Movies that should have ended 2 or 3 minutes before they did

YOUR TRITE SUMMATION/DEUS EX HAPPYENDING IS NOT APPRECIATED

Harry Brown
Garden State

children of men

decent call, that, altho some might argue for redemption being earned

generally ambiguity >>>> straight-up redemption

Psycho's a-doctor-speaks epilogue springs to mind, though possibly longer than 3 mins.

in before some wag suggests 'the return of the king'

face off ftw

taxi driver

The Ox-Bow Incident
The Lives of Others
from the "your twist ending is unappreciated" camp: Frailty

imo the very end of the lives of others was lovely and tearjerking

movies that are totally awesome almost exclusively because of the last 2-3 mins- Friday 13th

Jeanne Dielman

otm about Life Of Others

The Hurt Locker ending is not so good.

Jeanne dielman otm

taxi driver

― circa1916, Friday, November 20, 2009 8:04 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

WAHT

Sunshine pwns this thread. (though perhaps it's more like the last 15 minutes instead of 2 or 3)

Psycho's a-doctor-speaks epilogue

except that leads up to the rictus fade-over. which is untouchable.

Fritz Lang's Woman In The Window - excellent noir marred by woke-up-it-was-all-a-dream ending.

oh yeah Taxi Driver totally.

Streetcar Named Desire

Also, No Country For Old Men. Both films botch the ending by adding a superfluous resolution that kind of kills it.

y'all are gonna have to explain to me what is wrong w/ the ending of taxi driver

A.I. another obvious one.

A.I. felt like it could've ended 2, 3, 10, 15, 30 or 60 minutes earlier

or at least when he found the blue fairy

The King of Comedy - I would have preferred it if they'd ended it as Rupert is looking at himself on TV through the shop window, rather than adding the epilogue about him going to prison, becoming a celebrity etc.

I don't mind that 'cause I see that as just another of Rupert's fanatasies. Although I'm on my own there apparently.

Hmmm, yeah I guess it works if you read it as a fantasy, and not what actually happened.

oh fuck- Tigerland

The Mist

No way that brought the lols

taxi driver

A.I. another obvious one.

The King of Comedy

You did not understand these films.

Shawshank Redemption really should have ended with Red's soliloquy on the bus and not bothered with the scene on the beach.

Streetcar Named Desire

Also, No Country For Old Men. Both films botch the ending by adding a superfluous resolution that kind of kills it.

1) was dictated by censors. 2) was apparently a cut different from the one I saw.

i understood that cybil shepherd got into a taxi driven by our hero at the end. i'm probably missing a vast subtext (genuinely, not being sarcastic) but bollocks to that.

yeah I was wondering about no country for old men, thought the final stretch was the best part

The Mist

No way that brought the lols

uhhh, then she gets OUT of the taxi and there's a shot of DE NIRO CRAZY EYES in the rearview mirror, along with the 3-note Norman Bates theme from Psycho during the end credits. Do try to pay attention next time.

xxxp

wait so the point of the movie was uh oh this guy's a crazy fuck?

i got that, thanks.

i think you're missing the point of what people are finding flawed with the ending, tbh, rather than being the repository of any great secret insight yourself.

Think DC is referring to the original edit of NCFOM where the Tommy Lee Jones voiceover goes on to explain that Llewelyn recovered from his injuries and they picked up Chigurh on the motorway and he expressed remorse for his actions and is awaiting trial

at the end of taxi driver we're treated to the horrific scenario that not only is bickle being heralded in the press as a hero, but those personally exposed to his craziness first hand are now seeing him in a new light. one of my favorite parts of the movie is the quick flash of his eyes in the rearview w/ the weird sting cue. guy is still batshit but now everybody loves him.

I've also heard the interpretation that bickle died and everything post-rampage is a weird heaven/fantasy, I don't buy it but it works, too.

original _Invasion of the Body Snatchers_, obv.

Also, _The Squid and the Whale_.

thanks Edward- the first reading is pretty obvious, but what rings crazily false is the acceptance of Cybil Shepherd's character of Travis in the final scene (she even flirts a bit with him?). So that's why it doesn't work at all for me, and maybe the other people that have posted it.

I like the second interpretation, I admit.

The Prestige

Return Of The Jedi.

yes darragh, listen to Ed III (except that second theory is bollocks).

It might be! Movies are just a bit of fun anyway!

i'm familiar with the "it's all a fantasy" interpretation, but i never really bought it. doesn't really gel with that "i'm still crazy" look he flashes at the end.

the main issue i have with the ending is how incredibly incongruous it feels with the rest of the film. i understand the SHOCK HORROR of Bickle getting praised as a hero, but it feels tacked on and that tender scene with Cybil feels completely false (maybe a point for the fantasy interpretation).

The Breakfast Club

oh i have a good one for this!! y tu mama tambien

the 400 blows

breathless

the killer

The Departed.

The Breakfast Club

^^^^
this

Morbius OTM all over the damn place and you people are crazy.

^automatic sb

Also, No Country For Old Men. Both films botch the ending by adding a superfluous resolution that kind of kills it.

― Space Battle Rothko (Matt DC), Friday, November 20, 2009 10:06 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

dont get this at all tbh

xpost I've SB-ed you for stealing my SB minstrel act.

yeah the ending was the same as the book

xpost I've SB-ed you for stealing my SB minstrel act.

― Xiffy Pup (Eric H.), Friday, November 20, 2009 11:06 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

should have ended act 2-3 minutes ago. sb'd.

I am lame.

I'd chop off the last 140 minutes of saving pvt ryan

never really got the private ryan hate. i think liberals just get all spastic about war-porn. :)

SPR is pretty good, and as I think I've said before it goes right up to the edge of a pretty profound idea and then runs away from it by draping itself in the flag/family...etc. or maybe that's just me running away from the flag/family as the answer to the problem it poses.

Apart from the opening battle sequence, which was compelling, the rest felt like some smarmy calculated series of "teaching moments" - like it wanted to be "Dead Poets Society" in WW2.

yup

I never saw the amazing opening to "Saving Private Ryan". The only times I've come across it on TV, it's somewhere in the middle with Tom Hanks being all emo about getting Ryan home next to a campfire.

"i wanna get that kid next to a campfire and FAST."

i think liberals just get all spastic about war-porn.

the only good part is the war porn

we don't like the part where spielberg wants to stay up and talk and cuddle after the money shot

Edward OTM

haha slocks I luv u

Recently (and with no further discussion from me to avoid spoilers):
(1) An Education
(2) the last 2 seconds of Paranormal Activity.

Reality Bites

That movie was hilarious - though, I think I found it hilarious in ways the filmmakers didn't intend.

Rain. Though the whole movie is building up to the ending, but the ending just sucks so much, and the buildup is so good.

saving private ryan and shindler's list and titanic and basically every single movie where it flash forwards to some old person reminiscing.

that would include amadeus and little big man so I'm crying foul on that edict

Didn't Gremlins end like that?

Gremlins has some narrative framing device at the beginning and end but I forget what it is.

I am v insightful

y tu mama tambien

^burn this

the ending of 'taxi driver' is perfect

the killer

― 囧 (dyao), Friday, November 20, 2009 4:51 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

how dare u

y tu mama tambien

^burn this

― Feingold/Kaptur 2012 (Dr Morbius), Friday, November 20, 2009 1:48 PM (45 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

the movie or the suggestion? the ending was like something a high school playwright would have written.

the whole damn movie

original _Invasion of the Body Snatchers_, obv.

Again, that had the happy ending tacked on by the studio (shades of Blade Runner)

what happy ending?

"Duke came out of his coma"?

yeah, but it appeared to me that the fight against the pod people would be a losing one, or it was sufficiently ambiguous to not be entirely happy.

The 70s ending was even more ambiguous.

http://www.arachnoid.com/ChildrenOfNarcissus/images/sutherland_invasion_1978.jpg

I'm pretty sure he was just clearing his throat, Brooke.

the significant studo-recommended edit is at THE BEGINNING of OG Body Snatchers, not the end

I love the 70s one - I've often tried to replicate the noises the pod people make, but most of the time I can't do it.

Shakey, it's a wraparound prologue/epilogue.

omg Philip n. is that gi Joe the animated movie?

Phone Booth

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (assuming the movie follows the book to a T, of course)

'The Grapes of Wrath' - credits rolling after Tom Joad's (Henry Fonda) "I'll be there" monologue, and the following scene of his silhouette walking along the hilltop, would have been closer to Steinbeck's version, IIRC (*long* time since i read the novel).

Films end really badly nowadays - the last LOTR ring is a particularly egregious example. It goes on and on. No-one would have the guts to end a move like Two-Lane Blacktop today: BANG! That's yer movie. Get your coats and FUCK OFF!