I don’t remember anything happy about the ending of Pay It Forward
Although some might say it is a happy day when that kid from Sixth Sense gets stabbed
Little Ceaser
White Heat
Dillinger
The Public Enemy
they all go without saying- as does Bonny and Clyde.
What about The Other? Or A star is Born?
You know, Stanley Kubrick films weren’t known for happy endings - The Killing, Paths of Glory, Spartacus, Lolita, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, *Full Metal Jacket * and Eyes Wide Shut were all bummers - ranging from ole Sparty up on the cross, to the brutal execution of the French Prisoners in Paths and the “Mickey Mouse” ending of FMJ - there isn’t a lot of hugging and reflecting on lessons learned going on there.
I did a “search this thread” and nothing turned up. . .
Mystic River.
A woman set in motion events that killed her husband. A man wrongly killed his long time friend. It set up a showdown between other long time friends. Lady MacBeth comes out on top.
Well, first off, it was a different movie, and secondly, I thought it was Solondz dissing the actress, not working out the character. Kind of like what the Spinal Tap sequel did to Ian Faith (Tony Hendra) because the actors couldn’t stand the guy.
I thought about that one, but there is a spark of hope there: Kevin Bacon finds redemption by reuniting with his wife.
Not to mention the real ending of AI.
It’s not a very good movie, but The Chronicles of Riddick fits the bill.
What is the real ending? We watched “AI” again just last night (it really is an interesting, thought-provoking movie - raises all kinds of moral responsibility questions), and the ending seemed too Disneyfied for my taste (although I hate to think what Ang Lee could have done with it :eek: 
).
The general consensus seems to be that the movie was meant by Kubrick to end when The boy gets trapped “forever” near the Blue Fairy,and that everything after that was tacked on by Spielberg for a feel-better (can’t really say feel-good) ending. I came to this conclusion, too, before I heard that anyone else did: a bunch of people seem to have thought of this independently.
No mention of Jude? It finishes with young children committing suicide. Can’t get any bleaker.
Broadcast News? Had a non-conventional ending – a love triangle where no one got anyone. The girl didn’t end up with the jerk she had a crush on, but neither did she end up with the mensch everyone expected her to end up with. Everyone ended up lonely and alone.
I think the movie would have ended just fine at that point. The ending we saw last night really did have a “tacked on” feel to it (sort of a slash fiction-y kind of ending). It was still poignant, but it didn’t feel right.
How about the Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover?
They do manage to eliminate Albert, but basically everyone has already had their life ruined by him throughout the course of the film.
As far as the ending of NGE goes, it depends on your point of view.
[spoiler]All of humanity has their barriers foricibly removed (including physical flesh) to become one mass consciousness (made of Orange Tang, apparently). This can either be interpreted as an evolution into a higher level of being, or the ultimate hell.
Shinji’s case is a bit more ambiguous. The parallel scenes in the TV ending seems to suggest that he regained his sense of self-worth and escaped the Tang, but the “congratulations” seems a bit artificial and that final scene on the beach could either be his fantasy or the human race going back to a single couple.
Asuka’s last line–“Kimochi ga warui”–is translated as “I feel sick” in the subtitles, but the spirit of that line is more like “what a bummer”, so that doesn’t help the “New Hope for Humanity” take much.[/spoiler]
That’s what I said (see Post #153).
I recall reading that Kubrick’s original plan for last act of AI did include the advanced mechas bringing back David’s “mother.” The only change between that and what Spielberg did is in Kubrick’s version, David’s “mother” actually had an indifferent attitude toward him so her “resurrection” was based on David’s falsely happy memories of her.
Well, that’s very nice and all, but since the real “real” ending was the one the filmaker shot, unless we have both a time machine and a mind reading helmet your hypothesis doesn’t even rise to a theory.
Gahh! How could I forget Carrie? Either version. In the first, Sissy Spacek dies and everyone else gets permanent nightmares. In the second, the actor (I forget her name) goes into the world as a broken child, unstoppable and much more likely to be malevolent than otherwise.
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang.
I believe it was the 3 cent stamp. Or the tree cent stamp, if you will.