Before Chris Hemsworth was famous as the Marvel hero Thor, he splashed onto the scene playing Captain Kirk’s father George in Star Trek . The 2009 reboot saw George killed in battle aboard the USS Kelvin, but his legacy, and that of the ship, lived on. In the sequel, fans were probably too busy trying to make sense of the bomb plot and blood transfusions to notice that the scene of the disaster was the Kelvin Memorial Archive. Named for Kirk’s ship, it means the destruction of the Kelvin set the plots of both films in motion – a subtle nod that only the diehard fans might have cau
Gore Verbinski’s remake of this Japanese horror film takes the idea that watching movies affects us, and stretches it to a terrifying extreme. The meta concept is reinforced when single frames from the haunted videotape flash up during other scenes in the movie. Again, not all copies of the film feature the same frames. But fans can all catch a flash of The Ring at the very start of the movie, where it meshes with the crescent moon in the DreamWorks logo. These hidden frames are worth re-watching the movie all on their website own – just don’t answer the phone when you’re finis
Trading a human or animal star for a robotic one, Wall-E was a major turning point for Pixar as a whole, relying less on dialogue than ever before. Set in a future where mankind has turned Earth into one massive landfill and headed into space, Wall-E is just one maintenance robot left behind. He’s put his time to good use, too, collecting dozens of trinkets and souvenirs to store in his home. When Wall-E first enters his house in the movie, one Toy Story character can be seen hidden behind a pair of bowling pins. How Rex managed to survive the man-made end of the world isn’t clear, but if he survived, then it stands to reason Woody and the gang were still alive off-screen as w
When Pixar was made an official branch of Walt Disney Animation, the tradition of Easter Eggs and cameos was just one thing both studios could agree on – even if it made no sense to the story being told. It’s strange enough that among the wooden carvings being sold by the Witch in Brave is the same Pizza Planet delivery truck included in every Pixar film. But the image of Sully, the furry star of the wildly successful Monsters, Inc. shows that even witches need to worry about what’s hiding in their clo
Did you know that Cloverfield contains a King Kong cameo? Matt Reeves’ found footage monster movie is well known for its shaky, stuttering handheld camcorder, and in between cuts and flickers the director inserted single frames from classic monster movies like King Kong , The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and Them! Whether they were put there to disturb the audience without them realising it, or just as an homage to the kind of movies that inspired Cloverfield , these flashes are a fun subliminal secret that can only be seen if you slow the scenes d
It seems Disney animators never miss a chance to fill crowd scenes with iconic characters from other movies and cartoons. When King Triton assembles the underwater masses in the opening scene of The Little Mermaid , eagle-eyed viewers can spot Donald Duck, Goofy, and Mickey Mouse in the crowd. And it isn’t just Disney mascots who get in on the fun, either: Kermit the Frog can be seen just a few rows behind t
For those not versed in Harry Potter mythology, we’ll just say that to bring down Lord Voldemort, the three Deathly Hallows were sort of an important combination. It wasn’t until the second last book that audiences learned that a cloak, stone, and Elder Wand held the key to victory, but the idea was teased ahead of time. As in, two full movies ahead of time. In one of the franchise’s best easter eggs, Dumbledore tells Harry that he’s been searching for such a detail that held the secret to defeating Voldemort – but the answer is literally right in front of him, in the form of a 3D version of the Deathly Hallows symbols stored in his own off
Subliminal messaging isn’t always about advertising. Some filmmakers use it to try and create a certain emotional effect in their audience, without them consciously knowing why they felt that way. The first thirty minutes of Gaspar Noé’s film Irreversible contains an extremely low frequency background noise that is virtually inaudible to humans, but capable of causing uneasiness and nausea. Noé deliberately inserted the noise into his soundtrack to make people feel sensations of disgust while watching his movie. But trust us – it’s far from the only disturbing part of the mo
The idea that humanity’s idea of reality is decaying, or is already erased wasn’t a totally original thought when The Matrix hit theaters. Once Neo is removed from his artificial life, Morpheus shows him the world as it really is – welcoming him “to the desert of the real.” That line is taken word for word from “Simulacra and Simulation” by philosopher Jean Baudrillard, a book that can be seen in Neo’s apartment. Considering his search for meaning, it’s no coincidence that the book is opened to a chapter “On Nihilism” – the belief that… all beliefs are meaningless. Eventually, the philosophy changes, with Neo accepting that he is “The One,” and even being resurrected by the ‘Holy Trini