HP3 is by far the best-directed of the Harry Potter films.
Not just the sixth sense, shyamalan loves to telegraph scenes by using stark colors (and other tricks). Try watching Unbreakable with this in mind.
Actually, you’d be surprised at what weapons are not actually banned by law or treaty (at least, not banned to the US military). Mind you, some weapons just aren’t very practical, or worth the backlash you’d get for actually using them, such as nukes. Or in cases like flamethrowers, just not a lot of situations where they’re very practical (battlefield flamethrowers are big and heavy and don’t have nearly the range of a rifle. From what I understand, they don’t explode nearly as easy as the ones in movies tend to though.)
EDIT: Another one, from the movie ‘‘El Dorado’’, starring John Wayne and Robert Mitchum (and speaking of Godfather, it also stars a young James Caan, playing the plucky sidekick to The Duke).
Anyhow, one of the characters is a tomboyish cow-herder’s daughter, Joey MacDonald. Early in the movie, she has the distinction of being pretty much the only character to put a slug in The Duke (and she’s a GOOD guy. A feisty, ravishing-looking good guy. But let’s not get distracted here.) John Wayne gets up, grumps up to her, grabs her rifle and throws it into a river and tells her to go home. She gets on her horse, starts to ride away, then stops. John Wayne stops and turns to see why she stopped (she was behind him, after all), and she leans down from the horse and grabs her rifle out of the water before riding off. First off: The Duke heard her stop and immediately turned to make sure she wasn’t going to go for another shot at him, because he’s not a moron. Second off, rather than get off the horse, or just forget about the (probably very nice and potentially expensive) rifle, she leans down and grabs it, using the stirrup for pretty much what the stirrup is designed to do, to let you get off the horse without getting *off *the horse. Nice touch.
There’s a very subtle color related trick in “The Cook, The Thief, His Wife And Her Lover”. In the restaurant, the various rooms’ decor are coloured to indicate various themes and emotions.
There are several sequences where Helen Mirren walks between the rooms,and as she passes through doors her outfit seamlessly changes colour to match the decor of the room she’s entering, but remains identical in every other respect.
In Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, while the Fellowship is crossing Caradhras, Legolas’s steps doesn’t leave a trail in the snow, unlike everyone else
One of my favorite mini-series was 1977’s “Jesus of Nazareth”. The opening scene in the first part takes place near the end of a service in Nazareth’s synagogue. After the reading of the Torah has finished it is placed in a small alcove set into the wall, with a curtain to close it off until it’s brought out again.
Later, when Jesus has been born, Joseph sets him in a similar alcove in the cave/stable wall, and hangs a piece of cloth in front of it.(Not sure if he put it there or it was there already. Then the shepherds come to see the child, and Joseph pulls the “curtain” aside to reveal the baby.
A nice touch, identifying the baby with the Word of God.
In Inception, the first three scenes with the new Architect have her in the three primary colors. I thought it was a nice touch as she’s set to be their new dream creator. It isn’t mentioned or referenced, but it does make a nice subtle impression.
One thing that struck me in that flick was the shot Kubrick used of Jack taking an axe to the door. The camera pans back and forth to follow the axe. This used to annoy me and I thought, “Geez, Stan. Just pull back a little and get the whole length of the axe stroke in the shot.” But on later viewings I realized how much crazed energy his method brings to the scene. We practically feel the impact of the axe striking the door. And the shot goes on long enough to get the continuous rhythm of the door being smashed to pieces. BAM! BAM! BAM! It really puts a sense of panic in you.
I also have to give them kudos for showing the phalanx “shove” where all the men push on each other. Moviemakers traditionally like to open up their fight scenes so individual actors can maneuver freely, but that wouldn’t have been accurate, and anyway the champions will face off in single combat soon enough. But the massed phalanx locks shields together and steps forward all with the same foot, grunting. It might not be entirely realistic but it was a more serious attempt to portray realism than I expected.
Of course, Homer depicts combat as basically a bunch of one-on-one showdowns between the main characters as well, so its not just modern Hollywood that chooses drama over realism.
Plus, I don’t think Mycenean Greeks actually used the phalanx, so really the makers of Troy used a realisitic depiction of military tactics from Homers time, but not the ones that Homer described and not the ones that would’ve actually taken place in the putative time of the Trojan War. Realism is fickle 
Agree it was a pretty good movie though.
No, I think Ramius knew well of Tupolev’s affection for him, and was hoping it might make him hesitate. Putin was not in the plan, though, so Ramius was not about to share that. And Putin was the slimy political guy, so Ramius could not afford for him to think any less of Tupolev’s dedication, lest it get sent back up the chain that Tupolev was more loyal to the traitor Ramius than he is to the Rodina…
Simply “not-banned” hell, the Colonial Marines were apparently carrying around nerve gas in their APC. (In all fairness, though, the gas canister’s might have been in the dropship, or back on the Sulaco. Though the context made it sound like they were pretty close at hand.)
Actually, on that note…the Marines’ pulse rifles were explicitly said to use explosive ammunition. I think that’s actually prohibited by the Hague Convention of 1899. (I really do need to open a GQ on which of those are still considered binding…I’m pretty sure “dropping explosives from flying machines” isn’t considered a war crime, anymore)
In Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon during the showdown fight in the sanctuary between Shu Lien and Jen, Michelle Yeoh opens with a lovely feint and strike that Zhang Ziyi falls for and just barely manages to block.
The shock on Ziyi’s face is perfectly acted, and the opening move perfectly communicates Yeoh’s thoughts as “I’m done putting up with your whiny shit, little girl, and I don’t care about your snazzy sword. Time to get schooled!”
I always liked the scene in The Hunt for Red October in which the submarine is going down this canyon towards a wall and everyone is panicking that they’re going to crash. Meanwhile Ramius is standing there, mouthing numbers as he calculates when to make the turn.
You’ll probably enjoy this mirror related shot from Contact. Even knowing it is there I have to be concentrating to see it.
That scene is pretty much my favorite scene in the entire movie. Probably some of Basil Poledouris’s best work too, short of “Klendathu Drop” from Starship Troopers.
But yeah, the two officers making the canyon run, the guy not in charge of navigation is getting stressed out, talking about how the maps are designed with the assumption that you are going at a set speed at a set depth, and his friend calmly says basically the most badass thing in the entire movie:
"Stop pissing, Yuri. Give me a stopwatch and a map, and I’ll fly the Alps in a plane with no windows. " Now THAT is an officer the enlistedmen either follow gladly, or are scared shitless of. 
I also love the bit in that scene where Ramius’s tea starts to slide across his table because the sub is banking, and he just calmly reaches out and catches it. Just a casual little touch to show you how experienced he is. He didn’t snap or scramble for it, he just reached out and got it perfectly, like he’d been doing this for his entire adult life or something. 
It’s the same effect and I missed it in that movie too.
In The Aviator, the colors were manipulated in post-production to mimic the color film stock that would have been in use in Hollywood at the time, and it changes as the film moves to different eras.
This is from a book, not a movie but I think it counts…
In one scene in “Good Omens” the two main characters - a demon and an angel - attend a children’s birthday party. The angels poses as a magician, complete with a dove concealed in his sleeve. During the party the two get soaking wet, with the dove drowning in the process.
Afterwards, when the angel takes the dead bird from his sleeve, it’s the demon who breathes life back into it and let’s it fly away, pretty much absentmindedly.
If they ever do make Good Omens into a movie I’d be really disappointed if they didn’t include that detail.
So, I’m watching Scott Pilgrim again tonight, and there’s a gag early in the movie where Wallace manages to text Scott’s sister while he’s completely drunk passed out unconscious drooling into his pillow. The movie fast-cuts to the next morning, with Wallace waking up, phone still in his hand, and there’s a moment where he just stares at his phone with a “WTF?” look on his face because he had no memory of actually pulling his phone out.