Only Hyper-Aware Viewers Will Catch These Meticulous Movie Details
Filmmakers take pride in making their art as realistic as possible. That means character research and meticulous details that only the most eagle-eyed viewers are bound to notice. Even so, those details, specific scenes, and even camera angles are picked for a reason.
From the historically accurate "sniper bruise" in Saving Private Ryan to the scientifically accurate display of electrocution in Spider-Man: Into The Spiderverse, only experts would catch these details the first go around.
The Dog Breeds Were Specifically Chosen In Up
Dog lovers might have caught on to the reason behind the specific dog breeds in Up. Otherwise, Pixar fans are about to have their mind blown! The animators chose the specific breeds of Doug, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma, for a very literal reason, to show how one can track the tropical bird better than the others.
While Alpha, Beta, and Gamma, are Doberman, Rottweiler, and English bulldog, respectively, Doug is a goofy golden retriever. The thing is, while the three "evil dogs" are in a hunting party, they're unable to track the bird because, ironically, Doug is the only hunting breed!
"Welcome Hoome" In Coraline
The animated picture Coraline is full of twists and turns, so it would take an eagle-eye viewer to catch this quirky detail. In one scene, Coraline is given a cake with the message "Welcome Home," written in icing. If viewers look closely, the "welcome" has a single-looped "o" while "home" has a double-looped "o."
According to Graphology, a single loop in a lowercase "o" signifies a person is telling the truth while a double-loop is lying. Sorry, Coraline; while you might be welcome in that alternate reality, it isn't home. As Handwriting University National says, when you see a double-loop, "run, don't walk to the nearest exit."
Mr. Smith Gave His Training Away Early On In Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Leave it to the guy to get overly competitive during a fair game and give away his expert marksmanship training. The thing is, if viewers don't know what they're looking for, they might have missed the fact that John Smith gives his identity away fairly early on in Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
During the scene at the fair when John and Jane are shooting at cans, Jane hits every mark but one. On the other hand, John holds the fake gun correctly, closes his left eye to aim, and opens the eye again before shooting, showing his skill with the weapon.
John Wick's Watch Placement
It's no secret that John Wick is full of fighting. But there is one specific detail the filmmakers made sure their lead actor followed, something that perhaps only trained soldiers would have picked up on while watching the movie -- the placement of his watch.
Instead of wearing his watch with the face facing out, Wick's watch face is positioned inside his wrist. This is a typical maneuver for soldiers, so light doesn't reflect off the glass, and so they're able to read the time while holding a weapon.
Gill's Personality In Finding Nemo Makes So Much Sense
When tiny Nemo finds himself in a dentist's fish tank in Finding Nemo, he comes into contact with a wide array of sea creatures, including Gill, a Moorish Idol. While the writers could have made Gill any fish in the sea, they opted for this black and yellow beauty for a very specific reason.
Moorish idols are notorious for being stubborn fish while in captivity. This personality trait makes total sense when it comes to Gill, the mastermind behind getting out of the fish tank and back to the ocean; his life goal.
Six Planets In Hercules Was Accurate For The Time
Disney's Hercules is full of interesting quirks and details about ancient Greece, things that viewers might not pick up on right away. One such hyper-specific detail being the planets that "will align ever so nicely," as told by The Fates. While there are eight planets in the solar system (nine, depending on who you're asking), the movie only pictures six.
This tiny detail is actually totally accurate for the time period the film is set. Ancient Greeks only counted planets they could see with the naked eye. In this case, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
Airplane! Has a Long-Running Gag Most People Miss
The '80s film Airplane! is so full of gags that it's hard to keep track of them all. So, it wouldn't surprise us if a lot of viewers missed the longest-running joke in the entire movie. Most of the film is shot on a commercial jet engine plane, an aircraft that has a very specific sound.
But, for those who know planes, the sounds in the film don't translate to the type of plane. In fact, the sounds in the film are that of a tiny propeller plane! Talk about taking super-specific details and making them hysterical.
Erik Would Have Trouble In X-Men: First Class No Matter What
The first scene in X-Men: First Class has one super-specific detail that only the biggest history buffs might be privy to. In the scene, a young Erik Lehnsherr is told to move a coin by a rude Kevin Bacon. The thing is, even if Erik wasn't new to his powers, he would have had a hard time moving the coin.
This is because the 5 Reichsmark coin he was asked to move was typically made of silver, an element with a weak magnetic signature. Considering Erik's powers rely on magnetic signatures, moving the coin would have been very hard, if not impossible.
The 215 BPM Count In Whiplash Was Spot On
Throughout the drama Whiplash, Terence Fletcher is ruthless, yelling at his students until everything in his jazz band is perfect, especially when it comes to drummer Andrew Neiman. For those who have seen the movie, there is one scene where Fletcher is extremely harsh -- when he's telling Neiman to drum 215 beats per minute.
While Fletcher yells at him for the incorrect BPM, any drummer will know that Neiman is actually pulling off something quite extraordinary. His BPM is spot on, illustrating how Fletcher is playing some weird mind game to ensure he becomes the best.
Zootopia's Chief Bogo Wears Glasses Since Buffalo Have Poor Eyesight
Zootopia is chock full of animals, all of whom the filmmakers are sure are true to their real-life counterparts. And the buffalo, police Chief Bogo is no exception! In a particular scene, Chief Bogo puts on a pair of reading glasses to look at documents.
This isn't because Chief Bogo is older and needs readers, but solely because buffalos have notoriously bad eyesight! Thankfully, they have some other scenes that make up for their lack of sight. According to Canadian Geographic, "Bison's eyesight is poor, but their hearing and sense of smell are very good."
Bedazzled Showcases A Notorious Equation
At every turn, the Devil in Bedazzled tricks Elliot because wishing is all about the details, folks! Moving past the main character's wishes, though, is a super-specific detail the filmmakers add into the movie -- a math equation written on the chalkboard during the Devil's stint as a professor.
A character with a sharp sense of humor, the equation on the board, is actually famous for being unsolvable. The Devil tells the class to show their work. Too bad no one is going to get the proof. The equation is known as Fermat's Last Theorem.
One Detail Proves How Ignorant Candie Is In Django Unchained
Django Unchained holds many details, as Quentin Tarantino movies typically do when things aren't being blown to bits. But one specific detail viewers might have missed has to do with the personality of Calvin Candie. Known to be an ignorant character, this trait is further realized by his speech about phrenology in relation to character.
While the movie was set in 1858, the concept of phrenology was actually wildly disproven and considered pseudoscience years prior, in the 1840s. According to History of Phrenology, "Phrenology was a pseudoscience practiced in the early nineteenth century that involved judging a person's character by the bumps on his or her skull."
Spider-Man Into The Spider-Verse Has A Scientifically Accurate Detail
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse might be an animated film, but that doesn't mean it has to use animation tropes. In typical animation, when a character is electrocuted, their entire skeleton lights up. Well, not in this particular motion picture! When Miles Morales electrocutes Peter B. Parker, something else happens.
Instead of Parker's entire skeleton lighting up, his nervous system does the bright blue illuminating, making the scene a bit more scientifically accurate and a little less Looney Tunes. Don't worry; only eagle-eye viewers probably caught this detail!
Moana's People Stopped Exploring For Historical Reasons
While Moana kind of goes into why the people of Motunui stopped voyaging across the "vast ocean," with Maui stealing the heart and pretty much angering a goddess, Ta Fiti, historians might have caught onto an underlying detail. The reason depicted in the movie is actually a historical event (minus the lime-green stone).
According to Polynesian history, there was a time when they were seafarers, exploring and colonizing across the Pacific Ocean. Then, out of nowhere, they stopped. This time is known as "The Long Pause." No one knows exactly why they stopped, but, according to Moana, it was Maui!
The Genie Writes Left To Right In Aladdin
Disney is known to throw Easter eggs and hyper-specific details throughout their films, and Aladdin is no different. While viewers no doubt know about the subtle Beast in the Sultan's menagerie of figurines, they might have missed a huge detail about the Genie.
When Genie is "writing" down Aladdin's order via magic pencil, he's seen writing from the paper's right side to the left. It might be a detail, but it makes total sense considering the entire movie is set in the Arabian city of Agrabah, and they would write in Arabic, which is from right to left.
The Matrix's Oracle Is Dressed As Michelangelo's Delphic Sibyl
The Matrix might not be in the game of "blink, and you'll miss it" moments; hey, it's practically a film totally shot in slow-motion, but the filmmakers did go above and beyond for a specific costume. In the film, "The Oracle" is dressed in a green dress and a yellow-orange apron.
Now, this might not seem significant, but the wardrobe choice is actually historically and culturally relevant. In Greek mythology, Sibyl is a prophetess, and the artist Michelangelo painted this prophetess in green and orange clothing, a detail used for the character in The Matrix.
King Louie Isn't Over-Sized In The Jungle Book
When watching the live-action Jungle Book for the first time, more than one viewer was astounded to see King Louie the size of, well, pretty much the ancient ruin he was living in. he wasn't the size of a typical orangutan, that's for sure. The thing is, his size is scientifically accurate.
King Louie is technically a Gigantopithecus, a species that went extinct some millions of years ago. The change from the 1967 cartoon to the 2016 live-action movie was due to the fact that orangutans aren't native to India, the setting of the film.
The First Scene In Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Bypassing the eerie song being sung by all of the pirates on 18th-century death row, the first scene of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End has one very specific detail that many viewers might have missed. While the young boy among the adult prisoners probably didn't slip past many, it might have left them scratching their heads.
The thing is that little detail is historically accurate. In the 18th century, Britain had a mandate that subjected adults and children to the same punishments. In this case, the punishment for piracy is a trip to the gallows.
Colette Has Suspect Burn Marks On Her Wrist In Ratatouille
A rat maneuvering a guy to become a chef is a strange detail to get past. But for those who were able to see past the strangeness of Ratatouille, they might have noticed something about Colette, the next-in-line sous-chef. To get to that position, a person has to spend a whole lot of time in the kitchen.
And, as many know, accidents are bound to happen in a fast-paced environment. If viewers look closely, they can see how determined and long Colette has worked as a chef due to the burn marks on her forearms. A common injury for those working around a hot stove and oven!
Saving Private Ryan And Its Historical Accuracy
Saving Private Ryan is a war movie, so there's some historical accuracy filmmakers had to consider while shooting the picture. That being said, those details might not be all that obvious to the everyday viewer. One such detail is the oddly specific bruising on a sniper's thumbnail.
Unless a viewer knew what they were looking for, they might consider the bruising as nothing more than a minor injury. In fact, it's a historical representation of what happened to WWII soldiers' when their thumbs would catch in the loading mechanism of an M1 Garand rifle.
