01 June 2013
TIM AT TFE: RESTLESS NIGHT
In the midst of a fairly chaotic end-of-week, I totally forgot to mention my latest article for The Film Experience: a historical study of one M. Night Shyamalan, and his long descent from one of the many Next Spielbergs to that jackass what makes the twist endings.
7 comments:
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Still a big fan of The Sixth Sense. It might be my favorite movie from that fabled year of '99, if I'm being completely honest.
ReplyDeleteYou gotta love that the marketing did everything in it's power to avoid even alluding to M.Night's name; why do they keep giving him so much money?
You made some very good points. I loved Unbreakable more actually than the Sixth Sense, and I remember being really stroked about the Village until I realized I'd correctly called the twist ending just from the previews. Couldn't even be bothered with the Happening, Lady in the Water or Last Airbender.
ReplyDeleteThanks for warning me that After Earth is a Shyamalan project, I thought it looked like a rather harmless popcorn movie.
ReplyDeleteI love "The Last Airbender". I love it truly, deeply, and without a trace of irony.
ReplyDeleteIn today's Hollywood, it is absolutely unique. No other director in the current climate of corporate studio filmmaking and oversight could have achieved what Shyamalan did with this movie- turn out a film where every single choice, every decision, was an unmitigated disaster.
The casting, the acting, the screenplay, the production design- nearly every facet of this thing is exactly wrong and awful. Seriously, how did he do it? How did he pull it off?
If you've been avoiding this film because of its reputation, allow me to recommend that you invite a few friends over, pick up a case of beer and WATCH IT NOW.
This film isn't in the same class as your Clash of the Titans' or your Total Recall's. No. Those films are merely poor, indifferently-made, soullessly mediocre action cinema.
"The Last Airbender" is in a class all by itself- a $200m+ abortion of such staggering shittiness that it belongs in the rarified company of "Plan 9 From Outer Space". That it exists at all is something of a miracle. M. Night Shyamalan was given a staggering sum of money, and turned out a complete howler of a debacle, and no one with the power to do so, at any stage of the process, screamed "STOP!!!!!!!!"
I adore every frame of this movie. Trust me, we will not see its like again.
I, for one, found The Happening to be as deliciously bad as its title (although I reject Shyamalan's later claims that it was intentional).
ReplyDeleteI entirely agree with Rick above - it's almost staggering that a director of such blinding incompetence has been repeatedly allowed behind the camera of multi-million dollar motion pictures. It's the kind of thing that just isn't supposed to happen, and it's almost as delightful to me as when the occasional auteur project slips through the net.
I've only got "The Happening" and "The Village" still to watch from M. Night's filmography.
ReplyDeleteI'll go slightly against the grain here and say I don;t think "The Last Airbender" is the worst Shyamalan film I've seen. Certainly the worst in terms of dialogue, acting and unintentional bathos, but it's redeemed somewhat by decent fight choreography and effects. Small succour, perhaps, but I've seen "Dragonball Evolution" and I know just how much worse it's possible for a Hollywood adaptation of a beloved childhood cartoon can get.
"Lady in the Water," by contrast, I found nigh-on fucking unwatchable.
I love "Unbreakable".
ReplyDeleteI agree with your mini-reviews of "The sixth sense", "Signs" and "Lady in the water".
Havent's seen the rest.
I think success went to his head. God complex indeed. It's pretty obvious if you watch him in any promotional material starting right with "Unbreakable".