Tag Archives: trivia

Batman 2022 – trivia, references and easter eggs

Good Times Groceries

The shop robbed at the beginning of the film is called ‘Good Times Groceries’. This is a reference to the 2017 film Good Time. After watching it, director Matt Reeves decided that Pattinson would be the perfect candidate to play Batman.

Zodiac and Seven

Other film inspirations included two works by David Fincher: Seven and Zodiac. From Seven, the filmmaker borrowed the style, the bleak atmosphere and the character of a murderer enforcing his own sick sense of justice. Riddler was inspired by the serial killer Zodiac.

Comic book inspirations

Matt Reeves cites three Batman comics as the main influences on the film: “Batman: Ego”, “Batman: Year One” and “Batman: The Long Halloween”.

In Batman: Ego, Batman’s informant kills himself and his family in a bid to save his loved ones from the Joker’s wrath. Targeted by remorse, Bruce returns to the cave and begins an internal monologue. In the end, Bruce reconciles with himself, accepts his guilt and embarks on another mission.

From the comic Batman: Year One, Reeves borrowed the idea of the hero taking his first steps.

Batman: The Long Halloween tells a story a mysterious avenger who kills mob-related individuals. Originally, Reeves wanted his film to be a direct adaptation of the Long Halloween, but later on changed his mind.

Venom

In the finale, Batman injects himself with a strange green substance that instantly puts him back on his feet, but drives him mad. In the comic Batman: Venom tormented by guilt over not saving a young girl, Batman begins to take a drug that gives him greater strength and stamina. Unfortunately, the same drug begins to make him addicted and causes fits of aggression. Venom is the same drug that gives Bane superhuman strength and muscularity.

Bludhaven

Near the end of the film, Selina Kyle says she is going to Bludhaven. In the DC comics, Bludhaven is the city between Gotham City and Atlantic City. Nightwing used the city as his base of operations

Hush

The journalist that Thomas Wayne is accused of killing is named ‘Elliot’. In the DC comics, Thomas Elliot is the assassin known as ‘Hush’.

60s Batman

There is a bust of William Shakespeare in the Wayne Manor. This is a reference to the 60s Batman tv series in which a similar bust was used to open the Batcave.

Secret friend

The “Secret friend” greeting card is a reference the card sent by the Zodiac Killer. The difference is the presence of an owl, which may be a reference to the Court of Owls – a secret group made up of members of Gotham’s wealthiest families.

The Circus

Alfred recalls his years in the ‘Circus’. The Circus is the unofficial name for the headquarters of British intelligence agency MI6. It is named after the intersection of Cambridge Circus, where MI6 was based in John Le Carre’s novels. It implies that Alfred is a retired British intelligence agent.

Chopin’s Funeral March

The film’s main theme is inspired by Chopin’s Funeral March. Interestingly, the same piece inspired John Williams to compose The Imperial March.

2nd longest superhero film

175 minutes means that The Batman is the longest Batman film and the second longest comic book film, just behind Avengers Endgame (181 minutes). However, if we were to take into account the various types of special editions, the longest superhero film would be Watchmen: Ultimate Edition lasting 215 minutes (2hrs 35min).

Nighthawks

The diner in which the Riddler is captured looks to have been inspired by Edward Hopper’s painting “Nighthawks”

Gil Colson and Rachel Dawes

Peter Sarsgaard, who plays Gil Colson privately, is married to Maggie Gyllenhaal, who played Rachel Dawes in The Dark Knight (2008). In addition to their work in the district attorney’s office, both characters share the same fate – they died in an explosion caused by the main villain.

Bloodsport – trivia and fun facts

Frank Dux

Bloodsport writer, Sheldon Lettich, says he came up with the idea for the film while talking to a martial artist named Frank Dux. Dux claimed that in the 70s and 80s, he participated in a series of secret martial arts tournaments held for the best fighters from around the world. Frank claimed he was the first American to ever win the tournament. The problem is that, apart from Dux himself, there is no one who can confirm the existence of such a tournament.

Who is Frank Dux – the main character from the movie Bloodsport?

Other stories told by Frank involves: his fight against child kidnapping pirates, secret service for the CIA, Medal of Honor, and fighting in Vietnam war (despite being too young for that).

Sleeper hit

Canon Films did not believe in the success of the film and planned direct-to-video release. However, due to contractual obligations, limited screenings had to be carried out. Bloodsport was released to theaters only in five states. Not much of a turnout was expected, but to everyone’s surprise the film quickly made it to the lists of the most popular productions. After nationwide release film collected $11 million. When the film was released globally, it collected an additional $54 million making it Cannon Group’s most profitable film of 1988.

Kowloon Walled City

A portion of the scenes were shot in Kowloon Walled City. It was a densely populated, ungoverned settlement in Kowloon, Hong Kong. Originally a Chinese military fort, over time evolved into a densely populated slum, characterized by its tall apartment buildings, narrow streets, and lack of basic services. The authorities initially tried to get rid of the wild tenants, but soon abandoned this intention. Thus, Kowloon became a no-man’s land. There was no state control, police, taxation or public utilities. Electricity was supplied illegally.

 

As buildings could only be located in a certain area, the city began to climb, eventually reaching a maximum height of 14 storeys (more was not allowed due to the nearby airport). This made it the most populated place on Earth. Due to criminal activity, the police only ventured there in larger groups and only in exceptional circumstances. For this reason, it was almost impossible to get there with a film crew, but the makers of Bloodsport succeeded. In 1993, the Hong Kong government demolished the Kowloon Walled City to make way for a park.

Kowloon Walled City in 1989 (wikimedia commons)

JCVD inspired Mortal Kombat

In the early 90s, company called Midway decided to pursue an fighting game starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. The creators, Ed Boon and John Tobias used a silhouette of Van Damme cut from Bloodsport to create a prototype. The game was planned as a tie-in for the film. Unfortunately, negotiations stalled as Van Damme was already involved in the production of another game (which never came out). Tobias and Boon willy-nilly had to abandon the film adaptation. Instead, they set the story of their game in a fantasy world. But they did not forget about Van Damme. The game features Johnny Cage, a self-confident, arrogant Hollywood actor whose signature move is split with crotch punch (a direct reference to the scene in Bloodsport). They also dressed him in the characteristic shorts.

Low budget

Due to budgetary constraints, fighters were played by people without acting skills (real fighters, stuntmen and dancers). Some of them did not speak English, and therefore most of the fighters have no lines of dialogue.

Michel Qissi

Michel Qissi, who plays one of the fighters, is a friend of Van Damme’s. Together they flew to the US in search of fame. He is best known for his role as Tong Po in the film “Kickboxer,” in which he starred opposite Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Bloodsport sequels

The film has spawned three sequels. Daniel Bernhardt plays the lead role in all of them. Bloodsport 2: The Next Kumite, tells the story of a Alex Cardo, who ends up in a prison in Bangkok, where he learns from a fellow inmate a martial art called ‘iron fist’ and with its help wins a Kumite tournament. The only actor from the original to return to his role is Donald Gibb as Jackson.

 

Bloodsport 3 is a direct sequel. After his mentor is murdered, Alex Cardo uses his martial arts skills and takes on the one responsible.

 

Bloodsport 4: The Dark Kumite also features Daniel Bernhardt in the lead role, but this time his character is agent John Keller, who goes undercover to infiltrate a dangerous prison that hosts Kumite.

 

Razzie award

The role has earned Van Damme a Golden Raspberry nomination – for “Worst New Star”. He ‘lost’ to Ronald McDonald from Mac and Me. JCVD won his only Razzie in 1998 for “Worst Screen Couple” with Dennis Rodman in the “Double Team”

Donald Trump’s fovourite movie

Bloodsport is one of Donald Trump’s favourite films (favorite one is Citizen Kane). However, the former US president admits that he only watches the fight scenes, and fast-forwarding the rest.

Karate Champ

The game that Dux and Jackson are playing on the arcade machine is called Karate Champ.

Why are there small rubber hairs on tires?

Some people wonder why there are tiny rubber hairs on new tires. Do they have anything to do with grip? Water drainage? Or are they related to snow? None of these things – these hairs have no use and are a side effect of production.

Tyre is made of layers of different materials, overlapped during the manufacturing process. At the very end, it is covered with rubber. At this point, the tyre is still completely smooth. At this stage of production, it is merely a mould from which the desired tread shape is extruded. For this purpose, a tyre goes into a special press. The walls of press are hot and cause the rubber to melt. At the same time, the machine pushes the tyre from the inside to mould it into the desired pattern. There are tiny holes in the walls of machine through which air trapped between the tyre and the walls of press escapes. As a result of pressure, after all the air has escaped, some rubber enters the holes and forms rubber hairs. These hairs are not removed, as they pose no risk to the use of tyres. In case of more expensive tyres, the manufacturing process is slightly different and uses more advanced equipment, so that the hairs do not form at all.

Sources:

https://www.tyrepower.com.au/news/what-are-the-little-rubber-hairs-on-tyres

Why do new tires have rubber hair on them?

https://www.toyotires.com.au/news/why-do-my-tyres-have-hairs

Is RRR Based on true story?

Are the characters shown in the RRR movie real? Yes, but most of their on-screen adventures are fiction. The authors loosely mixed some facts, from the revolutionaries’ lives with conjecture and a healthy dose of horse imagination. Well, I guess we don’t have to explain to anyone that no one threw tigers at British soldiers.

Alluri Sitarama Raju

Alluri Seetharama Raju was born in 1897 (according to other sources in 1898). As a young man, he traveled around the country. After dropping out of college, he became interested in religion. Raju began practicing sannyasa, which means giving up materialistic desires and devoting to spiritual meditation. During his travels, he witnessed many atrocities committed by the British. He also became acquainted with the revolutionary movement. Eventually settled in the Visakhapatnam region where he lived among the Manyam tribes. His natural charisma caused him to quickly gain fame and respect. As Raju was an extremely religious person, people began to believe that he possessed superhuman powers and was some sort of messiah. Some of these myths were probably created by Raju himself.

For the tribes under him, the biggest problem was the British jungle regulations. The tribes practiced a technique called podu. Tribe would select an area of jungle, then burn it for farmland. This type of land was fertile and yielded a lot of crops. This disturbed the English, as they preferred to use the wood to build railroads and ships. Public discontent with the harsh regulations led to the Manyama Rebellion (also known as the Rampa Rebellion) in 1922, led by Raju.

 

Raju’s tactics were based on guerrilla warfare. The leader trained people in fighting techniques with white weapons (bows, spears) and developed methods of simple communication (whistles, beating drums). He and his trained troop ransacked police stations, seizing weapons and ammunition from them. In the movie, a reference to these events is the plan to give every Indian a gun. With each attack, his fame and number of followers grew. The rebel was becoming a folk hero. The British couldn’t catch him because they didn’t know the area, and local residents refused to cooperate. The manhunt lasted two years. On May 7, 1924, Raju was caught and executed by firing squad.

The circumstances of his father’s death, his career in the police, and his grand plan for revenge are the work of fiction.

Komaram Bheem

Komaram Bheem was born in 1900 in the southern Indian village of Sankepalli. The area was the seat of an independent state of Muslim Nizams. The Nizams recognized British sovereignty in exchange for retaining power. Although they were subject to the British, their area retained partial autonomy. Muslim superiors enforced discipline in extremely cruel ways. A minor infraction was punishable by amputation of a limb and death for opposition. This is how Bheem’s father died.

In his youth, Bheem killed a tax collector terrorizing the village. This forced him to escape to Ćandrapur, where he took refuge with a publisher distributing anti-British press. Working at the publishing house was a substitute for education. Bheem learned to read and write English, Hindi and Urdu, as well as learned the basics of law. When his employer was arrested, Bheem fled to Assam, where he worked on a plantation. There he was arrested for participating in a protest.

 

After escaping from prison (after only four days), Bheem returned to his hometown. He became the village supervisor’s right-hand man. Using his knowledge of languages, he helped in legal disputes. This brought him local fame. At the same time he got married. After some time, he and his wife returned to the Gond tribe (from which he originated) to cultivate the land. There, the situation from his childhood repeated. The Nizams tried to force him to leave the inhabited land, arguing that it belonged to the state. At first Bheem tried to lodge complaints, directly with the Nizam (the region’s ruler), but when these went unanswered, he organized a militia and began a guerrilla war that lasted 12 years. His main demand was to recognize the lands of the Gond tribe as an area independent of the Nizam. His troops were extremely difficult to track, as Bheem was supported by the leaders of at least a dozen local tribes. Eventually, the Nizams hired a paid informant. The result was an ambush prepared in September 1940. Although Bheem’s men were armed only with primitive white weapons (javelins, bows, axes), Bheem refused to surrender and fell in the battle. In the movie, a reference is made in the scene of the death of Raju’s father. The legend claims that the enemies shot at his body until it turned into a shapeless mass, as they feared that Bheem, with the help of sorcery, would return from the afterlife.

Did Bheem and Raju ever meet?

Their paths probably never crossed. By the time Bheem was working on the plantation, the Raju rebellion was already underway, so Bheem must have heard of him, but the chances that they had at least brief contact are very small. It is also known that Bheem was motivated to revolt by the legend of another revolutionary, Ramji Gond.

 

Are there any other movies about Bheem and Raju?

Both characters in the movie have been portrayed before.

In 1974, the movie “Alluri Seetarama Raju” was released.

In 1990, a work dedicated to Bheem was filmed, entitled “Komaram Bheem.”

Sources:

https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/national/alluri-sitarama-raju-a-jungle-warrior-who-kindled-the-spirit-of-freedom-among-the-tribals/article65595197.ece

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komaram_Bheem

Komaram Bheem Wiki, Age, Death, Wife, Family, Biography & More

Who is Alan Smithee?

Several “talented” artists may contend for the title of the worst-ever filmmaker. There is Uwe Boll, an expert in failed adaptations of video game franchises, Ed Wood, a 1960s classic, and a self-taught amateur Tommy Wiseau, to name just a few. However, in terms of completed works, there is no match for a Hollywood legend – Alan Smithee. He made more than 60 very bad movies in his career. Who is this genius of bad taste?

Enormously powerful forces clash while making a movie. Theoretically, the director has the dominant power on the set, however in practice, s/he is subjected to the studio and producers. Film studios frequently try to influence directors to force a completely adverse vision of the movie. The director tries to make a gloomy work, whereas the studio wants the movie to receive a rating making it suitable for all ages. The director seeks flamboyance, but the producer wants to economize. Needless to say, some capricious actors may ruin the movie production. The director does his (or her) best to reconcile their vision with the requirements of others, however, sometimes even the best efforts are futile and the completed work has nothing to do with the planned movie. This is when Alan Smithee comes into play.

Death of a Gunfighter

Before 1968 the regulations of the Directors Guild of America did not make it possible to use pseudonyms. The aim was to protect directors against producers, who could blackmail this way the subordinates they find problematic. “If you don’t make the movie the way we want it, you’re out of the credits.” The situation changed in 1969, when the movie Death of a Gunfighter, directed by Robert Totten, was made. While the movie was being shot, the actor Richard Widmark forced an engagement of a new director – Don Siegel. Siegel spent 10 days on the set, whereas Totten as many as 25. Siegel concluded, then, that Totten should be credited as the director, however, the latter declined. The two men lodged a complaint with the Directors Guild, and the members of the board dealing with the dispute decided the movie does not represent the vision of either of the directors. For this reason, the solution of the Guild was to credit the movie to a fictional director, Alan Smith. However, when it turned out several directors bear this name, it was changed to Smithee. This is how a scapegoat was created, who was to take the responsibility for the movies whose authors did not want to recognize as theirs.

 

Ironically, the movie received critical acclaim. Even Roger Ebert, a famous film critic, was enthusiastic. Death of a Gunfighter proved to be one of the best-rated movies of 1969. Following the precedent, several directors requested the Guild to remove their names from the credits. Alan Smithee became an industry standard soon. Directors of dozens of movies used the name.

Marketing specialists try to conceal the name of an inconvenient director since it is a harbinger of a lame movie

Although Smithee was supposed to be an industry secret, it soon became an elephant in the room. “An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn” was made in 1997. The movie is about the director named Alan Smithee, who is so dissatisfied with the work that he decides to renounce it, however, the only solution the Guild offers him is his own name. The movie was directed by Arthur Hiller. What is really ironic is the fact that as a result of the studio’s pressure Hiller denounced the movie and the film about Alan Smithee was credited with the name of a fictional director. The confusion surrounding the film caused the name Smithee to become mainstream. For this reason, the Guild gave up its use. Since then the directors have been choosing a pseudonym to be used in the movie. The Supernova director, Walter Hill, chose to be Thomas Lee, and Accidental Love director, David O. Russell, left the product credited to Stephen Greene.

 

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Films_credited_to_Alan_Smithee

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-jan-15-ca-54271-story.html

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/death-of-a-gunfighter-1969

https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/alan-smithee.htm

Can a pocket laser damage our eyesight?

Can a pocket laser damage our eyesight? The answer to this question depends on many factors. It is a bit like trying to establish a single safe speed for driving a car. Under normal conditions, a speed of 30 mph is safe, but not during storm or heavy fog. It is similar with defining the safety limit for the laser pointer. The likelihood of eye damage depends on many factors. It includes the laser color, divergence (beam dispersion), distance from the source, the time our eyes are exposed to it and, above all, power. It is the power that is the main determinant of marketability. Depending on the country there are different standards (with divisions into special classes), but generally lasers up to 5 mW are considered to be the upper safe limit. In the United States the limit is 3.5mW.

The power of lasers is given in milliwatts (mW). Theoretically, 3.5 mW is a safe value because it represents about one-tenth of the actual damage threshold, but history records cases of permanent vision damage from a pocket laser. Why? First, there are cheap Chinese products on the market the power of which may differ from that declared on the housing. Second, users of the laser may be children. In 2018, a 9-year-old became blind in one eye by looking into a green laser beam several times.

Why worry about 5 mW at all? After all, it’s only 5 thousandths of a watt, or less than one percent of one percent of the power of a 60-watt light bulb. The reasons are two. First, a light bulb converts only about 10 percent of that energy into light (the figure is different for an energy-saving bulb). Second, the bulb shines in all directions, thus we see only a small portion of the light it emits. We reduce this amount even further by moving away from it. A laser emits light in one small focused beam.

Despite meeting safety requirements, small lasers can still be dangerous. The reason for this is known as flash blindness. Everyone knows the feeling of temporary blindness after a camera flash or after moving from a dark to a bright room. A laser beam can lead to such temporary blindness, which can have extremely severe consequences for e.g. drivers, or machine operators. There are known cases of attempts to blind airplane pilots. The effect is particularly strong at night, when pupils are dilated. Lasers are also used during protests and riots. They are used to damage drones, CCTV cameras and to blind police. IR (infrared) and UV (ultraviolet) lasers are particularly dangerous. Normally the eye exposed to a laser should blink in reflex, but UV and IR rays our body is not able to detect. Recently, lasers were used in the riots following the death of George Floyd. Three officers were blinded by lasers (authorities report that permanently).

Regardless of the power, lasers should be used with caution and under no circumstances should a child be allowed to play with them.

Sources:

https://www.laserpointersafety.com/

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/safety/safety-by-topic/laboratory-safety/laser-safety/laser-pointer-safety/laser-pointer-safety-guidance/

https://www.ehs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/laser_pointer_safety.pdf

Lasers: The Future of Protests

https://www.the-sun.com/news/1483420/portland-black-lives-matter-protester-laser-cops-eyes/

The Thing 1982 – Interesting facts about John Carpenter’s film

Thanks to good acting, a suspenseful story and great special effects John Carpenter’s “The Thing” is without a doubt one of the best horror films ever made. Here are some interesting facts from this cult masterpiece.

Who Goes There?

John Carpenter’s film is mistakenly considered a remake of the 1951 film The Thing from Another World. In fact, both films are adapted from the novel by John W. Campbell Jr. Who Goes There?, except that Carpenter’s film is a fairly faithful adaptation, while the 1951 film is only loosely based on source material. In the 1951 film, the alien is something like Frankenstein’s indestructible monster.

Tobe Hooper

Tobe Hooper, the creator of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, was originally slated to direct and co-write the film. Hooper’s version would’ve been drastically different. He wanted the film to be a horror comedy, loosely based on Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick. The director was fired, and replaced with Carpenter.

The ending of The Thing

The Thing is famous for its ambiguous ending. There have been many fan theories about it. One of them claims that Childs is the Thing. At one point, MacReady offers him a drink. Some people speculate that MacReady gave Childs a bottle of petrol, since he was using Molotov cocktails earlier. This would prove Childs was the alien because the creature wouldn’t know the difference between alcohol and petrol.

However, this is contradicted by the fact that Childs has an earring at the end of the film. The Thing cannot replicate inorganic objects like clothes or jewellery. On the other hand, Childs appears for the first time in different clothes, and we know that the Thing destroys the clothing of the victim, so…

At the end, there is a strong implication that at least one of the two men remains infected by the Thing. In the video game The Thing from 2002 it is revealed that both men were human. MacReady survives, and is picked up by a rescue team, while Childs freezes to death. The game is a direct sequel to the film, and it was endorsed by Carpenter.

There is also an alternate ending. MacReady is rescued, and his blood is tested. The result is negative – he is human. This version was only shown in the TV version. In addition, there are two other endings. In one of them, the alien morphs into a dog and escapes from the camp. In the other version, the film ends right after the alien is blown up. Childs’ fate is then unknown. After test screenings, extra scenes were added due to the negative reaction of the audience.

Alternate death scenes

Fuchs was supposed to be found nailed to a door with a spade. There were also several other alternative death scenes planned for various characters, but due to budget constraints, they were abandoned.

Rob Bottin

Special effects artist Rob Bottin was only 22 years old at the time of filming. Before “The Thing” he had worked on King Kong, Star Wars, and Piranha, but it was Carpenter’s film that proved to be the most challenging for him. Originally, Bottin was supposed to play the character of Palmer, but deadlines prevented him from doing so. Despite a staff of nearly 40 people at his disposal, Bottin still had to personally supervise all of their work, so he practically lived in the studio for over a year. Upon completion of the film, he had to check himself into a hospital for two weeks to recover from exhaustion.

Stan Winston

When Rob Bottin became overwhelmed with the workload, he reached out for a help to another industry legend – Stan Winston. Winston created dog-thing mutation (kennel scene). Despite the input, he declined screen credit, as he didn’t want to take away from Rob Bottin’s work.

Fire on the set

In order to create realistic looking mutations, Bottin used literally everything. The ingredients of the monsters were: animal entrails, sex lubes, rubber tubes, wax, mayonnaise, and various chemicals. Unfortunately, some of the chemicals he used were highly flammable. This created a problem during the filming of Norris’ transformation scene. When MacReady used the flamethrower, the flames engulfed the entire room. The fire was extinguished, but the crew lost an entire shooting day.

Wilford Brimley

Bottin’s monsters were so realistic that during the autopsy scene, some actors had a gag reflex. The only one who didn’t was Wilford Brimley (Blair). Before acting, he worked on a farm, so removing organs was a normal experience for him.

Defibrillation scene

In the defibrillation scene, a real-life double amputee stand-in was used. Fake hands filled with blood were placed on the stumps, and a silicone mask was put on the double to imitate Dysart’s appearance. The mask goes unnoticed thanks to clever editing, camerawork and distraction – the audience is focused on the bloody stumps.

What happened to Rob Bottin?

After The Thing, Rob Bottin worked on many other famous films. We could see his works in films such as Robocop 1,2 and 3, Total Recall, Seven, Mission Impossible, and Fight Club. His last film was a romantic comedy, Serving Sara. In 2002, he retired from the industry. In 2014 Bottin unexpectedly appeared on the set of Game of Thrones. Bottin oversaw special effects in the episode “The Lion and the Rose.” Most likely, the job was a favour to someone rather than an attempt to make a living. Or he hated Joffrey so much that he decided to personally ensure that he died as realistically and brutally as possible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYddYe1Mjz8

The Thing Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Ennio Morricone. He was “honoured” with a Golden Raspberry nomination for his work. Portions of the same soundtrack were later used in Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight, and ironically, Morricone won an Academy Award for the film.

Accident

Keith David (Childs) broke his arm in a car accident shortly before shooting began. Because of that, he wore a glove painted to match his skin colour.