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I'm sure everyone here knows that Alfred Hitchcock is famous for appearing in cameos in almost all of his films, but in Lifeboat, the entire movie is mostly just the actors in the boat adrift at sea. Hitchcock's cameo comes when one castaway is reading a newspaper. He's a 'before' model in a 'before and after' weight loss ad.
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Nov 5, 2012 17:55
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In One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, there's a scene that makes a big deal about how many of the patients are voluntary and not committed as McMurphy is. At the end, chief breaks out of the institution by lifting the sink that McMurphy had earlier tried to lift but couldn't and smashes his way out. Neither the book nor the film ever establish if Chief was voluntary or committed. It's a subtle moment, one I didn't ponder for years, but an important distinction. I like the ending better believing that Chief could have walked out the front door any time he wanted but chose to lift the sink instead.
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Apr 30, 2013 21:02
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Closet Cyborg posted:It's never directly stated, but in the book he's an unhinged paranoid-schizophrenic, so it's pretty likely that he was involuntarily committed. Really? I just remember that he was deaf and dumb but nothing about "unhinged paranoid-schizophrenic" but it's been a while since I read the book. I know in the movie, they never touch on it much either way. You're right though, the logical assumption is that he's committed just because no one know what to do with a 7 foot tall guy who can't read, write, hear or speak so that certainly makes sense. I just wonder if it was kept open and unstated intentionally to allow for my preferred interpretation of the ending. To contribute: I guess it's not subtle, but I always liked the way they labeled "Beer" and "Food" in Repo Man. There's a few subtle moments and call backs in that movie.
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May 3, 2013 20:45
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mugrim posted:In The Shining, the magazine Jack reads while awaiting his interview to get the job watching the hotel is a Playgirl with a cover story about incest abuse between parents and children. Jack is reading female/gay porn with dozens of people walking around him. Knowing Kubrick this was simultaneously supposed to give you the impression that everyone involved in this has done it before or is not there, and also hinting about Jack's sexual abuse. Those are all great examples of movies filled with subtle moments. Good post. There's a website somewhere devoted to The Shining that deconstructs everything in it almost to the point of insanity, but I watched it again recently and for the first time really noticed the symmetry in almost every single shot. Reminded me of Moonrise Kingdom where every single shot is reflected on the y axis. Shutter Island was pretty great but I doubt I would have enjoyed it as much had I not read the book first, where usually that's the exact opposite situation. I think the book does a better job with the overall set up and the reveal but you're right. When you watch it again all of the clues, facial expressions, tics and non responses really ring out loud.
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Jun 14, 2013 20:13
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RyuujinBlueZ posted:This is pretty much exactly what I was going to note. There's a very fine line between "demanding artist" and "loving insane" and Kubrick was at best dragging his sack right along it for the bulk of his career. There's no denying he was talented as hell, but he also gave zero fucks about the well being of anyone he worked with and people like that are generally not considered to be sane. I'm not sure what the currently accepted psychological term is, but I believe the classic is "motherfucking psychopath". I've heard the same arguments applied to Robert Altman as well. I just re-watched M*A*S*H* and Short Cuts for the first time in a long time, and those movies are filled with "little things". The latter is just crazy with little crossover details that wind up having meaning as the stories develop. I actually see a lot of similarities in style between Altman, Kubrick and, to lesser extent, Anderson. There's a visceral realness in the way that they film things that seems to set in and sort of gel over time and after repeated viewings. Usually, I don't enjoy their films during the first watch but find myself viewing them over and over again anyway to the point where I wind up liking them. Full Metal Jacket comes to mind as the best example.
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Jun 20, 2013 19:38
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Raising Arizona is full of little things and subtle moments. It's even one of the main themes of the film: "it's a hard world for little things." Most Coen Brothers movies are really great at this (A Simple Man, Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men, The Man Who Wasn't There), but Raising Arizona stands out for me, maybe because I've seen it the most times. If I were to watch it again and post while watching it, I'd probably find 50-100 such moments. The stucco ceiling is pretty great. Who would think of that? I like the callback to "FART" that Glen's kid scribbled on the wall earlier, much like the like the palm-ade in the restroom, the constant going back and retrieval of the Dr. Spock book, and "what's he need, his Dip-Tet?" There's a lot of really clever callbacks to dialogue that was spoken or props that were placed around earlier in the film; the grenades on Small's vest, the hole in the ground, the way H.I. calmly and specifically browses for Huggies brand diapers in the midst of committing an armed robbery and, of course, the road runner tattoo, which I suppose isn't all that subtle, but whatever. And look what the internet gave me: In the scene were H.I.’s co-worker is telling him about the wreck (“… there was this spherical object restin’ in the highway, and it wasn’t a piece of the car,”) their coveralls say “Hudsucker Industries.” Nathan Sr. tells the FBI Nathan Jr. was wearing his jammies (“Nobody sleeps naked in this house, boy!” 'They had Yodas and poo poo on em'."), but, in fact, the quints were wearing only diapers. And speaking of Kubrick: The graffiti on the men’s room door at the gas station where Gale and Evelle clean up after releasing themselves on their own recognizance says “P.O.E/O.P.E” That’s a reference Dr. Strangelove. It stands for “peace on Earth” or “purity of essence” and is the code needed to avert the apocalypse. There's so, so much more. I need to watch this movie again. Fun and coincidental fact: My real name is Herbert (like H.I.) and my son's name is Nathan. I smile when I think about that. Sadly though, my wife's name is not Edwina.
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Jun 25, 2013 19:48
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Rabbit Hill posted:I've never seen Raising Arizona, so I'm curious -- "It's a hard world for little things" is a line from The Night of the Hunter. Are there other Night of the Hunter references in the movie? Not that I know of, beyond that line, but it reminds me a little bit of the themes of No Country for Old Men and A Simple Man, come to think of it. Also, go watch Raising Arizona right now. In fact, go watch every Coen Brothers movie and report back to the thread.
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Jul 1, 2013 19:35
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deoju posted:re: Space Balls, Combing the desert That wasn't exactly subtle. And by "not subtle" I mean that was the joke.
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Jul 1, 2013 23:41
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benito posted:Produce David Lynch's The Elephant Man in 1980. Beaten. I just watched a Mel Brooks documentary on PBS yesterday and wondered if anyone knew this.
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Jul 2, 2013 19:51
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I'm not sure how subtle it is but I never caught it before. In Boogie Nights during the pool party scene, a kid calls asking for "Maggie" and says she's his mother but nobody can find her or knows who she is. Later on, during her custody hearing, "Maggie" turns out to be Amber Waves (Julianne Moore) but nobody at the party knew that because they all knew each other by their porn names. Boogie Nights gets better the more times you watch it and there's a lot of little stuff in it.
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Jul 16, 2013 21:54
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Is it wrong that I find it hilarious to be discussing subtlety in a movie that's basically Transformers/Ultra Man/Johnny Socko's Flying Robot fighting Godzilla and King Ghidorah? I'll cop to not having seen Pacific Rim yet (and I want to) but I'm not going into it expecting Kubrick levels of subtlety. Or any subtlety, really. Cause, you know, giant monsters vs. giant robots and poo poo.
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Jul 18, 2013 00:06
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VanSandman posted:Shutter Island is one of those movies that really demands a rewatch after you've seen it the first time. I like movies like that, especially when I don't see the telegraphed twist coming. Agreed. Momento is like that too. I'd already read Shutter Island before I saw the film so I knew the twist but still wanted to re-watch it. The Sixth Sense falls into this category s well. It's a whole different experience re-watching them once you know the reveal and you can watch them with new eyes.
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Jul 29, 2013 20:50
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I know The Ladykillers isn't everyone's favorite Coen Brothers movie, but I like it. I watched it again today and I love the way the facial expression of painted portrait of the old lady's deceased husband hanging above above the fireplace changes every time it's shown.
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Aug 9, 2013 21:23
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I watched the beginning of The Simpsons Movie yesterday and in the opening sequence in outer space, they briefly pan by the famous "smiley face" image from mars.
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Aug 16, 2013 22:32
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Anyone here ever see The Player? Holy poo poo is that movie filled with subtle moments. The entire opening shot is like 10 minutes long with no cuts and at the end of it, the studio lot security guy starts bitching about how modern movies are all "cut, cut, cut." Then it cuts. Later, when Griffen Mills brings June Gudmundsdottir to the party, you can overhear someone saying "I don't know who she is. Somebody's daughter or something." There so much great poo poo in this movie. I've seen it probably 10 times and I always pick up something new whenever I re-watch it, from a poster in the background to a cameo I hadn't recognized earlier.
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Aug 22, 2013 22:05
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Dr Scoofles posted:Jaws Hooper. Matt Hooper. He's got city hands. He's been countin' money all his life.
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Sep 1, 2013 12:41
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Vicissitude posted:And incidentally, Hooper drives the boat. He aint got no spit either. My favorite part of the Indianapolis speech is that it was re-written over and over and no one could get it right until Robert Shaw had a go at it the night before the final take and he delivered the whole thing completely shitfaced. Just drunk as poo poo. If you watch it now, it's patently obvious he's bombed, but it works perfectly for the scene and the character. The other great part about speech is that almost none of it is historically accurate.
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Sep 2, 2013 22:28
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Polaron posted:What? The Indianapolis got torpedoed, sank and then the vast majority of the surviving crew got eaten by sharks. What about his speech contradicted that? Re-reading it, "Almost none of it" was was extremely lovely wording on my part. I meant the number of deaths directly attributed to sharks was exaggerated for effect and drive the story. The sharks were mostly eating crew members who were already dead or close to it. http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/indianapolis.htm http://www.fearbeneath.com/2008/10/uss-indianapolis-crewmember-recounts-harrowing-tale-of-survival/ It wasn't that they were all waiting for rescue and since no rescue signal had been sent, they all just floated there and were eaten alive for days. quote:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_of_Fear#Historical_Basis Sorry for the JAWS derail but this film is near and dear to my heart.
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Sep 2, 2013 23:33
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Dr Scoofles posted:Feel free to start a Jaws thread in Cinema Discusso and then go to town because I would totally read the poo poo out of that! I saw it for the first time as an adult the other day and what I was expecting and what I saw were poles apart. Long story short I loved it, even though I totally misheard Hooper's name throughout (shamed). I'm finding some time to watch a making of doc I found on line because I am fascinated by the shark effects and what they must have gone through to get some of those shots. The capsizing boat was an awesome set piece too. OK I'll quit gushing now. I made one a few years back that had a pretty good run. It's really cool to listen to and read the reactions of younger people who've never seen it before. My wife had never seen it and watching her pick up her feet up off the edge of the couch and generally just piss her pants was great fun. The documentaries and DVD extras are great. And I guess they're it's subtle, but the framing shot or the Orca leaving the dock surrounded by the giant shark teeth I still find pretty clever. Reminds me a bit of the rat in The Departed but not nearly as ham-fisted. To contribute though, I still love in Superman when Clark is looking for somewhere to change into his costume and gives the non-encased phone booth a quick up and down glance before moving on into the alley. Tarantino's not known for his subtlety, but the approving "mmmm" look that Harvey Keitel gives him after sipping the coffee is pretty cute, 10 minutes after Quentin talks about how he likes and buys "the gourmet poo poo". Also, a lot people miss this, but after listening to Jimmy go on about "dead friend of the family" this and "dead friend of the family" that, when he's imagining his wife coming home and catching them, she's black. Sorry if these were mentioned before. Just trying to move off of JAWS.
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Sep 3, 2013 17:10
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Xander77 posted:Got a link? I can't find it. I think I started one but it may have just been a long winded post in a "post your all time best movies" thread or something. Seems like there's interest in one so maybe I'll have a go at it when I have some time. Or someone else can start one. I'll keep looking anyway.
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Sep 4, 2013 18:58
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Professor Shark posted:One of the weird things about King is he has confidence issues in his ability to write endings. I've listened to interviews and read On Writing (which is fantastic, btw, even for non aspiring writers) where he talks about how doesn't think he can write satisfactory endings, which I find bizarre because I think he writes fair to good ones. He used to. As he kept writing, his endings tended more and more into the realm of completely unbelievable craziness and usually resulted in a really well grounded, very realistic and scary story just spiraling out of control, with monsters and demons and all sorts of crazy bullshit ruining whatever suspense he'd built by making the story believable to that point. Off the top of my head, It, Desparation, Rose Madder and Insomnia, immediately spring to mind as books that had me absolutely riveted right up until the third act. Maybe it's a self fulfilling prophecy kind of thing where he starts to write bad endings because he thinks that what he does. poo poo. None of this has anything to with subtle moments in movies, does it?
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Sep 5, 2013 21:17
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scary ghost dog posted:Purefoy looks like Jane had sex with McDermott I always mix this guy up with Daniel Day Lewis for some reason. If you ever saw him in Wonderland you'd know what I'm talking about. He's a modern day dead ringer for Bill the Butcher in Gangs of New York. See?  
BiggerBoat has a new favorite as of 00:19 on Sep 7, 2013 |
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Sep 7, 2013 00:09
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Since it's Halloween coming up, The Rocky Horror Picture Show has a lot of subtle moments, especially for such an unsubtle and over the top film. I like when Riff Raff and Magenta spin the flowers around at the opening wedding scene to make them dead and the subtle nod to "American Gothic" in a few of those shots.
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Oct 4, 2013 19:50
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Have we gone over The Shining yet in this thread? edit: n/m. Yes we have. I just watched Room 237. It was stupid but it reminded me of subtle movie moments.
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Oct 12, 2013 19:31
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Was watching Idiocracy again last night and noticed all sorts of subtle stuff and little sight gags in the background I'd never noticed before. Maybe not subtle gags, but the camera doesn't linger too long on them for the most part. Not Sure's ID says "Eyes: yes" and "Hair: yes". I couldn't make out the rest. Then later when his wanted alert shows up on the screen, one of the charges is "being a dick". There were a lot of little funny product names I'd never noticed before either. I love this movie.
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Nov 28, 2013 15:17
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Not sure if this counts as subtle or not but I ever noticed it before: In the The Dark Knight Rises when Bane rips up the picture of Harvey Dent he tears it straight down the middle of his face.
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Apr 22, 2014 17:03
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Action Tortoise posted:More than likely. I think it was deliberate but without asking Nolan I don't know. It's just something I noticed on a recent re-watch that I found semi-clever and kinda sorta subtle. Less subtle were the parallels between Bruce climbing out of the prison/cave and the obvious callbacks to Batman Begins when he first discovered the cave underneath Wayne Manor, but God help me if I start a Batman derail.
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Apr 23, 2014 01:02
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P-Zombie posted:In Planet of the Apes (1968), there is a scene where Zira and Cornelius try to explain to Taylor that "flight is a scientific impossibility". How can they believe this, when there are birds, and other such animals, in nature? Well, if you watch the film closely, we never see or hear a bird, or any other flying animal, at all. The better one is the "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" thing that the ape council does when Taylor is committing heresy, but that's not exactly subtle I guess. Lap-Lem posted:In A Mighty Wind they build up a song by Mitch and Mindy which is sappy and romantic. At the end of the movie they are putting on a concert and all the other bands are there. They are down in their dressing rooms and the stage audio is piped in. Mitch and Mindy start singing the song, and it flashes to the other bands, who all say something to the effect of "Oh, it's the song". The other bands all file in to the offstage area. Now it seems like, "oh they want to see if they kiss, just like us, the viewers". The song ends and stuff happens, whatever. Then all the other bands file on stage for the finale. The other bands were not piling up backstage because they gave a poo poo about if Mitch and Mindy kissed, that song was the last song in the set, and was the other bands cues to come backstage for the finale. I thought it was a cool way to pull the rug out from under your feet. Mitch and Mickey and what a great movie.
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Jul 22, 2014 15:30
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Morton Haynice posted:Watching Terminator 2 recently, and I couldn't believe I'd never noticed this before. It Is subtle. I'll give you that but think you're reaching here.
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Jul 25, 2014 19:19
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Boaz MacPhereson posted:
Oh. Then I stand corrected. I thought he was trying to say it looked like Arnold's sunglasses.
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Jul 25, 2014 22:34
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I've been watching Toy Story a lot lately since I have a 3.5 year old son. That movie is filled with subtle moments, especially given the time it was made and and how 3D animation was in its infancy, but on a re-watch something stood out for me. When Sid uses the magnifying glass on Woody and burns a dot on his forehead, that dot is there for the rest of the film. I guess it's not so much subtle as it is attention to detail but I was pretty impressed by it. I've seen hundreds of live action films get bigger details wrong. Toy Story is so loving good. I'm glad my son is old enough to start watching cool movies now.
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Aug 6, 2014 23:36
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My Lovely Horse posted:Taking the Watchmen license and using it to reskin an unrelated production about the current state of superhero movies would have been a goddamn stroke of genius, but I can't think of a single writer or director that could have pulled it off. Kubrick.
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Aug 23, 2014 22:57
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Lincoln posted:Well, there's almost certainly a XXX version of Hook, so... Hooker?
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Oct 14, 2014 17:04
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I guess it's not subtle but I always liked the isometric drawing of the hula hoop in The Hudsucker Proxy. Coen Bros movies are chock full of subtle stuff.
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Dec 22, 2016 22:45
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I've mentioned the Coen Brothers before in this thread and all of their films are rife with subtle moments and really clever callbacks. Raising Arizona with "what's he need, his Diptet?" gets me every time. The isometric drawing of Tim Robbins' hula hoop and how he rotates the drawing of a circle 180 degrees when he's pitching it in Huducker Proxy. The way Anton Chigure wiped his feet on the front porch after he kills Luellen's wife.
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Feb 19, 2017 15:40
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I never thought I'd see Dodgeball brought up in any subject related to subtlety.
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May 20, 2017 05:23
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Been rewatching Daredevil S2 and thought it was kind of neat when they're in court and showing Frank Castle's head injuries, the xray looks like the Punisher logo.
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May 24, 2017 14:48
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Brooks is good but your mileage might vary depending on your taste for the vaudevillian aspect his roots bring to everything he does. High Anxiety, The Producers and Young Frankenstein are all pretty great. I don't like Blazing Saddles and Spaceballs as much as some people but they have their moments. Holy poo poo. i can't believe we're discussing Mel Brooks in a thread about SUBTLETY because he's not subtle at all. Even when he makes subtle jokes, he beats you over the head with them and has the characters point them out like Igor's shifting hump for instance. How the gently caress can anyone like Young Frankenstein?
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Jun 13, 2017 23:05
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Whoops. How can anyone NOT like Young Frankenstein?
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Jun 14, 2017 01:13
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My Lovely Horse posted:I rewatched Dr. Strangelove recently and I remembered that they hadn't told one actor it was a comedy, but I couldn't remember who, and as the film went on I thought, well, could be any of them really. Probably not Peter Sellers though. I thought it was George C. Scott.
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Jun 14, 2017 15:52
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