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BradH812
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1294 Posts |
 Posted - 01/27/2006 : 10:45:23 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Triviachamp
quote:
Originally posted by BradH812
War of the Worlds. Oops, the Martians caught a cold and croaked.
Okay, they did the same thing with the 1954 version, but there we saw humans actually fighting back, and you had the feeling after we busted our butts trying to fend off these critters, we'd earned a break. Here, it was Martians attack, people run, Tom Cruise acts like a sorry excuse for a dad. Repeat. Again and again.
Okay, the movie was pretty crappy overall, but this time around the ending was out of the blue, and it just capped off a whole lotta disappointments.
That happened in the book as well.
A bit off topic but the reactions to the ending of this film have annoyed me. Why is it that the self righteous "Why is everyone so ignorant of classic literature?" crowd is so willing to take exception to Tom Cruise movies? I find this similar to how the "Remakes Suck!" and "The Slump is due to big budget crap" crowd excuses Peter Jackson.
Does this we should be praising Devlin and Emmerich for the ending of ID4?
I've tried to read the book before, and I just can't get into it. It hasn't exactly aged well. And as stupid as ID4 was, it got one thing right: it showed humans trying to use the aliens' weakness against them (I know, I know, the execution was terrible, but....) Same thing with the 1954 film.
Actually, this may not belong in this bad-final-twist category. Like I said before, the finale wouldn't be so bad if you actually gave a damn about the characters in WOTW... which you don't.
By the way, I have no problems with mega-budget movies or remakes, on one condition: that they get it right. It's rare that it happens. Peter Jackson's off the hook on this one. |
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Hinda
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Israel
229 Posts |
Posted - 01/29/2006 : 04:39:43 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by tam1MI
The bug-stupid "twist" ending to The Life of David Gale is probably one of the least bad things about it. I've said it before and I'll say it again: watching that movie made me want to hose myself down with industrial-strength Lysol. What a revolting piece of junk.
Amen to that. And the supposedly evil, bloodthirsty pro-death-penalty Texans were the most decent, sympathetic characters in the film. |
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Hinda
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Israel
229 Posts |
Posted - 01/29/2006 : 04:47:36 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Dirk
I disagree with including Man on Fire on that list. Actually I disagree more with the rationale the author gives for including it:
"Little Dakota Fanning gets kidnapped and murdered by Mexico City scum, after which her bodyguard, Denzel Washington—a down-and-out alcoholic until the little girl brought him back to life—taunts, tortures, and executes (to cheers from the audience) the people responsible. Then she turns out to be alive, and anyway, it was her debt-ridden dad who had her kidnapped, and we should probably feel bad about the people who died horribly but what's a few degenerate Mexicans more or less, right?"
Yeah, what a tragedy. In attempting to find out who kidnapped and quite possibly murdered a little girl (not to mention countless otheres), Denzel gives a bunch of vicious, corrupt gangsters what's coming to them. Jingoistic bastards!
SPOILERSSPOILERSSPOILERSSPOILERSSPOILERSSPOILERSPOILERSSPOILERSSPOILERS
The book is set in Italy. The little girl is kidnapped and murdered by the Mafia. Creasy goes after the killers to the cheers, not only of the aundience, but of the Italian people. I read the reviews of MAN ON FIRE, decided it was one more Hollywood mauling of a fine book, and decided not to see it. Now, is there anyone out there WHO HAS READ THE BOOK and who recommends the film? |
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MikeC
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
749 Posts |
Posted - 02/01/2006 : 07:33:10 AM
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Well, LORD OF THE RINGS gets the feel of Tolkein
right, even if Jackson made some concessions to
modern movie sensibilities (amping up the romance
between Aragorn and Arwen, making some design
choices informed by WARHAMMER FANTASY, etc.).
MikeC |
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Cannon Fodder
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
Australia
176 Posts |
Posted - 02/01/2006 : 07:33:33 AM
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Spoilers
I would say Identity should be included on the list. It was decent if unamazing ten little Inidans variation when they bring out a truely ludicrous and stupid twist ending. It was like the makers wanted to up the ante on the cliched split personality twist ending. "I know lets make all the characters part of this guys personality and they can like, kill each other!" It brought to mind scene from Adaptation where the dumber of the Kaufman twins puts forward the twist ending of his thriller script in which the hero, the villain and the heroine are all the same person. |
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CobraCmdr
Diocesan Ecclesiarch of the Sacred Order of Jabootu
70 Posts |
Posted - 02/01/2006 : 1:26:06 PM
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The ending of WOTW wasn't really supposed to be a twist per say, the original novel was a rant against colonialism. It shows the tables being turned on the British empire as they are ruthlessly invaded by a technologically superior foe who exploits them as resources. However, like Europeans in Africa the invaders are vulnerable to native diseases and die off.
I don't think the themes of the book have aged well. Even if you were inclined to turn it into some kind of statement about globalism and US foreign policy the disease angle doesn't really work now (The aliens exploit cheap Earthling labor in their factories but get diarhea from our water when they come here on vacation?) |
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Greenhornet
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1791 Posts |
Posted - 02/01/2006 : 6:23:03 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by hbrennan
I'm going with "Murder by Death". Funny movie. Stupid "twist" ending.
That "twist" was spoiled by the fact that "Mrs Charleston" declaired earlier that THE COOK had done it! |
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Flangepart
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
2329 Posts |
Posted - 02/01/2006 : 6:39:34 PM
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What about the recent Sci-Fi bug hunt, SWARMED? Hummmm....are bad sequal set ups allowed?
Oh, there is much to say...and many have said it ( Right, Foywonder?), but that ending....Yeah, i expected a "sequal set-up blue plate special", but come on....
SPOILER TAG!
The queen killer wasp is alive, trapped in a partly melted , plastic body....personal vaccume. NO...if the heat of the climatic fire did not get it, the toxic fumes should have! I DO NOT accept this!
Gurrrr.....
"Cole, stop handing Dr. Doom the Keys to the Baxter building." Brent Sienna/PvP.
"I speak 34 different languages. But gibberish is not one of them."- Danger Mouse.
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hentai_wolf
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
139 Posts |
Posted - 02/11/2006 : 11:22:43 PM
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My problem with twist ending isn't usually the twist, but rather the fact that whenever a movie has a good twist ending, every critic has to proclaim that there's this incredible twist ending. In my opinion, this pretty much ruins the twist. What does it matter that I don't know the specifics of the twist? Once I know there is a twist, I'm expecting it, making it very difficult for the twist to have any impact.
When I saw The Usual Suspects, I really didn't know anything about the movie. I really enjoyed it. I had no problem with the ending, mainly because I didn't think it really affected the quality of the rest of the movie. I mean, from the very beginning, it's clearly a story told by Virgil. It's not like the movie showed us a bunch of stuff and then turned around and said, "Whoops, this was all just a dream." I wonder if people had the same problem with Rashamon.
On the other hand, I never bothered to see The Sixth Sense or any of M. Night's movies because too much of a big deal was made of the twist ending. I already knew there was a twist, so even those I might not know the specifics, I'm going to be watching for the twist. |
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Pip
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
333 Posts |
Posted - 02/12/2006 : 3:04:17 PM
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As far M. Night's movies, it varies. I liked the Sixth Sense twist, but was floored by the utter banality of "twist" in The Village. (Howard is a fabulous actress. She carried the movie for me.)
But the king has to be Basic. Cutting n' pasting from my page:
"Dear Jingle—
We rented Basic, starring John Travolta and Samuel Jackson, as Cissy is a softy for Travolta and there was a dearth of alternative new releases. Let’s play softball with this one. It is another military mess-up drama (strike 1!), as investigated by a take-no-prisoners MP and washed-up, pulled-out-of-retirement ex-Ranger Travolta (strike 2!), told via flashbacks (strike 3!), with multiple versions of the same events (strike 4!) imparted by various suspects with evidently contradicting interests in the matter (strike 5!). Early in the “interviews” with the suspects, one tells us “the truth is not what it seems” (strike 6!), then for the next ninety minutes the current state of the “truth”—as displayed by the filmmakers—is pulled out from under the viewer at least ten times (strike 7!), with each new “shocking” revelation becoming more tedious and ridiculous than the last (strike 8!). The “conclusion”—as it were—baits-and-switches the viewer right out of her underwear (strike 9! Side out on nine pitches. Inning over.) Cissy got increasingly vocal and exasperated during the film, and reached a level of infuriation and rage about 90 minutes in I have not witnessed since we watched Tomcats. When the final denouement (of several) began to play out, she silently got up off the couch and left for home, refusing to even answer the phone for like thirty minutes. She was unable to tolerate one more second of filmmaking trickery, treachery, and contrivance.
And myself? Think the word is “aghast.”
Rent it…if you dare.
Pip
Buy the book. You won't be (too) sorry. http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/11/11457.phtml |
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Terrahawk
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
644 Posts |
Posted - 02/12/2006 : 6:30:22 PM
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I never considered "The Village" to really be a twist ending movie. There is a twist, but I think the bigger theme of the movie is about.....
***** SPOILERS *****
How the leaders are really lying to everyone. Sure they have created a nice society, but at what cost? They have no access to modern medicine. And, control is exercised through fear.
The ROPe gives you three options, convert, submit, or die. There is a fourth, resist. |
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BradH812
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1294 Posts |
Posted - 02/12/2006 : 9:35:42 PM
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To Pip...
Hear hear on Basic. There's a line where the final twist goes from "I can't believe they pulled that one off" to "Who do those jerks think they are?!" This one crossed it again and again.
To Terrahawk....
Agreed. Maybe I'm gullible, but I was surprised by the twist ending of The Village. But the more I think about it, the more chilled I am at the thought of the town leaders rising and sealing their agreement, and it's stayed with me longer than the twist did. |
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Matrixprime
Diocesan Ecclesiarch of the Sacred Order of Jabootu
USA
69 Posts |
Posted - 02/14/2006 : 10:08:56 PM
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Some observations:
1) War of the Worlds - I didn't mind the disease aspect, even now. They may have been arrogant enough to think it wouldn't matter. Heck, at first they stay in their ships, so its possible they didn't test thoroughly enough. I just disliked how closely they adhered - Cruise's mopey emo brat showing up alive, clean, and well at moms, and its the one neighborhood untouched? Gak.
2) The Game - thank God someone mentioned this. My brothers loved it, but I felt the film fell apart at the last part. What if he picked a different part? What if he ran somewhere else? What if, what if, what if....argh. There's just a million ways that ending doesnt work. Nevermind you're left with the impression that he's a 'better person' now. Bullpuckey - I'd be in therapy the rest of my life after all of that. Shoulda ended with it all backfiring, and him thinking 'this is part of the Game too' a la Existenz.
3) Identity - I dunno, I kinda liked it. Some studies have shown that in multiple personalities, the main personality is the only one that doesn't know/communicate with the others. I thought the movie was a great abstract representation of what might go on in someones head. They leave enough vague in regards to the 'sciency' stuff where, if they'd been real specific, I might agree.
4) Here's an anime one - Hand Maid May. It's a fairly typical anime 'nebbish guy meets a bunch of women' thing, and their all androids. Still the story is fairly nice, has a decent end around the 9th episode - and then it goes completely gonzo with people from the future having secretly engineered EVERYTHING from episode one. Web reviews I've read seem to agree that the last few episodes should be ignored.
5) Big O - I love the series, but having seen both seasons, the very last, and presumably final episode, has several final twists that are really, I think, layered too thick. It's as if they tried to sum up a potential third season in fifteen minutes. (I know this is vague, but there's A LOT of stuff in Big O, so it would require too much to outline enough for issues to be specific, and this is enough if you have seen the series. A web search should easily satisfy anyone else)
6) Angel (TV show) - the entire fifth and last season is a big twist on the first four. I know its not entirely fair - Joss Whedon had it sketched to 7 seasons, so he wound up being very brief - but on the other hand, he specifically stated the last episode was made as brutal as it was so that fans would feel the frustration he and the rest of the cast/crew felt at having seasons 6 and 7 yanked. So, while I personally LIKED the last few twists and final episode, on the other hand I'm annoyed because it was only done that way to make me 'feel his pain'
7) Mortal Kombat - the end bit, where Shao Kahn invades anyway. Granted, that is essentially in the game continuity, but the movie was a twist end in that there was a LOT more that Shao Kahn did (as memory serves, it was tricking Liu Kang, the winner of MK1, to a tournament in Outland where he cheated, won, and invaded that way). The movie just goes 'ha ha ha, just kidding!'. In light of the abysmal sequel, they should've tacked on that final stage as an 'after the credits' epilogue.
8)Die Another Day - every single twist. Sorry, my cries of 'what the crap?!' were about every three minutes. And if someone who loves Monty Python, has 8 shelves of anime, and watches TV shows like X-Files and Lost can't suspend his disbelief, you have a problem.
9)Batman Returns - I love this one, but the very end, where they show Catwoman alive? He wasn't afraid to kill off the immortal and iconic Bat-villains of Joker and Penguin, but she lives? Ne'ermind how.
Bah Weep Granna Weep Ninny Bahn - Universal Greeting
Est Solarus Oth Mithas - Solamnic Knight Pledge
And now its me too:
http://matrixprime.blogspot.com |
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BradH812
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1294 Posts |
Posted - 02/15/2006 : 06:49:20 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Matrixprime
Some observations:
(snip snip snip)
9)Batman Returns - I love this one, but the very end, where they show Catwoman alive? He wasn't afraid to kill off the immortal and iconic Bat-villains of Joker and Penguin, but she lives? Ne'ermind how.
Bah Weep Granna Weep Ninny Bahn - Universal Greeting
Est Solarus Oth Mithas - Solamnic Knight Pledge
And now its me too:
http://matrixprime.blogspot.com
Actually, Matrix, I don't think that would count as a twist ending. Catwoman had disappeared after really giving Schreck a charge, and it was pretty obvious she had survived. The final shot in the movie was just confirmation. |
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Dirk
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
237 Posts |
Posted - 02/15/2006 : 2:11:19 PM
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Yeah, Catwoman had 9 lives. She's still alive because she "saved one for next Christmas" after using up her 8th life to kill Shreck.
The Village had a great twist... for a Scooby Doo episode. |
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