The best kind of cinematic experiences offer two movies for the price of one, but I am not talking about a double feature. I am talking about one film that shifts its tone so dramatically at one point in the story that it almost feels like it becomes a new movie entirely. The following are some of the best flicks that gave audiences an evolutionary experience in one sitting.

Parasite (2019)

One of cinema's biggest surprises of 2019 is writer and director Bong Joon-ho's Best Picture Oscar winner, Parasite, which, at first, is presented as a smart and quirkily funny economic satire about a poor family conning their way into a wealthy family's lives. At the almost exact halfway point, the Korean-language film becomes a bleak cautionary tale when the main family's taste of the high life suddenly begins to unravel before their eyes.

Predator (1987)

If not for its ominous title and opening shot of a strange ship entering Earth's atmosphere, you might assume that Predator is a simple military action thriller. Its sci-fi elements become most apparent when Arnold Schwarzenegger's Dutch and his crew members are slowly picked off one by one by one of the most terrifying extraterrestrials in cinematic history.

Shaun Of The Dead (2004)

Director Edgar Wright and star and co-writer Simon Pegg made their breakthrough with a relatively grounded sitcom called Spaced, which might lead one to assume that their first cinematic collaboration would be a relatively grounded comedy. Indeed, Shaun of the Dead feels like nothing more than a simple rom-com for a good while before it becomes apparent to the audience and our characters, through darkly hilarious circumstances, that London has become overrun with hungry, reanimated corpses in the instant horror-comedy classic.

Life Is Beautiful (1997)

Roberto Benigni is a master of both broad comedy and tender drama and utilizes both brilliantly as the co-writer, director, and star of the World War II film and Oscar winner, Life is Beautiful. He plays a father anyone would be proud to have named Guido, whose clumsy nature and charming courting of the future mother of his son provides some lighthearted comfort, until it becomes a devastating tragedy when the film depicts the Holocaust through his family's eyes.

Sorry To Bother You (2018)

If you take out Cassius Green's (Lakeith Stanfield) uncanny "white voice," Sorry to Bother You feels like a relatively grounded economic satire set in the world of telemarketing at first. It becomes clear that Boots Riley's dazzling debut is not quite set in the real world when things take an unapologetically bizarre, surreal turn near the end.

Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom (1984)

Temple of Doom may be one of the lower-ranked Indiana Jones movies by many, but I have always admired the prequel, especially for being such a dramatic departure from its predecessor. Of course, it does feel like the same fun, breezy action-adventure story that Raiders of the Lost Ark is in its first half, but once Indy (Harrison Ford), Willie (Kate Capshaw), and Short Round (Ke Huy Quan) come across the Thuggee Cult, it's a straight-up horror flick.

Jojo Rabbit (2019)

Taika Waititi achieves an astonishing balance act with the way he pokes fun at the politics of 1930s Germany in Jojo Rabbit. In fact, the Oscar-winning period satire does such a good job establishing itself as a lighthearted comedy that its tragic turns in the second half are especially shocking.

Man On Fire (2004)

In its earliest moments, director Tony Scott's Man on Fire establishes itself as an uplifting redemption tale, following a depressed former CIA agent (played by Denzel Washington) and his healing bond with the young girl he is hired to protect (played by Dakota Fanning). However, it becomes a gritty revenge movie when the child is kidnapped and our hero moves heaven and earth to find her.

Psycho (1960)

Those who saw Psycho when it was first released might have assumed the title refers to Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) and her choice to go on the run with stolen money. Of course, the Alfred Hitchcock thriller's true purpose is revealed when Crane makes a stop at the Bates Motel, which turns out to be her final destination.

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

Director Robert Rodriguez and writer and star Quentin Tarantino collaborate on a gritty crime drama about a pair of ruthless brothers (played by George Clooney and Tarantino) on the run who take a vacationing family hostage. Once they reach their intended destination, a mysterious roadside bar, From Dusk Till Dawn suddenly erupts into a crazy vampire movie.

Audition (1999)

Takashi Miike's Audition is one of the most shocking Japanese horror films of all time, particularly because it presents itself as a redemptive romantic drama at first. Widowed Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) hosts a fake movie casting call to find a new wife and immediately falls for Asami Yamazaki (Eihi Shiina), whom he eventually discovers is a brutal sadist when she subjects him to her torturous hobbies.

Click (2006)

Click proved that Adam Sandler was making a move toward more mature films by having its story slowly evolve into something more mature than its first half. The sci-fi comedy indulges in the same childish humor the SNL star was best known for before his character's truly universal remote and its auto-fast forward function begin to take over his life in surprisingly heartbreaking ways.

True Romance (1993)

Quentin Tarantino was not yet a household name when a film he penned called True Romance was released, so audiences could not prepare themselves for its wild twists and turns. Clarence Worley (Christian Slater) and Alabama Whitman's (Patricia Arquette) indulgent but irresistibly charming pairing promises a sweet, lighthearted comedy before things turn violent.

Fresh (2022)

Without any prior knowledge of its plot, Fresh seems like nothing more than a funny, yet frighteningly realistic, rom-com until 30 minutes in its when its opening titles finally kick off and it becomes frightening for another reason. Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones) believes her horrific dating streak has ended when she meets Steve (Sebastian Stan), until she discovers his shocking true intentions for her.

Lost Highway (1997)

One of the most infamously discombobulating David Lynch movies, Lost Highway, begins as a story about a married couple (played by Bill Pullman and Patricia Arquette) suffering from a bizarre and distressing situation, among other personal matters. However, things get even stranger when Pullman's character is inexplicably transformed into a younger mechanic, played by Balthazar Getty, who suddenly becomes the new protagonist.

Barbarian (2022)

Writer and director Zach Cregger was not even sure what type of story he was going to tell when he began penning Barbarian as a writing exercise, which certainly explains its subversive shifts in tone. It starts off feeling more like a rom-com with an otherwise terrifyingly awkward meet-cute (Georgina Campbell and Bill Skarsgård's characters meet at a mistakenly double-booked Airbnb) before revealing itself as a grotesque horror flick when they discover the house is hiding a secret.

Bone Tomahawk (2015)

Despite its somber tone and gradual pacing, die-hard fans of the genre would agree that S. Craig Zahler's Bone Tomahawk, depicting a trip to rescue a doctor kidnapped from her 19th-century village, is one of the best Western movies of its time. Once Kurt Russell's Sheriff Hunt and his comrades come across the kidnappers, a tribe of indigenous cannibals, it becomes one of the best horror movies of its time, let alone one of the most hauntingly brutal.

About Time (2013)

In the category of great time travel movies, About Time, starring Domhnall Gleeson as Tim, who discovers the ability to travel through time runs through his family, is one of the funniest, most uplifting, and most romantic entries, particularly when he falls for Mary (Rachel McAdams). However, at one point, it takes a heartbreaking turn into a story of loss.

Sinners (2025)

In Eric Eisenberg's Sinners review for CinemaBlend, he says he cannot decide if he loves Ryan Coogler's period film more as a crime drama or as a horror movie. Most critics and audiences would agree that the vampire-infested second half of this tale about twin gangsters (both played by Michael B. Jordan) returning to their home in the Jim Crow-era South is as strong and powerful as its more grounded first half.

Titanic (1997)

James Cameron's Oscar-winning historical blockbuster Titanic saves its breathtaking dramatization of the eponymous luxury passenger ship's tragic sinking in 1912 for its second half. Much of the story up to that point is a sweeping romance, following the passionate love affair between two fictional passengers: the wealthy, engaged Rose Butaker (Kate Winslet) and the impoverished, charming artist, Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio).

Behind The Mask: The Rise Of Leslie Vernon (2006)

Co-writer and director Scott Glosserman's criminally overlooked horror-comedy, Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, is a brilliant send-up of classic slasher movie tropes filmed predominantly in a documentary style. That is, until the final act when the title character (played by Nathan Baesel) embarks on his big murder spree, and the film becomes a more traditionally dramatic masked killer flick.

Shutter Island (2010)

One of Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio's best collaborations, Shutter Island, seems like a standard detective noir, following US Marshals Teddy Marshall (DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) investigating a disappearance at the eponymous mental health facility. However, the shocking plot twist, which I will let you find out on your own, changes the story into something else entirely.

Terms Of Endearment (1983)

Writer and director James L. Brooks' Oscar-winning adaptation of Larry McMurtry's novel, Terms of Endearment, is one of the most traumatically shocking tearjerkers in cinematic history, particularly for the way its heatbreaking plot points sneak up on you. The Oscar-winning film is largely a light dramedy focusing on Aurora Greenway (Shirley MacLaine) and her relationship with her daughter, Emma (Debra Winger), until the film shifts to a story of grief and loss when Emma is diagnosed with cancer.

Primal Fear (1996)

At first, the main pull of Primal Fear is Richard Gere's central character, defense attorney Martin Vail, and his moral flexibility and craving for an attention-grabbing case. The plot takes a bewildering turn near the end of the legal drama when the truth about Vail's client, a young murder suspect named Aaron (Edward Norton in his debut), is revealed

Bridge To Terabithia (2007)

A perfect example of movie marketing that misled its audience is Bridge to Terabithia, which was promoted as a fun family film following Leslie (AnnaSophia Robb) and Jess' (Josh Hutcherson) adventures in the eponymous fantasy realm. That description does match the tone of the film, but only up to a point when tragedy turns it into a traumatic gut-punch.

Overlord (2018)

Early on, Overlord was assumed to be an unofficial cinematic adaptation of the Call of Duty video games' zombie level, but it is not exactly that. In fact, the World War II-era combat drama remains relatively grounded for much of the first half before revealing its imaginative take on real-life, horrific experiments in reanimation.

Something Wild (1986)

Director Jonathan Demme's Something Wild certainly wears its darker properties on its sleeve throughout, but the story of a straightlaced businessman (played by Jeff Daniels) roped into an adventure with a free-spirited woman (played by Melanie Griffith) is largely outweighed at first by its fun, breezy romantic elements. However, it does begin to gradually evolve into a more earnest and alarming thriller once Ray Liotta shows up as the female lead's convict ex-husband.

The Wailing (2016)

Do not underestimate the blood-curdling twists and turns in store in the acclaimed Korean horror movie, The Wailing. You may feel safe to let your guard down by the comedic elements of this cop drama before its true identity as a harrowing supernatural thriller is unveiled.

Miracle Mile (1988)

You might have forgotten about the '80s movie Miracle Mile, which is a quirky comedy following Harry Washello (Anthony Edwards) and his blossoming romance with Julie Peters (Mare Winningham). Things change when Harry overhears evidence that the United States is launching a nuclear war with the Soviet Union and races against time to get him and Julie to safety.

Very Bad Things (1998)

Writer and director Peter Berg's feature debut, Very Bad Things, is a precursor to The Hangover, but takes things in even darker directions. It starts off as a light, funny party movie about five friends enjoying a bachelor party in Las Vegas, until an accidental murder brings the fun to a screeching halt and causes the story to descend into a maddening thriller.

Downsizing (2017)

In my opinion, Alexander Payne's Downsizing is, unfortunately, a go-to example of a disappointing movie with a great concept, namely a scientific breakthrough that helps people become more financially solvent by shrinking to five inches tall. The issue for me is that it shifts from a sci-fi economic satire to an environmental PSA in such a sudden, jarring succession.

Fantastic Four (2015)

There are many reasons why Josh Trank's Fantastic Four is one of the most critically reviled superhero movies of all time, but I don't consider its shift into a body horror movie to be one of them. In fact, portraying Marvel's superhero family as victims of their amazing abilities could have worked well had the film not used up so much time as a slow-paced inter-dimensional expedition thriller first, and so weakly tried to wedge in a generic comic book movie finale at the end.

I am a sucker for a good movie plot twist, especially because of how rare they tend to be. For every masterful movie ending (or even a scene in the middle) that almost completely changes the nature of, or enhances, the story, there are even more that pretty much ruin the story by not making much sense or just being unnecessary, unoriginal, or just plain offensive. The following are some notable plot twists (or plot reveals) that did not blow my mind but certainly numbed it.

Trevor Slattery Is Not The Real Mandarin (Iron Man 3)

One of the reasons Marvel fans have issues with Iron Man 3 is the reveal that the 2013 superhero flick's main villain, The Mandarin, is actually an actor named Trevor Slattery (played by Ben Kingsley). The disappointment in seeing Tony Stark's archenemy resorted to a cheap joke was acknowledged and, somewhat, corrected in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which introduced the true Mandarin, Xu Wenwu (Tony Leung Chiu-wai).

The Aliens' Weakness Is Water (Signs)

I am a firm believer that there are some great M. Night Shyalaman movie twists, in addition to 1999's The Sixth Sense, but I do not think the ending of 2002's Signs is one of them. Making the creatures in this alien invasion movie allergic to water is an already weak deus ex machina that is also far too similar to the ending of H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds, in which Martians die from the common cold.

The Final Battle Was All A Dream (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2)

I am not a big fan of dream sequence fake-outs, and I personally believe that the final installment of the Twilight movies has one of the more egregious examples. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 culminates in an epic battle between the Cullens and Volturi that, soon after, is revealed to have been Alice's (Ashley Greene) vision, which convinces Aro (Michael Sheen) to recede before any violence can take place.

Rey Is Palpatine's Granddaughter (Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker)

You know, 2019's Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is not as low on my personal Star Wars movie ranking as it is for many other fans, but I do agree it has one of the most nonsensical plot twists in any franchise. The reveal that Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) is the grandfather of Rey (Daisy Ridley) is a very weak justification for resurrecting a character who really had no business coming back from the dead in the first place, if you ask me.

The Crystal Skull Belongs To An Alien (Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull)

I would honestly love to say that I enjoyed the fourth installment of my all-time favorite movie franchise. Unfortunately, I could not get behind the reveal in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull that the titular artifact comes from an extra-terrestrial carcass.

Mary Is Also A Powerful Immortal (Hancock)

Hancock starts off as an inventive take on superhero lore by focusing on a homeless amnesiac and alcoholic with superpowers (played by Will Smith) seeking redemption. Unfortunately, the 2008 non-comic-book-based superhero movie makes things unnecessarily complicated by revealing that Mary (Charlize Theron) is not only a member of the same mystical race but is Hancock's former wife. To make matters worse, the twist was revealed in the marketing.

Agent Rhodes Is The Fifth Horseman (Now You See Me)

Now You See Me, a crime thriller about a group of talented magicians who use their skills in illusion to rob banks, tries to go for a Usual Suspects-esque twist in the 2013 thriller's final resolution. It is revealed that Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo), an FBI agent who has been obsessively chasing the Four Horsemen, is actually one of them. Yeah, great cover.

Marie Was The Killer The Whole Time (High Tension)

Writer and director Alexandre Aja's French-language breakout feature, 2003's High Tension, proves he is a master of high-wire suspense and inventively brutal kill scenes, but not in crafting compelling twist endings. The reveal that the murderous kidnapper (Philippe Nahon) whom Marie (Cécile de France) has been trying to catch is her own dissociative identity completely contradicts the entire story.

A General Thade Sculpture Replaces The Lincoln Memorial (Planet Of The Apes)

The original sci-fi movie classic, 1968's Planet of the Apes, boasts one of the most ingenious twist endings of all time, while Tim Burton's 2001 remake boasts one of the more confusing and unintentionally comical. Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg) returns to what he assumes is his home planet, where he finds a sculpture of General Thade (Tim Roth) where the Lincoln Memorial should be, begging the question, "What?"

Michael Myers Is Laurie Strode's Brother (Halloween II)

John Carpenter's original vision for Michael Myers – the protagonist of his 1978 horror movie classic, Halloween – as an indiscriminate force of evil is tragically undercut by a twist from the 1981 sequel that the filmmaker came up with while inebriated. I personally prefer to ignore the reveal that Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is the estranged sister of the masked murderer, and I am glad the 2018 requel did, too.

Plants Are Killing Humans (The Happening)

M. Night Shyamalan's 2008 thriller, The Happening, is considered one of Hollywood's most uproarious so-bad-its-good movies for a multitude of reasons, especially when the source of its main situation is revealed. I honestly admire Shyamalan for attempting an environmentalist statement with one of his films, but I don't know if a story about plants vengefully releasing pheromones with deadly consequences for the human race was the way to do it.

Dill's World Is A Video Game (Serenity)

At first, 2019's Serenity – in which fishing boat captain Baker Dill (Matthew McConaughey) is asked by his ex-wife (Anne Hathaway) to kill her new husband, Frank (Jason Clarke) – starts off as a pretty compelling noir until the random twist reveal brings things to a screeching halt. We discover the entire movie up to that point has taken place in a computer game created by a teenager as a way to cope with the death of his father, who inspired the character of Dill, and the abuse of his stepfather, who inspired Frank.

Aliens Save The Children (Knowing)

In 2008's Knowing, Nicolas Cage plays an astrophysicist who discovers a list of numbers predicting an inevitable doomsday. However, his son, Caleb, and a girl named Abby are among those chosen by an alien race to avoid Earth's destruction and are taken to another planet that resembles the Garden of Eden. If you ask me, this just feels like a jarring way for the story to indulge in its doomsday element and still have a hopeful conclusion, and, if it were me, I would have chosen one or the other.

Bond And Blofeld Are Adoptive Siblings (Spectre)

Remember in Austin Powers in Goldmember when it is revealed that the titular spy and his archenemy, Dr. Evil (both played by Mike Myers), are long-lost brothers? Years later, the 2015's Spectre did a similar thing by making James Bond's (Daniel Craig) nemesis, Blofeld (Christoph Waltz), his adopted brother and expected audiences to take it seriously.

Lomax's Devilish Encounter Was A Fantasy (The Devil's Advocate)

The otherwise fun legal drama The Devil's Advocate spoils its own intriguing supernatural plot by revealing that Florida attorney Kevin Lomax (Keanu Reeves) dreamt up his toxic mentorship with Satan in human form (Al Pacino). Then, the film tries to pile on another twist by showing an eager reporter transform into Pacino right before the credits roll.

Walter Wrote The Book (The Number 23)

Widely considered to be one of Jim Carrey's worst movies is 2007's The Number 23, in which his character, Walter, is gifted a disturbing book by his wife, Agatha (Virginia Madsen), that he becomes dangerously obsessed with. It turns out to be a memoir that Walter himself wrote during his stay at a mental institution before becoming struck with amnesia. Why would his wife decide to give him a book that could potentially resurface these terrible memories in the first place?

Gale Framed Himself (The Life Of David Gale)

Kevin Spacey stars in the title role of 2003's The Life of David Gale as an anti-execution activist who is put on death row after he is accused of murder. The ending reveals that he framed himself for the crime as an elaborate protest of the death penalty. I believe there are more effective and less deadly ways to make his point, though.

Jo Is The Ghost Of Alex's Wife (Safe Haven)

Based on a Nicholas Sparks novel, 2013's Safe Haven stars Julianne Hough as Katie – a woman on the run from an abusive relationship who finds love again with widowed father Alex (played by Josh Duhamel). Along the way, she meets a friend named Jo (played by How I Met Your Mother cast member Cobie Smulders), whom she later discovers is the spirit of Alex's late wife. Was there really any need to suddenly make this romantic thriller a ghost story at the very end?

Teddy Was A Patient The Whole Time (Shutter Island)

To preface, I think 2010's Shutter Island – starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a US Marshal investigating a disappearance at a mental health facility – is one of the actor's best collaborations with director Martin Scorsese. However, the reveal that DiCaprio's "Teddy" is an alternate personality of Andrew Laeddis, who became a patient at the island after murdering his wife, is disappointingly too familiar.

The Final Explosion Was Cris' Vision (Next)

Based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, 2007's Next stars Nicolas Cage as a psychic named Cris Johnson, who is enlisted to help prevent a nuclear explosion. The film ends with the bomb going off before cutting to Cris in a motel bed with Jessica Biel's Liz, revealing that the events of the entire day were all a prediction in his head. I suppose this makes for a happy ending, but a frustrating way to get to it, if you ask me.

All The Characters Exist In A Homicidal DID Patient's Head (Identity)

James Mangold's Identity is not your typical whodunit, as it turns out the entire plot, involving a group of strangers fighting for their lives against an unseen killer at a rundown motel, is all an elaborate fantasy inside the head of a convict with Dissociative Identity Disorder. Admittedly, this ending has actually grown on me over the years, but when I first saw it, I thought it was a cheap cop-out made worse by the final reveal that the murderer was the 10-year-old identity the whole time.

John And Jack Have Been Protecting The Bad Guy (A Good Day To Die Hard)

There are many reasons why 2013's A Good Day to Die Hard is the least liked of Bruce Willis' adventures as John McClane, including its cheap plot twist. The veteran cop and his CIA operative son, Jack (Jai Courtney), discover that the government whistleblower they have been tasked with protecting (played by Sebastian Koch) is actually the mastermind behind an elaborate scheme involving selling uranium on the black market.

David Is His Daughter's Imaginary Friend (Hide And Seek)

It seems like Fight Club's wild twist ending begat plenty of copycats for a while, such as 2005's Hide and Seek. The thriller stars Robert De Niro as a widowed psychologist who discovers that the murderous imaginary friend whom his daughter (played by Dakota Fanning) calls "Charlie" is actually a dissociative identity living in his mind.

The Whole Story Was Ophelia's Premonition (Savages)

Oliver Stone's 2012 adaptation of Don Winslow's novel, Savages, sees pot growers Ben (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Chon (Taylor Kitsch) take action when a cartel kidnaps their shared girlfriend, Ophelia (Blake Lively). It all results in the tragic death of all three... or so we think. The deadly sequence turns out to have happened in Ophelia's head, leaving critics and audiences to wonder why the story would waste their time with a fantasy like that.

Kate's Organ Donor Is Tom (Last Christmas)

In Paul Feig's Last Christmas, Emilia Clarke's Kate discovers that her love interest, Tom (Henry Golding), is actually the ghost of the man whose heart now beats in her chest a year after a life-saving transplant. I mean, it's kind of a sweet reveal, but it also feels like a forced way to connect the 2019 rom-com to Wham's 1984 hit of the same name ("Last Christmas, I gave you my heart...").

Tom Is The Killer (The Girl On The Train)

Emily Blunt's Rachel spends much of The Girl on the Train fearing she may have killed her former nanny, Megan (Haley Bennett), in a drunken stupor. However, new information helps her realize that her ex-husband, Tom (Justin Theroux), has been feeding her false information for years and discovers that he killed Megan, who was also his mistress. I was honestly pretty turned off by this 2016 psychological thriller from the get-go, but this twist ripped off from a Dateline special really put the nail in the coffin for me.

Benson Is "Ben's Son" (I Still Know What You Did Last Summer)

The reveal in I Know What You Did Last Summer that the guilty teens were stalked by Ben, a man they were convinced they accidentally killed a year earlier, was certainly improbable but accepted by slasher fans who had seen worse. However, the reveal in the 1998 sequel that Will Benson (Matthew Settle) is not only the villain but also the original killer's son especially stretched the limits of believability.

It Was All An Alien Experiment (The Forgotten)

In 2004's The Forgotten, Telly Peretta (Julianne Moore) discovers that people suddenly have no memory of her deceased son because of an extra-terrestrial experiment to test if a parent's bond with their child can be broken. The twist is interesting in concept, but absolutely laughable in execution, especially in scenes when people are literally sucked up into the sky by the invaders.

Freddy Krueger Was Guilty After All (A Nightmare On Elm Street)

Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street is certainly not a movie that needed a reboot, but the 2010 remake almost justified its existence by introducing the possibility that its villain might not have deserved to be killed by a mob of angry parents. Unfortunately, the film would ultimately waste its potential by revealing that the dream-haunting Freddy Krueger (Jackie Earle Haley) was, indeed, a child predator.

Ray Is A Figment Of Rachel's Imagination (Sweet Girl)

Netflix's 2021 action film Sweet Girl stars Jason Momoa as Ray, whose search for the truth behind the pharmaceutical company that could have saved his wife's life puts him and his daughter, Rachel (Isabela Merced), in danger. As it turns out, Ray has been dead for two years, and young, petite teen Rachel, suffering from both PTSD and DID, managed to take out her enemies all on her own.

Rooster Is The Killer (Righteous Kill)

The best movies starring both Robert De Niro and Al Pacino are the ones that keep them largely estranged, unlike 2008's Righteous Kill. However, this crime thriller really suffers from its twist, revealing that Rooster (Pacino) is the killer that he and Turk (De Niro) have been trying to find the whole time.

Tyler Dies On 9/11 (Remember Me)

In Remember Me, Robert Pattinson and Emilia de Ravin play Tyler and Ally, whose lives begin to turn around after meeting in the summer of 2001. However, their relationship reaches an upsetting fate when Tyler (Pattinson) is revealed to have been at the World Trade Center at the time of the terrorist attacks on September 11. Critics and audiences were rightfully perturbed by the way this already sappy romantic drama turned a real-life tragedy occurring less than a decade earlier into heartstring-tugging bait.

You've heard the saying, "The book's always better than the movie." Well, it turns out that's not always true. Sometimes films are able to streamline through a novel's tedious exposition or confusing jargon. Other times they're able to bring fantastical worlds to life in a more spectacular way than you might have imagined. Either way, here are some book-to-screen adaptations that are at least as good as — and sometimes better than — their source material.

Jaws

Never bet against Steven Spielberg, especially with John Williams providing what turned out to be an Oscar-winning score! The 1975 thriller Jaws is widely considered to be one movie that's at least as good as its source material. Spielberg cut out a lot of side plots from Peter Benchley's 1974 novel, and the actors really elevated the book's largely unlikeable characters, particularly Robert Shaw as Quint, turning the film into a classic you can watch over and over.

Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory

There are some pretty big differences between Roald Dahl's 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the 1971 classic Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory starring Gene Wilder (not to mention the 2005 remake and 2023 prequel). That means it's probably a matter of personal preference regarding which is "better," but it's hard to argue with Mel Stuart's musical fantasy.

The Thing

While John W. Campbell Jr.'s 1938 novella Who Goes There? is considered a classic for its deeply developed characters and an alien that's smarter — and therefore possibly scarier — than its movie's equivalent, John Carpenter's The Thing from 1982 is considered one of the best horror movies of all time. Its truly repulsive monster and effective special effects hold up even decades later.

Stand By Me

Lots of Stephen King novels have been adapted for the screen, and not all of those projects have been great. Stand By Me, however, which was adapted from "The Body," from the Different Seasons collection, is considered one of the best movies from the '80s. Some people prefer the movie, if only for the nostalgia kick provided by its phenomenal casting of Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman and Jerry O'Connell.

The Ring

Both the Americanized 2002 horror The Ring and Koji Suzuki's 1991 novel are highly acclaimed, but the book simply can't match the movie in terms of the creepy imagery from the cursed video.

Fight Club

Brad Pitt and Edward Norton are simply incomparable as a dynamic duo in 1999's Fight Club. Not only is the movie considered one of the best of the '90s, and Chuck Palahniuk — author of the 1996 book of the same name — has spoken positively about David Ficher's film.

The Lord Of The Rings

I don't think anyone's arguing the talents of J. R. R. Tolkien here, and indeed many do prefer the world-building and lore of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings saga. However, other fans argue that the films are more inviting, bringing emotion to the characters and cutting through all of the author's descriptive text.

The Hunger Games

There's no question that Suzanne Collins' The Hunter Games books could stand on their own, but it was thrilling to see those terrifying games portrayed on the big screen. From the worlds built for the youngsters' trials to The Hunger Games' ridiculous outfits, it's no wonder many hold Jennifer Lawrence's movie trilogy in such high regard. To me, it was worth it all to see Katniss' red carpet-worthy "Girl on Fire" dress.

The Shining

The Shining is one of Stephen King's best books, and — thanks in large part to Jack Nicholson's unforgettable turn as Jack Torrance — the horror movie of the same name also remains a time-honored classic. Both will scare the daylights out of you, and there are enough differences between Stanley Kubrick's film and the book that The Shining is totally still worth reading after you've seen the movie.

Requiem For A Dream

Hubert Selby Jr.'s 1978 novel Requiem for a Dream is a good read, but you just can't beat the performances turned in by the cast of Darren Aronofsky's 2000 film. Whether it's the heartbreaking tailspin of Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly and Marlon Wayans' characters into addiction, Ellen Burstyn's obsession with being on television or Christopher McDonald's haunting Tappy Tibbons leading a chant about JUICE, this movie elevates the already-harrowing text into something that you won't be able to shake.

Room

Emma Donoghue's 2010 novel Room is told from the perspective of 5-year-old Jack, which gives a different POV to the story of a mother and her son escaping after years of captivity than the 2015 film adaptation. The book is undoubtedly gripping, but the movie holds its own, earning four Academy Award nominations, including a win for Brie Larson for Best Actress.

The Silence Of The Lambs

It doesn't matter how good Thomas Harris' 1988 novel The Silence of the Lambs was — and it was definitely good — the 1991 film adaptation won the Academy Awards' "Big Five," which includes the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director (Jonathan Demme), Best Actress (Jodie Foster), Best Actor (Anthony Hopkins) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Ted Talley). Since its release there have been three more movies and two TV series based on these characters, so I'd say that paints both the film and the novel in a phenomenally successful light.

Mean Girls

It's not really fair to compare 2004's Mean Girls to the source material that inspired it. That's because Tina Fey adapted one of the best high school movies of all time from Rosalind Wiseman's self-help book Queen Bees and Wannabes, which is a guide for parents to help their teenage daughters survive in a world of cliques, gossip and boyfriends. While moms of teens (myself included) could probably use all the help we can get, there's no way Queen Bees and Wannabees could stand up to Mean Girls' most quotable lines and pop culture references.

To Kill A Mockingbird

Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird has been a staple in schools since it came out in 1960 for its exploration of themes like race and stereotypes. It wouldn't be fair or correct to say that the 1962 film was better, but Gregory Peck and Mary Badham gave performances that earned them Oscar nominations as Atticus and Scout Finch, respectively. Overall the movie won three of the eight awards it was up for (including Best Actor for Peck), which should make it worthy of being considered as good as Lee's novel.

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

While many still prefer Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the 1975 movie made Randle Patrick McMurphy's crimes more palatable for the moviegoing audience and ultimately won five of the nine Academy Awards it was nominated for, including Best Actor for Jack Nicholson and Best Actress for Louise Fletcher (Nurse Ratched).

Psycho

Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho is based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch, but the movie proved why Hitchcock was the master of suspense, with that infamous shower scene likely inspiring audience members to start double-checking the locks on their bathroom doors. While the 1960 film may be as good (or better than) the book, the same can't be said for 1998's Psycho, which is considered one of the worst remakes in Hollywood history.

The Shawshank Redemption

Adapted from Stephen King's novella from Different Seasons, The Shawshank Redemption was turned into a classic movie that many think surpasses its source material. Frank Darabont's 1994 film adds a lot to the story of Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), Ellis "Red" Redding (Morgan Freeman) and their decades together in prison. The film garnered seven Oscar nominations but did not win any.

Jurassic Park

Michael Crichton set the stage with his 1990 novel Jurassic Park for how dinosaurs could come to exist in the modern era and Steven Spielberg got hold of the idea and ran with it, creating a world for the big screen that we'd only ever dreamed about. As good as the book is, there was just something about seeing the prehistoric beasts walking amongst the humans with our own eyes, and that idea has since inspired two trilogies and several TV series.

Forrest Gump

A lot was changed in the story of Forrest Gump between the 1986 novel by Winston Groom and the 1994 Robert Zemeckis film, but for many, it was Tom Hanks' heartbreaking portrayal that got us, along with plenty of quotes still being repeated today. The six Academy Awards from 13 nominations also speak to it being a pretty good movie adaptation.

The Hunt For Red October

The 1990 spy thriller The Hunt for Red October cut out quite a few subplots and a lot of technical language from Tom Clancy's best-selling debut novel, making it more approachable for a wider audience. Without the popularity of this movie, would we still live in a world with three dozen Jack Ryan novels, a handful of films and a TV series? Thankfully we don't have to consider the alternative.

The Notebook

Nobody tells an epically sad love story quite like Nicholas Sparks, and that includes his 1996 novel The Notebook. However, seeing Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams' chemistry as they brought Noah and Allie's story to life in the 2004 drama was what really stuck with fans over the years.

The Princess Bride

The Princess Bride is one of the funniest and most quotable movies of the 1980s, and it's considered just as good as its source material, though the two are very different. William Goldman's 1973 novel is highly praised amongst those who have read it, with many fans suggesting that people who have only seen the movie would still enjoy the book.

A Clockwork Orange

Stanley Kubrick's 1971 adaptation of A Clockwork Orange is a fairly loyal interpretation of Anthony Burgess's 1962 novel, save for a few changes to make Malcolm McDowell's Alex more palatable. Many prefer the film's darker ending, as well, to the more optimistic conclusion Burgess wrote.

Little Women

Louisa May Alcott's Little Women has been adapted twice in recent decades — the 1994 version starring Winona Ryder as Jo March and Greta Gerwig's 2019 film. Because each iteration alters the March sisters' stories to better reflect the societal roles and priorities of a woman in that day, it only makes sense that audiences connect more with the updated material.

The Wizard Of Oz

No matter how classic L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is — and there are plenty who are staunch defenders of the book — there's nothing quite like seeing Dorothy step from her sepia-toned Kansas farmhouse into the fantastic Technicolor world of Oz in 1939's The Wizard of Oz. The film adaptation remains a beloved children's movie all these decades later.

Shutter Island

Both the 2003 psychological thriller by Dennis Lehane and Martin Scorsese's 2010 adaptation of Shutter Island starring Leonardo DiCaprio are highly regarded by fans, with many choosing to experience both, despite knowing how it ends. The movie stays loyal to the novel and can be considered at least as good, if not better.

The Devil Wears Prada

In Lauren Weisberger's The Devil Wears Prada, her fictionalized account of working for Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour is undoubtedly fascinating, but Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly on top of the performances of Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and the rest of the cast elevate the story.

The Godfather

Mario Puzo's 1969 bestseller The Godfather was arguably made even better by Francis Ford Coppola by focusing his film on Marlon Brando's Vito Corleone and his relationship with son Michael (Al Pacino), thereby streamlining the novel's grand story.

A Simple Favor

In the movie adaptation of A Simple Favor, many find Anna Kendrick's Stephanie more likable than the blogger in Darcey Bell's 2017 novel of the same name. To that point, Blake Lively makes her own character Emily feel even more dangerous.

Blade Runner

Ridley Scott's Blade Runner is considered one of the best sci-fi movies of all time and many think it's even better than its literary counterpart, Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? From Harrison Ford's portrayal of android hunter Rick to the book's bleaker ending, this is the rare film that surpasses its source material in many fans' eyes.

City Of God

Fernando Meirelles' celebrated 2002 crime drama City of God expands on the 1997 novel by Paulo Lins in its performances and how it illustrates gang life in a suburb of Rio de Janeiro. Respect and homage are paid to the people of the region, and the cinematography shows the beauty that exists amidst the tragedy.

Drive

Many fans seem to prefer Nicolas Winding Refn's 2011 movie Drive to the 2005 book by James Sallis, crediting the director and Ryan Gosling with further developing the Driver and other themes in Sallis' work.

For fans in the mood for a chilling detective story in which nothing is quite as it seems, they certainly cannot go wrong with Shutter Island — one of the best movies on Paramount+ at the moment. Based on the novel by Dennis Lehane, the 2010 drama is one of the best collaborations between director Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio and stars the Academy Award winner as a U.S. Marshal sent to an asylum to investigate the disappearance of a patient.

Without giving too much away, the movie boasts a shocking twist ending that leads you to reconsider everything you thought you knew about DiCaprio’s character and makes you eager to use your Paramount+ subscription to rewatch it and scope out any clues you may have missed the first time. Once you have done that, if you are still in the mood for another haunting and perplexing film noir movie classic, perhaps you should try one of these movies like Shutter Island which we have compiled below.

Memento (2000)

Director: Christopher Nolan

Starring: Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano

What it's about: A former insurance investigator with short-term memory loss struggles to solve the mystery behind the last thing he can remember: his wife’s murder.

Why it is a great movie to watch if you like Shutter Island: Brilliantly told in reverse order, Memento is another modern film noir classic with an unreliable protagonist and one of the most mind-blowing plot twists of all time.

How to watch Memento

• Stream Memento Amazon Prime
• Stream Memento on Tubi
• Stream Memento on Peacock
• Buy Memento on Blu-ray on Amazon

Secret Window (2004)

Director: David Koepp

Starring: Johnny Depp, John Turturro

What it's about: A famous, soon-to-be-divorced writer staying at an isolated lake house is stalked by a man who claims he stole his work.

Why it is a great movie to watch if you like Shutter Island: Secret Window, based on a novella by Stephen King, is an intriguing thriller that also follows a protagonist of questionable credibility and an unsettling conclusion that puts everything in an entirely new perspective.

How to watch Secret Window

• Rent or buy Secret Window on Amazon
• Buy Secret Window on Blu-ray on Amazon

Identity (2003)

Director: James Mangold

Starring: John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Ray Liotta

What it's about: On a dark and stormy night, a group of people taking refuge at a rundown motel begins to question who they can trust as the guests begin dying one after the other.

Why it is a great movie to watch if you like Shutter Island: The vastly underrated Identity cements itself as one of the most inventive whodunits of its time with its stellar twist ending.

How to watch Identity

• Rent or buy Identity on Amazon
• Buy Identity on Blu-ray on Amazon

Jacob's Ladder (1990)

Director: Adrian Lyne

Starring: Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Peña

What it's about: A Vietnam War veteran struggles to understand the secrets of his past while suffering from horrifying visions that cause him to question the nature of his reality.

Why it is a great movie to watch if you like Shutter Island: Jacob’s Ladder — one of Tim Robbins’ best movies — may not be a detective drama like Shutter Island but it is a deeply unnerving, character-driven mystery thriller with a twist ending that will surely haunt you for days.

How to watch Jacob's Ladder

• Rent or buy Jacob's Ladder on Amazon
• Buy Jacob's Ladder on Blu-ray on Amazon

Mulholland Dr. (2001)

Director: David Lynch

Starring: Naomi Watts, Laura Harring

What it's about: An aspiring actor helps an amnesia-stricken woman piece together lost details of her life.

Why it is a great movie to watch if you like Shutter Island: Like Jacob’s Ladder, Mulholland Dr. — one of the best David Lynch movies — also shares similarities with Shutter Island as a largely character-driven mystery with some indelible scares and haunting, mind-bending twists.

How to watch Mulholland Dr.

• Stream Mulholland Dr. on The Criterion Channel
• Rent or buy Mulholland Dr. on Amazon
• Buy Mulholland Dr. on Blu-ray on Amazon

Vertigo (1958)

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Starring: James Stewart, Kim Novak

What it's about: Personal issues get in the way as a former police detective investigates a beautiful woman, with whom he becomes increasingly obsessed.

Why it is a great movie to watch if you like Shutter Island: A film that could be considered the Shutter Island of its time is one of Alfred Hitchcock’s best movies, Vertigo, in the way the complex classic will have you questioning the sanity of its hero all the way through.

How to watch Vertigo

• Rent or buy Vertigo on Amazon
• Buy Vertigo on Blu-ray on Amazon

Gone Girl (2014)

Director: David Fincher

Starring: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike

What it's about: The sudden disappearance of his wife causes a writing professor to become the center of attention in a head-turning investigation that evolves into a media frenzy.

Why it is a great movie to watch if you like Shutter Island: Without revealing too much, a major story detail from Shutter Island involves the hero’s relationship with his spouse, which is the central plot thread from Gone Girl — a beautifully executed adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s addictive, staggering mystery.

How to watch Gone Girl

• Stream Gone Girl on Hulu
• Rent or buy Gone Girl on Amazon
• Buy Gone Girl on Blu-ray on Amazon

The Girl On The Train (2016)

Director: Tate Taylor

Starring: Emily Blunt, Rebecca Ferguson, Haley Bennett

What it's about: Academy Award nominee Emily Blunt stars as a divorced woman who becomes obsessed with a couple she spots on her daily commute, which leads to her unexpected involvement in a disturbing criminal case.

Why it is a great movie to watch if you like Shutter Island: Another twisted thriller in which the protagonist’s relationship with her (former) spouse has a damning effect on her life is The Girl on the Train — director Tate Taylor’s adaptation of Paula Hawkins’ bestselling novel that also stars Rebecca Ferguson and Haley Bennett.

How to watch The Girl on the Train

• Rent or buy The Girl on the Train on Amazon
• Buy The Girl on the Train on Blu-ray on Amazon

Unsane (2018)

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Starring: Claire Foy, Jay Pharoah

What it's about: A woman finds herself inexplicably trapped in a psychiatric hospital, where she begins to question the reality of her confusing situation.

Why it is a great movie to watch if you like Shutter Island: In Shutter Island, DiCaprio’s Teddy Daniels finds himself treated like a patient of the titular mental institution he is investigating, which is similar to the fate of Foy’s protagonist in Unsane — an alluring, uniquely shot thriller.

How to watch Unsane

• Rent or buy Unsane on Amazon
• Buy Unsane on Blu-ray on Amazon

A Cure For Wellness (2017)

Director: Gore Verbinski

Starring: Dane DeHaan, Mia Goth

What it's about: A young corporate executive is sent to find and retrieve his boss at a Swiss wellness spa, where he soon discovers that the establishment is hiding dangerous secrets.

Why it is a great movie to watch if you like Shutter Island: Another intriguing mystery set in a suspicious mental institution and boasting strange plot reveals is A Cure for Wellness — a visually transfixing thriller.

How to watch A Cure for Wellness

• Rent or buy A Cure for Wellness on Amazon
• Buy A Cure for Wellness on Blu-ray on Amazon

Would you agree that these movies are perfect choices for a Shutter Island fan, or are you still searching for what you believe are the right clues?

Sometimes a movie leaves us with a finale so head scratching, we need to run out and talk about it. That concern is always going to be valid, and that’s why we felt it was time to decipher 32 of the most confusing movie endings, so that you don’t have to. Brace yourselves, as some of these finales are all-time stumpers. 

Inception

Is Dom (Leonardo DiCaprio) still in the dream world, or is he back home with his kids? It’s been over a decade since Inception planted that question in our minds, and as far as Christopher Nolan’s thoughts on Dom’s ending are concerned, it doesn’t matter because the character doesn’t care. Though if you ask us, Leo’s still dreaming in the end.

Looper

Because of how Looper’s time travel works in Rian Johnson’s story, one could say that it’s safe to assume that young Cid (Pierce Gagnon) doesn’t become the criminal overlord known as The Rainmaker. However, our own interpretation of the ending is that the death of both Joes (Joseph Gordon-Levitt/Bruce Willis)  probably had no effect on Cid’s future, and the kid’s still destined for darkness. 

Shutter Island

This one’s a pretty cut-and-dry affair, as the finale of director Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of Shutter Island is actually clearer than the book when it comes to the final fate of Andrew Laeddis (Leonardo DiCaprio). In author Dennis Lehane’s novel, we’re not sure if Andrew or his Teddy Daniels persona is in control; but in Shutter Island’s movie ending, it’s plainly clear that Andrew wants that lobotomy, and pretends he still thinks he’s his US Marshall alter ego. 

mother!

The ending to mother! is a literally Biblical finale, with Jennifer Lawrence’s titular matron unleashing apocalyptic ruin against her lover, Him (Javier Bardem). As we saw Darren Aronofsky’s film start with a woman burning in some hellfire of her own, we’re led to believe that the cycle of creation and destruction is about to start again, thanks to Him waking up his new companion the same way he roused mother. 

Birdman, or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Alejandro González Iñárritu’s film Birdman, Or The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance is a rare case where a seemingly impenetrable ending fits along with the story that came before it. While we debate whether Riggan (Michael Keaton) jumped to his death or soared with the birds, the blurred lines of reality never let up even in the finale, causing us to question everything we’ve seen come to pass. 

The Shining

Stephen King’s notorious dislike of The Shining, at least as a movie, certainly has its points. While Stanley Kubrick’s iconic adaptation is definitely a different beast from its literary source, as the film seemingly depicts the soul of Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) now caught in the purgatory of The Overlook. For years the mystery of that ominous photo kept people guessing, but thanks to Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep, that seems to be the best answer available. 

Fight Club

Just as Fight Club’s Operation Mayhem is about to punch a hole in the status quo, we learn that Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) is a manifestation of the Narrator (Edward Norton) and his contempt for the world. Sometimes dissociating into that personality it’s our Narrator that was the mastermind this whole time. Holding hands with Darla (Helena Bonham Carter) while the world seemingly ends, there’s two comic sequels that tell the story of what happened after one of the best ‘90s movies of all time.

American Psycho

Did Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) really kill all of those people? Apparently not. While he confesses to killing rival Paul Allen (Jared Leto), and even engages in a gun-toting showdown with the NYPD, the next day sees Patrick’s crimes being laughed off by anyone he mentions them to. Mary Harron’s film is just as open-ended as Bret Easton Ellis’ novel, but at the end of the day, Patrick does do a lot of drugs, and nobody can keep anybody’s names straight. 

Memento

2000’s Memento saw would-be detective Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) seeking out his wife’s killer. Unfortunately,  Leonard’s anterograde amnesia prevents him from remembering that he actually killed his wife’s assailant a year prior to the movie. Even after learning the truth, a moment of vengeance ensures that he’ll keep hunting his wife’s killer for the foreseeable future.

No Country For Old Men

The audience for 2007’s No Country for Old Men thought that there was a chance Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) could have escaped the wrath of hitman Anton Chegur (Javier Bardem). As it turns out, that was never the case, as Moss and his wife were already dead. The true point of the story is to observe Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) and his acceptance that the past is in the past, and there’s nothing you can do about it. 

A Serious Man

In a quest for cosmic and karmic answers, Professor Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) sees two potential misfortunes befall him at the end of The Coen Brothers’ A Serious Man. Larry’s recent lab tests may indicate some serious health problems, and his son Danny (Aaron Wolff) is seconds away from being lost in a tornado. All because Larry took a bribe to change a student’s grade. 

Blade Runner

The question of whether Deckard (Harrison Ford) is a replicant depends on how you view Blade Runner, right down to the cut you choose to view. While Harrison Ford believes Deckard is a replicant, both Ridley Scott and the events of Blade Runner 2049 seem to fall into the camp of uncertainty at best, and flat-out rejection in its most extreme. So yeah, Deckard’s humanity is up for grabs, with a firm lean towards confirming he’s flesh and blood.

Arrival

The ending of Arrival also happens to be the beginning, as the visions of Louise Banks (Amy Adams) losing her young daughter are not flashbacks, but flash-forwards. Since the Heptapod language allows the human consciousness to basically remember the future, Louise’s fate is all the more bittersweet, as she proceeds to live through the tragedy she could have prevented.

2001: A Space Odyssey

Dr. David Bowman (Keir Dullea) finds himself experiencing one of the trippiest endings of cinematic history in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. The simplest way to explain what happened is that thanks to the third, most powerful Monolith, Dr. Bowman found himself unbound from time and space. Reborn as “The Star Child,” he is now ready to transition into even crazier forms throughout the rest of Arthur C. Clarke’s source novels; as he’s basically become immortal. 

Donnie Darko

Time travel helps Donnie Darko become a confusing loop of causality, in which Donnie (Jake Gyllenhaal) realizes that in order to save his community from a chain of death and tragedy, he has to die. Using the strange powers he’s been developing throughout the film, he causes the jet engine that lands on his house earlier in the movie to ultimately kill his past self, rendering the events of Richard Kelly’s story null and void.

The Thing

John Carpenter’s The Thing is a horror classic for several reasons, one of which is the legendary special effects magic that remains chilling to this day. For our purposes, the other reason open for discussion is the movie’s ending, which questions whether Macready (Kurt Russell) or Childs (Keith David) could be The Thing. If you really want to fit the paranoid theme of the movie, the best assumption is that neither is The Thing, and their distrust eventually kills them both in the end.

Tenet

Sometimes it feels like Christopher Nolan is going for the Hall of Fame when it comes to confusing endings. Tenet’s wild time inversion ride is one of the best examples, as the ending is as twisty as its concept of time. For The Protagonist (John David Washington), and the rest of us in the audience, Tenet is the beginning. However, for Neil (Robert Pattinson), this journey has been an inverted arc that leads to his death saving his new old friend in the movie’s killer opening sequence. 

Annihilation

In a world of doppelgangers and uncertainty, Alex Garland’s film version of Annihilation is a double helix of a twist ending. Not only do we learn that Kane (Oscar Isaac) is actually an alien replica of his human self from the mysterious area known as “The Shimmer,” but we see that the original Lena (Natalie Portman) has been possessed by some of that Shimmer herself. 

Total Recall

Admit it: Total Recall is so pumped full of adrenaline that it’s kind of easy to overlook whether or not Arnold Schwarzenegger’s protagonist had been dreaming the whole time. Paul Verhoeven’s action-packed retelling of Philip K. Dick’s “We’ll Remember It For You Wholesale” may seem to hedge its bets by the end, but we’re willing to say that Total Recall’s ending was all a dream.

Minority Report

Legendary sci-fi author Phillip K. Dick had a knack for writing stories that lead to some of the most open-ended finales of all time. Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report is a long-standing beacon of ambiguity, as Tom Cruise’s John Anderton may or may not have dreamed his own happy ending after a certain point. 

12 Monkeys

Poor James Cole (Bruce Willis). Plagued by nightmares from his childhood, the man trusted to prevent 12 Monkeys’ viral apocalypse from occurring just happens to be the man he saw gunned down in an airport when he was young. While the apocalypse seems to be on its way to being averted, this unfortunate time traveler’s fate would appear to have always been sealed.

Jacob’s Ladder

Vietnam Vet Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) winds his way through a maze of mystery and hallucination in Jacob’s Ladder, which ultimately leads to one hell of a twist ending. By the time we see his dead son Gabe (Macaulay Culkin) welcoming him to the afterlife, we learn that Jacob actually never made it home from Vietnam. The entire movie, save for the sequences set during the war, was a hallucination on Jacob’s deathbed.

The Dark Knight Rises

Based on the overwhelming evidence left in the finale of The Dark Knight Rises, the question of whether Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) is alive and well in Italy at the end seems pretty open and shut. After learning that the Caped Crusader fixed the autopilot function on The Bat, it would appear that Bruce found a way to retire from his life of crime-fighting, while leaving his arsenal to the next person he trusted with the mantle: Officer Robin John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt).

Joker

What do Joker’s Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) and American Psycho’s Christian Bale have in common? Well, apparently, they both suffer from a state of psychosis so great they’ve imagined killing people in their waking lives. What makes Todd Phillips’ Academy Award-winning thriller all the more confusing is that thanks to Arthur’s reputation as an unreliable narrator, there may be several layers of fantasy at work throughout this chilling narrative. 

Us

Throughout Jordan Peele’s Us, we’re supposed to believe that Adelaide (Lupita Nyong’o) is being chased by her Untethered doppelganger Red (also Nyong’o). In actuality, what seems to have happened is that on that fateful night in 1986, Red swapped places with Adelaide. Over 30 years later, when Adelaide attempts to reclaim her life through an Untethered revolution, Red kills her - maintaining her stolen life on the surface.

Brazil

Brazil’s ending is one of the most confusing in history thanks to the fact that there are three different conclusions. Thanks to good old-fashioned studio meddling, Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce) either suffers a mental break, escapes with his true love (Kim Greist), or winds up in a sort of middle ground; depending on which cut you watch. But the definitive ending is the first and bleakest scenario, which explains what inspired the meddling in the theatrical and TV cuts. 

Predestination

Predestination’s ending is a confusing affair because of all the twists one has to keep in mind when defining the identity of our protagonist. The trick is to know two things: John (Sarah Snook), Jane (also Sarah Snook), and their baby are all the same person, and thanks to time travel shenanigans they eventually become the terrorist they’re hunting (Ethan Hawke). With that knowledge, it doesn’t seem like the terrorist attack in question can be changed, especially since it all hinges on several variants of the same person involved in all the crucial aspects. 

Life Of Pi

Apologies to all of you animal lovers out there, as the tiger known as Richard Parker wasn’t in the lifeboat with young Pi (Suraj Sharma). All of the animals in the tragic story on the boat are metaphors for the very real tragedy of Pi losing his mother (Tabu) and killing her murderer (Gérard Depardieu) before being lost at sea. It turns out the tiger was the metaphor for Pi’s inner strength to survive. 

A.I.: Artificial Intelligence

Stanley Kubrick’s trust in Steven Spielberg to make A.I.: Artificial Intelligence into a reality has led to many people wondering where the movie should have ended. It only confused things more when there wasn’t a readily apparent explanation that the “aliens” that young David (Haley Joel Osment) encounters in the far-flung future are actually evolved Mechas trying to learn about the age of humanity. 

Contact

Dr. Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster) assumes that her journey toward the end of Contact actually sends her to the outer reaches of space. In truth, while her consciousness may have encountered alien life, there’s no physical evidence to corroborate her story. For once, the scientist is on the side of faith. 

Black Swan

In the third act of Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, ballerina Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) mistakenly thinks she killed her presumed rival Lily (Mila Kunis) with a large shard of class. In actuality, it was herself that she stabbed, right before a supposedly star-making performance in Swan Lake. It's presumed that Nina bleeds out as the film fades to white. 

Dune: Part Two

To be completely honest, there’s one simple yet baffling reason the ending to Dune: Part Two is on this list. Honestly, if you can walk away from Paul Atredies’ (Timotheé Challamet) journey and think he’s still a hero, you’re wrong. Try as he might, the dude’s turned into the prophecy, and he’s about to commit space genocide. Sorry, he’s about to “show his enemies to Paradise.”

We hope that your head isn’t spinning too hard after this collection of the most confusing endings of cinematic history. At least you can count on the finale of this very rundown to be a clear and concise version of events. Or can you? 

Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese have made several movies together and while Shutter Island may not be considered the best Scorsese movie or the best Leonardo DiCaprio movie, it is without a doubt, the most unusual in their history of collaboration and perhaps the most worthy of discussion. It’s a strange noir film that likely needs to be seen more than once in order to fully appreciate it. It’s like a few other projects in that way, but Leonardo DiCaprio thinks it has something in common with Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. And honestly, he’s not wrong. 

Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese recently came together to discuss their movies for Letterboxd, and while the entire conversation is worth watching for any movie fan, perhaps the most interesting part came when the two discussed Shutter Island. Scorsese talked about the noir detective movies that inspired DiCaprio’s character. DiCaprio talked about the way that, in some ways, pretending to be one of the characters from those movies is exactly what his character is doing. The actor said…

Shutter Island’s ending is absolutely wild, and while I can be somewhat vague about it for anybody who hasn’t seen the film, the movie does make it clear early on that things are not entirely as they seem and that something strange is going on. This is where DiCaprio compares his character to Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka, as both men are the central figure in a bizarre situation that exists entirely for them. DiCaprio explained… 

There are certainly some differences between the two characters. Willy Wonka is fully in control of his contrived situation, whereas DiCaprio’s Teddy is not in control, at least not willingly. But it’s certainly true that everything revolves around them. Watching both movies a second time makes it clearer just what is really going on. You see better on a rewatch just what is really going on. 

And of course, both movies are a bit fantastical. There’s an unreality to them both, which is part of what keeps the audience unclear on just what’s going on and what the motivations are. Scorsese said…

I’m not sure that Shutter Island and WIlly Wonka and the Chocolate Factory would work as a double feature, but there is a running theme. DiCaprio and Socrsese’s latest feature, Killers of the Flower Moon is now available to Apple TV+ subscribers. DiCaprio and Scorsese don’t have a project together on the 2024 movie schedule, but it’s a safe bet we’ll see them working together again down the road.  

Did you see that coming? Because I certainly didn't with these excellent plot twists.

There comes a time in everyone's life when we watch a movie, and it's going all fine and dandy, and then a twist happens so suddenly that it's something we would never expect.

Perhaps it's someone's true origins that finally reveal themselves or who the murderer is in some of the best horror movies. Regardless, these twists will sit with you for days, making you think about how you didn't see that coming. These are some of the best.

And obviously, this article is full of spoilers, so there’s a movie on the list that you haven’t seen, you might want to skip that section.

Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Director: Irvin Kershner

Cast: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher

Plot Twist: Luke finds out that his enemy, Darth Vader, is actually his father.

Why It’s The Best Plot Twist: This not only sets up the rest of the Star Wars franchise but also sets Luke on an even more determined path to beat the Empire, which he does in the next movie with the help of his allies. It's from this twist that we get to know who Anakin Skywalker is, and years later, people still regard him as one of the best Star Wars characters.

Psycho (1960)

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Cast: Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin, Martin Balsam, John McIntire, Janet Leigh

Plot Twist: Norman Bates had already killed his mother before the main character arrived.

Why It’s The Best Plot Twist: The twist is as classic as it can get, and is considered one Alfred Hitchcock’s best movies. It still hits, even now, if you’ve never seen the film before.

Get Out (2016)

Director: Jordan Peele

Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford, Caleb Landy Jones, Stephen Root, Catherine Keener

Plot Twist: The Armitage Family lures Black people into their home in order to transfer the brains of wealthy people into their bodies in order to have their physical traits.

Why It’s The Best Plot Twist: I don’t know what the world I was expecting when Jordan Peele made his directorial debut, but it was most certainly not Get Out and its crazy twist. Out of everything, this is one of those twists that legit no one ever saw coming and when it does, all you can hope for is that Chris somehow finds his way out.

Fight Club (1999)

Director: David Fincher

Cast: Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter

Plot Twist: The Narrator and Tyler are actually the same person, and the Narrator did everything Tyler did.

Why It’s The Best Plot Twist: There are so many cool behind-the-scenes facts about Fight Club, but the twist truly makes you want to rewatch the film over and over again to see all the little hints that you missed that lead to it. Such a good one.

Us (2019)

Director: Jordan Peele

Cast: Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Evan Alex, Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker

Plot Twist: The doppelgänger is actually the real Adelaide.

Why It’s The Best Plot Twist: I feel like a lot of people say this twist was predictable but I distinctly remember sitting in the movie theater, shocked that this was what was going down. I legit did not know who to root for at the end, or if any of the feelings I had during the film were valid towards the main character, knowing what I know. That’s the sign of a good twist.

Parasite (2019)

Director: Bong Joon-ho

Cast: Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeaon, Choi Woo-shik, Park So-dam

Plot Twist: The former housekeeper of the Parks has kept her husband living in a secret bunker under the house for years.

Why It’s The Best Plot Twist: Parasite won Best Picture at the Oscars in 2020, and it deserved every award, and its twist is just as good. It turns the film into a much different one, pivoting down a darker road that none of us expect – but it’s great either way.

Friday The 13th (1980)

Director: Sean S. Cunningham

Cast: Betsey Palmer, Adrienne King, Harry Crosby, Laurie Bartram

Plot Twist: The killer is actually Jason’s mother.

Why It’s The Best Plot Twist: Fun fact – the Jason that we all know from the Friday the 13th movies didn't even appear in the first film. He wasn't the person killing all the teenagers in the first film. Of course, we see him later on, but the fact that there was just a vengeful mother that killed all these teenagers truly makes you gasp each time.

Saltburn (2023)

Director: Emerald Fennell

Cast: Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, Archie Madekwe, Carey Mulligan

Plot Twist: Oliver orchestrated his meeting with Felix at Oxford in order to get close to his family and take them out one by one so he could take Saltburn for himself.

Why It’s The Best Plot Twist: Ya’ll, say what you want about Saltburn and some of the super gross moments that this film has – its twist is pretty great. Oliver seemed like such a really weird but socially awkward guy but to find out he’s really just this mastermind behind legit everything, it definitely shakes you to your core. Although I could have done without the bathtub scene.

Scream (1996)

Director: Wes Craven

Cast: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Matthew Lillard, Skeet Ulrich, David Arquette

Plot Twist: The killer is actually two people – and they are the boyfriend and friend of Sidney.

Why It’s The Best Plot Twist: We had plenty of interesting villains prior to Scream, but the idea of two killers both working together so effortlessly while also being so close to the victim was such a great idea at the time, and spawned the entirety of the Scream franchise.

Orphan (2009)

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra

Cast: Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, Isabelle Fuhrman, CCH Pounder, Jimmy Bennett

Plot Twist: Esther is actually an older woman who suffers from a hormonal disorder that stunts her growth, and poses as a little girl to kill people.

Why It’s The Best Plot Twist: Orphan was so successful in its twist that the series itself has inspired a prequel, which I’m not even sure how you do that considering the actress who played Esther is now much older. Either way, the twist still gets you and instantly makes you wary of literally any child.

Citizen Kane (1941)

Director: Orson Welles

Cast: Joseph Cotten, Orson Welles, Dorothy Cominore, Everett Sloane, Ray Collins

Plot Twist: Rosebud is Kane’s childhood sleigh, the last thing that brought him true happiness.

Why It’s The Best Plot Twist: It’s a profound twist that truly teaches you that sometimes, money and fame isn’t what you want, but just pure memorable moments, and those of which that we can’t ever experience ever again.

Atonement (2007)

Director: Joe Wright

Cast: James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, Saoirse Ronan

Plot Twist: Cecilia and Robbie were never reunited, and both died due to incidents that occurred during World War II. Their love story and happy ending was just a novel.

Why It’s The Best Plot Twist: You never expect this as the film goes on, and when it hits, it is so hard and breaks your heart in the best way possible – and then makes you want to rewatch to see what the clues were that lead to this twist, paired with great acting.

Seven (1995)

Director: David Fincher

Cast: Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, John C. McGinley

Plot Twist: David Mills’ wife has been killed as part of the serial killer’s plan.

Why It’s The Best Plot Twist: This is a brilliant twist, because not only does it shock the viewer, but it completes the story too, where the sins killer gets his envy sin, as well as his wrath sin before he is killed.

American Psycho (2000)

Director: Mary Herron

Cast: Christian Bale, Willem Dafoe, Jared Leto, Josh Lucas

Plot Twist: Bateman might not have actually killed his victims and they might still be alive.

Why It’s The Best Plot Twist: As someone who loves American Psycho and had her friends watch it, it's great to see how people react to this twist. It makes you rethink the entire film, wondering if you imagined him killing those people as well. Were they killed? Are they alive? You never know.

Longlegs (2024)

Director: Osgood Perkins

Cast: Maika Monroe, Blair Underwood, Alicia Witt, Nicolas Cage

Plot Twist: Lee’s mother has been Longleg's accomplice for years in exchange to let her daughter live.

Why It’s The Best Plot Twist: As someone who still stands by the fact that Longlegs is one of the best movies of 2024, this twist was one that I think I expected but not to the extent that it was given. I knew that Lee’s mother had something to do with this but the amount of bloodshed she spread was almost too much for me to handle. It gets you rethinking the entire movie and all the little hints that she dropped throughout the film.

Interstellar (2014)

Director: Christopher Nolan

Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Anna Hathway, Jessica Chastain, Bill Irwin

Plot Twist: The ghost trying to help Murphy is actually her father from another dimension.

Why It’s The Best Plot Twist: Interstellar is my favorite Christopher Nolan movie; a big reason is this moment. Not only does it speak to the love between a father and a daughter, it’s a great way to tie up the film and take the sci-fi nature to the next level.

Oldboy (2003)

Director: Park Chan-wook

Cast: Choi Min-sik, Yoo Ji-tae, Kang Hye-jung

Plot Twist: Mi-do is actually Dae-su’s daughter – and they had fallen in love.

Why It’s The Best Plot Twist: This twist is like ten levels of gross but also heartbreaking in a lot of ways, but way more horrifying when you think about it. Like, I don’t even know how to explain why this is a great twist – it just is because this is the kind of stuff you legit never expect in any film, and yet, Oldboy gave it and more.

Planet Of The Apes (1968)

Director: Franklin J. Schaffner

Cast: Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Maurice Evans, Kim Hunter, James Daly, Linda Harrison

Plot Twist: The planet isn’t new – it’s Earth, and it’s been taken over by apes.

Why It’s The Best Plot Twist: I mean, this is probably one of the most classic twists of all time, and it spawned an entire franchise surrounding this premise. The idea of believing you’re on a different planet because it’s so different from yours, but discovering it’s the same one but just changed…terrifying.

The Sixth Sense (1999)

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Cast: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Olivia Williams, Haley Joel Osment

Plot Twist: The psychologist that was helping Cole was actually dead the entire time.

Why It’s The Best Plot Twist: We can't have a twist article without mentioning at least one M. Night Shyamalan movie, and The Sixth Sense is undoubtedly the one that ranks the highest. You never see this coming when you first watch the film, and the twist is so iconic that so many people parody it now.

The Descent (2005)

Director: Neil Marshall

Cast: Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Mendoza, Alex Reid, Saskia Mulder

Plot Twist: Sarah, seems to find a way to escape, but then at the very end, it's revealed that she hallucinated her escape and that she is still stuck in the caves – and the crawlers are coming closer and closer to kill her.

Why It’s The Best Plot Twist: I think for anyone who is terrified of horror movies, this is your worst fear. You think you’re going to get out, and then you reach the end but it’s actually not – you’re still stuck in this same mindless pattern of mazes. That’s terrifying and renews a sense of dread for the viewer.

Shutter Island (2010)

Director: Martin Scorsese

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams

Plot Twist: Teddy is Andrew Laeddis, who was imprisoned after killing his manic-depressive wife after she drowned their children. His delusion came from the guilt he felt over killing his wife, and for his children's deaths, so he created this persona inside his head to cope.

Why It’s The Best Plot Twist: I could go on for hours about this twist. There are plenty of signs that lead to it, but only if you rewatch the film after. And the moment it hits, it’s heartbreaking and intriguing all the same because it makes you want to figure out if you could pick up the twist before it’s revealed.

Gone Girl (2014)

Director: David Fincher

Cast: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry

Plot Twist: Amy orchestrated her disappearance after she discovered that Nick was having an affair. It was all a scheme to get back at him for what he did.

Why It’s The Best Plot Twist: Wow, who would have thought another David Fincher movie would be on this list? But really, guys, this twist takes you by surprise because all of a sudden, in the middle of the film, it really switches gears, and then you really don’t know who to trust anymore. I love it.

These twists have truly blown my mind repeatedly, and I think you should get other people to watch these movies because they are unlike any experience you could imagine.

Michelle Williams could very well be the most underrated actress in Hollywood today. Sure, she’s been nominated for five Oscars, won two Golden Globes, and been in some of the most impactful movies of the 21st century, but Williams seems to always fly under the radar, only to fly up unnoticed with the release of each Academy Award-nominated performance that seemingly catches everyone by surprise. 

We shouldn’t be surprised, though. Not in the slightest. The list of the best Michelle Williams movies and TV shows streaming is one that goes back a little over two decades at this point, with outstanding performances ranging from a symbiote superhero to a slight dramatization of Steven Spielberg’s mother. To celebrate Williams, we’ve put together a quick list of the very best performances from her incredibly versatile career. 

The Fabelmans (2022)

Told through a series of vignettes, Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical coming-of-age drama, The Fabelmans, takes audiences back to where it all began for Hollywood legend. The good, the bad, the magical, and the heartbreaking are all on display in this sprawling drama about a young boy finding his voice while his family falls apart.

Michelle Williams is the real scene-stealer in The Fabelmans, with her portrayal of Mitzi Schildkraut-Fabelman, a character based on Spielberg’s late mother, Leah Adler. She is a tour de force in several of the movie’s most memorable scenes, including the tornado chase sequence, the camping trip, and during a foreboding nightmare about a certain family member.

Rent/buy The Fabelmans on Amazon.
Buy The Fabelmans on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Manchester By The Sea (2016)

Kenneth Lonergan’s Oscar-winning Manchester by the Sea is in the running for the most gut-wrenching movie of the century with its heartbreaking story about an already broken man trying to come to terms with the death of his older brother, which leaves him the guardian of his teenage nephew. That is just part of the story, however.

Casey Affleck received heaps of praise for his portrayal of Lee Chandler, and rightfully so, but Michelle Williams’ take on his ex-wife, Randi, is one of the most heartbreaking and harrowing performances I’ve ever seen. The scene in which Randi finally opens up to Lee about their shared tragedy is without a doubt the most powerful speech of her career.

Stream Manchester by the Sea on Prime Video.
Rent/Buy Manchester by the Sea on Amazon.

My Week With Marilyn (2011)

Set during the heights of Marilyn Monroe’s (Michelle Williams) career, Simon Curtis’ 2011 biographical drama, My Week with Marilyn follows the ill-fated actress as she is given a brief respite from her career, her shaky marriage to Arthur Miller (Dougray Scott), and the exhaustion brought on by both.

Williams would go on to win her first Golden Globe and be nominated for an Oscar for her captivating portrayal of Monroe, a performance that is in the top tier of portrayals of the Hollywood starlet, and at times, it feels as if this is a documentary instead of a painstakingly crafted docudrama.

Stream My Week with Marilyn on HBO Max.
Rent/buy My Week with Marilyn on Amazon.
Buy My Week with Marilyn on DVD on Amazon.

Blue Valentine (2010) 

Told through a nonlinear narrative structure, Derek Cianfrance’s 2010 drama, Blue Valentine, jumps between past and present to tell the story of Dean (Ryan Gosling) and Cindy (Michelle Williams), a couple with a string of bad luck and major blowups. 

Though the movie does tear you down emotionally with one grueling scene after another, the performances by Williams and Gosling make it to where you just can’t stop watching. You won’t find it on the list of best romantic comedies or anything like that, but this Oscar-nominated drama is something you just have to see, even if it’s only once, and even if it’s just to see Williams and Gosling feed off one another’s grief and anger.

Stream Blue Valentine on Freevee.
Rent/buy Blue Valentine on Amazon.
Buy Blue Valentine on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Shutter Island (2010) 

Though it just missed the cut on the list of best Martin Scorsese movies, the acclaimed filmmaker’s 2010 psychological thriller, Shutter Island, is a movie you just can’t afford to miss. Set at the isolated Ashecliff Hospital for the Criminally Insane, the movie follows U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) as he tries to get to the bottom of a missing persons case, or so he believes.

Here’s another example of Michelle Williams being the emotional anchor of a movie with her heartbreaking portrayal of Dolores, Teddy’s late wife, who haunts him in his dreams through intense visions. To prevent giving away the Shutter Island ending, I’ll just say that Williams’ performance only gets better as the movie goes on.

Rent/buy Shutter Island on Amazon.
Buy Shutter Island on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Ang Lee’s 2005 neo-Western drama, Brokeback Mountain, details the tumultuous relationship shared by rugged cowboys Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) over the course of several decades as they try to hide their true feelings from their respective families, their fellow sheepherders, and themselves.

The movie did take home three Oscars, but Brokeback Mountain should have won Best Picture for its transformative story and incredible performances by its two leads, as well as Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway. Williams is particularly powerful in her portrayal of Ennis’ wife, Alma, and was given plenty of time to show her expansive acting skills in some of the movie’s key scenes.

Stream Brokeback Mountain on Netflix.
Rent/buy Brokeback Mountain on Amazon.
Buy Brokeback Mountain on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Synecdoche, New York (2008)

Charlie Kaufman’s mind-bending psychological drama, Synecdoche, New York follows theater director Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman) as he deals with the recent departure of his wife and daughter by hiring a group of actors to create a fictionalized version of society in a massive New York City warehouse. Over time, the production grows to the point where the line between reality and fantasy is nowhere to be found.

Synecdoche, New York is full of brilliant performances, including those from the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, Dianne Wiest, Emily Watson, Catherine Keener, and Michelle Williams, who plays an actress who enters into a relationship with the struggling theater director.

Rent/buy Synecdoche, New York on Amazon.
Buy Synecdoche, New York on Blu-ray on Amazon.

The Station Agent (2003)

Tom McCarthy, who would go on to direct Academy Award-winning newspaper drama Spotlight more than a decade later, made his directorial debut with 2003’s The Station Agent, a dramedy about a young and nihilistic train enthusiast named Fin McBride (Peter Dinklage) as he moves to a small rural town in New Jersey.

The movie features a who’s who of future stars including the aforementioned Dinkalge, Bobby Cannavale, and John Slattery, and Michelle Williams, the latter of whom is phenomenal in her portrayal of a local librarian named Emily. Though not the central character, Williams steals the show whenever on camera.

Stream The Station Agent on Paramount+.
Rent/buy The Station Agent on Amazon.

Take This Waltz (2011) 

A little more than a decade before writing and directing the Academy Award-nominated Women Talking, Sarah Polley came out with the 2011 romantic drama, Take This Waltz, which saw Michelle Williams play a woman named Margot, who finds herself being torn between her husband, Lou (Seth Rogen) and a mysterious stranger named Daniel (Luke Kirby) she met on a work trip.

Both charming and tense, the film features stellar performances from all involved, Williams especially. And if you were a fan of the dynamic shared by Williams and Rogen in The Fabelmans, this is something you want to see.

Stream Take This Waltz on HBO Max.
Rent/buy Take This Waltz on Amazon.
Buy Take This Waltz on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Wendy And Lucy (2008) 

Kelly Reichardt’s 2008 drama, Wendy and Lucy (which is a brisk 80 minutes in length) follows Wendy Carroll (Michelle Williams) as she attempts to make it to Alaska with her dog, Lucy, so that she can find work and make a better life for herself. But hopes, dreams, and aspirations are no match for the harsh realities of poverty and the unforgiving road, which Wendy finds out the hard way on her cross-country odyssey.

Though not talked about as much as some of Williams’ higher-profile movies, Wendy and Lucy features one of her best performances to date, one that features one of her rawest and most vulnerable characters. Plus, it’s one of the best dog movies of the past decade-and-a-half.

Stream Wendy and Lucy on Peacock.
Rent/buy Wendy and Lucy on Amazon.
Buy Wendy and Lucy on DVD on Amazon.

Dawson’s Creek (1998 - 2003) And Fosse/Verdon (2019)

These final two performances are technically TV shows, but both are musts when talking about Michelle Williams’ career, and leaving them off would be a disservice to her legacy. First is Dawson’s Creek, which is undeniably one of the most iconic ‘90s shows. Throughout the series six-season run, Williams played Jen Lindley, Dawson’s (James Van Der Beek) neighbor and close friend with whom she has an on-and-off relationship. 

Stream Dawson’s Creek on Prime Video.
Buy Dawson’s on Amazon.
Buy Dawson’s Creek: The Complete Series on DVD on Amazon.

Williams would have one-off TV appearances over the years, but she wouldn’t return to the format in a more involved manner until the 2019 biographical limited series, Fosse/Verdon, which chronicled the romantic and working relationship shared by Bob Fosse (Sam Rockwell) and Gwen Verdon (Williams). The actress would go on to win multiple awards for her performance, including a Primetime Emmy and a Golden Globe.

Stream Fosse/Verdon on Hulu.
Buy Fosse/Verdon on Amazon.
Buy Fosse/Verdon on DVD on Amazon.

Only time will tell if Michelle Williams will hear her name called at the 2023 Oscars. Even if she’s not rewarded for her incredible performance in The Fabelmans, though, Williams has quite the body of work that makes a case for her being one of the best actresses of her time.

It has been more than a decade since Martin Scorsese took a break from the world of crime cinema and released one of the most inventive and talked about psychological thrillers in years with Shutter Island. The movie, which felt like something out of the mind of Alfred Hitchcock, saw Leonardo DiCaprio take on the role of a U.S. Marshal investigating the disappearance of one of Ashecliffe Hospital’s most notorious patients, only to uncover unspeakable truths about the island, the facility, and himself.

Like the movie on the screen, the story of how Shutter Island came to be is full of twists and turns that few saw coming. As part of CinemaBlend’s ongoing partnership with Plex, where Shutter Island is streaming for free, we have put together ten behind-the-scenes facts from the making of the 2010 thriller that left audiences with all kinds of questions…

Shutter Island Was One Of The ‘Most Intense, Hardcore Filming Experiences’ Of Leonardo DiCaprio’s Career

With its subject matter and tone, it is easy to see how making Shutter Island could have an impact on the cast and crew of the 2010 psychological thriller, but the process was especially hard on its star, Leonardo DiCaprio. Speaking with Parade Magazine ahead of the film’s release, DiCaprio called the process one of the “most intense, hardcore film experiences” of his life, which must be a lot, considering his career up to that point:

DiCaprio would go on to say that the experience of portraying Edward “Teddy” Daniels made him remember one of the most traumatic nightmares he experienced after trying to quit smoking.

Dennis Lehane Channeled Real Memories When Writing The Shutter Island Novel

In 2003, the same year his novel Mystic River was being turned into an Academy Award-winning drama directed by Clint Eastwood, novelist Dennis Lehane released his followup novel, Shutter Island. Speaking with The Patriot Ledger newspaper in February 2010, he talked about going with his uncle to a small island in Boston Harbor once as a kid, and how the memories of that day stuck with him:

Years later, Lehane recalled those memories and started to craft a story about a mental hospital on an island and the secrets that it contained, eventually leading him to write Shutter Island.

Mark Ruffalo Nearly Caused A Big Accident With Martin Scorsese On Set

Mark Ruffalo had already had some major roles by the time he was cast as Leonardo DiCaprio’s “partner” Chuck Able in Shutter Island, including Zodiac, The Brothers Bloom, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but he was apparently still starstruck when he met Martin Scorsese, a feeling that didn’t wear off when production started. When speaking with Cleveland.com ahead of the film’s release, Ruffalo told a story about the time he almost caused a major accident on set:

Ruffalo was able to stop the stairs before things got worse and decided to do what anyone in his shoes would: he started to laugh. And so did everyone else. 

Martin Scorsese Drew Influence From Low-Budget 1940s Horror Movies When Working On Shutter Island

Shutter Island very much feels like a throwback to classic noir films and horror flicks of Hollywood’s golden age, and that is no happy accident. In an interview with The Telegraph newspaper ahead of the film’s February 2010 release, director Martin Scorsese pointed to the 1944 mystery film Laura, which follows a detective as he becomes so obsessed with a murder investigation he begins to fall in love with the dead woman at the center of the crime, but he didn’t stop there.

The article goes on to state that Scorsese pointed to classic RKI Pictures releases like Cat People, Isle of the Dead, The Seventh Victim, and I Walked with a Zombie, and others produced by Val Lewton during the same era. And considering the nightmare sequences in Shutter Island, those inspirations make a lot of sense.

How Ben Kingsley Helped Shape The Character Of Dr. John Cawley

One of the major characters in Shutter Island, Dr. John Cawley, almost acted and sounded much differently, but Ben Kingsley lobbied to change the character for a reason that makes a lot of sense. When speaking with The Independent in early 2010, Kingsley recalled a meeting he had with Martin Scorsese where the actor pitched the idea to make Ashecliffe Hospital’s lead psychiatrist British instead of American, like he is in the book:

Kingsley would go on to say that “a knight goes where the dragons are,” and Ashecliffe had its fair share of dragons on its isolated island.

There Was A Psychiatrist On Set To Help The Cast Better Understand The Time Period

The way in which mental illness is treated in the 21st Century compared to that of the early to mid 20th Century in which Shutter Island takes place is night and day. When speaking with Jake Hamilton on his Jake’s Takes YouTube channel in February 2010, Ben Kingsley revealed that the cast was brought up to speed on how “indifferent and brutal the care was” decades earlier, a process that was assisted by a psychiatrist who was on set throughout the shoot. 

In the interview, Kingsley said the “wonderful psychiatrist” was able to guide the cast and crew and also advise them on the era, which gave them access to that particular time and that “particular way of looking at the mentally ill.”

Martin Scorsese Had The Cast And Crew Watch A One-Time Banned Documentary To Prepare For Shutter Island

Whenever working with Martin Scorsese, an actor or crewmember isn’t just making a movie with one of the greatest living American filmmakers, they also go to movie-making school, as was the case for those on the set of Shutter Island. When speaking with Emanuel Levy ahead of the film’s release, Scorsese said that he would show various films to the cast and crew each night that touched upon the themes and style of Shutter Island. One film in particular, the one-time banned 1967 documentary Titicut Follies, focused on the notorious Massachusetts Correctional Institute for the Criminally Insane at Bridgewater:

The documentary, which Ben Kingsley brought up in his Jake’s Takes interview mentioned earlier, led to great change in how mental illness is treated across the country.

Technical Difficulties Prevented Martin Scorsese From Filming Shutter Island’s Dream Sequences In 65MM

The dream sequences throughout Shutter Island are some of the most visually stunning of the entire movie, and at one point they were going to be even bigger, or at least look bigger. In the March 2010 issue of American Cinematographer Magazine, Director of Photography Robert Richardson revealed that those sequences were initially going to be filmed on 65mm as the format would provide the highest level of detail while also preventing issues when adding in digital effects.

After convincing Martin Scorsese to get on board with the large format, Richardson and his crew ran into major issues after only one day of shooting. After capturing the footage, both cameras that used the 65mm format broke down due to the cold temperatures. The plan to shoot multiple scenes this way only ended up producing a few shots.

The ‘Live As A Monster’ Line During The Shutter Island Ending Was Added For The Movie

SPOILER WARNING: This section contains major spoilers from the Shutter Island ending. If you haven’t watched the movie yet and don’t want to be spoiled, please exercise caution.

Although Shutter Island largely follows the same story found in Dennis Lehane’s 2003 novel, there was a major change made to the film’s ending that slightly deviated from the original path. Sure, the part about Leonardo DiCaprio’s character being revealed to not be a U.S. Marshal named Teddy Daniels but instead an Ashecliffe Hospital patient by the name of Andrew Laeddis is the same in both versions, but what happens after that big reveal in the movie never happened in the book.

When speaking with MTV News in March 2010, Dennis Lehane explained DiCaprio's line before going off to be lobotomized — “Would you rather live as a monster or die as a hero?” — was never in his book, but would go on to state that he liked the more ambiguous line when first reading Late Kalogridis’ adapted screenplay.

Shutter Island’s Initial Release Date Was Pushed Back Due To the 2008 Financial Crisis

Just like the COVID-19 pandemic a decade later, the 2008 Financial Crisis essentially affected every aspect of life, including the Hollywood release schedule. Initially, Shutter Island was scheduled to be released in October 2009, a little more than a year after principal photography wrapped up, but the debut was pushed back a few months to its eventual February 2010 arrival. The delay came almost at the last minute in August 2009, with Deadline reporting that the decision by Paramount Pictures was largely based on financial concerns following the 2008 stock market crash.

The outlet also shared a statement from Paramount Chief Brad Grey that the studio’s 2009 theatrical slate was “greenlit in a very different economic climate” and that due to the downturn, executives had to “adapt to a changing environment.” The movie would go on to make just shy of $295 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo, with $128 million of that being from domestic audiences.

If you want to revisit Martin Scorsese’s gripping psychological drama after reading all these behind-the-scenes facts, you can do so as Shutter Island is streaming for free on Plex.

You know, there was a time when I believed that Leonardo DiCaprio wasn’t a good actor, or at least, I thought he was overrated. In all honesty, I thought that DiCaprio was just in some really good films, and that’s what led people to believe that he was good. But then, I started seeing him in Martin Scorsese movies, and that changed my opinion entirely. Yes, the five Martin Scorsese movies starring DiCaprio are all pretty good, but the truth is, they wouldn’t be nearly as good if Leonardo DiCaprio wasn’t in them, and I think that says a lot about the heavily praised actor.

Now, I already talked about the best Martin Scorsese/Robert De Niro collaborations, so, I wanted to do the same for Leonardo DiCaprio. Granted, the history between DiCaprio and Scorsese doesn’t go all the way back to the ‘70s, like it does for Scorsese and De Niro, but for a time, it felt like DiCaprio truly was Scorsese’s new muse. Interestingly, Scorsese’s next project, Killers of the Flower Moon, will feature both Leonardo DiCaprio AND Robert De Niro, so it’s really the best of both worlds. So, without further ado, here are the best Leonardo DiCaprio performances in Martin Scorsese films, ranked.

Oh, and some major spoilers up ahead.

5. Gangs of New York (Amsterdam Vallon)

In this historical drama, which also stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Cameron Diaz, Liam Neeson, and a whole slew of others, Leonardo DiCaprio plays Amsterdam Vallon, an Irish-American who is seeking vengeance for the murder of his father after a battle broke out concerning the Protestants and the Catholics. DiCaprio’s character infiltrates the rival gang that defeated his father and becomes the head’s right-hand man. This is all in the hopes of one day slaying the man who killed his father. In a lot of ways, Gangs of New York is sort of like The Departed, but with top hats and brogues.

I think it’s a good movie, but here’s the thing - Leonardo DiCaprio’s accent isn’t great. In fact, about halfway through the film, it almost sounds like he drops the accent entirely, only to remember that he’s supposed to have one late in the game, and then pick it back up again in the third act. Plus, it’s kind of hard to shine when you have somebody like Daniel Day-Lewis in the movie acting alongside you. It’s not a bad DiCaprio performance at all. It’s just not nearly as strong as it needed to be.

4. Shutter Island (Edward “Teddy” Daniels/Andrew Laeddis)

In this drama, also starring Michelle Williams, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, and Max von Sydow, Leonardo DiCaprio plays two roles, one as the Deputy U.S. Marshal, Edward “Teddy” Daniels, and also as one of an insane asylum’s most dangerous patients, Andrew Laeddis. The most interesting thing about the story though is that (spoiler alert), DiCaprio is essentially hunting himself, as his fractured mind created an alternate alias for himself as a U.S. Marshal as a means of coping for the heinous crime he committed in his everyday life. Riveting stuff.

Leonardo DiCaprio is phenomenal in both roles in this twisty, psychological thriller. The only problem, though, is that Shutter Island is such a phenomenal movie with a brilliant twist ending that you kind of forget how good Leo is in it, because the story itself is the true star of the show. Also, DiCaprio is compelling as both a mentally unhinged man as well as an officer, but probably a lot more compelling as the unhinged man, so it’s not an equal performance.

3. The Wolf of Wall Street (Jordan Belfort)

For a time, Leonardo DiCaprio played almost entirely huggable characters. Titanic was probably the start of a very likable Leo, but I believe it wasn’t until 2012’s Django Unchained and 2013’s The Wolf of Wall Street where he truly shed the nice guy attitude and instead donned a much uglier persona. In the latter instance, he played real life stockbroker Jordan Belfort, where he basically schemed his way to being a playboy rich guy in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s.

The Wolf of Wall Street is all about excess, and what it takes (and the people you have to screw over) in order to be successful. It’s a film that isn’t really professing that greed is good, but rather, that being a prick is good in order to make ridiculous amounts of money, and DiCaprio dials that smugness up to 11. Plus, when he ultimately does get his comeuppance at the end, you don’t really feel like he even learned his lesson. He’s like a very charming version of Alex DeLarge from A Clockwork Orange, minus the violence, and anybody who can pull that off is aces in my book.

2. The Aviator (Howard Hughes)

“Wave of the future. Wave of the future.” The Aviator is a biopic about Howard Hughes, and his literal ups and downs as a movie director and airplane pilot, and ultimately, his succumbing to his own extreme OCD. We see DiCaprio in so many different forms in this excellently paced and well-crafted movie, that we feel both sympathy for him, but also a bit of disdain for his jealous streak and even his quirks. The Aviator is one for the ages.

And here’s the thing. Unlike with Shutter Island, where we abruptly find out that the stable hero we’ve been following for most of the movie isn’t so stable after all, we always see hints of the ultimate decline in Howard Hughes’ character throughout The Aviator. It’s the kind of performance where there is always something lurking beneath the surface, and for Leo to maintain that for so long before he goes full on OCD, is a testament to how truly good he is as an actor.

1. The Departed (Trooper William “Billy” Costigan Jr.)

The Departed stars pretty much everybody under the sun, including Jack Nicholson, Vera Farmiga, Matt Damon, Martin Sheen, and several others. And, while many will probably say that Matt Damon is the brain of this twisty crime drama, Leonardo DiCaprio, as the cop who infiltrates the Irish Mob, is undoubtedly the bloody beating heart.

Throughout the film, there is a constant sense of dread about whether Matt Damon’s character will get caught within the police system as a mole, or whether DiCaprio’s undercover character will get caught by the mob, but the audience knows that DiCaprio’s character is always the one who has the deadlier assignment. It is through this nervousness that we get completely enraptured in this story, which wouldn’t be possible if Leo didn’t personify this nervousness to a T.

It’s rare where you feel anxious while watching a movie, but you do with The Departed, and I think it all goes back to DiCaprio's unbelievable performance. I know that he ultimately earned his Oscar for The Revenant, and that he was nominated in the same year as The Departed for his performance in Blood Diamond, but I honestly think that his performance as William “Billy” Costigan in The Departed should have been the one he was nominated for, as it’s probably my favorite performance of his.

If you want to read about the best Leonardo DiCaprio movies of all time or other pieces on him, then make sure to swing by here often.

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Marvel, which has long since capitalized on movie theaters for a little bit over a decade now, is starting to really dip its toes into the television industry with all these new programs coming out. While there have been Marvel shows before, nothing has quite captured the minds of fans like WandaVision, the latest Disney+ show that explores the lives of Wanda Maximoff and Vision from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, seemingly living a normal sitcom life in different decades, but with dark mysteries behind the scenes.

The show has become a megahit for Marvel. But just because WandaVision is a great piece of television, that doesn’t mean that there are plenty of other spots out there that are just as fun. With how much is referenced in the new Marvel show, several shows exist out there for the regular WandaVision fan to watch and have fun. So, if any of you are looking for a new (or old) show or movie to watch, check out these options.

Bewitched (IMDBTV)

This famous TV sitcom from the '60s heavily influenced the second episode of WandaVision. The entire show is about a witch who marries an ordinary mortal man and wants to live a normal life as a regular housewife, keeping her powers hidden from the world.

The show was very popular, running for eight seasons, and is considered one of the greats of the decade, so it’s clear where WandaVision got so much of its spunk from. If you were a fan of the time period of the '60s, along with Wanda’s powers in the Disney+ hit, Bewitched is certainly a show for you to watch.

Stream it on IMDB TV through Amazon here*. *

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (Netflix)

While I could put the original Sabrina the Teenage Witch on here, I feel like the more updated version in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina fits the tone of WandaVision more. The story of this show is all about Sabrina Spellman, a young witch who must decide between a world with her mortal friends and immense power with her abilities, but of course, drama ensues.

For fans of WandaVision, the powers that Sabrina acquires have relative callbacks to the Disney+ show. Sabrina becomes a powerful witch and can eventually split up realities, create two versions of her, and even control the minds of others. It may be a little darker than WandaVision at times, but the premise is still there.

Stream it on Netflix here.

Black Mirror (Netflix)

I love Black Mirror for so many reasons. This anthology show that originally came from England tells different stories each time around, creating mind-boggling realities and twists. Many of these stories are considered “what-if” scenarios for what could happen with the world, set in alternative universes in the present day or future.

The episodes are usually dark and always have a meaning, but the drama and the mysteries that unfold are worth the watch. There have been many callbacks to this show sort of being the present-day version of The Twilight Zone, and there’s a good reason why. It’s been nominated for multiple Emmys (having won one recently for their special, Bandersnatch), and is one of the best shows out there. For fans of WandaVision’s head-turning twists, this is for you.

Stream it on Netflix here.

Shutter Island (Netflix)

There’s a reason why Shutter Island is a classic film, and Leonardo DiCaprio does a fantastic job with his co-star Mark Ruffalo (you know, the Hulk himself). The story follows U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels investigating the escape of a murderess in an asylum with his partner, but the woman has seemed to vanish without a trace, with plenty of dark secrets hidden in the island as well.

While it’s not Scorsese’s best work, in my opinion, it’s still a great time for fans of the neo-noir psychological film genre. It really messes with your head and makes you think, and that’s why it would be perfect for WandaVision fans. The mystery behind the breakout, the hidden past of Shutter Island – it’s a fun time from beginning to end. Really any movie with a good murder mystery would be perfect for fans of the Marvel show.

Stream it on Netflix here.

Vanilla Sky (IMDBTV)

I know that this is a bit of an “avant-garde” pick but hear me out. Vanilla Sky covers the story of David, someone who has his life drastically changed when he is in a car accident that severely disfigures his face. But soon, his life starts to take many different turns and changes, creating a whirlwind of strange happenings that he can’t explain.

Let’s just say that it sort of parodies Wanda’s life. She is currently creating a different reality where she can live happily. And to an extent, Vanilla Sky offers that escape as well, to someone who wants to escape the stresses of his life. But I won’t give away anymore. You’re going to have to watch it if you want to find out.

Stream it on IMDBTV through Amazon here.

I Love Lucy (Hulu)

Think of the very first episode of WandaVision, and that is the entirety of I Love Lucy. The famous sitcom follows the life of Lucille and Ricky Ricardo, the normal suburban family that gets into plenty of hijinks along the way, with their relationship and marriage being the primary focus of the series.

I Love Lucy is known to be one of the best TV series of all time for its impact on the TV industry and was the most-watched show during its time, one that was only matched in Nielsen ratings with The Andy Griffith Show and Seinfeld. The comedy may be a bit dated since the show did come out in the 1950s, but there’s no denying its significance in media as a whole.

Stream it on Hulu here.

Family Ties (CBS All Access)

While the eighties episode of WandaVision had plenty of references to other popular 80’s sitcoms like Full House (which Elizabeth Olsen’s sisters starred in) and Growing Pains, there were several hints tied to Family Ties as well. This is what’s classified as a classic '80s sitcom, starring the Keaton family, focusing on the cultural divide between the children and the parents when it comes to politics, money, and everything else, but they’re always there for each other no matter what because they are family.

Not only is this a great sitcom to binge-watch considering the episodes are not that long, you’ll get plenty of that classic 1980s comedy that you saw previewed for a little bit in WandaVision.

Family Ties also stars plenty of big actors and actresses, with these roles being a big start in their career. Michael J. Fox has a main role as the eldest son, Alex, in the Keaton family, and Justine Bateman (the sister to Jason Bateman) stars as Mallory, his sister. Besides that, there are plenty of other big celebrities that make appearances and have roles in the show before they were big-timers, such as Courteney Cox (Friends), Tom Hanks (Toy Story, Forrest Gump), Geena Davis (Beetlejuice, Thelma and Louise) and more.

Stream it on CBS All Access here.

P.S. I Love You (HBO Max)

I suppose you’re probably wondering how a romance movie can relate to WandaVision, but there’s actually a strong connection to what the main character of this goes through. In P.S. I Love You, the main character, Holly, loses her husband to a brain tumor and doesn’t know how she can go on without him, but he, even after his death, tries to be there for her.

Is the film sad and a bit cliché? Yes. But I can’t help but feel that same attachment towards it like I do with Wanda going through what she is. She has just lost the love of her life so unexpectedly in the Marvel movies and doesn’t know how to deal with it, so she decides to create her own world where she doesn’t face her depression and instead wants to live in her own little bubble. Honestly, Wanda could learn a little from this movie, showing what can be done if one allows themselves to grieve.

Stream it on HBO Max here.

Under The Dome (Pluto TV)

Stephen King has always been a master of suspense, mystery, and horror, and that’s why this show is perfect for viewers of WandaVision. Under The Dome tells the story of this small town, called Chester’s Mill, which is suddenly cut off from the rest of the world when a large, transparent, and indestructible dome comes over their homes. Now, the residents must find a way to stay alive, and try to find a way to somehow find out what the dome is and see if there’s a way to make it go away.

If you want mystery, this is most certainly the drama. There’s so much hidden, with new secrets and turns at every corner for viewers to explore. For fans who enjoy the unraveling of what is happening with WandaVision and trying to piece together everything that is occurring, this show will most certainly keep you interested until the last episode. The show only went for three seasons, so it wouldn’t be that hard to binge-watch.

Stream it on Pluto TV here.

Marvel Movies/TV Shows (Disney+)

I mean, I have to put these here. We’re all fans of Marvel, obviously, but there are plenty of specific shows and movies that are in the Marvel universe that you can watch that will surely keep you just as entertained as WandaVision has.

The first one I’d suggest is Doctor Strange, as Elizabeth Olsen (who plays Wanda), is going to have a main role in the upcoming sequel, so if you’re a fan of the character, I’d suggest catching up. In regards to Marvel TV shows, check out Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, which follows the life of S.H.I.E.L.D agents and the cases they follow. If you’re looking for a more woman-led Marvel show like WandaVision, look no further than Agent Carter, a show that follows the life of Peggy Carter, a secret agent in the 1940’s.

Stream them on Disney + here.

Even though WandaVision is super enjoyable, the season will be coming to an end on March 5th, so we’re going to need something else to watch in the meantime before The Falcon and the Winter Soldier premieres. What are you going to be streaming?

When I was watching Dark Waters not too long ago, I got to thinking about the film's lead actor, Mark Ruffalo, and just how good of an actor he really is. Since joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the 2012 release of The Avengers, Mark Ruffalo has been one of my favorite parts of the franchise. Being able to balance the responsibilities of playing both Bruce Banner and The Incredible Hulk in multiple movies is no easy task and requires someone with a great deal of talent. Luckily for everyone, Ruffalo has that and then some.

This got me thinking, for a large portion of the population, Mark Ruffalo might mostly be known for his appearances in the MCU. But in addition to pulling off the Hulk better than anyone before, the three time Oscar-nominated actor has given audiences some of the best performances of the 21st Century, some of which may have been lost in the shuffle. Here are just a few of those movies that showcase what Mark Ruffalo has to offer.

Dark Waters

Based on the true story of Robert Bilott, a former corporate defense lawyer who led a decades-long crusade to take on DuPont after he discovered a connection between a number of unexplained illnesses and deaths around some of the corporation's facilities, Dark Waters is equal parts environmental thriller and personal drama. This real-life legal drama was brought to life by the extremely talented acting skills of Mark Ruffalo. Watching his character transform from a corporate lawyer to emotionally-connected voice of the voiceless is riveting to say the least. There are times when you can feel the character's tension and stress, making his crusade all the more convincing, especially in the tail-end of the film.

Spotlight

Mark Ruffalo was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Boston Globe reporter Michael Rezendes in the 2015 journalism drama Spotlight. The film, which took home Oscars for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay, focuses on the Spotlight investigative team that shed light on the Boston Archdiocese's role in covering up a widespread child sex scandal and the fallout of the investigation. With a team of actors made up Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Brian d'Arcy James, no one shines more than Ruffalo. There's one scene in particular where Ruffalo's character confronts his team about holding the story and gives audiences the "They knew" line with so much anger and rage it's hard not to listen.

Foxcatcher

One year before he was nominated for his portrayal of an accomplished journalist, Mark Ruffalo was recognized with an Oscar nominated performance as Olympic gold medal-winning wrestler Dave Schulz in the 2014 sports drama Foxcatcher. The movie centers around the coach-wrestler relationship between American multimillionaire and convicted murderer John Eleuthère du Pont (Steve Carell) and Olympic gold-medalist Mark Schulz (Channing Tatum), but the latter's older brother plays an instrumental role in the film's plot. Constantly the voice of reason trying to get his younger brother to listen and distance himself from the eccentric du Pont, Ruffalo's character is constantly fighting with this brother's coach and pays the ultimate price.

The Kids Are All Right

When The Kids Are All Right was first released in 2010, it seemed like anyone and everyone was talking about it (for good reason). This dramatic comedy follows a same-sex couple (played by Annette Bening and Julianne Moore) whose lives are thrown into disarray after their teenage son discovers the identity of the anonymous sperm donor (Mark Ruffalo) who's responsible for his birth. Nominated for a bevy of Academy Awards (including Best Supporting Actor for Ruffalo) this chaotic, emotional, and hilarious family drama features some of the best acting you'll see from Ruffalo, whose portrayal of a free-wheeling restaurateur is one of the highlights of his stellar career.

The Normal Heart

Back in the early 2010s when Mark Ruffalo was between Avengers movies, he signed on to portray writer and activist New Weeks in Ryan Murphy's 2014 HBO original film The Normal Heart. Based on the play written by Larry Kramer (the inspiration for the character), the film dives headfirst into the AIDS epidemic in New York City. The movie features an all-star supporting cast of Julia Roberts, Alfred Molina, Jim Parsons, Matt Bomer, and Taylor Kitsch, but none compare to the intensity shown by Ruffalo in the leading role. Ruffalo's commitment to the role, in which he loses himself, provides for one of the most emotional and powerful performances of his career.

Zodiac

David Fincher's 2007 crime thriller Zodiac offers one of the most in-depth looks into the infamous Zodiac Killer who left the San Fransisco Bay area in a state of fear between in the 1960s and 1970s after killing multiple victims and toying with local police and media with coded messages. Mark Ruffalo appears as police inspector Dave Toschi, who worked the case for a number of years. Watching Ruffalo's character transform from a respected detective to the shell of his former self is both engaging and upsetting, especially when the scene in which the film Dirty Harry sets him off. I've watched this movie multiple times over the years, but Toschi's slow descent into madness gets me every time.

Shutter Island

Shutter Island is one of the movies that is anchored by such a strong performance by its lead actor, Leonardo DiCaprio in this case, that you forget about the phenomenal supporting cast. But Mark Ruffalo's portrayal of U.S. Marshal Chuck Aule (who turns out to be the lost doctor Lester Sheehan) is remarkable when you consider the fact he is giving a performance of a character whose whole goal is to convince another character that he is someone else. Bouncing back and forth between the roles shows Ruffalo's range as an actor, and it would be hard to find someone better equipped to handle the subtlety of the roles.

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind is highlighted by the performances of Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, two former lovers erasing their memories of one another after a bad breakup. Outside that, however, there is a different story about Lacuna, the company that carries out the procedure. One of these players is Mark Ruffalo's Stan Fink, the highly-trained, yet careless Lacuna technician whose lackadaisical approach to this job ends up causing a great deal of pain and heartache for all involved parties. Being able to craft a stoner-like character who floats through life's problems comes off so natural for the actor. Good thing Bruce Banner didn't make mistakes like that. Oh, wait…

Those are just eight of Mark Ruffalo's best performances outside the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Don't get me wrong, Ruffalo is amazing in every MCU movie in which he's appeared, but sometimes we forget that actors from that franchise have careers outside of Marvel. But if you want to see how Ruffalo's Zodiac co-star Robert Downey Jr. got him to be an Avenger, we've got you covered at CinemaBlend.

Warning: spoilers for a ton of movies are present in this article. More specifically, 13 movies, including Last Christmas, are going to be ruined for those who haven’t seen them. If you see a title that you haven’t seen yet on this list, breeze right past it and head to familiar shores.

Whether you’re watching a movie that’s hailed as the best of a generation, or the worst of any particular box office season, you’ll sometimes find a film with an ending so wild, it manages to drop your jaw right to the floor. We saw such an ending make its way to theaters in recent times, with director Paul Feig’s Last Christmas taking a pretty big turn in its narrative; one that some folks on the internet called out pretty quickly. In the spirit of that corkscrew of an ending, we’d like to talk out some of the biggest twists in movie history.

In some instances, that’s the sort of thing that makes or breaks a movie, as the right ending can save everything that’s come before it, or dash all of the good work done prior to the final twist. Let it be said that when it comes to the endings we’re about to discuss, each one of them has made things interesting and kept these particular films in the pop culture conversation for some time.

Last Christmas

From the moment the first trailers for Last Christmas had dropped, audiences called the film's twist simply by knowing the song it was based off of. And sure enough, what started out as a cute romance between Emilia Clarke’s Kate and Henry Golding’s Tom turned out to be, as people had predicted, a ghostly affair.

The year prior to the events of Last Christmas, Kate was deathly ill and required a heart transplant. That heart, obviously, came from Tom, who was killed in a bicycle accident around that same timeframe. So, technically, last Christmas, Tom gave Kate his heart. And the very next year, she was haunted by his ghost to be a better person.

So to the smart cookies that called that twist, we issue a hearty tip of the hat, and the challenge to see if you can recall these other wild endings that have vexed the imaginations of audiences for some time now.

Serenity (2019)

When being marketed to the public, last year’s Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway-led thriller Serenity looked like an erotic thriller you’d expect out of late ‘90s Cinemax. With McConaughey’s character being paid by his ex, played by Hathaway, to kill her husband, tinges of sex and neo-noir seemed to have audiences thinking this was a totally different film than it turned out to be.

In actuality, Serenity takes a pretty wide turn, when we find out that the world we’ve been seeing Matthew McConaughey’s navigate around is actually a video game. What's even crazier is that McConaughey’s character is a new addition coded into a fishing simulator, thanks to a boy trying to deal with the death of his father and an abusive stepfather who's terrorizing him and his mother.

In both the fishing simulator and real life, this abusive presence is killed, leaving the boy to be charged with murder and Matthew McConaughey’s digital consciousness to meet a new character: his son from the real world.

Identity

Most audiences are more familiar with director James Mangold’s work on films like 3:10 To Yuma, Logan and more recently Ford v Ferrari. But one of his lesser known gems is the horror mystery Identity, a movie that pits John Cusack, Amanda Peete and a motel’s worth of recognizable faces against an unknown killer on a dark and stormy night.

The overall twist to this film hides in plain sight, as the criminal case of convicted killer Malcolm Rivers (Pruitt Taylor Vince) is the real story. The motel caper we’ve been witnessing turns out to be one of Rivers’ multiple personalities killing off the rest of the lot.

The entire murder mystery has been playing out in his mind, with the hunt for the murderous personality ending in one final twist. Rivers’ true personality is the killer, as it resembles his traumatized self as a child, who then kills the final innocent persona within his psyche and escapes police custody.

Fight Club

The twist to David Fincher’s Fight Club is one of the obvious choices we had to throw into this rundown of wild endings we’ve seen in pop culture. It’s a twist that’s as influential as it is mind-blowing, and that last part is pretty literal when all is said and done. So sing along if you know this one.

As we’ve presumably been following our unnamed protagonist (Edward Norton) and Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) on an escalating tide of anarchic activity known as “Project Mayhem,” we soon learn the deep and dark truth: they’re both the same person. Tyler is a manifestation of our lead character’s frustrations with the world, and has only existed to allow him to play havoc on everything he despises.

Ending with a gigantic explosion that takes out a whole bunch of financial institutions, and one last dirty image spliced into the film’s reel, Fight Club goes out on one hell of a needle drop that compliments its subversive ending.

Saw

Oh, Saw, the torture porn hit that launched a thousand imitators and the twist ending that inspired a franchise to keep trying to top itself. Depending on who you are and what sort of fan you are when it comes to this house of horrors, you may think it’s never matched these heights.

With Dr. Gordon (Cary Elwes) and Adam (Leigh Whannell) trying to figure a way out of the abandoned bathroom that’s supposed to be their prison, they settle on two different bids for survival. The good doctor saws off his foot, while Adam kills another pawn in Jigsaw’s big game.

But that murder reveals one last trip to Bananaville, as the dead body that’s been in the room throughout the whole movie? That’s Jigsaw, a.k.a. John Kramer (Tobin Bell) himself. And he wasn’t dead, he was just resting. Oh, and the solution to the room’s “puzzle?” That was the key you saw go down the drain in the film’s opening. Game over, man.

Primal Fear

Edward Norton must be a fan of twist endings, and who could blame him when his career started out with a role as intensely rewarding as Primal Fear’s Aaron Stampler. But, of course, as anyone who knows the movie would tell you, in order for that statement to be totally true, there’d have to be an Aaron in the first place.

With “Aaron” turning out to be a fabricated personality, we find out that Norton’s character, Roy, was trying to get away with murder by pretending to have a fractured psyche. And it worked too, as he’s sent to a maximum security mental facility and found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Throughout the whole film, Roy had fooled the audience and his own laywer (Richard Gere) into believing one version of the truth. When, in fact, it was all one big shell game that allowed him to uncover a church abuse scandal and be a somewhat free man in the process.

The Sixth Sense

Talking about the greatest hits of twist endings almost requires we mention M. Night Shyamalan’s career, as the man has built an industry off of turning a plot on its head towards the end of his films. And if it wasn’t for the whopper of a reveal at the end of The Sixth Sense, a lot of movie history may have never happened!

Haley Joel Osment’s Cole learns to accept his gift to see ghosts thanks to psychologist Malcolm Crowe’s (Bruce Willis) help and understanding. In turn, Cole tries to help Malcolm by telling him to confront his supposedly distant wife, which leads to the legendary ending audiences are still talking about over 20 years later.

We learn that Malcolm’s wife hasn’t been ignoring him throughout The Sixth Sense. Rather, Malcolm has been dead since the beginning of the film, when he was shot by a former patient. And now, he’s free to cross over to the realm of spirits after getting his closure in life.

Memento

It’s hard enough to keep a story straight when it’s told in linear chronology. But Chrisopher Nolan’s Hollywood debut Memento not only had the honor of telling a story in reverse order, but it used that device in service of a story that had a kicker of a finale. Or is that a kicker of an opening?

Retrograde amnesiac Leonard (Guy Pearce) has been using notes, tattoos and clues to try and hunt down the killer of his wife. And throughout the film’s unfolding narrative, we find out that not only is our hero being led astray on purpose, he’s already gotten his revenge a year prior to the film’s events.

As luck would have it, Leonard’s “friend” Teddy (Joe Pantoliano) actually led him to his wife’s killer and let him get his revenge. But thanks to that retroactive amnesia he’s suffering from, “Teddy” (whose real name is John) has been using him as his own personal hitman ever since. So his death at the beginning of the film not only makes sense, but it’s well earned.

Shutter Island

Is it better to live as a monster or die as a good man? That’s the question that Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island asks its audience throughout its adaptation of author Dennis Lehane’s mystery thriller, and it does so with some very subtle misdirection from the word go.

What looks like a routine investigation under the control of federal agent Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) actually turns out to be an elaborate form of role playing therapy that sees our protagonist confronting his own heinous acts. Because, as it turns out, Teddy is really Andrew Laeddis, a mental patient who had a dissociative event after killing his wife (Michelle Williams), who had previously killed their children.

It’s a deception that, upon subsequent viewings, is a truth that was staring the audience right in the face. Which makes Andrew’s decision to “die as a good man” all the more painful to watch when Shutter Island arrives to its bittersweet conclusion.

The Prestige

Christopher Nolan?! What are you doing on this list again? It’s probably not a shock that Nolan has another jaw dropper on this list, and for those of you who were wondering if The Prestige would be on this list, your moment has come.

A tale of two magicians with a bitter feud, the narrative of this particular film revolves around an alleged murder and a trick known as “The Transported Man.” With Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) accused and convicted of the murder of his former partner Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman), we eventually learn that it wasn’t Angier who supposedly drowned to death – it was a copy made as part of his version of the trick.

However, just as we’re led to believe that Robert Angier has let Alfred Borden wrongfully hang, we find out that it wasn’t Alfred that died. His secret twin, Fallon, was the one who died; just as it was he who helped him fool the audience into thinking he transported.

The Usual Suspects

The identity of Keyser Soze is one of those wild endings that has stayed in the pop culture conversation ever since The Usual Suspects debuted in 1995. Writer Christopher McQuarrie’s neo-noir pot boiler surrounds the hunt for the infamous Soze, in connection with a horrific fire that leaves only two survivors.

One of those lucky souls, Roger “Verbal” Kint (Kevin Spacey) tells the story of the so called Usual Suspects, and how each of them was led to that boat by Keyser Soze himself. Just as it looks like Kint is in the clear, and he’s released into the wild, that story is discovered as a total fabrication.

Oh, and in a grand finale worthy of a Saw movie, Verbal Kint is revealed to be Keyser Soze himself. His whole story was pulled together with details he spotted in common view and turned into a crime tale that was pure fiction, allowing for him to disappear once again and continue his criminal enterprises.

The Village

Yes, we’ve previously covered an entry written and directed by twist master M. Night Shyamalan. That being said, if we’re going to really get into shocking twists that have come out of this man’s pen, then The Village is a movie that really needs to be discussed, as it’s a pivot point in the man’s own career.

Fans were split down the middle when it came to how this tale of terror in a bygone era panned out, as throughout the entirety of The Village, we were led to believe that the action was set in the 19th century. But, through some exposition and chance encounter, we’re shown that it’s actually panning out in present day America.

As for the “beasts” that roam through the perimeter of The Village’s main setting, we find out that this is another fabrication, as it turns out the elders that crafted this village as a way to escape the modern world depend on such a legend to keep people in this idyllic setting.

Predestination

To close out this mammoth compilation of twists that had us reeling in our seats, we have the mother of all endings that had our heads spinning. If you’ve never heard of [The Sperig Brothers’ Predestination](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predestination_(film), we highly recommend you back out and avoid this one, as it’s the most shocking of this bunch.

Still here? Good. So what if we told you that Ethan Hawke and Sarah Snook were the same person? Ready to go one question deeper into the rabbit hole? What if we told you there were two Sarah Snooks, one male and one female, who gave birth to another Sarah Snook; who would in turn become Ethan Hawke?

In a nutshell, this is the twist to Predestination, as a lot of time travel and physiology are involved in this story of a temporal agent from the future who is tracking down a rogue bomber in 1970s New York. And in perhaps the greatest turn of all, it’s that very temporal agent that turns out to be the culprit referred to throughout the film as “The Fizzle Bomber.”

Like we said, it’s a nutso twist, but it’s one that totally makes sense in the film’s narrative. And it’s also the best of this pack of wild endings to finish off this conversation. Of course, if this were a movie, this would be the perfect time to lay down some sort of twist of our own. But seeing as you’re probably still digesting everything we’ve laid down here, we’re going to leave you with the standard happy ending. Or are we?

This poll is no longer available.

One of Martin Scorsese's overlooked gems in his recent era of filmmaking, Shutter Island went from an Oscar push release date to a February launch that saw it bring in a pretty successful haul of almost $300 million. But you still don't hear much about the film these days, despite it being not only a masterful adaptation of Dennis Lehane's novel, but also a fantastic exercise in Scorsese's stylish usage of classic film influences.

The kicker is, Shutter Island has one of those third act twists that should keep folks talking on their way out of the theatre, and an ending that needed to be dissected properly by its audience. Well, put on some coffee and smoke 'em if you've got 'em, as we're here to give Shutter Island the post-mortem it's so richly deserved since day one. To start us off, we'll go over that third act twist in detail.

How Shutter Island Ended

At the end of Shutter Island, Leonardo DiCaprio's U.S. Marshall Edward "Teddy" Daniels makes his way to the fabled lighthouse on the titular island. After a twisting narrative that saw Daniels pursue a path of paranoia, deception, and a fabled missing patient, he was met with the truth: he's a patient himself, with the real name of Andrew Laeddis. His primary care physician, Dr. Lester Sheehan, who masqueraded as Chuck, his "partner," had helped engineer a live action role play scenario, where he was investigating a case crafted from the details of his wife's murder of their three children. This strategy has played out before, and he is informed that if this experimental therapy doesn't work this time around, he'll be suggested as a candidate for a lobotomy.

Andrew initially has a hard time dealing with this reality, but ultimately, it seems like he's snapped back to reality. At least, until the final scene, where he and Dr. Sheehan are discussing how he's feeling. From his dialogue, it sounds like the Teddy persona is in charge again, as he's still focused on the faux conspiracy that was engineered for his treatment. But right before he walks to meet the orderlies, ready to escort him to his surgery, he asks Sheehan an important question, "Which would be worse: to live as a monster, or to die as a good man?" With one last look to his doctor, Teddy / Andrew meets his fate, and the film ends with its ultimate question: who's in charge? Is it the monster, Andrew Laeddis, or the good man, Teddy Daniels?

Andrew Laeddis Is In Control, And Will Die Willingly

One interpretation of the ending is that Andrew Laeddis is the persona in control, and he's ready to die. To a certain extent, Andrew was, in fact, a monster. He had a history of physical violence with other patients, as exhibited in fellow patient George Noyce's extensive facial scarring. Even before his wife killed their children, he was barely home, and drank a lot when he was. In his own opinion, his murder of his wife was the straw that broke the camel's back, which sent his psyche down a tumbling rabbit hole of guilt, thus requiring the creation of Teddy Daniels. Every time Andrew is brought back to the forefront, Andrew wants to return to the "good man" persona of Teddy, the US Marshall who could do no harm. Knowing the doctors are never going to let him live his entire life in this delusional state, and being unable to deal with the pain of killing his own wife, it's assumed in this interpretation that he's taking his own life (via lobotomy) to end his pain. He'll live out his days as a good man, unable to feel pain or inflict it upon anyone else.

Teddy Daniels Is In Control, And Is Still Delusional

The other possibility is that, with all of the faults of Andrew, good man Teddy Daniels is the one in charge at the end of the movie, and he's still playing the game so expertly designed for him. This hypothesis assumes that Andrew has given / lost control of his decisions to Teddy again, and much like the events of Shutter Island, he'll somehow plot his escape from his fate. Teddy is basically Andrew's idealized self, despite the fact that he's a completely fabricated persona that allows him to escape the reality of his actions. We've seen him as a resourceful man that can escape almost anything, even himself; though that's mostly because the staff of the hospital weren't trying to apprehend him. If Teddy knew the resistance that would meet him as he walked into the path of the guards and orderlies at the end, who are now doing their actual jobs instead of playing parts in a narrative that suits his needs, he might have thought twice about surrendering to their care.

What The Book Says

Here's where Dennis Lehane's source material for Shutter Island pulls a fast one. In the book, the ending is pretty much the same, with Andrew remembering who he is, and ending the book on the steps with Dr. Sheehan. However, for the first couple paragraphs of the last chapter, the character is simply referred to as "He." It's only on the last page that we find out Dr. Sheehan is referred to as "Chuck" again, and Andrew has gone back to "Teddy." The book ends with "Chuck's" line about them being too smart to be caught, and Teddy answering in agreement. So according to the book's tone, it sounds like Teddy is still in charge of things, particularly because of the lack of the extra moments at the end that show a case for Andrew still being cognizant of the fact that he's about to sacrifice his mind for inner peace.

Our Take On The Ending

While it seems like there's a conflict between the film's source material, and that of the film adaptation of Shutter Island, it feels like Andrew Laeddis is truly in control of his faculties, and is going to the lighthouse willingly. Both personalities are law and order types, with a huge drive to catch the mad man at large. Much like Christopher Nolan's Memento, Andrew caught his collar when he killed his wife, Dolores, but something in his mind snapped and caused him to disassociate from himself. As Teddy Daniels, he could chase himself as much as he wanted, and never catch him, always having something to live for. However, once that illusion is broken, and he no longer has anything to live for, Andrew realizes that the only way he can truly be at peace is if he can't think about his constant guilt. While he speaks as Teddy, it's only because he's caught his perp, and it's the only way his true punishment will be served.

The world's greatest filmmakers tell their stories from the very first frame in their movies to the very last. Need proof? Just watch the amazing supercut below, and you'll notice just how many brilliant films have beginnings and endings that work in stunning tandem.

This video, titled bluntly "First and Final Frames," was created by Vimeo user Jacob T. Swinney, and it's an impressive edit that highlights the brilliant work of filmmakers from every era, including John Ford, Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick, Quentin Tarantino and many more. It's amazing to watch just how many movies have perfectly poetic beginnings and endings.

So what are some of the highlights? One of the earliest in the video comes from a film that was only released just last year: David Fincher's Gone Girl. The mirrored beginning and ending here isn't exactly subtle in framing, but what's lurking behind Rosamund Pike's eyes completely changes the context.

My next favorite is featured from Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch Drunk Love. This is a movie all about a man rejecting his loneliness and finding love, and it's illustrated perfectly here.

And then there's the visual magic of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, which juxtaposes "sunrise" with the giant space baby:

I've always found that part of the fun in watching these kinds of videos is simply naming as many of the movies as you can - and I imagine that many of you are the same way. If you've already made your guesses, head over to Page Two to check them against the full list of films, which the editor was kind enough to provide.

Some TV trends are better than others. We don’t mind what seems to be the emerging trend of taking movie ideas and turning them into TV pilots. On Monday, HBO and Paramount Television began working on a deal to bring Martin Scorsese’s 2010 film Shutter Island to the small screen. The proposed TV series would be a prequel of sorts to the film.

Instead of Shutter Island, the TV version would go by the also-foreboding name Ashecliffe. In the original movie, Ashecliffe is the name of the mental asylum where Leonardo DiCaprio and company first head. According to Deadline, the potential TV series would follow the founders of the hospital, focusing on the “secrets and misdeeds” of those early entrepreneurs, as well as some of the funky rehabilitation methods they concocted.

The potential series wouldn’t stray too far from its roots, either. If it moves forward, Ashecliffe’s pilot will be directed by Martin Scorsese. Additionally, Dennis Lehane has been brought on to co-pen the pilot, and while he is not responsible for writing the script for the 2010 movie, he did write the book that the movie is based on. Tom Bernardo will also write. Scorsese is always a busy guy, but with Boardwalk Empire wrapping up this fall, he’ll have one hand free to work on a new TV project, and Ashecliffe is potentially the right fit.

There are several other people involved with the movie who would also be involved in the series, including starrer Leonardio DiCaprio and producer Brad Fischer, who will executive produce the project. Other executive producers involved include Scorsese, Lehane, Jennifer Killoran Davisson, Laeta Kalogridis, Rick Yorn, Chris Donnelly, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Mike Medavoy and Arnie Messer.

As we noted earlier, movie premises are being reinvisioned for hour-long segments left and right. Earlier this week, we brought you news that Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report might become a TV series, a School of Rock series is in the works and there are numerous Wizard of Oz-type stories at various networks. Additionally, Ashecliffe would be a trendy addition to HBO's schedule thanks to the rise of horror programming on television. The subscription cable network could use something edgy and a little scary to compete with Penny Dreadful and American Horror Story. True Blood was the closest thing the network had to horror for a long time, and that was campier than it was terrifying.

Clearly, we are still a long way off from a series order for Ashecliffe. Regardless, with all of the big names on board, I wouldn’t be surprised if Ashecliffe were to get greenlighted sooner rather than later, and we’ll keep you posted as the project shoots off, or even if it fizzles out, instead.

Welcome back to FlixWorthy, your weekly guide to Netflix streaming. Yet again we're bringing you a handful of new or notable selections from Netflix's streaming catalogue. Some will be classics, some will be little-seen gems, some will be shows you might have missed, and some...some will be crap so awful they simply has to be seen to be believed. Here's what's FlixWorthy this week, kids.

Shutter Island

(2010, Rated R, 138 min.)

Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio's ongoing flirtation continued last February with this long-gestating adaptation of Dennis Lehane's novel. Leo stars as Teddy Daniels, a U.S. Marshall tasked with investigating the disappearance of a patient from the titular island hospital. As Teddy digs deeper into the mystery, he only finds more questions, as well as a steadily increasing sense that neither the hospital staff nor his own partner (Mark Ruffalo) may be entirely trustworthy. And remember, Teddy, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't actually out to get you. Shutter Island is visually stunning, oozing with style...and really rather predictable, actually. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it -- I did -- but it didn't win me over to the same degree it did boss-man Josh Tyler. I'd put Shutter Island in the same category as Black Swan: it may not be hard to guess what's going down (insert Natalie Portman/Mila Kunis joke here), but it's one hell of a ride getting there. My only quibble is that Netflix isn't offering Shutter Island streaming in HD. If you're curious about the flick, it's definitely worth adding the queue, but it really ought to be seen in high-def.

Double-Feature It With:

Insomnia

(2002, Rated R, 118 min., HD)

One good thriller deserves another, so why not team up Shutter Island with an earlier work of one of the most talented filmmakers around? Christopher Nolan directed this remake of a 1997 Norwegian flick of the same name. Al Pacino turns in a solid performance as troubled detective Will Dormer, whose investigation into the death of 17-year-old girl leads him to suspect that Alaskan crime writer Walter Finch's interest in murder may extend beyond the fictional.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

(2009, Rated PG-13, 122 min.)

Poor Terry Gilliam. For all his imagination and talent, he's as much known for his failed productions as his successful ones. While The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus never became a clusterfuck on the order of, say, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, it ran up against an even more tragic turn of events when lead actor Heath Ledger died a third of the way through filming. Credit to Gilliam and his crew for coming up with a solution that allowed the movie to be finished and for some of Ledger's contemporaries to honor his memory. Taking advantage of the film's fantasy premise, Ledger's role was completed by not one, but three actors, with Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell each taking a turn as the character repeatedly passes through a magic mirror and alters his appearance. The film itself received mixed reviews, but it's worth watching both as a curiosity and because Gilliam's movies are always fascinating and creative even when they are deeply flawed.

Double-Feature It With...

The Fountain

(2006, Rated PG-13, 96 min., HD)

The Fountain was originally going to be a $70 million project boasting Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett in the lead roles. It eventually arrived with half the budget and Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz instead, but I think it's the better for it. While the script spans centuries, The Fountain is a deeply personal and human story. The visuals are breathtaking, but they're not the point. While it's about as divisive a movie as I've encountered, I love it more with each viewing, and Hugh Jackman gives perhaps his best performance ever.

The Larry Sanders Show

(1992, TV-MA, Four Seasons Available)

Hey now! I almost couldn't believe it when this show turned up on Netflix's streaming catalogue. I was too young (and cable-deprived) to ride the Larry Sanders bandwagon back when it was first airing in the '90s. But after hearing nothing but good things for years, I finally got the chance to dive in when the first season came out on DVD years back, and I was hooked. And then...nothing. There was no sign of further seasons coming out, and it seemed as if the apparently underperforming first-season set would be yet another frustratingly truncated pop culture artifact relegated to the "Regret" section of my video shelves along with Firefly and Wonderfalls. Eventually we got a best-of set, which was the equivalent of rubbing salt into my open wound. Leave it to the folks over at Shout! Factory to finally release a complete-series set this past November, and now even those of us without $115 bucks to toss down can experience the first four of the show's six seasons via Netflix streaming. Do I wish we got all six? Sure. Am I going to quibble? Not a bit.

Double-Feature It With:

The Kids in the Hall

(1989, TV-14, All Five Seasons Available)

If you prefer your comedy less metafictional and more Canadian, the entire run of the sketch comedy troupe that gave us Dave Foley is now streaming. Now if only they'd add Brain Candy.

Cronos

(1993, Rated R, 92 min., HD)

Blade II may have out-earned Cronos by quite a bit, but I'll take Guillermo del Toro's 1993 take on the vampire genre over Wesley Snipes any day of the week. Hell, you don't even have to sacrifice your Ron Perlman quota, because the big lug appears in both. Like the Twilight saga, Cronos puts some unique spins on the time-worn tropes of vampire lore. Unlike Twilight, however, Cronos isn't a creepy, poorly written pile of steaming adolescent fan fic. Del Toro's unlikely bloodsucker is Jesus Gris, an elderly antiques dealer who finds his youth returning along with an unfortunate craving for blood after an ornate, scarab-like artifact injects him with some unidentified goop. The Man Who Would Be Hellboy shows up as a brute tasked by his rich, dying uncle with recovering the vampire-spawning device. The twisted, unmistakable imagination del Toro later put to good use in the Hellboy films and Pan's Labyrinth was already on full display in Cronos, and I can't wait to watch it again.

Double-Feature It With:

Let the Right One In

(2008, Rated R, 114 min., HD)

I finally got around to watching this much-buzzed flick just last week, and it was just as good as all the people bugging me about it had insisted. If, like me, you have made it this long without seeing this Swedish original, or this year's Matt Reeves-helmed American remake Let Me In, I'll only suggest you add it to your queue immediately. And if you've made it this far without being spoiled, I ain't saying anything else.

Frozen

(2010, Rated R, 94 min.)

Firmly in the same camp as Open Water or the recent Ryan-Reynolds-in-a-coffin flick Buried, Frozen imagines a worst-case scenario and then throws a few poor schmucks right into the middle of it to see what happens. In this case the far-fetched inciting incident arrives after three partying friends bribe a ski chairlift operator to let them ride up for one last trip down the slopes. Unfortunately, the lift is powered down half-way through their ride, and the resort closes as a storm descends. Left stranded mid-air in freezing temperatures, the kids must figure out how to get to safety or else face a chilly, nipple-hardening death. God help them if anybody starts licking anything. You can check out our theatrical and DVD reviews of Frozen, but if you'd prefer a more temperate tale of mass-transit horror, perhaps escalators are more your speed?

Double-Feature It With...

Donkey Punch

(2008, Unrated, 95 min.)

Speaking of high-concept movie pitches, how about one based almost entirely on a hopefully hypothetical sexual act? Sure, there are the barest threads of a plot here, but after watching it it's pretty clear this is the result of a late-night drunken conversation where somebody explained the concept of a donkey punch to somebody who'd never heard of it before. Let this be a lesson to you: don't greenlight movies while chemically altered.

Also of note...

The Disney/ABC deal has begun bearing Netflix fruit. Multiple seasons of shows such as Brothers and Sisters, Desperate Housewives, Greek, Grey's Anatomy, and The Secret Life of the American Teenager are now streaming.

To read the FlixWorthy archives, click here!

We all have our favorite films that we’ll defend endlessly as perfect pieces of cinema history devoid of any mistakes or inconsistencies. I’m sorry to inform you of this, but despite the seemingly countless dollars that it takes to make some of your favorite movies, nothing is perfect. There are simply too many moving parts for everything to go right at every possible moment, even in films that are computer animated.

MovieMistakes.com has kindly compiled an exhaustive list of the errors that have befallen film this past year of 2010 and they are many. They’ve done the duty of selecting the most egregious mistakes thereby giving us a reason to go watch Prince of Persia or Twilight: Eclipse again, when regularly we definitely would not. Topping the list of offenders is Scorsese’s Shutter Island, unable to hide a pad used to cushion DiCaprio’s leap over a fence. Followed then by Alice in Wonderland, Twilight, and even Toy Story 3, the list proves that nothing Hollywood does can be called perfection.

For good fun, go back through their archives and check out movies like Terminator 2 or Pirates of the Caribbean. You’ll be surprised what you’ll find.

The final weekend of the February doldrums came and went, with the last two movies dumped into theaters making only mediocre splashes.

Critics and Kevin Smith fans alike had minimal praise for his new comedy Cop Out, but thanks to big names like Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan, enough of an audience turned up to give the movie second place in the top ten with $18 million, the largest ever box office opening for a Smith project.

Of course, that's not such a huge accomplishment when you consider that his previous record was held by Jay and Silent Bob for a minimal $11 million.

Horror flick The Crazies came in a close third with $16 million, not bad for a movie made with no major names on a $20 million budget.

Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island held on to the number one spot for a second weekend, banking an additional $22 million for a total of $75 million domestic. Well on its way to the $100 million mark, the movie will be only the third Scorses movie to hit triple digits. The Aviator just broke in at $102 million back in 2004 and The Departed went all the way to $132 million back in 2006.

Meanwhile Avatar in its 11th weekend, continued to milk extra revenue out of the higher 3D ticket prices, crossing the $700 million mark. No actual budget information has ever been released on the film, but there's little doubt that it has made more profit than any other movie in history.

For the full weekend top ten, check out the chart below:

I guess this Super Bowl thing is a big deal or something. But more than being a day when everybody loves seeing dudes beat each other up while chasing a piece of brown leather, Super Bowl Sunday is the one day when it's completely acceptable and encouraged to indulge in all of our worst consumer capitalist tendencies. We all sit in front of the television and dare it to make us buy something. Or more importantly, watch something.

AdvertisingAge has released a list of companies who have purchased commercial time along with the titles they'll be advertising. There's nothing incredibly surprising here. We'll see spot for The Last Airbender, which will likely be the teaser we saw several months back since the official trailer was delayed until February. We'll also see spots for Wolfman and Iron Man 2. Studios will want to cut together the best 30-second spots they can possibly offer, so look for a lot of new footage from this summer's blockbusters.

Check out the current list of movies with Super Bowl time below: