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Sir Lancelot Calls LADY IN THE WATER "A Diarrhea Splat Of Storytelling"!!
SPOILER ALERT !!
Many people have asked me why I don't do more reviews on the site. The answer is pretty simple...
When I first started here at AICN, Harry strongly encouraged me to advance opinions which did not fall into place with the AICN norm. "The site needs a villain" he suggested.
As it happens, and quite inconveniently, I've agreed with a vast majority of the reviews AICN staff (and regular contributors) have published since my first day. As such, I didn't see much point in putting readers through another commentary that would (in essence) amount to a variation on the same ol' thing.
However, LADY IN THE WATER may well be the first film for which I can implement Harry's marching orders. While I appreciate the physical craftsmanship of his films, I think M. Night Shyamalan is a pompous, sloppy, overbearing storyteller. He has many great core ideas that he rarely seems to understand -- or fully realize. This is not what Harry feels about M. Night. This is not how most people around here seem to feel about M. Night. So, my opinion on LADY may well deviate radically from the rest of my fine cohorts. This could be a lot of fun, and will hopefully make for some amusing cross-fire in our reviews. We'll see what happens when I catch the movie early next week.
Until then, and to kick off the merriment, I give you Sir Lancelot's review of the film. At first his write-up felt a tad trollish to me: it's filled with a bit more contempt than objectivity. But, upon further consideration, I think we may simply dealing with someone who is profoundly (and genuinely) irritated by what he saw.
You decide.
Here's Sir Lancelot...
BEWARE MODERATE SPOILERS AHEAD!!
I wanted to send your crew early word on M Night Shyamalan's Lady In The
Water.
I went to a screening somewhere in the US last week and was intrigued to
find out for myself how 'Lady' would turn out.
On the whole I've never been
a big Night fan, even though I thought The Sixth Sense packed a punch and
was pretty original.
For me, Night started to go downhill with Unbreakable,
which was a missed opportunity to make a cool superhero origins story. He
showed his penchant for plot holes with Signs, because you'd think the
supposedly highly intelligent aliens would have done their research and
realized they were susceptible to rain. That's just basic Planetary Invasion
101 stuff. The Village? Plain stupid. What was Adrian Brody thinking?
So I was curious about this one, willing to give Night one final chance, and
my interest was piqued by his much-publicized rift with Disney and the
upcoming book The Man Who Heard Voices, in which Night tells Sports
Illustrated writer Michael Bamberger about the whole evolution of 'Lady',
including the way Disney walked after four hit Night movies and Warner Bros
came aboard.
You know what? Disney top brass were right to walk away after
reading Night's sixth draft. However it has to be pointed out that they
created the beast that is M Night Shyamalan, and Warner Bros will be left to
pick up the pieces, because I'll be surprised it this one passes $100m. It
is, in two words, unadulterated shite.
(Spoilers ahoy!)
The credits open with faux children's animation explaining how in days gone
by land-dwelling humans were friends with sea people. Then we moved further
inland and the sea peeps floated away, but every now and again they send a
messenger to try to reestablish contact and save us from ourselves, teach us
to swim better, whatever.
The emissary in this case is Bryce Dallas Howard,
looking terminally washed up and pasty, presumably because she knows 'Lady'
will not do her career any favors. Long story short she surfaces in the
swimming pool of an East Coast apartment complex and gets pally with the
building's stammering super, played by Paul Giamatti, who looks equally
bemused throughout the story.
A big bad wolf is prowling the grounds, and as
long as he's there Howard can't get back in the pool to swim home. It's up
to Giamatti to unravel an ancient Asian myth and enlist the help of the
apartment residents to get the gal back in the water safely. Yadda yadda
yadda.
Lady In The Water is a diarrhoea splat of storytelling so haphazard, ideas
so undernourished, dialogue so banal, and characterization so criminally
lifeless that if you'll be able to lift yourself out of your torpor you will
be truly amazed.
You will be truly amazed because here is a young filmmaker
who has, in one fell swoop, transformed himself from a flawed and fortuitous
studio darling into an irritating film school geek with no right to
advancement. I can only assume the Warner Bros suits were so stunned by the
celluloid catastrophe that developed in front of their eyes day by day that
they forgot that it was their job to rein in this monstrous piece of
self-indulgent crap.
Howard's character has a duty to contact a human and pass along a Highly
Significant Message, and in one of the most nauseating passages in this sea
of puerile puke, she tells a writer that his unpublished book will influence
the future President of America and shape a New World Order.
Guess who plays
the writer? Night?!! It's by far the biggest role he's given himself,
virtually the second male lead, and a clear indication of the delusions of
grandeur that fester inside his creatively barren desert of a brain. I think
I actually heard someone retch during one of his scenes. He tries to direct
several comedy scenes too, and the results are indeed hilarious.
Without suspense, intelligence or cohesive narrative, there is nothing to
lift this prison sentence of a movie above the level of mediocre film school
thesis. You owe it to yourself to avoid this, and may this be the last we
ever hear of M Night Shyamalan.
Yours,
Sir Lancelot
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Lance. Appreciated.
Now...watch me like it!
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+ Expand All
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.. to second that emotion. M. Night is a pompous douche.
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I really liked sixth sense, and signs was descent. for some reason that one part where the alien appears in the news footage scared the crap out of me. that is one of the strongest dislikes for a movie ive ever heard. and "diarrhea splat of storytelling" is downright amazing.
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This won't be one of them.
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unbreakable was great ...u crazy man, signs i also liked alot, who the heck cares if theres a plot whole its a great movie and fun to watch, village was ok...the message wasn't bad i guess. cant wait for this
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but ill be getting my screener copy soon enough to find out for myself.
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...I wanted to like. I really did. But wow, what a shitty shitty movie. BAD acting, crappy writing and I dont think Id let Night direct traffic after this bore. I hope we are saved when the Fountain opens up, and given a thoughtful fantasy film. Someone has to save fantasy cinema before Michael Bay directs something obscene like Trans...oh wait...crap nevermind, were fucked.
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Maybe the general public will eventually realize that Night sucks...I realized it after Signs after my suspicious were aroused with Unbreakable. Sixth Sense was a solid and entertaining film, but he hasn't done anything great since then and most of it has been crappy. I doubt this will bomb, but it's just a matter of time until the dumb general public wises up and then maybe we won't be subjected to any more of these lame films.
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from me. i called The Interpreter a dumbed down Manchurian Candidate saying "its like diharrea, it's watered down, but ultimately, it's still just crap."
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Thanks for telling us this Merrick... it lets us know how much of a phony and a liar Harry really is. It basically means Harry treats this site like American Idol or any other 'reality' show and doesn't think of it as a true review & news site. My respect for Harry just went from zero into the negatives. Thank god for Moriarty, Quint, Vern, and Merrick, for without them, this site would have died years ago, when Harry's integrity died. *cough*awardshowlists*cough*coronacomingattractions*cough*
godzillareview*cough*blade2review*. -
Sir Lancelot seems like he failed in life and is now just a broken, bitter hunk of a man. Im not a Night fan, by any means, but this guy is just a wanker.
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The reviewer spends about 80% of this thing bashing Shyamalan. I dont see anything here that indicates it's the atrocity this guy is making it out to be. He actually just sold me a ticket.
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Dont forget Pan's Labyrinth is also coming out this year. So add that to awesome looking Fantasy Films List. That and The Fountain look like sure fire winners.
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I'm sorry, but Harry Knowles is the only individual I know of who had a positive reaction to "The Village," and after that catastrophe, Disney realized the blood was drained all the fucking way out of the cabbage. This cat has a gift for photography, but his stories, his dialogue, Christ I haven't seen anything as bad since.....I've gotta go all the way back to "Land of Doom." Andy Sidaris has better characterization in his films than night. And Time caled him the new Spielberg!
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was the best thing M. Night Sha-la-la-ma-ma has done. Village & Signs came off to me as a dull.
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Time for the rest of the world to join me.
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.... Well, Ender, you just have to look for the 'Signs'. Ugh, that movie is like the Lazy Screenwriter's Bible. Or maybe rent 'The Village'. Seriously, how was anyone ever impressed by this guy? Wasn't the Twilight Zone in syndication where you lived? Urg, ooh, by Odin's Beard I hate that Shyamalamadingdong.
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"While I appreciate the physical craftsmanship of his films, I think M. Night Shyamalan is a pompous, sloppy, overbearing storyteller. He has many great core ideas that he rarely seems to understand -- or fully realize." Well said, Merrick. Shyamalan's next movie should be about how a famous Hollywood director mysteriously vanishes into thin air. The big plot twist is, he's found making Bollywood movies.
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I understand what you're saying, but I think you're reading far too much into my statement. Harry, knowing me, my back ground, and my work, was simply encouraging me to bring a loud and different voice into the mix. He knows my attitudes, or statements, will not always be popular (which is what got me shit canned from my previous gig, by the way) and he wanted
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Wait... did Night rip off Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure? Wyld Stallions Rulez!
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Lets face it M. Nights ego is so big he wont direct anyoone elses scripts and since Sixth Sense he has been coasting along on "The Twist ending."
I read the article in this weeks Entertainment Weekly and he not only has a great ego but he is a whiner and whyen Disney didnt want to do this movie left crying. -
Imagine the Lady in the Water character, running around with uncontrollable diarrhea for the entire film. Hilarious! Now I'd watch that, Mr. M. Night.
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I am with you on the Village. I think it had potential (i.e. if the monsters WERE real, and it was really back in the old times, etc.) up until it started to suck total ass. Which is about 20 minutes into the film. I actually think Signs was a fun movie, illogical, and predictable (wow the preacher go's back to God after a miracle who would've thunk!??) but fun. This movie looks decent enough to warrant a viewing, and I dont have my hopes way up. But this reviewer makes him almost like an Uwe Boll, which he simply is not.
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I recently read an exerpt from the aforementioned book in which "Night" as he is melodramatically referred to over and over by the author annoyingly, preceeds to CRY after he is rejected by the disney execs. Earlier in the evening he was apparently furious because the exects all told him flat out that that "didn't get it.". This man is sadly and patheticly a legend in his own mind who loves to not only place himself upon a pedistal for which he no valid talent to actually support his foothold; but at the same time, rip apart and woefully attack those who do not care for his syle as well. He reminds me of that one character who always tends to pop up in teen movies, you know, the jealous bitch who desparetly wants to be prom queen and will do anything it takes to make sure that she wins. I'll be all too happy if I never see another one of his "films" again. Now bring on clerks 2 or monster house or anything else worth a damn!
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I was watching the Sixth Sense about a month ago on TV and realized why I sometimes enjoy but could never love his films... for one thing, they take themselves WAY too seriously, yet in spite of the dour attitude, there's never anything that serious or important being said. They're just corny old ghost stories, stretched out into a feature length film and played with a completely straight face. Night takes himself too seriously but has nothing to say that you can't find in old episodes of "Are You Afraid of the Dark." Granted, they can be visually inventive, sometimes contain well-drawn characters, and yes, do *sometimes* contain effective plot twists. However, these things are all garnish... there's never a main course, nothing truly original at the heart of any of his films. He has style to spare, but he devotes that style to telling cheesy ghost stories with "gotcha" moments... there's never, ever an overarching point to his work. If he wants to prove himself to people like the Disney suits as something more than a box office draw, he needs to drop these tired, meaningless motifs and actually tell a story... one where the characters come before plot twists, cliches, and empty theatrics.
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As a graphic artist currently in industry... I feel confiedent in saying that I would not let this no-talent hack give me directon to a 7-11, let alone work with him on a film. Ugh.
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I did like Unbreakable, but not Signs, and I didn't even bother with The Village. Ditto for this.
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His fucking writer. That guy's creatively bankrupt.
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I'm guessing this bad wolf is a "Kappa" which sort of the Japanese equivelent of the Loch Ness Monster (at least in lore). But it's humanoid, more like the "Creature from the Black Lagoon". I liked The 6th Sense and Signs. Signs had that "War of the Worlds" from a single family's perspective. And was done much better that Speilberg's overblown "War of the Worlds", which has the same plot hole as Signs; "Why would a race of advance aliens not know how to invade a planet where the bacteria are lethal to them?" Oh, I forgot, in Speilberg's version "They were already here!" So they must have not known any better. Retarded. But I agree M. Knight has gone a little bit off his game. I figured the big twist of "the Village" the moment I saw the first scene. This film doesn't sound so great either. I do like Paul Giamatti though, so I hope his performance was at least something that helped raised the quality of the film.
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voices starring david hemmings.
go watch it.exact same twist only about 25 years earlier.....holy shit critics are going to tear m knight a new one for this film...I can feel it.....
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The guy knows how to build suspense instinctively. And he knows how to come up with a good idea, too. I liked Unbreakable more than most did, and I thought Signs was great. (Everybody complains about the Aliens not knowing they were allergic to water; how would they know if they've never experienced it before?) But my main point: somebody on this site said it once perfectly: "He bought into his own hype way too much." He's a talented director but his writing has become the weak spot: what was so fresh in the Sixth Sense (and what he was able to coast on through Unbreakable and Signs) clearly became a one-trick pony act with the Village, which just wasn't good. Just recently I read an excerpt from the new book in Entertainment Weekly and all it did was fuel my suspicions: according to the excerpt, when Disney told him there were massive script problems, he essentially gave him the old finger and ran off to Warner's. I don't want to judge until I see the film itself, but the signs, sadly, seem pretty clear.
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I really like Night's work. I think he is a very gifted filmmaker. Do his films have flaws? Sure. There are contrivances and overwritten dialogue, etc. I find it strange how adverse of a reaction people have to his films. For such a populist filmmaker, he really is love it or hate it. Certainly, the last act to the Village was a misstep. But upon second viewing it certainly went down better. Is he neurotic, egotistical, whatever? Sure. But as someone who achieved commerical and (yep) artistic success so fast and so young I think I would be too. I won't judge him on that. Half the people we worship on this site are monstrous human beings. To call him a hack when we give Academy Awards and acclaim to people like Stephen Gaghan makes me laugh. I for one can't wait to read the book when it comes out. And I can't wait to see Lady. Honestly, the premise isn't as interesting as his other work and it has HUGE potential to suck. But it's worth a look. He has the talent to make it great. It's a big bet. And if it flops...Disney will feel justified. But hey...in a summer where we have been tortured by so many horrible films, I hope it's good. Anyhow...it's just my take. I see why people hate it. I see a guy with a Spielbergian knack for storytelling. But others see a lame movie. Don't go. You'll hate it. It's the same reason I avoid movies by Ratner or whatever.
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Wouldn't that be Herc?
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Nina Jacobson!
Or Dick Cook.
I can't stand M Night but what I can't stand more are all these rich kid directors who only work in the biz because their parents flpped the bill. -
My name is M.Night Shyamalan ^_^
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That line and the shot of the alien on the news at the birthday party were the only good things to come out of Signs. I'm a huge fan of Unbreakable but I just got tired of going to a movie expecting a twist ending. Skipped The Village altogether. And after reading the excerpt of the book "The Man Who Hears Voices" in EW, it showed Shamalamadingdong to be a moody, self-important "artiste" in all the worst ways. I'm all for believing in yourself and what you are creating and sticking to a vision, but film is creative and collaborative. And if your backers have serious reservations beyond just "not getting it" as the book tries to portray, you've got to a step back and look objectively. Or else you are going to be foisting crap upon the public. And you're going to come off like a simp in a book that's supposed to reveal the human side of creativity and the movie bizz. I've been in the same type of situation with something creative and found out that it was more ego taking the blow than the other person missing the point. I whined too, but at least I had enough sense to realize what was really the issue. Night doesn't get it. And the fact that he cast himself as the world-altering author only proves that.
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The TV ads are fucking annoying as shit. That little whispering kid is retarded.
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. . . but the third act just stumbled and imploded. but man, oh man, the first 90 minutes of "Unbreakable" are just so damn good. there was just no conclusion, and the "twist" that came (Mr. Glass was behind it) was totally unnecessary. while i'm cool with Mr. Glass being a self-made villian because he was born with a total weakness, the revelation of it all was slop. okay, so you make the ultimate superhero origin story, fill it with amazing realism, and when it comes time for the ultimate showdown, the hero just walks away? AM I MISSING SOME SORT OF MESSAGE?!?!? i bet Shyamalan's version of Indy 4 is fucking hilarious.
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This is obviously a plant from a rival studio, Disney no doubt. The opening of the thing, describing the book, and other details were way too insider exec-ish. I'm not buying it. That being said, Shyamalan or however the fuck you spell his name is terrible. Unbreakable had a dope idea, that he did some cool things with, but managed to make a very boring film. The rest is shit, even Sixth Sense.
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What a twist!
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I See Wet People
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MNS's success with 6th Sense has cursed him. Now everyone thinks all of his movies are about a twist ending. Both Signs and the Village are much better entertainment if you merrily just watch the story unfold and don't look for a twist ending. He doesn't just do Tales from the Crypt stories.
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It's not so much that people are expecting a twist, it's that they're expecting a good ending. Unbreakable was 2 hours of build-up to Sam Jackson revealing himself as the villain, then cutting to some text saying Bruce Willis went to the police and turned him in. A movie lives or dies based on its ending.
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Like it or not, Night is one of the more original filmmakers working today. If nothing else his films are always different. He isn't perfect, no filmmaker is, but he tries and his films are usually great to look at if nothing else. And I don't buy for a second that guy who's a "graphic artist in the industry" and would turn down working on a Night movie. That'd just be a stupid career move, even if you hated the guy, he's fucking big. He gets big films, big budgets, and alot of attention. I'll be seeing this film. Other advance reviews have been positive. And for the last fucking time, it was the water-borne bacteria that hurt the alien in "Signs". The little girl refers to it multiple times as "contaminated" and having "ameobas" and tasting "old". The fucking story was based on War of the Worlds, which relies on the same suspension of disbelief: That aliens would not have enountered this kind of bacteria before coming here. It's a little far-fetched, fine, but it not that hard to believe.
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Rupee88, you beat me to this line. It should be the title of the M. Night biography. The Sixth Sense was indeed creepy, even though Bruce Willis was too stupid to realize he was dead. Unbreakable, to quote a great line from Mr. Cranky, was so slow that time actually goes in reverse as you watch it. Signs was the worst piece of shit I have ever seen. No joke. Aliens cross space to attack the Earth, but have to flatten corn for navigational purposes because they haven't invented radar or GPS technology, or the ability to navigate by natural landmarks. Stupid? No. The correct word hasn't been invented to describe this film. I vowed to skip all subsequent Shitmalan movies since Signs. Night is a con man. Perhaps the greatest con man in Hollywood history. He's convinced millions of gullible people that he's actually good. He's the Elmer Gantry of Hollywood A-List directors.
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...Some nobody reviewer, who's never created anything of value in his life, tries to critcize someone else's work and in doing so, mangles the English language, giving himself the appearance of a foul tempered imbecile.
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As I said I wanted to like it but...theres not even a twist. You know, I kept hoping that maybe the girl in the water was just crazy and after giving all this hope and fantastic magical information to the people who lived in the motel block, that shed end up just a nutter. But the people come together over her insanity...but no such luck. The cats out of the bag right away, and theres no tension or any cinematic build up. Its flat, the story is flat and doesnt go anywhere, and the ending you will all guess after 5 mins of watching the film.
I liked sixth sense and own the unbreakable dvd. Didnt like his last two offerings, and this one is the worse by far. Its almost as if he peaked with his first film, and its been all downhill ever since. weird. I have hope he will turn it around, as hes a young director. Ill never write any artist off totally. Even Michael Bay can try...
Go Pans Labyrinth! -
and see every movie they release. "That Unbreakable was gooey shite, and that Signs was coagulated cumstains and That Village, Christ on a Cock, that ..."
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That can only explain his "diarrhoea splat of storytelling" line. Great writing, little man.
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I've always had trouble describing my like/dislike of M. Night movies. While I often say Sixth Sense is my favorite movie of his, I can't help to think this may be because I was new to his style of storytelling when I first saw it. He took me by surprise with the plot twists. Since then, however, he's failed to lure me in. I am always looking for the "catch" in his films. By the time Sam Jackson figured out Bruce Willis had a typical superhero weakness, I figured out that Jackson was a supervillian. Signs completely lacked any real twists, but dispite it's plot holes, I somehow like that movie. LOL. The Village was a complete waste of my time. Within five minutes, I had figured out that the "monsters" were fake and without fifteen, I figured out that the village existed in modern times and certain villagers were trying to hide that secret. The only thing I didn't guess right about that movie was the identity of the person attacking the blind girl in the woods.....I thought it was Signorney Weaver. Am I missing any of his films? Personally, I think he is one of these people who made a great impression out of the gate and has since developed an unearned celebrity status (like Goldblum, Portman, Paul Anderson, Schumacher, and Jack Black....among others....). ;)
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*****So M. Night
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...until the Shyamalan bashers made it off the TalkBack ranks and above the fold. Yeah, well. If past controversy is any indication, this promises to be as good as any of his work.
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Jul 13, 2006 1:34:04 AM CDT
I still think that Unbreakable is Night's only good one
by derlanghaarige
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Agreed! (repeat... ONLY good one- although Signs was tolerable)
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Ok, we can all admit M. Night has made some mistakes along the way, but most directors do. Has he done nearly as many as Uwe Boll, no, but nobody has. I think even if you dislike the majority/all of his films, why waste your time bashing him. He is way more successful than anyone here, has actually made movies (all his own screenplays, not remakes or sequels even if some of them are comparable to other movies, most films can be), and was able to work his way into the film industry with some actual work of his own. He is overrated but thats not his fault, its ours, because we praise him more than he should or we bash him because he made some movies you didnt like. Big deal, but try and vent in a less retarded fashion. Calling him a talentless fucking moron isnt really changing anything and certainly not making you out to be intellegent with that kind of argument. If you dont like his movies say so, but dont be an asshole about it, just state your argument and go from there. If M. Night actually came to your house and forced you to watch his movies like Clockwork Orange than maybe it is ok to bash him. Its sad to see a bunch of people act like children, even the reviewer. But I guess this is just my humble opinion.
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I meant by that not that the film is bad, but that he would have held your eyes open and made you watch. In case anyone thought otherwise.
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You're right, M Night has gone down faster than Pamela Anderson on Metallica. I still hold out some small modicum of hope that it'll be good enough to begin an upward trajectory for him. Paul Giamatti... he could save the film, right? M's basically a nobody who got thrown in with the big fish after one movie. I'd panic and start shitting in the water too. lol I've watched the DVD bonus features, and the things he's done as a kid reminds me of the shit I threw together with my friends and a parent's camcorder. So I can't help but pull for the guy. But at the same time, I dread the steady rate at which he's been declining will cause this film to make The Village look like The 6th Sense in comparison. =P I refused to read the spoilers but I think I already know the story twist, which is sad. (You THINK there'll be a story twist this time?? *gasp!* lol)
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when this movie opens wide, all will know the pretentious bastard has no clothes, the twist everyone saw coming.
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Oops, did I give away the ending? Just kidding, I have no idea as I haven't seen it. What bugs me are the ads. First they say it's a comedy then a romance and now the movie is a horror. I give up. Maybe this one won't have a twist!?!!?!!!
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"Intelligent" characters in his films (doctors etc.) are always played by Indians. And remember in signs, the concentration of crop circles around India. What the hell would aliens want with the world's biggest slum? He made one good film, a decade ago, and has survived on his own hype since. While making really pretty poor movies with huge holes in logic and terrible dialogue "Why don't we all go eat some fruit". My movie policy, if I smell curry, I keep well away.
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....it's too long and too slow. It could easily be condensed into a slightly faster-paced, one-hour story. Over half the movie is completely dull nonsense.
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so aint is not looking for their own Devin Faraci ?
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The Sixth Sense got some gen uine scares out of me. A little dead girl is 10x as scary as a slasher with a chainsaw. SO I forgave the fact that it ripped off every Twilight Zone episode ever made. And the commentary where he gloated about everything s dead person touches turns red. Unbreakable was good for the performances. Signs was fucking torture and the village I figured out from the trailer. I'm gonna go ahead and skip the Lady in Water.
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I'm sorry if somebody already brought this to the attention of the reviewer. (I was too lazy to read each and every talkback post leading up to mine.) The aliens came to Earth to harvest the humans. So, whether or not there was water on our planet, they HAD to come to Earth. They wanted us. Where else could they go to find humans?
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Saying Night sucks is fucking stupid. Stick a pin in plots and writing for a second, the cinematography in his movies is on par with some of the greatest directors of all time. That's why he was immediately getting comparisons to Spielberg and Hitchcock- the public has not been fooled into thinking he's good. He IS good. In each movie he consistently lives up to the promise that the entire movie will be a pleasure to WATCH. Now. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought at one point Night said in an interview that he had perfected the formula for blockbuster movies. This was before Unbreakable. (Right after Sixth Sense, in other words.) Which means that all of his movies are going to have a revelation/twist at the end. By the way for those of you saying Signs didn't have one, it was that everything (in Mel Gibson's life, specifically) actually does have meaning, to paraphrase. Night has threaded some shoddy plots around this formula, and I would agree with alot of the TBers that many could have been done quite well. I am wont to say that this is because he is a visual director first, and sometimes other things suffer, but I'm not going to make excuses for the man. Sixth Sense: For the first time in my life I figured out a movie twist before it happened (I am not what one would call "bright"), but it was a good movie nevertheless and clearly an introduction to an exciting filmaker. Again, the excitement was almost entirely over the cinematography, and deservedly so. Unbreakable: Like someone else above, I was frustrated that there was a good movie as a build up to nothing. Good lord I would like to see that trilogy finished, if those rumors are true. But there was no fall-off in the quality of the filming - staging. (The reasons he is famous.) Signs I thought was the shoddiest tie-together at the end- I feel like he could have done it better. But again it must be said that he allowed Joaquin Pheonix to be hilarious and the first sighting of the alien was indeed scary, neither of which are easy things for a director to do (no slight at Joaquin). The pattern that is emerging is that it is the journey that one should come to enjoy at a Night film, and let the destination be where it may. Which brings me, however, to The Village, which I thought I had guessed the twist to but had most definitely not. I enjoyed being tricked for the first time at a Night film, and I can only hope that the first secret that was revealed (which I had guessed- the monsters) was planned as protective padding against guessing the ending revelation. I enjoyed it on my first viewing, although his cinematography is less on display here because of the open nature of the village. Again, Joaquin was great. The first time. When I watched it for a second time, I found the dialogue to be a little clumsy and overbearing. The movie did not stand up as well without the strength of the reveal, so I can imagine that one might not like it if the ending is figured out in the first 15 minutes. But Night's strength is his cinematography. And it is phenomenal. To deny him that is petty, even if the ending of one of his films has wronged you in some way. Having said ALL that, this next movie looks like it might not even be saved by cinematography. Which means that everything else would have to be extraordinarily bad. We'll see. Forgive the typing of the dictionary, but my planescape game just crashed and I hadnt saved in about an hour. Dork. (Me.)
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Then again, you're the guy who got banned for spouting nazi propaganda.
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This guy is obviously from Disney. This is a fuck you campaign if I ever saw one. But I do have to say that Lady in the Water does look pretty boring and I'll only see it because Paul G is in it and I have to see all his flicks.
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yeah, um. any of you considered these aliens didn't come from a planet with water? scientists today think that water is an element we need to sustain life, sure, but that's in our little crumb of the universe.
maybe the aliens didn't see the huge frigging oceans and turn away right then because their bodies aren't made of water and they've never experienced water before... maybe they're not made of the same components as us and perhaps they couldn't have known about it because they've never seen it before. -
...it doesn't sound too good for Shyamalan, does it? I liked Sixth Sense a lot and love Unbreakable. I didn't have the same problems with Signs that a lot of other people had although I do consider it a lesser effort. The Village was nothing but pure shit, though. Absolute celluloid feces. I don't put much stock in Sir Lancelot's opinions as such, seeing as he hated Unbreakable, but even so, reading between the lines doesn't do much to make this film sound like it has any redeeming qualities. I will give it a shot though, but probably on DVD, given my current lack of enthusiasm for the movie. Could this be the end of Shyamalan?
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like Night's are not neccesarily bad, but when you rely on a gimmick or two (and I'm not just referring to the twist endings, I mean a certain color indicating this or that, a "jump" moment, etc.) you set yourself up for a HUGE failure on par with the huge success you get if it works. in Sixth Sense, it worked, because the "gimmicks" weren't the heart and soul of the movie, the relationships between the characters were. in the village, it failed HUGELY, because the gimmick was the only substance of the movie. it failed, so the movie failed. the lesson learned is that if you can write an engaging and unique screenplay without these tricks, you might not make 600million bones, but you have a lot less chance of making a huge stinker like some of Night's have been. show me a clunker OR a blockbuster that Charlie Kaufman has written? that having been said, Bryce Dallas Howard is a hot potato, and I will see this just to see her in a wet dress. (way to negate your whole message, Wonka)
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Sorry, couldn't resist.
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Yeah, um... did anyone tell you that to you're a fucking idiot? It's always hilarious to see stupid people try to condescend to others. So the idiot 'Signs' aliens get off the hook because they never experienced water, and therefore couldn't predict that it would eat through them like acid? Well, I'm pretty sure I've never lived on the surface of the sun. In fact, no one has. But before anybody tries to plant an american flag on it, they'd probably do a little research, and figure out that the goldarn thing is HOT! FUSION HOT! And that's to hot to stand on, I reckon. Now we're talkng about beings who obviously have developed technology that can travel greater distances than we've dreamed. They must have, or we would have discovered them before they discovered us. And yet they can't figure out how to build a telescope, or send a probe, or develop a basic understanding of chemistry? Um, yeah, doesn't sound too likely. But it's not even the grievous plot holes that make 'Signs' such a piece of shit. The really shitty part is that 'Night' spends the entire movie establishing the importance of Faith, and then wraps up the movie by ARBITRARILY MAKING EVERY FORESHADOWED, RANDOM ELEMENT IN THE SCREENPLAY INTO A 'MIRACULOUS' TOOL AGAINST THE EVIL INVADERS, WITHOUT ANY RHYME OR REASON TO WHY THESE ELEMENTS FIT TOGETHER. Faith is powerful, as a concept, because it survives against the more powerful forces of doubt and disillusionment. But how difficult, and how meaningful is Faith if God is a lazy-ass screenwriter who grants your every wish because he's already written you as the protagonist in his story? What a retarded, inane, and destructive lesson to teach people: 'It's good to have faith because everything will ALWAYS work out, no matter what. Because your creator is a lazy, lazy screenwriter who can't be bothered to create meaningful solutions to the problems he sets up.' Fuck M.Night. He's a hack writer, and a poisonously lazy thinker.
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your name is apt, because you sure are negative!! but I agree with the flaws in Signs, and with Night in general. as a screenwriter, writing yourself cleverly out of a necessary corner in a script is something to be admired. not so much when you write yourself into the corner because you're so damn pleased with your trick to get out of it. just tell the story, don't show us how clever you are. again, I point to Kaufman, a genius screenwriter, who vanishes into a script, and takes his ego with him. Shamalyan leaves his film school, oh-so-clever fingerprints on every page.
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Ok, my Geek side is going to surface as I answer a few comments made about Signs. Yeah, the aliens came to harvest humans...but seeing as humans are at least 90% water, was that REALLY such a good idea in the first place?? Also, as for the qustion about the aliens not needing water to sustain life, it's theoreticaly possible. If the aliens are silicon based, they would require ammonia, not water, so sustain homeostasis. Of course, it's just theory. And water would probably NOT be acidic to silicon-based life forms. The pH is water is practically neutral, so something would have to be extremely basic (like a pH of 100) for water to act like a strong acid. (ok, I'm exagerating....but seeing as the pH scale only goes from 1-10, I think I made my point). :)
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Signs = 5.0 The Village = 3.5 .................. I really want to like his films. I want them to be as good as Sixth Sense was to me. Unbreakable had so much potential. If it gets a sequel that is as good, I'd be happy. If the sequel is better, I'll have all faith restored. Signs got me excited, but the last reel was disappointing. I left the theatre going, "Hmmm... That could've been better.", though it was worth the initial viewing. The Village left me almost angry. The concept was there, but it would have been better if the twist was that Hurt's character thought he was the monster, but found out that there was an actual monster. This new one rather confuses me. If it is a "Bedtime story" kind of film, with elements of fantasy, why would Disney, who is known for this type of thing, and isn't afraid to have a bit of horror mixed in for taste when needed, pass on it? It seems kinda fishy (excuse the pun). I'll still see it to find if it's better than The Village (Gawd, I hope so). I really superwanted M Night to be the new Hitchcock. C'mon Shyamalan, Give us something with the quality of the first 2 films, and don't be afraid to take some critiquing to make things better. I work as a songwriter. Sometimes, I know, people, "don't get" what it is you're going for and ask for changes to your, "baby". It hurts, but you know that in the end it's for the best. There's a reason why (and how) those people are there.
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I'm telling you, the guy can time and pace a scary, shock moment better than damn near anyone working in Hollywood at the moment, the early alien encounters in 'Signs', the apparitions in 'Sixth Sense', the build up towards the 'monster' in 'the Village' and Willis' first real 'case' as a hero in 'Unbreakable'. All of which are masterclasses in how to ratchet up tension and create suspense. However, (and very sadly) he can't ally these great 'bits' to films that actually hold together as coherent ideas. I agree with Merrick entirely here. He's so in love with his own concepts and ideas that he doesn't explore them fully or really do them any justice. He offers that these are mainly poetic visions but then insists on the 'twist' as part of his modus operandi. In doing this you really have to have your internal structure and logic all worked out well in advance and in order and not just hoping to get by on atmosphere alone. That's called having your cake and eating it. And judging by his recent revelatory outbursts I suspect the possibilities of submitting his work to an editor or co-collaborator are pretty much nil here. So, yes, I think he's fucked basically. Its a shame as he's a capable, if seriously flawed, director.
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Sixth Sense: great. Unbreakable: I dunno... a little flat for me. Signs, everyone points to the fact that aliens killable by water should at the least brought rain gear while invading Earth because that is clearly a huge massively stupid concept. But for me signs had another bigger problem which to me is a sign of all his troubles since: he failed to get across what he was trying to say to 99% of the audience I saw it with. To me, the whole point of that plot was that God was dropping Mel Gibson signs through his whole life, clues as to what to do at the critical moment in the story: his wife's "Swing away" line, putting his brother's basball bat in place, having the kid who leaves glasses of water all over. None of those people were aware they were part of these signs but they were. When I was walking out, I could hear people saying, "So his wife knew years before that the aliens were coming and tried to warn him? That's stupid." If the audience leaves a movie missing your main point, you've failed as a filmmaker, dude. Since then I think his "I can do no wrong" ego has only gotten bigger so that he is getting more willfully blind to his own glaring errors.
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Oooh, i HATE it when Night acts in his films. even when he's slightly off-camera like in The Village, he STILL manages to suck all the life out of the scene. Night, PLEASE STOP IT!! Even Hitchcock remained silent in his cameos.
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someone would give M Night a really good script to work with because he's a very talanted director. He just comes across as very pompous.
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Sure, Signs is dim at times, but a dumbass moviegoer saying "So his wife knew years before that the aliens were coming and tried to warn him? That's stupid" when exiting a theater isn't something worth dignifying with any kind of importance. The death of Mel's wife is one of the scenes in the film which I had NO problems with. I interpreted her "tell Merrill to swing away" as her attempt to convey an important message to her husband which she herself probably didn't understand. She was more dead than alive and undoubtedly in a dreamlike state in the transition between life and death. She had caught a confusing glimpse of the future/eternity and by doing so, gave her husband (by the end of the movie) a reason to believe in God, the afterlife and the "fact" that things happen for a reason.
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Jul 13, 2006 4:38:30 AM CDT
He is not a pompous, sloppy, overbearing storyteller.
by salvatoregravano
No, Manoj Nelliyattu (why not use that name, mewonders?) is a pompous, sloppy, plagiarizing, psychotic, anticreative slug.
Poor Uwe Boll, he receives all the hate, yet compared to Shyalaman, he is Fellini.
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The enigmatic talented writer starts speaking in a normal voice and takes off a brown rubber mask, revealing himself to be... Rod Serling! That's what it should be, anyway.
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Has done some great work , I loved all his movies except The Village and to me that was also entertaining if not a bit easy to predict and sometimes a bit boring. I will see this movie , Im sure it will be at worst entertaining.
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Witht he Night bashing. It's tedious, is all.
Or, if you must, bash in a new way. Stop reheating old ideas. -
I loved Shyamalan. Sixth Sense was genius. Unbreakable was God. Signs was...flawed, but good. Then he made The Village. And WHAT THE FUCK was that. And now, every single thing I read about this movie makes it sound like even more of a piece of crap than I could have imagined. Reading the book excerpt in EW just enforces the viewpoint that I've been trying to not believe, that Night is a spoiled, pompous, creatively bankrupt film student. ***** The thing is, I'll probably end up seeing Lady anyway, just so I can bitch about it with authority in the AICN talkbacks.
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such as quit acting in his own movies. His roles seem to get bigger and bigger with each one. He cannot act. When he is in a scene I really cannot look at the screen. Kind of embaressed at the lack of talent showing. Also, he should start using other peoples ideas or scripts for movies. Do something else. Make a western. Make a biography. Make an adaption from a classic novel. Just something different. He does have talent. That is a no brainer but he better try other areas before he gets totally locked into one type of storytelling (hell, he may be stuck there now). Also, he needs to grow up. We are hearing more and more whiner stories about the man. People will get really tired of this quick. I will probably wait to see reviews of this movie before going. That is too bad. I should be excited. So far I am not.
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you guys sold out :(
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Haven't heard any. Where can i find em? I do hear a lot of whining about him though. It's funny (and a little ironic) that poeple are saying things like "the emperor has no clothes".
Instead of jumping on the "he's great" bandwagon there are a lot of people jumping on the "he's a hack" bandwagon. They both seem to be bandwagons nonetheless.
No matter though. I hope it doesn't suck as bad as that guy thought. -
What we need in this movie is being able to shout that WE GOT MUHFUGGIN' SNAKES IN A POOL!
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Sixth Sense - Brilliant. A masterpiece. The twist ending hit me exactly when it was supposed to. I don't think I have ever been so affected during a movie.
Unbreakable - Pretentious, plodding, boring. It's like he deliberately slowed every...line...of...dialogue...to...a...glacial...pace. I don't care what the fanboys say - this one is a turd. Sprinkled wuth curry.
Signs - Maybe Unbreakable was just a misfire, right? C'mon, you can trust the guy who made the Sixth Sense. All your friends say it's awesome. Nope, this one is an even bigger turd. It's saddled with perhaps the most contrived ending that has ever been put on film. This one proves to me how hard it must be to write a movie with a twist ending. Because here, Night is obviously grasping at straws. The whole story, all of the characters and their quirks, every stupid plot point is designed to cash in at the ending. And then you watch the ending, and it feels like M. Night pulled a practical joke on you.
The Village - Didn't see it (I'm not stupid enough to get burned three times in a row). My brother said it sucked. Shocker.
Lady in the Water - You gotta be f*ing kidding me, right? Anyone who goes to see this must be a self abuser. Notice how the early ads tried to sell it as a happy fable, and then the campaign suddenly did a u-turn and now it's a horror flick. Obviously even the marketing people didn't understand this one. I'll pass. And I'll pass on his next film, too. After that, he won't have a career any more anyway. -
If you're making a movie for the mass market and you end up with a segment of the audience walking out not getting the message, you've failed. The person who I heard wasn't a brain dead fool. He was a reasonable person. He walked out missing the point entirely. Heck, even you and I don't even agree on what was going on. I would argue strongly that the wife wasn't trying to communicate any important info, that she didn't glimpse anything. Just like the daughter wasn't setting water out with any knowledge of what was to come. Her reason for saying "Swing away" was utterly independent from what it ends up meaning. All the bits were signs from God no one was aware they were a part of. But you see it a different way. If this was a movie meant to spark some debate I'd say well done. It's not. It's supposed to be a puzzle like 6th sense where the pieces all come together in the end. If the pieces come together and I see a duck and you see a bunny, there's a problem. And I think his films problems are just getting worse film to film.
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M Night Shyamalan not using his real name? You gotta be fucking kidding me. Cary Grant - John Wayne - Kirk Douglas - etc etc. Misleading trailers? Damn near EVERY movie uses profoundly misleading trailers. Confused audiences? Anything that doesnt include a fart joke or a car explosion every 4 minutes confuses the American audience. Night isnt the second coming but the daggers tossed here are patently unfair. Whats next - a certain reviewer going to go "The Cell" review route and chime in with "I hope bikers gangbang his wife"?
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"stomp him like a narc at a biker rally"
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I think M. Night Shya..eh.. is truly great! He's like a new Spielberg actually, both visually and storytellingwise. Even though I didn't particularly like "Village" or the third act of "Signs" I always get entertained in some regard watching his movies. And I'll come back in about 20 years and write "I told you so". So consider yourselfs warned...
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what the hell was that? all those spoilers you can get from the book that's out or from the trailer alone..
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Ruben thinks the advertisement for the film is all wrong. If it's a bed time story then advertise it, but M Night leads people to believe one thing entering the theatre then insults their intelligence. How many here would at least feel better if the advertisement was honest and stated that this was just a campy bedtime story instead of trying to make it sound like a suspenseful horror type monster flick?
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Night's films have been slowing going downhill since The Sixth Sense, with that and Unbreakable being perhaps his two most watchable films. Hell, Jackson and Willis saved Unbreakable for me. Signs was ok until you get to the last like 20 minutes. The whole barricading themselves in the house bit was pretty cool, very Night of the Living Dead, but that last seqeunce really killed it for me. The Village I actually kind of dug, but damn, why couldn't it have been a freakin' monster?! You're doing a horror/thriller... make with the freakin' monsters! Nothing I've seen yet for Lady in Water has made me want to see it, mostly because I know that when push comes to shove there'll be no monsters in it, just a retard in a cloak. Gimme a break. I'll put my $8 elsewhere.
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Funny you should say that: when I first saw Signs in the theater, everyone in the group I was with jumped when the alien stepped out. If I'll give Night credit for anything, he's great at building suspense, and when he's actually building it towards something cool, it's memorable. That sequence was done perfectly: the audience knew what was going to happen, they knew this would be the big reveal, it was paced so that the audience's anticipation was raised to the point that when the reveal came, the audience reacted like Night wanted them to. In that, I'll give him kudos. We, being about 16 or so people, played right into his hands.
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Confused moviegoers is indeed a valid slam. However, it depends what they're confused BY. You and I obviously drew different conclusions from what was presented (and I must say that I don't see how the messengers' ignorance of their actions/utterances being signs from God somehow disputes their nature as signs), but neither you nor I felt confused by the film. I don't believe in necessarily reducing cinematic narrative to the lowest common denominator, even if a film is of a less than profound nature. Frankly, I don't see someone not "getting" that particular scene as indicative of the film's poorer qualities.
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You live in by far the stupidest town in the world?
Oh, and sonicdeathmonkey, thanks for being the first person to compare something to diarrhea. You should copyright that, my friend. -
With this movie, Signs, and The Village, it seems to me that Night is trying to hard to promote the Globalist movement at the cost of his movies. Plot holes, dialogue, pacing, characterization be damned! Distract them with mindless action and special effects and loud music. Then we can get a message in there to erase all borders and dissolve the United States and all other countries into The New World order. Why? Because The Intransigently Superior to Humans Magical Moistened Bent said so. Because the The Village showed you how stupid and closed minded you are if you don
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We're witnessing the decline of a Director who initially got alot of people excited. Unfortunately tho, he got a bit rubbish, and it sorta went down hill from there. Maybe he just needs to chill out, relax, and try and make a good film. Lets all send him some good vibes and see if we can pull him out of his funk !
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If you didn't this coming- you'd be nuts. Sorry Sham, but it look slike you are in a downward spiral
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Jul 13, 2006 8:04:50 AM CDT
He can still save the movie, if not by having snakes...
by jackpumpkinhead
...then by casting Hulk Hogan as the lady. "Giggle, giggle, brother! Whatcha gonna do when the water comes rushing at YOU?" This could even be the tagline.
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I realize the word "most" is in there, but from reading the posts, it sounds like "most" people on this site hate M. Night, and in general, are disappointed by every movie. Not because they're all just ornery, but because they love well-made movies are are easily offended by films that don't live up to their standards of what a great movie is. This site seems to be suited for the hypercritical, for better or worse. Heck, I'm sure there are people here who would argue that The Empire Strikes Back sucked! (And no, I'm not comparing Empire to an M. Night movie.)
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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v676/rustinpeaces/liap.jpg
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The man has potential of being great... But I think that the success of his first two movies was a little to much for his ego... He's let fame get in the way of talent...
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sounds like poop. but i love paul giamati. so hopefully he can keep this one together.
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I'm torn on this- not the movie, I definitely won't be going to see it- but on the man himself as a director. I think somewhere in there is a guy who could be a remarkably good, if not great, director. But I think it's high time that he works with someone else's script and shows us what he can do when he's not making an M. Night "twist" movie.
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At one point he'll direct and star in his own movie. It'll be like the "Malkovich" scene in Being John Malkovich.
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Did you like that movie? Think it's a classic James Cameron flick?
If he can deliver 2 great movies out of 10 he's clearly better than most directors.. Maybe give him a little slack. I don't think he meant to offend anyone by starting out with a great movie.. -
I can't believe the bitching on this site about stupid things like aliens not knowing water would hurt them would be a plot hole. It isn't mow-rons! It's an f'n story and doesn't need to be scientificly explained. It's a story douche bags.
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Ok, Saw it , and while it's not going to be called his best work, it's not the turd it's reported to be here...It's a fairy tale, go with it...
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I think he actually sugar coated that review. It's going to be a massive piece of shit, errr I mean diarrhea
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"Night" needs to direct someone else's screenplay at this point. He is a great director with a wonderful sense of pace and eye for cameara placement who needs a creative recharge. Most directors who use thier own screenplays put out a movie once every 3-5 years and wither spend a long time on the script or use cowriters. (So you know where I stand with him, 6th and Signs were Great movies, Unbreakable blew the ending big time, and Village is an abomination that ranks up there with the worst vanity projects)
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War of the Worlds had less of a plot hole regarding their reaction to Earth than Signs. The aliens sucking the blood from us didnt know that mankind had built up such an immune system that would fight back . Spielberg was basically saying that man has become like a virus, and consume enough of us and we'll make you shit diarreah back to mars.Being that the aliens had never in fact eaten humans, its more realistic than say the dumbass aliens that would try to conquer a planet thats 85% water or whatever that figure is.
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From an old porn film, that I couldn't name if you paid me. but it seemed the exact same thing, water nymph appears in apartment block with an important message. Of course in the porno she screws everything that isn't nailed down. Somehow I doubt this movie will rise to that level of storytelling
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Joaquin Phoenix. His reaction makes the scene better than what it really is. That was the one good piece of filmmaking in that entire movie, but he was lucky to have an actor as good as Joaquin sell his scene. But overall, an episode of "Sightings" is fucking scarier than Signs.
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attempting to sound creepy... usually indicates the movie will suck.
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when he cried like a bitch that he needed a budget for $70 million to make this film and only got $60 million from the producers. Somebody is walking around with $59 million in their pocket. I could have made this film for $500,000 and put it on the Sci Fi Channel.
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I'm a big crybaby millionaire who hasn't had an original idea for years... Waaahhh, Disney says my script sucked. GO BACK TO INDIA AND HELP YOUR PEOPLE YOU DOUCHEBAG !!! Make like Bill Gates and do some good with your ill-gotten millions !!!
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Sorry, but I don't believe this review for one second. Not that I doubt the lady was screening "somewhere" in the USA. No. I'm sure it did. But the fact that this review starts off by spewing the now-cliche speaking points of every anti M. Night fanboy gives it away. I am a sort-of fan. I agree that nothing he has doneis as good as Sixth Sense...but I did love UNbreakable and thought Signs was okay. And even though the village wasn't very good it wasn't as god-awful-terrible as the haters make it out. Funny how they complain about water but nobody has ever complained about the aliens from War of the Worlds not knowing about germs or any other similar alien movie made in the last 50 years. Then, to make matters worse, there isn't any real review here at all. He recaps the plot, which we all know already from every single trailer and never once comments on the performance of the actors. Paul Giamatti? Hello? I doubt this reveiwer even knows who the guy is. So out of the whole review, we have a bunch of M. Night bashing, and not one sign the guy has actually watched the movie at all. Pacing? Direction? Artistic style? Acting? Story? Hello! I call fraud.
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This just in .... M. Nightynight says he won't make a decent movie until Talkbackers stop making fun of his idiot name. Shlongmydong.
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...work are actually the lucky ones. They don't know the disappointment of those of us who held out such high hopes for the guy after his fantastic-yet-flawed debut and very solid (up until the ending) second effort. Yeah, I called The Sixth Sense flawed. I loved it when I saw it in the theater, even if I figured out the twist before most. But it didn't hold up to a second viewing, mostly because I couldn't stop wondering what Willis' ghost was doing in all the time we didn't see him on camera. With other movies, when I don't see a character on screen, I just assume they're taking a crap or fetching a sandwich or rubbing one out or catching a nap. But Willis didn't do any of that. He didn't need to (and wouldn't the fact that you hadn't had a crap or a meal in several days make you wonder if there might be something wrong with you?). He was apparently just winking in and out of existence when it was convenient to the plot. It just can't sustain a subsequent viewing because its so carefully constructed to try and conceal the twist on a first viewing that I was looking for holes from the first frame the second time through (as opposed to The Usual Suspects, which actually made me appreciate the complexity of Spacey's performance more on a second viewing). Anyway, Unrbreakable was a good character study and quite watchable up until that worthless afterthought twist. Didn't really diminish the film overall for me. It wasn't until Signs, with the plot holes large enough to drive an interstellar craft through, that I started to suspect Night's bag of tricks was limited to stuff he remembered from old Twilight Zone episodes. On the advice of a fellow talkbacker (I'm looking at you, Doc P), I actually revisited Signs on video not long ago...to give it another chance. And I found a way in which I could at least make the ending make sense. It required me to fill in some blanks and assume that the wife had actually been kidnapped by the aliens earlier on and impregnated with a half-alien embryo, who grew up to be the daughter (explaining the daughter's aversion to the water). The experience had been erased from the wife's memory until the trauma of the accident, which not only restored her memories but granted her momentary precognition (some side efect of the mental blocks being violently pulled away) so that she would know exactly what needed to be done at the critical moment during the invasion. Of course, NONE of this is actually sustained by the film as made. I had to make shit up in order to make the ending work (just as many of its defenders had in debating with me about why I thought it didn't), and even then I couldn't make up any good reason for the aliens NOT to know that the planet was covered with a substance that was toxic to them either by its own nature or the nature of the things living and growing in it. Thta's just stupid. Speaking of which, don't even get me started on the Village...another movie designed entirely to sustain a twist ending but sans any of the great character moments from The Sixth Sense that made that film's twist such a powerful sucker punch. Bottom line being, Shyamalan peaked early and has been servicing his own ego at moviegoers' expense ever since. I held out hope that phase would pass, but it doesn't seem to have (his casting himself as the most important, world-shaping writer is on par with Eli Roth's casting himself in Cabin Fever as the smooth, cool guy with the guitar and the great pot that all the chicks want to be with...it's the equivalent of photoshopping your face onto a picture of a guy fucking a supermodel). I know enough people in real life who overestimate their abilities (in Night's case as a writer, his movies are beautifully shot...but beautifully shot shit is still just shit) and take themselves WAY too seriously. I certainly don't need to pay to watch one gratify himself in the theater.
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After reading other comments, I notice that most M. Night haters make personal attacks on his personality, and don't talk about the talent he does clearly have...or they bash his "twists" (which they aren't, only Sixth and village had a twist ending) and yet admit that all they care about is the twist anyway. Why can't people just go see a movie these days with an open mind. The movie is not the ending people. If it was you could just walk into a movie in the last 20 minutes, see the end and leave. But it doesn't work that way. There is a reason that some people (myself included) don't care about spoilers...because a good movie is about more than story, it is about emotion and character and entertainment, etc. It isn't about the ending. And going into a movie with certain expectations, onlyu to absh the movie for NOT meeting them ("ruined a good opportunity") and to bash it if it DOES ("always uses twists") is stupid. The point of most movies isn't to try and predict the ending before it comes to you. It is to enjoy the ride. Sure, some movies are bad and are genuinely ruined by bad endings...but Night's movies aren't in that group. If his movies are ruined by anything it is an audience who expects way too much becuase they are more prone to believe the hype than to make up their own minds and opinions.
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Only Sonny can save my summer now.
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Turd in the swimming pool?? What a huge shteaming pile !!! What a hack !! What a buncha idiots who shell out their parent's money to buy tickets to see this crap !!!
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If these guys are technologically advanced, how come their science isn't? Stupid martians.
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SPOILERS she is a prisoner that escaped from her world and the wolves are more like prison guard dogs sent to retrieve here. and then when she gets sucked back paul giamatti turns into a merman.
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SPOILERS she is a prisoner that escaped from her world and the wolves are more like prison guard dogs sent to retrieve here. and then when she gets sucked back paul giamatti turns into a merman.
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if only because he manages to make films that actually have a MESSAGE to them and have some originality. All we're getting are sequels and remakes from Hollywood and the one original filmmaker out there whose movies do WELL enough to influence the rest of Hollywood gets bashed by people who didn't like The Village. Sure, Signs was flawed, but damn fun. The Village . . . had its . . . moments . . . I guess. But even if Lady sucks as many balls as this guy claims it does, I'm still gonna see it. Because I want it to do WELL so Hollywood will be willing to take more chances on young filmmakers with big ideas. Anyone with me?
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That scene at the birthday party as you are waiting for the alien to be revealled is terrifying. Also when "the monster" in The Village is stalking Bryces character my heart was also going there. Sure theres some dodgy lopic in places in his movies but they are so well made and good looking that I just dont get the hate. Unbreakable is one of my all-time favourite movies. But I used to post under the name Easily PLeased as I always see the best in other peoples work. Makes for a happy life.
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The movies not even on general release yet and you go a'spoilin'. Like to hope your lying but your probably not. Nice play you festering mouldy pissflap of a basement dwelling spotty teenager. :)
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Still though, I'm not really encouraged about this one after The Village sucked sweaty balls, and M Night is the second male lead . . ?
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I don't mind him and think his films are above average. Childe as ever bringing sense to the TB, good Usual Suspects comparison. bigboxer, have you seen this movie? What is with your uninformed and unplesent ranting? Did MNS not return a fan letter of yours? Get over it.
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Is fucking pompous as all fuck. I groaned when Stephen King did it, but it made sense. Here - it sounds like Night just trying to promote his fucking book. For the record, I loved The Village, and hated all of Shyamalans other movies. I had hoped he was getting better, but I guess not. I'll se Lady anyway, but I will considerably lower my expectations.
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i haven't seen the movie so chill just some early morning spculating
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After the indignity of Unbreakable and Signs, I made a solemn vow to myself that I would never again see a Shyamalan film. I walked out of those films FURIOUS at HIM. When an alien is breaking on over here and you cut away to a kid staring at a flashlight, that is cheap, dishonorable suspense. Since then he is the director I love to hate. I'm almost considering buying that book just to hate him all the more. I hope this movie crashes and burns. I can't get enough bad reviews of this one.
Cinema de Merde -
If the film bombs in North America (which it looks like it probably will), Warner Bros won't be hit too much, as they only invested $US 35 M in it and got their Superman Returns
co-financer Legendary Pictures to
chime in the other $US 35 M of the movie's $US 70 M budget. -
Hey !! If you enjoyed spending your mommies and daddies hard earned cash to see The Village Idiots, run to your nearest Mulitplex and plunk down $10 to see Turd In the Lake !!!
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I'm gonna see this fucking turdmovie of shit. And I'm going to be royally pissed when I do. And I'm gonna fake Tourette's syndrom and try to start a fight with the people around me.
Shitty shit shit. And I'm looking forward to his next movie stinking shitbag because he is a really promising director.
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Shyamalan is a great DIRECTOR. You may like or not the scripts of his movies, but he is a visual artist. If you can
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Schmalydingdong got lucky with Sixth Sense, and then did NOTHING BUT CRAP !!! And then cryed like the bitch he truly is, wwwaaahhh, Disney won't pay me millions of American dollars for a shteaming pile, wwaahhhh !!!!
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but at least he'd never put himself in a movie as a writer that changes the world. hope this flops bigger than "world trade center"
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It's CRAP!!!! Unadulterated, pure, 100%, smell it a mile away CRAP !!! Schlamydingo can't even stick to one genre when he does a movie. He sucks rocks through a flavorstraw !!!
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....and Ill say it again.
This guy is the most overrated filmmaker Ive ever seen.
M Night Sucks. Deal with it.
Hoepfull now the res tf hte world will realize waht Ive known for years.
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Off the subject a little, but many of these posts are from 2 and 3 in the morning! Graveyard shift workers with computer access, or could you use some Ambien? (Then again, it's 10 a.m. on a Thursday, so what am I doing here?)
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I think he is generally good and I actually really liked Signs..but I tend to think M. Night is starting to believe his own bullshit and is in love with himself.
Oh and I'd love to fuck Bryce Dallas Howard. that = all -
Now nobody would expect that.
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That would be Talk Dirty To Me Part III, with the inimitable Traci Lords as the pool mermaid. Not that I would know this.
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Don't think its that old is it ... sound like "Nymph" with Jenna Jameson
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If you hate Nights films youll hate this. If you like his films youll like this.
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Not looking for spoilers, just wondering if there's a twist ending. i'd be much more willing to give it a chance if there isn't...
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Maybe I just subconciously decided to not view Signs as science fiction from the very first frame, despite the alien invasion motif. I actually did the same thing you did and re-watched it yet again after the most recent Shyamalan talkback, but while bearing in mind the points of criticism brought up by fellow talkbackers. It made my head hurt. As science fiction, Signs sucks the big one. As a story of a man rediscovering his faith under unusual circumstances, I find that it works -- if only barely. Even with the scientific howlers aside, it is difficult to explain how a creature as seemingly intelligent and physically powerful as that alien couldn't either bash or think his way out of a cupboard. Things like that bug me more than the H2O/bacteria problem. I do like your connect-the-dots explanation though.
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Some people love his films. Its all called opinion. Now why dont you deal with it.
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KNEW it looked like wet pap.
The Sixth Splash? -
From the first 10 minutes of the movie, you are retarded. I saw it the second day it opened, had heard a few whispers of how "shocking" it was, and said out loud in the theater after he's shot, "Oh, I bet you he's dead." A few minutes later when everyone ignores him I said once again, "Yep, he's dead." Imagine my surprise when 95% of the public turned out to be shocked. Most of my former friends were, too. Last time I talked to them. Fucking morons, all of you. Unbreakable was ok, though. I will admit- the man can work wonders behind the camera, but get him away from the writing and acting professions.
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that doesn't make them haute cuisine; they're still crappy carcinogenic garbage.
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we're all full up here! And DocP and Movie, props for being able to name porn movies from the 'plot' description ;-)
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Night sucks. 'Nuff said.
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I think the fact that I was willing to concoct a possible explanation evidences how much I wanted to like SIgns. But when I realized how simple it was to put that explanation together, it infuriates me all the more tha he couldn't be bothered. I mean, it would've cost him one flashback scene and a couple of additional lines of dialogue. Suddenly the ending makes sense from a sci fi standpoint, even if the cupboard (yeah...what the fuck was up with that? I thought I saw thumbs on those aliens) nonsesne and the just plain stupid lack of some sort of environment suit to protect the alien from the elements and potential contaminants. For some reason, the faith element and Gibson's character arc felt even more contrived to me on the second viewing. I don't think I've seen anyone play a faithless preacher so pat and woodenly since Harvey Keitel in From Dusk 'til Dawn.
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Really. I like the guy. "The Sixth Sense" took me completely by surprise when it came out. I watched the TV spots for it and was expecting a cheesy ghost story that was desperately hoping to cash in on "The Blair Witch Project" crowds. It was much more than I ever hoped. Come on, it was a rare supernatural thriller that was nominated for Best Picture. I was hooked on Shyamalan. Then there was "Unbreakable." I don't know what I thought going into that movie, but it wasn't that I was about to see a superhero movie. It blew me away. I loved the slow pace and the realism and the flawed characters. It was great and anybody who puts it down had better have a damn good reason. "Signs" is where people turned on him. I loved it. Did it have huge, gaping plot holes? Yes, but to be honest, I didn't think about a single one of them until well after the movie was over. Was it contrived? Yes, but with the Hitchcockian pacing, that awesome James Newton Howard score, the easygoing everyone-in-the-cast-has-been-taking-Ritalin acting. It was great. But then, the sky fell. "The Village" came out. I was excited. The trailers looked awesome. A pioneer monster flick from Shyamalan. Sigourney Weaver! I was gonna like this one. I didn't. It was a movie about a group of people that were being cheated and, as an audience member, I felt the same. My brother bitched at me because I was disappointed when their didn't turn out to be a monster. I don't care. There was supposed to be a fucking monster and I wanted to see a simple, straightforward monster flick. I didn't care about an attractive blind girl that is looking for medicine to help her incredibly dull boyfriend recover from stab wounds. I didn't care about a damn thing in that movie. I saw the ending coming long before it got there and I spent most of the runtime hoping to God that I was wrong. I wasn't. I felt bad. Horrible dialogue. Dull, retarded characters. And the creature that I had been hearing about was only a mentally stymied Adrian Brody in a red cape. When I first saw the ads for this, I was hoping for something new. A Bedtime Story? Is Night doing a childrens movie. A languid lullaby. Paul Giamatti's in it! I wasn't sure if it was gonna be good, but I was interested. The only thought in my head that gave me hope was, "Thank God, it's not a horror film! He's doing something different!" No such luck. It would seem that Night considers a bedtime story for his children to be a dreary-looking creature feature. I can't wait to see how fucked up his kids are gonna be in the future. From everything I've seen, Night can call this movie whatever he wants, it's still a thriller, just not an interesting one. I hope the man proves me wrong. I know that all filmmakers, even the best, make mistakes. See Spielberg's "Hook" for examples of great directors past mistakes. But I'm afraid Shyamalan truly is bankrupt.
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Ever heard of other countries? Other timezones? Scary Metricsystems? The internet is bigger than your neighbourhood I promise!!! It's crazy I know..
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I love reading about all you disenfranchised armchair jagoffs who love to drag Night through the mud and you cite "The Village" all the live long day as the jumped shark or couch. As soon as Lancelot said "Night started to go downhill after Unbreakable" I disavowed the rest of his blather. You people just don't seem to get it. You are jaded fucking people who don't want to admit that Night is the successor to Hitchcock with just the right amount of Spielberg thrown in for awe and wonder. I saw LADY as well and Night doesn't hit it out of the park this time, but he crafts an amazing story that evokes genuine fantasy and remarkable acting. The scrunts look terrifying. Night just gets better and better with every film. Too bad we'll never see "Labor Of Love" because it was killed by studio bullshit. LADY just might end up owning your ass! Sorry to interrupt your Night bashing circle jerk.
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"NYMPH" starred the amazing Chasey Lain as the water fairy who fucked every man, woman in sight! Not Jenna Stretchmark Jameson!
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Even better than Sixth Sense, which I'm sure, means I have more than a few screws loose. I agree Doc, somewhere in the middle of the movie I realized this was a man's faith story rather than an alien flick, so I just shut my brain off when it came to the sci fi. I'm pretty good at doing that (im sure more than a few TB'ers realize that by now), so that kind of thing doesnt really bother me. Heck, if I had to rationalize everything I saw, heard, or read in a story, I'd never be able to get through a single Dean Koontz novel.
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when the heck is Dean Koontz going to get off his duff and finish the Christopher Snow trilogy. Book 1 happened in 98 or 99 and book two followed a year later. Here it is, 2006, and I'm STILL WAITING! ARRRGGHHHH
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I love how so many people here claim to know the motivations and physical prowess of movie aliens.
I'd like to see one of you exploring an ancien tegyptian pyramid. Have you seen documentaries about those suckers? I wonder if you got lost or trapped in one of them people would say, "his technology proves he's of an advanced and highly intelligent life-form but he can't figure out a room build thousands of years ago. That doesn't make sense. Shymalamadingdong Moore is fat".
ANd it isn't Night's decision on how the movie gets marketed. that decision is up to the studio. I totally agree it is being misrepresented to the public and that will piss people off. The same was true of the Village, which any movie news followers knew wasn't a horror but it was advertised as one. Maybe all of your expectations never get met, not because Night is trying to reclaim his Sixth Sense success, but because movie studios are. -
Aliens can't exist. Neither can God.
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Schmaydigaling made a movie with a plot?? When? You mean, like with a script? Dialogue? THE MAN IS A ONE TRICK PONY AND WE'VE SEEN IT !!!!
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It ain't trolling if it's TRUE !!! Do you people honestly think that twenty years from now film classes will be discussing these pieces of crap alongside Hitchcock, Kubrick, Ford, or Welles? If so you're delusional !!!
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Lady in the Water. This might be the third in the trilogy of Directors with too much self-indulgant control over their own movies. I used to be all in favor of the "suits" backing off and letting the directors craft their vision - but KK and SR were both over-long and over-done masterbatory cluster fucks, and I wonder if Lady in the Water won't get the studio heads to speak up a little more and reign in these "genius" directors when they're going overboard.
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all saying wildly stupid things. Have you see Lady in the Water?
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The movie industry is so idea bankrupt, the suits give the green light to directors who are ego monsters. I really wanted to like King Klunk, really!! I sat there and thought wow, Jack Black has two emotions, and this movie is so bad there's not enough ess's in SUCKS to describe it !!!
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I'm not sure what studios are thinking, but for some reason, if a director creates a movie that grosses a lot of dough, a studio somehow infers they should be left alone on their next pics and have near complete autonomy. Take peter Jackson--throughout the lord of the rings, he did deal with pressure from the studio, albiet not much, and fans, and so his story came out all right in the end, albiet a bit sloppy in certain spots, but otherwise okay. Then look what happened to Kong. Singer created a couple of hit x films, which were entirely collaberative, and suddenly he's given carte blanche and look what happend? Night, while obviously directing much smaller, and cheaper, movies, is still suffering from sloppiness in his writing. Dont even get me started on Lucas.
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The moment someone feels they're too good to require an editor, its all downhill from there. King, Koontz, Rice, Jordan, heck, nearly all of the big name pop writers suffer from this at some point or another (whenever the point they feel editors arent very necessary occurs).
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On name alone and the eye-catching advertisements WB put together. Hell, it'll probably do that in the first week.
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Seems to be Spielburg. Yeah, I agree, he's usually a pretty ham-fisted directer, but you have to admit that he does show a heck of a lot more discipline behind the camera than any of the formentioned trio.
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It happened to Schmalydingy on his 2nd film!! UNWATCHABLE indeed!! As for Lucas, he stunk when he did the Ewok thing, yucko !!!
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you guys hate artistic integrity, eh? You love it when studio bigwigs only interested in money stick their noses in on a director trying to craft a vision? Sure, Superman was slow-moving, but it's a beautiful, well-crafted movie with good performances and great characters. Sure, King Kong was overlong and sloppy, but it was so infused with sheer joy that I smiled the whole time. Thank GOD for directors like Jackson, Singer, and M. Night being allowed to follow their vision of an artistic and entertaining film instead of being forced to follow a studio's vision of dollar signs.
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with those ewoks. Yeah, I kinda see the point of Jar Jar (in theory, not execution), but those ewoks were waaayyy out of left field and completely uneccessary. Yeah, i get having the help of aliens, but why in G-d's name why teddy bears? Ever since then, I've come to realize that Star Wars is really weird, quirky, cool, geeky, intelligent, and stupid. Oh, and it appears to have the same consitency as crack.
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There is zero interest in it. It'll open with about $10 mil, maybe $15 mil tops and vanish from there.
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Of course we're for artistic integrity, but everything has limits. Of course there are times that studios/editors/publishers/producers go too far in exerting their refinement of your work, in pushing you, and sometimes they completely abuse their powers and rape your skills/efforts 6 ways to sunday. However, a writer/director must have SOME supervision, SOME form of refinement, otherwise they get lazy and sloppy. The key, mechasheeva, is balance.
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Do what I've done: console youself by thinking about how he is single-handedly responsible for the rise to power of the Emperor. It's the only thing that actually makes him funny.
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I like it when studios don't make sequel/prequel/remake shit. I'll take some creativity with hits and misses over that (although I'm not sure the studios will). And moondoggy, I used to despise Speilberg but I'm starting to come around to him. Now if only he'd stop using the Hanks and Cruise...
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You're falling asleep, you're pulling out a ten dollar bill to see my crappy movie, with every crunch of popcorn you're thinking this movie is the work of a genius, genius, genius. You're posting to Talkback with pretzel logic to explain this ....
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If you dont think that part of a commercial writer/director's vision, especially a successful one, is dollar signs, I've got a bridge to sell you.
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All of you are a bunch of bitter do-nothing ass-monkeys with no lives who just want something to bitch about! I LOVED (can I type that big enough) Signs! I do not even feel the need to qualify or defend that statement. If you haters have a problem with that then go fuck yourselves. It's my opinion and I am entitled to it. I also really liked Sixth Sense and Unbreakable although I really wanted to see where Unbreakable would go if MNS was able to finish the trilogy that it was the act one of. Admittedly, I didn't see the Village, but it just didn't appeal to me. I won't stand here and applaud myself for "figuring out the twist" because that would be like saying "OH look at how clever I am...I peeked at my Christmas presents and now there is no surprise for me on Christmas morning!" You are fucking movie goers, NOT JR. DETECTIVES! I apologize for all the vitriol, but the negative talkbackers just kind of do that to me.
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aliens, not water itself. The movie still ate ass though.
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I never really appreciated just how good he was until I took a long look at his past work, which is quite substantial for a modern director. As successful as he is, he doesnt seem to mind trying something different, and always seems very, very disciplined and in control. Is he hammy/sappy? Of course, but then again, I tend to enjoy melodrama, so it doesnt really bug me. Hard to believe he's been doing this stuff for over thirty years, huh?
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on renting SuckSigns !! It was trash, and hokey, and a royal piece. What anyone saw in it I don't know. Oooooohhhh, aliens come to earth and broadcast over baby monitors, ooooohhh I'm scared !!!!
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... but, except for Sixth Sense and maybe Unbreakable (comic book characters in the real world are always a boost, IMHO) are all pretentious crap. I was sick of The Village about 5 minutes in when that silly chick went on and on and...on...and... etc. about her love for River Phoenix. Though River's "WTF?" stare was priceless, I wanted to throttle that skinny, bad-dialogue-spouting bee-atch! I was asleep by the 30 minute mark, not from boredom, but as a mental escape from the sheer, wretched suckiness of it all. I'll pass on Lady In The Water, as I'll now pass on ALL M Night productions, including those lame-ass Amex commercials!
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Obviously a any succussful filmmaker has dollars on the brain, but for a different reason than executives: they want those dollars for their NEXT artistic vision. If King Kong had tanked, you bet your ass a studio's gonna think twice before handing Jackson another 200 mil. THIS is why I'll see Lady in the Water regardless of what the reviews say. I want this movie to do well because Night has already proven with 6th Sense, Unbreakable, and (yes, I liked it despite its logic gaps) Signs that he can make good to great movies. I always look forward to seeing what he comes up with next, just like I can't wait to hear what Jackson's next project will be. I'd run out to support M. Night and give him my money loooooooong before I'd shell out ten bucks to see whatever Brett Ratner spews out next.
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But James Newton Howard had some pretty intense scores for Signs and the Village.
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Sorry about that, Mech, I thought you were saying that directors werent thinking about money at all. Again, I appologize. And yeah, I'm like you, I felt Signs was really great (my fav M film), Unbreakable was pretty good, and Village was about the same level as Unbreakable. I didnt care for Sixth Sense and Im not really feeling drawn to Lady in the Water, so I'll just wait and see.
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i will just HAVE TO see this movie.
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he's jacking off at home waiting for tidbits about the final HP book. ;-P
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Sixth Sucks, Unwatchable, DollarSigns, Village Idiots, Turd in the Punchbowl.
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if the review is accurate and he has cast himself as 'a writer whose writing will influence the world' smacks of ego. :-P
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I also respect that he has ventured out of his comfort zone and tried different genres and actually delivers movies on a regular basis (QT & RR, MNS, take note).
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I sure hope there is some fucked up, mutant 'water people' titties in this flick. That would be cool.
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I don't think that alone is a reason to bash the film. Kill Bill was basically QT blowing his load all over some celluloid, but that still kicked significant amounts of ass.
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acting debut. Yeah, in the previous movies its just a slight cameo (even in the village--how else was he gonna get into that movie?) but this is going waaayyyy too far. The only reason I can think of for him to do it is if this story is a genuine loveletter to his daughters--it would make sense. If thats the case, I understand his decision, but I'm still not very interested in watching this thing. I'll still be shocked if this movie tanks, however, on account of it only costing like 70 mil to make.
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Isn't Christopher Doyle the cinematographer on this one? This sucks...my favorite cinematographer with one of my least favorite directors. I can't decide if I want to see it or not!
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But for the most part, it was pretty damned interesting, lively, and garnered some good reactions (both critical and otherwise). While I enjoyed Village, it was anything but lively.
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of viewers who enjoyed The Village.
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Yeah, Shamalan is overratd and arrogant- there are so many more directors who could do more with 1/10th of the money spent on this film than he could ever do. I have a feeling his next movie will be the camera dramatically circling around him with creepy swelling music as he masturbates in a half-lit room for 2 and 1/2 hours. One side note - I liked "Signs" better when the aliens were zombies and it was called "Night of the Living Dead".
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M Night is a highly skilled director and I enjoyed his movies (Sings is my favorite, Village is least favorite).
Can't wait to see this one. -
M Night is a highly skilled director and I enjoyed his movies (Sings is my favorite, Village is least favorite).
Can't wait to see this one. -
All we're saying is that he appears to be undisciplined. Peter Jackson has a huuuuge amount of skill and vision; far more than Shamma, but look what happened in King Kong? I'll grant you, everyone makes mistakes and so I'm not going to say that Jackson is some horrible director or other such hyperbole. In King Kong, however, he was undisciplined, which, in that film's case, caused it to earn less profit than it should have. The exact same situation occurred with Singer, as well. In Night's case, he hasnt gotten overly bloated on costs or some such mistake, but he has gotten a bit...lazy as a writer. Were he to allow others to do some polishing of his work, to collaborate with, his work would be faaarrr better; his skills as a director could truly shine. It is because that ego that he doesnt allow himself to learn/collaberate and in tern grow as a film maker.
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I'm a big Shyamalan fan so I guess I'm in the minority also. However, I caught the trailer for LADY IN THE WATER recently, and it appeared like some of the creature effects were made using CGI, something Shyamalan had previously avoided in his films to the best of my knowledge. If that's the case, I'll be very disappointed because Night has been one of the few directors who still strives for realism in his movies in an age of artificiality and overbloated CGI-driven spectacles..
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is completely beyond me. It is one of the worst movies ever made, completely insulting to the intelligence of the audience and just a work of staggering stupidity. It is however useful as a drinking game (unintentional laugh = drink = drunk by 3rd reel).
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Think i'll avoid this one, looks uninteresting.
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Two, count 'em TWO direct refrences to body wastes in the first four headlines on the home page today. Nice going, especially from critics who regularly complain about 'fart humour' as being a cheap effort for attention. This just isn't neccessary unless you are looking to increase your appeal for 12-year-old brats.
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Would have been a better title.
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OK, I saw it without any spoilers or information as to what it was about. I also saw it on a long haul flight so maybe my brain wasn't working at it's best. Now that you mention it even my drunk/tired/jetlagged brain was thinking "Why the hell are they sending the blind girl?!?" Other than that it looked lovely. And now I think of it, why didn't one of the village 'elders' go?!? OK, it is stupid.
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Jul 13, 2006 12:47:23 PM CDT
Shama's films each have deep moments that stay with me
by billyeveryteen
Sixth Sence: When the kid tells mom, that her mother was always proud of her. Unbreakable: Bruce sliding newspaper to kid, silently confirming that, yes, he is a superhero. Signs: Holy shit, that grainy birthday video. Village: Pheonix being stabbed. Sure, there are problems with all the films, still... I am a fan.
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http://tinyurl.com/ctxhd
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It's beyond stupid. The only rationale behind it is that because she's blind, she can't see the modern world and will thus remain unspoiled. However, Shyamalan's also asking us to believe that everyone else would think a blind, innocent girl would have a chance in hell of actually obtaining the medicine and making it back home in one piece. The truth of the matter is that once the authorities had intercepted her, they would either have locked up her Kaspar Hauser ass or listened to her story and then sent in police to Janet Reno the village. The Village is utter shit, an absolute insult to anyone watching it. What pisses me off the most though, and I've said it before, is the a-list of serious "actores" who swallowed their pride and prostituted themselves while laboring under that heinous script for fat paychecks and the chance to work with a director flavor-of-the-month in order to further their own careers, no matter how stinky the material. What a bunch of pretentious, money-grubbing, egomaniacal, suck-up fuckfaces. In retrospect, I'm almost happy that The Village is so poor since that whole shitburger project just blew up in their faces. That having been said, I would be very pleased if Shyamalan has made a better movie this time around.
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hate, hate, hate. Now let me go through the list of each of his movies to tell you what I hated about all of them. I saw the twist coming. Unbreakable was ok until the end. The aliens and water thing made no sense (I can't believe all these years later, people are still arguing about the water issue). The Village was the worst movie ever. Blah fucking blah blah. Most of you wish you had the talent and ability of someone like Night (sure he's probably batshit insane, but as long as he makes interesting movies, who cares). I'm looking forward to this movie and I thought the Village was a freakin' brilliant film. Suck it.
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I overlooked the worldwide nature of the fanbase and feel appropriate ashamed of my blatant stupidity. I do know the world is round. Humblest apologies in all humiliation and embarrassment.
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Damn. Talk about driving a point home. Excuse me while I go regrow some fucking brain cells.
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SPOILERS FOR OLD MOVIES WITH OBVIOUS ENDINGS WITHIN: When I saw "The Sixth Sense" I nearly ruined it for my wife. After we'd seen Bruce Willis get shot and then see him alone and making no reference to the aftermath of the wound, I turned to my wife and muttered "he's dead." She didn't hear me and then shushed me as I tried to tell her again. At the end of the movie, I was shocked that so many people didn't realize he was dead. But then, I'd been through the mill on anthology scifi, where you'd get slapped silly if you dated to suggest a story that ended with the surprise that the hero was dead. It was called the "Whoops I'm dead" gambit and, I think, that was coinced by Harlan Ellison. Not sure. Anyway it was hand in hand with the "Whoops, that guys' the devil." Now the original twiliht zone, if you watch em, has variations on those two themes about every third episode or so. Told my wife that, which is she guessed that Unbreakable would end with the reveal that Sam Jackson was the devil. Turned out she was wrong, there. Not the devil; just a villain. Now she never went to see the Village, but I can't understand how anyone could watch a half hour of that and not realize where it was going. Despite all of the above, I like the atmosphere ans character stuff he puts into his films. But storywise I just shake my head. Signs had wonderful moments but if any of you had written that, you'd've been told to find another line of work. Guess the point of this is that even lame and familiar stories can sometimes strike a chord if they are shot nicely, acted well and have some relatable human moments in between. Sixth Sense did that best. And I suppose that's why we've all gone to the other movies hoping for more of the same.
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I LIKE Peter Jackson. I LIKE Bryan Singer. I LIKE M. Night. But King Kong was too long, had character arcs that went no-where, HORRIBLY mis-cast Carl Denham, and was a general let-down. Superman Returns was too long, bored me to tears, and was completely devoid of JOY or FUN. I'm just proposing that perhaps the days when these directors had someone over their shoulder as a check on their "genius" might not be such a bad thing. If this review of Lady in the Water is correct, the the suits at Disney who told M. Night that his script wasn't working for them did exactly what they should have in order to protect the company from throwing money down a well.
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Didn't the story go that even after they told M. Night all the problems they had with the script, they STILL offered him carte blanche to go make it? Maybe they just dodged a bullet.
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Jul 13, 2006 1:33:37 PM CDT
Actually, after reading synposis this sounds better...
by lettersoftransit
...or at least a lot more original... than the most recent Night movies. Although the Village was a nice idea. I just thought that since the reveal was no big deal I would have prefered more exploration of why the characters did what they did and what happened to their own people who grew up with this bogus story and then found out the truth. But the movie spend so much time setting you up for the reveal that it was over just as I wanted to see more. Would have made a decent mini-seies with the film story being the first one or few episodes. But, hey, as I hear this laid out I am more inclined to see it because, at least I'm not saying fuck I've heard or read this a billion times before.
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in quiet corners of the biz he's often referred to as m. night shama-lama-DING-DONG!!
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is spinning in his grave.
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Jul 13, 2006 1:47:42 PM CDT
Night and Disney exec meeting was a perfect storm...
by lettersoftransit
...of two walking cliches in the industry. One is the talent that has no idea what it's like to get constructive notes,because he refuses to listen to anyone. And the other is the exec who has no idea how to give constructive notes, because they do nothing but kiss and fawn over the powerful and mercilessly abuse and unsult the powerless. So, when it comes to a situation that falls somewhere inbetween those two ridiculous extremes, they are without a clue
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If you want a "villian" on this site hire this guy! This is one of the best/funniest reviews I've read in a while. And the funniest headline I've seen on AICN in a while. "Diahrrhea of storytelling" LMAO!
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..and just shut his big tandoori hole. I couldn't get thru The Village, so I expect this to be more of the same. Probably go see it anyway, with a nice carry pack of early times. why not, right?!!
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:-P Yeah, I can see your point about the actors especially. Perhaps his movies should only be shown on longhaul flights where the jetlag helps block the plotholes?
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Signs was the pinnacle of it. And its an awful, pop culture, Buddist nonsensical spiritalism too. If I want to be told that I have to "believe," I'll watch an x-files episode.
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Is everybody blind? this guy is one of the best directors alive. Mtv melted your eyes and your brains
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damn that movie sucked. I mean why would the aliens invade a planet comprised of 71% water on it's surface? Don't get me started on the Village. Only thing positive in that is Bryce's performance.
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Sounds like yet another sleepy romp through M. Night's self-indulgent mind. Short of Tarrantino, no other director is as annoyingly full of themselves as Shama-lama-ding-dong.
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THE SIXTH SENSE- Good movie with a good twist. Why doesn't anybody ever mention Jacob's Ladder when talking about the ending? Both lead characters were dead and needed to realize it on their own.
UNBREAKABLE- An amazing concept that was "gloomed". This could have been something really special. Watchmen special. But it was still very good.
SIGNS- The wheels come off. I dig the whole thing about omens. But god this was boring. So they need an omen to tell him to hit the alien with a bsaeball bat?
THE VILLAGE- Absolute shit!
LADY IN THE WATER- Does anyone think this will be any good? -
reserved cats sucks.
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Give the guy a break. I agree he's full of himself. That bit in the Village where they open the frig and you see his reflection made me shake my head in disgust. But he has made some interesting movies. The Village was love it or hate it, give or take, but the other three he made were all tremendous, especially Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. Let's not forget the the Sixth Sense was nominated for an Oscar for best picture. He is a great filmaker, he's just stumbled as of late.
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The plot of this film TOTALLY sounds like a jackass film school thesis. Agreed, wow what a turd. However, I have to say that, aside from UNBREAKABLE, I have thorougly enjoyed Night's other three films (yeah I know he has that one pre-Sixth Sense, but I'm counting from Sixth Sense on). Its not the subject of the films, but the methods he employs to tell the story that I find so interesting. Yeah, SIGNS was Planetary Invasion 101, but I think it was the best version of that story since CC3K. Yeah THE VILLAGE was an overblown episode of the '80s run of THE TWILIGHT ZONE, but the visual storytelling somehow captivated me. So that is why, even though the story sounds like shit, I will still check this one out.
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Schlobadingdong hit it rich, and should take the money and buy a palace in India, AND QUIT MAKING CRAPPY MOVIES !!!!
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He should move to India and make Bollywood movies, HEY! that's right up his alley!
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Sounds like Shamamlamadingdong should hired Sam Jackson and threw some snakes into this, to make it atleast watchable.
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I guess im in the minority here too. M. Night is talented people. No matter how much you do hate him, that HAS to be admitted. His ego is big, thats evident by EVERYTHING he does and says. Im gonna see this, and yes, probably on openning night. It will have flaw and will not be as good Unbreakable, but itll be fun to see something original. Can you really blast originality?...isnt that the POINT or originality...its different and some may not like it?
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You BET !!! He's VERY talented at making millions out of CRAP !!!!
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...as per usual. "The Sixth Sense" was the most overrated movie of the last 20 years. Not all that bad, really, and displaying real talent. But it's outsized success put the kibosh on the kid's embryonic storytelling chops. After "Unbreakable," a respectable failure, the guy's output has been a train wreck. "Signs" and "The Village" were inexcusable (though of the two, "Village" was the most inexcusable, which I would not have thought possible as I walked out of "Signs." The kid needs some serious writing workshops and probably a regular job for a while. Since either is eminently unlikely, we can count on one fatuous, pretentious bore after another, until his career finally, mercifully peters out. Too much success too early is lethal for any artist. Lucas, anothere case in point, has enough money to fund his delusions through the next century. No so Mr. S. His one man mutual admiration society would most decorously be convened in private from here on out.
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M Night is great. Never made a bad film. His acting and pacing are spot on. I can see why the MTV generation doesnt like them-Not enough exposions and fast jagged editing. Sorry Kids, but he doesnt give a rip about the lastes video game adaption to the big screen. He tells stories-STORIES-with film. Now bugger off.
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Every time he takes a fat check to the bank he tells the cute girl behind the counter a BIG story about how he's the greatest director since Welles.
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I guess I'm in the minority about really like M. Night's films. As a avid watcher of movies, I find that he has immense talents and I'm quite blown away by the unappreciation of a movie like Signs. It seems that a lot of nerds on this site agree on a semi-likeness of Unbreakable, but I can only guess that it's partially a superhero movie. But, no one (save for a few on here...) can appreciate his masterful direction of suspensful scenes. The guy is unbelievabley talented a creating a scene that can raise the hairs on your neck. As far as his stories go, I can understand the divide because he purposefully puts a smaller, introspective story about family or whatever, INSIDE of a bigger commercial story such as twist endings, alien invasions, comic book lore, etc. That can mess with people's minds because of how unconvential it is. But, for me, I find it truly original. I do hope that with Lady in the Water that he can get out of this tedious rut of throwing in a twist ending at every end of his movies. He can make a meaningful movie, he just doesn't need to HIDE it anymore.
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Its in pre-production right now. I read the script and it scared the shit right out of me! Must be a marketing ploy from the ghost of William Castle.
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After watching The Sixth Sense, I thought that we were witnessing the next great talent right before our eyes. Maybe the twist didn't work for some people, but we have to remember that this was his first crack at mainstream film. I thought that he would get better, change his bag of tricks up, and become the Hitchcock of our generation. Unbreakable was good, but not the best follow-up to a movie that made 200 million dollars and was nominated for Best Picture. Very slow and prodding. And there's that twist ending again. Signs was just bad on so many levels. The pacing of the film was all wrong and the physical look of the aliens was even worse. The one shining moment was the alien mysteriously running through the birthday party. I jumped and my heart started pounding. It was an incredible moment, but the rest of the movie never even came close to matching that feeling of fear and tension. The Village was garbage and I only saw the film for free when I borrowed a friend's DVD. After watching the American Express commercial, reading the EW article, and now this review, I have come to realize that Shymalan's ego will ruin his career. If he was willing to take criticism and understand that not everything he does is brilliant, then I think he could be something special. No one can convince me that Lady in the Water will be anything more then just another Shymalan movie that sucks. Shymalan always has to make some creepy movie with a "twist" ending. All I want is a good story, with or without a twist ending. Just make it a good one
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twist THIS !!!!
hhaahahahahahahahahah -
They can explain away the moments of stupidity in Night's films somehow. Bloated ego is right. Sixth Sense was alright, Unbreakable was good, Signs would have been torn to shreds in any writing workshop, and I never bothered with the Village. People need to stop comparing this guy to Hitchcock or Spielberg when he was in his prime, he's more like Ron Howard at his most average moments.
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that a LOT of people don't like his writing (apart from The Village I've I think he's good, and 6th Sense and Unbreakable are both great films, while I thought Signs was hole-filled but still scarier than most studio tripe). His dialogue can get hokey (Village, again), but I want to see someone here deny that the guy knows how to create an atmosphere. Give him a good screenplay written by someone else, or have someone revise a script of his own making, and I have no doubt that the result could be spectacular. His use of color and light, reflections, and sustained shots all put him in a class of his own among modern suspense directors. It just seems that nowadays he might need a good writerto get him started.
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M Night Shyamalan: fire your screenwriter. That guy sucks. And your publicist while you're at it. There, career saved.
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Directors should not try to become actors because almost always they fuck it up. I can definetly see M.Night sicking this one in the toilet.
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...outside the US as an allegory for American isolationism and phobic attitudes towards foreigners.
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Since some of your were talking about a turd in the pool/ lake. I like M's stuff for the most part. I think that he directs some really memorable scenes. Most of you seem to agree. If the dialogue sucks, so what. I didn't fall in love with Star Wars as a kid because of the Dialogue. Psycho is an all time fav., but for the most part, not the best dialogue. I usually don't worry about holes in a movie until after. I can accept flaws in logic. I like a movie if it is an enjoyable experience for me. So far all of his movies have been enjoyable. Of course, my opinion. Call me any name that you want. I do agree that if he doesn't evolve as a director he will be left behind. Steven S. is not the same director today that made Jaws. We wouldn't have gotten Munich if he hadn't changed. Now how's ready for a swim with a turd?
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I agree, sir. I still haven't heard anyone debunk how well he can craft a suspenseful scene. That, in itself, is enough to give the guy SOME merit. Alas, we have arguments in regards to Night's films about how the aliens could be stupid enough to invade earth without having properly studied it before doing so. Let's just all admit it...the guy is talented; just have him direct someone else's script. Furthermore, look at any horror remake, thriller, redux, whatever, that Hollywood has released recently and see if it has any ounce of atmosphere compared to that of even one scene of a Night movie. We all know he's not a great filmmaker.....yet. But, he sure as shit isn't a bad one.
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Anyway, you get my drift. Get it? Drift? Ahhh. I need to go home. ;0
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"the cinematography in his movies is on par with some of the greatest directors of all time." Ummmm... what the fuck are you talking about?
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Jul 13, 2006 5:30:33 PM CDT
"this site NEEDS a villain"? dude, this isnt the a-team
by bearison ford
single-handedly one of the most retarded things i've ever read on here.
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Signs being the one with problems but I still enjoyed. The water thing was just plain STUPID. Still people who complain about the Village depress me. Everyone who hates not on here either but people I know don't like it because it had no monster... Um wtf I like how Americans hate movies that actually have a plot. It amazes me that people would enjoy the Village if it simply was a huge monster in the woods that ate people. Whatever that movie still made money and wasn't a BO failure so it doesn't matter. Lady in the water has had some of the most horrible trailers I've ever seen but I'll give it a chance because it seems like the only original movie to come out this summer. Besides Snakes on a Plane of course haha.
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He's no Hitchcock either. Stop eliciting comparisons. He more belongs with the likes of John Carpenter, maybe Wes Craven.
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Yeah, I'm getting a really sore vibe on this one. I'm reminded of my review of the The Village -- Please, good sirs, pretend this film is a pack of coughing, zombie swamp lepers and run the other way.
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Another probably box office disaster for the studio that's either tanked or come up wanting on V FOR VENDETTA (disaster), POSEIDON (megabomb), and SUPERMAN (relative disappointment.) The last minute-switch from billing this as a "fairy tale/bedtime story" to the creepy-voiced splatter movie spots we're now getting shows that they're nervous as hell. Buzz is ZERO on this, and Giamatti sure can't open a film like Gibson and Willis could.
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Um no, that movie was alright and did alright in the BO and will make ass loads on dvd so far from disaster. Poseidon is a disaster. How stupid to make a disaster tidal wave movie after hurricanes fucked up New Orleans and a real tidal wave killed thousands of couple years back. Yeah um I am sure people will flock to be reminded of those tragedies. Superman Returns on the other hand will be fine people are flipping shit about this movie, you do realize that even if it does die at 170 million(which it will) toys and dvd will help it out. WB has already stated they place to make another at 150 million or less. The problem for Lady in the Water is it comes out against three other movies: Monster House which will grab a lot of people. Clerks 2 which will grab nerds. That my ex is a super hero movie which stupid people will see. So Lady in the Water has some serious competition.
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I love what Night does. I love that talkback lists are a mile long when it comes to Night. It's a perfect example of the Night effect. The fact of the matter is, Night is a gifted, intelligent storyteller, who actually gives his audience, you, a lot of credit. He doesn't fast cut and go all Michael Bay. He uses good old fashioned editing to create suspense in his films like no one has done in ages- since Spielberg. You're revolting against night because deep down, you don't want to be challenged, you don't want to think at the cinema. Come on, you know it to be true. You won't admit it, but when Transformers comes out, you'll see it EVEN THOUGH Micael Bay directed it, that's how much you really give a crap about intelligent storytellers. And LITW will make $100mil easy. But I know- you want Night to fail. You want him to pack his bags. But you'll see his movie anyway because...he's awesome at creating curiosity about his films. He's the best.
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Jul 13, 2006 7:46:24 PM CDT
Doesnt sound anymore random than Kill Bill or Pirates 2
by watashiwadare
So what causes one pointless quirky and 'personal' exercise in random motion to be more or less than all the others? The movies are almost all the same.
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Unnnnggghhhhh! Ahhhhhh! I pity the fool that messes with AICN! I'll warm up the van BEARison, you get Face and that crazy fool Murdock!
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I like the Sixth Sense least of Night's movies so far. Unbreakable, Signs and The Village may not be masterpieces, but to me they are original and interesting. I liked Sixth Sense when I first saw it, but once the twist is revealed, the movie is pretty much pointless to re-watch. Pretentious or not, I'm glad that there are filmmakers out there like M Night who, for better or worse, are making films that are waaay different than the endless stream of cookie-cutter drivel coming out of hollywood. Most people hate Signs, but then most people also never realized when watching it that it wasn't a movie about aliens, it was a movie about God and faith that had aliens in it. With all that movie had to say, people nitpick it because they aliens couldn't get through the pantry door or weren't keen on water. I'm not sure if you folks noticed, but just about every alien invasion movie ever made has a Deus Ex Machina salvation ending that doesn't make sense. Aliens with ultra advanced technology are susceptable to a virus Jeff Goldblum wrote overnight? Aliens versed in interstellar travel don't realize that their immune systems will get assraped by the bazillion virii that will inevitably be on a planet with life?
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M. Knight seems to be really slipping with each successive film. I still think he's a talented director but he should just learn to HIRE SCREENWRITERS AND STORYTELLERS! He's not a good screenwriter, his talent is directing. Sure The 6th Sense was very good and Unbreakable was cool, but each movie's script gets progressively inane. He should realize like Spielberg did that his strength lies in directing. Steven Spielberg had one script in him, "Close Encounters" and that was a great fucking script. Perhaps M. Knight is like Spielberg in that way, "The 6th Sense" was his "Close Encounters" - unfortunately, he kept on writing scripts after that.
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. . . turning . . . turning . . . turning . . .
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Script for "Close Encounters" was written by Paul Shrader and then drastically rewritten by Spiely, leading Shrader to remove his name from the credits. His script for "AI" is more or less a transcription of all Kubrick's idea for the movie (yes, even the "sappy" ending was conceived by Kubrick).
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It's the only reason I plan on seeing it. Why would these two actors agree to play in a turd of a movie? I personally think all his movies are a lot better on paper but are executed poorly on film. And the fact that we don't want to see his fucking face in all his movies. Before to long he'll write a film where he's on a spaceship with 5 others, then they all die in the first 5 minutes and the other 115 mintues is him by himself loving himself. Get the FUCK off the screen! Since you're so into yourself make a porno so you can be on screen sucking yourself off.
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The Godfather: how many times was that fat bastard shot? Like, 10? How the hell could he survive that, being all fat and old and shit? Superman: how can ANY alien physiology support the idea that ANY color sunlight endows the recipient with the power of flight? OR, that Kryptonian & human DNA are in any way compatible? Frankenstein: electricity can endow reanimation in dead tissue? Since when exactly? Romero's zombie flicks: Radiation can reanimate the recently deceased (not quite as well as electricity, but you get the drift}? Empire Strikes Back: the trachea of a space slug can support life AND produces oxygen? Not to mention totally cancels out the effects of the vacuum of space? X-men: so mutation means I can shoot lasers from my eyes, or grow wings, or can move object with my mind; not that I have a malformed cranium or a third eye? You get my drift. So....aliens (creatures from a different ecosystem entirely) can in NO WAY have such a strong reaction to H2O or microscopic organisms contained therein? Ah, the joys of selective suspension of disbelief. Hell, according to some people around here, there hasn't been an enjoyable film made in the last 20 years.
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You suck Night...go back to whatever hole you crawled out of. Even Superman himself is not so delusional to think that he is a god among ants. YOU MAKE ME SICK NIGHT!!! I HOPE YOU ROT. I doubt any @#$ING president could ever say that one book made them decide to run for president or had any significant purpose to them becomming president... maybe another writer... maybe a director watching a your shitty films will learn what not to do, and not how to fuck himself over with a studio that basically baby fed him.
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If you really really have to watch another one of Night's flops dont see it in theatre... wait till it comes out to video, or you know there's always Bittorrent, and other certain things you can do to watch the movie quicker without paying a hack money for his crap attempt at making himself feel like he's better than everyone else.
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stop directing his own shit. I think after this Lady sinks at the box office, M. needs to take on an actioner. Let someone ELSE do the writing...Imagine what he could do with a Pirates of the Carribean...or a Casino Royale. All M. has succeeded in doing is pigeon-holing himself into a corner. With each new movie, his patented twist endings have to be bigger and better than the one before...but all they have been is more ridiculous and implausible. Stop it! Break the cycle! You've been given 4 chances to repeat the success of Sixth Sense...all to limited or no success. I think if he plans to prove that Sixth wasn't a fluke, he has GOT to try a new approach. Ditch the twist endings PRONTO. Direct a Raiders...direct a Die Hard...heck...direct Alien vs Predator 2...Just don't think you can spend the studio's millions on your pointless vanity drivel. The next time your kid tells you to direct their favorite bed time story...throw them in the pool...Don't worry...Robert Rodriguez's kid's waiting for them at the bottom after Shark Boy and Lava Girl. Your tired formula is broken...if you actually GET another chance to direct...FIX IT! Direct something people WANT to see...If you mess that up...perhaps a career change should be considered. Just stop trying to be clever and DIRECT. Oh, and please...don't feel it necessary to cast yourself in the film....an actor, you are not.
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...about some of us M.Night haters. First of all: I absolutely agree he's got some chops behind the camera. He's very skilled at building suspenseful set pieces, and his photography always looks good. Second: I agree that 'Signs' is a movie that is chiefly about Faith and Belief, not aliens. But that doesn'e excuse the weak, swiss-cheese story. And he handles his own theme incompetently. It's EASY to have faith when the screenwriter turns every apparent Red Herring into a Magical Weapon against the enemy, with no rhyme or reason. Why should the baseball bat be significant? 'Have Faith', the bad screenwriter tells us. Why does water recur as a motif? 'Have faith', says the lazy, lazy storyteller. And when all these things prove to save the day in the end? The curious viewer asks, 'Hey, it all worked out in the end. But how and why did it happen that way? Nothing in your screenplay makes any sense, dear lord.' To which the lazy, lazy, lazy storyteller replies... 'Hey, the movie is about faith. Which means all prayers are answered, no questions asked. That is what faith is about, right?' to which the viewer says, 'um... no. Actually faith is about courage of your convictions, no matter what the outcome. And just because you have faith, doesn't mean you checked your brain at the door'. To which the lazy storyteller replies: 'Shut the fuck up and eat your popcorn. Don't you know how to have fun while making my lazy ass millions of dollars?' P.S.... Even 'Sixth Sense' isn't that great. If you didn't see the twist about five minutes into the movie, then our Public Education system really is in deep fucking trouble.
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will kick you whiny, liley white asses. Were watching a movie, and no, there is no big explosion. Your John Woo He-Man movie was nixed-I understand your frustration. Now get to your rooms and maybeye you can get that new Star Wars toy at Wall-Mart. WARNING: MATURE audiences only!!!!
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I did, truly I did. But the fact is M. Night is one of the most untalented hacks working in modern cinema. Sure, he's technically proficient... he's savvy enough to hire a good cinematographer/editor/composer. And sure, "The Sixth Sense" and "Unbreakable" were alright (though I still believe "The Sixth Sense" lacks any form of replay value), but "Signs" and "The Village" are both complete abortions of cinema. The underlying problem is that M. Night is one of these pretentious Spielberg wannabes who thinks just because they wear a "Raiders of the Lost Ark" hat they know the "formula" to making successful films. DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND? SPIELBERG DOESN'T HAVE A FORMULA. That's why he's so fucking great. Anyone who need a formula or stock "twist" to make their films successful has no business being in the film industry. M. Night is an insult to the likes of Spielberg. Spielberg has respect for his audience, he doesn't treat us like a bunch of fucking neanderthals and try to cram a dumb-ass lukewarm premise down our throats. As long as M. Night continues to act in this fashion he will never make a truly "great" film. Warner Brothers should wake up and realize this fact before his next piece of flaccid "filmmaking" goes down in the water with the goddamn lady.
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This self-aggrandizing cretin believes he's god's gift to cinema. This hubris is evidenced in every aspect of his films and life. The 6th sense wasn't really that good. It's a one trick pony, at best, and at worst is a barely cohesive series of scenes each trying desperately to be creepier than the last. Unbreakable is almost passable as a film; but I believe it's success is probably due to Eduardo Serra's brilliance as a cinematographer, Bruce and Sam's chemistry and the absence of a craptastic "twist" at the end. (Sam being the villain wasn't a twist, if you didn't see that coming you're a bigger cretin than M. Night.) Signs is the film that earned M. Night my eternal hatred. That film so insults to intelligence of the audience, anyone who sits through the whole thing is a bigger cretin than the cretins that didn't predict Sam Jackson was the villain in Unbreakable. After seeing that film and the masturbatory "unauthorized" behind the scenes look at The Village (Wherin Night basically asserts that all of his films are autobiographical), I swore never to watch an M. Night film again. Including re-viewings of the old ones. I never saw The Village but I'm fairly certain it was also an aborted fetus of a plot. When audiences know you're going to have a twist ending, and can easily guess that ending from the trailers; you've failed as a self-styled master of suspense. Since everything Night touches turns to solid refuse, it's no wonder that Lady in the Water sucks the biggest Sound stage in Hollywood. I'm just glad people are waking up to how much fucking time and attention everyone's waisted on this failure of a filmmaker. If we never hear from him again, the world will undoubtedly be a better place. I'm going to the corner to weep for the time I've wasted even thinking about that useless swag.
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The twist? Triple anal.
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Night and all the household-name directors out there hold their audiences in contempt. They watch their film(s) hundreds of times before releasing them in cinemas, and after all those viewings you had better believe the holes and flaws are obvious, yet Night has always plowed right on ahead. I don't go to a movie for the sets, costumes, or the fucking cinematography. Praising Night for the cinematography is like saying the Hindenburg had a sweet paintjob! Night strikes me as the spoiled little kid who thinks every idea they have is pure genius, and when someone thrusts some reality into this private fantasy world (as in saying, "hey, aliens travel to a world that's 3/4 water and don't know they dissolve on contact?!") they are ignored because Night is the genius. He's a visual storyteller, but his stories are total fuckin' bullshit. HIs movies are for stupid people, and this new one looks to be the worst one yet. Paul Giammati can suck it, too.
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If I ever meet M. Night in real life, I will shove Sydfield's "Screenplay" so far up his ass it lodges in his brain and hopefully improves his storytelling.
I'm holding him personally accountable for the aneurism I'm about to get from seeing his AmEx commercial. Apparently his "life" is ideas he ripped off from the Twighlight zone and young people telling him how awesome he is. Here's the twist Zorrero: it's all in your mind. -
So what if Signs is "about faith". The preacher who has lost his faith is a cliche, and so is the story arc where he gets it back through adversity. And a grand overarching theme doesn't excuse a complete lack of attention to all the small but significant details.
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The problem with M. Night's films hasnt been the execution, its been the expectation. Because he's made his fortune based on twist endings, they never seem to measure up. Why? because you are expecting this amazing twist and half the time at least half the people consider the twist to be a groaner. Personally, I am a pretty fussy movie fan but I like the M. Night movies a lot. 6th sense is a masterpiece. the rest are just very fresh, original and very good. in order - unbreakable is great. you might dislike this or that but its great. the village - I am sorry to say - is great. there is not a thing wrong with that picture. signs is great. the problem is that he was being too clever by half. He was trying to use a lot of 1950s sci fi imagery with some purposeful crudeness. it didnt go over - so fine, if that bugs everyone so very much, hate that one. I thought it was really fun, interesting and a fresh story. ----- M. Night is like a good book author who is making movies. book audiences seem to give much more latitude to differences in approach then film audiences. In M. Night's case you would do well to stop waiting for it to be a "horror" movie, or a "twist" movie. Ignore the box that the marketing department turds try to stick him in. Just go watch his films and enjoy the atmosphere and originality that he brings to each picture. Thats all.
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I think we should really put together a "task force" to deal with Shamylan. Our "task force" will be equipped in all black garb, preferably form fitting leather, but will settle for an old pair of sweatpants and sweatshirt. Since we'll all be under the grid, we will need to conceal our identies with pantyhose masks. We will also stick to a strict diet and training regime of non-fat Oreos and daily bowel movements. When our intensive two day training camp is complete we will all pull our resources and purchase voyage on bus (preferably Greyhound) to Pennsylvania, home base of our target objective, code name: Lama Ding Dong. At approx 24:00 hours we will storm Ding Dong's fortress of "Dreams & Ideas", chlorform his wife and children, and hold them hostage until Lama Ding is secured. After target is secured... and chloroformed, he will awaken to his two legs being hacked off and soderized at the knees, and a few fresh glasses of water to defend himself, and his family with. Sufficed to say, as long as no one in our group of 5 covert operatives is an alien, this will all play out like a futile joke. Lama Ding Dong will watch in horror as we burn any unproduced screenplays of his, AND his family. After our mission is completed, time permitting, we will have a victory dinner at the closest Denny's restuarant, and a hearty laugh. We will then realize we are all ghosts, and have been on prozac the whole time, until we are finally brought down by an off duty security guard in a poncho, who coiencidently enough... shares our same monotone, whisper-like, prozac enduced, speech pattern. We will then sell our story to Disney, where we will have a successful 4 picture run of recycling that same idea, before we inplode in our own delusional hackery, cry, and then trick Warner Bros. into making our 5th film... maybe something along the lines of... umm... Sea Narfs? Yeaaaah, sea narfs.... that's the fucking ticket (I just came up with that while I was using my American Express card. Whenever I do I just seem to get ideas! Hell, whenever in general I just seem to get ideas!!!
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Everytime Harry and company review his movies it is so full of roasting him. They only wish they could make teh movies he does. Lady In The Water is a well made movie. Go see it for yourself before hating.
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Wide Awake didn't have a twist.
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...I mean, really, because the last 5 minutes is the only time in his movies it gets exciting. Whereas other movies try to keep you interested through out, we seem to let M.Night get away w/ the biggest mortal sin in entertainment...Boring us...just so that he can cash in, and let everything have meaning, at the END of the movie. Life is not just destination, it's also a journey. D'uh M.Night, D'uh.
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Kudos to you, sir! Bravo! Finally, SOMEONE with a brain amongst the talkbackers! Thank you for restoring at least a little of my faith in humanity! Well played!
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was when he turned down directing a movie adaption of "LIFE OF PI" by Yann Martel... a spectular novel full of life and imagination that has won the man booker prize,... makes you think deeply about life, religion, nature, survival, spirituality, rebirth... the film has the potential to become a best picture Academy award winner. How I know this is you ask?... I've successfully predicted adapted books in the past that I knew (read before they were even considered to be put onto film) had an excellent chance at becomming a best picture nomination before they even reached the screen. (Lord of the Rings, Green Mile, The Cider House Rules, The Thin Red Line, Vengeance (munich), etc Mark my words if confederacy of Dunces ever makes it to screen it'll be a best picture nomination. I'm willing to bet money) The same can be said for Life of Pi... this could have been Night's movie to show all the haters he had what it took to make a great film... but instead his pretentiousness took him on a very different path, one that is just going to be pitfall after pitfall from here on in. He's contributing to the screenplay for life of pi, and producer... but im afraid he missed his chance to be looked at as truly great director and not a hack.
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I quote Cory849: "The problem with M. Night's films hasnt been the execution, its been the expectation. Because he's made his fortune based on twist endings..." The Sixth Sense made you, the audience, expect a new great twist ending in Night's films. Dudes: Night hasn't given into that crap at all. You're the ones with the expectations. It's your expectation that Night is going to try and top himself with a twist. He's not giving in: that's what's got your panties in a bunch. Just let go and enjoy a fucking trip to the movies.
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do you really think M.Night deserves a good story to put to film. He's only gonna put his face all over the screen and ruin it. Give the good stories to a director not all wrapped up into themselves.
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that it is a descent film. I don't give a fuck about a TWIST ending or have any expectations other then again, it's a good fucking movie. His movies have a lot of bells and whistles. Good production and scores. Some smart shit, but some extremely stupid shit mixed in. His movies are not executed right. Give the village to a kick ass director. Like I said, his stories are better on paper. That's how top name actors sign on. If they saw the finished product they wouldn't sign the fucking contract.
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I was a little drunk & a lot of billegerent when I wrote that, but it comes from a good place. I've liked all of Mr S's movies for different reasons, but I have noticed a very common thread: an individual's or group's search for peace and place. In the 6th Sense, the 2 main characters help each other (and those they love most) find closure to tragedy or horrific events. Unbreakable was all about the hero & villain finally finding purpose in lives that had been adrift. Signs was about the peace found through the restoration of faith (and damn, but that is one of my all-time favorite families put on film). The Village was about a group of people who were willing to turn their backs on all they really knew in an effort to create a completely peaceful society, and won't give up even when it seems impossible. Am I reading too much into these stories? Are others not reading enough because of the trappings? Like him or not, MNS really inspires conversation, debate, or gigantoid talkback wars; call it what you will. A lot of interesting conversation is borne of disagreement. Here endeth the long-winded (bloated and self-important?) post.
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This is a grown ups director, making movies about grownups in fanstatic situations. Now go back to bed.
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Who the fuck do you think you're talking to? I'm a guy who's DVD list contains everything from Raimi's Spider-Man 2, to Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage, to Araki's Mysterious Skin, to Welles' Touch of Evil, to Mann's Manhunter, to Malick's The New World, to Holland's Better Off Dead, to Scorcese's Last Temptation of Christ. You'r not the fucking adult here. You're a child with serious self-esteem problems. And here's the news, straight from the adult's table: Night is a fucking hack. The guy piles some great photography and a few good set pieces onto scripts and ideas that are painfully simplistic, self-important, and trite. Feel free to disagree, but please, stop pretending as if all the people who hate his films demand 'MTV editing' in order to keep awake during a movie. I know you'd like to think of yourself as terribly mature and cursed with a profound insight into the human condition that fuels your genius and will always guarantee that you are misunderstood and underappreciated. Hell, reading that last sentence, I'm beginning to think maybe you ARE M.Night. You enjoy his movies? Fine. You think 'Signs' is a complex, powerful fable about faith's ability to heal? As I stifle my derisive laughter, I congratulate you. Glad you got your money's worth. Buy the fucking DVD, I won't stop you. But don't you dare pretend to condescend to people who have very informed reasons for disagreeing with you. Fair? Fair. Now fuck off.
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Jul 15, 2006 3:17:51 AM CDT
Fool me once, shame on you...fool me twice,shame on Wu!
by fatal discharge
Simpsons episode tonight...but applies to Shyamalan's films. Hated his last 2 films, and his director tricks which started pissing me off in Unbreakable grew laughable in Signs and The Village.... like people whispering all the time to create suspense. As soon as I saw tv spots for this one ending with a little girl whispering, I just had to laugh. Sure he has talent but Hitchcock he's not. Alfred had cameos in his films - CAMEOS...not full-blown acting roles to serve one's ego. Roman Polanski had big roles but at least he has acting talent. Hitchcock also had collaborators like Bernard Herrman writing the excellent music and a good editor who wouldn't linger unnecessarily on a shot...like Bruce Willis lifting those ever-increasing weights ad-nauseum...OK! We get it! He has superhuman strength! Move on. He also needs a writing editor or adapt someone else's work instead. Signs had laughable plot holes and The Village was just an oh so silly Twilight Zone 30-minute episode stretched to feature length.
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Night doesn't even make movies for grownups. If he does then I guess he thinks grownups will accept anything he throws at the screen. How respectful is that for "grownups." He is not that bad of a director. He is just getting sloppy as a storyteller and you can see it from movie to movie. There is a decline in quality. He needs to use someone elses material. He needs to quit adding himself to the film. His roles are gettting bigger and bigger. If this continues he will eventually have a the lead role and it will consist of him just staring at the camera for 90 minutes. He should try variety in his directing talents. Do a western, romance, comedy, or classic period piece. Come on. Prove everyone wrong whoever complains about him. How about using someone elses script? What is so bad about that? Is his ego really that bad where he thinks others are beneath him to use their product onscreen? The guy has major talent. Time for him to start using a different way. Consistentcy is fine. Variety is the spice of life.
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why are they still letting MNS make whatever films he wants instead of giving him sequels and crap? he did one good film - ONE - and that was seven years ago... they all have good ideas at the core but then he takes them and makes them embarrasingly silly...
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He might not have liked the movie, but the majority of his feedback was more a "look at how many different ways I can say the same thing!" versus actually providing a cogent critique. C'mon Merrick.
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