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Herc's Seen THE VILLAGE!!
SPOILER ALERT !!
M. Night Shyamalan is a divider, not a uniter. There aren’t a lot of filmmakers as divisive as this guy.
I love the writer-director's “Unbreakable” and “Signs” almost as much as I love his “The Sixth Sense.” Flawed though the later projects may be, I've long thought them two of the most relentlessly entertaining character-driven movies ever engineered. When I stumble across one of them on HBO or ABC I have entirely too much difficulty tuning out before the credits roll.
I predict that those who share my love for both “Unbreakable” and “Signs” will share my love for “The Village.” Otherwise, all bets are off.
For the dozen or so Ain’t It Cool readers who haven’t heard, Shyamalan’s “The Village” depicts a small rural community long segregated from the rest of the world by its fear of a shadowy and otherworldly presence that has taken to dwelling in the surrounding woods.
To deflect the most burning question attending this project, I will say that too much is made generally of Shyamalan's penchant for Serlingesque finales. I harbored suspicions about where the story was headed, but I certainly didn’t guess every plot point, and I certainly couldn’t predict the intricacies of the film’s characterization, comic dialogue, narrative invention and wiggens-worthiness.
There are problems. In retrospect, “The Village” contains some of the worst flaws of logic Shyamalan has ever ventured. (Wouldn’t it make far far far more sense for Willam Hurt’s character to ultimately brave the woods instead of his blind daughter?)
But by the same token I would never consider not recommending "The Village." Its lead characters are enormously likeable and compelling, and every scene left me anxious to learn what would happen next. The sureness of Shyamalan’s manipulations and attention to detail suggest he still brings to his storytelling an unusual quantity of intellectual investment.
And while “Village” is enormously effective at thoroughly creeping out its audience (when the action moves to the deep woods, my date, all 112 pounds of her, gripped my left arm long enough and hard enough to effectively put it to sleep), what remains with me days later is how much I enjoyed the evolution of the love story at the center of the enterprise, which morphs the movie from a great dark romantic comedy to a great dark romantic drama to a plenty gripping adventure-thriller.
At the end of the day, I suspect even Shyamalan’s worst detractors will have difficulty saying “The Village” is devoid of virtues.
Herc’s rating for “The Village”:
****
The Hercules T. Strong Rating System:
***** better than any of us deserve
**** enormously entertaining
*** actually worth your valuable time
** as horrible as most stuff on TV
* makes you quietly pray for a fire
Looking for bumper stickers, plush toys and girls’ underwear covered with cartoon double-amputees? Visit The Herc Store!
I predict that those who share my love for both “Unbreakable” and “Signs” will share my love for “The Village.” Otherwise, all bets are off.
For the dozen or so Ain’t It Cool readers who haven’t heard, Shyamalan’s “The Village” depicts a small rural community long segregated from the rest of the world by its fear of a shadowy and otherworldly presence that has taken to dwelling in the surrounding woods.
To deflect the most burning question attending this project, I will say that too much is made generally of Shyamalan's penchant for Serlingesque finales. I harbored suspicions about where the story was headed, but I certainly didn’t guess every plot point, and I certainly couldn’t predict the intricacies of the film’s characterization, comic dialogue, narrative invention and wiggens-worthiness.
There are problems. In retrospect, “The Village” contains some of the worst flaws of logic Shyamalan has ever ventured. (Wouldn’t it make far far far more sense for Willam Hurt’s character to ultimately brave the woods instead of his blind daughter?)
But by the same token I would never consider not recommending "The Village." Its lead characters are enormously likeable and compelling, and every scene left me anxious to learn what would happen next. The sureness of Shyamalan’s manipulations and attention to detail suggest he still brings to his storytelling an unusual quantity of intellectual investment.
And while “Village” is enormously effective at thoroughly creeping out its audience (when the action moves to the deep woods, my date, all 112 pounds of her, gripped my left arm long enough and hard enough to effectively put it to sleep), what remains with me days later is how much I enjoyed the evolution of the love story at the center of the enterprise, which morphs the movie from a great dark romantic comedy to a great dark romantic drama to a plenty gripping adventure-thriller.
At the end of the day, I suspect even Shyamalan’s worst detractors will have difficulty saying “The Village” is devoid of virtues.
Herc’s rating for “The Village”:
****
The Hercules T. Strong Rating System:
***** better than any of us deserve
**** enormously entertaining
*** actually worth your valuable time
** as horrible as most stuff on TV
* makes you quietly pray for a fire
Looking for bumper stickers, plush toys and girls’ underwear covered with cartoon double-amputees? Visit The Herc Store!
To deflect the most burning question attending this project, I will say that too much is made generally of Shyamalan's penchant for Serlingesque finales. I harbored suspicions about where the story was headed, but I certainly didn’t guess every plot point, and I certainly couldn’t predict the intricacies of the film’s characterization, comic dialogue, narrative invention and wiggens-worthiness.
There are problems. In retrospect, “The Village” contains some of the worst flaws of logic Shyamalan has ever ventured. (Wouldn’t it make far far far more sense for Willam Hurt’s character to ultimately brave the woods instead of his blind daughter?)
But by the same token I would never consider not recommending "The Village." Its lead characters are enormously likeable and compelling, and every scene left me anxious to learn what would happen next. The sureness of Shyamalan’s manipulations and attention to detail suggest he still brings to his storytelling an unusual quantity of intellectual investment.
And while “Village” is enormously effective at thoroughly creeping out its audience (when the action moves to the deep woods, my date, all 112 pounds of her, gripped my left arm long enough and hard enough to effectively put it to sleep), what remains with me days later is how much I enjoyed the evolution of the love story at the center of the enterprise, which morphs the movie from a great dark romantic comedy to a great dark romantic drama to a plenty gripping adventure-thriller.
At the end of the day, I suspect even Shyamalan’s worst detractors will have difficulty saying “The Village” is devoid of virtues.
Herc’s rating for “The Village”:
****
The Hercules T. Strong Rating System:
***** better than any of us deserve
**** enormously entertaining
*** actually worth your valuable time
** as horrible as most stuff on TV
* makes you quietly pray for a fire
Looking for bumper stickers, plush toys and girls’ underwear covered with cartoon double-amputees? Visit The Herc Store!
But by the same token I would never consider not recommending "The Village." Its lead characters are enormously likeable and compelling, and every scene left me anxious to learn what would happen next. The sureness of Shyamalan’s manipulations and attention to detail suggest he still brings to his storytelling an unusual quantity of intellectual investment.
And while “Village” is enormously effective at thoroughly creeping out its audience (when the action moves to the deep woods, my date, all 112 pounds of her, gripped my left arm long enough and hard enough to effectively put it to sleep), what remains with me days later is how much I enjoyed the evolution of the love story at the center of the enterprise, which morphs the movie from a great dark romantic comedy to a great dark romantic drama to a plenty gripping adventure-thriller.
At the end of the day, I suspect even Shyamalan’s worst detractors will have difficulty saying “The Village” is devoid of virtues.
Herc’s rating for “The Village”:
****
The Hercules T. Strong Rating System:
***** better than any of us deserve
**** enormously entertaining
*** actually worth your valuable time
** as horrible as most stuff on TV
* makes you quietly pray for a fire
Looking for bumper stickers, plush toys and girls’ underwear covered with cartoon double-amputees? Visit The Herc Store!
At the end of the day, I suspect even Shyamalan’s worst detractors will have difficulty saying “The Village” is devoid of virtues.
Herc’s rating for “The Village”:
****
The Hercules T. Strong Rating System:
***** better than any of us deserve
**** enormously entertaining
*** actually worth your valuable time
** as horrible as most stuff on TV
* makes you quietly pray for a fire
Looking for bumper stickers, plush toys and girls’ underwear covered with cartoon double-amputees? Visit The Herc Store!
****
The Hercules T. Strong Rating System:
***** better than any of us deserve
**** enormously entertaining
*** actually worth your valuable time
** as horrible as most stuff on TV
* makes you quietly pray for a fire
Looking for bumper stickers, plush toys and girls’ underwear covered with cartoon double-amputees? Visit The Herc Store!
***** better than any of us deserve
**** enormously entertaining
*** actually worth your valuable time
** as horrible as most stuff on TV
* makes you quietly pray for a fire
Looking for bumper stickers, plush toys and girls’ underwear covered with cartoon double-amputees? Visit The Herc Store!
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So is the spolier ending true? Wasn't it re-shot?
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Herc, buy your date some popcorn!
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god that movie had a bad ending. how can anyone stand by that "swing away" shit? i thought it was good till the alien that got left behind (???) decided to cause trouble in the living room. stupid. i liked 6th sense and unbreakable but signs' ending pretty much ruined it since they built up to it. endings with important revelations have to be a lot better than that to sustain the weight of what comes before.
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the town crier or the radio announcer? Or both? Can't wait til tomorrow.
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I know im being negative.
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...on the movie and treated his tiny little girlfriend to a good meal. Or bought her some prosthetic legs. Shyamalan should've saved the money he spent making this movie and used it to attend some writing classes. His scripts are shoddy in the logic department and his "twists" or "surprises" are about as ham-handed as you can get without fist-fucking Miss Piggy. He's got a knack for getting believable performances out of his actors in ridiculousl situations. That's huge. He should stick to just directing other people's far superior stories. He'd earn back a lot of the respect he's lost since the hype over The Sixth Sense went away.
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Jul 29, 2004 4:46:55 PM CDT
What I hated about SIGNS was M. Night Shyamalan's cameo and spee
by riskebiz
I hated M. Night Shyamalan's speech to Mel Gibson that he was going to the lake because he didn't think the aliens liked the water. That speech ruined what was a nearly perfect movie (except for the hammer-to-the-head image of the dust mark where the cross used to be on the wall). I mean ... how was it that he figured out that aliens don't like water? It was a total speech to set up the end of the movie. And why would a bunch of aliens come to to planet that is mostly water if they find it fatal? To harvest us? Aren't we 90% water ourselves? Well, I suppose if the planet they came from was a dust bowl and they wouldn't know water from Adam ... I suppose it might make some sense ... but then they had been coming here for years making "signs" anyway, so one would think one of the previous alien scouts would have given their leaders a heads-up about that water thing. Anyway, M. Night Shyamalan's precognitive unexpicable reasoning that aliens were afraid of water ruined the movie. That's the problem with M. Night Shyamalan ... he has to throw in that one thing because he wrote himself into a corner. I think the Village is going to be an exercise in frustration, because I know what the ending is and bet I know who Mr. Ego cast as the surprise ending.
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Who do you think you are impressing by talking about your anorexic date?
I knew a guy who used to say stuff like "my girlfriend weighs 115 pounds what about yours?"
Its just sad, why didnt you mentioned her cupsize or the tightness of her vag while you were at it?
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God I'm so ugly...
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You guys are too used to California, where, as everyone knows, DA BITCHES IS TOO TALL. If you're 5'3", 112 pounds is not anorexic. And there really isn't any reason to date a woman taller than that, unless you want your kid to play in the NBA or something.
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You hold a grudge against some idiot with a skinny girlfriend hangup. Herc mentioned it here because he was illustrating that somebody with tiny stature gripped his arm SO hard that it fell asleap, thus there must have been a lot of tension in the movie. The problem with what he wrote was YOUR problem, not his..................unless his date was 11 years old.
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Jul 29, 2004 5:13:36 PM CDT
Chicago Tribune calls "The Village," an engrossing thriller!" "V
by user id indeed!
"My date weighed 112 pounds!" raves Ain't It Cool News!
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Which leg was it?
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I think Shyamalan's problem with water might stem from some childhood trauma... possibly he used the sound of running water to camouflage the noises he made in his bathroom during his full-length mirror masturbation sessions. "I love me, you love me not," he would whisper while plucking out his pubic hairs one by one with one hand and furiously spanking his tiny monkey with the other. Really, what do any of his films amount to more than usually well-acted "look-at-how-clever-I-think-I-am" stroke sessions? I've never seen anyone come off as ineffectively condescending as this ass in both the structure of his narratives and the way he conducts himself in interviews.
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I'll reserve my opinions until after I actually WATCH the movie....As long as it's not cliched I;ll be happy.....Damn it! There probably will be cliches...I'm screwed...
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...getting involved in this debate because I feel that the whole alien invasion motif in Signs isn't meant to be hard SF. It's just a set of trappings used to tell another story. Well, with that out of the way, let me offer an explanation for the apparently "stupid" invaders who didn't know about Earth's water. Those of you who say "why did they come here at all then?".... Y'all are assuming the aliens have warp drives and just zip in and out of solar systems like nobody's business. Did it ever occur to you that maybe these aliens are on a sublight, generations-long migration through space from - perhaps - a dying world and really just had to stop for supplies no matter how potentially hostile an environment Earth may have had? They may have avoided Earth if possible but just didn't have any choice in the matter. It was never an "invasion" either. It was a "raid" as was established in the film. None of this has anything to do with The Village, but give Signs a fucking rest, already.... Sheesh...
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"At times you do sit up in your chair and crane your neck, as if you could see around the next bend of the story and glimpse what's coming. Then you do see it, and you burst out laughing."...http://movies2.nytimes.com/2004/07/30/movies/30VILL.html (free registration required)
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The guy wrote himself into a corner with SIGNS and so he gave his own character this inexplicable, from left-field, insight into what the aliens are afraid of ... thereby telegraphing how he intended to end the movie ... which made no sense. One would have thought one of the aliens scouts would have made a crop-circle sign that warned his coming raider buddies "Hey ... water here. Deadly to us. Avoid. Find another planet." M Night just had a point A and point B to his plot and couldn't figure out a way to get there and it showed. Since he obviously hasn't changed the ending to the Village, I think I'll wait for cable on it. The Village is such a non-event.
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112 is perfectly normal for a 14 year old.
And remember, unless you have a gavel and black robe, you shouldn't be judging anybody. -
I just never understand why others don't. The film snobs here in LA have told me that Unbreakable didn't have a story. HUH??? Last time I watched it, it wasn't a 2 hour single frame picture of Bruce giving us the finger. There was a great story there - a man realizing that he has super strength and learning how to accept it and live out the rest of his life with this gift. What I really like about it is that this is a different take on the super hero story.. set in the real world with an ordinary guy with real world problems. Unbreakable broke the tried and true super hero story : guy gets zapped, learns he has powers, does some good, and all of a sudden some super bad guy pops up - says I'm gonna git ya, and they fight and the good guy wins. We've read it, we've seen it, we know it. Sure it works with Spiderman and other superhero movies, but why should an artist make the same movie the same way... why not look at it from another point of view? Night did and I thought it was brilliant. I enjoyed watching Bruce wake up from his fog, slowly figuring out that there is something different about him - only to find out that the man who's helping him is a villain. Some other LA snobs have told me that Unbreakable was to slow. Balderdash - maybe it's to slow if you have a short attention span. I love the pacing of Night's movies. It's sort of like pressure cooking storytelling. In Signs, the story builds and builds slowly until there is a release or a reveal. People (not one or two women but a bunch of individuals) in the theater screamed when the news report showed the Alien walking by that house. It takes a bit of an investment in mind and heart to have something like that make you scream out loud. You'll crackwise and call it being gulible, but wisecracks aside - It's called good storytelling. If you went into Unbreakable without knowing anything about the movie, it's an awesome sort of detective mystery and love story. From my POV, the general public liked 6th Sense and are constanly expecting the same kind of twist or reveal and if it's not on that same exact level they walk away pissed off. I think that's a very limited way to approach not only his movies but all movies. AND another thing I love about his movies are the way they are shot. I love they way they look. Sure his last 3 movies have all ended with something being revealed but didn't Hitchcock make a bunch of mysteries/thrillers in a row, and how many of his movies dealt with a man who knew too much or was mistaken for someone else? Give it a break folks. He's an excellent filmmaker (his movies are better than both mine and YOURS) and I look forward to seeing the Village.
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...it is a lot more fun. It's also much too easy, which is why I try to avoid it. If we're talking sublight interstellar travel, we're talking about hundreds and perhaps thousands of years of scooting across the heavens to get between habitable systems. Yes, crop circles have been occurring for a long time, but it's only during the last decade or so that they've become very intricate and bizarre. In Signs logic, we could surmise that the aliens are using an already established phenomenon to disguise their landing sites. In a further stretch of credibility we could speculate that alien scout ships have been leaving circles for the past ten years as "dry runs" for their future raids. Remember, the alien ship captured at Roswell (according to Independence Day) had been scouting our solar system decades before the invasion. Again, this is all academic since the whole alien thing in Signs was a canvas upon which a very different story was being told. Jeez... I can't believe how easy it is to plumb the bottomless depths of geekdom in discussions like this. I feel... violated... ;)
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A calrification....The aliens were not killed by the water itself, it was the bacteria and shit in the water that got them. Why the fuck did you think M. Night repeatedly showed the little girls aversion to water. ("There's parmeciums in my water"). Her brother explains it as a personality "tick". No its a major plot point that most people did not pick up on. And the same people that complain about this plothole are the ones that say many mainstream movies insult their intelligence by being so obvious and simple. And.. you really going to flame on the herc for having a 112 pound date? What kind of fat cows are you guys banging????
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Jul 29, 2004 6:41:18 PM CDT
Nosferatu Jones... ugh.. let me take off my broken glasses for t
by russman
re: Unbreakable - too serious??? What part of "real world comic book" don't you get? Part of what drives the story is Bruce trying to mend the relationship with his wife. That's where the main drama of the movie is.
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in regard to william hurt's character and how he should have braved the woods.. I believe it was alluded to enough that he would be 'recognized' and spoil his plan for the village (to say more would give it away)based on his past action in 'the towns'
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Jul 29, 2004 6:49:19 PM CDT
Calm down, Shayamalan isn't going to come to your house and murd
by weedymcsmokey
I'm not a big fan either - thematically all his films seem to be about the same thing, but the guy can sure shoot a movie. Great atmosphere. No urge to see the Village because it has that gentle reek of a Twilight Zone episode. Still, it probably looks great and is performed well.
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and you sound like you think your so damn right. Anyway, the water, the aliens and all that is totally incidental to what Signs was about. I guess I should give props to M. Night for actually trying to make a mainstream hollywood movie about something, but I just thought it was like a nice Christmas present over-wrapped in god awful paper. Let's just say that Signs had aliens and angels and God and Mel all over it. Don't focus on the parameciums.
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Shyamalan's ego weighs a 112 pounds.
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Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Earth Girls Are Easy. The Abyss. Star Wars (unless a bandolier counts as clothes for wookiees).
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Pretentious: 1. Claiming or demanding a position of distinction or merit, especially when unjustified.
2. Making or marked by an extravagant outward show; ostentatious.
The last time I checked, M. Night never clamored for recognition for his films (except maybe Hayley Joel Osment's loss at the Oscars); to me, the definition of pretentious would be that horrible Waking Life (or anything by Linklater... save School of Rock), or Aguirre, by Herzog. And a hack? Sure, Night may be stuck in a rut with his "Hey, look, here's another twist!"; but look at the man's composition, camerawork, etc. Its some of the most amazing I've seen. Who else could turn a "let's look in the cupboard" scene (such as in Signs) into such a nailbiter? Oh, and on that whole topic of the aliens in Signs... they came down to harvest, to get us for food (the radio spoke of many many abductions on the night of the raid), a quick dip into a hostile territory for food. And the crop circles? Possibly scout ships, sent down to find the most suitable places for invasion. -
Even though I despise your politik, please do write more reviews. Do NOT limit yourself to merely quoting the trades in your Coaxial posts. You're (just) better than Pyul. BTW, I love all 140lbs of my 5'8" wife. One of these days, you children will understand that desireable 38D's carry a little extra weight. And most of it in all the right places. Don't hate me for calling you sub-29 year-old's "children". After all, that's what Michael Moore thinks you are.
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In your face. Can't wait to see this. This guy has yet to let me down.
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Nosferatu Jones, I'm curious how you could call a guy who's films have grossed close to a billion dollars combined a hack. He gets outstanding performances from his actors and on the whole, his films are usually liked by critics as well. Pull your fat head out of your fat ass.
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Man thats one fat midget
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I dunno how M. Night Shymalan is a 'hack'. Either people have lost grasp on the meaning of the word or have stretched the limits of the word a little too wide, because last time I checked, Signs was a damn good movie (damn right I said it). 'Ooh, but the aliens went to a planet full of water even though they hate water and dey took err jerrrbs.' Wow. Big deal. One: since when was Signs the first movie that had an audience broaden their boundaries of reality to enjoy it? Seriously... Two: The movie wasn't about the aliens hating on water. The movie was about a man who was questioning his faith, and the actions that followed his wife's death led him along to regaining that faith. Three: I don't know about everyone else, but I don't sit around judging a movie solely based on the ending. Signs had great performances all around, it made me laugh (the sequences with the family heading out to town), it made me cry ('last supper' scene), and spooked the shit outta me (basement scene). If you can disregard everything Signs had going for it, and jump all over it because of ONE instance of dumb logic, there's something wrong. Oh, and I will be seeing The Village on Saturday with the missus, and yes, she is somewhere around the 112 pound area. Dunno what cows you guys are porking.... but yeah.
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. . . are fucking hilarious
best source of comedy, and l337 free too!! -
In Signs, did anyone else in the house complain about the water? No, just the girl. Did she have a degree in microbiology? No. So how did she know about the parameciums? She didn't, she just made it up. The whole thing was a plot device designed so that at the appropriate time, the house would be filled up with glasses of water. Still not convinced? Character Ray Reddy (played by Shyamalan himself) says that crop circles are never found near water and that he's going to hide out near the lake. He didn't say germy paramecium-laden water, he said water. If it were germs then the protagonists would not be throwing water...they'd be flicking boogers at the aliens.
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Jul 29, 2004 8:51:36 PM CDT
"112 pounds"... that's a little more than 50 kg, right? I don't
by salvatoregravano
Can't he use the normal measurement system, anyway? :-P
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Thanks for reminding me - I should probably watch it again. It's been a few years at least, and just hearing Shackaplagiaramyan's name makes me ill and at the same time hungry for a cleansing courtesy of a good film. Such as Aguirre.
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Well played, Herc..
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If you don't like the idea o faith, great, say that. If you don't like Night's movies, great, say that. But please, please, please don't betray your profound ignorance by debating the "logic" of the movie Signs. If you are actually concerned with whether the aliens would have landed on a planet that is mostly water, or whether they had arrived earlier, etc., etc....then you MISSED the whole point of the movie. Damn! Take a class or two! The aliens were t o t a l l y i r r e l e v a n t to the movie! The movie could have been about Nazis or Sharks or Tornados or any Bad Thing That Will Kill You. The movie is about the man finding the faith he lost when his wife died. Can you write that down somewhere? Pencil it in a notepad? Have it tatooed to your vestigial tail? Just, for the love of Mike, stop bitching about the 'logic' of a movie that never intended to be logical in the first place. THE MOVIE SIGNS WAS NOT REALLY ABOUT AN ALIEN INVASION AND THE THWARTING THEREOF. THE ALIEN INVASION WAS A METAPHOR FOR GRAHAM'S ATROPHIED FAITH AND THE DEFEAT OF THE ALIENS WAS A METAPHOR FOR THE RETURN OF SAID FAITH. Say it to yourselves slowly and repeatedly. If you don't like the movie, then just...freaking...say...it. When you complain about the 'logic' you just sound stupid...in the immortal words of 'Old' Biff Tannen, 'You sound like and idiot when you say it wrong.'
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Jul 29, 2004 10:14:14 PM CDT
Is anyone else around here tired of hearing about SHAUN OF THE D
by hauptman
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That was pretty fucking funny.
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Jul 29, 2004 10:26:24 PM CDT
so... this isn't so much a review as it is telling people to see
by insane tiki
Whatever. I'm seeing it anyways. Shyamalan is awesome.
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Jul 29, 2004 10:45:59 PM CDT
I wish I had a 112-pound date to take this movie. Correction:
by darthcorleone
Maybe some strange female will jump in my lap at the appopriate scary part. I'm not holding my breath.
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Never allow any aspect of your personal life into an interview. The talkbackers that are expressing incredulity at 112 pounds are only doing that because they have no experience with a woman that ISN'T spilling her excess lard from under her bare midriff "hottie" tee, all over her acid wash jeans.
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it's just that you are all used to big fat american/western chicks. sure if she is 180cm's and 112pounds then she has some problems but if she is less than 170cm's then its fine. if your chick is big then haul her big arse into the gym and keep the peanut butter cups away from her lips.
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The aliens getting killed by water really ruined what otherwise was a pretty eerie and solid film. I've heard that corn fields get covered with dew at night and if you walk through them you get really wet, so they probably would have had no problem catching the alien that ran into the field. They would just have to follow the sounds of the wet, screaming alien. "Merril, that is one messed up looking coyote, get a shovel and clean this mess up". The screen pulls back to show the head alien ordering the alien retreat, "Mesa no likesa the Earthsa". The ships flee off into space and the credits roll.
I read somewhere that if you think about a movie for several days after you saw it then it was a worthwhile experience. Well, I have a big window in my bedroom and the scene where Graham saw the alien watching him from his brother's roof fucked with my mind for a couple of days after I saw it so....... fuck it, the ending ruined the movie. -
I'm not a virgin I swear! And she's not a 300 pound gorilla! Honest! Aren't I grown up! I can cool be cool too! Please!!
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Yeah, we get it. The movie still sucks nuts.
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I love this talkback. I'm serious. I love that movie geeks don't let anybody get away with any kind of smug and pompous self-congratulation, the details that are really boasts, really there to make the writer look good. ("I'm getting laid", so well put,"and she's a SPINNER!") I think it's funny. We keep each other in check, don't we? No gettin' too big of a head, you're just a geek. Also, just the fact that he knows his girlfriend's exact weight. Not 110, not 115...
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Is he referring to the Twilight Zone writer? Or somebody else?
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I was throughly ready to hate this movie, but curiosity and free tic's to a screening got me into the theater. I have to say this movie was really enjoyable..not the disaster I thought it might be. In fairness, I knew of the twist and of the ending, so I wasn't let down. The joy was watching it all unfold, and how a love story was "snuck" into what looks to be a horror/suspense film. I had a real problem w/ the ending to Signs, as it was almost too 'Disney' in the neat little wrap up at the end. "Village" avoids that and is a great character piece. Just don't go expecting a horror flick, and you'll be fine. Oh, the reason the Hurt's character does not leave the village and instead sends his blind daughter is that he made the "oath", and the fact that she is blind won't allow her to see the world outside the village.
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There is a very good reason that this was held from screenings until the last moment,and it's not just to preserve the "shocking twist". It is because this is quite simply a turgid pile of lukewarm shit. M. Night has a card up it's sleeve but it's a four of clubs and it isn't beating anyone. This is the least scary, dullest and most indulgent waste of film in years. Dire. SPOILER.
SPOILER. SPOILER.
There are no creatures, it is 2004, and the villagers are violent crime survivors living in a Amish like delusion. There. save your self some money. -
The Sixth Sense - Ass.
Unbreakable - Hated by his fans but despite it's flaws, Cool movie.
Signs - Anticlimatic and ultra-predictable.
The Village - Looks like Ass. And if it is the leaked plot twist like we all ehard months ago...Night has hit a new low. I wonder when he's gonna star in a film though, I mean his "cameos" get longer and longer each movie. -
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0368447/board/thread/10462036
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You gotta be kidding. Herc, do you honestly think the talkbackers wouldn't see right through that transparent boast? Yes, your date being 112 pounds says something -- but you actually mentioning it says something else entirely. Grow the fuck up.
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...that the aliens in Signs were allergic to some sort of contaminant in the water. It is further possible that the little girl had a similar allergy (although not as severe) because she was a human/alien hybrid resulting from a previous abduction of Mel's wife. I could buy that... if the water hadn't looked like it was burning the aliens like hydrochloric acid and if there had been ANY mention of a prior alien abduction of Mel's wife. But I didn't care enough about the movie as a whole to stretch my disbelief that far and work that hard to fill in that many gaps. That's a failing of the writer. Sure... there were some pretty shots in the film, but I've dated some pretty girls who were either completely vaccuous or who spouted the most backward-minded ignorant shit when they did give voice to their thoughts, so looks ain't everything. And, while we're on the subject of appearances, 112 pound for any girl over 5 feet is pretty spindly. Now pointy-appendaged, flat-chested women may be your thing and, if so, I wish you all the luck in the world when they attempt to birth your children and wind up with broken pelvic bones. But I like mine with curves... the way they were designed to be. Maybe if enough of the waif-chasers on this board end up hitched to their little tomboy beanpoles, their inability to breed successfully will do away with the misconception that heroin sheik is beautiful after a generation or so. So good luck with all that.
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M. Night Boosters: Michael Bolton sold millions of records so pound sand up your ass quoting box office as quality assurance. Signs wouldn't have sucked so completely if M. Night had an inkling of the actual definition of allusion. Everyone else: C'mon, we know this hack (sorry M. Night kids, when you need SciFi to run a scam documentary just to drum up buzz for your flick you're pretty fucking sad. Yeah, try to defend that piece of bullshit.) Couldn't write a decent resolution if it butt-fucked him the way he butt-fucks moviegoers.
In closing: Don't like it? Then see it. like it? Then SHUT THE FUCK UP because you're obviously convinced of your own superiority. And Herc? Rock on, m'man gichoo some stickfas lovin' bay-bee!! -
Shoulda been 'Don't like it? Then don't see it.' Goddamn epilepsy.....
Oh yeah...PS----The Village is sure to blow harder than a West Hollywood whore needing to score her crack fix and the only thing posing harder than M. Night are his so-called 'fans'. -
Jul 30, 2004 3:31:03 PM CDT
112 pounds? Isn't that a lot for a blow up doll? Did you fill 'h
by big bad clone
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I usually dont post, usually dont care, but after sitting through the village, gotta say something. M. Night has had a great story, The Sixth Sense, and two okay stories, Signs and Unbreakable. But the Village wreaks of an old TV episode that has been done and done better by less talented writers and directors. Does his gift for directing show? Yes, it does and he does what he does well. He pulls great performances from his people. Does the story shine? Thats a resounding NO. He wrote this screenplay I feel with a vision and somewhere before the Joaquin Phoenix stabbing, he just loses all train of thought and goes another way. The premise is acceptable almost at times, but when the twist, albeit a lame one at that, is revealed you are left frustrated that what you came to see and what you are now forced to endure for the last 25 minutes are not the same things. Posing a film about morality and the choices one makes and has to live with are one thing. Posing a movie on morality disguised as an intriguing tale of fear is another. Any movie goer who has come to love films that build in suspense and sucker punch you at the end with a wild, tangible and surprising twist are in for a huge letdown. The second you know there are no monsters you know the entire story. It leaves the ending dull and uneventful. When a filled movie theatre lets out an agitated sigh 25 minutes before the end and then squirms restlessly in their chairs to finish this made for TV movie they have been forced to shovel out money for, you know its a bad egg. If you're desperate for a good movie, dont pay to see this one, because the only thing thats scary is that you have shelled out cash for a terrible film.
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Signs: ok, so the aliens are killed by water. Then, what about water IN THE ATMOSPHERE? Are you trying to tell me that the molecules of water in the atmosphere EVERYWHERE do not kill the aliens just as well as "drops" of water? So... spraying the aliens with cups of water "hurts" them, but they aren't instantly killed just by stepping out of their spaceships? At what point does a drop of water get "big" enough to burn the aliens? eh? WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH THAT??? sorry, but dat don' make NO sense!
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I must say that I am a huge M Night fan and of course as every film geek should I own all of his DVD's BUT,
Warning, Spoiler ahead. DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE FILM!
I figured out the "suprise" ending of the village about 5 minutes into the film. M Night, the gifted story teller that he is, made one unforgivable mistake. He lied to the audience!
There is NO need for the shot of the tombstone with the date on it in the first few minutes of the film. The children of the village would not know the difference between 1890 and 2004!! M Night did not need this shot! All it did was trick the audience when we already believed that it was the 1800's. He used a trick rather than his talent for this film. Take "The Usual Suspects" for instance. Kevin Spacey, a character in the film is the one who is not telling the truth to the audience. Bryan Singer even shows you Gabriel Byrne getting killed by Keyser Soze in the first 2 minutes. Thumbs down for the Village and especially thumbs down for M Night.
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