# Movies that right up until the last 10 minutes had you going..."Nooo.This isn't really happening." **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 4, 2015, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-right-up-until-the-last-10-minutes-had-you-going-nooo-this-isnt-really-happening/729902 "2015-09-04T14:06:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-right-up-until-the-last-10-minutes-had-you-going-nooo-this-isnt-really-happening/729902/1 "2015-09-04T14:06:50Z")
Meaning, movies that you kept waiting for the penny to drop…but pretty much either the title said it all or they played it straight and it’s your own skepticism that kept you from believing. SPOILERS for movies with odd endings or sad ones I suppose The Rapture Miracle Mile On the Beach (To the kid I was) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-right-up-until-the-last-10-minutes-had-you-going-nooo-this-isnt-really-happening/729902/2 "2015-09-04T14:29:40Z")
Does it work the other way? Where you are sure they’re making a better movie than the lazy ripoff it is looking like they are? Like, _Jacobs Ladder_. I watch half the movie and keep asking myself, hey, they’re not really just doing a straight up version of _Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge_, are they? Yes, yes they are. Or _Arlington Road_, where it started out potentially good, but became a cheap knockoff of _The Parallax View_, except one that was completely ludicrous. What a waste of potential. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-right-up-until-the-last-10-minutes-had-you-going-nooo-this-isnt-really-happening/729902/3 "2015-09-04T16:04:25Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Miracle Mile Owns the genre. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-right-up-until-the-last-10-minutes-had-you-going-nooo-this-isnt-really-happening/729902/4 "2015-09-04T16:07:00Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Does it work the other way? Where you are sure they’re making a better movie than the lazy ripoff it is looking like they are? [Wolf](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111742/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_14). Oh, c’mon, they were off to such a good start, they aren’t seriously going to turn this into another one of those stupid Superhero vs Evil Enemy With Similar But Better Powers, are they?? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-right-up-until-the-last-10-minutes-had-you-going-nooo-this-isnt-really-happening/729902/5 "2015-09-04T16:10:46Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Meaning, movies that you kept waiting for the penny to drop…but pretty much either the title said it all or they played it straight and it’s your own skepticism that kept you from believing. I’ve not seen any of the three movies you mention so can you elaborate on what you mean? ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-right-up-until-the-last-10-minutes-had-you-going-nooo-this-isnt-really-happening/729902/6 "2015-09-04T16:13:41Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Miracle Mile Winner, right here. Shyamalan’s _The Village_ also counted, for me. Not even a minute into it, and I leaned over to my wife and said, “I bet they’re in the present day.” She’s never forgiven me for that. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-right-up-until-the-last-10-minutes-had-you-going-nooo-this-isnt-really-happening/729902/7 "2015-09-04T16:26:10Z")
Since people are posting the opposite, I called The Game pretty much completely as I was putting the disk into the DVD player. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-right-up-until-the-last-10-minutes-had-you-going-nooo-this-isnt-really-happening/729902/8 "2015-09-04T16:31:29Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > I’ve not seen any of the three movies you mention so can you elaborate on what you mean? I’ll take this. The Rapture It involves a possibly delusional woman who decides that the rapture is coming. Is she crazy? At the end of the movie - surprise! It did! Honestly, I did NOT see that coming. I never thought they’d go there. And as it turns out, she didn’t even get to go! She’s in hell, now. Miracle Mile A person intercepts a phone call that says the nukes are on the way and we all have 30 minutes to live. Then the call is cut off. Was that real? A hoax? What? Turns out it was true. The final shots are of the missiles arriving. On The Beach The film takes place after WWIII. Nukes have been dropped. Billions dead all over the world. The only place still habitable is southern Australia. Is this the end of humanity? Or can some survive? Is there hope? The answer is sadly, no. Not only does everyone die, Gregory Peck didn’t even spend his last days with Ava Gardner. Aye, that’s the real tragedy. There is still time! For me, On the Beach is the most depressing of the three. I love it, but I can’t bear to watch it sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-right-up-until-the-last-10-minutes-had-you-going-nooo-this-isnt-really-happening/729902/9 "2015-09-04T16:42:58Z")
I am not sure if this is exactly what you are referring to, but I kept waiting for the twist or reveal in the Sam Rockwell film, _Moon_, but it never happened. It provided details slowly, but it was always WYSIWYG. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-right-up-until-the-last-10-minutes-had-you-going-nooo-this-isnt-really-happening/729902/10 "2015-09-04T17:07:54Z")
Knight And Day- I was convinced there was going to be a twist or reveal, the events are a fantasy right? Come on this is too outlandish, there is a island shaped like a smiley face! Nope no twist, the movie does not play up any ambiguity but I thought it would happen. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-right-up-until-the-last-10-minutes-had-you-going-nooo-this-isnt-really-happening/729902/11 "2015-09-04T17:15:11Z")
well, after it had been going long enough that I had an idea of what was going on, **the Cabin in the Woods**. I felt sure there was going to be some unseen twist, or some way of avoiding The Inevitable besides the obvious downer ending. They DID surprise me, though, in going for an even Downer ending. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-right-up-until-the-last-10-minutes-had-you-going-nooo-this-isnt-really-happening/729902/12 "2015-09-04T17:57:27Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > Winner, right here. > > Shyamalan’s _The Village_ also counted, for me. Not even a minute into it, and I leaned over to my wife and said, “I bet they’re in the present day.” > > She’s never forgiven me for that. I remember seeing the trailer and telling my friends, “Well, they are obviously not in the present. There is no way the twist could be that obvious. It sounds like a Twilight Zone episode.” I was stunned that the painfully obvious twist _was_ the twist. Even when the twist occured, I half-expected it to be a hallucination or something. I still can’t believe it. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-right-up-until-the-last-10-minutes-had-you-going-nooo-this-isnt-really-happening/729902/13 "2015-09-04T18:07:48Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I remember seeing the trailer and telling my friends, “Well, they are obviously not in the present. There is no way the twist could be that obvious. It sounds like a Twilight Zone episode.” > > I was stunned that the painfully obvious twist _was_ the twist. Even when the twist occured, I half-expected it to be a hallucination or something. I still can’t believe it. This unfortunately became the norm for Shyamalan movies. I guessed the twist at the very beginning of **The Happening** and said: “No, he’s not going to do _THAT_, is her?” He did. ---
**Author:** ![Musky\_Moon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90db22/32.png) [@Musky\_Moon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musky_Moon)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-right-up-until-the-last-10-minutes-had-you-going-nooo-this-isnt-really-happening/729902/14 "2015-09-04T18:39:11Z")
_Seeking a Friend For the End of the World_… I was convinced that the titular “end of the world” would be averted, somehow. I was pleasantly surprised to see the world actually end. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-right-up-until-the-last-10-minutes-had-you-going-nooo-this-isnt-really-happening/729902/15 "2015-09-04T19:48:44Z")
_Take Shelter_ Guy has visions of impending doom. As his mother was nuts, he things he may be too. Starts building shelter for his family. In the end there is no disaster where he lives. (Movie is interesting character study on the nature of sanity). Goes on holidays with family to beach - Bam! apocalyptic super-storm on the horizon. Movie ends ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-right-up-until-the-last-10-minutes-had-you-going-nooo-this-isnt-really-happening/729902/16 "2015-09-04T20:03:04Z")
Does Cool World count? It was an okay movie, right up to the end, then it fell flat on its face. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-right-up-until-the-last-10-minutes-had-you-going-nooo-this-isnt-really-happening/729902/17 "2015-09-04T22:54:22Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > Since people are posting the opposite, I called The Game pretty much completely as I was putting the disk into the DVD player. I refuse to see that again, as the ending was so bad. I remember being disappointed by that movie, and it’s about 18 years ago. I think it got made on the basis of getting movie stars to agree to it, not the script. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2015, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-right-up-until-the-last-10-minutes-had-you-going-nooo-this-isnt-really-happening/729902/18 "2015-09-13T17:46:37Z")
Well, this is about a song, but I think it’s on point. Frank Turner is a singer/songwriter from England and a lot of his songs are informed by living on the cold, wet island that is Great Britain. And he’s just released a song called “The Next Storm” which ostensibly is about a string of really bad weather and how he doesn’t want to “Spend the rest of his life indoors, Waiting for the next storm.” Now normally when you get a song like this, you get a clever last lyric where you realize that the singer isn’t just singing about the weather; he’s singing about the human condition or the state of his love life. In other words, the “next storm” is a metaphor. But no, in the case of this song, he’s singing about exactly what’s in the tin: how crappy the weather is in England. Note: it’s not a bad song – I was just expecting something more meaty. Or metaphorier. Or meataphory. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-right-up-until-the-last-10-minutes-had-you-going-nooo-this-isnt-really-happening/729902/19 "2015-09-15T10:07:10Z")
“Dead End” [https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CEEQtwIwA2oVChMIstDAzeX4xwIVBgmSCh1sTgo0&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DWOKRauvfkUU&usg=AFQjCNGUwcpCtGl0g6MqV7NgPpwnKcrDTw&sig2=MglY50oQ4OVS5JbfeFLUQA&bvm=bv.102537793,d.aWw](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CEEQtwIwA2oVChMIstDAzeX4xwIVBgmSCh1sTgo0&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DWOKRauvfkUU&usg=AFQjCNGUwcpCtGl0g6MqV7NgPpwnKcrDTw&sig2=MglY50oQ4OVS5JbfeFLUQA&bvm=bv.102537793,d.aWw) one of the eeriest, coolest strangest movies I’ve seen in a long time. Last few minutes sucked dogs. Actually, the twist may have been better, but, the characters in the last few looked like such dork/dorkesses, and the script and their delivery was so lame, that they took it down about 11 notches. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-right-up-until-the-last-10-minutes-had-you-going-nooo-this-isnt-really-happening/729902/20 "2015-09-15T10:39:57Z")
_Donnie Darko_. I kept watching and thinking “Man, this is really complex. The reveal that explains it all is going to be awesome…okay, getting more weird…this is going to be a helluva twist…okay, we’re running out of movie here…okay, what the hell? They didn’t explain _anything_!” What worse is that on the DVD there is an actual explanation of the whole weird timeloop thing and it’s basically a stupid idea badly explained. Movie **fail**. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-right-up-until-the-last-10-minutes-had-you-going-nooo-this-isnt-really-happening/729902.md?page=2)