Movie In-Jokes: Gremlins

One of the fun games when watching movies is to spot references, secret messages and gags that filmmakers, film crews and actors can slip into movies to pay tribute to films they love, have a bit of fun with their previous work, or give the cinematic equivalent of a shout-out. Here's a spotter's guide to these inside jokes.

Frankly, this movie has enough little tributes and gags in it to fuel this column for a year. So I'll restrain myself and zero in on a few specific bits as director Joe Dante uses the setting of a movie theater to reference both his own career history and that of his illustrious executive producer Steven Spielberg in Gremlins.