Good movies with bad endings

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Monster_Munch

Senior member
Oct 19, 2010
873
1
0
Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The police arrive and arrest king Arthur and his knights before they have a chance to get the grail.
 

DominionSeraph

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2009
8,386
31
91
The movie is not filmed as though it's from her point of view, but a wider one. So to suddenly make the audience need to narrow in and be happy/content with her experience fails, and everyone ends up mad.

They dove into her point of view all the time. It was a constant bobbing between her POV and a slightly wider one (but still centered on her) -- an easy transition because they were both scientific, making the priest the outsider. But the ending changes that -- you become trapped in her POV when it rotates out of alignment with the outside one, so now she's awoken to seeing things from the preacher's perspective.
Same scientific mind, but just unable to bridge the gap with the skeptics.
 

rockyct

Diamond Member
Jun 23, 2001
6,656
32
91
i agree ( haven't seen true grit though ), except for children of men -

wasn't the point to save the girl with the baby, don't you see her floating toward the ship baby in hand or am i remembering things differently?
Yes, but Clive Owen's character is dead and we really don't know if that ship was for her or if they can actually solve the crisis if it is.
 

Ichinisan

Lifer
Oct 9, 2002
28,298
1,235
136
Anyway, my vote is for District B13. The movie starts off great, but the climax with the bomb just fails to produce any tension.

After I read the synopsis for that movie, I already knew there was NO $#@%ING WAY that you could get me to watch that.
 

DominionSeraph

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2009
8,386
31
91
After I read the synopsis for that movie, I already knew there was NO $#@%ING WAY that you could get me to watch that.

Oh, it's definitely worth watching. One of the coolest movies I've seen in a long time. Just the finale fell flat.
 

Ichinisan

Lifer
Oct 9, 2002
28,298
1,235
136
Oh, it's definitely worth watching. One of the coolest movies I've seen in a long time. Just the finale fell flat.

Really? REALLY?

Set in the ghettos of Paris in 2010, an undercover cop and ex-thug try to infiltrate a gang in order to defuse a neutron bomb.
A ghetto gang as a NEUTRON BOMB?! :rolleyes:

Seems like one of those movies that's all style-over-substance and targeted to parkour enthusiasts.

Style-over-substance examples I've actually watched that I can't stand:
-Equillibrium
-Underworld
 

AstroManLuca

Lifer
Jun 24, 2004
15,628
5
81
Seems like one of those movies that's all style-over-substance and targeted to parkour enthusiasts.

Style-over-substance examples I've actually watched that I can't stand:
-Equillibrium
-Underworld

Sounds like basically every movie with Angelina Jolie.
 

Aharami

Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
21,205
165
106
Spoilers for those who haven't seen Contact:
It's been a while since I've seen the movie but I remember something about the aliens 'reading her mind' and creating an environment that would comfort the visitor. Hence the very Earth-like beautiful beach and the image of the person she loved most (I haven't read Sagan's book but I believe there are five travelers in the book, and they all see the person that they love/loved most).

It would have been lame for Ellie to return and tell everyone, "Haha, you religitards, science won! There's like aliens, sharks with lasers and cool shit out there."

The twist was a stroke of genius: Ellie discovered a certain truth about the Universe but unfortunately wasn't able to furnish evidence. She found herself in the old uncomfortable 'You have to faith in me and my experiences, which I regrettably can never prove.' position that she always mocked. It is a significant part of what makes it such a great movie (to me). In the end, both atheists and believers can identify with the unique position Ellie finds herself in. That is a master-stroke IMO.

this. exactly this! I loved the ending of Contact.
 

DominionSeraph

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2009
8,386
31
91
Really? REALLY?

Yup. That synopsis makes it sound like it's all one build-up, but it's not. The elements of the finale don't materialize until near the end, and the movie stands on its own before that.

But if you want more substance there's Kontroll and Ink.
 

Aharami

Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
21,205
165
106
Its even worse. Clinging to the hope of being reunited with his love was mostly what kept him going instead of taking a triple gainer off a cliff and dashing his brains on the rocks below.

So keeping her alive in his mind is what kept him alive...but it was for naught (except that it got him home alive).

Worst...suckiest...ending in recent memory were "Nights in Rodanthe" and "Message in a Bottle".

why does it have to work out for him? Life doesn't always work out like planned. He realized that and decided to let her go. In the end, he decided to move on with his life and find a new path (I personally think he was looking in the direction the redhead went in the end).
 

Arkaign

Lifer
Oct 27, 2006
20,736
1,377
126
So you must never want to watch any movie based on a book. They're hardly even close to the books.

I'm somewhat in the middle on this. If I've read a really good novel or source material, then I will be excited about the film, provided the usual things that good movies depend on are present : good/great director, screenwriters, actors, budget, etc. I can think of several films I've watched off of the top of my head that I really really enjoyed and thought were about as close as a film could get to getting the plot and the feel of the source material across very well :

Fight Club (this should be a golden standard for novel to film adaptation), although the ending is slightly less ambiguous than the novel.

LOTR (yes, there was a lot that had to be let out, but the feel was pretty much spot-on, perhaps the only way it could have been better would be to make it a 3-season 30-episode HBO series with a similarly huge budget)

Anthony Burgess 'A Clockwork Orange', Kubrick NAILED it here, and if anything, added texture that was entirely within the world, without changing the content or the feel

Into the Wild, this was a relatively brilliant adaptation, that took the content about Chris McCandless pretty much verbatim and recreated his journey with great detail and a HUGE amount of location shoots from his actual journey.

The Shawshank Redemption, this is perhaps a unique case where the film is so much more than the original writing, while still being true to the fundamental tale, it gave the characters much more room to breathe, and the direction and acting were at top level.

No Country for Old Men, perhaps the equal of Fight Club for bulletproof adaptation in content and feel.

Some others :

Schindler's List (from Schindler's Ark)
To Kill a Mockingbird
Dr Zhivago
Trainspotting
etc.

So no, I'm definitely not against films that are made from books, even great books that I've already read. I'm just abhorrent to seeing great material getting abused by mediocre or poor adaptive treatment.
 

CurseTheSky

Diamond Member
Oct 21, 2006
5,401
2
0
behind enemy lines

I enjoyed it. If you didn't like that one, try watching Behind Enemy Lines 3: Columbia.

I think I made it through the first 5 minutes of the movie (yawn), then skipped ahead to see if the action would be decent (...), and finally gave up. What a joke.

I'm pretty sure if you gave any average idiot $10k to go buy some airsoft guns and military garb, and another $10k for "special" effects, they could have come up with something just as watchable.
 

JTsyo

Lifer
Nov 18, 2007
11,816
952
126
How about Signs with crazy ass Joaquin Phoenix? Oh gee golly the aliens don't like water? How weak is that?

heh you would think they would pick a planet that isn't 3/4 water on the surface and rains on regularly. At least they would wear suits in such a dangerous environment.
 

JTsyo

Lifer
Nov 18, 2007
11,816
952
126
The Final Countdown

Saw this first the first time about a week ago, its from 1980. Premise of the movie is a modern aircraft carrier gets pulled through some kind of time vortex that transports the ship and its crew back in time to December 6, 1941, the day before the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. The crew must decide whether or not to intervene with the attack and risk messing with such a major historical event. It was fun watching scenes of F14's making Japanese Zero pilots shit their pants, but at the end of the film another freak time-storm-vortex sucks them back to the future before they can decimate the entire Japanese feet. Seemed like a major cop-out and I can only guess that they did it because they simply didn't have the technology and special effects to properly pull off such a climactic battle scene and do it justice

Read Weapons of Choice for the equivalent book. In the book, they don't get to come back.
 

hoyaguru

Senior member
Jun 9, 2003
893
3
81
Anthony Burgess 'A Clockwork Orange', Kubrick NAILED it here, and if anything, added texture that was entirely within the world, without changing the content or the feel

Yes and no: The movie followed the book well, but completely cut out the last chapter, where (if I remember correctly, it's been a few years) Alex as an older man, looking back on his life, actually has a different perspective on what he'd done. The movie ends with him the same delinquent he was when it started, I'm pretty sure Burgess had a different point to make.
 

MotionMan

Lifer
Jan 11, 2006
17,123
12
81
The Final Countdown

Saw this first the first time about a week ago, its from 1980. Premise of the movie is a modern aircraft carrier gets pulled through some kind of time vortex that transports the ship and its crew back in time to December 6, 1941, the day before the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. The crew must decide whether or not to intervene with the attack and risk messing with such a major historical event. It was fun watching scenes of F14's making Japanese Zero pilots shit their pants, but at the end of the film another freak time-storm-vortex sucks them back to the future before they can decimate the entire Japanese feet. Seemed like a major cop-out and I can only guess that they did it because they simply didn't have the technology and special effects to properly pull off such a climactic battle scene and do it justice

I have only ever seen it in bits and pieces, and not in many years. The only thing I remember was the guy stuck in the deck after they came back. Do they explain why that happened?

MotionMan
 

MotionMan

Lifer
Jan 11, 2006
17,123
12
81
I think it's interesting that so many people hated the ending of Contact. I don't think it could have ended any other way.
If she had gone out, met the aliens, and come back with grand technologies and lots of proof, the rest of the film would have made no sense. Sure, the hearing was a little over the top, but she needed to be forced to concede that she had witnessed the scientific equivalent of a miracle and only had her personal experience to back her up. The only part I didn't like was the "
18
hours of static" bit. I would have preferred they left everything completely ambiguous, rather than wink at the audience and tell them Ellie was right all along.

Fixed for accuracy (correcting spoilers is a bitch!).

I found the ending of Contact to be disappointing because it turned it into just another "never trust the government"/government conspiracy movie.

MotionMan
 

CallMeJoe

Diamond Member
Jul 30, 2004
6,938
5
81
I have only ever seen it in bits and pieces, and not in many years. The only thing I remember was the guy stuck in the deck after they came back. Do they explain why that happened?
MotionMan
Was that in the Philadelphia Experiment?
 

Liet

Golden Member
Jun 9, 2001
1,529
0
0
The second, and ESPECIALLY third LotR movies. Peter Jackson straightup butchered Tolkien; removed critical components, added shit that didn't need to be added, completely changed several characters, all the while swearing what a huge Tolkien fan he is.

Very, very sad.
 

MotionMan

Lifer
Jan 11, 2006
17,123
12
81
I have only ever seen it in bits and pieces, and not in many years. The only thing I remember was the guy stuck in the deck after they came back. Do they explain why that happened?

MotionMan

In the movie one of the issues was whether Roosevelt was THIER commander in chief. I wonder if people in the military are told what to do in case they are sent back (or forward) in time. Are they to report for duty to the nearest friendly military post or hide out and figure out how to get back?

MotionMan