What minor details in movies do you consider, for lack of a better term, really neat?
I’m talking about something that was added in by a writer or possibly improvised by one of the actors that was not originally intended to be part of the film. Here are two examples.
In The Princess Bride during the wedding ceremony, there is a slow camera pan to the altar. Then, for God knows what reason, the priest begins with the words “Ma-wage…” and conducts the entire ceremony in a bizarre Elmer Fudd-esque accent. Pretty cool. Really makes you wonder whose idea that was.
In Death Becomes Her there is a banquet for all of those who have taken the eternal life pill. The emcee makes an announcement along the lines of “And remember, to all of you who have faked your own deaths, no re-appearing in public just to make cheap headlines,” and then there is a cut of The King -Elvis, of course- who mumbles, “Hey, I was just trying to have some fun.” A great touch that really works.
Well, it could hardly have been improvised, but I always loved the bit in Men In Black where Tommy Lee Jones introduces a newly suited Will Smith to a couple of alien brothers - I can hardly even remember whether they were separate entities or two hdeads on one body, but they were definitely a tad octopus-like, were sitting down operating some computer gizmo, and Tommy Lee Jones says, “This is BGLUGK! and Bob…”
Blood Simple – During the first bar scene, the camera slowly travels down the bar towards the actors. It approaches a drunk, passed out on the bar, and the camera neatly rises up and over the drunk and goes merrily on its way.
I’m not even sure if this was on purpose or not, but in Pee Wee’s Big Adventure when Pee Wee gives a lift to the fugitive and their car careens out of control, there is a shot of the car going past some construction barriers. In this shot, you clearly see that the barriers are on wheels and being pulled towards the viewer to give the illusion that the car is moving away. What I thought was neat is that I never noticed it the first time, even though it’s so obvious. It’s so cheesy, but now it cracks me up every time.
The The Princess Bride incident was in the book too. So I figure it was William Goldman’s idea.
Some of my faves:
Disney’s Hercules - as Meg is falling in love with Hercules, she’s kind of denying the emotion and backing away and she backs into a garden sculpture sculpture of Cupid with an arrow; she backs right into the pointy end of the arrow. She feels it, turns to see what poked her, turns back and does this kind of a double take at the absurdity of what just happened. Funniest part of the whole damn movie.
Joe vs The Volcano is a brilliantly written movie by John Patrick Shanley with many subtle elements that don’t reveal themselves until the 2nd or 3rd viewing. The opening sequence reveals Joe and everyone else going to work at their most hated job. The company logo is this stylized lightning bolt that kind of follows Joe through the movie; you see the lightning bolt in several scenes that have nothing to do with the company but always represent something dangerous. Anyway the company walkway is in this shape too. There are countless lifeless, spiritless workers slowly dragging their feet into work. It would be so easy to just cut across the logo walkway and walk straight to the door rather than turn and walk pretty much 2-3 times as far just to follow the logo’s shape. There’s this one guy who goes all the way to the edge of the first bend in the path, and he could be daring and direct and just keep on walking straight to the door rather than to take the turn, but then you see him turn to his right, the mindless drone following the path alongside the other unremarkable bodies being shoved into the office. There is something about that one man that I find so profoundly sad.
okay, this one is going to sound really weird but has anyone seen The Bibleman Adventures: The Incredible Force Of Joy? I bought it as a gag gift for a Jewish friend of mine on his birthday. Well we’re watching this, and it has some deliberately cheesy acting and set design on the part of the bad guys. The bad guy’s assistant/henchman (imagine a bad actor trying to impersonate Keanu Reeves from his Bill & Ted days . . . ouch) is commenting on the echo in their cave hideout. “This cave has a really wicked echo!” Then he goes to test it, and shouts: FALCOR!. We were laughing so hard the first time we saw it that we didn’t hear the echo shout back, ATRAIU!
In “The Usual Suspects,” the nifty moment for me (out of many) is Kevin Spacey lighting the lighter in the detective’s office. It’s a very quick moment, but it works as a wonderful clue.
In Zombie! vs. Mardi Gras I like the scene where the pseudo-intellectual couple are spouting inanities in a diner while Zombie! attacks a man outside the window – and nobody notices.
In Creature Comforts I think having the animal (capybara?) defecate in the bacground is a good touch.
“Once Were Warriors” has many wonderful, deft touches. The one that stands out for me is the look in the eyes of the teenage daughter after being raped by her father’s drinking buddy; it’s only a matter of time before she deals with it the only way she knows how.
I think the way the camera shows, from above, the way the visitors and the hosts line up in opposing V formations at the beginning of Kenneth Branagh’s Much Ado About Nothing is very cool.
I really love the way Richard Dryfuss says “Hamlet. In love. With the duke’s daughter. The duke thinks.” in Rosencranz and Guildenstern Are Dead. (I think it’s “the duke”, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen it.) A lot of people have never even heard of this movie, but it’s a real gem. It stars Richard Dreyfuss, Tim Roth and Gary Oldman.
In Pulp Fiction when Uma Therman is lying on the dealer’s floor and John Travolta is about to stab her in the chest with the big@ss needle, there are several boardgames visible on a table in the background including “The Game of Life” and “Operation”
In Monty Python and the Holy Grail, one of the villagers has shaving cream on his face during the witch-burning scene. He’s only on screen for about half a second, so you have to look at exactly the right moment. I only noticed that around the tenth time that I watched it.
The line that the monks are chanting tranlates to “This is the beginning of the chant, this is the end of the chant”, then they hit themselves on the head. The words in the Holy Hand Grenade scene are exactly the same.
When Sir Robin is travelling alone through the forest, he passes several signs that say things like “Certain death, 3 miles”, and they always point in the direction that he’s travelling. I missed that during my first few viewings.
One of my favorite little touches in a movie is the scene in Jurassic Park where the big T-Rex leans down and peeks inside the car and the girl plays the flashlight over it’s grapefruit-sized eye and the pupil dialates in response to the brightness. Really cool.
That just reminded me of the Jurassic Park scene where Malcolm is in the jeep being chased by the T-rex. He looks in the mirror and all that he can see is a few of the Rex’s teeth. Of course, he also sees the words “objects in mirror are closer than they appear”.
In Memento, Leonard has a tattoo on his abdomen - printed upside-down so he can read it when he looks down - that says, “EAT.”
In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, at one point Indy walks past a drawing on a catacomb wall that depicts the Ark of the Covenant. At that moment, you can hear a few notes of John Williams’ Ark theme from the Raiders score.
In Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Michelle Yeoh is asking Chow Yun Fat why he came back, obviously wanting him to tell her it was because of her (which it was). This is a typical “He’s about to tell her he loves her when he’s interrupted” scene, but it’s filmed differently from most. Early in the scene, we see a servant approaching from the background, unnoticed by either character, so there is never any suspense about whether he will reveal his true feelings; we (the audience) know the whole time that the interruption will come and exactly when it will come, making the whole scene one of sadness. I love it when a director finds a new way to play a stereotypical scene.
In The Bodyguard from Bejing (aka The Defender) Jet Li is the bodyguard of the Christy Chung, girlfreind of a Hong Kong businessman. Li and Chung have fallen in love. In the climactic battle, the villain takes aim at Chung and fires his gun. The boyfriend and Li both race from 8-10 feet behind Chung, outrunning the bullet, the boyfriend chickens out and leaps to the side, and Li jumps in front of Chung, all while the bullet is in the air, taking the bullet intended for her. She catches him, and the villain fires again. As this bullet flies towadrds them, Chung twists around, putting herself in the path; Li, realizing what she has done, turns them again, and takes the second bullet.
I’m also a big fan of the “bullies unwittingly confronting someone way out of their league” moments in action films. There is a good one in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon when Jen is confronted by the bullies outside the bar, and a great one in Kiss of the Dragon, when the pimp beats up Brigitte Fonda, leading to Jet Li telling him “I would very much appreciate it if you don’t do that . . . again.” And the move with the pool ball is very cool.