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THE WHA???
Man, I actually feel kinda bad for M. Night Shyamalan. I've been following the reviews of THE HAPPENING*, and more than once have I read someone say, "This is the sort of film that ends careers."
Honestly, I think the exact moment Shyamalan went wrong was when he buckled to negative pressure and abandoned his plans to do UNBREAKABLE as a trilogy. I mean, I've never seen SIGNS nor most of THE VILLAGE, and I know those films have their defenders, but it's pretty clear that it's generally been a downhill progression. Without ignoring nor excusing its flaws--pretentious, overly serious, the "whatta tweest!" moment, to name a few--I still consider UNBREAKABLE to be his peak, and deeply wish he could have seen that vision come to life. As such, it sort of feels like my own FIREFLY: a great start with such potential, cut down and dicked over too soon.
Then again, so many people hate UNBREAKABLE as well that it's easy for me to start doubting my own feelings. I need to give it a reviewing sometime, see how well it holds up on snotty snobby 2008 John Hefner. Especially as Shyamalan--who it seems has a reputation for being an egotistical asshole--gets served a hearty slice of humble pie ala mode.
I will say this, though: I feel damn sorry for his cast. Especially my hero John Leguizamo, but hell, it'd hardly be the worst thing he's done (y halo thar, SPAWN). Also, I may have newfound respect for Mark Wahlberg, as when he was asked if there was any chance for a Funky Bunch reunion, he responded, "not a fucking chance." He went on to say: “Part of me would love to run around and act like a freaking asshole again but I can’t do that. I’ve got two kids. I saw something on VH1 or something about me in the 90s and I thought, oh my God, how am I going to explain this to my kids? I have a few years to think about how to finesse it but I do think about it on a daily basis.”
By the way, while we're talking about the poor cast, this is as good a time as any to discuss Zooey Deschanel. I know everyone finds her incredible adorable and wonderful, so I'm fairly certain I'm the only person who finds her incredibly off-putting. Maybe it's because my first exposure to her was THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, where I did not believe for one second why Arthur Dent would ever, ever, ever possibly be pining after this cold airhead who was unfriendly to him and far more interested in the exciting asshole with the bread laser knife. Then again, I might have gotten it if they had cast, say, Elizabeth Banks as Trillian.
Ever since, I've always felt like Zooey Deschanel was the kind of girl who would constantly be giving me the "what's your problem?" look. The kind of girl who would push me to sell my comic collection, or at least move them to the basement. Which I can't, obviously, because Dad's down there.
BLITEOTW
*I'm rather fond of the nickname one critic gave it: THE WHA???
Honestly, I think the exact moment Shyamalan went wrong was when he buckled to negative pressure and abandoned his plans to do UNBREAKABLE as a trilogy. I mean, I've never seen SIGNS nor most of THE VILLAGE, and I know those films have their defenders, but it's pretty clear that it's generally been a downhill progression. Without ignoring nor excusing its flaws--pretentious, overly serious, the "whatta tweest!" moment, to name a few--I still consider UNBREAKABLE to be his peak, and deeply wish he could have seen that vision come to life. As such, it sort of feels like my own FIREFLY: a great start with such potential, cut down and dicked over too soon.
Then again, so many people hate UNBREAKABLE as well that it's easy for me to start doubting my own feelings. I need to give it a reviewing sometime, see how well it holds up on snotty snobby 2008 John Hefner. Especially as Shyamalan--who it seems has a reputation for being an egotistical asshole--gets served a hearty slice of humble pie ala mode.
I will say this, though: I feel damn sorry for his cast. Especially my hero John Leguizamo, but hell, it'd hardly be the worst thing he's done (y halo thar, SPAWN). Also, I may have newfound respect for Mark Wahlberg, as when he was asked if there was any chance for a Funky Bunch reunion, he responded, "not a fucking chance." He went on to say: “Part of me would love to run around and act like a freaking asshole again but I can’t do that. I’ve got two kids. I saw something on VH1 or something about me in the 90s and I thought, oh my God, how am I going to explain this to my kids? I have a few years to think about how to finesse it but I do think about it on a daily basis.”
By the way, while we're talking about the poor cast, this is as good a time as any to discuss Zooey Deschanel. I know everyone finds her incredible adorable and wonderful, so I'm fairly certain I'm the only person who finds her incredibly off-putting. Maybe it's because my first exposure to her was THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, where I did not believe for one second why Arthur Dent would ever, ever, ever possibly be pining after this cold airhead who was unfriendly to him and far more interested in the exciting asshole with the bread laser knife. Then again, I might have gotten it if they had cast, say, Elizabeth Banks as Trillian.
Ever since, I've always felt like Zooey Deschanel was the kind of girl who would constantly be giving me the "what's your problem?" look. The kind of girl who would push me to sell my comic collection, or at least move them to the basement. Which I can't, obviously, because Dad's down there.
BLITEOTW
*I'm rather fond of the nickname one critic gave it: THE WHA???
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Also, um, you win bliteotw. You have disturbed me on many levels.
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Also, huzzah! *grin* You mean for this entry or the previous one? With this one in place, I wonder if I should delete the previous one, or does it work best as a one-two thing?
Hm. I need a martini.
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I refer to both posts. The fact that you're using your father is... unsettling. It's so simple, and maybe you weren't even thinking that much about it, but it somehow manages to make me feel both upset and impressed. The former is always worth it to get the latter. I'm not often impressed. I hope that doesn't come out sounding too horrible. *hugs*
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This time around, I actually went back and forth for about ten minutes wondering whether or not to actually do this. If nothing else, for fear that some people would consider it too crass and tasteless. Not that it isn't crass and tasteless, but I'm deeply gratified to see you at least know there's more going on there.
In any case, I don't think you have to worry about being the one who comes off sounding too horrible. *hugs back*
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That sounds REALLY terrible. But fuck it, you know what I mean.
And I think Zooey Deschanel is cute. But mostly because I saw her in Weeds before I saw her in The Hitchiker's Guide To The Galaxy, and in Weeds the writers take everything that makes her off-putting and use it perfectly to create a brilliantly crazy character.
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I probably will get to WEEDS one of these days, once I catch up with LOST, BATTLESTAR GALACTACA, THE SHIELD, THE WIRE, and DEXTER, and I will see if that can finally show me her appeal.
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I was intrigued with the concept of The Happening (and frankly, just the still picture of the old couple in gas masks sold me), and was intending to do my damndest to see it. I'm distressed by the reviews, and I also agree about Zooey. Hrm and hrm.
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Yay, another vote against Zooey! Thank god!
Superhero listing for you
E-Man is a fat Elvis.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onZqsMGyRHM
Re: Superhero listing for you
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It required not so much suspension of disbelief as deliberately toying with it. The film completely missed that in a lot of different ways.
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Her sister is much more talented.
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I couldn't get through it. I tried skipping ahead, hoping it would at least be entertaining... no suck luck. Ouch.
On the plus side, I'm gratified to know that many others dislike her as well. Whew!
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Village made me furious by promising to be a horror movie about monsters that ate people AND LYING.
But really, I still enjoy his films!
But goddamn, if I ever met the guy, I'd wanna punch him in the kidneys. His films are so grotesquely pretentious, self-serving and self-indulgent as well as being contrived and under delusions of grandeur. When he cast himself as the new messiah in LitW, I honestly wanted to be sick.
He does need to pull his finger out. People have been responding more and more negatively to the air of self-importance his films carry. I think that's what people are reacting to, really.
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Actually, this reminds me of one major factor I neglected to touch upon in this entry. Namely, his next film, THE LAST AIRBENDER, the live-action adaptation (and possible trilogy?) of the animated series AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER. Have you ever watched it? I've only seen a couple episodes, and let me tell you, there is no human reason why this show is as awesome as it is. It shouldn't be this good. It doesn't deserve this kind of quality.
M. Night claims to love the show and watch it with his kids. If he truly captures the spirit, it'll be wholly unlike anything else he's ever done, and it might be the best damn thing he could do.
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Funny thing is that people still are trying to invoke the red scare ("Oh crap!!!! The ChiCom's are drilling off the coast of Cuba!!!) to justify something unrelated (drilling in national parks or off the coast of Florida.)
Still, point taken. The concept sounds a helluva lot like a few Twilight Zone/Outer Limits eps.
And that's the thing, M always seems like now he could just tell the story in an Amazing Stories style episode... he doesn't need the padding of a feature lenth flick.
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Damn, there a thought: M. Night getting his own Twilight Zone/Amazing Stories anthology show. He might just be able to pull it off!
There's one such movie I saw as a little kid, THE MONOLITH MONSTERS. It's about these black meteor crystals that grow to enormous proportions when exposed to water, and any human contact causes the person to become instantly fossilized or something. It's stayed with me ever since, but wasn't out on DVD last I checked. I need to see it again. It's supposedly pretty great 50's sci-fi.