5.13 /// Timeless Film Revelations

Welcome to my world on Infinite Prattle, where this week [amongst tackling  ongoing tech struggles] settle into this episode that takes you on a nostalgic journey through some of cinema's most unforgettable plot twists and reveals that have captivated our imaginations. 

SPOILER ALERT!

From the jaw-dropping reveal of Darth Vader's true identity in "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back" to the chilling climax of "Seven," each film has left a lasting impression on my youth and beyond. We also explore my favorite comfort films like "The Matrix" and "Signs," each with their own surprising moments that continue to offer both solace and shock. So tune in, reflect on the magic of storytelling, and perhaps find a new favorite film twist to ponder.

Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched!
Start for FREE

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Chapters

• 0:01 Unexpected Film Revelations
• 6:13 Film Revelations and Unexpected Twists
• 17:19 Film Appreciation and Unexpected Engaging Twists

Transcript

Stephen: 0:01

Hello and welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome. Welcome to Infinite Prattle. I hope you're alright. Are you doing well? I hope you are. On today's episode, I'm going to be talking about my favourite film shocking reveals. That shocked me, I suppose. Hello and welcome to Infinite Prattle. Unscripted, unedited prattle on everything Hosted by me, stephen. Listen, like, share, subscribe and enjoy the show Crap.

Stephen: 0:44

I really really should be better at this by now. I'm still in my flux setup because so much has been going on recently that I still haven't got everything sorted. At this rate, it will be season 6 before I do a video episode or I get anything set up properly. This chair needs oiling still. I need to do that. I really need to do that. Anyway, hello, I hope you've had a good week and a good month.

Stephen: 1:13

And it's November. How the hell did that happen? That's what I want to know. This year seems to have just flown by and I feel old and older and older and much older every time. I say that Because it just seems to be faster the older I get. I hope the audio is okay.

Stephen: 1:36

I'm winging it a bit today. I'm a bit at sixes and sevens and, yeah, I don't know what's going on. Really, I need to sort my life out. I keep buying stuff off Teemu and there's loads of stuff to sort out in this room. The stuff I'm buying off Teemu are like really cheap storage containers and stuff which are really good quality for the price to be fair. So well done, teemu. But what I really need to do is actually sort it a little bit better first, before I've stacked like about 12 containers up. So, yeah, probably not the best thing to do, and I'm using a new filter today as well. So again from Teemu. So let's see how that works, how well that holds up. I think my headphones are picking up more things that are going through the mic. I'm hoping so because the sound quality is going to be shit. Otherwise I don't know why I'm laughing, because I tried my best. Well, I tried to try my best, I don't know. Anyway, I hope you're all right. Thank you very much for joining me.

Stephen: 2:43

If it's your first time, this wasn't probably the best intro to keep you coming back. But yeah, my name's Stephen and this is Infinite Prattle. It used to be called Stephen Speak. I changed the name. I think it was last series. I can't remember, because I thought Infinite Prattle kind of summed up the show a little bit better, even though Stephen Speaks probably sums up the show as well, because my name is Stephen and all I was doing was speaking Infinite Prattle, I felt was more appropriate, and there was a guy in America called Stephen Speak or something, so that's one of the main reasons.

Stephen: 3:20

Anyway, I wanted to talk about shocking reveals in films, things that I wasn't expecting and things that just really stick out to me in films I've seen, like plot twists, etc. So this is no particular order. This is just a few that I like, and I may do another, another podcast on this when I uh think of some more or have my brain triggered, um, but yeah, so one. I think I've spoke about one of them previously, um, but I don't mind talking about stuff again. I'm sure you don't mind hearing it again, because it won't be in the same way. None of this stuff is scripted.

Stephen: 4:12

As you may know from the tagline Hang on, let me just move my microphone. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, trying to hold my phone up at the same time. Just gonna get my phone stand Again. Should have probably done this beforehand, but I am useless, okay, so. So what are we doing now? I'm just going to take my headphones off a little bit because it really distracts me, because I'm picking up a load of echoes and I don't think that's what the audio sounds like, so I don't know why that is. Anyway, I'll just ramble on Stick with me, okay?

Stephen: 4:48

So probably the first one I'm going to do is probably the most obvious one. But as a kid, I think it blows your mind because you kind of get drawn into stories and especially like fantasy stuff that you know, as a kid, your imagination runs wild with you, doesn't it? It still does to me to this day, to be fair. But yeah, so I think the first one is going to be a really obvious one. It's going to be Star Wars Empire Strikes Back. I think it is where Darth Vader oh, by the way, spoiler alerts I had, should we put like a little alarm on for that? I'm not sure. Spoiler alerts, spoiler alerts, spoiler alerts. Oh, I've finished before I stop speaking. Are you enjoying this episode so far? Okay, so basically, star Wars Empire Strikes Back.

Stephen: 5:40

Right at the end of the film, luke's been fighting Darth Vader and basically Darth Vader's saying join the dark side and he and he says no, I'll never join you. And blah, blah, blah. And basically I think Luke says something like you know, you killed my father and Darth Vader says no, I am your father, which is the actual proper quote. People misquote it all the time, but that's actually what Darth Vader says no, I am your father and yeah, it's.

Stephen: 6:13

It's a poignant moment for most kids, I think, because it's probably the first time that you know they've had like that shocking reveal in a film. And I know for me, like I was like how can this evil Darth Vader be Luke Skywalker, the saviour, the young prodigy, the young kind of pretender of the throne, the new wave of Jedi that's going to start this revolution, really kickstart it again and defeat the Empire? And yeah, I just think it's just brilliant, isn't it? We all love it. And yeah, I just remember really vividly as a kid, remember really vividly as a kid, then had to immediately watch the third one to know what happened. And I found that Luke goes through some sort of change, doesn't he? From the second to the third. He becomes like more Zen, he's like now a Jedi Master and all that sort of stuff. So, yeah, big reveal. Anyway, I'm going to linger on that because everyone knows about that. I think that's been kicked to death, but it was something that was shocking to me as a child.

Stephen: 7:25

I was probably eight or nine probably, when I first saw Star Wars, a New Hope and Empire. They were on TV quite a lot as a kid. I think I watched them one Christmas when they did the trilogy. This was before, obviously, the prequels and the sequels, etc. So yeah, so the next one I'm going to talk about is the film Seven Morgan Freeman, brad Pitt Again, an amazing, an amazing film and one that I saw as a young adult, probably like I don't know what, when it came out.

Stephen: 8:06

If I'm honest with you, I saw it when it was, when it was probably on television before I said that so weird television when it was on TV and I don't actually know what year it was. But I'm gonna have to. I'm gonna have to google the year. I'll do that in the background. I don't actually know what year it's from. I'm going to have to Google the year. I'll do that in the background.

Stephen: 8:28

But yeah, the whole premise of the film is basically there's murders going on. Again, spoiler alert, I don't need to say that. You know now, you've had the warning. But there's seven deadly sins and there's a lot of murders going on, deadly sins, and there's a lot of murders going on and basically Brad Pitt is a new investigator and joined the homicide team and Morgan Freeman is very old school and is approaching retirement and they have to solve these murders and they realize they're related to the seven deadly sins, so like gluttony, greed, sloth and the quite. It's quite a quite, quite a dark film but it's very human as well and the crimes are quite gruesome and some of the stuff that they do is is like, oh Jesus, david Fincher film as well.

Stephen: 9:19

It was released in 1995, so I'd have been 12 when it came out. I didn't see it when I was 12. I'm pretty sure I was like 15 or 16 when it came out, so probably a little bit younger than I probably should have been to watch it. And I remember watching it at whatever age it was like 15, 16, thinking Jesus, this is hardcore. But I really enjoyed the film. I really enjoyed the film. I really enjoyed the film and Gwyneth Paltrow plays Gwyneth Paltrow plays Bradford's wife and basically at the end of the film they've got the person that's been doing the killing and he said they're going to lead him to the last and seventh victim and he goes out to the desert and he basically has only the two cops and he can be there and this truck van kind of drives up and delivers a parcel.

Stephen: 10:08

And so Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, the cops and and the killer are sat and the killer starts saying all all this like big monologue about like how the seventh sin is his sin, and blah, blah, blah, blah, and this box gets delivered and Morgan Freeman says you stay there, I'll go look at it. And he like stands up and I think what's really really key to this is I didn't see this coming and I kind of I kind of did and didn't at the same time. So I kind of thought, oh, that person might be a victim, but I never. I kind of like went out of my brain and when they were driving out to the desert I just thought there's another body there and blah, blah, blah, and it turns out that in the box is is one of Paltrow's head, is like the cop's um head, and they've got five. I think it's what it is. They've got five bodies up to this point. It's there after the sixth and seventh.

Stephen: 11:06

So the sixth sin becomes the killers and the seventh sin becomes Brad Pitt's because he finds out that it's his wife's head, and he becomes Rath and basically shoots to death the killer. And it's like this really massive dramatic ending and I kind of figured out who it was at the same time as, like, morgan Freeman's character, because he, he opens the box with a little pen knife and as he opens a little, he like peels a bit of the box up and he suddenly just stands up and looks down and looks over at Brad Pitt and he says, put your gun down. Like, like, step away and put your gun down. It's like, oh my god, it's gonna be his wife's head, like, and it's like, oh my god, it's going to be his wife's head, like, and it's just like this realisation and it's just a brilliant moment. And Brad Pitt and Moulin Freeman and, um, I think it's Kevin Spacey, uh, they're all. They're all really good in it. Um, but the crimes in it are quite gruesome and uh, but it's just, the whole film's done really, really well. It's definitely still worth a watch. I mean, bloody Hell, that film's like 30 years old, nearly so, jesus. So if you haven't seen it by now, then nah, but yeah, I think for me that bit was cool because it was like I realised. When he did, and even though I'd kind of thought I wonder if he'll kill Brad Pitt's wife I can't remember the character names in the film, so I'm just gonna refer to the actual actors I kind of thought, oh, that's time to pass now. But yeah, really really good film.

Stephen: 12:33

Another one is kind of like it's gotta be in there. It's an Alien thing and the first time I ever watched Alien I thought like I kind of was quite young again, probably getting a bit too young to watch it. It was in my like early teens, mid-teens, and I'd seen Aliens first and went back to watch Alien. It was on late at night one time, one night I think. I recorded on VHS and watched it the following night late at night. So I watched just the standard version. It wasn't the director's cut at this point.

Stephen: 13:04

So and obviously, like you know, you think that Ripley's got away from the alien, she's got into the lifeboat, the Narcissus, and you think that she's got away, and she's obviously, you know, getting undressed, putting Jonesy in a sleep chamber, she's's getting herself ready to, you know, getting get into on herself. And then the set design is amazing in that film because the alien, the set kind of mimics the alien and vice versa, and it's been very cleverly done in the fact that, like, some parts of the set look organic and then at the end of the film, when the alien, you realize the alien's on board, the narcissus with rivoli, and she's already, like, left the ship. She started that process for getting away from the ship and I think at that point the ship's actually exploded as well. It's quite, it's quite insane. Yeah, I just yeah, it's just, it's just bonkers, it's just bonkers. And I was just like, oh my god, how the hell did the alien know where to go? But it kind of explained to me, because I was thinking, where's this going? Are you just going to watch it get in the pod and go to sleep? That's really weird. What else is going to happen? But again, I didn't realise that it was going to be the bloody alien being there, I don't know why.

Stephen: 14:16

Again, from probably like a young adult brain not really had much experience of like the format of films at that point, probably, yeah, so yeah, again, brilliant, brilliant film, brilliant film. And what's the next one? What's next on the list here? What is next on this list? Why can't I see what's next. My eyesight is terrible. There's a light. It's not my eyesight, but there's a light shining around the screen. That's the problem with smartphones and stuff.

Stephen: 14:50

Okay, oh yes, the Matrix, another one of my favourite favourite film franchises. Loved the first three films, wasn't that enamoured with the most recent thing, but I think I need to watch it again. I think, again, I was expecting a bit too much from it, a bit like the Romulus thing. However, there's a quick sideline. I have watched Romulus since I bought it on a streaming service but on Apple TV. I don't know if I'm being cagey about it. I bought it from Apple and I watched it the other night again and really enjoyed it. Yes, there are still things that grate on me, but I can forgive it. It's a good film and I actually want to watch it a third time, so that can only be a good thing. So, yeah, there you go. But yeah, the Matrix.

Stephen: 15:36

So at the end of the film, at the end of the first Matrix film, you know, neo is meant to be the one and everyone's very doubtful whether he is or not and he goes to rescue Morpheus and they're getting Morpheus out of the building. It's been a while, since we've watched him, they bring him down the corridor and Neo's trying to get to a phone to get out and as he opens the door, agent Smith's there and shoots him like several times in the chest and he goes out into the corridor and he gets shot and he's sliding around the wall with blood and you think it can't end like this. Like the operator. Sorry, I'm getting a lot of like, obviously, this. I think I'm speaking over the top of the shield, so I apologise. I'm getting a lot of flutter, not flutter. What's it called? Breath, breath. Let's try this. Let's try. Is this better? I really need to set my frigging microphone up properly, don't I? Let's just hold it. Let's just hold it. That might be the most sensible thing I've thought of all day. So yeah, so he basically is. You actually think, oh my god, he's actually bleeding and he's gonna die, like the main character, like Keanu Reeves character is gonna die and all is lost and this is terrible and that's obviously. He doesn't die. He stands up and he's got this the power of the one, I suppose, and he's okay, and he flies down the corridor and goes inside. Agent Smith. Is it Agent Smith or is it another one that he does it to? Is it one of the other agents? Anyway, he explodes from inside.

Stephen: 17:19

I've not seen the Matrix in years. Again, the Matrix, the matrix, aliens and a couple of the films are very much my go-to films. If I was feeling poorly or anything like that, I'd go straight to them and be like, right, here we go, we're getting on this and uh, they always make me feel better. Teenage moon ninja girls is a very similar one for that as well. But yeah, but you know, the matrix, like neo dying, oh my god, uh, and then obviously, obviously, twist he isn't actually dead, which is like another twist. You think, oh my God, he isn't dead. That's so cool because I kind of like thinking. I was kind of like thinking, oh my God, like a film that doesn't end happy. That's kind of rare, but I suppose it doesn't end happy, it just ends with a bit of hope.

Stephen: 18:08

And then this is not so much like a surprise twist, more just like an Easter egg, I suppose. But in Predator 2, when Danny Glover goes inside the alien ship, the Predator ship, and there's the wall of skulls and you see the Predator skull on the wall and by this point we'd had Dark Horse comics crossovers I think we had. Yeah, I'm pretty sure we had, because they came out in like the 89s 90s, so I'm pretty sure it was about the time of the crossovers. So we were kind of like, oh my god, like aliens exist with the Prentissers, and they've obviously been hunting an alien and succeeded to capture it and captured its skull If they even have skulls, I don't know yeah, so that's kind of more of an easter egg, though, than an actual kind of like plot twist. Of course, it's kind of a plot twist for people that don't know, though.

Stephen: 18:58

And then the last one is the film Signs, by M Night Shyalalala. However you say his name, I can never remember how you say his name properly, so I apologise. I apologise for turning it into a shit song, but Signs was a really good film. Well, I've not seen it since. Maybe it's shit now in hindsight, I don't know, but when I watched it at the time, it was really, really good. I remember we got it on video, but we rented it and him and my girlfriend at the time, and it came out about 2002 probably and put it in the DVD player. I don't think she was too into it, but it was something I really worked with to watch. So she, she went along with it and, yeah, it was, it was.

Stephen: 19:34

It was one of the films where it was not a lot happened, but it was a lot of like Logan Dagger, like his films kind of are. Thank you, computer. It just chimed in the background for some reason, I have no idea why. Or was that my Alexa? I have no idea. Anyway, it's completely distracted me. Yeah, but M Night Shyamalan films are very much like that and the premise of that one is there's aliens landing on earth and they're a bit hostile.

Stephen: 20:04

But there's a bit of the film and this is the thing that really it kind of wasn't like a plot twist, but it kind of really dragged me into the film to the point that I thought it was real. So, again, probably not really thematic with this episode, but yeah, there's a bit where there's a news report and one of the characters is watching the news report from under the stairs with a silver like a like a bake foil hat on and they're watching this news report. In the news report someone submitted like, like video camera footage from a child's birthday party and in the footage you see everyone's like blowing the candles on the cake and like that, and someone shouts and says that something outside kind of thing, and the person on the camera is a bit like like Blair Witch, kind of like shaky camera stuff, and then they hold the camera to like the backyard, looking down into like an alleyway, and this alien like just walks across like the gap in the alleyway and like as it walks past it like looks up the alleyway towards the people, straight into the camera and just carries on, but it doesn't pause or anything. It's just very casually, very casually walking by and I remember my girlfriend thought I was a bit embarrassed, fair part I was. I was like so drawn in to the film at this point that I was like, oh my god, did you see that there's an actual alien? Oh my god. And she was like it's a film, steve. But it dragged me in for that split second where suspense and disbelief kind of stuff and I was like literally thinking this film was a documentary. So kudos to that film again. Probably not like a plot twist or anything, but just thought such a cool way to engage the film. You know when a plot twist is meant to like get you engaged and throw you off and you know and shock you and stuff, and that that moment in that film definitely did that to me. It drew me in and shocked me as well, because I was literally like that's a fucking alien, like literally, yeah, I'll rest your ears at that point and I will definitely try and get myself sorted for next week.

Stephen: 22:00

He says for the fifth time yeah, I just need to sort my crap out. But thank you very much for listening. Let me know if you agree with my choices and let me know if you want another episode of these, and just thank you for listening. I don't get loads and loads of listens, so any I do. I just really appreciate and I still really enjoy doing this. But if you like it, please spread the word, share it and give me a like. That'll do me. That's the most amazing thing you can do. So, yeah, thank you very much and keep prattling. You've been listening to Infinite Drattle. Thanks for listening. If you liked this episode, go back and listen to some others and please continue to listen. Your support is much appreciated. Please like, share, comment and subscribe and I'll speak to you all again soon. Take care.