20 Tiny But Major Movie Details That'll Pass You By If You Don't Pay Close Attention

1.In 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), the band at the prom sang a song called "Cruel to Be Kind." This is a phrase from Shakespeare's Hamlet, which seemed to be a hat-tip to the fact 10 Things was based on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew:

Kat and Patrick from "10 Things I Hate About You"

2.In Wayne's World (1992), on the bottom of Garth's wall of posters, you could see a few shots of him in a black-and-white music video. These images were from a sketch Mike Myers (Wayne) and Dana Carvey (Garth) did with Madonna:

Garth from "Wayne's World"
Madonna/Garth sketch; Image of it in "Wayne's World"

3.In A Futile and Stupid Gesture (2018), if you paid close attention, you could see a quick shot of Paul Rudd during the high school yearbook spoof:

Rudd in "A Futile and Stupid Gesture"

4.In Friends with Benefits (2011), there's a sign a driver holds at the airport that read: "O. Penderghast." Emma Stone played a small role in Friends with Benefits, and the "O. Penderghast" sign was a shoutout to her character from Easy A (2010):

Mila Kunis in "Friends with Benefits;" Emma Stone in "Easy A"

5.In Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022), there's a small figurine of a court jester (also known as a fool) sitting on top of a hill that Miles showed off to his friends. This was a reference to a Beatles lyric from their song "Glass Onion," which was: "I told you about the fool on the hill/I tell you, man, he living there still:"

The fool in "Glass Onion;" Beatles lyrics to "Glass Onion"

6.In Turning Red (2022), on the back of the book Nightfall, there were a bunch of blurbs from people praising the work. If you read close enough, the outlets were funny as heck. They read as: "Book Reader, Grandmother's Author," and so on:

Praise for "Nightfall" blurbs
Blurbs from "Nightfall" book
BuzzFeed

7.In Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), on the messy desk of receipts and other documents, you'll notice the calculator under all of the chaos. The calculator, which might seem like a bunch of random numbers, actually read "BOOB-LESS" upside down:

"Boobless" written backwards/upside down on calculator

8.In Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022), there were two major characters in the church from another Guillermo del Toro movie. On top of the glass-stained windows, you could see Faun and the Pale Man from Pan's Labyrinth (2006):

Pale Man and Faun from "Pan's Labyrinth"
Pale Man and Faun from "Pan's Labyrinth"

9.In Coraline (2009), before Coraline blew out the candles on her birthday cake, lightning struck outside the window. The lightning bolt was in the shape of the Other Mother's hand:

Lightning in shape of mom's hand

10.In Titanic (1997), the clock hanging on the wall wasn't just there for the passengers to keep up with the time: It's the actual time the real Titanic crashed into the iceberg:

Clock in "Titanic"

11.In Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), when Mrs. Doubtfire's (Robin Williams) teeth fell out at dinner, Williams subtly referenced a famous quote from his movie Dead Poets Society (1989). In Doubtfire, he said: "Carpe dentum. Seize the teeth," in Poets Society, he said: "Carpe diem. Seize the day."

Robin Williams in "Mrs. Doubtfire" and Dead Poets Society

12.In Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), there's small text painted upside down on one of the wooden boxes that reads: "Völkers." This was a hat-tip to villain Sidewinder's real name, Seth Vöelker:

"Völkers" written on crate

13.In Glass (2019), the colors these characters wore at the end of the film reflected the colors of the superheroes/villains they were most connected to in the movie. Anya-Taylor Joy’s Casey wore mustard for Kevin/the Beast, Elijah’s mother wore purple for Mr. Glass, and Joseph wore dark green for his dad, David Dunn/the Overseer.

Outfit colors matching their hero colors

14.In Parasite (2019), Chung-sook performed a hammer throw in the backyard, which was actually an important moment if you noticed her silver medal hanging on the wall earlier in the film:

Chung-shook performing a hammer throw

15.In Ponyo (2008), there was a small little ducky sitting on top of the shelf. This little ducky appeared in another legendary film by writer/director Hayao Miyazaki: Spirited Away (2001):

Duck from "Spirited Away" in "Ponyo"

16.In The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Eli has the "Ship to Shore" communication Richie sent him earlier in the film in his pocket, suggesting he read the message:

Owen Wilson in "The Royal Tenenbaums"

17.In Luca (2021), there's a verrrrrry tiny scar on Alberto's left arm. If you remember, he got this scar in the beginning of the movie when a fisherman tried to attack him as a sea monster:

Alberto's scar
Fisherman throwing a harpoon at Alberto
Fisherman throwing a harpoon at Alberto

Disney / Pixar / Via reddit.com

18.In The 'Burbs (1989), there's a Gremlins cereal box on the kitchen counter. This was a tiny hat-tip to 'Burbs director Joe Dante, who also directed Gremlins (1984):

Tom Hanks and Carrie Fisher in "The 'Burbs"

19.In The Cat in the Hat (2003), there's a small yet major foreshadowing moment I bet you didn't notice. There's a newspaper headline that read: "City Ok's 72-hour Ravers' Partython," which ultimately ended up happening in the movie:

Newspaper foreshadowing partython

20.And in Knives Out (2019), Benoit Blanc played a key on the piano whenever a member of the Thrombey family entered the room. The importance of this small detail, you ask? It was a cue for "Detective Elliott to ask the Thrombey family what time they each arrived at the party":

Benoit Blanc playing the piano

You can check out more subtle but brilliant movie details at r/MovieDetails.