Latest from M. Night

This looks different than all the other films he's done. Doesn't seem like a twist ending film. Should be interesting.
 
Unbreakable, Sixth Sense, and Signs were great Films IMO. The village was crap. Theres no doubt about it, Night is a great director. I'll go see anything by him but this movie sounds kinda weird.
 
krestofre said:
The trailer for The Village didn't look like a twist ending film either .... :undecided
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What?
I thought that trailer screamed 'twist ending'

My wife saw the trailer on TV and immediately turned to me and 'ruined' the movie with initial assumption...basically saying, "wouldn't it be funny if at the end....."
 
This trailer caught my attention. He brings an element of magic to the worlds he creates that I like. I'll see this.

However, if he twist ending's this one I'm gunna lose all faith- that is unless it tops 6th's twist.

-rook
 
I think it goes like this. You're a struggling writer-director. You're trying to get noticed. Make your mark. And people kick you in the ass (or head) a lot along the way. The bad part of that is it hurts. The good part is, it pushes the toughest to dig deep into their talent and deliver soemthing good enough to fend off the abuse. Something that will overcome the last reader's disparaging rejection and the financing company's criticisms of the third act and your best friend's dad's lawyer who thought the protagonist was unlikeable. And after several years, you have something that people are willing to take a chance on. And it's SMOKIN'. It all works. You got just the right cast, and you hit the market at just the right time. Essentially, the stars line up and you have made a masterpiece. You're a genius. That's what they tell you now. And that's what you tell yourself. So onto the next project. Your next movie. But this time, no one tells you they don't like your third act, or that your protagonist is unlikeable or that it just plain sucks. Because you're a genius. And you probably do half as many drafts of the script; maybe even less. And you make a movie called Signs. Which grosses hundreds of millions anyway, despite its flaws. So you're still a genius. And then you make a movie called The Village. ... Anyway, I figure the guy's going to hit the bullseye again eventually...but he's lucky someone kicked his ass long enough before making Sixth Sense.
 
Huh? It started off as going somewhere but then you made a left trun and now were lost.

--

The grosses

The Sixth Sense - $293,506,292 ( Worldwide: $672,806,292)
Unbreakable - $95,011,339 ( $248,118,121)
Signs - $227,966,634 ( $408,247,917)
The Village - $114,197,520 ( $256,697,520)

Summary has it.

The Sixth Sense was not hitting the bullseye; it was an anamoly. Unbreakable and The Village missed the mark but Signs was a grand slam in itself. M Night is one of the few directros wroking that can take you into another world.
 
but Signs was a grand slam in itself.
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Really? If you don't mind going into this territory, I'm curious what you liked about the film.

Signs is one of those few movies that my friends don't even mention around me because I launch into a 20 minute disertation on what was wrong with the film, but I promise I'll spare you and keep the conversation civil. I think I've healed to the point of being able to hear another opinion of it. :grin:
 
Zach Lien said:
i liked his past films, but this one looks stupid. i'm sure i'll go to see it regardless.
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I like all his past films, but don't love them. The best of course is the sixth sense. The following films were not as good. But that's okay. They were still good or at least better than most of what comes out in the theatres.

As for this new film, if the official trailer doesn't show something more appealing than this weak teaser trailer, I'll wait for the dvd to come out and que on netfilx.
 
The Village is actually one of my favorite movies...and i also really enjoy all his other work. I agree with John that M. Night has a style that you can instantly feel as soon as you start watching. I think Spielberg, Tarantino, and Jackson are some of the only other directors around now that have that....
 
Unfortunately I had guessed the endings of the village and the sixth sense about 4 minutes into the film, so I just sat there pretty bored. I never really understood why the sixth sense was such a big hit.

When i was 18 i made a RUBBISH short film at college (is there any other kind?) about a guy who died in a car accident but didnt relise it until the end, and even I nicked that premise from 'Jacob's Ladder' at the time. So years later the sixth sense was nothing new in my humble opinion.

Signs was really well directed at least. He certainly knows how to build up the tension. I didn't guess the ending of signs tho becasue, well, beacause I dont think even shama new how it would end until he tacked it on. Aliens who die if they have contact with water invade a planet that is 70% water and where it rains all the time.... makes perfect sense.

still, I should shut my mouth and make a film that grosses $250million first before critisicing.
 
M. Night should come up with an alias, and then maybe perhaps he can pull of one more twist ending. Then he just needs to try his hand at something else. A truly great filmmaker and play around in any genre. I need to see this from M. Night. That is all.....
 
There are good things about Signs and The Village, but overall they're failures as movies, if you ask most people who saw them. And that was my point with my long rant above. I really believe M. Night has too many people saying, go ahead, make the movie as it is, you're a genius (because you can't easily argue with the guy who made Sixth Sense). And then he's doubly "screwed" when the crappy movies gross hundreds of millions anyway. Because then who's going to argue then?! Same thing with George Lucas. Who's going to tell him him script has huge gaping problems when they make so much money anyway. And while Signs and The Village didn't gross as much as Sixth Sense, they were still huge financial successes. Anything over $100 million is NO flop.
 
sean, agreed. m night's retarded.

There's no reason even debating whether he's a good story teller cause he isn't anymore.
 
krestofre said:
Really? If you don't mind going into this territory, I'm curious what you liked about the film.

Signs is one of those few movies that my friends don't even mention around me because I launch into a 20 minute disertation on what was wrong with the film, but I promise I'll spare you and keep the conversation civil. I think I've healed to the point of being able to hear another opinion of it. :grin:
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I cannot see for the life of me the panning this film receives. I found it one of the better films of the year (2002). From it's atmospheric tension to its subtle comedic breaks. I love the character Mel plays, a former man of the cloth who has lost his faith, Joaquin is wonerful as his younger brother and the kids are nicely cast in an area where most films fail.

I love how it is told though the eyes of the family and we see the phenomenon happen as we would of we lived in the farm house in Pennsylvania I love that there is practically zero big budget effects, no lasers, no lights in the sky, no Will Smith running around beating up the green guys and it general, lacking in bullshit.... I love its minimilistic way in which it brings us into their world.
The score is creepy and the ambience is creepy. What plot you may say? I found it simplistic but reward enough watching the performance of the cast; Mel's monologue on the couch is money alone.

When they show the green guy for the first time, via the CNN broadcast of the little childrens birthday party I jumped. It was fascinating to do it this way. Great stuff. The kids all sitting on the couch with the foil headgear is classic and when Mel is in the cornfield at night and drops his flashlight it is truly a creepy scene.

I always found this qoute from Ebert to sum it up for me:
" At the end of the film, I had to smile, recognizing how Shyamalan has essentially ditched a payoff. He knows, as we all sense, that payoffs have grown boring. The mechanical resolution of a movie's problems is something we sit through at the end, but it's the setup and the buildup that keep our attention. "

As mentioned; the panning the film has received is unfair I think and without merit. It has a domestic gross of $227,966,634 and the numbers generally don't lie; these are'nt the numbers of a stinker film.

So, I would like to hear your assessment (So I can debunk it of course) of the film.


Unfortunately I had guessed the endings of the village and the sixth sense about 4 minutes into the film
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Riiiiighhhtttt.
 
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