Ambiguous Endings

[homer]

Not sure if this is ambiguous, but the ending of The Shining always bugs me. Yeah, he freezes to death in the maze, but what's with that pic from like 1929 with him in it at the very end? That bartender guy says something like "You've always been here." at one point so I assume it's a tie in to that line, but is it a reference to reincarnation and he was led back to this place again and again?

[Fike85]

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...but if you wanted to think about it more, you find yourself asking if he actually got the vacation he paid for...

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It's the blue skies Mars that gets me. Everything seems to point to the fact that Quaid is living in reality, but the comment made at the beginning about the blue skies on Mars always casts a shred of doubt.

[logan82]

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In the movie tombstone, when Doc Holiday dies he looks at his feet and says something.

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I think he says something like "the light, it's so bright."

[MKE alz]

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It's the blue skies Mars that gets me. Everything seems to point to the fact that Quaid is living in reality, but the comment made at the beginning about the blue skies on Mars always casts a shred of doubt.

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yeah, exactly what I'm referring to, because the alternative is simply an EXTREMELY strong coincidence and I don't know if I like that. With everything else it's a chicken and the egg problem: Did he choose a brunette because he sort of remembered her or was she a brunette because that's what he chose...ect...

[EdgarDiazRocks]

yeah, exactly what I'm referring to, because the alternative is simply an EXTREMELY strong coincidence and I don't know if I like that. With everything else it's a chicken and the egg problem: Did he choose a brunette because he sort of remembered her or was she a brunette because that's what he chose...ect...

 

Ahh yes . . welcome to the world of Philip K. Dick.

 

Sadly only Speilberg could screw his work up.

[MKE alz]

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Ahh yes . . welcome to the world of Philip K. Dick.

 

Sadly only Speilberg could screw his work up.

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For all the props Speilberg gets he screws up an awful damn lot.

 

HOWEVER, to be completely fair Speilbergo, while I haven't seen it I heard John Woo did his fare share of screwing with Philip K. Dick's work.

[EdgarDiazRocks]

actually that was a pretty straight up interpretation.

 

Much better than Minority Report.

 

It was a lesser story to begin with so the payout was limited, but not worse in my opinon than Speilberg/Cruise destroying a PKD masterpiece.

[homer]

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while I haven't seen it I heard John Woo did his fare share of screwing with Philip K. Dick's work.

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The fact that Ben Affleck was in it meant Woo didn't have much to work with.

[MKE alz]

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The fact that Ben Affleck was in it meant Woo didn't have much to work with.

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Personally I don't understand all the Affleck haters out there. He's been great in every Kevin Smith movie he's been in, I thought he was very good in Good Will Hunting, Glory Daze and Boiler Room. I still need to see it but I've heard good things about his performance in Hollywoodland as well. Sure he's had more than his share of missteps, but it's very difficult to name well known actors that haven't.

 

Plus he was the bomb in phantoms, yo.

[homer]

It's just my opinion, but I think Affleck has been awful in pretty much everything he's been in with the very notable exception of Dazed and Confused - most likely because he was playing himself in that role.

[Fike85]

I did not know that Mr. Dick was responsible for the short stroy that inspired Screamers. Sweet.

[RobertR]

I've heard people argue that everything after Tom Cruise gets the halo put on his head in Minority Report is merely a fantasy on Cruise's part. There are some plot elements that could make it true, but Spielberg is anything but an ambiguous filmmaker, even when ambiguity best serves the story. Hollywood certainly has been hit and miss with P. K. Dick I probably should catch Impostor one of these days, to see how badly they screwed up one of Dick's great stories if nothing else.

 

I know there was some debate on Pan's Labyrinth over the winter. I'm on the side of "it was real" due to the chalk.

 

Robert

[EdgarDiazRocks]

I probably should catch Impostor one of these days, to see how badly they screwed up one of Dick's great stories if nothing else.

 

It's not terrible, but they throw out the PKD ending for one that's far less humanistic, and for the sake of this thread, far less ambiguous.

 

I would really like some indie filmaker give "We Can Build You" a try.

 

now that one's ambiguous. low budget on the special effects too. Just need someone who looks a lot like Lincoln.