6 ms·

> That movie was pretty good, but it would’ve been great if it had been thirty minutes shorter. For me the canonical example of a movie that didn't know when t

> That movie was pretty good, but it would’ve been great if it had been thirty minutes shorter. For me the canonical example of a movie that didn't know when to quit was A.I. Artificial Intelligence. There were at least four points in the movie when I firmly thought to myself, this would be a good point to end the movie. And then the movie just ... kept on going. On and on and on. I understand that Spielberg took it upon himself to remain faithful to the original Kubrick/Watson treatment, but you can just hear him screaming in the background "can't we just end here?" as well.

Apocryphon 4y ago
Missed opportunity for DVDs to popularize optional endings and alternate cuts
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
ekianjo 4y ago
Same for the 100 endings of LOTR that were completely unnecessary. You cant fake being faithful to the books if you dont even include the scouring of the Shire. Worst endings ever.
- delecti 4y ago
  I can't agree. Even viewed as a single film (Tolkien viewed LotR more as one big book, and the movies reflect that), in the 3:20 movie (3:10 before the "The End" screen) there's only 20 minutes between Frodo getting grabbed by the Eagle and that "The End" screen. I think the movie needed all of that 20 minutes of catharsis. I absolutely think the 9-10 hour trilogy as a whole needed that 20 minutes. The math looks even better with the extended editions, where that 20 minute ending is only about 22 minutes, where the single movie is an hour longer, and the trilogy is ~3 longer.
  - ekianjo 4y ago
    > I think the movie needed all of that 20 minutes of catharsis. I absolutely think the 9-10 hour trilogy as a whole needed that 20 minutes. You could have 20 minutes, but not 5 endings wrapped together with no introduction at all that make absolutely no sense the way they are rushed at the end. And again, missing the Scouring of the Shire, which is a big no-no.
- ghaff 4y ago
  Lord of the Rings was great in general. However, the actual ending was in an appendix and the scouring of the shire was an unnecessary epilogue in the actual book. It was a great fantasy series but it was also a bit of a mess at the end. Faithful to the books should never be a primary goal of film.
  - ekianjo 4y ago
    > the scouring of the shire was an unnecessary epilogue in the actual book. You are missing the point. The scouring of the Shire is extremely important, story-wise. It shows that no matter how good and successful you were at your quest, you cannot prevent every bad occurrence in the world, and that you have to live with that fact.
emmelaich 4y ago
For me it's The Simpsons. I made the mistake of looking at a few episodes lately. It had the barest of wit, no whimsy, little inventiveness. Made me sad. And every time I think of the latest watery Avatar -- AARGH. It was ... nothing but some nice scenes and some shoot em up.
- tombert 4y ago
  I stopped watching The Simpsons around season 15, and I feel like I held on a lot longer than I should have. The jokes became a lot less clever, usually devolving into "LOL RANDOM HAHA HOMER DUMB!", which to be fair seemed to be popular with most cartoons of the mid 2000's. I thought maybe I just outgrew it, but recently I watched a lot of the earlier seasons, and no, they still hold up.
pram 4y ago
It at least should have ended when he jumped in the water and saw the statue of the fairy. Everything past that retroactively made the movie crap lol
tombert 4y ago
You know, I used to agree; I watched the movie again recently though and I've come around on the future-robots stuff at the end. The movie should definitely have been edited down, but I think the point of the movie is that David was determined to become a "real boy" the entire movie, and fundamentally the way that that could happen is that he does the most human thing of all: die. He's given one perfect day with his mother, and ends knowing that he truly is a "real boy".

Apocryphon 4y ago

Missed opportunity for DVDs to popularize optional endings and alternate cuts

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

ekianjo 4y ago

Same for the 100 endings of LOTR that were completely unnecessary. You cant fake being faithful to the books if you dont even include the scouring of the Shire. Worst endings ever.

delecti 4y ago
I can't agree. Even viewed as a single film (Tolkien viewed LotR more as one big book, and the movies reflect that), in the 3:20 movie (3:10 before the "The End" screen) there's only 20 minutes between Frodo getting grabbed by the Eagle and that "The End" screen. I think the movie needed all of that 20 minutes of catharsis. I absolutely think the 9-10 hour trilogy as a whole needed that 20 minutes. The math looks even better with the extended editions, where that 20 minute ending is only about 22 minutes, where the single movie is an hour longer, and the trilogy is ~3 longer.
- ekianjo 4y ago
  > I think the movie needed all of that 20 minutes of catharsis. I absolutely think the 9-10 hour trilogy as a whole needed that 20 minutes. You could have 20 minutes, but not 5 endings wrapped together with no introduction at all that make absolutely no sense the way they are rushed at the end. And again, missing the Scouring of the Shire, which is a big no-no.
ghaff 4y ago
Lord of the Rings was great in general. However, the actual ending was in an appendix and the scouring of the shire was an unnecessary epilogue in the actual book. It was a great fantasy series but it was also a bit of a mess at the end. Faithful to the books should never be a primary goal of film.
- ekianjo 4y ago
  > the scouring of the shire was an unnecessary epilogue in the actual book. You are missing the point. The scouring of the Shire is extremely important, story-wise. It shows that no matter how good and successful you were at your quest, you cannot prevent every bad occurrence in the world, and that you have to live with that fact.

emmelaich 4y ago

For me it's The Simpsons. I made the mistake of looking at a few episodes lately. It had the barest of wit, no whimsy, little inventiveness. Made me sad. And every time I think of the latest watery Avatar -- AARGH. It was ... nothing but some nice scenes and some shoot em up.

tombert 4y ago
I stopped watching The Simpsons around season 15, and I feel like I held on a lot longer than I should have. The jokes became a lot less clever, usually devolving into "LOL RANDOM HAHA HOMER DUMB!", which to be fair seemed to be popular with most cartoons of the mid 2000's. I thought maybe I just outgrew it, but recently I watched a lot of the earlier seasons, and no, they still hold up.

pram 4y ago

It at least should have ended when he jumped in the water and saw the statue of the fairy. Everything past that retroactively made the movie crap lol

tombert 4y ago

You know, I used to agree; I watched the movie again recently though and I've come around on the future-robots stuff at the end. The movie should definitely have been edited down, but I think the point of the movie is that David was determined to become a "real boy" the entire movie, and fundamentally the way that that could happen is that he does the most human thing of all: die. He's given one perfect day with his mother, and ends knowing that he truly is a "real boy".