reading the Buffy v X Files thread makes me remember seeing “I am Legend” in theaters, I had already been warned about the hollywood disaster they made of the ending (the whole entire POINT of the title) so when it got to the scene where the good doctor is upside down in his suv I got up and walked out.
not a bad movie at all.
so at what point should someone watching your favorite movie/tv show/reading a book, turn it off, get up and leave, or put it down and walk away?
from the X-Files v Buffy thread I would say season 4, maaaaaaybe season 5 of X-files is where you should just stop watching…although every single comedy episode is worth the watch.
If you walk away from Veronica Mars at the end of season 1, it is one of the best single season TV dramas of the last decade. If you watch season 2 it drops to just a pretty good show, if you stick with it until the end…well don’t. Don’t.
Leave after David Letterman’s appearance, approx 10 minutes in. Best of all, most theaters have a loose policy of “If you don’t like it within the first 20 minutes you get a refund” so this one is a freebie.
Oh wait, it’s on YouTube of course. God bless you, internets.
There is a scene in Full Metal Jacket in the latrine involving the drill instructor and one of his ‘problem’ soldiers. After that scene (I don’t want to spoil it; you’ll know it when you see it), you can leave.
It’s not even re-run on TV any more, but after Joel says goodbye to Maggie, steps through some kind of rent in the universe in Alaska and ends up on the Staten Island Ferry (closeup, with inspiring music) - that’s all she wrote. The last season with the new couple they brought in to stretch it out is pretty stupid.
The only time IRL I was advised to end a movie early was after some friends of mine in college went to see Unbreakable. They reported back that it was good until the very end, and said that if I wanted to see it I should just get up and leave when it seemed like it was ending.
I didn’t see the movie until a couple of years later on video, and watched all the way to the end. My friends were right. I know some people disliked the twist in Unbreakable, but I was fine with that. The real problem is that at the end of the last real scene in the movie (which works fine as an ending, albeit a rather dark one) there’s a text crawl describing what happened next. And it’s not what happened to the characters years later or anything, it’s mostly what happened almost immediately after the last scene. If this stuff had actually been filmed then that might have been fine, but it comes across like M. Night Shyamalan ran out of money and slapped some text on the end.
For television, if you ever feel like watching Xena: Warrior Princess, you might as well stop at the end of season four. I might even say season three, if that season didn’t end with a cliffhanger. The penultimate episode of season four* is a downer, but the actual series finale two seasons later is ALSO a downer and you have to endure a lot of bad episodes to get that far. So I’d say you might as well stop at the end of season four.
*The actual last episode of the season is a humorous one that occurs outside the main timeline of the show.
Very closely related, the last season of the space opera ‘Andromeda’. There is the powerful space ship orbitting some crappy planet, and its powerful crew stranded on the same crappy planet. Working in a BAR! And talk-talk-talking…apparently the last season was a last minute renewal but they ran out of money for any special space effects. However, a Penthouse centerfold in a pink velour jumpsuit was added to the show, and she was quite good at kicking ass when necessary.
I’m surprised no one’s mentioned it yet, but I think the epitome of this is Twin Peaks. The show is more or less over after the killer is revealed*. Even David Lynch admitted the show went downhill after that. But, from the beginning up until that point (midway through season 2) you have one of the best shows on TV compacted into a very short series that I offer up to anyone who wants to blast through something amazing in a month or so.
*I see this is spoiled on the episode descriptions on IMDB.
If you ever find yourself watching The Notebook, grab your things and go when he comes back and they hug in the rain. Everything after that is just a real sad way to spoil a pretty good love story.
Before the ring is destroyed? I agree that most of what comes after that was bladder bursting for me in the theater but I would advise anyone to at least last long enough to see the ring destroyed.
I agree with Auntie Pam re: Gone With the Wind. I’ve ALWAYS thought that Rhett’s dramatic exit line should be the absolute end of the movie. When Scarlett finishes up by saying, “Tomorrow will be another day!” I wanna puke.
If you enjoy torturing yourself with “Roseanne,” quit watching BEFORE they win the lottery. It become ridiculous afterwards.
~VOW