Best Movie Endings: What Works and What Doesn't?

10/01/21 • 100 min

Talking Images

Is Psycho's ending actually terrible? Is Whiplash an evil movie made by evil people? Is Taxi Driver's ending even real?

Join us as we clash over iconic endings, break down the formulas and share our picks of best movie endings of all time.

Timestamps:

00:00: Spoiler-Free Discussion

20.36: The Spoilers Begins - Formulas / What Works & What Doesn't

57.48 - Films Saved by their Endings

1.09.29 - Films That Are All About Their Endings

1.15.29 - Endings That Almost Ruined the Film

1.25.30 - Our Favourite Endings of All Time

Spoiler note:

There will be extensive spoilers for The Grey, Phoenix, The Last Laugh, Taxi Driver, Whiplash, The Holy Girl, Jacob's Ladder, Inception, Chronicle of a Summer, A.I., Psycho, Signs, The Usual Suspects, Z, Life of Brian, All That Jazz - as well as milder spoilers for many others.

Is Psycho's ending actually terrible? Is Whiplash an evil movie made by evil people? Is Taxi Driver's ending even real?

Join us as we clash over iconic endings, break down the formulas and share our picks of best movie endings of all time.

Timestamps:

00:00: Spoiler-Free Discussion

20.36: The Spoilers Begins - Formulas / What Works & What Doesn't

57.48 - Films Saved by their Endings

1.09.29 - Films That Are All About Their Endings

1.15.29 - Endings That Almost Ruined the Film

1.25.30 - Our Favourite Endings of All Time

Spoiler note:

Previous Episode

The Minimalist World of Robert Bresson

How much can you strip away? How far can you go? Robert Bresson did not just create his own cinematic language. He created his own cinematic ideology - striving to tear film away from the theatre, strip away all artifice and create something you could only experience through cinema.

Over his 13 feature films, and one standalone short, his career spanned from 1934 to 1983. In this episode, we will talk you through each and every single one of his films, look at what they minimised, try to understand why and above all try to express just how it makes us feel - and why it works ... or doesn't.

This is the story of how Bresson became Bresson, and how his minimalist world developed, evolved, reached dead ends and rejuvenated itself.
Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
02:26 - Our first reaction to seeing a Bresson film
03:25 - Bresson, the canon and the French New Wave
07:21 - Things to Know Before Seeing Your First Bresson
10:59 - Short film: Affairs Publique
14:45 - Angels of Sin
18:10 - Les dames du Bois de Boulogne
22:40 - Diary of a Country Priest
29:05 - A Man Escaped
37:04 - Pickpocket
47:46 - The Trial of Jean of Arc
54:24 - Au hasard Baltazar
1:02:32 - Mouchette
1:10:46 - A Gentle Woman
1:21:17 - Four Nights of a Dreamer
1:28:00 - Lancelot du Lac
1:32:38 - The Devil Probably
1:35:55 - L'Argent
1:51:07 - Filmmakers Inspired by Bresson

Next Episode

Best Films of 2020: Our Top 10s (with a cliffhanger)

1 Recommendations

Yes, it's that time! Finally! The Talking Images team is ready to open up and talk through our top 10 favourite films of 2020 - granted, with a cliffhanger.