History LampshadeHanging / FIlm

* In ''Film/MemphisBelle'', two militfary reporters jadedly review the makeup of the [[BadassCrew titular plane's crew]], commenting on how predictable a selection of men they are: "There's always a religious type." "There's always one from Cleveland." This is likely a lampshading of the [[TheSquad stereotypical ensemble casts]] featured in old WWII films.

** ''Film/StarTrek''

* In ''Film/{{Looper}}'', Joe talks to Old Joe about his time travel and Old Joe interrupts him saying "I don't want to talk about time travel shit. Because if we talk about it, then we're gonna be here all day, drawing diagrams with straws.". It’s the way to avoid Boostrap paradox.

* Played straight in ''Film/TheCore''. After discovering that [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the Earth is doomed]], the protagonist is summoned to a meeting at the Pentagon to explain the problem to the military. When asked what can be done about it, he dives into a passionate, in-depth explanation of why ''the plot of the movie they're in'' is impossible (in short: there's no way they could possibly get to the core in the first place). The answer he gets is "Yes, but... what if we ''could''?" In addition, less than five minutes later in the movie, the impossible substance that makes the whole story possible is dubbed "{{Unobtainium}}". (WriterRevolt might be involved, specially because ExecutiveMeddling tried to make the movie [[UpToEleven even dumber]]).

* In an early scene in ''Franchise/StarWars: RevengeOfTheSith'', when Anakin and Obi-Wan are passing around the IdiotBall, we get the following exchange:

* HellRaiserHellworld has an incredibly clumsy one. A ShamelessFanserviceGirl walks down some stairs topless as two male characters look on, and they debate whether it was a gratuitous shot or a NecessaryWeasel. They actually refer to it as a shot, as if it were in a movie or something, thus LeaningOnTheFourthWall.

* ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan''
** The story borrows themes and ideas from from ''Theatre/KingLear'', ''Literature/ParadiseLost'' and ''Literature/MobyDick''. Guess what books are on Khan's shelf.
** There's a lingering shot of the (2D) chessboard when Chekhov and Terrell first enter Khan's cargo container refuge, [[spoiler: foreshadowing the way Kirk defeats Khan at Spock's suggestion - "His pattern indicates 2-dimensional thinking."]].
** It also borrows from ''Film/ATaleOfTwoCities''. Guess which book Spock gives to Kirk as a birthday present.
** The age of the actors, a fact that the previous movie tried to gloss over, became a major plot point for this movie as Kirk hits 50 and has a mid-life crisis.
** In ''Film/StarTrek'', discussing what to do about Nero brings about a lengthy explanation that Nero's actions, beginning with his attack on the ''USS [[strike:Calvin]] Kelvin'' decades ago have altered the timeline and created an [[AlternateUniverse alternate reality]], thereby justifying why the film is so [[ContinuityReboot radically different from the canon.]] Spock even says so himself: "Whatever our lives might have been if the time continuum was disrupted -- our destinies have changed." He might as well have just looked right at the camera while saying it.
** Film/StarTrekBeyond has Kirk commenting on how, after three years in space on the Enterprise, things have begun to feel strangely episodic.

-->'''Han:''' Okay. How do we blow it up? [[AchillesHeel There's always a way to do that.]]

-->'''Major Ematt:''' It's another Death Star.

-->'''Poe Dameron:''' I wish that were the case, Major. This was the Death Star. And ''this'' is Starkiller Base.

-->'''Han:''' Okay. How do we blow it up? There's always a way to do that.

Later in that same scene...

* In ''Film/GodzillaResurgence'', they bring up the [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square-cube_law Square-Cube Law]], which is commonly used in discussions explaining why animals such as Godzilla could not possibly exist in the real world. Beforehand, no Godzilla film had even touched this. Of course the film doesn't bother explaining how Godzilla is breaking the laws of physics without breaking a sweat [[note]] or any bones for that matter[[/note]], but it's still good for a small chuckle.

* Ian's GenreSavvy line in ''Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark'' movie: "Oooh, ahhh. That's how it always starts. Then later there's [[OhGodWithTheVerbing the running, and the screaming]]."

* In the beginning of ''Film/LuckyNumberSlevin'', BruceWillis's character is explaining the mechanics of a KansasCityShuffle to a man in a train station. The explanation itself turns out to be ''part of'' a Kansas City Shuffle, when Willis [[spoiler:gets the man to look right, then goes left, getting out of his wheelchair, and snaps the man's neck.]] This is also a reference to the fact that the ''entire plot'' of the film is, in fact, a Kansas City Shuffle.

** This isn't exactly a lampshade, but it does suggest that "if it worked in the first movie despite being absurd, it should work in this one, too" which is basically the same thing.

* In ''Film/GodzillaResurgence'', they bring up the [[Square-Cube Law https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square-cube_law]], which is commonly used in discussions explaining why animals such as Godzilla could not possibly exist in the real world. Beforehand, no Godzilla film had even touched this. Of course the film doesn't bother explaining how Godzilla is breaking the laws of physics without breaking a sweat [[note]] or any bones for that matter[[/note]], but it's still good for a small chuckle.

** Immediately after that, the camera moves so a ''lampshade'' is placed very centrally and prominently in the frame. This could also be an indication of the 0.1% probability that Tommy Wiseau is a genius who knows exactly what he's doing, all the time, and that ''Film/TheRoom'' is truly the ''Film/CitizenKane'' of our day.

** Jason Tripitakas' last name is a lampshade hanging of his role as well as the story's roots in ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'' (Tripitaka is a title of the monk Xuanzang, and as in the novel it's the other leads [JetLi and JackieChan] that really make this story). For laughs, his being one of the only non-Chinese in the whole cast is lampshaded by Jet Li.

* A 99.9% probability that this is unintentional (meta-)lampshading, but in ''Film/TheRoom'', Claudette says exactly what the viewer is probably thinking when Denny walks into Johnny and Lisa's house right after they caught Michelle and Mike using the house to "do their... homework":

* A 99.9% probability that this is unintentional lampshading, but in ''Film/TheRoom'', Claudette says exactly what the viewer is probably thinking when Denny walks into Johnny and Lisa's house right after they caught Michelle and Mike using the house to "do their... homework":

* I'm 99.9% sure this is unintentional lampshading, but in ''Film/TheRoom'', Claudette says exactly what the viewer is probably thinking when Denny walks into Johnny and Lisa's house right after they caught Michelle and Mike using the house to "do their... homework":

** Immediately after that, the camera moves so a lampshade is placed very centrally and prominently in the frame. The other 0.1% of my brain takes this as an indication that Tommy Wiseau is a genius who knows exactly what he's doing, all the time. Truly the Citizen Kane of our day.
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* In ''Film/StarTrek'', discussing what to do about Nero brings about a lengthy explanation that Nero's actions, beginning with his attack on the ''USS [[strike:Calvin]] Kelvin'' decades ago have altered the timeline and created an [[AlternateUniverse alternate reality]], thereby justifying why the film is so [[ContinuityReboot radically different from the canon.]] Spock even says so himself: "Whatever our lives might have been if the time continuum was disrupted -- our destinies have changed." He might as well have just looked right at the camera while saying it.

''(All the other people who died in the movie wander into the room, followed by UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln and Music/ElvisPresley. A nurse gets rid of them.)''

* A meta version: in Film/{{Inception}}, Cobb claims to be a man named Mr. Charles, whose sole purpose is to remind the subject he's in a dream by pointing out all the inconsistencies within the dream, like the off-kilter gravity. In other words, he's lampshading his own dream.

-->'''Austin:''' So, Basil, if I travel back to 1969 and I was frozen in 1967, presumably I could go back and look at my frozen self. But, if I'm still frozen in 1967, how could I have been unthawed in the nineties and traveled back to the--oh no, I've gone cross-eyed.\\