FILM 1960: SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE

FILM 1960: SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE

TRIVIA: Completing the animation for the film required up to 180 animators, the largest crew ever used by Sony Pictures Animation for a film.

It was announced shortly after Stan Lee's death, at age 95, that he had recorded a cameo for the film and that it would be his final voice-acting role. Lord and Miller felt it was important that Lee was given a bigger moment compared to previous Marvel films because he was "so integral to the spirit of this movie," and considered his role "extra meaningful" following his death.

This film was dedicated in memory of Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko, who died on July 6, 2018, while this film was finishing production. However, this was not the only dedication, as a month before the film was released, Stan Lee died on November 12, 2018. The film was dedicated to both of Spider-Man's creators.

When Miles first visits Uncle Aaron's apartment, the television is playing the television show Community (2009) (Season 2, Episode 1 "Anthropology 101"). The beginning of that episode shows Donald Glover's character Troy getting out of bed wearing Spider-Man pajamas. This was a reference to an unsuccessful 2010 online campaign to get Donald Glover a chance to audition for the lead role in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012). Miles Morales co-creator Brian Michael Bendis describes that image of Glover in the Spider-Man pajamas as one of the major inspirations for the creation of the character and the character's design. Additionally, Glover appeared as another version of Aaron Davis in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), in which he makes brief reference to his nephew. Glover also voiced Miles Morales in Disney's "Ultimate Spider-Man" cartoon series.

One of the many ways the Imageworks team paid tribute to old comic books through the visual style was to imitate the imperfections of offset printing.

There are many small details in Miles' universe that set it apart from ours, such as using "PDNY" in place of "NYPD," and instead of Chance the Rapper wearing a "3" hat, he has a "4" on it (evident from a poster in Miles' room).

This was stand-up comedian John Mulaney's first theatrical film role.

With Lily Tomlin playing Aunt May, all four actresses to play her in a theatrical film have been Academy Award nominees, after Rosemary Harris, Sally Field and Marisa Tomei. Tomlin was nominated for Nashville (1975).

Daniel Pemberton followed the ambitious lead of the "Spider-Verse" animation by developing an equally intricate score. After all the musical elements had been recorded, they were recorded onto vinyl and then re-scratched into the mix. Pemberton says, "I got a DMC World Scratch champion DJ to scratch all the parts in."

Brian Michael Bendis, who created the comic book version of Miles Morales, credits three things that inspired him to make Miles African-American: his two adopted black children, Barack Obama becoming president, and Donald Glover wearing Spider-Man pajamas on an episode of the TV show "Community."

The film won an Academy Award for Best Animated Film.

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FILM 1831: UNBREAKABLE

FILM 1831: UNBREAKABLE

TRIVIA: Writer and Director M. Night Shyamalan always had Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson in mind to play the roles of David Dunn and Elijah Price.

Of all the films he's made, this is M. Night Shyamalan's personal favorite.

One of Quentin Tarantino's favorite films.

Charlayne Woodard, who plays the mother to Samuel L. Jackson's character, is actually almost a full five years younger than her on-screen son.

The scene where David's son tries to shoot him to prove he has super powers is based on the popular urban legend that George Reeves was once confronted by a child who asked to shoot him with a real gun while he was in his Superman costume. According to the legend, Reeves, just like David, got the boy to put the gun down by convincing him it would ricochet and hurt someone else.

DIRECTOR CAMEO: M. Night Shyamalan: Stadium drug dealer.

DIRECTOR TRADEMARK: M. Night Shyamalan: [Philadelphia] Set in Philadelphia, like most of his films.

FILM 1387: JURASSIC WORLD

TRIVIA: There is a statue of the character John Hammond, the founder of the InGen genetic company and Jurassic Park. Colin Trevorrow explained this is to specifically honor Sir Richard Attenborough who played the role in Jurassic Park (1993) & The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997). Attenborough had spoken in the past of possibly making another appearance in the franchise but his failing health made it highly uncertain. Unfortunately, Attenborough passed away August 24th, 2014. Hammond is implied to have died prior to the events of the movie, evidently writing Attenborough's death into the franchise as well.

New Orleans has an abandoned Six Flags theme park which has been used for other film productions in the past. Jurassic World created a 300-foot by 200-foot Main Street and Boardwalk in the amusement park's abandoned parking lot. They shot on the set for two and a half weeks.

The first Jurassic Park film to not have animatronic dinosaurs created by Stan Winston, as he passed away in 2008. Instead the animatronics were created by effects studio Legacy Effects, a company formed from Winston's former workshop staff. One of the shops in Jurassic World, Winstons, is named in Stan's honour.

"Indominus Rex" means "Fierce/Untamed King" in Latin, after the hybrid dinosaur's erratically destructive and murderous nature.

Jeff Goldblum's character Dr. Ian Malcolm can be spotted on the cover of a book that is read by Zara (Katie McGrath) on the monorail ride in to the park. A copy of the same book, titled "God Creates Dinosaurs" is later shown on Lowery's (Jake Johnson's) desk in the control room when he is first introduced. A book by Malcolm about his first trip to Jurassic Park was mentioned in both The Lost World and Jurassic Park III.

When Zach and Gray find the main building of the original Jurassic Park visitors center, it is decaying and overrun with vines. There's a lot hidden within this scene, including the "When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth" banner that fell after the T-Rex's final attack, as well as the bones of the staged Dino-fight. There's also the back-lit painting of a raptor, just like the one behind which a Raptor stalked Lex and Tim. Gray also plays with the night-vision goggles that were featured in the T-Rex sequence.

Colin Trevorrow came up with the idea of featuring Mosasaurus, the film's main marine reptile which you see in the trailer. He pitched the idea to Spielberg of having the Mosasaurus feed on a shark in front of bleachers filled with park guests. Spielberg loved the idea of the Mosasaurus eating the shark but suggested that when the animal grabs the shark that the whole bleacher section submerge underwater using a hydraulic system so that the audience will be able to see the Mosasaurus feeding underwater. The moment where the Mosasaurus soaked 200 extras in the bleacher section was Colin Trevorrow's favourite moment of shooting.

The Jeep #29 that the kids repair and drive away from the original visitors center is the same one ridden in by Hammond and Genarro in the original film. The Jeep #18 that Owen and Claire hide behind is the one ridden in by Grant, Sattler and Malcolm when they first arrive on the island in the original film.

After Jurassic World becoming the third highest grossing film of all time, Jurassic World 2 was announced for 2018.

There will be LEGO sets based on the film, making it the third time Chris Pratt has been portrayed in LEGO, with the other two being The LEGO Movie (2014) and Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). The Owen figure even uses the same headpiece as Star-Lord.

Originally Grey and Zach were to be hiding from three dilophosaurs in the same spot Dennis Nedry got stuck and lost the dino embryo's, and Zach, and Grey would find the Embryos in the same spot it was hidden.

During the scene in the film where the Velociraptors chase after Zach and Gray in the back of the van, the soundtrack playing is the from "The Forest Explodes" a theme from the Raptor levels in the 1997 video game The Lost World: Jurassic Park (which Michael Giacchino also composed the soundtrack for).

The character Lowery in the control room wears the same glasses as Nedry from the the first film.

Beginning of film shows Christmas holiday stuff in the home of the boys. No further mention of the holidays was made during the film.

CAMEO: Jimmy Fallon:  Himself. It's an homage to the cameo he makes in the Universal Studios tram tours. He discusses similar safety instructions and also uses the same type of humor in both.

In the movie Dr. Wu says to Masrani that nothing in the park is natural and if it was that the dinosaurs looked way different. Although it is now widely held that some dinosaurs had feathers, most of the Jurassic Park fans don't want dinosaurs with feathers in the movies - research learned that 93% of them prefer the dinosaurs as they are portrayed in the movies.

FILM 1108: KICK-ASS 2

TRIVIA: The lines "Try to have fun, otherwise, what's the point?" and "Yeah, there's a dog on your balls!" were both improvised by Jim Carrey.

Jim Carrey refused to take part in any promotion campaigns for this film due to its violent content and his personal distaste for guns and gun violence. This is not unlike his character (the only gun the Colonel handles in the film unloaded).

Evan Peters was unable to reprise his role as Todd Haynes because of scheduling conflicts with American Horror Story (2011).

The posters seen in Dave's room, "American Jesus" and "Superior", are two graphic novels written by "Kick-Ass" author Mark Millar.

Film 1022: The Amazing Spider-Man

Trivia: In this film Spider-Man uses artificial devices to shoot webs, inspired from the original comics where he possessed similar devices for his webbing (only later would he gain the superhuman ability to shoot webs). Marc Webb explained the web-shooters were a creative decision to showcase Peter's intellect: "We wanted to emphasize that these are things that Peter Parker made and that he is special himself even if he feels like he's an outsider."

Ashley Greene, Mia Wasikowska, Scout Taylor-Compton Teresa Palmer, Amber Heard, Dianna Agron, Brooklyn Decker, Imogen Poots, Lindsay Lohan, Emma Roberts, Emily Browning, Lily Collins, Anna Kendrick, Ophelia Lovibond, Sara Paxton, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Georgina Haig, Hilary Duff and Dominique McElligott were considered for the role of Gwen Stacy, but were beaten out by Emma Stone. It is interesting to note that one of the other names--Mary Elizabeth Winstead--had played Gwen Grayson (named for Gwen Stacy) in the superhero spoof Sky High.

This is the first "Spider-Man" film to not feature Spider-Man's perennial love interest Mary-Jane Watson (in Sam Raimi's three films played by Kirsten Dunst). Instead, Peter Parker's original girlfriend Gwen Stacy appears (who had been played by Bryce Dallas Howard in Spider-Man 3).

To prepare for his role as Spider-Man, Andrew Garfield studied the movements of spiders and tried to incorporate them as much as he could: "Parker is a boy/spider in terms of how he moves, and not just in the suit."

After Denis Leary was cast, his friend Jeff Garlin, a Spider-Man fan, said "I knew you would get the part." To which Leary replied "Why? Because I'm such a great actor?" Garlin then said, "no, because you look just like Captain Stacy."

Andrew Garfield requested that the song "Pure Imagination" from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory be played when filming the otherwise silent scene in which Peter goes into the web harvesting room with the spiders.

Before filming, Rhys Ifans researched his role by meeting several real handicapped people (who have missing limbs). He also spent one month performing his daily activities using only his left hand - it includes tying a tie. There script has small snippet written where Connors ties a tie but it was not filmed as it was too time consuming.

Michael Fassbender was originally considered for the role of Dr Curt Connors; he eventually went on to play Magneto in X-Men: First Class. His Inglourious Basterds co-star Christoph Waltz was later rumored to be attached to the part.

Cameo: Stan Lee:  The man in the library unaware of the events going on behind him.

Film 961: Green Lantern

Trivia: Sam Worthington and Chris Pine were considered for the role of Hal Jordan. Brian Austin Green, a fan of the Green Lantern, campaigned actively to get the role. Bradley Cooper, Justin Timberlake and Jared Leto also screen-tested for the role before finally, Ryan Reynolds was cast as Jordan.

Keri Russell, Eva Green, Jennifer Garner and Diane Kruger were all considered to play Carol Ferris.

At one point Clark Kent/Superman was in the script (he had a cameo as one of the candidates considered to receive a power ring), but he was cut out because the filmmakers didn't want to depend on another superhero for a success.

Zack Snyder was approached to direct the film, but he turned down the offer due to his commitment on Watchmen. He would later accept the offer to direct the Superman reboot Man of Steel.

Peter Sarsgaard had a prosthetic applied on his head to portray Hector Hammond in the initial stages of his mutation. For scenes where Hammond's head actually enlarges it will be done in CGI.

To prepare for his role as Hector Hammond, Peter Sarsgaard spent time with a biologist from Tulane University, who he described as "the most eccentric guy I could find." They both worked on preparing the lecture Hammond gives in the film.

One of the Green Lanterns does not have the standard "ring" logo on his chest, but a bell. This is not a goof. It's Rot Lop Fan, an alien from a world that gets almost no sunlight, and his race is blind. As his race could not grasp the concept of the color green or a light-giving lantern, his symbol is an F-Sharp bell, which his species feels is a pleasing tone.