There’s nothing I hate more than one of those pretentious arthouse films that ends on a note that is anything other than perfectly satisfying to me. If there’s anything left ambiguous, any holes that I can perceived that aren’t stitched up with absolute precision, these are what I like to call “flaws” in a film. Take No Country for Old Men. Great flick. That Javier Bardem guy is a badass. But the ending pissed me off because I had no idea what the hell Tommy Lee Jones was talking about and then it just did that typical cut to black. Just like The Sopranos, and don’t get me started on that. I’m just looking for a little tonal consistency.
Blockbuster movies do this as well, any time they try to leave room for a sequel. That annoys me until the sequel comes out, and then I get excited again.
The one thing I hate more than anything else, though, is when they end with everything wrapped up in a neat little package. Real life is messy and forcing a conclusion through some sort of deus ex machina brand ending is the height of lazy writing. The only things I hate more than lazy writing are remakes and sequels.
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