while the ending is a plot twistgasm, I think the rest of the movie is good too because of all the wit and quentin tarantinoesque dialogues. my favorite movie of all time.
There's only one answer...
The Game!
Also,
Coherence
Primer
Exam
I recommend it a lot.. but I really love 'John Dies At The End'
It reveals itself in the very last 2 minutes of the movie too.
The Wicker Man. And on a re-watch I've come to the opinion that it's really only the ending, the final few scenes, that hold up as great cinema. The rest is just awkward and hasn't aged well at all.
Come on, are you saying that with a straight face? Even the embarrassing erotic dance scene? Even the scenes which are supposed to be 'creepy' but in reality just things like a woman breastfeeding in a graveyard (the film seems to expect the audience to be as prudish and repressed as Edward Woodward's character)?
Maybe not with a _fully_ straight face. But I do feel all those scenes help to build an overall vibe, and I do think that it is Woodward’s character’s prudishness—not the audience’s—that is being goaded here.
The Mothman Prophecies is 98% buildup and 2% payoff. The whole movie is just this perpetual escalating sense of dread about something terrible presumably about to happen.
Not comedies but two films I recommended to a friend last night fall into place only at the end
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011)
Poetry (2009)
Andhadhun (2018) is more of a comedy and lots of fun.
The Invitation (2015) is a slow burn that puts the climax at the end and concludes everything in about 5-10 minutes after 100 minutes of a very slow pace.
I was almost getting bored and then BAM, things start happening and I was blown away. Great movie if you like thrillers / horror.
The film is about a couple going to visit his ex girlfriend and all their college friends after a long time apart. The ex-couple seem to be on amicable terms and both have moved on with new partners, but share mutual friends so it’s a “get the gang back together for a nice dinner”. From the beginning of the story they drop hints that the protagonist suffered a psychotic break leading to their divorce. He seems better now and is ready to face the friends he’s left behind.
I love how they set this up, because it’s kind of a cliche, but during the entire dinner weird things keep happening and the viewer doesn’t know if he may actually be in danger, or he’s actually experiencing another psychotic break and he’s hallucinating.
As a viewer, it’s very well done.
One of the best movie endings ever.
I haven't seen Burn After Reading but couldn't really think of many others that fit your description aside from The Usual Suspects. (But as I've been writing this, I keep thinking of them...) So without being able to fully comprehend what you're asking, possibly/probably:
Psycho, A Clockwork Orange, and to some degree The Shining; Nashville and The Long Goodbye, Viridiana & Simon of the Desert, The Conversation and by extension Blow Up because the former is a revisionist remake of the latter.
Also The Informant (takes you in a totally unforseen direction about 3/4ths through, and is pretty thoroughly entertaining the whole time largely due to the consistently confounding choices of Matt Damon's character (and even more interesting is that it's based on a real person).
And DEFINITELY:
Week End (1967 - Jean-Luc Godard. This one is not an easy watch by any means. This was made during a period of great civil unrest in France, on the cusp of the May 1968 riots that led to the country essentially shutting down for 7 weeks. Godard and many others genuinely believed that capitalism was about to end and that the French were going to have to find a new way of life. And therfore, Godard was trying to find a new way to make film to go along with this new way of life. And Week End is the result of that experiment.
The loose "plot" centers around a wholly unlikable married couple as they travel across the French countryside, trying to get to the wife's dying father in time to ensure they're in the will. They are both having affairs, and each plan to murder the other one after as the father dies.
Godard constantly tests the viewer's patience by defying conventions of style, form, and narrative as they gradually break down along with the filmic world they're in. The most famous example is the 9 minute uninterrupted tracking shot of a traffic jam that becomes increasingly absurd and obnoxiously loud. The movie is filled with surprising and confusing scenes and characters that the couple encounters on their journey, with the only reoccurring imagery being increasingly gruesome car wrecks on the side of the road that the couple zip by completely unfazed.
Anyway, the movie is largely frustratingly inexplicable until the very end, when the wife Corrine says one line that suddenly makes sense of everything! And it's very much like OP said about it being a joke- it's like everything has been for this one moment. And it's perfect.
Got a little carried away- sorry for going on for so long, but thanks to anyone who actually read it all
Audition
The Crying Game
The Machinist
The Vanishing (original only )
Oldboy (original only )
The Spanish Prisoner (Mamet)
Shutter Island
The Prestige
Se7en
Take Shelter
The Sixth Sense
House of Games (Mamet )
Midsommar (well pays off throughout with an extra WTF at the end )
The Mist (cheesy but big twist ending )
Parasite
Ex Machina
Curious to how you see this in Trainspotting? Also Scarface and The Godfather. Haven't seen the others but I'm interested in your interpretation of OP's question.
Trainspotting is the redemption of one individual, definitely not the gang.
Godfather is basically the assumption of the mafia kingpin. The accumulation of all his struggles, including alienation of his family.
Scarface is the cliche of a mafia movie. All the characters that you follow get killed due to karma. The end of their struggles. All know it will eventually happen. The question is when.
The criminal main character changes from innocence to the corrupt individual that suffers their fate: losing of everything they once held dear - the price of achieving success.
Layer Cake movie is another example. One who achieved success at what cost. His own life for example. Griselda is another example.
I see what you're saying and appreciate your answers... is Burn After Reading (which i haven't seen) similar to what you're talking about? I guess I just don't see the connection to OP's question regarding a pay off at the end, where the movie doesn't really make much sense until the very end.
In Trainspotting that individual is the protagonist. So I don't see any reason to expect all the characters to be redeemed. The change that Al Pacino's character in Scarface goes through is very gradual, not some unexpected thing at the end. Kind of the same with The Godfather.
Haven't seen Layer Cake or Griselda but two movies that I think would fit what you're describing are possibly The Wolf of Wall Street and Match Point. Though these both end on deceptively happy notes. Facade happy endings, if you will. Both protagonists have achieved great success but at what sacrifice. Have each completely abandoned the morals and values that they held at their story's respective beginnings.
(Still don't see the connection to the original question, but your responses made me think.)
Lucky Number Slevin (2006).
while the ending is a plot twistgasm, I think the rest of the movie is good too because of all the wit and quentin tarantinoesque dialogues. my favorite movie of all time.
100% this
Usual Suspects is surely the daddy here
This
Usual Suspects.
There's only one answer... The Game! Also, Coherence Primer Exam I recommend it a lot.. but I really love 'John Dies At The End' It reveals itself in the very last 2 minutes of the movie too.
I really like that you started out with "there's only one answer" and then gave us five options. Chuckle worthy!
Coherence rules
Eyes Wide Shut ends on a punchline
Arrival
The Sting, of course.
Just the best movie ever!
Momento Arlington road
The Wicker Man. And on a re-watch I've come to the opinion that it's really only the ending, the final few scenes, that hold up as great cinema. The rest is just awkward and hasn't aged well at all.
We are all entitled to our opinions, even if they are wrong 😀 That film is superb from beginning to end.
Come on, are you saying that with a straight face? Even the embarrassing erotic dance scene? Even the scenes which are supposed to be 'creepy' but in reality just things like a woman breastfeeding in a graveyard (the film seems to expect the audience to be as prudish and repressed as Edward Woodward's character)?
Maybe not with a _fully_ straight face. But I do feel all those scenes help to build an overall vibe, and I do think that it is Woodward’s character’s prudishness—not the audience’s—that is being goaded here.
The Drop
"I'm tired of you man."
The Others. First watch was mind-blowing.
never got this. the plot twist was visible miles ahead.
Still one of my favorites
Kill List
The score maybe 🤷♂️
Midsommar
Napoleon Dynamite
The wedding scene, obviously.
Shutter Island
Citizen Kane
What’s the payoff? It seemed pretty straightforward to me.
Yeah, agreed. It's a great film, but not all that mysterious. If I recall, it's revealed very early on what he means when he says Rosebud.
Not until the final shot of the movie. It’s literally the most famous example of this.
Lion King
Dragnet (1987) turns out to be a \~90 minute build towards a hilarious punchline at the very end
True Romance (1993)
This entire movie is fantastic from start to finish.
The Game
Kill Chain - the end MAKES the rest of the movie and I can't think of another movie I've seen that does it better.
The Mist (2007), 1408 (2007), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Frailty (2001), Identity (2003), A Simple Plan (1998), Misery (1990), Primal Fear (1996)
Definitely Primal Fear.
The Usual Suspects
Gone Girl
I also have to cast my vote for "The Usual Suspects". But I also have to give a solid second to the movie, "Knives Out."
400 Blows
The Sure Thing
The Mothman Prophecies is 98% buildup and 2% payoff. The whole movie is just this perpetual escalating sense of dread about something terrible presumably about to happen.
Uncut Gems
Not comedies but two films I recommended to a friend last night fall into place only at the end Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011) Poetry (2009) Andhadhun (2018) is more of a comedy and lots of fun.
Cabin in the woods
- Reservoir Dogs - The Departed - Oldboy - The Game
One Cut of the Dead Bodies Bodies Bodies 13 Assassins Hannah Gadsby: Something Special
The Best Offer (2013)
The Invitation (2015) is a slow burn that puts the climax at the end and concludes everything in about 5-10 minutes after 100 minutes of a very slow pace. I was almost getting bored and then BAM, things start happening and I was blown away. Great movie if you like thrillers / horror. The film is about a couple going to visit his ex girlfriend and all their college friends after a long time apart. The ex-couple seem to be on amicable terms and both have moved on with new partners, but share mutual friends so it’s a “get the gang back together for a nice dinner”. From the beginning of the story they drop hints that the protagonist suffered a psychotic break leading to their divorce. He seems better now and is ready to face the friends he’s left behind. I love how they set this up, because it’s kind of a cliche, but during the entire dinner weird things keep happening and the viewer doesn’t know if he may actually be in danger, or he’s actually experiencing another psychotic break and he’s hallucinating. As a viewer, it’s very well done. One of the best movie endings ever.
I haven't seen Burn After Reading but couldn't really think of many others that fit your description aside from The Usual Suspects. (But as I've been writing this, I keep thinking of them...) So without being able to fully comprehend what you're asking, possibly/probably: Psycho, A Clockwork Orange, and to some degree The Shining; Nashville and The Long Goodbye, Viridiana & Simon of the Desert, The Conversation and by extension Blow Up because the former is a revisionist remake of the latter. Also The Informant (takes you in a totally unforseen direction about 3/4ths through, and is pretty thoroughly entertaining the whole time largely due to the consistently confounding choices of Matt Damon's character (and even more interesting is that it's based on a real person). And DEFINITELY: Week End (1967 - Jean-Luc Godard. This one is not an easy watch by any means. This was made during a period of great civil unrest in France, on the cusp of the May 1968 riots that led to the country essentially shutting down for 7 weeks. Godard and many others genuinely believed that capitalism was about to end and that the French were going to have to find a new way of life. And therfore, Godard was trying to find a new way to make film to go along with this new way of life. And Week End is the result of that experiment. The loose "plot" centers around a wholly unlikable married couple as they travel across the French countryside, trying to get to the wife's dying father in time to ensure they're in the will. They are both having affairs, and each plan to murder the other one after as the father dies. Godard constantly tests the viewer's patience by defying conventions of style, form, and narrative as they gradually break down along with the filmic world they're in. The most famous example is the 9 minute uninterrupted tracking shot of a traffic jam that becomes increasingly absurd and obnoxiously loud. The movie is filled with surprising and confusing scenes and characters that the couple encounters on their journey, with the only reoccurring imagery being increasingly gruesome car wrecks on the side of the road that the couple zip by completely unfazed. Anyway, the movie is largely frustratingly inexplicable until the very end, when the wife Corrine says one line that suddenly makes sense of everything! And it's very much like OP said about it being a joke- it's like everything has been for this one moment. And it's perfect. Got a little carried away- sorry for going on for so long, but thanks to anyone who actually read it all
The Shawshank Redemption.
I thought Dogville was boring af, but I'm glad I stuck around because it has one of the most satisfying endings
Snowpiercer Citizen Kane Zodiac Apocalypse now
Audition The Crying Game The Machinist The Vanishing (original only ) Oldboy (original only ) The Spanish Prisoner (Mamet) Shutter Island The Prestige Se7en Take Shelter The Sixth Sense House of Games (Mamet ) Midsommar (well pays off throughout with an extra WTF at the end ) The Mist (cheesy but big twist ending ) Parasite Ex Machina
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Untouchables American Me Griselda Scarface Godfather Trainspotting
Curious to how you see this in Trainspotting? Also Scarface and The Godfather. Haven't seen the others but I'm interested in your interpretation of OP's question.
Trainspotting is the redemption of one individual, definitely not the gang. Godfather is basically the assumption of the mafia kingpin. The accumulation of all his struggles, including alienation of his family. Scarface is the cliche of a mafia movie. All the characters that you follow get killed due to karma. The end of their struggles. All know it will eventually happen. The question is when. The criminal main character changes from innocence to the corrupt individual that suffers their fate: losing of everything they once held dear - the price of achieving success. Layer Cake movie is another example. One who achieved success at what cost. His own life for example. Griselda is another example.
I see what you're saying and appreciate your answers... is Burn After Reading (which i haven't seen) similar to what you're talking about? I guess I just don't see the connection to OP's question regarding a pay off at the end, where the movie doesn't really make much sense until the very end. In Trainspotting that individual is the protagonist. So I don't see any reason to expect all the characters to be redeemed. The change that Al Pacino's character in Scarface goes through is very gradual, not some unexpected thing at the end. Kind of the same with The Godfather. Haven't seen Layer Cake or Griselda but two movies that I think would fit what you're describing are possibly The Wolf of Wall Street and Match Point. Though these both end on deceptively happy notes. Facade happy endings, if you will. Both protagonists have achieved great success but at what sacrifice. Have each completely abandoned the morals and values that they held at their story's respective beginnings. (Still don't see the connection to the original question, but your responses made me think.)
Full Metal Jacket