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Great films that have an IMperfect ending

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Great films that have an IMperfect ending

Old 03-31-05, 11:21 AM
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Great films that have an IMperfect ending

Play on the other thread.

So what movies do you think are great and then drop the ball in the last scene, final moments? I'm not talking From Dusk Til Dawn, where the movie switches stride halfway through. Just looking for bad endings to otherwise good movies.

First one that always comes to mind is

The Truman Show: It should have ended with Truman saying "Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night! " waving and exiting the soundstage. Roll credits. Instead we get a cut shot of Lauren/Sylvia all excited.

Shawshank Redemption: Should have left the beach scene out. Too much payoff for me. You have this great buildup during the film, "will Andy get out?" This rollercoaster of emotions and we get that payoff, but once Red reads the note, it turns into Red's story. It should have left the viewer wanting more, using their own imagination to determine how it plays out, much like the novella.

and to a lesser extent
A.I.: Too many endings. Just kept stringing the viewer along.

Return of the King: Same thing.

Both of those though are still quite satisfactory, I just think they could have been trimmed up a bit.
Old 03-31-05, 11:26 AM
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Lilo & Stitch.. that Jumba and Plaekly were made to stay on Earth felt a bit forced and just placed there for future milking.
Old 03-31-05, 11:30 AM
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That was my iinitial impression of ROTK in the theater but completely changed when I saw the EE. I don't know if the end was re-edited but I thought it was excellent.
Old 03-31-05, 11:35 AM
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Minority Report
Se7en
Old 03-31-05, 11:36 AM
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Frailty

Spoiler:
I was okay with the reversal, of finding out that Adam was narrating his brother's story, but by bringing in the guy at the beginning who had seen him they beat us over the head too much that we was really being protected by God. If they had just had the static over the surveillance tapes, and left things a bit more ambiguous, I think it would have been a damn_near perfect movie.
Old 03-31-05, 11:38 AM
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Minority Report for sure
Old 03-31-05, 11:59 AM
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Battlefield Earth

for not ending when it started.... i am still tramatized.... i want my money back.. AHH!!!!!!!!!!!
Old 03-31-05, 12:09 PM
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I'm one of the few that really likes the end to the The Shawshank Redemption I know most people would like it to end while Red is riding the bus with his "I hope..." speach, But I really enjoy the final payoff.

I'll throw in another Darabont film, The Green Mile It goes on forever after Coffey is
Spoiler:
put to death
. As if that's not depressing enough it contiunes to get worse until the end.

I'll Also say Speed The whole subway thing at the end just seems so tacked on. I think I even remember on the comentary that the writer says it shouldn't be there. The movie ends with
Spoiler:
the bus exploding
Old 03-31-05, 12:22 PM
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Originally Posted by GoldenJCJ
I'm one of the few that really likes the end to the The Shawshank Redemption I know most people would like it to end while Red is riding the bus with his "I hope..." speach, But I really enjoy the final payoff.

I love that ending too.
Old 03-31-05, 12:24 PM
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I always thought the ending to, 'Rashomon' was imperfect. I always thought
Spoiler:
the scene with the baby was a bit contrived. By rescuing the baby and stopping the rain it showed that there was hope yet for mankind. I think the film would have worked better without the happy ending. It felt forced and didn't fit in. Other than that though it's a great film.

Last edited by Absolut; 03-31-05 at 12:26 PM.
Old 03-31-05, 12:27 PM
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Eyes Wide Shut. Some people love the last line, others (like me) hate it because you can see it coming a mile away.
Old 03-31-05, 12:33 PM
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Old 03-31-05, 12:41 PM
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Heat

I still own the Japanese DTS DVD but I wish the ending was better.
Old 03-31-05, 12:45 PM
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Originally Posted by devilshalo
Se7en

You're not trolling, are you??? Probably my favorite ending of the last 20 years.

I know del Torro publicly detests Mimic, but I love that movie.

The ending, however, was completely tacked on. Bugs that are supremely adaptable, walk the surface undisturbed, are as fast as lightning, procreate at an alarming rate, have already spread through the cities' various underground systems all find themselves confined to a single killing zone the second one of the characters gets an opportunity to kill every single one of them and live through it??!!!!! Him then emerging to be reunited with his love sporting a convenient new (formerly someone's son, now conveniently orphaned) addition to the family (since one of them was apparently infertile).

WTF?!?!?

I love the rest, but, "Thanks rewrite guy. I hope you get herpes!"

Plus! The fertile male dies shortly after mating and never even takes place in the development of the colony. Tacked on ending monster worthy of such classics as The Howling IV or Anaconda.

Otherwise: best giant bug movie...EVER!

Last edited by Kudama; 03-31-05 at 01:04 PM.
Old 03-31-05, 12:54 PM
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Jeepers Creepers!!!! i can't believe i forgot this.

seriously, it's like the writer was trying to get the script finished before lunch time and ended it just as soon as the pizza was delivered.
Old 03-31-05, 12:54 PM
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Old 03-31-05, 12:55 PM
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Garden State. Last scene felt like something out of a Friends episode.

Castaway left me disappointed, but some like that ending.
Old 03-31-05, 01:12 PM
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Originally Posted by Kudama

You're not trolling, are you??? Probably my favorite ending of the last 20 years.
No, I'm not trolling.

Spoiler:
I would have preferred the original ending (and I wanted Somerset to kill John Doe well before I even knew that was the original ending). With John Doe's death coming at the hand of Somerset, he becomes all that he loathed (his whole dialogue with everyone at the beginning of the film was about why he's getting away from being a detective, he was sick of it. Sick of the twisted things he's seen) in order to save Mills. With Mills pulling the trigger, it was (at least to me) rather predictable. John Doe really taking the time to talk with Mills out in the desert. It was all set up nice and neat. That neither detective picked up on it as a little too convenient. And when John Doe finally spills it and Somerset realizes it, it's too late. It's already set up for John Doe to win. I wanted to see Somerset take that power away and really force Mills to then become like him.

Last edited by devilshalo; 03-31-05 at 01:26 PM.
Old 03-31-05, 01:15 PM
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Folks, can we at least be consistent with explaining why and what you didn't like about the ending? Just posting the title really doesn't inspire any discussion; it's just list-making.
Old 03-31-05, 01:22 PM
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Originally Posted by taa455
Castaway left me disappointed, but some like that ending.
I'm one of them as I loved the ending (and the movie).

For me, I'd have to say that I am let-down by the ending to one of my all time favorite's, An American Werewolf in London, which is too sudden and anticlimactic.
Old 03-31-05, 01:24 PM
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Minority Report - should've kept that rumored last line about the number of murders committed the following year

Chasing Amy - the 2nd to last scene where Asslick proposes the threesome always bugged me

Return of the King - End already!!!

Monty Python and the Holy Grail - They get arrested?

Blazing Saddles - This ending still doesn't make sense to me.

Return of the Jedi(DVD Edition) - Hayden's ghost.
Old 03-31-05, 01:30 PM
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I wasn't aware of any characters named "Asslick" in Chasing Amy. Maybe you saw a different version?
Old 03-31-05, 01:35 PM
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Originally Posted by PixyJunket
I wasn't aware of any characters named "Asslick" in Chasing Amy. Maybe you saw a different version?
He's the actor who played Holden. I think his first name is Ben.
Old 03-31-05, 01:37 PM
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HIGH TENSION - almost sinks the entire film. Almost...
Old 03-31-05, 01:38 PM
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Originally Posted by Doughboy
Asslick

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