No, it wasn’t. It was quite unexpected in The Ring, though.
Tin Soldiers, for reasons similar to those cited for Executive Decision. Don’t make me use a spoiler box.
Being John Malkovich and Adaptation were the first movies that came to mind when I saw this thread. They were great films that didn’t follow the same ole formulas.
Robert Altman’s The Player was definitely unique b/c
the asshole Hollywood bigshot commits murder, benefits from it, and gets away with it. No comeuppance whatsoever!
Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man is just about the strangest Western I’ve ever seen, especially when you consider that
[spoiler]the entire movie is a metaphor for the afterlife.[spoiler]
I love all of Robert Altman’s cast-of-hundreds ensemble movies just because they always give the impresson of jumping in and observing a day in the life of the characters. Sometimes they just end…nothing gets resolved because nothing in life ever gets resolved. We all just go on.
Nashville is my favorite Altman movie
[spoiler]One of the many characters is set up to give the audience the creeps–he seems to be stalking a female character. A third character is set up so as to appear to be the movie’s Mary Tyler Moore or Bob Newhart-type moral center–an ordinary guy bemused by all these wacky folks he’s meeting. At the end, the female character is shot, and the shooting is completely unexpected. We don’t see if she lives or not.
The shooter was not the stalker guy–the shooter was the character we viewers thought was our eyepiece. The “stalker” guy…just looks heartbroken.[/spoiler]
Se7en, for the simple fact that
After what was done to Mills - and his newly pregnant wife and her head - there was no way in hell that any living,breathing, in-love man would not have shot John Doe. I was glad to see it happen onscreen, instead of the protagonist being talked down. And the bad guy won.
You beat me to it, MrMyth!
Se7en was the first movie I thought of when I saw the thread. If it ended “the other” way, it would have been a total let down of a movie.
Thank God “the powers that be” let Fincher keep the perfect non-Hollywood ending to such a great movie!
It just goes to show there are still some creative people left in Hollywood!
**The Big Lebowski **
A major, yet minor, character, Donny (Steve Bucemi) dies. The scattering of his ashes scene was comically brilliant
**Payback **
For it’s hero-antihero of Mel Gibson’s Porter. It’s possibly my favorite Gibson flick, next to Lethal Weapon. And the cinemaphotography of it was gritty too. Me like.
Snatch
For the ending of the gypsy ( hi kal!) winning the fight
**Best in Show **
For just the hysterically funny way that this crew makes superb fun of the Dog Show set. I can see why it isn’t more popular because it is so true.
Also, it was a movie that was generally panned, but I liked it.
**Proof of Life ** ( it’s more of a guy film than a chick flick)
Russell Crowe’s character does not get the girl at the end. I was delighted to see a realistic ending.
John Sayles’ Limbo is a good example…
because of the non-Hollywood ending, which probably hurt the film’s popularity. They’re standing there on the shore, knowing that there is a 50/50 chance that they’re either going to be rescued or they’re going to be murdered. I thought it was a very realistic way to end the film.
Arlington Road’s against-the-formula ending was a nice surprise. Mark Pellington should be shunned for his inept treatment of a decent script and a great cast, though. Ugh.
Shirley Ujest, the part in The Big Lebowski that you mentioned actually conforms to some very strict rules:Steve Buscemi’s character dies in every Cohen Bros. movie – and his mortal remains get progressively smaller in every film.(The one movie that breaks this rule is The Hudsucker Proxy.)