In my last blog entry, I linked to an article that had Return of the Jedi rated as one of the top ten worst movie endings of all time. I disagreed, and so did everybody else that responded.

That got me thinking: what are my favorite movie endings? I'm still working on my list of best trilogies, sagas, etc., so this has been kind of relevant.

Here is my list (oh, and ***SPOILER ALERT***, I'm going to be giving away some movie endings here!):

5a & 5b. Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl; and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. I loved the endings to both of these movies for different reasons. With Curse of the Black Pearl, I left the theater pumped at the thought of Captain Jack Sparrow's further adventures. And, as this demonstrates, I'm a sucker for a good movie soundtrack. I loved the Pirates theme blaring. With Dead Man's Chest, I was in love with the cliff hanger ending. The movie wasn't as great as Curse of the Black Pearl, but

4. Primal Fear. Ed Norton does not get enough credit for his work in this movie. Great actor. The realization by Marty, played by Richard Gere, that Aaron is really Roy and there is no split personality is perfect. Gere's stunned expression as he leaves the jail while Norton yells after him about is priceless. The first time I saw it, I couldn't help but feel stunned too.

3. Indiana Jones And the Last Crusade. Here is why it is great: at the time, it was the final Indiana Jones movie. Jones "saves the day" again, and he rides off into the sunset, literally, with his father after reconciling their relationship over the course of the movie. John Williams' Indiana Jones Theme blares in the background. Not the most spectacular ending, but just awesome all the same..

2a and 2b. Star Wars: A New Hope; and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Come on! You knew it had to be here somewhere. The thing that makes this movie great is that the awards ceremony is the completion of Luke's journey from farm boy to hero of the Rebellion and the recognition of Han Solo's development from a scoundrel with a "looking out for number one attitude" to a "doing what is right" hero. Add in another spectacular theme from John Williams that you can't help but hum along to, and voila, great ending.

With The Empire Strikes Back, we were left wondering if one of the greatest plot twists of all time was true, and how would Han's friends rescue him from his carbonite imprisonment. I remember speculating about all of this with friends until Return of the Jedi was released.

1. The Usual Suspects. The end of this movie was absolutely stunning. Kevin Spacey absolutely deserved the Oscar he won for his role as Verbal Kent. The discovery by the police that Verbal was actually Kaiser Soze was just awesome.

There you have it.

That list was done off the top of my head without any real criteria. I spent about ten minutes coming up with this, and if I spent more time, I might change some things. I suspect many of you, if not all of you, disagree with my list. So, please, share your top movie endings.