Category: Movies

All Time Best Movie Endings

TimesOnLine.com has posted their list of the All Time Best Movie Endings. Although my favorite movie ending wasn’t on the list, [“Ain’t gonna be no rematch!” “Don’t want one… Adrian!”], I’ll play along. Here are my top ten favorite movie endings using just those on their list:

  1. The Sixth Sense: everything that has happened throughout the movie is seen in a different light and makes complete sense. There hasn’t been a movie ending since that has stirred as much buzz.

  2. Se7en: You don’t even have to see what’s in the box to know…

  3. Planet of the Apes: I was 9 or 10 seeing it on the big screen and was stunned! Coolest ending I’d ever seen up to that point.

  4. The Usual Suspects: Much like The Sixth Sense everything that has happened throughout the movie is seen in a different light and makes complete sense.

  5. Carrie: I saw this at a midnight showing during it’s initial release. So it’s about 2am, I think the movie is over and get the shock of my life. I almost went over the back of my seat I jumped so high — probably gave the person behind me the shock of his life!

  6. Momento: This is one of my son, Mike’s favorite movies. That alone would get it on the list since he has such good taste in film. I dig it too.

  7. Casablanca: The perfect ending to a perfect movie.

  8. The Wizard of Oz: Remember how cool it was being a little kid and suddenly realizing that all of the people around Dorothy’s bed were the Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion. the Tin Man and the Wizard?

  9. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: Another favorite movie that had a classic ending.

  10. Doctor Strangelove: The ending is almost as classic as the scene with Slim Pickens riding the A-Bomb down!
Thanks to Bill Crider for the link!

“Hell Ride” Poster [2008]

The red band teaser trailer for Hell Ride is now online. It looks exactly like the kind of movie that we’d see as the second or third feature showing at a drive-in back in the 70’s. It’s a revenge biker flick starring Michael Madsen, Vinnie Jones, David Carradine, Dennis Hopper, that guy who used to be on “24” and presented by Quentin Tarantino. Yeah, I’m in.  And not just because Hell Ride has a cool poster.

Day of the Dead [2008]

The Pitch: “Day of the Dead” updated with fast moving zombies and no George Romero.

The Good: The idea of a town being quarantined by the military. The chaos when the zombies begin attacking. Ving Rhames. Mena Suvari is a cutie. Several zombies jumping in unison out second [third?] story windows to get a people on the ground.

The Bad: Not enough Ving Rhames. Zombies climbing sheer walls and across ceilings. Zombies exploding when set on fire. Characters repeatedly making stupid decisions: [“Let’s sneak back into the city full of zombies that we escaped from so we can hold up in a room full of windows.” “Let‘s keep a zombie alive because he follows orders.”] Smart zombieszombies firing guns — a zombie not attacking people because he is a vegetarian!

The Ugly: The alternate ending. Boy, if they’d have used it the movie would have been even worse.

The Summary: “Day of the Dead” is a remake of my least favorite Romero zombie movie. If you’re a real fan of zombie movies then you probably won’t mind some of this movie’s badness [and I don’t mean badness in a good way]. If you’re just a passing fan of the genre then you ought to pass on it.

Eastern Promises

The Pitch: “The Godfather” with a Russian twist.

The Good: Viggo Mortensen owns every second he is own the screen. Armin Mueller-Stahl quietly demands to be watched and heard in every scene — which is exactly what is needed as the kind restaurant owner, family man and head of a Russian mob. The killings in the public bath — brutal, but believable. The twist near the end — I totally did not see it coming and loved it.

The Bad: The movie is slow to get started and then moves at a steady pace. The violence is there, but not as bad as you may have heard.

The Ugly: “Okay. Now I’m going to do his teeth and cut off his fingers. You might want to leave room.”

The Summary: “Eastern Promises” is a brutal look at the Russian mafia. Viggo Mortensen gives an Oscar-worthy performance as the “driver.” The violence may put some off, but it grounds the movie’s reality. I have a feeling that this one is going to grow on me as time passes.

Top Westerns

The Western Writers of America recently posted their list of the 100 Top Westerns. You just know I had to use their top 100 to come up with my top 20:
  1. The Searchers
  2. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
  3. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
  4. The Wild Bunch
  5. The Outlaw Josey Wales
  6. Tombstone
  7. Open Range
  8. The Cowboys
  9. True Grit
  10. Shane
  11. The Magnificent Seven
  12. Dances with Wolves
  13. Stagecoach (1939)
  14. Unforgiven
  15. The Ox-Bow Incident
  16. High Noon
  17. The Shootist
  18. Red River
  19. Silverado
  20. The Long Riders
After The Searchers a lot of the order is subject to change depending on my mood. Also some of the movies that made their top 100 didn’t fit my definition of a “western.” Sure, “Blazing Saddles” is a great COMEDY set in the west, but is it really a western? “The Last of the Mohicans” is a great adventure/romance, but where are the cowboys? In other words, I left off what some might consider to be classics because to me, a western is cowboys and Indians.

– A tip of the hat and a hearty “Hi Ho Silver!” to Bill Crider for the link!

 

Goon Optioned

I’ve been an Eric Powell fan for years. His Goon is one of my favorite comics currently published. [I’d have said that even if Eric didn’t draw one of my all-time favorite Stallone pieces!]

Eric recently announced on his website that David [Se7en] Fincher has teamed with Blur Studio and optioned the rights to the Goon for a CG animated feature. Dark Horse Entertainment, the publisher of the Goon will also be involved.

This is great news for Eric and Goon fans everywhere.