1. War of the Worlds (2005)
The Happy Ending... Despite being one of the greatest directors to have ever lived, Steven Spielberg is something of a wuss. Not that there's anything wrong with being a wuss on occassion (that's my nickname at family BBQs, if you're interested ), although just once I'd like to go see a Spielberg movie where he makes us think he's going to deploy another one of his schmalzy endings, and then - woah! - a bus just ploughs into all the major characters and the credits roll. Thing is, I kind of dug Spielberg's take on
War of the Worlds, despite the fact that both of Tom Cruise's kids in the movie should have been put up for adoption at birth. The movie ends in true Spielberg style with absolutely nobody we're supposed to care about being vaporised by alien death rays. Tom gets his screaming daughter back to her mother in Boston, and then the older kid - who we presumed was dead - turns out to be alive, making this the happiest happy ending in apocalypse movie history.
What We Really Needed... Which just sucked, Steven. Robbie - that older kid I mentioned - didn't need to survive this thing. We didn't like him, anyway, and nobody cared whether he was alive or not. The whole movie would've been given an added air of tragedy and weight if you had just let his fate remain ambiguous. We could've come out thinking, "Man, that sucks... that poor family lost their kid.
Horrible," instead of, "Steven Spielberg is such a wuss." Which you are, Steven. And you know that, don't you?
Got any examples of your own? Let us know in the comments section below.