Since that is on my “to read before I die” list, can you explain it to me?
Well at least they got to have a hot forigin lady say “Fuck” right before the end.
Book Version: Bowman arrives at one of Saturn’s moons and discovers a giant version of the same monolith that was found on the Moon. When he goes in a EVA pod to investigate it, it turns out to be a Stargate. He falls through a spacetime wormhole and eventually arrives near a red giant/white dwarf binary in a globular cluster near the center of the galaxy; a star system billions of years older than Earth/Sol and perhaps the original home of the mysterious species that created the monoliths. Drawn into the red giant’s upper atmosphere, Bowman glimpses what appear to be organized energy-structures traversing the link between the two stars- evidence of cosmic engineering on a scale unfathomable to humans. Suddenly Bowman finds himself and the pod inside what looks like a conventional hotel room, evidently a “familiar environment” created for his benefit. Finally falling asleep in the room, Bowman is “downloaded”: the creators of the monoliths have long ago become non-corporeal energy beings; and now as the next stage of their plan to create and uplift Terran intelligence, they convert Bowman into a prototype of what humanity will become: the Star Child. The Bowman entity then returns to Earth to… and the book broke off there.
I don’t think this movie fits in this thread - because I don’t think it HAS an ending 
(My thoughts on the movie are exactly the same as yours)
I saw the thing on first release, so my memory may be going, but… weren’t we lead to believe that they all might be dead to begin with?
Sir Rhosis
I didn’t understand, (or even like) Donnie Darko the first time around. In fact if it wasn’t for the constant praise that boards like the Dope gave it, I probably wouldn’t have ever watched it again. I’m glad I did though, and it’s now one of my favourites
Odyssey, damnit, not “Oddysey”. And the past tense of the verb “to lead” is spelled “led”.
I’ve never really gotten the ending to Death Race 2000. Is Mr. President Frankenstein really going to end the Death Race, but retain the personal privilege of running over people? What’s the message here?
Well, technically, Charlton Heston’s in both of them.
While watching pretty much anything by David Lynch, I start shouting the same thing. Only I start at the opening credits to avoid the crunch at the end.
Okay, then go with how John DiFool identified it. Besides, IIRC, Heston is rather heavily made up as an ape in the other one.
Doesn’t matter. The only thing that really matters is, “hand grenade.”
Same here for that one. It just gets more confusing if you read the wikipedia entry, because it talks about tons of stuff that’s not apparent in the movie.
Well played.
Truly Stallone’s finest performance. 
The ending of Black Dahlia had me screaming, “What the fuck was that about?” in my best Lewis Black voice.
Except that the book doesn’t end there… The Bowman Star Child then sets off the nukes orbiting the Earth because he “preferred” a clearer sky. The question then remained- did he destroy the Earth or just the orbiting nukes?
The ending was not used in the movie, which was made as the book was being written, as it seemed too DR STRANGELOVE. Of course, with the writing of 2010, we found it was just the nukes & not the Earth that was destroyed.
I agree with Primer. I got the beginning well enough which was almost painfully slow, but then they rushed through the end of the movie and none of it really made a lot of sense.
Details on building a fake time machine- check
Understanding paradoxes? - not so much
I decided that it wasn’t supposed to make sense and moved on, but it kinda ticked me off.
Actually, while I agree that it was a ‘weak’ ending, it was one that made sense to me.
Guy gets in over-his-head in a conspiracy, and is told to walk away.
And he does so.
While I felt I had wasted a lot of time watching for something to happen, the ending just seemed perfectly reasonable to me.
The Ninth Gate. I’m still waiting for something to happen. I think my copy was defective because the damn thing just ended.
What’s not to understand? Kind of a fucked up ending for the kid, but it’s not really mysterious or anything.
If you want a good idea of how far the movie deviated from the book, consider that the novel was called The Club Dumas, because much of the plot revolved around a fan club of Three Musketeers author Alexandre Dumas, and how studying his manuscripts led to the rediscovery of the ritual that was supposed to summon the Devil. The movie based on this book does not, so far as I remember, even mention Dumas in passing. I was a good three quarters of the way through the book before I realized that it was the source material for The Ninth Gate.
Needless to say, book = awesome and movie = teh suck.
I wanted to third this sentiment. I even rented it again and made someone else watch it with me. Then I realized I just rented it again for the lesbian sex.
I would like to add Lost Highway to this. Same deal - rented it four times. Have never been able to make the entire movie mesh.
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?
Ma’s dead! Let’s burn the house down with her in it.