I see mean critics. I see mean critics.I enjoyed his new movie. Not to give away the 'twist in the plot' but I could see how THAT could be set up
Now, applied appropriately, are the words to that great Toby Keith song "The Critic":
Tell it like it is
He gets up real early on his mornin' drive
Down to the office for his 9 to 5
He drives a 94' two tone economy car
Loves to tell the local bands down at the bar
That he's the critic, yeah I can hook you up
I know everybody in the business
He flunked junior high band he couldn't march in time
He tried to write a song once, but he couldn't make it rhyme
He learned 2 or 3 chords on a pawn shop guitar
He just never quite had what it took to be a star
So he's a critic I work for the gazette man
I got a real job
He did a 5 star column on a band you never heard
He did a bluegrass review without an unkind word
He thought it was time to ask his boss for a raise
His boss said I can't even tell if anybody's even readin' your page
yeah
So he thought and he thought a little more
He caught a young hot star headed into town
Then he hid behind his typewriter and gunned the boy down
Here come the letters, the emails, the he faxes
They raised him to 20 thousand dollars after taxes
He's a happy critic yeah
He's rollin' in the dough
Man I could do this forever
This is easy
They're all readin' my column
Please don't tell my mama
That I write the music column for the gazette
She still thinks, that I play piano down at the cathouse
I see Democrats. Voting from the grave.
Boy this guy really must not like M Night personally. this is one personal hit piece.
Paranoid greenhorn with money. Lives like a little prince surrounded by bodyguards and those who sweep up behind him. Real P.O.S.
I thought "The Village" was OK. The actress who played the blind girl Ivy was outstanding.
Think this line has anything to do with Bruce's politics?
Thank you for reminding me why I hate critics.
Man In The Arena
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt
I like his movies. I especially liked Signs.
My hubby and son saw The Village, they said it was more of a romance than his other movies and not as scary as Signs, even though there were a couple jump scenes.
My nephew has a t-shirt that says: "I see dumb people"
I saw "The Village" last night. It really should be retitled "The Village Idiot."
I liked "The Sixth Sense." I didn't care for "Unbreakable." I liked "Signs." I hated "The Village."
Why? Without revealing the plot or any of Shyamalan's expected surprises, I will simply say the following:
1. The acting was terrible. William Hurt acted like he was on drugs. Sig Weaver was equally as bad. Most of the cast acted as if they were told by Shyamalan to "act Amish" and they gave their performances based on stereotypes of the Amish. Bryce Dallas Howard as Ivy Walker gives an excellent performance as the blind girl in the village.
2. Rod Serling's estate should sue (and maybe hire John Edwards to do it!) I have seen variations of this plot several times in the old "Twilight Zone." So, there is nothing really new here.
3. There is a complete lack of logic to the film. After the film is over, we had a lengthy discussion about the serious flaws in the movie [you will have the same discussions if you see it].
SPOILERS: DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE!!!!!! AND NO SPAMMING ME IF YOU READ PAST THIS POINT AND HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE!!!!!!!!
Logic fault #1: Who would really send a blind girl into the woods with the instructions "Walk through the woods for a half a day until you find the hidden road, then follow it to the towns." What direction should she walk? Since she can't see, how does know which direction to go? How does she stay on a straight path? How does she find the hidden road? Which way does she go on the hidden road? Does a blind person walk as quickly as a non-person (so would it be a full day for a blind person)? What does she do when she gets to the towns? How does she retrace her footsteps? Shyamalan answers this by having Hurt tell her: "Follow the creek." Well, we never see or hear the creek (at least I didn't see or hear it). Yes, I understand why Hurt sends the blind girl, but in reality no one would REALLY send a blind person on such a journey.
Logic fault #2: The preserve is a restricted airspace. That is supposed to assure us as to why we never see any airplanes or helicopters. C'mon! You mean that none of the kids in the 1890's village ever saw jet trails at dusk or the twinkling lights of aircraft at night? Nobody saw a single hiker, a troup of Boy Scouts, people on dirt bikes, etc.? For 20+ years? Jeez.
"He lives outside of Philadelphia with his wife and children and insists on shooting most of his films within a day's drive."
So? I mean, who cares? What does that have to do with anything?
All this blah, blah, blah, and not one word about whether the movie is any good. Yo, Agger,here's a quarter. Call somebody who cares.
Seems like the M. Night Shyamalan hit squad has been turned loose on this movie. He must've not ponied up for enough cocktail weenies at some critic's reception or something, now all the spoiled lapdog creativity washouts are enraged. I'll have to see the film now, I guess.
Seriously, I think they saw Signs and its Christian message and have been lying in wait for this film. Since they can't beat up on Mel Gibson they'll take a few turns whupping on Shyamalan so they can all feel brave.
M. Night's movies combine great storytelling + strong moral themes + huge box office = the liberal elite must hate his guts.
(Kind of like the way they hate Mel Gibson.)
I thought the Village is one of the best movies of the year, but don't look for extreme violence.
That sums up the big problem with Shyamalan in Slate's mind.
How dare he work outside the system! How dare he not "play ball" with the important people in Hollywood! How dare he want to live with his family in his own hometown rather than learn to live like the elite in LA!
He must be stopped I tell you!
BTW, the definition of "Blockbuster" is a movie which makes over $100 million. Here are the Box Office results of his (major) movies and why this Slate article is so full of crap.
1999 The Sixth Sense $293.5 million
2000 Unbreakable $95 million
2002 Signs $227.9 million
2004 The Village $50.8 million (opening weekend)
Unbreakable (undeniably his weakest film) was $5 million short of "Blockbuster" status. His other films are well beyond normal Blockbusters and will allow him to be the scourge of Slate for as long as Slate is around. In fact, he will be able to laugh about that long forgotten internet "magazine" decades before he retires in luxury from his non-Holloywood filmmaking.
"Critics were enjoined after the screening to avoid revealing the plot secrets. That is not because we would spoil the movie for you. It's because if you knew them, you wouldn't want to go. The whole enterprise is a shaggy dog story, and in a way, it is all secrets. I can hardly discuss it at all without being maddingly vague."
Roger Ebert (one star)
(Safe to read, no spoilers, just my opinion)
I have really enjoyed Shyamalan's work. I thought Signs was great and the Sixth Sense will be a classic.
That said, I saw The Village on Friday evening with a group of teens. YEECH! It was long, pretty predictable and STUPID! And for crying out loud, move on with this color "red" thing. He used it in Unbreakable and Sixth Sense. Try another device! The story was so unbelievable that it was annoying. There was some suspense, which is what we were expecting, but it all fell apart in the last third.
The teens I took said it was not what they expected, but for the most part, "thought" they liked it. Coming out of a movie not sure whether you liked it or not is generally not a good thing. I also drifted to sleep in the first third for about 5-10 minutes. The last movie I did that in was Vanilla Sky. At least I only spent 6 bucks. I should have waited until Tuesday night, the $4 show.
Anyone else?
I saw this movie with my son and we were both bored to tears. At one level the movie can be viewed as a metaphor for the USA post 9/11 with the William Hurt character as The President scaring people with 'the aliens' beyond our borders and the safe color business. The only good thing about this movie was Bryce Howard who almost single handedly saved the movie.
Signs was quite good, and the critic is too harsh I think about Unbreakable. I haven't seen the others.