# Endings that aren't really endings **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 24, 2003, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413 "2003-08-24T23:57:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/41 "2003-12-11T04:02:20Z")
_The Matrix: Revolutions_. Feels like they’re setting up for a sequel, even though it was supposed to be the last one. ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/42 "2003-12-11T04:52:24Z")
How 'bout a literal “ending that wasn’t really an ending”? I was watching Billy Wilder’s _Mrs. Miniver_ for the first time ever. After the garden party Mrs. Minver and her…daughter? daughter-in-law-to-be?..were driving home during an air raid. They made mention that they’d be home in only a couple of minutes and then the screen went white. I sat on my living room couch in total awe, wondering how they got away with making a movie like **that** in the 40s. A couple of months later I watched it again, with its real ending. Heckuva technical glitch. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/43 "2003-12-11T05:30:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Achernar \* > \*\* > In all of those cases, it’s not just about getting more money out of you in a sequel; they actually have more story to tell. However, I can see where you’re coming from with _Starship Troopers_; they solved the proximate conflict but not the ultimate conflict, without having an idea of where to go next. Some more examples I can think of are _Contact_, _Lost in Space_, and _The Arrival_. I understand a lot of horror films end with the bad guy getting away, too. \*\* I didn’t like The Arrival very much, but if you mean the one I think -with Charlie Sheen- there’s an Arrival 2 (The Second Arrival). It came out 2 years later. ---
**Author:** ![Bakhesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/44 "2003-12-11T13:33:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gadfly \* > \*\*Where exactly is Londo? \*\* I thought it was a werewolf/babylon 5/porno spin off. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/45 "2003-12-11T15:42:41Z")
Someone please spoil me (with boxes, natch) on the ending of **Limbo**? ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/46 "2003-12-11T18:12:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gallows fodder \* > \*\*Someone please spoil me (with boxes, natch) on the ending of **Limbo**? \*\* I thought about doing this, but really the whole point of the movie is encapsulated in it and I’d rather not ruin the experience. If you can explain why you will never ever see the movie, I’ll think about it. I’d much rather you rent the movie, then come back and ask about it if you’re confused. Sorry. It’s that good. ---
**Author:** ![Dizzy\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dizzy\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dizzy_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/47 "2003-12-11T18:39:50Z")
**Twelve Monkeys.** I didn’t think Terry Gilliam could top the ending of _Brazil_, but. . . ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/48 "2003-12-11T19:19:20Z")
> [@](#): > > _Achernar says:_ World War II is still going on at the end of The Sound of Music and Casablanca and Raiders of the Lost Ark. [nitpick]WWII hasn’t started yet by the end of _Sound_ or _Raiders_.[/nitpick] > [@](#): > > _chique says:_ I was watching Billy Wilder’s Mrs. Miniver for the first time ever [nitpick]William **Wyler** , not Billy Wilder.[/nitpick] Another vote for _Limbo_ having a gutsy, challenging, and perfectly appropriate ending. I saw it with Sayles in the audience, and Those Who Didn’t Get It booed at the end. He pretty much put them in their place in the Q&A afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/49 "2003-12-11T19:54:45Z")
Did you all forget the classic no-ending movie: The Birds? The first time I saw this (I was about ten), my reaction was “Huh?” ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/50 "2003-12-11T21:44:14Z")
I’m not a big John Carpenter fan, but I too loved the ending of **The Thing**. I mean, ultimately we know they’re dead, but we’re left with such a sensation of fear, mistrust, and paranoia by that ending shot; I’ve not seen any other movie that left me with the same mix of emotions afterward. Good stuff! Daniel ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/51 "2003-12-11T22:08:05Z")
> [@](#): > > There’s no such thing as an ending in life -Leaving kindergarten -Leaving 1st grade -Leaving 2nd grade, etc. -Graduating High School -Getting fired from a job -Graduating college -Getting a divorce -Getting killed -Being rescued from an avalanche There are lots of endings in life. I betcha, if you wanna get really specific, you can think of dozens of endings every day. Finishing lunch, wiping your ass after a really nice shit, orgasm… Movies aren’t about life. They’re about _episodes_ of life. Episodes - be it something as insignificant as defecation or as big as getting in a car wreck - have beginnings and ends. So do movies. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/52 "2003-12-11T22:31:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by elfkin477 \* > I didn’t like The Arrival very much, but if you mean the one I think -with Charlie Sheen- there’s an Arrival 2 (The Second Arrival). It came out 2 years later. I know. I saw it. It was really bad. It was done by a different production company. It was pretty clear that when they made _The Arrival_, they did not have _this_ sequel in mind. ---
**Author:** ![rostfrei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7bcc69/32.png) [@rostfrei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rostfrei)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413/53 "2003-12-12T03:29:51Z")
While we’re on the subject, can anyone explain the ending of “The Ice Storm” that was out 5 or 6 years ago. As I recall, Ang Lee directed it and I generally adore his movies. But this ending made no sense at all. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/endings-that-arent-really-endings/197413.md?page=2)