The 10 Worst Movie Endings???
Dec. 12th, 2007 12:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
raloriaDudes! I know I'm spamming your flists like mad, but I just came across this article on MSN.com and was so upset about it I had to share.
"The Real 10 Worst Movie Endings of All Time" by Sean Nelson
It's on 2 pages, btw. I've copy & pasted just a few of his choices below and they're in italics.
Granted, a person is welcome to their opinion, but wow is this guy tough. Most of the movies he mentions are ones I haven't seen (sad, I know). But the few others? I can't believe he lists "LOTR: The Return of the King", "Star Wars: Return of the Jedi", "Titanic", and "Schindler's List".
"Titanic" (1997)
A decade later, can you all just admit that this mega-Oscar-winning, billion-dollar profit center of a movie straight up sucked? The writing, the acting, the plot, the subplots, the dialogue, the sentiments, the framing device, the music, the EVERYTHING? No? OK. Well, at least admit that the ending is garbage. Kate Winslet's sell-out letting go of Leonardo DiCaprio's hand? The ludicrous dumping of the diamond into the sea? The millionth reprise of "My Heart Will Go On"? COME ON! How can everyone, how can anyone have liked stupid, horrible "Titanic" to begin with? Especially with an ending like that?
Sure, this guy is a guy and from what I read doesn't seem to have one romantic bone in his body. He totally bashes "Titanic" into the ground.
"Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi" (1983)
One word: Ewoks. A few more: Ewoks dancing and singing on the forest moon of Endor to celebrate the destruction of the second Death Star, the toppling of the empire and its emperor, the burning corpse of Darth Vader, the rehumanity of Anakin Skywalker, the brotherhood/sisterhood of Luke and Leia, the imminent copulation of Han and Leia, the general good guy redemption of Lando Calrissian (and his friendship with the vaguelyJapanese fish guy co-pilot), C3-PO's elevation to deity status, something about R2-D2 and blah blah blah. If you are 10 years old or younger, this ending is perfect. If you are one second older, this ending is a perfect way to sully the memory of your childhood and convince you that nothing you ever believed was true. (Also, you could probably extrapolate the three misbegotten "Star Wars" prequels, episodes I through III, as extensions of the end of "Jedi," which obviously renders it the worst movie ending of all time.)
And I could be totally wrong but his tirade on "Return Of The Jedi" but it sounds like he didn't grow up with the original trilogy. I very rarely hear of anyone from that era bashing the Ewoks (c'mon, they were cute!) and the ending of that film. It's usually people who only watched the film on video or saw the Prequels first. Again, my opinion and vibe going here. I could be totally wrong.
"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (2003)
At the risk of outing myself as a nerd, my response to the endings of the first two "LOTR" films was the urgent wish that they could have been twice as long as they were. After years of conjuring Tolkien's world of wizards, hobbits, elves and assorted other fantasy totems, I found Peter Jackson's realizations of that world to be even better than the ones in my own imagination. Then came "Return of the King," the multi-Oscar-winning anticlimax of the trilogy, a film that looked and sounded like its two prequels but felt nothing like them. A hundred million hours long and crammed with multiple, unsatisfying endings, "King" had the unenviable task of wrapping up too many threads of plot and character and of completing an odyssey whose pleasures are all about the journey, not the destination. Worst of all is the 79-hour denouement of dewy glances and glossy goodbyes, all following a series of increasingly incoherent and uncompelling battle scenes. I still wish "Fellowship" and "Towers" were twice as long as they were. "King," meanwhile, could easily lose an hour and a climax or two and I'd be just fine.
Yes, "LOTR: The Return Of The King" had multiple endings that was kind of distracting, but to put it on the list of worst endings ever? Kind of overkill. For me, the endings of that film did work, it just got a little confusing because there were so many of them.
The following is just an excerpt of his section on Spielberg's films, this part specifically about "Schindler's List":
"and worst of all (d) take all the artfulness out of a powerful piece of fiction and transform it into a weirdly ritualized, lily-gilding present day with real people doing real things like lighting candles and saluting gravestones, just to underline the film's nobility ("Schindler's List," "Saving Private Ryan"). "
His reasons for "Schindler's List" are just as weak. He didn't like the shift to real life at the end with the survivors paying homage to the man who saved them. I thought the ending of the film was very moving and nicely bookended the very beginning which was also in present day. Also, from what I've read "Schindler's List" wasn't fiction, it actually happened. Of course, it's a fictionalized Hollywood version about real people. Maybe the author of this article doesn't think WWII actually happened? Difficult to say, but he seems to have gotten his info. screwed up. "Schindler's List" isn't the only Spielberg film he finds fault with, however. He actually lists five Spielberg films. Sounds like this guy's got issues.
For my own two cents, I've seen a lot of films, new and old. I like most films I've seen. There has been those few, however that did have poor endings. I can't recall any specific examples, but the endings I usually don't like are those where a film just stops. It comes to an end with no resolution or clear finale. You're following along with the story and the characters, waiting for the final moment and it doesn't come. You're just left hanging...waiting for something more.
Sorry for my own little rant, but this guy bent me the wrong way. I usually agree with movie lists I see, but certainly not this one.
"The Real 10 Worst Movie Endings of All Time" by Sean Nelson
It's on 2 pages, btw. I've copy & pasted just a few of his choices below and they're in italics.
Granted, a person is welcome to their opinion, but wow is this guy tough. Most of the movies he mentions are ones I haven't seen (sad, I know). But the few others? I can't believe he lists "LOTR: The Return of the King", "Star Wars: Return of the Jedi", "Titanic", and "Schindler's List".
"Titanic" (1997)
A decade later, can you all just admit that this mega-Oscar-winning, billion-dollar profit center of a movie straight up sucked? The writing, the acting, the plot, the subplots, the dialogue, the sentiments, the framing device, the music, the EVERYTHING? No? OK. Well, at least admit that the ending is garbage. Kate Winslet's sell-out letting go of Leonardo DiCaprio's hand? The ludicrous dumping of the diamond into the sea? The millionth reprise of "My Heart Will Go On"? COME ON! How can everyone, how can anyone have liked stupid, horrible "Titanic" to begin with? Especially with an ending like that?
Sure, this guy is a guy and from what I read doesn't seem to have one romantic bone in his body. He totally bashes "Titanic" into the ground.
"Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi" (1983)
One word: Ewoks. A few more: Ewoks dancing and singing on the forest moon of Endor to celebrate the destruction of the second Death Star, the toppling of the empire and its emperor, the burning corpse of Darth Vader, the rehumanity of Anakin Skywalker, the brotherhood/sisterhood of Luke and Leia, the imminent copulation of Han and Leia, the general good guy redemption of Lando Calrissian (and his friendship with the vaguelyJapanese fish guy co-pilot), C3-PO's elevation to deity status, something about R2-D2 and blah blah blah. If you are 10 years old or younger, this ending is perfect. If you are one second older, this ending is a perfect way to sully the memory of your childhood and convince you that nothing you ever believed was true. (Also, you could probably extrapolate the three misbegotten "Star Wars" prequels, episodes I through III, as extensions of the end of "Jedi," which obviously renders it the worst movie ending of all time.)
And I could be totally wrong but his tirade on "Return Of The Jedi" but it sounds like he didn't grow up with the original trilogy. I very rarely hear of anyone from that era bashing the Ewoks (c'mon, they were cute!) and the ending of that film. It's usually people who only watched the film on video or saw the Prequels first. Again, my opinion and vibe going here. I could be totally wrong.
"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (2003)
At the risk of outing myself as a nerd, my response to the endings of the first two "LOTR" films was the urgent wish that they could have been twice as long as they were. After years of conjuring Tolkien's world of wizards, hobbits, elves and assorted other fantasy totems, I found Peter Jackson's realizations of that world to be even better than the ones in my own imagination. Then came "Return of the King," the multi-Oscar-winning anticlimax of the trilogy, a film that looked and sounded like its two prequels but felt nothing like them. A hundred million hours long and crammed with multiple, unsatisfying endings, "King" had the unenviable task of wrapping up too many threads of plot and character and of completing an odyssey whose pleasures are all about the journey, not the destination. Worst of all is the 79-hour denouement of dewy glances and glossy goodbyes, all following a series of increasingly incoherent and uncompelling battle scenes. I still wish "Fellowship" and "Towers" were twice as long as they were. "King," meanwhile, could easily lose an hour and a climax or two and I'd be just fine.
Yes, "LOTR: The Return Of The King" had multiple endings that was kind of distracting, but to put it on the list of worst endings ever? Kind of overkill. For me, the endings of that film did work, it just got a little confusing because there were so many of them.
The following is just an excerpt of his section on Spielberg's films, this part specifically about "Schindler's List":
"and worst of all (d) take all the artfulness out of a powerful piece of fiction and transform it into a weirdly ritualized, lily-gilding present day with real people doing real things like lighting candles and saluting gravestones, just to underline the film's nobility ("Schindler's List," "Saving Private Ryan"). "
His reasons for "Schindler's List" are just as weak. He didn't like the shift to real life at the end with the survivors paying homage to the man who saved them. I thought the ending of the film was very moving and nicely bookended the very beginning which was also in present day. Also, from what I've read "Schindler's List" wasn't fiction, it actually happened. Of course, it's a fictionalized Hollywood version about real people. Maybe the author of this article doesn't think WWII actually happened? Difficult to say, but he seems to have gotten his info. screwed up. "Schindler's List" isn't the only Spielberg film he finds fault with, however. He actually lists five Spielberg films. Sounds like this guy's got issues.
For my own two cents, I've seen a lot of films, new and old. I like most films I've seen. There has been those few, however that did have poor endings. I can't recall any specific examples, but the endings I usually don't like are those where a film just stops. It comes to an end with no resolution or clear finale. You're following along with the story and the characters, waiting for the final moment and it doesn't come. You're just left hanging...waiting for something more.
Sorry for my own little rant, but this guy bent me the wrong way. I usually agree with movie lists I see, but certainly not this one.
