I didn't think they should have ended the movie that way, but that is a personal choice.

But I agree with you. It reminded me of the Mel Gibson genre where an ordinary guy gets provoked and turns into an efficient killing machine. (Reminds me of a right-wing pipe dream)

I don't have to like it though.

and you can find an explanation right here:

http://www.backstage.com/advice-for-actors/professional-tips/what-is-sense-memory-and-how-should-you-use-it/

Doing it once a night onstage is one thing, doing it 5 times in an afternoon for the cameras is probably something exhausting.

The difference between good actors and great ones is held within the ability to completely use sense memory.....IMNSHO....

I took a drama class a few years ago (not in some actor's studio...in a university drama department because it was worth doing right), thinking it would help me both as a writer and as someone who wants to work in a public-facing role in the NPO sector...I had to do a lot of method acting for the class including work in sense-memory and it's exhausting to make yourself cry repeatedly and draw up the entire range of emotions in a 1:25-long class twice a week. That's just the tip of the iceberg in terms of learning to be even a mediocre actor.

If someone really wants to learn to do it well, I recommend reading Acting: The First Six Lessons by Richard Boleslavsky. It's only 140 pages but it reads really slow even though it's written as a two-person stage-play of a series of conversations between an instructor and student.

http://www.amazon.com/Acting-First-Lessons-Richard-Boleslavsky/dp/1614274339/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1386273085&sr=1-1

Groucho Marx IIRC

is one of the reasons why I would not get into a relationship with a really good actor.

How can anyone tell which emotions are real and which are not.

In a way (and IMO) it's almost like being in a relationship with a psychopath, who can feign emotions he doesn't really feel in order to manipulate another person.

Sort of creepy, really.

I can tell you that it's all about losing yourself in the role.

It's something else, though, to have a scene where you want
to elicit sympathetic crying in the audience. I played
M'Lynn in a production of Steel Magnolias about 20 years ago.
I can still hear the sniffles from the audience in response
to M'Lynn's monologue about Shelby's last moments when they unhooked
her from the respirator and she died.

It starts with good writing.