Happy Endings

I saw No Country for Old Men last night. I had high expectations, as I had read the book a couple of years ago. It stayed true to the book, and I enjoyed it -- but was a little dissappointed-- I'll give it a 3.5/5. Being a Coen Brothers film I thought it would be a bit more stylised and unusual. And, you have to blame Cormac McCarthy for this, but I am so sick of movies with unhappy or unsatisfying endings. Call me uncultured, but give me an average movie with a decent ending over a classy movie with a dud ending any day.

You know what movie has the best, and most satisfying ending ever? The Shawshank Redemption. There may be a bit of cheese, and yet another Morgan Freeman voice over, but still, that is a top movie. It actually has about two or three satisfying endings, which is three more than most movies. Does it end with us wondering if Andy escapes prison? Nope. Does it end with him free, and us wondering what he does next? Nope, keeps going. Do we get to see Red get free as well? And the evil warden get his come-uppance? Yep.

And if all of this isn't enough, in the final scene, we even get to see what we as the viewer have been really wanting to see-- Andy and Red meeting up on the beautiful South American beach to work together on Andy's boat. How can you not tear up at that? You can't. And how can it not make you want to work on a boat? An impossibility. Satisfaction guaranteed.