John Dunn Posted September 23, 2002 Share Posted September 23, 2002 If anyone hasn't seen "A Simple Plan" I can highly recommend it. The cascade of bad decisions by seemingly decent characters leads to a truly "downer" ending. Normally I'm, "tough enough to eat the boogers out of a dead man's nose" (Full Metal Jacket), but this one got to me. Anyone else see this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErikW Posted September 23, 2002 Author Share Posted September 23, 2002 Rented the Jacob's Ladder DVD. Totally different than the first time around. Total obvious what was going on. Almost like I was watching a whole different film. I checked out the special feature with the director and writer and one of them said you can't watch this movie analytically you just have to experience it. That was my problem the first time around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolan Posted September 26, 2002 Share Posted September 26, 2002 Memento, or did I already post this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErikW Posted September 26, 2002 Author Share Posted September 26, 2002 Memento a downer? Well, maybe. I just saw Amelie (aka from Montmartre)... I got very depressed by it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErikW Posted September 26, 2002 Author Share Posted September 26, 2002 How so? It was a downer because Leonard was doomed. He was in hell, in an infinite loop, with no way out of his situation. Its positive outlook, if it had one, was like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigDave Posted September 28, 2002 Share Posted September 28, 2002 Rented Jacob's Ladder on DVD the other night. Erik - you are totally right. Different movie now. Did you watch any of the bonus seens, specifically the Antidote seen? Wow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkmccoy Posted September 29, 2002 Share Posted September 29, 2002 Aha, a question I can answer (since it's just my opinion). Last of the Mohicans - a great movie. Fabulous soundtrack, great story, well acted, but although the end is sad the overall tone of the movie is not a huge downer, and the hero does survive. Go Tell the Spartans - also a great movie, but the guys in the story are so heroic I didn't find it a huge downer. The English Patient - this is almost a GREAT movie. Incredible camera work, editing, acting, and story. It is definitely a downer. The story is so incredibly, crushingly sad that I hate to think about it. I DO NOT want to see it again. I couldn't stand it. If I could stand to watch it more than once it would be my top pick. The best downer movie - Falling Down - Michael Douglas does an incredible job of acting the ordinary guy who has just been beaten down by life until he can't take it any more. I watch this one when I can (but I sometimes don't watch the end). Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigDave Posted September 30, 2002 Share Posted September 30, 2002 Leaving Los Vegas - Nicholas Cage and Elizabeth Shue (yummmmm). A drunk hell bent on drinking himself to death and a hooker, I don't remember a single part of the movie I smiled at... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErikW Posted September 30, 2002 Author Share Posted September 30, 2002 Falling Down was an up movie! I was cheering him on through most of it, LMAO, having a good time. Then it turned and went downhill from the neo-nazi scene to the end. BigDave, yeah I checked out the deleted scenes and commentary. Glad they dropped the antidote scene. Interesting how they worked out an ending. Leaving Las Vegas was a great story about unconditional love. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Thomas Posted October 1, 2002 Share Posted October 1, 2002 I found Memento to be an incredibly bleak movie. The message I got is that you can't trust anything. You can't trust your senses, you can't trust anyone, you can't even trust yourself. Everyone lies to Leonard because he's helpless to know he's been lied to. In the end he even lies to himself, and kills an innocent man (well, innocent of what he was being killed for, anyway) because he's too much of a coward to face the truth, even for a minute - which is about all the time he'd have to face it, if you think about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erice Posted October 8, 2002 Share Posted October 8, 2002 "The Crow" was a real downer for me... but I love the film. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Sweeney Posted October 15, 2002 Share Posted October 15, 2002 "A Simple Plan" was fascinating in how ordinary people, attempting to reach beyond their ability, found themselves confounded at every turn. And were embittered by it. If you want a bleak movie, go find "Miracle Mile" with Anthony Edwards. Talk about no way out, and nothing works..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirtypool40 Posted October 15, 2002 Share Posted October 15, 2002 Sorry, I don't mean to be that way, but I have everyone trumped on this. In fact I have several, in different catagories!!! WARNING: DO NOT WATCH ALL OF THESE MOVIES AT ONCE, I CAN NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RESULTS. #1: FINAL APPROACH. For sheer false advertising and time suckage this little beauty takes the cake. A sort of "Bad Movie appetizer" Final Approach is/ was advertised as some high tech SR-71 retrofit goes down kinda spy thriller. They add a little to the hook by featuring the most gorgeous woman on the planet (Madeline Smith Osbourne from Urban Cowboy, and Funny Farm). I'll save you the trouble.....Turns out dude crashed and is waiting to die / ascend to heaven or whatever, hence the title "Final Approach". As my Brother put it "Ha ha, no ending". Runner up: Back to the Beach. Waiting (and wading) through two+ hours of Frankie and Annette to get 5 seconds of live SRV seemed a triffle unfair. #2: For bleak, "jeez that SUX!!!" kind of anger at waste settle down with Mel Gibson and the Aussie runners turned trench fighters in WWI set GALLIPOLI. Sound like fun? War History buffs already know what happened there. Got to give them credit, but it still sucked. If you are ever so happy that it just doesn't seem right, Gallipoli can fix you right up. About like a torturous Greek tradgedy set in 1918. #3: I saved this one for last. Call me a "downer elitist", but I will not believe any who claim to have seen this and do not agree with me. Yes, I patiently read the whole thread, and was surprised it never came up. This is without a doubt THE super King Kamayah Maya Biyatch of downers. And so with out further ado........for sheer no way out frustration there can be only one.....JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN. "JGHG" is the lighthearted story of a WWI soldier who dives in a shell crater just as another hits. He is rendered not only Quadrapalegic but also (naturally) blind and deaf. Yee Haw. You spend the next two hours watching this poor basket case (yes, that IS where the term came from) learn he is still alive, they are keeping him so, cannot communicate, and cannot die. OK, I made part of it up for drama, he was a radio man, knows morse code, taps it out with his head and asks to die, a nurse tries to help him but is stopped. So as we leave our fallen hero he fades into his lonely, everlasting, hellish silent night. Yup, this is the little opus clipped in that Metallica video. Not much of a remedy for this one, stay well clear, for THIS IS THE ALL TIME DOWNER MOVIE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErikW Posted October 16, 2002 Author Share Posted October 16, 2002 Yeah Gallipoli was a downer. Was Johnny Got His Gun the B&W flick with Jason Robards featured in that Metallica video? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirtypool40 Posted October 16, 2002 Share Posted October 16, 2002 yup you got it. Bummer, huh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted October 17, 2002 Share Posted October 17, 2002 For foreign film fans, give the French trilogy Blue, White and Red a whirl. (Three separate films...the idea is to watch them in order. Red is in the VCR right now.) Blue: Juliette Binoche loses her family in a car accident. See it just to see her, if nothing else. White: Picture your most nightmarish love/hate relationship with a significant other. "White" is worse. Red: Morality. Love. Betrayal. The end is more open ended than down. But it's a downer nonetheless. E (Edited by EricW at 9:45 pm on Oct. 16, 2002) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirtypool40 Posted October 17, 2002 Share Posted October 17, 2002 ok you win, anything "Fronche" gets +2 in the downer catagory anyway. Damn... I had this one won!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spook Posted October 23, 2002 Share Posted October 23, 2002 Vanilla Sky had me depressed for about a week. The original spanish movie seems to be even worse. My brother saw it and told me that if the Hollywood version depressed me, I should definately stay away from the original. Strange though, that movie depressed me, but would definately be in my all time top list of movies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErikW Posted June 11, 2004 Author Share Posted June 11, 2004 New addition to the list: House of Sand and Fog, with Jennifer Connelly (from another downer, Requiem for a Dream) and Ben Kinglsey. Fantastically well-acted, superb direction, appropriate music, a very good movie, but not a happy one. Unfortunately, it was apparent there wasn't going to be a good solution to the irreconcilable conflict and I don't like the way the movie handled it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jessej Posted June 11, 2004 Share Posted June 11, 2004 Sharkskin Man & Peach Hip Girl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Posted June 11, 2004 Share Posted June 11, 2004 Definitely House Of Sand And Fog. I didn’t like the resolution either, but after I thought about it, I realized my dislike for the movies twists and turns was part of it’s power. Just watched 21 Grams and got a similar heavy duty negative/positive thing from that one too. Try a previous film by the same director (Alejandro González Iñárritu), Amores perros. Hillary Swank also does a good job of pissing you off and breaking your heart too in Boys Don’t Cry. -- Regards, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Thomas Posted June 11, 2004 Share Posted June 11, 2004 One of my favorite films of all time: The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray S. Posted June 11, 2004 Share Posted June 11, 2004 "Gigot", starring Jackie Gleason. And "Charlie" with Cliff Robertson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GRD Posted June 11, 2004 Share Posted June 11, 2004 Gummo. House of Sand and Fog is on the list. 21 Grams was the feel good movie of the year, for sure. 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. - Gabe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spook Posted June 11, 2004 Share Posted June 11, 2004 I just saw Requiem for a Dream. Sometimes you can feel a movie change your life as you watch it. Definately a depressing flick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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