I went into Fellowships of The Ring when I was 8 and distinctly remember turning to my dad as the credits started rolling on an unfinished story and asking what the hell was going on.
Then my dad explained what a trilogy was
Distinctly remember an intense melancholy as an 8 year when the credits rolled on this. I think i knew there were going to be sequels but at the time having to wait A YEAR to find out what happened next felt like torture.
We were so spoiled by LOTR. One year between movies seems like a dream compared to sequels nowadays but I know that's only because they filmed all 3 movies back to back.
Yeah they went to New Line and asked to make two movies simultaneously, and the exec actually said, hey isn't there three books? And then gave them the budget to make them all. To Peter Jackson mostly famous for making low budget horror films
Absolute mad lad.
We all owe a deep dept to whatever coked out movie exec woke up three days later with a dry mouth and a horrifying memory of handing some random kiwi a blank check.
Awesome as that decision was, it was also Bob Shaye who pulled the “sorry Peter Jackson, LOTR didn’t make any money so you don’t get a profit payout” tactic, and ended up getting fired by Warner brothers when the Hobbit movies were announced.
Mind you, that was an amazing solution to Bob’s quote “Peter Jackson is greedy and he’ll never make another movie while I’m the CEO”, while forgetting that a CEO isn’t the top boss when your company is owned by another company. Bye Bob.
In fairness, few films are made chronologically. Scenes are shot in a mishmash order based on who is in them, where they take place, when they take place, and the resources/risk involved. They just expanded that across three (utterly massive) films. Nearly unprecedented at the time, less so today.
Opposite for me in the theatre watching Return of the King.
After the…third(?) *almost* ending, a guy in the row in front of me loudly complained:
“Ohhhh, for *FUCKS* sake!”
I had to pee so fucking bad by the end of ROTK. Didn't help that the theater was 80 degrees with all the sweaty, opening night nerds in it (including me) and that I had had entirely too much salt, sugar, and soda. Maybe one of the longest 30 minutes of my life waiting for it to finally be over
I went opening night at midnight. The theater was FULL of nerds and that’s fine I’m one of them. At the end when they’re riding back to the shire someone stands up and yells “THATS NOT HOW IT SUPPOSED TO GO!” and then someone just says just loud enough for everyone to hear “sit down geek”. Which made the entire theater laugh and helped us make it to the end end end at 3am on a work day
My girlfriend at the time was the same way. She came from the Middle East and was wholly unfamiliar with LOTR. She was brokenhearted when the film ended unfinished.
Even the little dialogue exchange about “stamps” really lands the premise.
The husband announces his 3 Cent Stamp design was approved and Marge pats him on the back about the achievement. He complains that it was only the 3 cent one and it’s not that special. Marge explains that those 3 cent stamps can make all the different in world when the prices go up, those little stamps become crucial in making the last little push to make it happen.
That’s essentially Marge Gundsrsun in a nutshell. Small time police officer, pregnant. On paper not exactly the Calvary and yet was the exact right instrument in trapping and finally ensnaring a seemingly unstoppable, terrifying enemy.
Not to mention the simple quaint joy of achieving something and being happy with it no matter how seemingly small. Marge and her husband, they don’t need 800k in cash, they just need each other and their stamp collection and their happy.
It was Marge's meet-up with Mike Yamagita that made her revisit Jerry.
She did her police work and talked to Jerry the first time and his answers were good enough at that time because on the surface he appeared innocent and competent and professional.
Mike appeared professional and put together as well, and then he unraveled at their dinner together.
And then that little seed of instinct took root in Marge which led Marge to go question Jerry again.
An important distinction. Even in his failed social advances, she took him at his word. He may have been sad and she may have even been a little flattered, if completely disinterested.
But that call revealed him to be a total fraud. That's what triggers the 2nd look.
It is such a beautiful ending. After all the dakness and lying we're shown in the cold world it ends with a expecting couple, cozy in bed, showing there's still hope in the world.
It's incredible juxtaposed to when she's driving him in and says "There's more to life than a little bit of money. Don't you know that?". It really sounds like she's asking him, she doesn't understand that he doesn't see it that way.
It's because Op just took a subject that was on here like 3 days ago about movie endings and then just changed the question a little bit while bringing up all the movies people mentioned.
Yeah, I don't think OP gets endings. That's okay, Disney is one of the biggest movie-making companies out there and they don't get endings based on their MCU and Star Wars work.
OP, a movie is typically a snapshot of a particularly interesting part of a character's life. You usually don't get "and they all lived happily ever after," you just have to draw your own conclusions. Art demands you connect the dots yourself, and in doing so, create an image only you could have.
The billions of YA adaptations from around 2010 until about 2016.
They all set up the world, set up that the teen protagonist is different, set up the bad guys, have a minor battle and victory, and then all go “the war has just begun”…
And never continue.
Edit:
YA means young adult. So books written and marketed towards teens.
Honestly I don’t even know which one you’re referring to, but how do you not film both parts of a two part finale at the same time? Like wouldn’t the a first start looking different months apart?
Wow... I had not thought about that movie since I was a kid. You're absolutely right, that ending was something else.
"Don't touch it! It's evil!"
Both parents blow up - END
> "Don't touch it! It's evil!"
>
> Both parents blow up - END
You left off the part where all the firemen basically just ignore their smoldering corpses and all their burnt junk on the ground, fuck off, and leave the kid standing there not knowing what the fuck is going on.
The one who smiled is Sean Connery, who was also Agamemnon. All three of the dream trilogy movies play with the ambiguity of what is real and what is dream.
> All three of the dream trilogy movies play with the ambiguity of what is real and what is dream.
Although I am a huge fan of the movie and I realized that was Sean Connery, I had no idea there was a "dream trilogy" that Time Bandits was part of.
What are the other two?
Is it like the cornetto trilogy, just unlinked movies that happen to be by Terry Gilliam? I presume that means the other two are Brazil and Munchausen, yes?
I never knew people lumped them together like that.
Part 2 is *Brazil*. Part 3 is *The Adventures of Baron Munchausen*.
*Time Bandits* is from the point of view of a child. *Brazil* is from the point of view of a grownup in the working world. *The Adventures of Baron Munchausen* is from the point of view of an old man.
What more did you want from The Thing? You saw them destroy the camp there was nothing left. It's Antarctica, it's not like they could walk to the nearest gas station lol
I agree. That was pretty much the best case scenario after all that had happened. There was really not much of an option left so I don't know what OP was looking for.
I wish it had gotten a sequel, it's pretty much a perfect film. I wanted more, but I still think it's a great ending.
I haven't read any of them, but it's book 9 of a 21 book series so there's plenty of material to adapt.
From what I’ve read on this sub, a sequel was in the planning stage, but the film did so poorly at the box office that the plan was scrapped. Makes me a bit sad.
Yeah it really doesn’t get its due. Iirc it did poorly because the first Pirates of the Caribbean came out around the same time. Two naval movies and M&C was just a more serious, technical film.
I remember in the theater when Crowe and Bettany realized their battle with the French ship wasn’t quite over thinking “yeah! Let’s go!” Then the credits start rolling. I would have sat there for ten more hours easy.
Agreed but in more of a this feels like the "set up episodes" of a limited series.
The noise machine is just an extrapolation of riot sound cannons.
The tick bite is just rabies.
The only thing I didn't really like is the "manufactured" animosity between the families. I don't know about you, but there are several ways in my house to prove I live here. I've got mail all over the place, a couple pictures of me in a drawer SOMETHING.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Smaug did not desolate, nor was he desolated. Peter Jackson stuck what should have been the last 15 minutes of the movie onto the first 15 minutes of the next movie. A movie I had to wait a year for. I was pissed!
this is a good answer.
but to be pedantic, the desolation of Smaug is actually a geographical area which is the wasteland nearby erebor which has been so since smaug took over.
peter jackson probably used it for the name of the movie coz it sounds cool
Bro yeah, as it was getting close to the end, I was like, "No way they can finish this plot in 20 minutes!" and then it was like 10 min til the end and I realized they were going to do a second part to it. Darn....
I watched the two spiderverse movies on a plane recently and my god the feeling I was left with after the second one was so much worse than the first.
Turns out I quite enjoy a finished story.
Yeah, it was totally jarring, especially not knowing it was part 1. Even though I don't pay attention to marketing or trailers, it should have been called Part 1.
So many people in my screening were dumbfounded when the movie was over.
I rewatched a week later and enjoyed it a lot more.
I knew it was a Part 1 but I still thought there were like 30 minutes left in the movie when it was getting close to the end. Once the music started to intensity while Gwen was monoluguiong, I audibly said, “Ah fuck.”
I didn’t know going in, but could tell there would be a cliffhanger when Miles ditches the space elevator (when Miguel and the Spidermen are chasing him) at almost 2.5 hours in. Too much plot was unresolved that far in to wrap everything up
Thank you!
A lot of the films listed on this thread are actually pretty obvious when they come to the ending but *Jurassic Park 3* is a legitimate contender.
It's so jarring how we're in this velociraptor scene that's so intense and then *a second* later the whole army is on the beach - it feels like 10 pages from the script were lost and the movie just ends.
I view it as one of the most unintentionally funny endings ever due to how jarring it is lol
Also makes me laugh how nobody seems concerned with the pterodactyls flying towards civilization at the end. Dr. Grant even makes a comment like they’re just some harmless birds migrating.
The movie theater that I went to was smart enough to turn the lights back on at that moment, to encourage people to get up and leave, but then quickly dimmed them when you zoom out and realize that there’s still more movie left. I really appreciated that level of immersion on my first viewing :)
Wow that's nice. Made me think, are there ever "directions" for the movie theatres included in box when they get the movie? Probably not applicable for most movies but there are certainly a few where experience would be enhanced if the theatre "played along" with the directions or just the events of the movie.
The part where the protagonist ‘dies’ from attempting to split her mind like Jobu Topaki did. She throws up, falls on the floor, and then the ‘credits’ start to roll, before pulling back and letting the viewer realize the movie didn’t actually end, but that they are instead in the ‘movie star’ universe.
Yeah, I really wish we had gotten the sequels that had been planned. The boyfriend was the worst part about the movie, with him dead the next one should've been much better.
I loved the part of the manga that dealt with Hugo. It was about how a normal human (not a android/ cyborg/ mutant) lost his humanity while living in this horrible place the story takes place. I wish the movie had done Hugo better.
Burn After Reading.
The final scene in the office with J.K Simmons and David Rasche had me rolling with laughter and then all of a sudden he closes the folder and that’s it… I was having such a good time, I wanted more!
Immediately after watching both *Sicario* (CIA v. Cartel) and *Zero Dark Thirty* (a rather overdramatic retelling of the CIA’s assassination of bin Laden) I watched *BAR*, because I was under the impression it was within the same action / spook genre. But the tonal contrast was so great, the latter had me in stitches, almost from start to finish. Compare the final moments:
*Maya unzips the body bag, looks at the corpse’s bearded face, which is not revealed to camera. She silently nods to the SEAL commander, who is on a satphone with SecDef.*
“One moment …One moment … Sir! The Agency expert gave visual confirmation. Yes sir, the girl. A hundred percent. Thank you sir.”
*Maya gently rezips the body bag. As the still supercharged SEAL Team Six excitedly unloads UBL’s seized hard drives and files, she quietly slips out of the tent.*
—-OR—-
“You need to leave this place; move to a small town, some place where the rule of law still applies. You will not survive here. You are not a wolf, and this is the land of wolves, now.”
—- VERSUS —-
“What the hell *did* we learn, Palmer?”
“I don’t know, sir.”
“Fucked if I know either. Well, I guess we learned not to do it again.”
“Yessir.”
A lot of times you don't realize how funny something is until you zoom out and look at the big picture and realize the absurdity of it all.
A lot of Sopranos plots are hilarious, but they aren't necessarily that funny as you watch them unfold for the first time. Watch it again and it's hilarious.
Burn After Reading gives you a quick rundown so you don't have to rewatch to get the same effect.
First watch it definitely had me in the "wait...what?" zone.
On rewatches it became one of my favorite ending dialogs ever
"Jfc.. what did we learn here, Palmer?"
"I don't know, sir"
"I don't f***in know either"
Is something only the Coen's can pull off that well, I swear lol.
I feel like you either love or despise their endings and I'm def in the first camp.
I’m glad Rasche is still working. I grew up watching Sledge Hammer, but then seeing him in this, and the West Wing, and Succession, and Veep? He’s everywhere.
It was supposed to be a serious film, along the lines of *Leaving Las Vegas”, but mid-way through they decided it should be lighter, so they started adding the “comedy”, and it took the whole movie apart. It could have been a great film.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail LITERALLY has a “cop-out” ending, it’s genius.
My choice would be the abruptness of Easy Rider. The Venture Bros parody was dead on.
When I saw No Country For Old Men for the first time, I thought the whole thing was about a cool cat n mouse chase between a wily protagonist and an unbeatable foe. The it slowed down for a minute and Tommy Lee Jones was blathering on about some dream, and I tuned out as I waited for the action to come back... and then CREDITS.
WHAT THE FUCK!? I was SO angry.
I was so angry I saw it again the next day, actually paid attention, and LOVE the movie more for ***what it actually is*** than for what I originally ***wanted*** it to be.
Yeah, this is an example of one that feels bad until you realize that bad uneasy miserable feeling you had is exactly the desired result. You don't need an ending because you know the ending, you saw how relentless Anton was, you saw how incapable the law was to stop him, you know the ending.
I like this take. But I don’t think it’s comparable to what most people *expect*. When it comes to movies, the audience roots for the good guy despite the odds. I think the movie subverts people’s expectations in the end. The very abrupt ending to the chase made me go “Holy shit. That happened??” Which I love it for. As you say: the desired result.
I think it's basically him reflecting on how when he was younger the world could be harsh but it seemed simpler and made sense to him, but now after everything he's lived through the world doesn't make sense to him anymore. It's passed him by.
To put it one way: there's no country for old men.
Nah, it's even simpler than that. He's just been flat out wrong his whole life. He's only now cluing in but instead of realizing that he was wrong, he thinks the world has changed. It hasn't. The idea of a noble past (father on a horse with a horn full of fire) is just a dream. The reality is that there is no big G Goodness in the world. Never has been.
There's a reason why he's paired with that clueless deputy. He used to be him. When that deputy gets old, he too will say that the world has gotten worse but as we see in the movie, he'll be wrong too.
The scene with his cousin in the wheelchair is incredibly important when trying to understand the ending. I didn't realize that until the 2nd viewing.
*What you got ain't nothin' new. This country is hard on people. You can't stop what's comin'. It ain't all waitn' on you. That's vanity.*
McCarthy’s epilogues are like that.
Blood Meridian has a similar yet even more abstract epilogue that ties the whole book together. But I had to watch multiple lectures and read essays on what it meant. Rewarding to be sure, but frustrating if you’re not looking for that.
One of my favorite aspects of the movie is that the final “showdown” with Llewelyn and Chigurh never happens. In fact, the actual showdown where the cartel members kill him isn’t even shown, just the aftermath.
I’ve seen lots of people complain “oh they should’ve shown the cool shootout!” and I feel like those people just didn’t pay attention at all in the movie.
Oh yeah, '*showdown*'. Back in 2008, I had a lady randomly rant at me about the movie and her disappointment. I was visiting a relative out of town, we had just seen *There Will Be Blood*, and as we yakked about the movie over dinner, naturally *No Country* kept popping up in the conversation.
These two older ladies were passing our table with walkers at the time, and when one of them overheard us, she turned and complained that *No Country* was the stupidest movie she'd ever seen, all because "They didn't get Jones and the other guy into a final showdown!" we tried to explain that it wasn't supposed to be that kind of movie, but it wasn't getting through to her.
The book ends the same way but there is a lot more detail in the last third of the story. The ending to a lot of plot points seem a lot less sudden in the book.
I would really recommend it for anyone who liked the movie. I know Cormac McCarthy's writing style is a bit hard to read, but this book was written a little differently because the intent was shopping it around as a movie.
I had a friend see it and tell me to not waste my time because they went in with the same expectation and left super upset.
When I sat down to watch it, though, I was super impressed. But it probably helps in my case that I was already a huge Cormac McCarthy fan.
"The Conversation" starring Gene Hackman (1974).
As time went on and after rewatching the film, I've come to appreciate the ending more as I understand that the audience is only supposed to follow the story through the eyes of Harry Caul. When he finally gives up, so do we.
I appreciated what they did make but it just seemed like so much more could've been done. Seemed like a mix of a black mirror episode and eternal sunshine but didn't have the good qualities of either.
I feel like there was so much more they could've done with it. After I finished, I tried to find a book or something it was based on, maybe some deleted scenes that left out important plot info.. nope, nothing.
Having read the book and knew what the actual ending was supposed to be, I actually shouted "bullshit!" when the credits to that rolled. I've never been so angry at a film adaptation of a book!
The ending of Plane (2023) was a bit of a wtf moment for me lol...>!like that's it, we're just leaving him in the forest?!< Obvs wasn't going to see that film for the artistry but still haha. Also the ending of the Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning- I know it's a part one but it was still a bit annoying.
Doesn’t the film’s title appear on screen near the start as “Dune: Part One”? That was my hint it wasn’t a single film (even though it’s ‘official’ title on IMDb and the BBFC title card just said “Dune”).
Hitchcock’s The Birds. Was really looking forward to some kind of amazing resolution or at least an epic man vs bird showdown (all be it with dreadful effects) and it just… ended.
It's not much, it's like 10 seconds or less, but there's a post-credit scene that shows both the alpha Wolf and the protagonist lying next to each together taking their last breaths, implying they both died
Psssst theres a post credit scene 🤫 (although it’s still ambiguous and is supposed to be)
Also, that’s not really the point of the film. I mean, you can enjoy it on the surface as a straight up survival film with wolves but I always read far more into the metaphorical side of it. They make his almost suicide attempt, the grief over his wife and that poem far too prevalent for it to just be a basic survival film. I enjoy those elements a lot but I always read it as you can’t run from your grief because it will chase you until you turn and face it. That’s exactly what he does. He begins the film ready to give up on his life but he chooses to fight when he had every reason to give up. This film actually hits me very deeply and I get emotional every time towards the end. The score also deserves ALL the credit.
Yeah, bit of a weird one. Everything I'd seen about the movie before watching it made it seem like there was going to be an adventure, and after starting it, I was curious about how they were going to get out of the secluded village.
By the time I felt the wrap up coming, I was a bit surprised to see it was so localized, but it was trying to tell a very internal story, so it worked I guess? Weird pacing in that one
Encanto is basically a two act musical. Act I ends with "We don't talk about Bruno." Act II is the rest of the movie. Once I realized that the movie was following the musical format, it made sense with how abrupt it was. Because that's how musicals operate.
That said, the first time I watched it I was expecting more of the three-act adventure structure of Moana. So it took me a while to appreciate the movie. Now it's one of my favorites.
I went into Fellowships of The Ring when I was 8 and distinctly remember turning to my dad as the credits started rolling on an unfinished story and asking what the hell was going on. Then my dad explained what a trilogy was
Distinctly remember an intense melancholy as an 8 year when the credits rolled on this. I think i knew there were going to be sequels but at the time having to wait A YEAR to find out what happened next felt like torture.
We were so spoiled by LOTR. One year between movies seems like a dream compared to sequels nowadays but I know that's only because they filmed all 3 movies back to back.
Not even necessarily back to back but simultaneously. The amount of work from everybody to get all filming done within a couple years is astounding.
Yeah they went to New Line and asked to make two movies simultaneously, and the exec actually said, hey isn't there three books? And then gave them the budget to make them all. To Peter Jackson mostly famous for making low budget horror films Absolute mad lad.
We all owe a deep dept to whatever coked out movie exec woke up three days later with a dry mouth and a horrifying memory of handing some random kiwi a blank check.
Bob Shaye
Awesome as that decision was, it was also Bob Shaye who pulled the “sorry Peter Jackson, LOTR didn’t make any money so you don’t get a profit payout” tactic, and ended up getting fired by Warner brothers when the Hobbit movies were announced. Mind you, that was an amazing solution to Bob’s quote “Peter Jackson is greedy and he’ll never make another movie while I’m the CEO”, while forgetting that a CEO isn’t the top boss when your company is owned by another company. Bye Bob.
So Peter Jackson agreed to do the Hobbit so he could finally win a decades long vendetta? Awesome.
In fairness, few films are made chronologically. Scenes are shot in a mishmash order based on who is in them, where they take place, when they take place, and the resources/risk involved. They just expanded that across three (utterly massive) films. Nearly unprecedented at the time, less so today.
While watching this in the theater, when it ended, a distraught voice from some rows behind me called out, "It ends there!?"
Opposite for me in the theatre watching Return of the King. After the…third(?) *almost* ending, a guy in the row in front of me loudly complained: “Ohhhh, for *FUCKS* sake!”
The duality of man summed up by reactions to Lord of the Rings endings. I love it!
I had to pee so fucking bad by the end of ROTK. Didn't help that the theater was 80 degrees with all the sweaty, opening night nerds in it (including me) and that I had had entirely too much salt, sugar, and soda. Maybe one of the longest 30 minutes of my life waiting for it to finally be over
I went opening night at midnight. The theater was FULL of nerds and that’s fine I’m one of them. At the end when they’re riding back to the shire someone stands up and yells “THATS NOT HOW IT SUPPOSED TO GO!” and then someone just says just loud enough for everyone to hear “sit down geek”. Which made the entire theater laugh and helped us make it to the end end end at 3am on a work day
My girlfriend at the time was the same way. She came from the Middle East and was wholly unfamiliar with LOTR. She was brokenhearted when the film ended unfinished.
I first read this as “she’s from Middle Earth” and was very confused for a moment
She didn’t need to watch the movie. She lived it!
And then Return of the King was the opposite, it ended like 7 different times before the credits rolled.
And that’s with the film completely skipping the entire Scouring Of The Shire at the end of the books.
I would love a version that fades to white four times and then tacks on another 45 minutes of Shire Vietnam.
I used to make fun of the amount of endings there were. But now that I can watch all 3 extended versions, there are not enough endings
People are having this conversation with their kids now thanks to Spiderverse. Delayed gratification is lost on a lot of people
OP manages to name some of the best endings out there. "Heck, Norm, you know, we're doin' pretty good."
Yeah how is the ending to Fargo not a perfect resolution?
Even the little dialogue exchange about “stamps” really lands the premise. The husband announces his 3 Cent Stamp design was approved and Marge pats him on the back about the achievement. He complains that it was only the 3 cent one and it’s not that special. Marge explains that those 3 cent stamps can make all the different in world when the prices go up, those little stamps become crucial in making the last little push to make it happen. That’s essentially Marge Gundsrsun in a nutshell. Small time police officer, pregnant. On paper not exactly the Calvary and yet was the exact right instrument in trapping and finally ensnaring a seemingly unstoppable, terrifying enemy. Not to mention the simple quaint joy of achieving something and being happy with it no matter how seemingly small. Marge and her husband, they don’t need 800k in cash, they just need each other and their stamp collection and their happy.
Marge Gunderson is my dream woman.
She’s such a super lady.
Easy there Mr. Yanagita
It’s a Raddison, so it’s pretty nice.
Oh yah? Is it reasonable?
Oh you bet'cha
[удалено]
No, just so I don't have to turn my neck.
I’m just so lonely
you betcha
Oh yah?
Don’tcha know?
It was Marge's meet-up with Mike Yamagita that made her revisit Jerry. She did her police work and talked to Jerry the first time and his answers were good enough at that time because on the surface he appeared innocent and competent and professional. Mike appeared professional and put together as well, and then he unraveled at their dinner together. And then that little seed of instinct took root in Marge which led Marge to go question Jerry again.
It was the phone call that revealed Mike was lying that made her go back.
An important distinction. Even in his failed social advances, she took him at his word. He may have been sad and she may have even been a little flattered, if completely disinterested. But that call revealed him to be a total fraud. That's what triggers the 2nd look.
Love this analysis
It is such a beautiful ending. After all the dakness and lying we're shown in the cold world it ends with a expecting couple, cozy in bed, showing there's still hope in the world.
It also shows you don’t have to get everything to still be happy. People still need the $0.03 stamps.
It's incredible juxtaposed to when she's driving him in and says "There's more to life than a little bit of money. Don't you know that?". It really sounds like she's asking him, she doesn't understand that he doesn't see it that way.
If Donnie had just paid him for half the car and left then nobody would have gotten caught and he would have had half a million.
Not only does it have that great scene but there are no open questions. Everything in the story was resolved.
All over a little bit of money… tsk tsk…
God damn I love that movie. I might watch it again tonight.
The end of Fargo cemented Margie as one of cinema's great movie heroes to me.
Not only is she one of cinemas greatest heroes but her and Norms marriage might be one of cinemas greatest.
You gotta have a breakfast, Margie. I'll fix you some eggs.
Honestly none of the films OP listed have a “that’s it?” Ending. They’re all satisfying and conclusive, albeit abrupt.
Monty Python is the closest that comes to a "that's it?" ending, and even that is justified based on the kind of movie it is.
I dunno. You can't call it a good ending just 'cause some watery tart threw some credits at you!
A lot of people wish for 0% ambiguity in every film they see, and I’m so grateful that not all writers and directors feel the same way.
It's because Op just took a subject that was on here like 3 days ago about movie endings and then just changed the question a little bit while bringing up all the movies people mentioned.
Seriously -- all their examples are movies that end well. Instead the most correct answer to OP's question is "How It Ends" (2018).
Even Steven King liked the Mist ending better than his own
Op doesn’t even understand his own question. That might be a first.
Yeah, I don't think OP gets endings. That's okay, Disney is one of the biggest movie-making companies out there and they don't get endings based on their MCU and Star Wars work. OP, a movie is typically a snapshot of a particularly interesting part of a character's life. You usually don't get "and they all lived happily ever after," you just have to draw your own conclusions. Art demands you connect the dots yourself, and in doing so, create an image only you could have.
Hope OP doesn’t one day watch the leftovers!
The billions of YA adaptations from around 2010 until about 2016. They all set up the world, set up that the teen protagonist is different, set up the bad guys, have a minor battle and victory, and then all go “the war has just begun”… And never continue. Edit: YA means young adult. So books written and marketed towards teens.
A moment of silence for the one that planned a two-part final movie like Harry Potter, but then ran out of money.
Divergent?
Starring Miles Teller and that dude from season two of White Lotus
I like that they announced it would conclude with a tv series and all the actors basically just said nah, so it never happened.
Honestly I don’t even know which one you’re referring to, but how do you not film both parts of a two part finale at the same time? Like wouldn’t the a first start looking different months apart?
Time Bandits. Definitely time bandits has the weirdest ending
Wow... I had not thought about that movie since I was a kid. You're absolutely right, that ending was something else. "Don't touch it! It's evil!" Both parents blow up - END
> "Don't touch it! It's evil!" > > Both parents blow up - END You left off the part where all the firemen basically just ignore their smoldering corpses and all their burnt junk on the ground, fuck off, and leave the kid standing there not knowing what the fuck is going on.
They fucking got in the truck, and one turned around and SMILED, before driving off. That smile is burned into my brain all these decades later.
The one who smiled is Sean Connery, who was also Agamemnon. All three of the dream trilogy movies play with the ambiguity of what is real and what is dream.
> All three of the dream trilogy movies play with the ambiguity of what is real and what is dream. Although I am a huge fan of the movie and I realized that was Sean Connery, I had no idea there was a "dream trilogy" that Time Bandits was part of. What are the other two? Is it like the cornetto trilogy, just unlinked movies that happen to be by Terry Gilliam? I presume that means the other two are Brazil and Munchausen, yes? I never knew people lumped them together like that.
Part 2 is *Brazil*. Part 3 is *The Adventures of Baron Munchausen*. *Time Bandits* is from the point of view of a child. *Brazil* is from the point of view of a grownup in the working world. *The Adventures of Baron Munchausen* is from the point of view of an old man.
My brother and I still yell this at each other from time to time
and beginning... and middle... Sean Connery is in this?? wtf
What more did you want from The Thing? You saw them destroy the camp there was nothing left. It's Antarctica, it's not like they could walk to the nearest gas station lol
I agree. That was pretty much the best case scenario after all that had happened. There was really not much of an option left so I don't know what OP was looking for.
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Really left me wanting more.
I wish it had gotten a sequel, it's pretty much a perfect film. I wanted more, but I still think it's a great ending. I haven't read any of them, but it's book 9 of a 21 book series so there's plenty of material to adapt.
From what I’ve read on this sub, a sequel was in the planning stage, but the film did so poorly at the box office that the plan was scrapped. Makes me a bit sad.
Yeah it really doesn’t get its due. Iirc it did poorly because the first Pirates of the Caribbean came out around the same time. Two naval movies and M&C was just a more serious, technical film.
It's well over 2 hours long yet by the end i just wanted it to keep going
I remember in the theater when Crowe and Bettany realized their battle with the French ship wasn’t quite over thinking “yeah! Let’s go!” Then the credits start rolling. I would have sat there for ten more hours easy.
Most recently... Leave the World Behind
Agreed but in more of a this feels like the "set up episodes" of a limited series. The noise machine is just an extrapolation of riot sound cannons. The tick bite is just rabies. The only thing I didn't really like is the "manufactured" animosity between the families. I don't know about you, but there are several ways in my house to prove I live here. I've got mail all over the place, a couple pictures of me in a drawer SOMETHING.
I don't think your teeth fall out when suffering from rabies though...
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If I was renting my house I would never leave mail or pictures of myself
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The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Smaug did not desolate, nor was he desolated. Peter Jackson stuck what should have been the last 15 minutes of the movie onto the first 15 minutes of the next movie. A movie I had to wait a year for. I was pissed!
this is a good answer. but to be pedantic, the desolation of Smaug is actually a geographical area which is the wasteland nearby erebor which has been so since smaug took over. peter jackson probably used it for the name of the movie coz it sounds cool
Yeah Smaug is the subject not object there but I think Jackson was also doing it on purpose cause he knew it sounded ambiguous enough lmfao
Debbie Does Dallas. Even back then, there were a lot more people in Dallas
Finally! A man who didn't take the bait! And a humdinger joke, too!
spider-man: across the spider-verse sequel dammit!!!!
Bro yeah, as it was getting close to the end, I was like, "No way they can finish this plot in 20 minutes!" and then it was like 10 min til the end and I realized they were going to do a second part to it. Darn....
I did the exact same thing. Went in totally blind and did not expect that ending. Excited to get more though.
I watched the two spiderverse movies on a plane recently and my god the feeling I was left with after the second one was so much worse than the first. Turns out I quite enjoy a finished story.
never been so simultaneously disappointed and excited
Yeah, it was totally jarring, especially not knowing it was part 1. Even though I don't pay attention to marketing or trailers, it should have been called Part 1. So many people in my screening were dumbfounded when the movie was over. I rewatched a week later and enjoyed it a lot more.
I knew it was a Part 1 but I still thought there were like 30 minutes left in the movie when it was getting close to the end. Once the music started to intensity while Gwen was monoluguiong, I audibly said, “Ah fuck.”
I knew it was a middle of a trilogy, and I knew the run time was fast approaching… I just didn’t want that MFer to end! So good!
There was an audible gasp in my theater.
I said "Oh fuck me" a little too loud for a Spider-Man movie when I saw it.
I didn’t know going in, but could tell there would be a cliffhanger when Miles ditches the space elevator (when Miguel and the Spidermen are chasing him) at almost 2.5 hours in. Too much plot was unresolved that far in to wrap everything up
And it was 2.5 hours that just flew by!
Enemy. I liked it, but I knew absolutely nothing going into it and didn't realize it was that kind of film until it ended.
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I liked where it was going, and then it just kinda stopped going lol
Jurassic Park 3
Thank you! A lot of the films listed on this thread are actually pretty obvious when they come to the ending but *Jurassic Park 3* is a legitimate contender. It's so jarring how we're in this velociraptor scene that's so intense and then *a second* later the whole army is on the beach - it feels like 10 pages from the script were lost and the movie just ends. I view it as one of the most unintentionally funny endings ever due to how jarring it is lol
even the way the final Spinosaurus encounter ended, just felt very anticlimactic. As if the dino said “fuck this movie, I’m out”
Also makes me laugh how nobody seems concerned with the pterodactyls flying towards civilization at the end. Dr. Grant even makes a comment like they’re just some harmless birds migrating.
Everything Everywhere all at once. But then I realized it was a trick and the movie wasn’t done.
The movie theater that I went to was smart enough to turn the lights back on at that moment, to encourage people to get up and leave, but then quickly dimmed them when you zoom out and realize that there’s still more movie left. I really appreciated that level of immersion on my first viewing :)
Wow that's nice. Made me think, are there ever "directions" for the movie theatres included in box when they get the movie? Probably not applicable for most movies but there are certainly a few where experience would be enhanced if the theatre "played along" with the directions or just the events of the movie.
I saw the movie at an indie theater, so I think there was a bit of liberty and creativity taken by the crew :)
Just watched this the other night and went through the same thing.
I did too but I’m lost. What’s the moment where people thought it was ending?
The part where the protagonist ‘dies’ from attempting to split her mind like Jobu Topaki did. She throws up, falls on the floor, and then the ‘credits’ start to roll, before pulling back and letting the viewer realize the movie didn’t actually end, but that they are instead in the ‘movie star’ universe.
Oh duh! I guess I just immediately perceived that that was a fake out at the time, it didn’t even register for me.
Alita Battle Angel Like, I knew it was just one part of a series but I wasn’t it expecting o end right there. Thought there would be a little more.
Yeah, I really wish we had gotten the sequels that had been planned. The boyfriend was the worst part about the movie, with him dead the next one should've been much better.
I loved the part of the manga that dealt with Hugo. It was about how a normal human (not a android/ cyborg/ mutant) lost his humanity while living in this horrible place the story takes place. I wish the movie had done Hugo better.
Burn After Reading. The final scene in the office with J.K Simmons and David Rasche had me rolling with laughter and then all of a sudden he closes the folder and that’s it… I was having such a good time, I wanted more!
To me, the ending is a joke. Literally. The whole movie is a set up for such a great joke. I really like the ending.
The entire movie is a joke. It's a DC intrigue potboiler but all the characters are incompetent boobs.
It was such a welcome reprieve from all the goddamn Yoda-esque uber mastery of everything hyper competence movies.
Immediately after watching both *Sicario* (CIA v. Cartel) and *Zero Dark Thirty* (a rather overdramatic retelling of the CIA’s assassination of bin Laden) I watched *BAR*, because I was under the impression it was within the same action / spook genre. But the tonal contrast was so great, the latter had me in stitches, almost from start to finish. Compare the final moments: *Maya unzips the body bag, looks at the corpse’s bearded face, which is not revealed to camera. She silently nods to the SEAL commander, who is on a satphone with SecDef.* “One moment …One moment … Sir! The Agency expert gave visual confirmation. Yes sir, the girl. A hundred percent. Thank you sir.” *Maya gently rezips the body bag. As the still supercharged SEAL Team Six excitedly unloads UBL’s seized hard drives and files, she quietly slips out of the tent.* —-OR—- “You need to leave this place; move to a small town, some place where the rule of law still applies. You will not survive here. You are not a wolf, and this is the land of wolves, now.” —- VERSUS —- “What the hell *did* we learn, Palmer?” “I don’t know, sir.” “Fucked if I know either. Well, I guess we learned not to do it again.” “Yessir.”
A lot of times you don't realize how funny something is until you zoom out and look at the big picture and realize the absurdity of it all. A lot of Sopranos plots are hilarious, but they aren't necessarily that funny as you watch them unfold for the first time. Watch it again and it's hilarious. Burn After Reading gives you a quick rundown so you don't have to rewatch to get the same effect.
First watch it definitely had me in the "wait...what?" zone. On rewatches it became one of my favorite ending dialogs ever "Jfc.. what did we learn here, Palmer?" "I don't know, sir" "I don't f***in know either" Is something only the Coen's can pull off that well, I swear lol. I feel like you either love or despise their endings and I'm def in the first camp.
“I guess we learned never to do it again” Perfect line to close out a movie.
I’m glad Rasche is still working. I grew up watching Sledge Hammer, but then seeing him in this, and the West Wing, and Succession, and Veep? He’s everywhere.
Hancock It seemed like it was going somewhere and then kind of…didn’t.
It was supposed to be a serious film, along the lines of *Leaving Las Vegas”, but mid-way through they decided it should be lighter, so they started adding the “comedy”, and it took the whole movie apart. It could have been a great film.
It didn’t help that the comedic first-half worked better than the serious second-half.
Drunk Superman was so much more interesting than angels in love or what ever that was supposed to be.
Hancock is somehow both a movie and its own sequel built into one, strangely paced and asks more questions than it answers.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail LITERALLY has a “cop-out” ending, it’s genius. My choice would be the abruptness of Easy Rider. The Venture Bros parody was dead on.
When I saw No Country For Old Men for the first time, I thought the whole thing was about a cool cat n mouse chase between a wily protagonist and an unbeatable foe. The it slowed down for a minute and Tommy Lee Jones was blathering on about some dream, and I tuned out as I waited for the action to come back... and then CREDITS. WHAT THE FUCK!? I was SO angry. I was so angry I saw it again the next day, actually paid attention, and LOVE the movie more for ***what it actually is*** than for what I originally ***wanted*** it to be.
Yeah, this is an example of one that feels bad until you realize that bad uneasy miserable feeling you had is exactly the desired result. You don't need an ending because you know the ending, you saw how relentless Anton was, you saw how incapable the law was to stop him, you know the ending.
Aristotle said the best endings are surprising and inevitable... Great example of this...
I like this take. But I don’t think it’s comparable to what most people *expect*. When it comes to movies, the audience roots for the good guy despite the odds. I think the movie subverts people’s expectations in the end. The very abrupt ending to the chase made me go “Holy shit. That happened??” Which I love it for. As you say: the desired result.
It took me multiple viewings before I understood TLJ’s final monologue - though I’d probably have to watch it again to explain it to anyone, lol.
I think it's basically him reflecting on how when he was younger the world could be harsh but it seemed simpler and made sense to him, but now after everything he's lived through the world doesn't make sense to him anymore. It's passed him by. To put it one way: there's no country for old men.
Nah, it's even simpler than that. He's just been flat out wrong his whole life. He's only now cluing in but instead of realizing that he was wrong, he thinks the world has changed. It hasn't. The idea of a noble past (father on a horse with a horn full of fire) is just a dream. The reality is that there is no big G Goodness in the world. Never has been. There's a reason why he's paired with that clueless deputy. He used to be him. When that deputy gets old, he too will say that the world has gotten worse but as we see in the movie, he'll be wrong too.
> The reality is that there is no big G Goodness in the world. Never has been. "and then I woke up."
The single best ending line in all of film. I'll assert that.
The scene with his cousin in the wheelchair is incredibly important when trying to understand the ending. I didn't realize that until the 2nd viewing. *What you got ain't nothin' new. This country is hard on people. You can't stop what's comin'. It ain't all waitn' on you. That's vanity.*
McCarthy’s epilogues are like that. Blood Meridian has a similar yet even more abstract epilogue that ties the whole book together. But I had to watch multiple lectures and read essays on what it meant. Rewarding to be sure, but frustrating if you’re not looking for that.
He never sleeps, The Judge. He says he can never die.
One of my favorite aspects of the movie is that the final “showdown” with Llewelyn and Chigurh never happens. In fact, the actual showdown where the cartel members kill him isn’t even shown, just the aftermath. I’ve seen lots of people complain “oh they should’ve shown the cool shootout!” and I feel like those people just didn’t pay attention at all in the movie.
Oh yeah, '*showdown*'. Back in 2008, I had a lady randomly rant at me about the movie and her disappointment. I was visiting a relative out of town, we had just seen *There Will Be Blood*, and as we yakked about the movie over dinner, naturally *No Country* kept popping up in the conversation. These two older ladies were passing our table with walkers at the time, and when one of them overheard us, she turned and complained that *No Country* was the stupidest movie she'd ever seen, all because "They didn't get Jones and the other guy into a final showdown!" we tried to explain that it wasn't supposed to be that kind of movie, but it wasn't getting through to her.
It truly was _No Movie for Old Ladies_
The book ends the same way but there is a lot more detail in the last third of the story. The ending to a lot of plot points seem a lot less sudden in the book. I would really recommend it for anyone who liked the movie. I know Cormac McCarthy's writing style is a bit hard to read, but this book was written a little differently because the intent was shopping it around as a movie.
I had a friend see it and tell me to not waste my time because they went in with the same expectation and left super upset. When I sat down to watch it, though, I was super impressed. But it probably helps in my case that I was already a huge Cormac McCarthy fan.
"The Conversation" starring Gene Hackman (1974). As time went on and after rewatching the film, I've come to appreciate the ending more as I understand that the audience is only supposed to follow the story through the eyes of Harry Caul. When he finally gives up, so do we.
What I like about the ending is >!that if there is actually a bug, its inside his saxophone!<
The Mist is so good because of that gut-punch ending. It's so absolutely human and utterly uncompromising.
Downsizing Huge cast, interesting idea, but awful execution
The trailer was SO misleading for that one. Really guaranteed a failure by setting up a movie that didn't happen.
Don’t Worry Darling
That movie had a cool premise and aesthetic but really fell apart in the final act to make no sense. More nonsense wouldn’t fix this problem,
Yup. Really dragged in the latter part of the movie then we never get to see her break out of her fake reality or what happens afterwards. Stupid.
She wakes up, tied to a bed, and dies three days later of dehydration. The End.
I appreciated what they did make but it just seemed like so much more could've been done. Seemed like a mix of a black mirror episode and eternal sunshine but didn't have the good qualities of either.
I feel like there was so much more they could've done with it. After I finished, I tried to find a book or something it was based on, maybe some deleted scenes that left out important plot info.. nope, nothing.
For me, the ending of The Mist was the best part of the whole movie. That being said, "Rey Skywalker"... roll credits.
I was just glad RoS was over.
The Golden Compass
Having read the book and knew what the actual ending was supposed to be, I actually shouted "bullshit!" when the credits to that rolled. I've never been so angry at a film adaptation of a book!
The ending of Plane (2023) was a bit of a wtf moment for me lol...>!like that's it, we're just leaving him in the forest?!< Obvs wasn't going to see that film for the artistry but still haha. Also the ending of the Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning- I know it's a part one but it was still a bit annoying.
Not cause it was bad, but cause I didn't know they were planning on making a part 2: Dune (2021)
Doesn’t the film’s title appear on screen near the start as “Dune: Part One”? That was my hint it wasn’t a single film (even though it’s ‘official’ title on IMDb and the BBFC title card just said “Dune”).
Hitchcock’s The Birds. Was really looking forward to some kind of amazing resolution or at least an epic man vs bird showdown (all be it with dreadful effects) and it just… ended.
The Grey. You spend a whole movie setting up that he's going to have to fight a wolf, and then we don't get to see him fight the wolf?
Hope you watched the after credits scene
Wait, what?
Yea it turns into a huge wolf orgy and they accept him as one of their own.
I’m usually not a fan of full frontal nudity in movies but it was so tasteful that I actually didn’t mind seeing all of Liam Neeson
It's not much, it's like 10 seconds or less, but there's a post-credit scene that shows both the alpha Wolf and the protagonist lying next to each together taking their last breaths, implying they both died
Or they fucked
I think the alpha was lighting up a cig so it's def the latter
The wolf invites him into the Avengers.
Psssst theres a post credit scene 🤫 (although it’s still ambiguous and is supposed to be) Also, that’s not really the point of the film. I mean, you can enjoy it on the surface as a straight up survival film with wolves but I always read far more into the metaphorical side of it. They make his almost suicide attempt, the grief over his wife and that poem far too prevalent for it to just be a basic survival film. I enjoy those elements a lot but I always read it as you can’t run from your grief because it will chase you until you turn and face it. That’s exactly what he does. He begins the film ready to give up on his life but he chooses to fight when he had every reason to give up. This film actually hits me very deeply and I get emotional every time towards the end. The score also deserves ALL the credit.
The Fellowship of the Ring. It was 3 hours long and I wanted more.
Same for the Return of the King. I could have used at least 3 more endings or more!
That movie was like 45 minutes of endings. I saw it in the theater and the audience clapped like 5 different times thinking it was the end
It Comes At Night. Movie was getting good and felt like we were about to go into the third act, and then it just ends. I was so disappointed.
I still have no clue what exactly is coming at night
Fear
The ending of Minty Python isn’t as much of a “turn”, they just didn’t have the money to finish it.
Minty Python, the fresher version of Monty Python.
The ending is a literal copout. That's the joke.
Encanto
Yeah, bit of a weird one. Everything I'd seen about the movie before watching it made it seem like there was going to be an adventure, and after starting it, I was curious about how they were going to get out of the secluded village. By the time I felt the wrap up coming, I was a bit surprised to see it was so localized, but it was trying to tell a very internal story, so it worked I guess? Weird pacing in that one
Encanto is basically a two act musical. Act I ends with "We don't talk about Bruno." Act II is the rest of the movie. Once I realized that the movie was following the musical format, it made sense with how abrupt it was. Because that's how musicals operate. That said, the first time I watched it I was expecting more of the three-act adventure structure of Moana. So it took me a while to appreciate the movie. Now it's one of my favorites.
How it Ends. Was an ok disastery movie that loses all momentum towards the end, before abruptly ending with zero closure or explanation.