Movie endings, they all have them, even though we wish some never ended and others never started. I'm not looking for sad or happy endings, after all either can be tearful so there must be something else going on, and that necessity is satisfaction. If they're not satisfying they're necessarily some quality of less satisfying like stupid, abrupt, depressing, kitchy, phony, just there, or my most un-favorite, ambiguous. For me, it's the most important part of the movie. If you don't finish your message off right, it just doesn't stick, or worse.
Exemplary endings from my Tier 10 (90-100, starting off with my two signature masterpieces, natch):
Her
The Accountant
500 Days of Summer
2001: A Space Odyssey
Detachment
The Good Catholic
Like Sunday, Like Rain
The Only Living Boy in New York
Undisputed (2002)
Zero Dark Thirty
Bourne Legacy
Streets of Fire
Sucker Punch
Before I Fall
Birdman
The Details
The Devil Wears Prada
The Devil's Advocate
Dr. Strangelove
The Dressmaker
Full Metal Jacket
The Great Escape
High Noon
Moonstruck
Savages
The Shawshank Redemption
Only 26, not as many as I would have thought.
I was going to list some bad endings movies, but they're too hard to pick out. Any of my lower tier movies is going to have a crappy ending--although I will mention the first one that came to mind, Melancholia. The mirror opposite of melancholy is bittersweet
Movie Endings
- ribcage
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Re: Movie Endings
I'm stoked to see Streets of Fire on there. I think it's an under-seen gem.even by cult standards. It might be a bit of a meandering, wandering thing through it's middle but the start and end are so great and it's unique style so spectacular I have to love it.
To add my own entry I'll say Beyond Outrage, though the ending to that somewhat requires seeing its predecessor to give it the proper punch.
And for bad, I barely remember Daybreakers, that Ethan Hawke vampire flick, but I do recall the ending pissing away any goodwill I had for it.
To add my own entry I'll say Beyond Outrage, though the ending to that somewhat requires seeing its predecessor to give it the proper punch.
And for bad, I barely remember Daybreakers, that Ethan Hawke vampire flick, but I do recall the ending pissing away any goodwill I had for it.
- Stewball
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Re: Movie Endings
ribcage wrote:I'm stoked to see Streets of Fire on there. I think it's an under-seen gem.even by cult standards. It might be a bit of a meandering, wandering thing through it's middle but the start and end are so great and it's unique style so spectacular I have to love it.
Yeah, the acting's a little weak, but it's the music that makes it, especially the finale, ergo its inclusion here. One Bad Stud.
To add my own entry I'll say Beyond Outrage, though the ending to that somewhat requires seeing its predecessor to give it the proper punch.
I think I've seen maybe 3 or 4 movies with subtitles in the last 15-20 years. They're especially troublesome for dialogue dramas which is my favorite genre.
And for bad, I barely remember Daybreakers, that Ethan Hawke vampire flick, but I do recall the ending pissing away any goodwill I had for it.
Well ya know, producers just aren't gonna break their necks providing for horror, vampire, zombie flicks. I didn't even like Kubrick's The Shining that much, and he's one of the best.
- Stewball
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Re: Movie Endings
A new addition, Death Wish (2018)
- Luna6ix
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Re: Movie Endings
For a completely obvious pick : Chinatown
And for two more questionable picks :
The Rules of Attraction - ends just as it begins, and in the same manner as the book for that matter, in the middle of a sentence. Something about that always stuck me.
The Jacket - I'm an outlier here, but I loved this movie and it was the ending that made me love it. It ends ambiguously with a question, but then the credits begin and the end credit song answers that question. I've never seen anything like it.
Here's a fun mention : Sleepaway Camp - It's not a good movie, but the end twist is so outrageously idiotic that it almost won me over.
And for two more questionable picks :
The Rules of Attraction - ends just as it begins, and in the same manner as the book for that matter, in the middle of a sentence. Something about that always stuck me.
The Jacket - I'm an outlier here, but I loved this movie and it was the ending that made me love it. It ends ambiguously with a question, but then the credits begin and the end credit song answers that question. I've never seen anything like it.
Here's a fun mention : Sleepaway Camp - It's not a good movie, but the end twist is so outrageously idiotic that it almost won me over.
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Re: Movie Endings
If you love cinema you have to love Cinema Paradiso's ending. I cry everytime, so beautiful.
- MacSwell
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Re: Movie Endings
Stewball wrote:The Shawshank Redemption
I always thought the Shank would have been better without that last 20 seconds on the beach, if it had just ended with Morgan Freeman's "I hope", what with hope being a major theme and all. I believe that was the original plan, but the studio tacked on the reunion.
- igormachete
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Re: Movie Endings
I remember feeling deep satisfaction after the ending of Phoenix (2014). It's a kind of "and everyone clapped" ending though
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Re: Movie Endings
Cinema Paradiso is a love affair with movies and a beautiful ending about deep friendship (non-romantic love) between people. It makes me cry too.
I think the ending of Raiders of the Lost Ark has stuck with me my entire adult life. It came out when I was a teenager.