• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Movies With Great Endings (Spoilerz Ahead)

Status
Not open for further replies.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

2HQSs.jpg
 
JGS said:
In Inception's case, especially when they're not really open-ended.

I love that ending simply because of the
sense of accomplishment on everyone's faces. Dream or not, it was a success & Cobb lived happpily ever after.

The ending actually reminded me of Ocean's 11 when they are all standing outside the Belaggio. I would have included that one actually if not for the sequels.
Click to expand...

No. Go re-watch the ending.
I'm not talking about the bit in the plane where they all brofist each other and chest bump after they dropped their "Mission Accomplished" banner. I'm talking about how Nolan didn't specify whether the top stopped spinning or not while throughout the entire movie it was inferred that everything occurring in the "present" was a dream.

legend166 said:
There's nothing inherently wrong with open-ended endings.
Click to expand...

I completely agree. However, when the audience is given the ole' bait and switch by the director, that open-ended ending suddenly becomes sloppy-ass writing to tie up loose ends or an arbitrary finish to keep people "guessing". It may also come as no surprise that most of David Lynch's movies aren't among my personal favorites for similar reasons.
 
Virro said:
No. Go re-watch the ending.
I'm not talking about the bit in the plane where they all brofist each other and chest bump after they dropped their "Mission Accomplished" banner. I'm talking about how Nolan didn't specify whether the top stopped spinning or not while throughout the entire movie it was inferred that everything occurring in the "present" was a dream.
Click to expand...

it doesnt matter whether the top is still spinning or not for Leo's character. he's found peace
 
but I think the point of Inception's ending was that it didn't matter whether or not the pinwheel toppled. the reality of the film, the motivations of the characters, hell, everything about the film remains thematically relevant in either scenario. in every relevant sense the movie has a pretty closed ending, that last flourish is just a moustache-twirl, a tease, a chance to reflect on whether or not it even mattered whether it actually fell.
 
Drewsky said:
Memento has one of the best that come to mind.

Also Seven.
Click to expand...

Took WAY too much time

also, not sure if fits as endings, but the last scenes from both MiB and MiB2 are godly
 
Virro said:
No. Go re-watch the ending.
I'm not talking about the bit in the plane where they all brofist each other and chest bump after they dropped their "Mission Accomplished" banner. I'm talking about how Nolan didn't specify whether the top stopped spinning or not while throughout the entire movie it was inferred that everything occurring in the "present" was a dream.



I completely agree. However, when the audience is given the ole' bait and switch by the director, that open-ended ending suddenly becomes sloppy-ass writing to tie up loose ends or an arbitrary finish to keep people "guessing". It may also come as no surprise that most of David Lynch's movies aren't among my personal favorites for similar reasons.
Click to expand...

For Inception, look at Leo's ring. When it's on, he's dreaming. When it's not, he's awake.
 
I agree with a lot... but some of these are such dark or ambiguous endings... I haven't seen this one suggested yet, but True Lies has an awesome ending.
 
brianjones said:
it doesnt matter whether the top is still spinning or not for Leo's character. he's found peace
Click to expand...

Except he's been painted for 2 hours as a paranoid delusional man and then in the end he's found peace? If he found peace, why did he spin the top? Why was it necessary that he spin the top and know whether he's here or there or anywhere? It isn't. Its gratuitous and sloppy and spits in our face for actually thinking that the intrigue from earlier was leading somewhere. The fact that Nolan took 5 minutes at the end of the movie (collapsing high rise in their created world) to have Leo give exposition completely unraveling any mystery the story once held is ridiculous. You as an audience are engaged for an hour and forty-five minutes only to have Leo explain the entire plot (for those of you who didn't figure it out by then)? I'm sorry, that's weak as hell.
 
he spins the top and doesn't look down at it again to see whether it fell. hence, inner-peace, yadda-yadda.
 
What's the point of discussing Inception's ending if half of you are posting in spoilers tags and the other half aren't? Just pick one and stick with it.
 
Rez said:
he spins the top and doesn't look down at it again to see whether it fell. hence, inner-peace, yadda-yadda.
Click to expand...

I get that. I got that when I saw it. My point is that the action of spinning the top was completely unnecessary and betrayed the emotion from the better part of the movie. It wasn't genuine. It was the director saying, "here guys, here's something gimmicky that people will get hung up about and discuss even though it has ZERO relevance to the greater context of the movie".
 
Virro said:
No. Go re-watch the ending.
I'm not talking about the bit in the plane where they all brofist each other and chest bump after they dropped their "Mission Accomplished" banner. I'm talking about how Nolan didn't specify whether the top stopped spinning or not while throughout the entire movie it was inferred that everything occurring in the "present" was a dream.
Click to expand...
I know the ending, I'm just thinking it was a mild gotcha from Nolan. The only thing it could have been was
reality
unless all the exposition in the movie was written specifically to throw us off.

Instead, I think Nolan simply wanted us to keep thinking about the movie past the ending which worked as we were trying to rack our brains about what we saw previously. In the end, though
it wasn't a dream.
.

I guess I better add imo.
 
Other endings I like:

Up in the Air
rFlTw.jpg

It's so perfectly cold and bitter, yet in a weird way optimistic and hopeful.

Heat

It's a beautiful shot, and it made me feel exhausted, like I've been fighting along with the characters, and I just wanted to rest.
Making me feel connected to DeNiro as he slipped away.

Big Fish

Burton's best, and the ending is largely why.

and of course...

"Mein Fuhrer!!! I can walk!" What a perfect line to segue into the beautiful ending montage of
worldwide destruction.

Edit: Linked to some of the scenes.
Edit 2: Removed spoilery pics
 
+ 1 for heat. i wanted to see him so desperately get away, but the build up to the final moments wouldnt have been as good otherwise.

im also gonna have to throw in my hat for la confidential. exley is the king in that movie
 
Ughhh I really don't how to respond to this thread since most of my favorite movies do have great endings...and actually even just "good" movies have good endings. heck even most mediocre movies have good endings...chances are an average movie has a better "conclusion" than it has a better overall story!

Top of my head!

_Usual Suspects
_Godfather Series (all have good endings)
_Most Egoyan movies have great and (sometimes fucked up) endings
_Heat has an amazing ending! (damn Beaten!)
_I agree with Aliens as well
_There Will be Blood (for shizzle)
_ Hitchcock movies have great endings (Psycho and Vertigo for example)
_The Fight Club
_The Shinning!
_I even loved the ending of the Watchmen (thanks to the original story of the graphic Novel)
_Recently I loved the ending of The Social Network, so minimal, so subtle, so fucking awesome!

Basically most good movies have good endings...there's no mystery to it!
 
Darkmakaimura said:
The Mist.

Depressing and fucked up, although.
Click to expand...
i don't understand the depressing, fucked up part of the mist's ending. sure it was a downer for the main character, but in the big picture, i found it to be a happy ending with a positive outlook.
 
Lionel Mandrake said:
Heat

It's a beautiful shot, and it made me feel exhausted, like I've been fighting along with the characters, and I just wanted to rest.
Making me feel connected to DeNiro as he slipped away.
Click to expand...

sogoood.gif

that look Pacino gives after he grabs his hand. It's like..he's actually killed people before. It's so convincing. And the music followed by the cut to credits. Wooo.
 
Lionel Mandrake said:
Other endings I like:

Up in the Air


Heat
[IMG]

Big Fish
[IMG]
and of course...[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=BertramCooper]Shit, I think I just spoiled the ending for Planet of the Apes for someone.

:lol[/QUOTE]

I know the title of the thread says "(Spoilers Ahead)"

But I think for the sake of others, it's a bit unnecessary to post images of endings...
I love the Heat ending for example and I would hate to see that image if I haven't seen the movie yet, (for whatever reason) and saw that...

at least reading text can be avoided as long as the Title of the movie is mentioned beforehand.


[B]EDIT: thanks [I]Lionel Mandrake[/I] for being awesome and considerate [/B]. Hope every one else will do the same.
Click to expand...
 
Yes! LA Confidential, one of my all-time favourites. The Fugitive has a good ending too, I love its final scene.

I noticed The Departed mentioned earlier, so I had to ask... has there been any movement on the Departed sequel that was supposed to start Mark Wahlberg and Robert De Niro as a dirty senator? I thought that idea had potential.
 
I didn't like the ending of Departed. Dumb ass marky mark just conveniently returns to ice the rat. And then it cuts to a rat, fuck dat shit. The elevator surprise was good though.
 
Discotheque said:
I didn't like the ending of Departed. Dumb ass marky mark just conveniently returns to ice the rat. And then it cuts to a rat, fuck dat shit. The elevator surprise was good though.
Click to expand...

I didn't particularly like the ending either, it's ridiculously sudden. I'm guessing there's a point about life and how fast shit happens, but it was more annoying to me than anything.
 
Discotheque said:
I didn't like the ending of Departed. Dumb ass marky mark just conveniently returns to ice the rat. And then it cuts to a rat, fuck dat shit. The elevator surprise was good though.
Click to expand...
ITA.

The Departed's ending was shitty. Still a good movie, though.
 
Kurosawa's High and Low has an ending that is absolutely burned into my brain; it simultaneously floods your brain and wrenches your gut in a way that contrived Hollywood messes can't hope to match.
 
The Prestige! Just watched it again with some people who haven't and I could barely contain myself. The buildup is just so incredible and when you see the final 10 minutes, the "prestige" of everything that had happened in the movie (because the movie is structured very much like a magic trick, Nolan did an incredible job) you fully realize how amazing a movie it is
 
NotTheGuyYouKill said:
Yes! LA Confidential, one of my all-time favourites. The Fugitive has a good ending too, I love its final scene.

I noticed The Departed mentioned earlier, so I had to ask... has there been any movement on the Departed sequel that was supposed to start Mark Wahlberg and Robert De Niro as a dirty senator? I thought that idea had potential.
Click to expand...

Supposedly in development still and slated for a 2012 release. That's the last I heard and that was in June I think...

JGS said:
I know the ending, I'm just thinking it was a mild gotcha from Nolan. The only thing it could have been was reality unless all the exposition in the movie was written specifically to throw us off.

Instead, I think Nolan simply wanted us to keep thinking about the movie past the ending which worked as we were trying to rack our brains about what we saw previously. In the end, though it wasn't a dream..

I guess I better add imo.
Click to expand...

I'm going to preface this by saying that I hear what some of you are saying about the theme of the movie not being affected by the top spinning or not. I agree for the most part. The relevancy of the spinning top to the plot and the director's use of that type of device were the things I was calling into question. It was gimmicky and a convenient way to end the movie.

That being said, I don't understand how you can walk away from watching that movie thinking that any part of it is reality. We're fed throughout the entire movie that everything is a dream. He can't fit through the wall then magically emerges to a waiting car, people drop from single bullet wounds with no blood (and by the rules specified in the world, that means they're in a dream), the cue music plays slowly in the background (again, rules presented by the script for knowing you're in a dream) for parts of the movie where its supposed to be the present. All of these things and more point to a dream existence for the entire movie. Now, if you want to argue that those things everything the script is telling us about dream state rules are false, then the whole movie unravels and its all bullshit.

Hence why I don't understand how you can think its all reality.
 
EpicThreadEnd.gif


Also:
V For Vendetta
Porco Rosso
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
The Princess Bride
Batman (1989)
Terminator 2
 
CygnusXS said:
If this thread has told me anything, it is that I should probably watch The Prestige.
Click to expand...
It might be the best thing Nolan has ever done. Maybe.

Maybe.
 
Talladega Knight said:
i don't understand the depressing, fucked up part of the mist's ending. sure it was a downer for the main character, but in the big picture, i found it to be a happy ending with a positive outlook.
Click to expand...

Are you HIGH?!
It was a godawful depressing ending. Yes, in the big picture I suppose we are "winning" (we as in humanity), but the characters we've watched for 90 minutes have an awful, awful outcome. Horrible.
 
Snowman Prophet of Doom said:
Kurosawa's High and Low has an ending that is absolutely burned into my brain; it simultaneously floods your brain and wrenches your gut in a way that contrived Hollywood messes can't hope to match.
Click to expand...
I don't know. I felt that it lost a lot of steam at the ending. It just dragged on. Compare that to the very first scene in the movie where I have never been more on the edge of my seat in a conversation about footwear, only to have the movie ratchet the tension up to 11. Amazing, amazing movie - probably my favorite Kurosawa film - but I recommend it based on the beginning, not the end.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Picard Season 2 Sucked.... BUT.... (ENDING SEASON SPOILERS AHEAD)
13
630
Avid Reading Horse replied
Gardening GAF - Green thumbs ahead
5
281
Hookshot replied
Greenland Movies
4
389
saintjules replied
Underrated movies that are good.
43
919
Itchy.Tasty. replied
Recommendations for really good medieval movies with a lot of combat
42
3K
Disciple of MSSP replied
Top Bottom