19 years ago I watched Superbad with my best friends when it first came out. At the time we just thought it was fucking hilarious.

Just rewatched it and it hits completely different now.

Me and my best friends basically went through the same thing. We ended up at different colleges, still tried to meet up whenever we could for the first couple of years, then eventually everyone just went our separate ways. No falling out or anything. Just life.

I never really thought much about the ending back then. Now watching Seth and Evan knowing they’re about to go their separate ways, that shit hits.

It’s crazy how well Superbad captured that exact point in life where you and your best friends are still doing the same stupid shit you’ve always done, without really realising that everything is about to change.

The two the spring to mind for me are:

The Lego Movie

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Both have a lot of IP behind them and could've comfortably made a generic film that would've washed its face in the box office, but both were excellent.

(Rewatching Lego Movie right now with my 5 year old son...)

I think my runner up is "villains aren't born, they're made" from Kraven, an obvious homage to the "Heroes aren't born, they're made" tagline from Iron Man. Except for Iron Man it works because of the obvious double meaning of him making his suit, whereas for Kraven it...meant nothing whatsoever.

What are some other truly terrible movie taglines?

In Infinity War Wanda and Vision are hiding out in Edinburgh, Scotland and plan on heading to Glasgow in the morning. While they talk about what they plan on doing there’s an exchange that goes like:

“There’s a train at 10 in the morning.”

“What if we miss it?”

“Then there’s one at 11.”

Which is just not even close to real life. Edinburgh and Glasgow are the biggest cities in Scotland by far and public transport between them is a breeze. Assuming Wanda wanted to go from Edinburgh Waverley to Glasgow Central they put on a train basically every 10 minutes. I can tell you if they really waited an hour to put on a train it would be anarchy.

I'll go first. In "28 Years Later: The Bone Temple", the next person who will find The Bone Temple will think it was a monument to Satan due to the fact that there's a big 'ol upside down cross with a maimed corpse. This will fly in the face of Dr Kelson's intent of making the temple a celebration of life.

I was re-watching The Departed and noticed something interesting about how Billy and Sullivan refer to Frank Costello.

Both characters are essentially living double lives, and when they're operating in the criminal world, they call him "Frank." But when they're acting as cops, as well as other police, they refer to him more formally as "Costello."

Near the end of the movie, when Billy meets Sullivan at the police station, Billy asks what he's going to do about "Costello's rat" in the department. Sullivan responds by asking whether "Frank" ever mentioned a name.

I thought this was a really subtle moment where Sullivan's mask slips. Billy - despite spending all that time undercover with Costello, is speaking like a cop and calls him Costello. Sullivan - who's supposed to be the legitimate cop, instinctively calls him Frank, almost like he forgets which identity he's supposed to be playing or how ingrained the criminal side of him is.

I don't think Billy actually picks up on it. He doesn't discover Sullivan is the rat until he sees the envelope later. I see it more as a little clue for the audience.

Obviously, the audience already knows Sullivan is the mole, but I like the idea that this is an unconscious slip where both of the characters are revealing their true selves. What do yall think?

The dialogue in this movie is crisp as hell. It genuinely contains some of my favourite lines in all of cinema. Like…

“It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all”

“Try it.”

Or…

“People are smart, they can handle it.”

“A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it.”

Just absolute gold (backed up by fantastic acting of course). Overall, it has a lot of these moments that feel like they don’t really belong in an action-comedy blockbuster about aliens - in a good way! The whole movie really didn’t have any right being as good as it was

For me, it has to be the original Now You See Me. There is absolutely nothing in the entire movie to suggest Mark Ruffalo's character on the Four Horseman's side. None of his actions make any sense when viewed with this knowledge in mind. A good twist should, in my opinion, make you say "How did I not see that coming?" rather than "I literally could never have seen that coming."

Honorable mention goes to the ending of The Illusionist, if you can even call that a twist. I laughed out loud when that movie cut to black. I thought there would be some grand explanation for how he pulled off the "dead coming back to life" trick that the whole third act centers around, but no... I guess we're just supposed to assume he's a wizard? Or maybe not, because Ed Norton does declare that it was all a sham. So I suppose it's left up to the viewer's imagination to determine what kind of sham, since no one else can figure it out and it's never explained.

Two examples for me would be:

- In "What Lies Beneath," Michelle Pfeiffer uses a hair dryer to clear the fog off of her mirror. That totally works and I've done it ever since I saw that movie.

- In "Spanglish," Adam Sandler "pre-“wakes up his kid. He basically says you don't have to wake up yet but start thinking about waking up and this is another thing I've used and that has really helped the wake-up rituals in our house.

Rewatching Meet the Parents for the 100th time and it’s one my favourite comfort films, but recently I’ve realised how unlikeable Pam is and how poorly she treats Greg.

Largest examples are:
Greg loses his suitcase on the way to meet her parents, and instead of taking him to some local shops so he can buy some essentials, she tells him to borrow clothes and pjs from her dad and underwear from her brother. He’s never met any of her family before and she won’t even ask on his behalf, just smiles at him like he’s crazy to not want to wake up her brother and ask to borrow boxers!

Another thing is how they constantly belittle his career as a nurse and instead of shutting it down, she laughs along. I get that it was early 2000”s and it was seen as a feminine profession but come on Pam! Stand up for your fella

It got me thinking about other films and other examples of a film having a character that we are supposed to root for as a "good person," but when you really look at it, they are actually a bit of an a-hole?

Tony Gilroy was brought in for extensive rewrites and reshoots after principal photography was complete because Disney/Lucasfilm execs were not happy with Gareth Edwards's version.

He ended getting screenwriting credit on the final film.

Here's his thoughts on Gareth Edwards's cut. Keep in mind these are actual quotes from Tony Gilroy and not rumours or hearsay.

"Rogue [One] it was like, ‘There’s a corpse on the table, what are you gonna do? Could someone come in and save it?'"

Source: https://collider.com/andor-season-2-tony-gilroy-apologizes-for-bix-cassian-relationship-ruining-jyn-cassian/

"I came in after the director’s cut. I have a screenplay credit in the arbitration that was easily won.”

"I’ve never been interested in Star Wars, ever. So I had no reverence for it whatsoever. I was unafraid about that.”

"And they were in such a swamp … they were in so much terrible, terrible trouble that all you could do was improve their position.”

Source: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/star-wars-rogue-one-writer-tony-gilroy-opens-up-reshoots-1100060/

"The easiest thing to say is that I came in after the film was finished & I have a full screenplay credit on the film. So I'll leave the rest—the math—to somebody else”

Source: https://reason.com/podcast/2025/12/23/andor-creator-tony-gilroy-on-bureaucracy-and-the-surveillance-state/

Watching Mile 22 because I thought it wasn’t good when it came out and I figured I’d give it another shot. I realized its main problem, in addition to the more minor issue of casting Ronda Rousey and Sean Avery for some reason, is it relies on the audience believing Mark Wahlberg as this brilliant mind, this dynamic and autistic genius who calculates tactics on the fly better than anyone.

And it’s clear the man himself doesn’t know the meaning of the larger words that have been written for him, or perhaps he learned them that day. The Gambler has the same problem. It has an interesting and exciting plot, John Goodman and Michael K. Williams, but Wahlberg as an English Literature professor is roughly as convincing as Stanley Tucci playing LeBron James. He was great in The Fighter and Basketball diaries partly bc he’s a meathead, and he should stick to his strengths.

The beginning of this movie does not start out with rolling text about how “ it was the year 20 blah blah and... blah blah happened... and then blah blah happened” no. It doesn't have the dreaded voice over giving you a background on everything that's about to happen.

Instead it throws you into the middle of some crazy action scene, where you have absolutely no idea who is a good guy who is a bad guy, what these people are doing, why they're doing it etcetera

why is some chick sitting in a empty room clicking on a computer?

“No Lieutenant they're already dead”

What? How could they already be dead? It's just one lady

Oh my God she's climbing the walls! Holy crap she just killed all those police officers what is going on? Is she good or is she bad?

Why is she trying to answer a phone in the middle of all this? Oh they killed her. Wait a minute... where did the body go? None of this makes any sense!

“ the informant is real”

what informant? Again... how did she disappear?

And... you're hooked!

The action is so phenomenal, the questions just keep coming one after another, none of it makes any sense just yet. But the film makers trust that you're along for the ride, and the audience trusts the film makers that they will eventually answer all of their questions.

There is actually a Latin phrase for this

In medias res (Latin for "in the midst of things") is a narrative technique where a story begins in the middle of crucial action rather than with traditional exposition. Originating from Homer’s epic poetry, this approach immediately hooks audiences by plunging them into a high-stakes moment, later filling in background information through flashbacks or dialogue

honestly I wish more film makers would trust the audience and just throw us into the middle of things and stop babying us and over explaining every little detail. Just tell the story and allow it to unfold it's so much more engaging and interesting

The hero and the villain in an action movie are generally expected to be tough, dangerous, and should be taken seriously. Unless it's an action comedy, where they might come off as goofy.

There has always been a line in a movie that stood out to me. It's from Death Race (2008) with Jason Statham

The main villain is some lady, I can't remember who she was or what she was trying to do. What I do remember is this quote:

"Ok, cocksucker. Fuck with me and we'll see who shits on the sidewalk".

That shits on the sidewalk line isn't a callback and it doesn't make sense in context. It's just something the writers thought would sound intimidating.

Who can beat that?

Watched Pacific rim for the first time and the 2 actors who are playing the Australian father/son duo had the most distracting accents I've heard in recent times. Any time they were on-screen, it almost felt like nails to chalk board hearing them butcher pretty much every word they attempted to pronounce.

The Australian accent is pretty hard to pull off, but this and Robert Downey Juniors Australian accent are pretty terrible.

Which accents distracted you?

My go-to is from “Titanic”. Even if Rose wanted to sell the Heart of the Ocean to help her pay her way through life (I personally don’t think that she did…), she never would have been able to do so. The necklace was far too recognizable. Had she tried to sell it, the insurance company that settled the claim would have recovered it, assuming that the insurance company was still in business.

EDIT: Regarding the points above, from the script:

LOVETT: I tracked it down through insurance records... an old claim that was settled under terms of absolute secrecy. Do you know who the claiment was, Rose?

ROSE: Someone named Hockley, I should imagine.

LOVETT: Nathan Hockley, right. Pittsburgh steel tycoon. For a diamond necklace his son Caledon Hockley bought in France for his fiancee... you... a week before he sailed on Titanic. And the claim was filed right after the sinking. So the diamond had to've gone down with the ship. See the date?

LIZZY: April 14, 1912.

LOVETT: If your grandma is who she says she is, she was wearing the diamond the day Titanic sank. And that makes you my new best friend.

Morpheus: I've seen an Agent punch through a concrete wall. Men have emptied entire clips at them and hit nothing but air. Yet their strength and their speed are still based on a world that is built by rules. Because of that they will never be as strong or as fast as you can be.

Neo: Are you trying to tell me that I can dodge bullets?

Morpheus: No, Neo. I'm trying to tell you that when you're ready, you won't have to.

What I find so incredible about it (besides the usual of it sounding cool as hell) is how everything described here goes on to happen, even the stuff this dialogue is effectively telling the audience not to expect, like dodging bullets.

We see a man unload an entire clip into an agent and hit nothing but air.

We see neo dodge bullets.

And though we do expect to see it, we see him not have to dodge the bullets when he's ready.

EDIT: I know what foreshadowing is, folks. If I wanted snark, I'd call my mother. I do appreciate the folks who actually are nice and addressed the substance of my post, though.

For me personally there are two:

1. Rocky IV: The scene at the end in which a bloody Rocky basically ends the Cold War with his "Can't we all just get along?" speech.

2. Independance Day: When the Americans find out how to destroy the alien ships and tell the british.

British soldier: "Sir, the americans are planning an offensive"

British officer: "Well, it's about bloody time"

As if every nation had just been sitting there with their thumb up their asses waiting for the US.

Most actors do some amount of paycheck work. If they’re interested in doing less commercial and less lucrative work then they’ll take well paying jobs for films they’re not invested in. A great example is Jeremy Irons doing the 2000 trash fire version of Dungeons & Dragons. Some actors get lucky, some ruin their reputations by being in lots of garbage, and then there’s Alec Guinness. Prior to the late 70s he was known as a very well respected character actor, who had seen international acclaim from his performances in three of David Lean’s masterpieces in ‘Bridge on the River Kwai’, ‘Lawrence of Arabia’, and ‘Doctor Zhivago’. Then, in the late 70s, he takes a bit of paycheck work in a weird sci fi movie called Star Wars.

Has anyone ever gotten so lucky with their paycheck work?

I’ve realized that life is way too short to sit through a movie just for the sake of finishing it. If a film hasn't given me a reason to care about the characters or the stakes within the first 20 minutes, I’m out.

For me, it was Rebel Moon. It felt like a long ass screensaver with zero soul. I don't care how big the budget is or how much slow motion you use if the writing isn't there, I’m not gonna care and I am not wasting my evening.

What’s that one movie that made you realize you were wasting your time and what was the reason that made you turn it off?

And omg I'm in love. It just ended and I have little baby tears in my eyes I loved it so much.

And let me tell you. I work 60-80 hours a week, I'm a mom, I rarely get the time to sit down and watch a full movie (maybe 3-4 a year, and basically what becomes available to me for free). And the last full movie I watched was Disclosure Day which made me SO ANGRY, I wanted the hours of my life back, I actually felt insulted. So this just totally made up for that. What an absolute gem. It's right up there with "Contact," one of my top-5s. And I'm incredibly impressed with Ryan Gosling, who knew he would turn out to be so incredibly skilled!

I love it I love it I love it and I'm going to read the book now and then watch the movie again. To all the people who have been recommending it since it came out, thank you!!!

Captain America in the elevator during winter soldier?

Michael Corleone in the hospital telling his brother he won't panic and will save his father?

John Wick in the bathhouse going about his business?

What is the best scene where a character knows exactly what is about to happen and deals with it with foresight, skill, and badassery?

I'll point out from the start that I really enjoy all of the John Wick movies. While I recognize the "realism" angle fell off after the first one, they're still incredibly well put together movies and I'll happily watch further installments for the fight choreography alone. That said...

The bullet proof suit is the worst thing they ever added to this franchise. It completely nullifies any anxiety about John needing to worry about gunfire in fights. The number of times he raises his vibranium jacket collar to block a hail of bullets is so frustrating, mostly because of where this franchise started off.

In the first John Wick, John felt like an incredibly tactical presence. There was a lot of talk when it came out about the choreography's "realism" but more than anything for me things felt like they had stakes. Corners needed to be checked, he needed to watch his back, it showed the audience he needed to be smart about approaching situations because if someone gets the jump on you in that universe they will shoot you and you will die.

Ever since the inclusion of the Iron-Man-Hugo-Boss so much of the "careful" nature of the fight scenes has disappeared. I've truly lost count of the number of times John should be dead at this point if he wasn't wearing it and that makes the character feel less effective. This character isn't supposed to be scary because he can tank bullets to the chest, he's supposed to be scary because you never got the opportunity to pull the trigger.

I think about a famous shot in the first movie during the first action scene where the masked men invade John's home. There's a bad guy on one side of the wall and John on the other. The camera shows both of them at the same time and John falls downward, shooting behind him up at an angle to avoid the bad guy's shots while still taking him out. If that shot happened again today, he'd just raise his coat a little higher and shoot back. That bums me out.