Now that the summer season is (almost) here, along with the usual collection of sequels, comedies, converted TV shows and special-effects derbies, we can expect a deluge of happy endings—you don't build franchises on bleak conclusions. The very notion of a franchise film, however, almost guarantees that its ending be less than fully satisfying. If it were, why would we want to come back for more? ...

Will any of these upbeat finales, like the much-anticipated return of Indiana Jones, fill us with real joy—the way that rousing rock-and-roll finale of the original "Shrek" left us with a big childlike grin on our faces? Constructing these tentpole extravaganzas, the studios often think that throwing millions of dollars of special effects in our faces is a reasonable substitute for a dramatically coherent ending, as if the sheer noise and spectacle will convince us we're having a thumping good time.

Naturally, Ansen can't even wank himself to a decent climax; first come the spoilers, from About Schmidt to Witness For The Prosecution to Carrie to Before Sunset and more — none especially guarded mass-culture secrets, but all yielding some pop for anyone who hasn't seen them. Then come the loose ends: Two of last year's most celebrated films, No Country For Old Men (Best Picture!) and There Will Be Blood (Best Picture runner-up!), were debated, dissected and embraced precisely because of the ambiguity of their endings. Neither receive any mention here.

Ansen also omits Star Wars, which kicked off the most profitable franchise in cinema history with a perfectly self-contained two-hour film — then followed it with a grim sequel featuring a cliffhanger still waiting to be outdone. Our own theory is that Ansen planned his own two-part series, which will conclude in next week's issue with a grand finale announcing... Oh, why spoil it? We've been waiting forever to see how Ansen will explain his last 30 years.

• Endless Summer [Newsweek]

Amid firings, buyouts and retirements at dailies and weeklies around the country, Ansen is the first critic from a national publication to land in the execution chamber. But to hear him tell it, the afterlife could be a good thing:

"It was a good deal," he said. "They didn't want me to leave, which put me in a nice bargaining position. They may have been shocked at how many people took the offer." ...

Ansen looks forward to writing books, teaching, and "not going out to screenings every night," he said. "I want to watch DVDs of movies I might actually like and read a book or two. Face it, a lot of movies are not that interesting to write about these days."

We sympathize with Ansen over his grueling life of film criticism, and indeed, his unwavering spirit of inquisitiveness and imagination will be sorely missed once he winds things down at the end of the year. We don't know how he lasted as long as he did, especially through the lackluster cinematic crop that was 2007; God knows we would have given up on this racket a long time ago.

• Ansen to Leave Newsweek After 30 Years [Thompson on Hollywood]