The Most Paused '90s Movie Moments

The 1990s was a landmark decade for theatrical films, and the rise of DVDs meant that audiences now had access to higher quality versions of these films than ever before. And with this new power, many film fans decided to pause some of their favorite movies during key moments and take a closer look.

There are a variety of reasons that they did this. Sometimes viewers were hitting pause to get a closer look at hidden Easter eggs and visual gags that were only on-screen for a few brief frames. Other times, it was to discover various production goofs and continuity errors that totally broke the reality of the film. And still other times, they were pausing for far simpler and less intellectual reasons. After all, there were some extremely sexy films that came out of the '90s, full of notoriously spicy scenes. Some audience members maybe just wanted to make those moments last a little bit longer, and you know what, we're not here to judge.

Today, we'll be covering the biggest pause-worthy moments in 1990s filmmaking — the funny, the sexy, and the downright embarrassing.

The classic 1999 science fiction film The Matrix tells the story of a group of people who one day realize that the world they live in is a simulation, which they then seek to break free from. Funny enough, a similar thing happened to a small percentage of viewers during a certain scene in the film, when a small production error gave them an unexpected reminder that the film they were watching was itself also a simulation.

The moment comes when two of our heroes, Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and Neo (Keanu Reeves), are going to visit the sage-like figure known as the Oracle. As they stand in the hallway outside her the door to her apartment, there's a gorgeously composed insert shot of Neo's hand reaching out to grab the reflective metal doorknob. However, in addition to reflecting Neo and Morpheus, the doorknob is also reflecting the camera lens. It's the sort of thing that you probably won't notice the first few times you watch the film, but once you see it, you can't unsee it.

That being said, the production team appears to have come up with a pretty ingenious solution to hide as much of the camera as possible. They've covered it with a replica of Morpheus' outfit, complete with his tie, and they've placed the camera such a way that it somewhat blends into Morpheus' torso just behind it. To be honest, unlike some production "goofs," this one doesn't bother us at all. We're genuinely impressed by the this bit of old-school movie-making ingenuity.

When Pulp Fiction introduces us to the two hitmen characters, Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) and Vincent Vega (John Travolta), they're arriving at an apartment building to retrieve a briefcase that's been stolen by a small-time criminal named Brett ... and also to execute Brett and his friends. However, before they can finish this job, an unseen attacker emerges from the bathroom, brandishing a pistol. He opens fire on the two hitmen, but once he finishes, we see that somehow, he hit nothing but air. There are bullet holes in the wall behind them, but they themselves are totally unharmed. It's such an unlikely outcome that Jules eventually comes to believe that this event was a miracle. Their lives were spared by God to give them the chance to repent for all the evil they've done.

However, some eagle-eyed audience members noticed a small problem in this scene. If you pause the film during an earlier shot in the apartment, before the hidden gunman appears, you'll see that the bullet holes are already present in the wall behind Jules and Vincent. Now clearly, this is just a production error, but if you want to go really far down the rabbit hole of weird headcanons, there's also an alternate explanation. What if there just happened to be some bullet holes in that wall already? What if there was no miracle at all, and the real reason why Jules and Vincent weren't harmed by the gunman's shots was because he accidentally loaded up his gun with blanks? 

Alright, we'll take off the tinfoil hats now. Clearly that isn't what Tarantino intended, but it is fun to think about.

The 1999 film Fight Club is one of the most meticulously constructed movies of all time. And more so than any other film we're discussing today, you'll definitely need to pause the movie if you want to catch some of this film's hidden Easter eggs because some of them appear in only a single frame each.

We all remember Tyler Durden's first iconic scene in the film, right? While on a plane flight home from a business trip, our unnamed protagonist (Edward Norton) suddenly realizes that there's a strange man in red sunglasses seated next to him, played to perfection by Brad Pitt. The stranger then strikes up a conversation, and the two discuss airplane safety cards, homemade napalm, and soap. Although our narrator doesn't realize it yet, this encounter is about to change the direction of his life forever.

But what if we told you that this fateful meeting isn't actually Durden's first appearance in Fight Club? At several points earlier in the film, Tyler briefly appears spliced into the film for only a single frame in each appearance, as though he's flickering in and out of existence. Those of you who've already seen the movie can probably guess why the filmmakers decided to do this, and for those of you haven't, we wouldn't want to spoil any of this movie's many delightful twists, so you'll have to check it out for yourselves.

The Star Wars films have always presented landscapes that are rich with surprising visual details and secret Easter eggs. One of the most famous hidden examples occurs in the 1999 film Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, but it comes and goes so quickly that you'll probably have to pause the film to see it for yourself.

The moment occurs midway through the movie, when the Galactic Senate is meeting on Coruscant. Among the many aliens that we see gathered together in this meeting are a trio of creatures that will definitely be familiar to most film fans. They appear to be the same species as the aliens from the 1982 movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

This inclusion makes sense once you remember that the creator of Star Wars, George Lucas, and the creator of E.T., Steven Spielberg, are longtime friends and collaborators. In fact, this is the second crossover we've seen between these two franchises, since E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial also had a Star Wars reference in it. When the titular alien is wandering around on Halloween, he sees a child in a Yoda costume. E.T. then starts to approach the child, repeating the word "home" over and over again, before his human companions drag him away.

The 1997 film Men in Black tells the story of a secret organization that protects the Earth from extraterrestrial threats and works to keep the existence of aliens a secret. Shortly after our protagonist, Jay (Will Smith), is recruited into this organization, he's given a tour of the Men in Black's extensive underground base. Though there are many unforgettable sights he encounters during this sequence, one shot is so dense with information that audiences had no choice but to pause the scene if they wanted to take it all in.

Jay comes across a computer terminal that sits at the base of a massive array of holographic screens, all displaying real-time footage of various real-world celebrities who are secretly aliens. Among the many celebrities displayed on the screen are Danny DeVito, Al Roker, Sylvester Stallone, Dionne Warwick, Newt Gingrich, George Lucas, and even some of the Men in Black's filmmakers, including director Barry Sonnenfeld and executive producer Steven Spielberg.

The 1999 film Cruel Intentions contains no shortage of sexy, pause-worthy moments, but there's one scene in particular that's gone down in cinema history as one of the steamiest images ever captured on celluloid.

When the rich and heartless Kathryn Merteuil (Sarah Michelle Gellar) discovers that Court (Charlie O'Connell), her former lover, has left her for a girl named Cecile Caldwell (Selma Blair), she comes up with a plan for revenge. Kathryn befriends Cecile without Court's knowledge and makes it her mission to "corrupt" Cecile in his eyes by making her sleep with as many other people as possible. One day, when the two girls are having a picnic in the park, Cecile expresses some hesitance about her new boyfriend, saying that she's never even kissed a boy before. Kathryn, seeing an opportunity to help push Cecile towards sexuality promiscuity, offers to show her the ropes by "practicing" with her. Cecile follows Kathryn's lead, and after a brief yet passionate make-out, Kathryn pulls away, leaving Cecile clearly wanting more.

It seems as though audiences were also left wanting more, and this iconic kiss became a moment that many were fond of pausing and/or rewatching over and over again. After the scene won the 2000 MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss, it solidified its place in history as one of the most iconic film kisses ever.