UKC

The Siege (Denzel Washington and Annette Bening terrorist thriller from 1998-ish)
Three Kings
A.I.
Alien: Resurrection

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Blade Runner. (The version with the unenthusiastic narration)

In reply to Blue Straggler:
anything by spielberg

In reply to kieran b:

Even Jaws and Jurassic Park?

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Romper Stomper

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Speaking of Spielberg, Schindler's List was much weakened by its sentimental epilogue.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Citizen Kane... Sled my arse.

In reply to Clauso:

Sled Marion Davis' front bottom

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

How about the end of Saving Private Ryan?
Although frankly much of the middle, and even quite a lot of the opening sequence, could be charged with ruining what had gone before

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Yes, it's almost as if Spielberg just can't help himself when it comes to sentiment. I thought the sentimentality of War Horse was unspeakably awful - quite shocking for a director of his calibre.

In reply to Blue Straggler:
ok, ill give you jaws
but JP is tosh anyway...start to finish

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Billy Elliot

In reply to Blue Straggler: Papillon - finishes about half way through the book.

In reply to Blue Straggler:


American Beauty. Sets up a really interesting tangle, then can't think how to get out of it, so resorts to standard-issue Hollywood violence. Completely out of keeping with the rest of the film. And not at all like Life, unless you're unlucky enough to live in Texas.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

The Hunger Games.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

I will end up watching War Horse, but I won't be shocked when I don't enjoy it!
I often say that just about the only film of his that I've been able to stomach since Jurassic Park, is The War of the Worlds (I've skipped a few such as Amistad, mind). Yet even in The War of the Worlds he tacks on a happy ending (iirc they reach his safety at his ex-wife's, and then his son who nobly went to battle magically turns up alive, gaaaah! Shame as he'd been a bold director in earlier scenes, showing Americans openly murdering each for their own survival in the bridge or ferry scene etc)

In reply to Blue Straggler:
The Lord of the Rings.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Dead Mans Shoes.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Pretty much any one-off, three or four episode drama screened at 9pm by ITV or the BBC. Sit through some quite good drama, realise they've got 15 minutes left to wrap it up, and you know for certain it's going to be a 'clever and enigmatic', ending.

In reply to Only a hill:

you really think so? A bit of relief after that endlessly gruelling journey that went on for about 8 hours??

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Titanic

You really felt that they were going to make it, then they just sunk the boat and that was that.

Would've been better if the boat nearly sunk but somehow stayed up.

In reply to Mooncat:

Nah, brilliant film all the way through.

I'd have to say out of recent-ish films, Red State disappointed me; it started off with so much promise then just petered out.

In reply to andy:

Just as well though!

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Ted

Absolutely shit ending imo

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Gladiator

In reply to Blue Straggler: Angel Heart

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Groundhog Day is surely the classic of this genre.

In reply to Tim Chappell:

I seem to remember reading an early draft of the script some while ago, which finished with the daughter and the boyfriend/neighbour in court charged with murder. Doesn't really make the violent ending more satisfactory, perhaps, but would add a further twist.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:
weakened? not by much, I had to walk home from north london to south coz I ws so shaken up by the film I needed the (5 mile) walk

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Shame

now its ending was good enough as you were left hanging wondering on his ability to turn his life arround

However a much stronger ending for me

would have been in the scene about 3 mins before where he is screwing the two prostitutes, there a bit where the camera just momentarily moves into his face while he is thrusting away and there is a very far away look on his face,

had the film ended there , right at where he was lost to his affliction would have been perfect for that film about the human condition

In reply to Mooncat:

yes agree strongly

In reply to Blue Straggler: Not really ruins, but I've always felt the discussion about populating the mines at the end of Dr Strangelove is relatively weak. I think it would have been so much better finishing before this scene and leaving a complete emptiness about the future of mankind hanging.

In reply to kieran b:

yeah. the book ends in a triumphant return to the shire that demonstrates not just the physical but personal journey the main characters have come through. there is also the idea that the shire is eternal which is juxtaposed beautifully with the idea that the outside world is changing with the passing of the time of the elves to the time of men.
tolkein also really manages to convey the sense that one who was a ring bearer can not continue to live in middle earth but has to go to the west with the elves.

the end of the film just makes it seem like they are all a bit tired after a long adventure so they are heading off on a cruise.

In reply to Liam M:

Umm. I remember that being v funny. But of course the film ends with the abstract nuclear mushroom cloud sequence and the ironic use of Very Lynn's 'We'll meet again some sunny day'. Kubrick originally had an extra scene in the Control Room, a protracted custard pie fight, that was scrapped at quite a late stage.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Taxi Driver.

In reply to Liam M:

It's a long time since I last saw it but I vaguely remember thinking the same.
They did it better in Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines, FFS (the bleak ending, that is...T3 is obviously not a classic film itself!)

In reply to nufkin:

I have the original shooting script (we used it as our "case study" on a 5-day directing workshop).

The film was actually shot as a "whodunnit" murder mystery flashback thing, starting with Ricky Fitts in prison, and then the audience is meant to enjoy the plot unfolding in flashback and play the "was it Ricky or was he framed" game.

They changed the layout of the story structure, and therefore the whole tone of film, during the editing process. Which is probably why it's a little unsatisfying.

How could I forget Strange Days?!

In reply to Blue Straggler: Pretty Woman

In reply to Removed User:

Wasn't that a case of "ruined by a weak and sappy rewrite of what had originally been a script about how it's actually NOT so great to be a 'happy Hollywood hooker'"? Film became the antithesis of what had initially been intended!

In reply to Blue Straggler:
Source Code. Should have stayed at the frozen kiss.