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Cinema Junkie

How famous movies should have ended

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I love imagining what could’ve been when a movie or television show is over, either because I’m unhappy

with the ending or just because I guess I’m just a curious person. I would prefer “realist endings.”

My favorite alternate ending was the Harry Potter one simply because I’m a huge Harry Potter nerd. I was that

kid who was at all the midnight releases for both the books and the movie and I actually had the same theory that Nev-

ille was always the true chosen one. Okay, I understand

that the series is called the “Harry Potter” series for a

reason, but I literally hated how centralized Rowling

made Harry. It was annoying to be starkly honest. Nev-

ille as far as the extremely specific prophecy in Book

5 specified, had all the same criteria as “Saint Harry”

to be “the chosen one.” The chosen one to defeat Lord

Voldemort, the similarities were striking even down

to their birthdays with Neville being born on July 30th,

and Harry July 31st. Neville was always portrayed as a

dunce, so having him be the true chosen one by using

Harry as a cover up would’ve been brilliant. An over-

laying theme in Harry Potter is that we are all human,

even wizards and just because we have the capacity to

do something doesn’t mean we should. For example,

Voldemort tried endlessly to return to life and remain

immortal but was ultimately taken down by Harry in

the end, AFTER Neville killed the last and question-

ably most important and well protected part of Volde-

mort’s soul. Should the series have ended with Neville

the chosen one and Harry, as he once said “just Harry?”

Yes. Did it? No. It also irks me that the epilogue is 19

years later, why not round up to 20?

How Famous Movies and Breaking Bad Should Have Ended By: Zack Reese

The ending of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, happens to be one of my favorites. Now,

I liked the ending when the movie first released for the shock value, and the fan appeal but upon many

re-watches and digesting I’ve changed my mind. Batman should’ve died. It would have brought the entire story

full circle. His parents died fighting the good fight (a robber), the love of his and Harvey Dent’s lives Rachel

Dawes died fighting the good fight (the Joker), and countless other Gotham citizens died sometimes as direct

results of Mr. Wayne’s actions. Basically by the end of Dark Knight Rises, Bruce Wayne as an essence was

dead as the last bit of him left with Alfred. He was solely the Batman, he was even known as dead to the world

at large. His death was even consistently foreshadowed throughout the films such as when Dent said “You

either live long enough to die a hero, or to see yourself become a villain.” Nolan’s Wayne neither died a hero

nor became a villain. When he is shown

alive, he is in France with Catwoman,

and I might be wrong but I’m pretty sure

Wayne was a world-famous playboy and

philanthropist who despite going into re-

cluse for eight years, would be noticeable

even to Europeans, especially because he

was definitely in the news following his

“death.” As for Selina Kyle, aka Catwom-

an, her and Wayne just fell in love after a

kiss? Of course she did save his life and

ultimately kill Bane but honestly is she

still not a criminal? Next is John Blake,

okay I understand he is to be the next

Batman with all his police training which

is definitely on par with training from

Ra’s Al Ghul. (Sarcasm.) If that weren’t

enough, the audience then finds out his

name is Robin. Really? He did play Rob-

in’s role in the film but that was overkill.

Dark Knight’s ending is a cheap way to

give everyone a happy ending.

“I would prefer “realist endings.””

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Concerning Wall-E and Forrest Gump, Wall-E

should have ended with Wall-E staying in his automatic

robot form following his circuits being fried. I say this be-

cause it’s not logical for the “power of love” to save a robot

from emotional destruction when they shouldn’t even have

emotions in the first place. I like the ending though because

you can bet that as I watched the film I was unbelievably

sad when Wall-E essentially died. So of course I was rooting for the little guy to survive. The moral of the story

was to show people how destructive technology can be to people but perhaps an underlying meaning was to

distance ourselves from technology and bring ourselves closer to our emotions and other people, because if a

robot can do it, what’s stopping people? As for Forrest Gump. I hate it, I think it’s stupid and over imaginative

which in guess is super un-American of me but it’s fine. Watching it I saw Forrest as mentally impaired and I

like the guys in the podcast noticed the similarities between the people he was telling the story to and the story

itself. So either he was a storyteller which frankly, would make sense given the insane things that happened to

this man, or he went crazy. I say this because towards the end of the film we learn that Jenny, the love of his

life is sick and eventually dies. So what if it was this illness that drove him mad? Or maybe the slow slurred

speech was actually just a mental

impairment he was born with that led

him to believe that these things hap-

pened to him or he heard them some-

where and eventually associated them

with himself. I’m biased based on my

dislike for the film of course, but as

far as I’m concerned Forrest Gump is

a liar, insane, or both.

Breaking Bad was one of the most critically- acclaimed TV shows of all time and I was also an avid

fan of that series. I watched four and a half seasons of the show in a little under two weeks, it was addict-

ing. I thought the decent of Walter White as he realized his true potential as a dark villain was executed

brilliantly. Until the end. Along the way of Walter’s journey into the world of methamphetamine manu-

facturing and distributing, Walter was joined by a rag-tag bunch of dealers, led by his partner in crime,

Jesse Pinkman. He also came to blows with his brother-in-law Hank and his goons in the DEA, as well as

becoming enemies, business partners, and allies with other sellers, business owners, corporate officials, hit

men, and modern-day Nazis. By the finale, Walter had become the villain of the show, serving as an arche-

typal anti-villain, while Jesse was subjugated to a life of slavery under the Nazis. Nearly everybody else

died aside from a couple of the dealers, Walter’s family, and his lawyer. Walter was the epitome of an “evil

badass.” He had gone into hiding and suddenly decided to do the right thing and head back to his home

in Albuquerque. The audience can deny it all they want but they were all rooting for Walter to be a ba-

dass one last time, and for Jesse to make it out alive. Viewers got their wish when Walter suddenly shifted

character traits. Jesse did get away, but what good will it do? I’m pretty sure by the finale Jesse was also

at least wanted nationally. His life will not be a good one by any means. Walter after killing the Nazis (who

seem to have only been brought in as a plot device for Walter to redeem himself with), dies in a meth lab

from a gunshot wound, not even his cancer that started the entire meth operation. He died smiling. Meth

is not good, and that wasn’t necessarily projected unto audiences always, especially not in the finale where

Albuquerque is no doubt pooling with meth, but this is overlooked. Walter bombed a nursing home in

Season 4, but he gets to die a hero’s death? He caused Jesse to be imprisoned by the Nazi’s and effectively

in part ruined Jesse’s life, even letting his girlfriend die. This was all overlooked. It should’ve ended with

Walt doing something truly unforgivable like the show was leading up to with Jesse ultimately teaming up

with the FBI and DEA or something to take down Walt so that he could have some chance at a life. Walter

White got to have his cake and eat it too. He even got at least a huge portion of his wages from the meth

business to his family post-mortem. He went in a badass, he should’ve died a badass.

“Forest Gump is a liar, insane, or both.”

He went in a badass, he should’ve died a badass.”