Movies that are fantastic up until the last 20 minutes, when it all goes to pieces

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A lot of movies that rely on building up a sense of mystery by withholding information are like this. The solution to the mystery is almost never as good as the mystery itself. Vertigo is perhaps the prime example of this. In fact, it might be harder to find films where the pay-off is worth it. Maybe Les Diaboliques. Maybe Mulholland Drive.

― Albert Draaijer, Tuesday, 22 November 2005 15:54 (twenty years ago)

How about movies where a stupid test audience caused the filmmakers to tack on a horrible prelude that completely ruins all sense of suspense and revelation for the rest of the film?

― Dan (DARK CITY) Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 15:57 (twenty years ago)

Crimson Rivers

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 15:58 (twenty years ago)

Dreamcatcher

― Rumpie, Tuesday, 22 November 2005 15:59 (twenty years ago)

Ewoks: The Battle for Endor

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 16:00 (twenty years ago)

'the magnificent andersons'

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 16:02 (twenty years ago)

Andersons?

― Oh No, It's Dadaismus (and His Endless Stupid Jokes) (Dada), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 16:04 (twenty years ago)

wes anderson's remake

― j b everlovin' r (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 16:04 (twenty years ago)

oh sorry, i meant

'the magnificent PEDAMBERSONS'

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 16:05 (twenty years ago)

Free the Pedambersons

― Oh No, It's Dadaismus (and His Endless Stupid Jokes) (Dada), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 16:06 (twenty years ago)

immediate thought on reading thread title: Kubrick/Spielberg's AI PWNS...

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 16:07 (twenty years ago)

The original Orson Welles filmw as called the Magnificent Andersons. He had a pay or play deal on his cut, so the legal boys at RKO looked into the contract that bound them and discovered that they could recut it if it was called something different.However this gave them a slight problem as Welles's new film had been massively trailed. Hence the two letter retitling to Ambersons, and the ropey editing.

― Pete (Pete), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 16:07 (twenty years ago)

aha, one of *those* 'pete posts'.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 16:17 (twenty years ago)

movie that sucks until the final 20 minutes: Vanilla Sky

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 16:21 (twenty years ago)

i'm tempted to suggest Minority Report here, but 'fantastic' may be a little OTT for what seemed an enjoyable enough sci-fi romp but with a somewhat lacklustre, cop out ending.

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 16:22 (twenty years ago)

fight club goes to shit when the pixies turn up on the s/t

i'll need some convincing that dreamcatcher was at any point 'fantastic'

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 16:29 (twenty years ago)

'stripes'. ye gods it's drawn out.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 16:30 (twenty years ago)

AI didn't start getting really good until the last 20 minutes -- you are all crazy!!

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 16:33 (twenty years ago)

Also wouldn't say it was a fantastic movie, but I wanted to kill Spielberg for the way 'War of the Worlds' ended.

― Surfer_Stone_Rosalita (Surfer_Stone_Rosalita), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 16:34 (twenty years ago)

AI for me was like great 20 minutes, awful 20 minutes, great 20 minutes, awful 20 minutes right through to the omgwtf final 20 minutes which started awfully but ended up fantastic.

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 16:36 (twenty years ago)

Independence Day

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 16:37 (twenty years ago)

rat race
shrek

and for the SAME reason!

― AaronK (AaronK), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 16:37 (twenty years ago)

Mission To Mars

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 16:39 (twenty years ago)

why am i only coming up with Hollywood sci-fi here? oh wait it's all i ever seem to think about...

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 16:40 (twenty years ago)

stripes otm!!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 16:42 (twenty years ago)

eh Secret Window. But it was sort of inevitable anyway.

― Roz (Roz), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 17:02 (twenty years ago)

My name is Spike Lee and I own this thread.

http://www.uky.edu/PR/UK_News/Resources/033103art/SpikeLee.jpg

― Spike Lee (miccio), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 17:04 (twenty years ago)

These are mostly films where the last 120 minutes all go to pieces.

The last 10 minutes of L.A. Confidential are quite hideous.

The 'mystery' in Vertigo couldn't be less important. That's why Hitchcock gives it away with about 30 minutes to go.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 17:06 (twenty years ago)

HEAT!!!!

I 2nd LA Confidential!

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 17:09 (twenty years ago)

Fight Club - it starts going wrong after the "revelation".

Being John Malkovich - when it becomes a competition on who controls Malkovich.

Signs - I actually thought this was pretty good before the religious mumbo jumbo at the end. They should've ended the film immediately before the alien enters the house, right after Mel Gibson gets his son through the asthma attack. I actually thought the film was gonna end there, but boy was I wrong.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 17:10 (twenty years ago)

Oh come on Signs was NOT fantastic at any point.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 17:12 (twenty years ago)

Yea, what's up with the preppy dude in LA Confidential sleeping with that woman.... WTF, makes no sense from his character so far.

xpost...

Do you guys think Fight Club would have been better if they didn't come out and say they were the same person? I liked the suggestions as to the truth about Decker in Blade Runner....

― Occam's Reznor (ex machina), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 17:13 (twenty years ago)

Also the ending of Vertigo is great! What the hell?!?!

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 17:14 (twenty years ago)

The Constant Gardener (as much as I loved it, the end just suddenly lost its tightly-knit political feeling when it moved to the jeep chase and then to The Sudan)

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 17:15 (twenty years ago)

I agree with Tuomas about Signs.

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 17:17 (twenty years ago)

tho i don't think BJM goes wrong and if anything the final 20 minutes pwns much of the rest of the film.

i think Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind loses it a bit at the end but hard to say why - I think it's just when it really hit me how unconvincing and ill-fitting the two main characters were as a couple in love, but that may well have been the point.

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 17:19 (twenty years ago)

Fight Club owns this thread, but I'm not sure how else they could have done it. Supposedly it makes more sense if you read the book? I never did.

― Keith C (lync0), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 17:22 (twenty years ago)

The end of Signs is hysterical. We've come to a planet covered with water to harvest beings filled with water and we're burnt on contact by...water. The "jesus saves (my kid, at least)" is just a cherry on top.

― 'Twan (miccio), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 17:25 (twenty years ago)

Far more than there are films whose first 20 minutes are crap but which get better.

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 17:28 (twenty years ago)

Signs is so horrible the whole way through, the end at least makes it so bad it's something to talk about.

Stripes OTM.. Also (haven't seen it in ages, so maybe the beginning sucks too) Strange Brew.

― D.I.Y. U.N.K.L.E. (dave225.3), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 17:28 (twenty years ago)

You are insane, Strange Brew from start to finish is cinema perfection

― Keith C (lync0), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 17:30 (twenty years ago)

Strange Brew is stunning because every scene with the McKenzie Bros. on the screen is terrific and every scene without them is excruciating.

― 'Twan (miccio), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 17:31 (twenty years ago)

They should do a cut with all the Max Von Sydow/Paul Dooley 'plotting' moments removed. Who would miss them?

― 'Twan (miccio), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 17:32 (twenty years ago)

immediate thought on reading thread title: Kubrick/Spielberg's AI PWNS

OTMFM. Minority Report would have been in my top 5 Spielberg films had he not burdened it with the ludicrousness of RoboCruise confronting Max Von Sydow.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 17:36 (twenty years ago)

is Max Von Sydow the hallmark of a rub finale then?

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 17:38 (twenty years ago)

Minority Report ends really badly, BUT Victory is fantastic!

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 17:39 (twenty years ago)

adaptation - in a good way

― Britain's Obtusest Shepherd (Alan), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 17:41 (twenty years ago)

I think it's just when it really hit me how unconvincing and ill-fitting the two main characters were as a couple in love, but that may well have been the point.

Yes. They were a terrible match. And yet there was clearly something there that drew them together -- so I found the inevitability of their breakup rather poignant.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 17:43 (twenty years ago)

Fight Club owns this thread, but I'm not sure how else they could have done it. Supposedly it makes more sense if you read the book?

It's possible for it to make sense in a book, but not possible in a movie. It's the difference between having something described to you and seeing it for yourself.

And the ending of the book was far far better, anyway. He wakes up in the hospital, and all of the hospital staff know who he is and are talking reverently of him in hushed tones... "You're a great man..." and it's clear that he's stuck forever being Tyler Durden whether he likes it or not. In the movie, he... what? Shoots out the exact part of his cheek that controls multiple personality disorder?

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 17:43 (twenty years ago)

also, i think it WAS a lot of the point (xpost)

― Britain's Obtusest Shepherd (Alan), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 17:44 (twenty years ago)

xpost way off about deletion of those scenes in Strange Brew, you'd be missing the "Take them to level 5"/"Level 5?"/"LEVEL 5" exchange, which is crucial

― Keith C (lync0), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 17:49 (twenty years ago)

The Fifth Element. It's no longer fun after Gary Oldman leaves.

― kingfish hobo juckie (kingfish 2.0), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 17:51 (twenty years ago)

New Jack City

― earlnash, Tuesday, 22 November 2005 18:07 (twenty years ago)

agree with Fifth Element suggestion totally.

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 18:14 (twenty years ago)

Eternal Sunshine is the only Kaufman screenplay I've seen with a last act that works well. Of course they're hell on each other, like 90% of all couples...

Fight Club wouldn't make any sense without the doppelganger thing. It's the protracted/conventional chase that brings the last reel down, but fortunately they had a killer finale to recover with.

Don't get me started on that fucking wet cat in Breakfast at Tiffany's (not a 'fantastic' movie, of course, except to the Audrey Worshippers).

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 18:23 (twenty years ago)

Remember what happened the last time you mentioned Breakfast At Tiffany's, Morbius?

― k/l (Ken L), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 18:27 (twenty years ago)

I didn't! J.D. actually seems like a good kid despite his loathing of my taste and style... and at least he disproves my theory that BAT is beloved only by emaciated gals and their admirers.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 18:33 (twenty years ago)

Finally – a man who dislikes Breakfast at Tiffany's.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 18:40 (twenty years ago)

The film version of Breakfast at Tiffany's completely murders the book, that ending is vomitous.

― Allyzay must fight Zolton herself. (allyzay), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 18:42 (twenty years ago)

But the book doesn't have Andy Rooney.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 18:42 (twenty years ago)

But Alfred, a swingin' sodomite who dislikes Breakfast at Tiffany's??

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 18:48 (twenty years ago)

Andy Rooney can suck a fattie.

― Allyzay must fight Zolton herself. (allyzay), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 18:48 (twenty years ago)

http://www.tvjabber.com/images/60_minutes/to_open_or_toss.jpg

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 18:50 (twenty years ago)

The anniversary party

― Sym Sym (sym), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 18:51 (twenty years ago)

The Conversation.
I love the movie (and love the soundtrack more), but the hotel room breakdown psych-out and revelation and shit, blah, whatever. The denouement, howev, is great.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 18:53 (twenty years ago)

Millions (the Danny Boyle film). I don't know that it's fantastic but it's pretty good family entertainment until the last 4 minutes! I've never seena movie sink itself so badly in the final moments. You could feel the theater gasp in disgust.

― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 18:55 (twenty years ago)

Now I want to see it. Was considering watching it last weekend, but watched the Machinist instead.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 18:56 (twenty years ago)

Contact.

― Hello Sunshine (Hello Sunshine), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 07:56 (twenty years ago)

But the book doesn't have Andy Rooney.

Mickey. wtf.

― 'Twan (miccio), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 08:09 (twenty years ago)

i like breakfast at tiffany's mainly because of audrey's performance, which somehow manages to transcend what's awful about the film (mickey rooney, the ending, george bloody peppard) and convey a lot of the sadness of capote's heroine (tho he thought marilyn monroe should've played the role! MM probably was a lot more like holly golightly than hepburn was, but i can't see her drawing on that as well; she'd have played her usual screen persona, where hepburn brilliantly played a character who didn't resemble her real-life OR screen personas at all). it's probably slightly overrated these days because of all the holly wannabes out there, but it's got enough good things that i always find myself sticking up for it.

i don't hate you morbius, i just wish you were nicer to people! i'm sure we'd get along fine if we ever met up.

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 09:32 (twenty years ago)

the abyss owns thread.

― piscesboy, Wednesday, 23 November 2005 10:39 (twenty years ago)

Heathers, although that's more the entire second half as I recall.

Ring 2 (the Japanese one rather than the remake) - not as good as the first film but still pretty scary, up until the denouement. It all makes sense, but crucially it's just not very frightening or disturbing. And what's the point of a horror film that doesn't build up to the scariest bit at the end? It just left me thinking...oh.

― Matt #2 (Matt #2), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 11:08 (twenty years ago)

Yea, what's up with the preppy dude in LA Confidential sleeping with that woman.... WTF, makes no sense from his character so far.

iirc it's at her instigation, though, in order to provide devito with pix or something.

whoever said 'heat' can fuck off.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 11:15 (twenty years ago)

heathers was originally supposed to end with veronica and j.d. blowing up the school and going to prom in heaven - i bet that'd play well today!

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 11:52 (twenty years ago)

what about movies that are good right up until the very last scene?

Angel Heart - silly silly baby devil eyes
Strange Days - needless love hook up between hero and heroine
Existence - ropey final line from security guard, cringeville.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 11:58 (twenty years ago)

The last Lord Of The Rings film could've done without the final 20 mins. I don't care whether the purists want it or not, everything post-ring-in-firey pit is a big fat waste of time.

― Hello Sunshine (Hello Sunshine), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 12:13 (twenty years ago)

Strange Days - needless love hook up between hero and heroine

I liked the final scene, it was an apt ending for a film about racial tensions. However, where I thougt the film went wrong was when the killer was revealed to be - his best friend!!! OMG!! How original!!

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 12:18 (twenty years ago)

Contact.

-- Hello Sunshine (fiver_the_bunn...), November 23rd, 2005.

OTM, it had me until the last part....and then i just wanted to strangle everyone involved. Jodie Foster is beamed across the universe, only to have her father spout gushy humanist slop. Those are rather inconsiderate aliens, considering that they scanned her mind to create a simulacrum of her dad, but wouldn't satisfy her curiosity about what the aliens themselves looked like. I prefer the cold, austere invisible aliens of 2001, frankly.

― latebloomer: Do I have a large frog in my hair? (latebloomer), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 18:23 (twenty years ago)

Aw, don't you see that Rat Race uses "All-Star" with IRONIC SELF-REFERENCE?

― Paul Eater (eater), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 18:34 (twenty years ago)

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