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Post by SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman on Dec 29, 2010 12:17:01 GMT -5
Or as I prefer to call them, a lazy ending. I'm really tired of "ambiguous" or "open" endings. That's supposed to be deep or something, and I keep being told that "you don't understand! You're supposed to draw your own conclusions! Legitimate endings are for idiots. Are YOU an idiot?" but I call bullshit. Every director and their cousin use them nowadays, and it's obviously for one reason and one reason only: they don't want to bother with writing an actual ending. Oh no sir, you see, giving your movie a legitimate ending implies taking risks, it implies that you actually have to take a decision, and that you might do something wrong and piss off the fans. But with an "open" ending, everyone can make up their own ending! Everybody's happy! Writing is easy!
Well NO. Writing is NOT easy and if I'm going to give them my hard-earned money for a story, I want to be given a goddamn story. I don't want to need to make it up myself. I can do that any time I want for free. Shit, I much prefer a bad ending than no ending at all, at least it shows that they TRIED, that they GAVE A DAMN, that they really had a vision. I may not like that vision, but at least it makes me respect it, because I don't get the feeling that they just said "ah, f*** it, the viewers will make something up and if they don't and point out that I just ran out of ideas, I can always say that they're too down-to-earth to understand the audacity of my concept".
Christ, I hate this cheap-ass writing device, and I hate the fact that so many people suck it up. It's not clever, it's not deep, it certainly not original, it just shows a complete lack of creativity incompatible with writing any kind of fiction. It's like if a girl made you pull out as you're about to climax.
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Post by Clash, Never a Meter Maid on Dec 29, 2010 12:23:58 GMT -5
For what it's worth, it looked like the top stopped spinning.
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Post by Joe Galt on Dec 29, 2010 12:25:05 GMT -5
I agree that it is way over done. Most movies should have a definite ending that answers all of the questions.
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Post by Bang Bang Bart on Dec 29, 2010 12:45:33 GMT -5
I'm even more tired of cliffhanger endings, especially ones that eventually are left un-continued.
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Post by Glitch on Dec 29, 2010 13:25:51 GMT -5
Give us some examples. And are you saying your completely against all open endings?
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Post by The Tank on Dec 29, 2010 13:26:52 GMT -5
The only time for an open ending/cliffhanger is when a sequel is guaranteed.
Otherwise, it can be pretty annoying.
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Post by SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman on Dec 29, 2010 14:48:27 GMT -5
Give us some examples. And are you saying your completely against all open endings? The best example of why it's annoying is probably The Ninth Gate. They spend the entire movie building this gate like it holds some kind of incredible truth that might change mankind forever, the entire movie revolves around figuring out what is behind that gate, they finally find it, the hero is about to cross it and... nothing! Nothing at all! Fade to black! The End! Bulls***, you can't just build up something for the entire duration of your movie, make it the main characters' entire motivation, for which they ready to die and kill, and then not show it! It's like if Star Wars episode IV ended just before the assault on the Death Star, and there was no sequel. I guess open endings CAN work, if the rest of the movie makes things ambiguous enough or, as Tank said, if a sequel is guaranteed, but most of the time, they're used for no reason other than the director essentially saying "heh, I got nothing". See, that's my problem with it right there. Most movies that use it otherwise have a plot that leaves absolutely NO ROOM for an open ending, with the characters' motivations clearly established. If you gave the hero an explicit goal, then either they win, or they lose, but you can't just go "whatever" and let the viewer write the ending for you. EDIT: dammit, it's "gate", not "door".
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Post by bob on Dec 29, 2010 14:50:21 GMT -5
I really really hate it when a film ends that way, it's cop out and is lazy, and an overused cliche
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Post by Red Impact on Dec 29, 2010 14:54:31 GMT -5
An open ending in, say, The Two Towers is acceptable, because you know there will be a third.
An open ending in a movie like Inception just sucks, because you spend all this time getting sucked deep into this story, then they decide in the last second to try to twist it. I agree, it's an overdone ending that has become so expected in so many movies that it's downright refreshing to see a movie without it.
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Post by rapidfire187 on Dec 29, 2010 15:05:24 GMT -5
I hate it, absolutely hate it. It ruined The Wrestler for me, it apparently ruined the finale of The Sopranos for a lot of people also. It's just a crappy way to end a movie or series.
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Post by SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman on Dec 29, 2010 15:10:32 GMT -5
An open ending in, say, The Two Towers is acceptable, because you know there will be a third. An open ending in a movie like Inception just sucks, because you spend all this time getting sucked deep into this story, then they decide in the last second to try to twist it. I agree, it's an overdone ending that has become so expected in so many movies that it's downright refreshing to see a movie without it. Well, at least in Inception, it wasn't TOO bad (it was bad, but not too much so) because the characters are in doubt from start to finish but yeah, at this point, pretty much every time I go see a movie, I repeat a mantra before it starts: "please let it not finish in an open ending... please let it not finish in an open ending... please let it not finish in an open ending..."
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Post by Cela on Dec 29, 2010 15:14:05 GMT -5
Plus its a crappy way to
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2010 15:18:58 GMT -5
Candlejack works in Hollywood. That's why movie are const-
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Post by Next Level was WRONG on Dec 29, 2010 15:30:22 GMT -5
...Every director and their cousin use them nowadays... I bet you cant name twenty from the past decade.
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Post by riseofsetian1981 on Dec 29, 2010 15:35:57 GMT -5
I don't mind an open ending if the film or a novel calls for it as it leaves so much to the imagination.
Spoilers.
Only time I really, really dislike an open ending is when a show like 24 during it's Season 8 finale uses it. I'm all for leaving it open for the film and to continue Jack's journey. However it would've been interesting if they extended it and showed Jack running to a boat or a ship to leave the country.
Just something in order to see where he's going and how he's going to survive or something. 24 has been more than just a show for me, so when it entered into it's finale I was pretty upset about it ending.
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Post by The Line on Dec 29, 2010 16:00:51 GMT -5
It's all about execution for me. As stated in this thread, sometimes, when the ending comes around, it looks as though the director didn't have the last page of the script or something, and yeah, those suck.
However, there are plenty of cinematic situations where an open ending is much more powerful and affective than clearly spelling everything out. For instance, if you're attempting to convey an overall sense of bleakness throughout your film, ending the film in a more ambiguous way can portray that bleakness sublimely.
It depends on a lot of factors if an open ending works. The genre, the plot, the quality, etc all determine if one is appropriate for the situation.
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Post by A Platypus Rave on Dec 29, 2010 16:03:33 GMT -5
I didn't mind it's use in Inception, {Spoiler}Mainly since the point I got out of it was, whether or not it stopped spinning is irrelevant as Leonardo DiCaprio no longer cared one way or the other. But I really hated it's use in the Wrestler, {Spoiler}it just seemed like he didn't want to end the movie with Randy dying in the ring, so he left it "open". As for television a long running series like the Sopranos ending like it did reeks of a cop out, and just seems like flipping off the dedicated audience to me.
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Post by The Line on Dec 29, 2010 16:10:39 GMT -5
See, I like its use in the Wrestler, because, depending on of which opinion you belong to , it essentially created two films out of one. Allow me to explain further. {Spoiler}If you are of the opinion that Randy lived, then it's essentially like most "underdog overcomes the odds" film, albeit with better acting.
If, however, you are of the opinion that he died, then the movie is essentially the documentation of a man's march towards death.
Two completely different attitudes conveyed with the exact same film, all dependent on the ending. It is what puts the preceding in context.
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Post by Cela on Dec 29, 2010 17:04:48 GMT -5
See, I like its use in the Wrestler, because, depending on of which opinion you belong to , it essentially created two films out of one. Allow me to explain further. {Spoiler}If you are of the opinion that Randy lived, then it's essentially like most "underdog overcomes the odds" film, albeit with better acting.
If, however, you are of the opinion that he died, then the movie is essentially the documentation of a man's march towards death.
Two completely different attitudes conveyed with the exact same film, all dependent on the ending. It is what puts the preceding in context. {Spoiler}He died, there is no debate. Sure it didn't show him convulsing, but all signs led to him passing on. You don't always have to show the gun going off in someones mouth and out the back of their head, sometimes you can just fade to black and hear a bang.
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Post by OGBoardPoster2005 on Dec 29, 2010 17:14:19 GMT -5
{Spoiler}The story of the Wrestler is told from his perspective. You can make a case by going to black, you now see what sees, nothing because his life is over.
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