THE WHA???

[thehefner]

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???

Comments

[droidboy010101.livejournal.com]

On WHAT HAPPENING: Well, I usually go by Dad's tastes, which are pretty good (loves sci-fi/fantasy but hates Cop-Outs or cliche,) he liked it, BUT he said most people will probably not.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

That's interesting, actually. M. Night was shooting for a 50's-style sci-fi movie where humans had to face a faceless threat (hello, underlying Communist fears). I've heard it said the film would have worked a lot better if it had been made in the 50's.

[droidboy010101.livejournal.com]

Insert Terrorism for your Red Scare and I think you could pull something off... The only difference is that now we so distrust our government, the terrorism scare is mitigated by the degree of elected official bullshit in response to it.

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.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

It just might work. Sadly, based on what I hear to be the cause behind THE HAPPENING, I don't think that'll cut it.

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.