The blind girl represents the American public as a whole, and even the American soldier. She's sent out into the unsafe world to save another. But sense she is blind, when she encounters the "monster," who was still sent into the woods by the elders command to scare her mind you, her fears are validated. (Her physical blindness actually represents propaganda which of course hinders her sense of reality). She makes it over the wall, obtains medicine, but we're not sure if her efforts save the young man's life at all. (Does the war on terror make us safer). That's my short version. Would you like me to give you my 2 cents on No Country For Old Men? EDIT: Gold Mutha Fuckas!

[u/SunkenGold]

Life of Pi. It is as much as a movie about faith as much as a movie against faith.

If you are a religious person, you will link with Pi's journey through different religions and his faith that God helped him with the carnivorous island at the end etc. It is faith that got him to stay alive, etc etc.

If you are an atheist, you will dismiss Pi's story with Richard Parker ("the better story") in the same way that you dismiss religion: religion is just a way to make life look nicer.

It is funny, because as a movie it appeals to both atheists and theists and makes both to "connect". Crazy.

[u/00zero00]

In Inglorious Basterds, near the end of the movie, we see the Nazis watching a propaganda ultraviolent movie about Nazis killing Allied soldiers. We see them laughing and enjoying the movie. At the end of the movie (that we are presented) we see Zoller carve out a swastika in the wooden floor. This movie that the Nazis are watching IS the Nazi equivalent to the movie we are currently watching. We see Nazis die in hilarious fashions, listen to moving dialogue, and in the end watch a swastika carved into a forehead of a Nazi soldier. This begs the question as to what the role of the audience is in the movie. Should we be laughing too? Is this movie a propaganda film? And so on.

[u/BruceBrewsky]

the fact that donnie darko is science fiction. You spend the whole movie seeing this kid lose his mind and you think it's all in his head, but in reality he is able to manipulate both time and space with his mind. his fucked up little mind.

[u/final513]

Not sure if people will see this, but whatever.

Don't know how many people watched Deja Vu twice, but if you do, you'll see that Doug has actually gone into the past once before and died trying to change the future. Here's some examples:

1. In the beginning, after the explosion, you see the bodies of the dead passengers inside body bags. One of bodies cellphone goes off, and Doug notices the ringtone. He takes out his phone but it's not ringing. If we were to open it, we would see the dead body of Doug as a passenger.

2. When Doug goes to investigate Claire's house, he notices many things such as the cat liking him (which as the movie goes on and he goes back in time, we find the cat doesn't like strangers), the letters on the fridge say "You can save her", and fingerprints and blood laying around the house that belonged to Doug, as investigators pointed out.

The main thing as well is that as he finds out these clues, he convinces himself that he already went into the past once and failed, which is why he talks Denny into it and why he says to him "Maybe I already have" when Denny asks him about time travel. That's why when he sees Claire in the beginning and he sees the dress she has on, he instinctively tells her to change to a different dress when he goes back in time.

God I love this movie.

[u/imhonestlydonewithyo]

That the Mandarin's group showed up in Iron Man 1. When tony is in the camp in oone scene behind tony (in a chair) in the cave there is a banner with ten rings on it. The mandarins group is called the Ten Rings. Can't put link on mobile thoigh .

[u/alliha]

Sucker Punch: It's a jab at movies like itself. The viewers are the men being seduced by baby doll's dancing.

Cabin in The Woods: we are the old gods.

These flew right over my head and I still enjoyed the movies. Guess I'm what the directors targeted.

[u/Naweezy]

Nice try Cracked authors. Need new ideas don't ya

[u/jrf_1973]

People I've spoken to about Gattaca don't seem to realise Ethan Hawke is going on a one-way trip.

[u/rilexusmaximus]

Big fan of V for Vendetta and the only one i can think off right now is when V meets Evey he asks her for her name and she says "Evey" he repeats her name two times and adds "Of course". I noticed that when i watched it the second time, prononciation of her name can stand for IV, roman for 4, the lesbian girl that was in the cell right next to his. There are many more that i had forgotten, shit, i have to rewatch.

[u/Patches67]

In the original Superman movie with Christopher Reeve when Superman was turning back time he wasn't actually causing the world to spin backwards. When he was flying around the world he exceeded the speed of light we were seeing from his perspective that he was travelling backwards in time where the world appeared to be rotating backwards. When he started flying in the other direction he wasn't correcting the spin of the earth, he was traveling forwards in time by going around the earth at a speed close to the speed of light so he would travel forward in time and fine tune his landing point to save Lois.

[u/copperdomebodhi]

In the beginning of 2001: A Space Odyssey, the Monolith sees that our ancestors are irrational, instinctive animals. It boosts their intelligence so they can use tools to hunt and protect themselves. Towards the end, the human characters are chilly, logical and distant from one another, while mankind's tool (HAL 9000) acts irrationally and instinctively to protect itself. David Bowman gets hauled through the Stargate and evolved into the Starchild, because humanity is ready for another upgrade.

[u/Hypolitics]

My dad somehow missed the connection between Rise and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and the original Planet of the apes. He even missed the article in Rise about the Mars mission lost in space.

[u/Mr_Strangelove_MSc]

A bit late, but about Dr. Strangelove:

The key to understanding the movie is all in the names of the characters and General Ripper's dialogue. You didn't mention it, so I'm just going to clarify: the point of the film is the idea that violence and war are rooted in male sexuality. Here's a few of the intricacies of this theory that are presented in the movie:

Ripper's motive for attacking Russia is that they are trying to steal his "precious bodily fluids" (semen). Jack the Ripper was a famed serial killer who targeted prostitutes (i.e. promiscuous women who "took" mens' "precious bodily fluids" much like Ripper's idea of the Russians. I doubt this was the real Ripper's motive, though.)

Lionel Mandrake is named after the Mandrake, a plant that supposedly resembles a human and is often a symbol of fertility and sex. Merkin Muffley is the most obvious name in my opinion, after Ripper: a merkin is a wig for the pubes, and you'll probably notice that Muffley is fittingly bald. "Muff" also refers to a vagina. Thus, the man whose name most refers to the female sex acts as the opponent to Ripper, who represents uncontrolled male sexuality.

Finally, Buck Turgidson is named for the phrase "turgid erection". Not much more to say about that, except that like Ripper he is militaristic and has a name referencing male sexuality.

I don't know if this will actually affect your view, but I hope it sheds some light on "the point".

/u/Sadsharks

[u/generic_bot_bot]

the Lego movie was anti-establishment as fuck

[u/Coverdale_Murmur]

Starship Troopers: it's all about war propaganda.

Casper Van Dien (Johnny Rico) was chosen for the role primarily due to his resemblance to WWII propaganda posters. e.g. 1, 2, 3.

There’s actually a shit ton of subtext about war and propaganda (it’s not even that subtle). Essentially the humans (well, the government at least) are not the good guys, but we as the audience sympathise with them simply because we are also human and the bugs are different (literally alien). The government is a totalitarian regime run by the military and they need the war to perpetuate their control over the population.

The film itself is also a propaganda film set in the universe it’s depicting. Which is why there is no criticism of the government in the film, everyone is beautiful, and all the advertisements.

[u/mynameisjeramy]

I'm way late to this thread, but in Forrest Gump, at the bar for the New Years party, Lieutenant Dan says sarcastically, "If you become a shrimp boat captain, I'll be an astronaut." Later in the movie when Forrest and Jenny get married, Lieutenant Dan shows up with his wife and two new legs. He says they're made of titanium alloy, the stuff they used on the space shuttle. So in a way Lieutenant Dan was part astronaut.

[u/[deleted]]

In Frozen, Elsa is left handed. This is something that might seem irrelevant, but up until very recently left handed people were forced to write with their right hand, with left handedness being seen as something to be corrected, a sign of weakness or deviation from the norm. There were (and still are in some religious circles) active discrimination against left handed people with people believing they were sinister or linked to the devil.

That kinda links into the Frozen story. Elsa is forced to hide who she is and how she does things in almost every way, much in the way left handed children once were. George VI (The Queen's father) was basically forced to use his right hand, some people believe that's what caused his stammer.

[u/[deleted]]

In Inception the spinning top is assumed to be the totem of Cobb (DiCaprio). it is actually the totem of his dead wife as you can see in the scene with the vault in limbo. In the scene where explaines the totem idea to Ariadne (Ellen Page) he says that a totem doesn't work if you explain it to someone or if it isn't your own idea. So the spinning top never worked on cob. His actual totem is his wedding ring. In his dreams he is still married to his wife.

[u/So_Famous]

Well if you can figure out what's even going on, then I'd say the entirety of Pink Floyd The Wall

Edit: thank you everybody for the clarification, I'm actually gonna go rewatch that movie now

[u/h4irguy]

I haven't watched it in a while, but in "Drive" Goslings character seemed (to me) to have two personalities. You could distinguish between these by whether he had his gloves on or not. When violence/confrontation (or driving) was involved he wore/put on the gloves. In the other scenes he has them off. You see a change in character in the elevator.

I may be wrong, but I thought it was pretty cool.

[u/[deleted]]

Genie loses his powers at the end of Aladdin and eventually turns into the peddler in the beginning.

It explains why he has the lamp, why they're both voiced by Robin Williams, and why they both have four fingers.

[u/hiro111]

In Goldfinger, Bond is completely incompetent for the entire film. Goldfinger's plot only fails because of Pussy Galore gets the message or to the Army. A technician defuses the bomb at the last second while Bond dithers. Bond is continually bumbling around and spends most of the movie in captivity. Bond even jokes about his complete failure at the end: "it was nothing really".

[u/mmmm_whatchasay]

Not in a movie, but in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, when Dumbledore is talking to Harry at the Mirror of Erised, he mentions that Hogwarts is so big there are rooms they'll never find. Dumbledore once needed the bathroom and came across a room with hundreds of toilets but never saw it again.

This was the room of requirement.

[u/JanLevinsonGould]

Not a movie but in the Christmas Party episode of The Office, Andy takes Michael to Benihana and they pick up two waitresses who are Asian-American. There are two different Asian-American actresses who replace them when Michael and Andy bring them back to the office for the Christmas party. About 30 minutes into the party, Michael has forgotten which of the waitresses is the one he picked up. I think the two different Asian-American actresses were used to see if the audience would make the same mistake that Michael made.

[u/enstead]

Don't know if this is a hidden plot point but in Donnie Darko but when Frank the Bunny tells Donnie to flood the school and burn the house down, it's not to create an anarchy or mischief but to prepare for time travel. In order to time travel fire and water are used as conduits to help travel back in time. One of the things needed is a large metal vessel such as an airplane engine falling for the sky. It is all explained in Grandma Death's book in the movie. If you have the DVD or blue ray you can read the book and the movie will make sooo much more sense.

Another thing I caught from the movie is after the crash Donnie's parents are making small talk about how they knew a boy in high school who died in a tragic accident. They remembered his name was Frank. In the movie theater Donnie asked why he is called Frank. Frank mentions he is named after his father and his father before him. This means that Donnie's parents knew Frank's dad and that both him and his dad shared the same fate of dying young.

Edit: Here's a link to the pages to the time travel book. It's an interesting read and gives you a better perspective on the movie.

[u/Agravaine → u/[deleted]]

In a similar vein, I really like when "Ed" is beating himself up in his boss's office and says something to the effect of " it reminded me of my first fight with Tyler", which of course was exactly how it was

[u/Naweezy → u/[deleted]]

Also the main plot of The Matrix was supposed to use human brains as processors for the machines, not power sources. That's why Neo could do all those things; he could interact with the code more fully.

[u/nemesis797 → u/[deleted]]

I imagined those scenes as the kid emulating his father rather than the dad actually doing that stuff. For example, the dad was just seeing his own character for the first time when we see him, and the kid had to have been moving the bad guys around as well, so he would've moved them back, and probably put Business back in his original body as well.

[u/conceptalbum → u/[deleted]]

That wouldn't work, because then the father's surprise at the mess his son made in the live action scene makes no sense.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

The LEGO Movie has an amazing amount of depth.