Films with Twists I Did Not Guess Long Before they Happened
Submitted by lbangs on Thu, 05/23/2002 - 09:01
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- The Crying Game (When I first saw this one, it had just opened into limited release and had very little buzz about it; I heard it had a twist, but when the character I thought was going to be the main character disappeared after the first twenty minutes, I thought that was it; boy o boy, was I wrong; a great twist that enriches the film beyond the "Well, didn't see that coming" level)
- Mulholland Drive (Really, how could I?)
- Laura (Had no idea there was going to be a twist! One of the greatest twists ever...)
- Seven (I'm a little ashamed of this one, but really I had little chance - some yahoo in the theater screamed the ending out before I had a chance to guess at it!)
- Psycho (But then I was around six when I saw this for the first time)
How 'bout Fight Club, The Others, Wild Things, Sleuth, The Sting, or Planet of the Apes?
Oh, and while I've got you, would you be willing to share your definition of "independent film" over here?
Let's see...
Fight Club - I still haven't seen all of this one yet. (Don't faint. Hopefully, I'll remedy this before too long. I admit the parts I have seen haven't reved me up too much...)
The Others - I did figure some of this one out early on, but I only put all the pieces together after the midway mark.
Wild Things - I figured some of it, but considering how incredibly implausible some of the twists are, I don't feel too bad about not getting all the plot points down beforehand.
Sleuth - Yep; I'll have to add this to my list of films I guessed long before the ending. Still, tons of fun.
The Sting - (Dodging flying fruit) I haven't seen this one yet either...
Planet of the Apes - I was really too young to remember, but given my age, I seriously doubt I guessed this one correctly.
Alright, I'll try to head over and address the independent question now. (We moved this past weekend, so I'm a little behind on Net responses.) Then maybe I need to rent Fight Club and The Sting! :)
Hey, I blush to say, but I only finally saw Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid a few weeks ago. There are several late 60s / early 70s I intentionally avoided seeing until I could put my hands on better prints. The Sting is one of them; so was Butch, but that DVD is terrific! I'm glad I waited on that one. It was worth it.
I also waited on Cabaret until it arrived on DVD; given the horrid condition of most tape and television prints and the outstanding print on the DVD, I'm also very glad I held off on that one.
Can anybody tell me if the The Sting DVD looks and sounds good?
Needless to say, I know the Fight Club DVD is supposed to be sterling. The parts I saw were on pay TV, and the lack of widescreen was the main reason I held off on watching the rest of it.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Sadly The Sting DVD is a full-frame presentation. Tragic.
I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on Fight Club when you get around to seeing it in it's entirety.
I find it strangely comforting that you only recently saw Butch Cassidy.... So you haven't seen *everything* (yet :-).
I thought there was a reason I held off on renting The Sting a few months back...that would be it.
Surely a special edition cannot be too terribly far in the future...
As for Butch, I was *really* glad I held off on it for the DVD. I have seen several excerpts from it on television, and it looked horrible. The DVD is beautiful.
Not only have I not seen every film out there ( :) ), I also have several films I need to re-watch. I got into films around the age of 12 or so, and as I can't always trust my pre-teen impressions, there are several I need to visit again, particularly foreign films.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
According to Amazon there's a Butch Cassidy special edition DVD coming out June 4th in anamorphic widescreen. It that different than the one you saw?
Strange. It looks exactly the same, and the version I saw certainly had a beautiful anamorphic print and seemingly the exact same extras. However, Amazon states that this new disc is THX-certified, and I cannot recall if the older one I saw was or not. It was released in 2000, and you can still find copies of it posted for sale at DVDPlanet.com, among other sites.
I'll be honest - I really cannot imagine the THX version being too much better than the older disc, which is nigh near perfect. Are they really reissuing this just to add a THX certification?
Hmmmmm....
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Do you get great pleasure from guessing film endings? Me, I don't even try because I like to be surprised.
I hate it and actively try not to guess endings, except perhaps in the case of mysteries, where the guessing is part of the fun of the genre.
Heck, I love surprises so much, I don't even watch the "Coming Next Week" previews of my favorite television shows!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Ah, so this talent is a blessing and not a curse. Just remember, lbangs - with great power comes great responsibility.
And yeah, I hate those TV previews. I always skip 'em. I think if you need to encourage us to tune in next week by trying to make next week's show seem interesting, you're not confident that this week's show was good enough to keep us intrigued.
Great power? Look out, world!
24 is one of the worst offenders of tell-too-much previews. I always step outside the house when my sister and brother-in-law watch those.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Yeah, and they show the previews during regular FOX commercial breaks, too, so since I wait for the DVDs, I could be hearing spoilers for things that happen in the middle of the season! There I am, innocently watching the Simpsons, and on pops a 24 preview I have to try to ignore.
Though I tuned in for the first two episodes of Real World: Philadelphia (before deciding it wasn't worth it), and the previews at the end of the premiere actually showed the most dramatic moments that happened for the rest of the season! Imagine having every interesting moment of a season spoiled in a preview after the first episode.
Yuck!
You will most likely love the last season of 24; it runs the second season a close race for the best one yet.
I hope I didn't give away too much there... ;)
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I can't wait till it comes out on DVD!
Sometimes I can't help it; my brain goes there automatically. Like when I saw the previews for the Village, I made three theories, one of which turned out to be spot-on.
I think the ultimate movie for this is Pulp Fiction. There were three things in that movie that I think NO ONE saw coming - Mia's sudden overdose on heroin, the entire sequence where Butch goes back to him apartment and ends up in the pawn shop, and Marvin getting shot in the face. I think the second one was the most unexpected of all, and the third one the least (I had a weird suspicion based on the way he was holding the gun, but movies never do that kind of thing), and in each case the film goes off on a 20+ minute tangent. Classic.
Those are excellent examples, but they don't qualify for this list. I'm thinking more of twists that completely change the plot and direciton of the entire film, not just incidents where the unexpected happens that affect part, but not all, of the film.
Maybe. I'm lightheaded today, so...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Oh, like THAT...well I guess Matchstick Men would be one for me. Call me stupid, I didn't see it coming! Vanilla Sky too (I think you put the original as "most predictable"), I couldn't figure out HOW they could tie any of that together.
I haven't seen Matchstick Men yet, but I've been told to watch it so many times, I figure that won't be true for long.
I don't think the original is terribly predictable. *I* just figured it out quickly, but that doesn't always mean much.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs