Every movie—no matter how star-studded, well-written, or visually stunning—has the potential to slip up and leave audiences groaning. Sometimes it’s an awkward line delivery, sometimes it’s bad CGI, and other times it’s a creative choice so baffling you wonder how it survived the editing room. These moments don’t necessarily ruin the film entirely, but they stick out like a sore thumb, pulling us out of the magic of cinema.

From blink-and-you’ll-miss-it clues to full-blown alternate meanings, these flicks had secret endings only eagle-eyed fans (or obsessive Redditors) caught.

Ah, the montage: cinema’s sneakiest sweetheart. It’s that clever trick where filmmakers whisper, “Time passes, your heroes grow…and yes, that quirky sidekick learned a thousand dance moves in 30 seconds”. A perfectly executed montage marries narrative economy and emotional momentum, usually backed by music that’s just right—not too twee, not too cheesy. Let’s stroll (or sprint, or dance) through film history’s most perfectly executed movie montages—like a mixtape for your eyeballs.

Storytelling doesn’t always have to follow a straight line. Some of the most compelling films cut back and forth between past and present, asking the viewer to piece the story together like a puzzle as they go along. Flashbacks, reverse chronological structure, overlapping time periods—no matter what the device, these non-linear films didn't just break the rules of storytelling, they made them work magnificently.

While CGI has revolutionized filmmaking, not every attempt at digital magic ends in success. In fact, some CGI moments have become legendary for all the wrong reasons. From uncanny valley disasters to cartoonish monsters, here are 25 of the worst CGI moments to ever hit the big screen.

Previews set expectations, and marketing plays a role in deciding a movie’s future. The first 12 in this list explore how flashy trailers fell flat on the big screen, while the other 13 spotlight movies that outperformed their teasers.