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Post by DeepArcher on Apr 30, 2020 15:13:48 GMT
Posts like this make me wish I was 2 things: a) a better writer and b) just plainly more intelligent. Hey, I know you've said before that you don't usually write in-depth about films because you're not confident in your abilities, but for what it's worth I thought those reviews you wrote for Viced's presentation were incredibly well-written! You should keep at it and do more like that, I'd love to read more in-depth posts from you! Only way to get better at it is just to do it, after all.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Apr 30, 2020 15:41:12 GMT
My Dinner with Andre -- It's crazy a perspective can shift so dramatically in under two hours. Wally's taxi ride back through New York Streets he's seeing through new eyes.
Wally at the beginning of the film: "I'm 36 and all I can think about is money."
Wally at the end: "I rode home through the city streets. There wasn't a street, there wasn't a building, that wasn't connected to some memory in my mind. There, I was buying a suit with my father. There, I was having an ice cream soda after school. And when I finally came in, Debbie was home from work, and I told her everything about my dinner with Andre." Beautiful.
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Post by mhynson27 on Apr 30, 2020 17:16:55 GMT
Posts like this make me wish I was 2 things: a) a better writer and b) just plainly more intelligent. Hey, I know you've said before that you don't usually write in-depth about films because you're not confident in your abilities, but for what it's worth I thought those reviews you wrote for Viced's presentation were incredibly well-written! You should keep at it and do more like that, I'd love to read more in-depth posts from you! Only way to get better at it is just to do it, after all. Awww, thanks
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Apr 30, 2020 20:00:43 GMT
Posts like this make me wish I was 2 things: a) a better writer and b) just plainly more intelligent. You're not alone. DeepArcher makes us all look bad
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Lubezki
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the social distancing
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Post by Lubezki on Apr 30, 2020 22:28:19 GMT
Hey, I know you've said before that you don't usually write in-depth about films because you're not confident in your abilities, but for what it's worth I thought those reviews you wrote for Viced's presentation were incredibly well-written! You should keep at it and do more like that, I'd love to read more in-depth posts from you! Only way to get better at it is just to do it, after all. Awww, thanks Stop underestimating yourself and raise that self-esteem. Believe me, I know exactly how you feel. But DeepArcher said it perfectly....practice makes perfect. And it's not like your writing or intelligence is at the bottom of the barrel. This board is full of the wisest, funniest and most interesting individuals on the interwebs. That's why we come on here every day.....because we need each other's insight, humor and feel good factor on not just film (the facet we love the most), but anything in particular. Your presence is cherished to the maximum, and don't ever forget that. Plus you're one of my fellow Nolan fanbots, so you hold a special place in my treasury.
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Post by pacinoyes on May 1, 2020 14:59:56 GMT
I've talked about Dario Argento's The Stendahl Syndrome (1996) - it's one of the few that I ever majorly changed my rating on - from a 7 on first watch......later to an 8......to ~9 (!) nowadays (6.1 btw on IMDB - GTFO). It is one of the most genuinely disturbing movies I've ever seen - at times approaching torture porn - that asks very unpleasant and challenging questions about the female psyche (specifically). I don't think a female director - or a more "serious" male filmmaker - would feel comfortable exploring themes like this actually - it veers dangerously close to exploitation without being exploitation. The resolution follows genre tropes in several ways - it clearly could have been made by (his rival) De Palma in its ludicrous (and wildly entertaining) twists and turns - but the masterstroke is Argento's alone - in its final scene which is simultaneously deeply sad, compassionate and horrifying yet remarkable in what it asks of you too - your ability to assess a scene and POV (note the characters on the far sides of the last frames or maybe .........don't). The ending starts in one place but it finishes somewhere else entirely and like Argento's Tenebre (covered earlier in this thread) on re-watches you realize it was actually "ending" for a large portion of its runtime all along:
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Post by DeepArcher on May 2, 2020 5:30:29 GMT
A Serious Man
I remember when this was screened in my world lit/philosophy class last semester and people complained about the uncertainty of the ending being "too depressing" ... guys it's a fucking philosophy class what'd you expect ... and that just goes to show how the Coens, masters of their craft, never opt out for the easy cathartic ending and always close the book on their own terms. The ending of A Serious Man is so ingenious because it's such a big question mark yet so satisfying a conclusion at the same time because of how well it fits the film you just watched, it really couldn't end any other way than like this. The entire film Larry has been told to "Accept the mystery," one misfortune after another piling on top of each other without explanation, because there is no explanation, and we must live in a world where we talk to God for solace but God is silent. Just when things seem to be turning around for Larry, the final scenes hit, we hear the menacing ring of a phone, and the impending doom of the storm ... a moment of reckoning has come right before the cut to black. Like the film itself, Biblical clashing with a juvenile modern sensibility, left with this almost religious image and the sounds of Jefferson Airplane, which A Serious Man seems to insist are almost one in the same. Some filmmakers just innately know how to end a film and the Coens are one two of them. The uncertainty at the center of this film will not be affirmed with hope or guidance or a renewal of faith. Only more uncertainty. One of the most haunting final shots ever...
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Post by pacinoyes on May 2, 2020 10:40:18 GMT
You'll notice a lot of care has been taken in this thread to differentiate the "ending" with the "final scene" - sometimes they overlap, sometimes it's a big difference (PTA to me is weak at endings, but great at his final shots etc.). But Spoorloos (1988) - is a film with a great ending that threatens to have it completely ruined by its final shot - the fact that it isn't is a minor miracle and what's more amazing is it adds another layer of cruelty on top of it. A sick joke on the dream that Saskia describes at the beginning - on TWO characters we have sympathized with and rooted for - the last shot parallels motifs throughout the picture (tunnels/space, light/dark, sleep/death, abduction/release). The final shot could easily be taken as "oh fnck this movie" - instead it is unbearably, crushingly heartbreaking and in horror film terms unfathomably evil. Not the final shot but a motif - the final shot is even more sarcastic - it's from a newspaper - a keeper of the record, of the "truth":
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Post by jakesully on May 2, 2020 17:36:24 GMT
Se7en (1995) - - We covered great directors with great endings (Chabrol) and great directors who struggle with it too - PTA most notably for me as a writer especially - but David Fincher is hit or miss though when he hits people talk about his endings almost first thing in the movie (The Social Network, Zodiac) and unlike PTA he wrote none of those which maybe solves one problem. That was certainly the case here and this is another movie with a screenplay so ingenious it could "end" either way still make sense and still fulfill the movies conceit. Also is this the only scene where it's not raining..........maybe just feels that way - it also matters how a director sets mood and Fincher when he's on his game is great at contrasting his movies overall tone with his ending tone..... Outstanding choice! Se7en has aged like fine wine compared to a lot of 90s films. And its worth mentioning that Pitt and Freeman strongly supported Fincher's final cut of the ending. (The studio wanted a much happier ending)
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Post by DeepArcher on May 2, 2020 22:11:44 GMT
California Split
"Don't mean a fucking thing, does it?"
I had to make a quick post about this one since I just watched it last night, and my mind keeps coming back to this ending.
It's an entire sequence of victory that is immediately upended by an ending of defeat. Bill has totally lost himself to the game and can no longer match Charlie's energy, a friendship left in ruins simply from the momentary thrill of the gamble. "Oh yeah, where do you live?" ... the final exchange of dialogue is made up of few lines and simple words that have an absolutely devastating power. We're left lingering on the image of the spinning wheel, still trapped in the cyclical nature of addiction, the cyclical life of one who's aimless and lost...
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Post by pacinoyes on May 3, 2020 10:41:12 GMT
Memento (2001) Director: Christopher NolanMy favorite movie of the last 20 years and I'm always shocked when people say things like "it's just a gimmick movie" which is sort of like saying The Ramones were a gimmick band - first of all who cares when it's THAT good and it's a great gimmick anyway and .......no it's not. The movie ingeniously replicates the characters mental state - and plays with it on us and that ties into the ending (beginning!) - you can't know what to feel until the ending scene. We can no longer trust the central character, the "knight-errant" as he is often written about in relation to this film, - a great term to whoever used that first or first here anyway - or the context of events even after the movie has resolved. In fact, I'd say no film that I can recall has ever so deconstructed a character and our feelings towards them more meticulously AGAINST them than what is done here with Leonard. By purposely leaving key information out (how much backstory do we actually "see" anyway?, when did "this" start?) - the movie lingers that same way your own memory does with its same errors and inconsistencies. "Burning" (2018) - a great film imo - borrows very heavily from Memento right down to the 3rd character villain (?) and the sketchily drawn female catalyst but there's a key difference too: You may not know if what happens in "Burning" is morally right, but in "Memento" you know quite certainly that it is not right and that's a crucial difference - there is no doubt about the central mystery ......there's doubts about everything else.
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Nikan
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Post by Nikan on May 3, 2020 14:15:03 GMT
Memento (2001) Director: Christopher NolanMy favorite movie of the last 20 years and I'm always shocked when people say things like "it's just a gimmick movie" which is sort of like saying The Ramones were a gimmick band - first of all who cares when it's THAT good and it's a great gimmick anyway and .......no it's not. The movie ingeniously replicates the characters mental state - and plays with it on us and that ties into the ending (beginning!) - you can't know what to feel until the ending scene. We can no longer trust the central character, the "knight-errant" as he is often written about in relation to this film, - a great term to whoever used that first or first here anyway - or the context of events even after the movie has resolved. In fact, I'd say no film that I can recall has ever so deconstructed a character and our feelings towards them more meticulously AGAINST them than what is done here with Leonard. By purposely leaving key information out (how much backstory do we actually "see" anyway?, when did "this" start?) - the movie lingers that same way your own memory does with its same errors and inconsistencies. Oh yes... I also love the music that is playing in the background, while Lenny takes steps (in a way like nothing we've seen in minutes prior to this) towards the car, not listening to what Teddy is saying as he is searching in the bushes. Wonderful ending.
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Post by therealcomicman117 on May 3, 2020 14:40:18 GMT
Memento (2001) Director: Christopher NolanMy favorite movie of the last 20 years and I'm always shocked when people say things like "it's just a gimmick movie" which is sort of like saying The Ramones were a gimmick band - first of all who cares when it's THAT good and it's a great gimmick anyway and .......no it's not. The movie ingeniously replicates the characters mental state - and plays with it on us and that ties into the ending (beginning!) - you can't know what to feel until the ending scene. We can no longer trust the central character, the "knight-errant" as he is often written about in relation to this film, - a great term to whoever used that first or first here anyway - or the context of events even after the movie has resolved. In fact, I'd say no film that I can recall has ever so deconstructed a character and our feelings towards them more meticulously AGAINST them than what is done here with Leonard. By purposely leaving key information out (how much backstory do we actually "see" anyway?, when did "this" start?) - the movie lingers that same way your own memory does with its same errors and inconsistencies. "Burning" (2018) - a great film imo - borrows very heavily from Memento right down to the 3rd character villain (?) and the sketchily drawn female catalyst but there's a key difference too: You may not know if what happens in "Burning" is morally right, but in "Memento" you know quite certainly that it is not right and that's a crucial difference - there is no doubt about the central mystery ......there's doubts about everything else. One of my favorite endings ever. Leonard's narration, and the subsequent reveal is just perfect, and haunting.
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Post by dadsburgers on May 3, 2020 15:51:21 GMT
No movie ending will ever top Rat Race. The entire cast literally crashes a bus into a Smash Mouth concert, lip-syncs All-Star, and stage dives. How could this possibly be topped?
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Post by pessimusreincarnated on May 3, 2020 16:06:38 GMT
True Grit's (2010) ending has managed to stick with me throughout the years and I think of it often. It's kind of like NCFOM's ending in the sense that it doesn't exactly end on a banger moment- just a somberly reflective and profound moment for our main character. The final shot accompanied by a beautiful rendition of "Leaning on the Everlasting Cross" never fails to bring a tear to my eye.
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Post by DeepArcher on May 3, 2020 22:51:03 GMT
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Another one of my favorite "types" of ending -- The "Okay" ending. Usually comes in the form of the character(s) facing some sort of deception or uncertainty and choosing to accept it in spite of that.
The ending to Eternal Sunshine is one of the most beautiful I've ever seen for how it captures this life-affirming decision and shows what the characters have learned from the experience -- that maybe it is worth it to accept the turbulent times for the sake of the good ones, that it is only through trial and heartache that we can learn and grow, and that we should embrace that rather than reject it. It's perfectly encapsulating the deeper themes of the film while also working on a level of spontaneity and romanticism. It is essentially Kaufman/Gondry putting their own twist on the cheesy rom-com ending and it's the best example of that sort of ending I know of. Carrey and Winslet play this exchange of dialogue to absolute perfection that it astounds me and I don't think I could even articulate in words why or how.
This ending is such a whirlwind of emotions, like a relationship, like life...
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Post by mikediastavrone96 on May 3, 2020 23:07:27 GMT
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless MindAnother one of my favorite "types" of ending -- The "Okay" ending. Usually comes in the form of the character(s) facing some sort of deception or uncertainty and choosing to accept it in spite of that. The ending to Eternal Sunshine is one of the most beautiful I've ever seen for how it captures this life-affirming decision and shows what the characters have learned from the experience -- that maybe it is worth it to accept the turbulent times for the sake of the good ones, that it is only through trial and heartache that we can learn and grow, and that we should embrace that rather than reject it. It's perfectly encapsulating the deeper themes of the film while also working on a level of spontaneity and romanticism. It is essentially Kaufman/Gondry putting their own twist on the cheesy rom-com ending and it's the best example of that sort of ending I know of. Carrey and Winslet play this exchange of dialogue to absolute perfection that it astounds me and I don't think I could even articulate in words why or how. This ending is such a whirlwind of emotions, like a relationship, like life... One of the most brilliant things about this ending is it ultimately reveals character arcs for Joel and Clementine even though one of the foundational issues with a memory-erasing premise is that it undoes character growth. Before they ever met each other - meaning their actual first meeting, of course - Joel would have never been the kind of guy to chase after a girl he barely knows. He cowered in such situations, as evidenced in the "meet me in Montauk" scene. And yet, whether it's due to the echo of that memory, that same echo that drove him to impulsively go to Montauk the day after the erasure, or some other residual fragments of his time with Clementine or the emotional trauma of undergoing the erasure itself, the bottom line is he is a different person for having been with Clementine. She him as well, for although she repeats her same "fucked up girl" line, she goes further into actual introspection, recognizing her own patterns for feeling trapped and bored in any one situation that leads to her impulsivity. He's become more spontaneous, she's become more cautious, and perhaps with them closer to balance the relationship can have a better outcome. At the very least, they may still be better for having known each other a second time around.
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Post by pacinoyes on May 4, 2020 10:13:26 GMT
One of the "tricks" to a great ending is whether you can make the ending "represent" more than your lead character - not often in film but done a lot in literature. A few do it and if they do it they are held in a high esteem.......Casablanca for one. One that does it but plays on you subtly is Robert Altman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) imo his greatest achievement, the best of the genre and one of the best American films ever made, period. The ending of McCabe has been foreshadowed in many sly ways within the movie - throughout it there are allusions to progress, success, myth, and misunderstanding signs of warnings or meanings. When McCabe wakes up on that day - the day - you may not get all the things that happen but you will feel them because Altman made sure his ending wasn't random: he'll die, the townspeople will not fight with him but instead with run to the fire at the church - the institution within the town rather than man who made the town - and that ties into many other ways they turn their back on him prior too - that Julie Christie will not be able to handle it - and will choose not to handle it - preferring the "myth" of opium That ending - complex, lovely, poetic spans and across many characters - even peripheral ones - and preceded a similar but far lesser resolution (in a far lesser film imo - Once Upon A Time in America) by a full decade. It is one of hidden inevitability - you don't really see the individual pieces in relation to the whole and how they were put in place by Altman until usually a 2nd viewing. Use Your Illusion:
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Post by pacinoyes on May 5, 2020 9:56:35 GMT
Halloween (1978) Director: John CarpenterThe great ending as "myth-creation" - how unanswered questions fit into a movie - particularly horror - instead of tying everything up or needing to. In this movie there are not only unanswered questions - there are multiple specifically avoided questions entirely - why does it take the adult Michael Myers so long to kill in this movie?, what is he "thinking" - is he thinking?, how does he know how to drive (?!?) and of course........wait, where did he go? I've picked many horror films in this thread and I could pick a lot more because horror has an advantage no other genre has - it can purposely not resolve. If you're scared of snakes but don't know why that doesn't need an explanation - you live with a fear that is unknowable, never ending and untraceable in origin.......the best horror never really should answer everything......scarier that way, isn't it? Oh why are men so............complicated?:
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Post by themoviesinner on May 5, 2020 15:59:21 GMT
Taste Of Cherry (1997) - Abbas KiarostamiThe film follows Mr. Badii, a man who wants to commit suicide as he drives around trying to find someone willing to bury him if his attempt is successful. Throughout the film, the different people he encounters give him various reasons and perspectives as to why life is worth living. But, the ending of the film, probably among the most controversial endings of the last 30 years, is what makes the film unique and ties all of it's themes together. Before we find out if Mr. Badii's attempt is successful, the film fades to black and the next shot we see (the ending shot) is of Kiarostami himself and the film crew during a stage of the film's production. There's nothing special about this shot. It just depicts the director and the crew going about their daily routine. But it's a fantastic representation of the main thematic backdrop of the film, that the small things in life, the things that we might regard as mundane or insignificant, are the most important in life and they are the basic reason life's worth living for. Things like working on something important to you, having discussions with co-workers or smoking a cigarette. Or tasting a cherry.
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Post by DeepArcher on May 5, 2020 16:06:58 GMT
Taste Of Cherry (1997) - Abbas KiarostamiThe film follows Mr. Badii, a man who wants to commit suicide as he drives around trying to find someone willing to bury him if his attempt is successful. Throughout the film, the different people he encounters give him various reasons and perspectives as to why life is worth living. But, the ending of the film, probably among the most controversial endings of the last 30 years, is what makes the film unique and ties all of it's themes together. Before we find out if Mr. Badii's attempt is successful, the film fades to black and the next shot we see (the ending shot) is of Kiarostami himself and the film crew during a stage of the film's production. There's nothing special about this shot. It just depicts the director and the crew going about their daily routine. But it's a fantastic representation of the main thematic backdrop of the film, that the small things in life, the things that we might regard as mundane or insignificant, are the most important in life and they are the basic reason life's worth living for. Things like working on something important to you, having discussions with co-workers or smoking a cigarette. Or tasting a cherry. I thought of posting this one at a few points and then kept forgetting -- thank you for finally doing so. This ending is so disarming the first time you see it but it's so representative of what makes Kiarostami's cinema so special. Is there any other director of narrative film who would have the balls to end a movie like this? I'm honestly not sure. One of the most daring, creative, original endings I've seen and one that I think of over and over, and Taste of Cherry has slowly become one of my favorite Kiarostami films (probably third, from what I've seen) in retrospect, largely because of the lasting impact that this ending leaves.
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Post by themoviesinner on May 5, 2020 16:19:32 GMT
I thought of posting this one at a few points and then kept forgetting -- thank you for finally doing so. This ending is so disarming the first time you see it but it's so representative of what makes Kiarostami's cinema so special. Is there any other director of narrative film who would have the balls to end a movie like this? I'm honestly not sure. One of the most daring, creative, original endings I've seen and one that I think of over and over, and Taste of Cherry has slowly become one of my favorite Kiarostami films (probably third, from what I've seen) in retrospect, largely because of the lasting impact that this ending leaves. Taste Of Cherry is my favourite film from Kiarostami and one of the greatest films of all time. And Kiarostami is definitely one of the greatest directors ever, basically because he offered a very different perspective to the art of narrative cinema, one that is much more self-reflective and that doesn't just adapt real life, but depicts it. Especially his 90s work is extremely unique and influential.
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Post by DeepArcher on May 5, 2020 18:58:53 GMT
Bicycle Thieves
Has this really not been mentioned yet? Watching Paper Moon last night got me thinking about this movie ... and when I think about this movie my mind always immediately goes to the ending. If I were to make a list of the "great," most essential and most perfect movie endings, it'd probably go something like The Graduate then Chinatown then this ... it's that good and that important. And it's not just the final moments here that are important, the aftermath of Antonio's decision at the end, but also what leads up to that decision as the clip here starts with. Perfectly conveyed via cinematic language through the visuals alone, we have finally reached the point in the story when Antonio has reached the nadir of his desperation, and now must resort to the unthinkable. Watching him contemplate and wrestle with the morality of this decision is compelling enough on its own, and it's then in the aftermath that De Sica's statement really hits home. Antonio's situation has driven him to act like a person he didn't want to become, and that act has made him lose his dignity ... for awhile, he cannot even face his own son. But when he shows remorse, his son still holds his hand anyway... And with that, they disappear back into the crowd...
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Post by pacinoyes on May 6, 2020 10:43:55 GMT
Yesterday I posted about the "unanswerable ending" (or plot) of Halloween (1978) and today I wanted to talk about another horror ending - the original "non-US" ending of (the great) The Descent (2005). The Descent follows a twin path towards that ending which is simultaneously "inevitable" (what did you THINK would happen at the start?) and yet gets there in a way that only makes sense tied to character that is "specific" - you can't know that will happen until you get to know each female character - the lead especially who you maybe don't know IS the lead for a while - and the (missing) male character too. .............and that is crucial because for all practical purposes no men really appear in this film once it gets rolling - or at least no one plays the "male role". The "male role" exists in the past for females here and the lead characters remembrance of the relationship(s) to that "male role" haunts the lead character especially - in an entirely different way than what is haunting her in the present. This layered and complex ending (not just a final shot but that final shot too!) is unforgettable and if you've ever seen the "US ending" - well you'll be appalled - a total betrayal of everything that the "original ending" executed so well - thematically, logically........inevitably.
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Post by pacinoyes on May 6, 2020 18:53:16 GMT
If there's a movie ending I generally rail against - it's the "appropriation" of an ending from other works of Art (or in Spike Lee's case - CNN ) But Withnail and I (1987) actually took from another great work literally - and did it far more creatively and logically than others. The character is an actor first of all - quoting Hamlet so that makes sense - and that speech is far more emotional than what has occurred in the film prior too. It is so unexpected - yet it is also strangely suited to the piece it works in an odd way, as uniquely as the movie. It's an element of self-awareness (as in Star Trek Wrath of Khan too) that makes it really work where others do not. Wolves, lower:
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