My Top Ten: Favorite Movie Endings

Its that time of the month where I give my Top Ten on ANYTHING!

A movie's ending can give that lasting impression on the audience before they get off and walk out. It can end just simply or give the audience something more, whether it is to feel or think. This month, I'll bring you down my top ten on my most favorite movie endings yet.

You are now heading towards spoiler territory, so turn back if you're thinking of watching these movies.


Lets get on it shall we?

10.
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK

This film is the prime example of a globe-trotting adventure movie with a regular joe, exploring into the realms of the supernatural and mystical dimensions. The ending shot shows the holy powerful Ark of the Covernant, packed into a wooden crate and stored among the millions of identical wooden crates in a giant dark warehouse. That wide zoom-out shot creates the mystery, implies from both the government and the lost and mythical world. What secrets are they hiding inside these crates? What new artifacts will Indy Jones uncover? Many questions that boogle the mind, which makes us look forward to Indy's new adventure. Of course, the Ark was later found by accident in the fourth movie, so much for the large ominous mystery.

9.
THE GODFATHER PART III



I know people had A LOT of gripes against this installment of one of the greatest movie series in history and I understand that. It had bad acting, a bit lousy direction and an average story that doesn't match the previous two movies. Though it is a solid finale to the entire Godfather trilogy as this ending illustrates exactly what this series is about. The first shows Michael Corleone turning into what he swore not to be and the second shows him even more dangerous to everyone, including his own family. The third depicts that he is truly cursed and everyone including the most innocent becomes victim because of his power. The death of his beloved daughter is, while a tad predictable, still powerful and emotional, with the song score "Cavalleria Rusticana: Intermezzo", giving more of an impact. Perhaps the true tragedy is in the final shot, where Michael, much older, was sitting outside his villa and collapsed to the ground, dead and alone.

8.
CASABLANCA

Casablanca can sum up to just one word, beautiful. And if you haven't seen this movie, I recommend you should. Everything about this movie is beautiful: the characters, the acting, the cinematography, the music, the sequences. There is a reason why this movie is truly memorable and so is the ending. Humphrey Bogart is a cool cat when it comes to helping his only love, the beautiful Ingrid Bergman, and her husband out of the country. The final exchange of words were romantic at best, warming even the coldest of hearts. The line "Here's Looking At You, Kid", magical. And the closing was just perfect as he and his new pal are walking side-by-side into the fog with that memorable line "Louis

7.
WALL-E

Disney animated movies, in particular, always go for the happy endings. They are expected when it comes to adapting fairy-tales and it can be predictable and uninspired. For Pixar, while they also do happy endings mostly, their endings are also unique and ballsy. They don't shove a happy ending just for the sake of making the audience happy. It fits the story right in and adds more dimensions to it. For Pixar's most ballsy and ambitious film, its endings turned for the scarier and heart-breaking, yet at the last minute it becomes happy again. Everybody loves Wall-E and they all connected with him during the entire length of the film. So when Wall-E is at near-death and afterward lost his memory for his love for EVE, the audience does feel that nerve-wrecking emotion. You can't tell if its gonna be a nice or a bad ending. But then Wall-E got his memory back and they lived happily ever after. And I'm glad it turned out to be a happy ending, its a love story anyway. Though what made the ending extra special is the credit montage, brilliantly depicting the reinvention of the humanity's civilization through most of the art movements from Cave Paintings to French Impressionism.

6.
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY

The ending of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly was VERY VERY tensed! The conclusion was a tad expected, but the sequences and the mis-en-scene were so epic and masterfully done. How great is the setup of a three-way stand-off in the middle of the graveyard? The buildup of the epic score brings up such a nerve-wrecking and intense experience with the characters slowly and patiently get into positions and begin to fight. That slow and subtle direction made the whole scene so epic and powerful. And it is Clint Eastwood at his most badass!

5.
REQUIEM FOR A DREAM

Talk about a real downer of an ending. Whether you already know or not that the four main characters are doomed from the start, this montage of their deciding fate will indeed pull your heart strings and leave your body very hallow. Like what the title says, you can feel all the ambitions, hope and dreams stripped away from the characters and left at the bottom of the pit, all because they succumbed to drugs or addictions. The film's main score was played at the beginning and comes in as well at the end, serving as a depressing full circle on these characters. The most heartbreaking out of all is Sara Goldfarb's, Harry's mom, seen as a warm and gentle old lady who wants nothing more than the love from her son, resorting to the obsession of a TV show to achieve that goal. This leads her in shock therapy at the hospital, shaping her as a soulless zombie and only, as presented in the last shot, replaying her happy dream in her mind. Its a downer alright....

4.
OLDBOY

..... If you have seen this film, you know how f*cked up it is. The introduction and concept is interestingly sickening, but the conclusion is the REAL kicker. The ending is really divided in two part, where the first deals with the EXTREMELY shocking revelation and the second serves as an epilogue or aftermath of the ordeal. The first part gives not one, not two, but THREE mind-f*ck blows to your head. Upon confronting the mastermind who caged him in the beginning, the protagonist, Oh Dae-su found that his love interest is actually his long-lost daughter; f*ckin sliced his tongue off and as he was about to kill his captor, he activates the audio recordings of him and his daughter having sex. That scene in its entirity was completely f*cked up. Which brings on to the epilogue, where Oh Dae-su meets up with his love interest once again, unaware that he is her father. She confessed her love to him and proceeds to hug him, for him to only smile and then frown. It leaves a nerving open ending as it questions whether he would continue his romantic forbidden relationship with her and keep this horrible secret from her. It is a chilling and unsettling ending, which is the right way to send off such a f*cked up movie.

3.
CITY LIGHTS

This is the one true classic ending from arguably his best work, demonstrating the genius of Charlie Chaplin. The film's notion is that love is indeed blind as a tramp's love for a blind flower girl leads him on a mission to restore the girl's eyesight while she thinks that the man who is kindly helping her is of huge wealth. The ending shows the hero, The Tramp happened to have a chance encounter with the flower girl, now with restored eyesight. With one subtle, but important action, the girl now fully realized that the man who helped her is not a wealthy man, but a poor tramp. The music is still beautiful to this day and the acting/performance is of theatrical profession, clearly conveying every important emotions and motives. It does leave a great open conclusion with the girl's new realization, it creates the question: what does she think of him now? will she stay or won't she? The last shot of Chaplin's Tramp, clutching his flower to his grin brings an ironic sense of hope for the character.

2.
THE DARK KNIGHT

You should know by now HOW MUCH I love this movie. It is by far the best cinematic experience I have ever had and with very good reasons too. The film wasn't junk food like most summer films were, but a 5-star dining meal. And the ending was a nice little desert to finish off. People will argue which ending is better: Batman Begins or this? Begins had some greatness to it. but Dark Knight went far beyond being epic and emotional. Most superhero movies ended in a high note, but even for a quintessential superhero like Batman, ended on a downer, made him now a criminal in the public's eyes and still made him even more of a heroic and a badass. Everything about it builds up to epicness from the montage to the dialogues to the timing and pacing to the BEAUTIFUL music score. And Gordon's speech is just so memorable and summaries everything what Batman really is - a f*ckin dark knight!

1.
FEARLESS (1993)

If a movie shows me something that is so artistically beautiful and human, its an automatic love from me. And this ending from Peter Weir's Fearless is probably the most human of them all. Protagonist Max has lost a part of his humanity after surviving a terrible plane crash and have been doing many dangerous things in order to feel what was missing from him. The ending illustrate an ironic beauty and human in something that is horrific and life-altering, as Max begins to lose his life and recounts the time of the plane crash before regaining his life back and his entire humanity. The sequence of the passengers' reaction to such danger is so powerful and emotional, it'll give you a free pass to be teary-eyed. The music score "Symphony of Sorrowful Songs - Henry Gorecki" gave the entire ending that powerhouse effect, including Jeff Bridges' astounding performance. It is both a sad and joyous ending to watch, while questioning the factors of humanity.

So thats my Top 10. What's your opinion?