The Glade 4.0

The spoiler thread got me thinking. What would you consider the movie with the best ending of all time? What about the worst?

Really good endings, off the top of my head: Sixth Sense, Fallen, Constantine, American History X, Schindler's list

Really bad: Every other Shyamalan movie (SIGNS, WTF), I'll think of others.

Good: Saving Private Ryan

In the Mouth of Madness, one of my favorite movie endings.

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"Life isn't divided into genres. It's a horrifying, romantic, tragic, comical, science-fiction cowboy detective novel. You know, with a bit of pornography if you're lucky."
— Alan Moore

Actually, Unbreakable had an good ending. (Though it wouldn't make my list, I just objected to considering it "really bad." It was merely "good.")

Epic endings:

The Usual Suspects
The Shawshank Redemption
The Last Samurai
Toy Story 3
The Godfather (1)
Casablanca

(Funny thing is I don't really like any of the other movies mentioned so far in this thread, at all.)

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

My favorite film ending is There Will Be Blood. The most satisfying, though, is Dogville.

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"There's a family with kids. Do the kids and make the mother watch. Tell her you'll stop if she can hold back her tears. I *owe* her that."
--Grace Margaret Mulligan

"WELL GO GET IT!"
--Malcolm McDowell to me, in what was the most terrifying experience of my life

A convention popular among some people that I do not understand: The Hero dies.

This is always a negative thing in a movie ending. While an ending can be epic enough to overcome it, or there can be several heroes so there is still some semblance of a happy ending, the lone main character dying renders the first 2-3 hours of the movie irrelevant. he's dead now, who gives a **** what he did?

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

I think Inception had a pretty good ending. Sparked a lot of debate, at least.

There are a couple of movies where this works(Book of Eli comes to mind) but for the most part, I agree with you.

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Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

The top was starting to wobble when the camera cut to black.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

So you never believe that a hero can make a sacrifice that is actually greater than the worth of his own life? Not only that, but what about the redemption story? A fallen man, making what appears to be every self-serving choice, sacrificing himself to save someone else? It's the ultimate action of redemption.

Sometimes it's more important than the hero living to fight another day.

Some sacrifices may be worth making, as I said, there are exceptions. As for the "redemption" story...better to be a living villain than a dead hero.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

Have you seen the movie "Fallen"?

Epic ending.

Loved Fallen.

Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime is on my side...

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"It is true that democracy undermines freedom when voters believe they can live off of others' productivity, when they modify the commandment: 'Thou shalt not steal, except by majority vote.' The politics of plunder is no doubt destructive of both morality and the division of labor."

The synopses of Fallen's plot leads me to believe it is not something I'd like, at all. (Partly because I hate the horror genre, and partly for the same reason I won't touch "Supernatural" with the proverbial 10' pole.)

Also, the ending to "Se7en" makes it one of my most hated movies of all time. I'm more careful what I watch now, in case I accidentally watch something like that again.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

Haha, that's a great quote for a former hero.

Ooooo...thanks for the reminder Taly...

Se7en

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"It is true that democracy undermines freedom when voters believe they can live off of others' productivity, when they modify the commandment: 'Thou shalt not steal, except by majority vote.' The politics of plunder is no doubt destructive of both morality and the division of labor."

While not the most happy of endings, Arlington Road definitely left an impact.

Back to the Future 1


"Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads"

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Ron Paul 2012

I think Army of Darkness has the best ending of any movie ever.

EDIT:

Also: Ice Pirates.

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Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

AoD definitely makes you want to cheer in your living room when it ends.... Helll yeaahhhhh

Well...which ending, though?

The superior theatrical version that ends on a positive note, of course. Else it would just be a comical downer, since there is no ED4.


As for my votes, I think O Brother, Where Art Thou?'s buildup and payoff of an ending was quite awesome.

I also really enjoyed Gattaca's ending, and how it drove home the point that "perfection" isn't something you are born with.

And as cheesy and corny and stuck in the 80s as it is, I still love the ending to Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.











San Dimas High School football rules!

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

Yup, as numbuk said, the theatrical ending. While I think thematically the original ending is superior, it's definitely a downer (and a setup for the next non-existant film)

Ewoks, duh?