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The Types of Movie Endings That You Hate

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Shadowyzard View Drop Down
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    Posted: August 13 2021 at 15:04
I hate how the good guys win and bad guys lose in most of the movies; not because of the fact that I would like evil to be victorious (honestly, I sometimes do though), but focus and reflect on my "how"... Also, this is generally just the opposite in real life. If you ask, I'll say and elaborate what I think about it.

Yet,

"This was all a dream," is my favourite "despicable" ending. I was mad at how Total Recall (1990) ended, when I was a kid.

Any thoughts?

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote I prophesy disaster Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 13 2021 at 15:21
Originally posted by Shadowyzard Shadowyzard wrote:

"This was all a dream," is my favourite "despicable" ending.
 
I think this is the classic despised ending. Another bad ending is the deus ex machina.
 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shadowyzard Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 13 2021 at 15:25
Originally posted by I prophesy disaster I prophesy disaster wrote:

Originally posted by Shadowyzard Shadowyzard wrote:

"This was all a dream," is my favourite "despicable" ending.
 
I think this is the classic despised ending. Another bad ending is the deus ex machina.
 


Yep. That is generally used to make the good guys win. So, that was my complaint actually... I could clarify it without being asked, thanks to you.

The most striking and memorable endings that I remember are in Italian movies. Mixed feelings... But, they sure know how to shock...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Tapfret Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 13 2021 at 15:28
Originally posted by Shadowyzard Shadowyzard wrote:



"This was all a dream," is my favourite "despicable" ending. I was mad at how Total Recall (1990) ended, when I was a kid.

1990 was the year of "This was all a dream" endings. The one that I couldn't wait to see as everyone raved about it was Jacob's Ladder. Man that pissed me off.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shadowyzard Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 13 2021 at 15:30
Originally posted by Tapfret Tapfret wrote:

Originally posted by Shadowyzard Shadowyzard wrote:



"This was all a dream," is my favourite "despicable" ending. I was mad at how Total Recall (1990) ended, when I was a kid.

1990 was the year of "This was all a dream" endings. The one that I couldn't wait to see as everyone raved about it was Jacob's Ladder. Man that pissed me off.

Nightmare City (1980) also has the same (dream-awakening) ending, but with an AWESOME twist. Italians are very good at it.

Edited by Shadowyzard - August 13 2021 at 15:31
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (2) Thanks(2)   Quote TCat Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 13 2021 at 18:53
I hate those movies that have an ending where everything is wrapped up so nicely in the end and all of the characters problems are solved by the one hero, then they all live happily ever after.  I know movies are an escape, but they have to be believable too.  Most people don't agree, but I think one of the best endings in in "No Country for Old Men".  The book ends the same way.  The point of the story is why the sheriff decides that he needs to retire, not whether the bad guy gets caught in the end or not.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shadowyzard Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 14 2021 at 01:16
I also dislike the type of approach as in morality plays. I see movies (or any fictional works) where the intellects of the adults are insultied for the sake of giving moral lessons as unpleasant. I think fictional works aimed at kids, adolescents or perhaps even young adults can be done this way, but I see it improper in the works for adults. Even fantastical works should be plausible.

Edited by Shadowyzard - August 14 2021 at 01:17
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote richardh Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 14 2021 at 01:46
Originally posted by TCat TCat wrote:

I hate those movies that have an ending where everything is wrapped up so nicely in the end and all of the characters problems are solved by the one hero, then they all live happily ever after.  I know movies are an escape, but they have to be believable too.  Most people don't agree, but I think one of the best endings in in "No Country for Old Men".  The book ends the same way.  The point of the story is why the sheriff decides that he needs to retire, not whether the bad guy gets caught in the end or not.

Agreed. That was the first Coen brothers movie I enjoyed as well!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote richardh Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 14 2021 at 01:48
The Get Out has a terrible 'feelgood' ending.
basic rule of horror - don't lose your nerve.

Surely though the worst ending was Blade Runner in its original theatrical release. Thankfully fixed later.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote richardh Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 14 2021 at 01:54
Originally posted by Shadowyzard Shadowyzard wrote:

I hate how the good guys win and bad guys lose in most of the movies; not because of the fact that I would like evil to be victorious (honestly, I sometimes do though), but focus and reflect on my "how"... Also, this is generally just the opposite in real life. If you ask, I'll say and elaborate what I think about it.

Yet,

"This was all a dream," is my favourite "despicable" ending. I was mad at how Total Recall (1990) ended, when I was a kid.

Any thoughts?


wasn't that an important point of the plot though? Total recall was based on Philip K Dick's 'We can remember it for you wholesale' . It was all about stuff that wasn't real but can be inserted into your head.

BTW my favourite ending to a film is probably Brazil where the main character retreats into a dream world to escape the torture. Terry Gilliam was great at endings. he stood firm against studio wishes on Twelve Monkeys and its so much better as a result.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shadowyzard Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 14 2021 at 01:55
^ I was 9 years old or so when I first watched Total Recall. And I haven't watched it in my adulthood yet. So, I could assess it differently now.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote richardh Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 14 2021 at 01:58
Don't think I ever watched a film at that age that wasn't Disney based.

I remember seeing Jaws when I was 12 and that was an okay ending. Spielberg ranked up the tension so much that at the end I was expecting more to happen! It didn't need to.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shadowyzard Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 14 2021 at 02:17
^ Oh Total Recall would have the "weight" like that a cartoon, if I mentioned some other things that I watched in my childhood. LOL BTW, I watched Masters of the Universe (1987) in or around the year it was released on video cassettes. Skeletor... Surely was not as "cute" as he had been in the cartoon series... Evil Smile

Another ambivalent type of movie endings for me is the jump scare ones. Sometimes they work, as in Jason Goes to Hell (1993), but I generally find them cheap.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shadowyzard Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 14 2021 at 02:24
Ah, I forgot to mention M. Night Shyamalan. I had better remain silent on this one...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Cambus741 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 14 2021 at 04:43
I thought The Day After Tomorrow didn't have a proper ending. It just well.... ended
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote JD Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 14 2021 at 05:55
The absolutely worst ending (and in fact whole movie) has to be I Am Legend 2007.
Dreadful in every sense of the word.
Zombies in love???
Just the worst.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Logan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 14 2021 at 09:26
Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

Originally posted by Shadowyzard Shadowyzard wrote:

I hate how the good guys win and bad guys lose in most of the movies; not because of the fact that I would like evil to be victorious (honestly, I sometimes do though), but focus and reflect on my "how"... Also, this is generally just the opposite in real life. If you ask, I'll say and elaborate what I think about it.

Yet,

"This was all a dream," is my favourite "despicable" ending. I was mad at how Total Recall (1990) ended, when I was a kid.

Any thoughts?


wasn't that an important point of the plot though? Total recall was based on Philip K Dick's 'We can remember it for you wholesale' . It was all about stuff that wasn't real but can be inserted into your head.

BTW my favourite ending to a film is probably Brazil where the main character retreats into a dream world to escape the torture. Terry Gilliam was great at endings. he stood firm against studio wishes on Twelve Monkeys and its so much better as a result.



I like the ambiguity of the ending in 1990's Total Recall.  Not a great film I would say, but it's one of those that I have most enjoyed seeing in the cinema with friends. I have a short story compilation of Philip K. Dick that includes We can Remember it for You Wholesale, and just re-read it since it had been quite a few years since I last did. I would say that it is much less ambiguous, and while the protagonist (Quail in the short story) spends some time questioning what's real, it seems clear that he had experienced events that were planned to be implanted by Rekal as fantasy fulfilment (he started to remember under the influence of Narkadrine without false memories being implanted).  Not one of his best-written stories (rather clunky in part), but fun and quite funny in its way.  In the 1990 film version (I haven't yet seen the later Total Recall despite loving lots of Colin Farrell work) it's left more open to interpretation.  

As for Brazil, I love at least a couple of cuts of the film.  The Love Conquers All happy ending producer's cut version that was released to American filmgoers is vastly inferior to me and I really dislike the ending that the producer had made for that (due to test screenings, and expected length).  I really like the way dream sequences are used in Brazil (well, not in the producer's cut).

As for Gilliam generally, I really love the ending to Time Bandits.

As refereed to earlier, the endings I often dislike are when things are too neatly tied up and tied together, and those silly, unrealistic happy endings.  I dislike ones often that have too much expositional value, like the audience needs to be spoon-fed information so they aren't left questioning things/ confused.  That is what some audience members want.  They want to know how they are supposed to think instead of things being left open to interpretation.  Thy don't want to ponder at the end about meaning.  Some endings are so obviously concocted to try to make sense of the precedings, and feel terribly artificial.  Of course there's a mind or minds concocting it, but I don't want to become too aware of that when watching it generally (that takes me out of it).


Edited by Logan - August 14 2021 at 09:27
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Progishness Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 14 2021 at 10:30
Originally posted by Logan Logan wrote:

As referred to earlier, the endings I often dislike are when things are too neatly tied up and tied together, and those silly, unrealistic happy endings.  I dislike ones often that have too much expositional value, like the audience needs to be spoon-fed information so they aren't left questioning things/ confused.  That is what some audience members want.  They want to know how they are supposed to think instead of things being left open to interpretation.  They don't want to ponder at the end about meaning.  Some endings are so obviously concocted to try to make sense of the proceedings, and feel terribly artificial.  Of course there's a mind or minds concocting it, but I don't want to become too aware of that when watching it generally (that takes me out of it).


I tend to agree - I much prefer a film where the ending is ambiguous, without all the loose ends being necessarily tied up, and leaves you thinking about the 'what ifs'... which is probably why I watch a lot of European cinema and art house stuff.


Edited by Progishness - August 14 2021 at 10:37
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote The Anders Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 14 2021 at 12:38
Originally posted by Logan Logan wrote:

As refereed to earlier, the endings I often dislike are when things are too neatly tied up and tied together, and those silly, unrealistic happy endings.  I dislike ones often that have too much expositional value, like the audience needs to be spoon-fed information so they aren't left questioning things/ confused.  That is what some audience members want.  They want to know how they are supposed to think instead of things being left open to interpretation.  Thy don't want to ponder at the end about meaning.  Some endings are so obviously concocted to try to make sense of the precedings, and feel terribly artificial.  Of course there's a mind or minds concocting it, but I don't want to become too aware of that when watching it generally (that takes me out of it).


I very much agree on this, but then those endings usually belong to films I only rarely watch (well I don't watch that many films).

There are even art films with endings I have troubles appreciating. A good example is Carl Th. Dreyer's "Ordet" (The Word) which ends with a resurrection.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shadowyzard Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 14 2021 at 19:15
Originally posted by Logan Logan wrote:

I dislike ones often that have too much expositional value, like the audience needs to be spoon-fed information so they aren't left questioning things/ confused.


I think the ending part of the LotR trilogy by Peter Jackson fits to this type of "unpleasant" ending criteria. A dramatic climax followed by an "unnecessarily long"  catharsis is not a wise move. At least, I'm not normally fond of such endings...

Edited by Shadowyzard - August 14 2021 at 19:32
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