M. Night Shymalan

[Cadsuane]

So, in a line of "Caddy's attempt to keep things moving while Emp and Yv are away" posts, I put forth a request for opinions on all things M. Night Shymalan.

 

He is the director of great movies such as The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, as well as debated quality movies such as Signs, The Village, and Lady in the Water. He is working on a new movie called The Happening, which is "a paranoid thriller about a family on the run from a natural crisis that presents a large-scale threat to humanity" (imdb). Mark Wahlberg will star, with John Leguizamo joining as his best friend (AICN). Also according to AICN, the threat is something about trees and/or plants fighting back against humanity by producing a gas/toxin that causes humans to kill themselves.

 

The plot sounds ridiculous to me, but I think that others of his movies (which I like, generally) have equally ridiculous-sounding plots, and still turned out well. I will probably catch this at least on DVD, because I think his movies, while strange, are more creative and new than most of what is put out these days.

 

[Segurant]

Good god his movies are sinking into the Abyss faster than the Dark One.

 

Sixth Sense was good.  Unbreakable was okay.  I thought Signs was better than Unbreakable, but then whoosh downhill from there.  I saw Lady in the Water, it sucked.  If you haven't seen it, DON'T!  Allow me to spare you the time..

 

That said I'll watch his next movie to see how far his stock has dropped.

[Tenshin_Xo]

I actually like Unbreakable more than Signs, but thought both were pretty decent, not great or even classics, but re-watchable on occasion.  The village was a bit blase, IMO, and my wife and I had it pegged in a general way 1/3 of the way into it.  I won't see anymore of his movies until I get good reviews from vetted critics.

[DPR]

 

There's an interesting story behind Lady in the Water. He was so confident in it that he broke ties with Disney over it (they told him the script sucked) and considered financing as much of it himself as possible, ala Mel Gibson and Passion of the Christ. He didn't wind up doing that, but the entire story is told in the book "The Man Who Heard Voices", which is an interesting read. Having said that, I love most of his stuff and even thought The Village was due more credit than it got. The early buzz on his latest script has people comparring it to Sixth Sense and Unbreakable in quality, so hopefully it will be great.

[Cadsuane]

Aaaas yoouuuuu wiiiiiish!! *rolls down hill*  ;D (Sorry, couldn't resist)

 

I haven't seen Lady or Unbreakable, but I really liked Sixth Sense and Signs, and found The Village to be interesting, if not terribly exciting. I'm worried, especially after hearing what Captain Roberts said about Disney, that Night's ego has grown much faster than can be supported by truly good movies he's made.

[JenniferL]

I love Unbreakable. Its not one of his better known movies, but I think its possibly his best.

 

I read an excerpt or summery of "The Man Who Heard Voices" in EW before Lady in the Water came out. Even though it was written to portray M. as this sensitive, tortured artist fighting so hard for his vision, I thought he still came off looking like an asshat. He was completely unwilling to compromise on any aspect of the story or take any feedback.

[Segurant]

He needs to return to writing and directing the movies and not try to put himself in the movies. 

[SinisterDeath]

There was a show on him awhile ago. Basically all his movies, are based on parts of his own life.

In-part being, Ubreakable for instance, M Night Shymalan, nearly died from drowning at a young age. I think he was clinically dead for several minutes. (The minutes he was dead, was the same as some other character from one of his movies). Alot of the stuff he writes his movies about, happened one way or another in his life. The rest, is just fluff.

[Tenshin_Xo]

I thought that whole drowning thing was a hoax he and Sci-Fi channel used to hype their "documentary" and his movie the Village.

[Mendorah]

I loved The Sixth Sense.  At the time, it was a shocker of a movie.  I mean, nobody was holding out on a seceret like that in their movies.  At least not since The Usual Suspects which was Another Fantastic movie (although not directed by MKS).

 

I also Loved Signs.  But I realize that I loved it for some very personal reasons that the majority of people will not have.  First of all, I have a pretty big fear of aliens, so this movie scared the Bajeezus out of me.  I mean, comeon, when you grow up on a farm where your biggest fear was a spaceship coming out of the sky and snatching you while walking home from your grandmother's house, the whole beginning just took me right back to be 6 years old and terrified.  I literally jumped out of my chair when that foot was shown.  And I was that was also that crazy person who freaked out and was half covering my face when the alien walked by in the Brazilian news cast.  I know, I'm a dork.  Another reason this movie holds dear to me is because my grandparents had died not too long before this movie and the Mel Gibson arc was significant to my Mom.  She had a bit of an emotional breakthrough because of this movie.  Ok, and the last reason I loved it is because Joaquin Phoenix rocks my pants off!  Hehehehe.

 

I've yet to actually sit through Unbreakable so I can't really say anything, but I do remember the bits I saw were really friggin' slow and laborious,so I doubt I'll take the time to watch it any time soon.

 

The Village I have an evolving relationship with.  When I sawit in the theatres I Hated it!  I was actually rather pissed about it.  But eventually I realized that the only reason I was mad was because the big monster reveal was too early and it wasn't even scary.  Add to the fact that he eventually tells you that the monster isn't the seceret and I was pretty put off by that.  Later on, I thought about the ending and I decided that the Actual reveal was pretty cool.  Plus I couldn't stop thinking about his use of colors and moods and such throughout the story.  And Bryce Dallas Howard was really good in it.  And I Was a little shocked at the mentally ill character committing murder.  And again with the Joaquin Phoenix.  So I gave it another chance.  And you know, I liked it a lot better the second time around.  In fact, I'd put it just under Signs in my list of MKS movie order.

 

I saw Lady in the Water once and it was only from the middle on to the end.  I was really lost when I saw it because I didnt get the benefit of watching all the set up at the beginning.  I'd like to see the whole thing just so I can see the whole story, but I'm not expecting it to be a favorite.  I didn't know that he fought so hard for this story.  I just knew he read it to his daughter.  I respect him a lot for fighting for his vision.  When you believe in something, you should fight for it.

[Ozhammer]

I have to admit, i like Signs, though I didnt like the ending. The criticism I have is that his best works are when he relies on mood and inference rather than visuals. I felt more dread in signs when I only caught glimpses of the aliens. Likewise the ghosts in 6th sense, and the "others" in the village. I like his movies as he seems to rely on his artistic attributes rather than merely producing generic movies. Ok, they may not be wholly a work of art, but they are unique!

[Cadsuane]

So I got on my Netflix queue and ordered Unbreakable.  It arrived yesterday... Broken. Oh the irony. I just had to share.  :D

[Kivam]

I actually enjoyed LitW.  It wasn't a great movie, but it wasn't bad-bad.  It was ok.

[Emperor]

Caddy, when you actually watch Unbreakable let me know. 

 

Watch it once like a real movie, then watch it with commentary.

 

It happens to be my favorite Night movie and one of my favorite all time (top 50). 

[Cadsuane]

The replacement is supposed to arrive tomorrow. When I returned the broken one, next to the title on the white sleeve, I wrote "apparently not =)", and I hope whoever has to sort through them gets a laugh out of it.  ;D

[F Horn of Valere]

lol nice...

 

I didn't see Lady in the Water, but I liked all of his others. The only thing I disliked about village was that it wasn't a supernatural cause like in all the others. That it was a hoax seemed rather lame to me.

[Majsju]

Most of the mentioned movies that I've seen (all but LitW) more or less sucked imo. Village was the only one I found even close to decent.

 

So I'm not very excited about him throwing out a new piece.

[DPR]

 

Unbreakable - arriving broken. That's the best story I've heard all day! :)

[Emperor]

Sorry if you say Unbreakable sucked, it was because you did not appreciate the brilliance of the film.  Basically it is a superhero film, but only focuses on Act 1.  The symbolism through the movie is spot on so when you watch the film a second time, you see things you completely ignored the first time around. 

 

 

[Cadsuane]

I watched the movie this weekend, and I really liked it... until the twist right at the end. I thought this twist was unnecessary, and didn't add much to the story. It felt more like M. Night jumped out from behind a curtain and said "Gotcha!" and expected us to be amazed at his skill, when in fact he was just some guy jumping around with a funny look on his face. The movie should have ended at the breakfast table when Bruce showed his son the paper and held his finger to his lips.

 

That said, I enjoyed the rest of the movie very much. I like the tone, the story, the casting. I like Night's use of the common man, who then learns there is something special going on that he should, in fact, believe in. It's true in 6th Sense, Signs, and the Village (to a lesser extent), as well as Unbreakable. He doesn't always pull it off as well as it could be done, but to me the less-than-flashy way he does it is appealing.

[Emperor]

Phillyist has posted up some juicy spoiler details from early scenes in the next M. Night Shyamalan feature - "The Happening" currently in production in Philadelphia. Here's the scoop, and watch out as there's some big stuff revealed - including a death:

 

"Something is making people in Philadelphia go crazy and kill themselves, and they can't figure out what it is or why. In one scene, some people are driving through some farm land and they find out (on the radio, maybe?) that it's an airborne virus. Being out in the sticks, they think they're okay, until they drive by a farm and see a bunch of tree surgeons or farmers or something who've hanged themselves with garden hoses.

 

They try to seal up all the air vents, windows, etc. in the car, but it's too late. The car stops, idles for a minute, and then accelerates straight into a tree. The two people in the front seat go through the window and die immediately. John Leguizamo's character was in the back seat and survives... but stumbles out of the car, picks up a shard of glass from the broken window, and slits his wrists.

[Samuraiflip05]

I have enjoyed all of the MKS movies I have seen (I think all).  None of them are top favs, but all were enjoyable.  Except Lady in the Water.  The viewer was kept a little too clueless through too much of the movie for it to be truly enjoyable.  I actually liked the Village the best because it almost feels posiible. 

[Emperor]

And the new trailer is out....

 

http://www.iklipz.com/MovieDetail.aspx?MovieID=9a23b518-c25e-44af-8582-77dcaf45b8c6

[Samuraiflip05]

And apparently dead at the request of the copyright holder.  >:(

[Emperor]

To bad.  It looked great.  I will reupdate as soon as it is up on the net again.