If you ask my friends or family what the worst part about watching a movie or television show with me is, chances are you’ll get the same answer, “He spoils the ending for me.” This isn’t because I’ve seen it before or read the book beforehand, it’s because most stories have become too predictable because they are using the same template of the three-act structure. Act one is the set up. Usually thanks to some heavy exposition, we get to know who all of the main players are, and set up the obstacle the protagonist will have to overcome. Act two is where shit gets real. The protagonist finds a solution, but just makes things worse, generally hitting their lowest point, all to make their inevitable triumph more satisfying.Act three resolves the story. Everything comes together in a dramatic climax that pays off everything that the characters have struggled with. The protagonist defeats the villain, finds a deeper truth about themselves, or sets off a gigantic nuclear explosion that restarts the sun. Resulting in a happy ending for the characters you have come to love. Adding to the problem is the principle of Chekhov’s Gun. This states that everything that is memorable in a story should be necessary, if it’s not, it should be removed. “If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it's not going to be fired, it shouldn't be hanging there.”-Anton ChekhovAfter you have watched a few dozen movies, you realize that most filmmakers rarely deviate from these concepts. You learn what to watch out for and can usually put the pieces together, the same way that if you hear enough jokes, you know what the punchline is going to be.Over the years, I have found that the personal enjoyment I find in a story comes from how quickly I can put everything together. It’s a puzzle that if I solve, I somehow “beat” the storyteller. Usually at the price of annoying the people I’m watching it with when I point to the screen and say, “He did it.”The movies I enjoy the most are the ones that subvert these expectations. Memento did this by telling you the story in reverse. The opening scene is chronologically the final act. It challenges your ability to put things together by using the main character’s inability to form memories to constantly change the stakes and twist the motivations of the characters. No Country for Old Men shows the protagonist gearing up for an epic showdown at the end up act two, only to skip past the climax to show the unexpected fallout. It takes courage to promise a gunfight only to jump to the aftermath.Most recently Arrivalhit me the hardest. Instead of trying to hide what’s going to happen, the filmmakers dare you to figure it out. They present all of the pieces in the first third of the movie resulting in a gut-punch as you put it together. This hit in a very personal way. twisting my stomach and forcing me to brace myself emotionally for the final two thirds. This is not to say it was a bad movie, it’s very well put together and I appreciated the change of pace. There will always be movies that try to surprise you, usually throwing red herrings at you or presenting a cheap twist that only makes sense after 5 minutes of exposition to re-frame the entire story. (I’m looking at you M. Night) In the end, most of the movies we see are made by studios who won’t change the formula for fear of losing profits, so we get the same stories, over and over. Maybe that’s not so unfortunate. The occasional movie that comes out and does something new will stand out more, and the creators are better for it.And besides, I’ll always enjoy a good puzzle.