raz-0 Posted June 11, 2004 Share Posted June 11, 2004 Hands down biggest downer movie I can recall is testament. think of it as the day after's high-quality low budget, REALLY downer cousin. Came out in 1983. I haven't seen it in many years, but when I saw it I was probably about 14, and man it did it get to me. Other downer films, but nowhere near the same calss. dead ringers closet land I'd have to go trhough my collection to recall some more, there are plenty of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted June 11, 2004 Share Posted June 11, 2004 BE: Dead Man is one of my all-time favorite movies...but I don't think it's a downer, I actually laugh out loud for alot of it Some of the best gunfights on film. I'm glad you mentioned that because as I was looking back through this thread, I wondered why I initially listed Dead Man. I take it back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schmitz Posted June 11, 2004 Share Posted June 11, 2004 Platoon, Henny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uscbigdawg Posted June 11, 2004 Share Posted June 11, 2004 Gardens of Stone Incredibly sad movie about a young soldier that believes in Vietnam war and the honor, courage and duty of the United States Army. He believes that the right soldier, in the right war can make all the difference. The other story is of an infantry seargent, torn between his disdane for the way the war is being run and his love for the men that serve under him and wanting to prepare them to be soldiers. The setting is at Ft. Meyer, Virgina, home of The Old Guard. Unbelievable story and an all star cast. James Caan, Angelica Huston James Earl Jones, D.B. Sweeney, Mary Stuart Masterson, Dean Stockwell and Laurence Fishburne. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. A definite must see for anyone who has served as well as those that revere those that have. Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErikW Posted June 12, 2004 Author Share Posted June 12, 2004 Yeah 21 Grams was a surprise. I thought it was going to be a drug trafficking movie. I was going to add Platoon and forgot to. Elias coming out of the woods with Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings is something else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Run n Gun Posted June 12, 2004 Share Posted June 12, 2004 On The Beach. 1959, Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner and Fred Astaire. The utter futility and hopelessness is just SO pervasive that I couldn’t watch it a second time. Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dunn Posted June 12, 2004 Share Posted June 12, 2004 Shrek 2. When Fiona decides to stay an ogre instead of returning to human form, I felt a profound loss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritinUSA Posted June 12, 2004 Share Posted June 12, 2004 Downer Movies... Anything by "Somebody that we don't need to talk about on the SHOOTING forum"... just reading about his stuff makes me want to hang myself :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sargenv Posted June 13, 2004 Share Posted June 13, 2004 The two that come to mind for me are "Easy Rider" and "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas". The first one I have just recently seen (last year or so), I was a bit shocked by the ending. The intolerance of the many.. and then Fear and Loathing, while funny, got very dark towards the end. Leaving Las Vegas was also a big downer for me. Watching him do that to himself was just painful. Clean and Sober also comes to mind... Vince Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErikW Posted June 15, 2004 Author Share Posted June 15, 2004 Vince you need to read the book if you've only seen Fear and Loathing. I saw Mystic River today. You might consider it a downer. OK, it's a downer. I didn't like the ending though. What the heck was that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AGYoung Posted June 15, 2004 Share Posted June 15, 2004 Old Flicks for sure. THE DAY AFTER (1983) - Nuclear War at its best. As a post-nuclear soap opera, The Day After is a strong movie. In the end, nobody is unaffected. Cold War turned hot. Missiles launching from Kansas. It's on video but have my own copy. Special Bulletin (1983) (TV Movie) Then there was one where there was a nuclear bomb on a boat at a dock. The bomb guys try to disarm it & set it off. Story about a group holding Charleston, South Carolina hostage with a homemade nuclear bomb. Came across as live news feed ala War of the Worlds ... some people panic before they found out that this was just a TV movie. OK - I'm old enough to remember the Cold War nuclear threats. In fact, I was in the Boy Scouts when the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred & our Scoutmaster made sure we all brought our first aid kits to the meetings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jessej Posted June 27, 2004 Share Posted June 27, 2004 Sleepers was a downer movie. I wouldn't want to watch it again. Mystic river was a downer too. That ending was kinda crap. But hey if your wife thinks you guilty who else should believe you? Kinda makes me wonder what friends let friends get away with in real life... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErikW Posted September 1, 2004 Author Share Posted September 1, 2004 I saw Crumb today. I knew nothing about it other than it was about the famous cartoonist; I didn't even know it was a documentary. Damn. The caption at the end about Charles really got to me. I wonder what has become of Max. I never have seen him out on the streets of S.F. but I don't get into the financial district much. I'm going to keep an eye out for him. Anybody who enjoys Errol Morris documentaries will probably like this, as it is mostly about an eccentric character. It's not a total downer like Happiness, but it's not the feel-good movie of the summer. And it's not for the kids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
short_round Posted September 1, 2004 Share Posted September 1, 2004 Grave of the Fireflies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vlad Posted September 1, 2004 Share Posted September 1, 2004 No one mentioned "About Shmidt" or most importantly "The Pledge". The end of "The Pledge" almost hurt physicaly. To those two you can add "Twelve Monkeys", "Brazil" (the long version, not the "love conquers all" version), "City of lost children", and a whole bunch of the ones already listed. Vlad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyB Posted September 2, 2004 Share Posted September 2, 2004 Did they make 2 versions of 'Brazil'? The only one I've ever seen ended up with Johnathon Pryce sitting comatose in a chair while Michael Palin worked on him. Wow, that would be pretty crappy if they tried to change it. I've got to add 'Schindler's List' just because it actually happened. Also the play 'The diary of Anne Frank' for the same reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DVC247 Posted September 11, 2004 Share Posted September 11, 2004 The version of Brazil I saw had Johnathon Pryce fantasizing about DeNiro rescuing him and then you see him DEAD in the chair. Here's a lesson in differing philosophies of life--I saw Brazil with a flaming liberal girl in college. She saw that as a HAPPY ending because he "escaped". I told her I don't see death as an escape, especially when it means the bad guys win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NMinzghor Posted September 11, 2004 Share Posted September 11, 2004 Platoon....and about every other Oliver Stone movie ever made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErikW Posted September 11, 2004 Author Share Posted September 11, 2004 DVC247, so you didn't think One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest had a happy ending? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spook Posted November 11, 2004 Share Posted November 11, 2004 I saw Open Water today. Man, that's one depressing movie. A true downer for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Shooter Posted November 11, 2004 Share Posted November 11, 2004 Saving Pvt. Ryan is the saddest movie I've ever seen. My wife often tells me that I'm emotion-less, yet I've seen this movie several times, I know exactly how it ends, and I still get very choked up at the end. Black Hawk Down has to be a close 2nd place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyG23 Posted November 12, 2004 Share Posted November 12, 2004 Mystic River & House of Sand and Fog. I saw both of these in one weekend and thought I needed Prozac......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Thomas Posted November 13, 2004 Share Posted November 13, 2004 The version of Brazil I saw had Johnathon Pryce fantasizing about DeNiro rescuing him and then you see him DEAD in the chair. Here's a lesson in differing philosophies of life--I saw Brazil with a flaming liberal girl in college. She saw that as a HAPPY ending because he "escaped". I told her I don't see death as an escape, especially when it means the bad guys win. My perception wasn't that he was dead in the chair, but that his mind had snapped, and he was living in his fantasy world with his lover, and always would. I found this an extremely depressing ending. The guy I was watching it with, though, saw it as a victory, because reality truly exists in our mind, and that ending did mean the main character had won. The differing reactions to the ending of the moving, how various people see it and react to it, is one of the things that makes Brazil such an interesting film. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyB Posted November 15, 2004 Share Posted November 15, 2004 The version of Brazil I saw had Johnathon Pryce fantasizing about DeNiro rescuing him and then you see him DEAD in the chair. Here's a lesson in differing philosophies of life--I saw Brazil with a flaming liberal girl in college. She saw that as a HAPPY ending because he "escaped". I told her I don't see death as an escape, especially when it means the bad guys win. My perception wasn't that he was dead in the chair, but that his mind had snapped, and he was living in his fantasy world with his lover, and always would. I found this an extremely depressing ending. The guy I was watching it with, though, saw it as a victory, because reality truly exists in our mind, and that ending did mean the main character had won. The differing reactions to the ending of the moving, how various people see it and react to it, is one of the things that makes Brazil such an interesting film. Yeah, what he said This is the only version that I was aware of and how I perceive the ending can change with my moods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoseMech Posted January 13, 2005 Share Posted January 13, 2005 I will have to go with the person who listed Requim for a Dream great movie of drugs, i will never do a hard-core drug ....again.... -RoseMech Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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