Posted on 01/27/2023 5:38:22 AM PST by FarCenter
Paris (AFP) – From "The Sixth Sense" to "Old", director M. Night Shyamalan has had a unique string of hits, but these days he works outside the Hollywood studio system, which he says has grown "sick".
Balancing art and commerce has always been the great game of Hollywood and few have played it as well as Shyamalan, who returns to cinemas next week with the apocalyptic horror tale, "Knock at the Cabin".
Still just 52, he has been cranking out box office hits every couple of years since the iconic "The Sixth Sense" in 1999, through "Unbreakable", "Signs", "Split" and many more.
They have been almost entirely original, rarely based on pre-existing franchises or superhero characters that the major studios now rely upon.
Watching how Hollywood has evolved in that time has left him deeply disillusioned.
"If you look at the industry right now... there are movies that feel incestuous, they're just masturbatory... It's just Hollywood talking to themselves," he told AFP.
"And then there are movies where they're saying: the audience is dumb so we're going to take all the soul out and we're just going to do it by numbers," he said.
"These are signs of complete dysfunction."
(Excerpt) Read more at france24.com ...
He should go back to Bollywood.
His movie “Signs” is one of my favorites! (even though the aliens look cheesy)
Hollywood used to regurgitate stories and actually make them interesting somehow. I am curious as to when that stopped happening.
“If you look at the industry right now... there are movies that feel incestuous, they’re just masturbatory... It’s just Hollywood talking to themselves,”
Best description EVER of Hollyweird!
The man who made his latest movie with two homosexual lead characters, as loving parents no less, says Hollywood is dysfunctional? Okay. But I also can’t disagree with what I read in the insert. I have come to the conclusion that most movies now are just computer generated cartoons.
“Swing away Merrill…”
He’s brilliant. Sixth Sense and Signs were still his best. Not all have been great. He lives not far from me and has filmed a number of his films in the area.
The dialogue in that one particular segment was very, very good, I thought. It was very powerful. To recap, Mel Gibson's character (Graham) was a priest who lost his faith and in the scene below, is talking with his younger brother (played by Joaquim Phoenix)
INT. FAMILY ROOM - MIDNIGHT
(The family room lights are off now. The TV is still on. The SOUND IS MUTED. There are a couple glasses of Bo's water on the television now. The fourteen lights are still hovering on the screen. Morgan is asleep on Graham’s lap. Bo is asleep on Merrill's shoulder. Everyone knows there are aliens out there, they have been watching this unchanging scene for hours.)
MERRILL: (whispers) Some people are probably thinking this is the end of the world.
GRAHAM: (whispers) That's true.
MERRILL: (whispers) Do you think it's a possibility?
GRAHAM: (whispers) Yes.
MERRILL: (whispers) How can you say that?
GRAHAM: (whispers) That wasn't the answer you wanted?
MERRILL: (whispers) Can you at least pretend to be like you used to be? Give me some comfort?
GRAHAM: (whispers)...There are all different ways you can tell that there's someone really there watching out for us. You see signs. Sometimes they're little ones. You think of someone. The phone rings. They're on the phone... Sometimes they're big, like fourteen lights hovering over Mexico City. Sure, there are a lot of people watching this who think this could be a bad thing. But there are a lot of people watching this, who think it's a miracle. A sign of God's existence. It's all in how you look at things Merrill. What you have to decide is what kind of person you are? Are you the type who believes in miracles and looks for signs or are you the kind who believes, things just happen by chance?
MERRILL: I was at this party once. I'm on a couch with Sara Mckinney. She was just sitting there, looking beautiful and staring at me. I go to lean in and kiss her and I realize I have gum in my mouth. I turn and take out the gum. Stuff it in my paper cup next to the sofa and turn around. Sara Mckinney throws up all over herself. I knew the second it happened. It was a miracle. I could have been kissing her when she threw up. That would have scarred me for life. I may never have recovered.
MERRILL: I'm a miracle man. Those lights are a miracle.
GRAHAM: (smiles, whispers) There you go.
MERRILL: (whispers) So which type are you?
GRAHAM: (whispers) Do you feel comforted?
MERRILL: (whispers) Yes.
GRAHAM: (whispers) What does it matter then?
(Long pause here)
GRAHAM: (whispers) Do you know what Colleen's last words were before they killed her?
GRAHAM: (whispers) She said, "See", and then her eyes glazed a bit and she said... "Tell Merrill to swing away
GRAHAM: (whispers) Do you know why she said that?
MERRILL: "No."
GRAHAM: (whispers) Because the nerve endings in her brain were firing as she died, and some random memory of us at one of your baseball games popped into her head.
GRAHAM: There is no one watching out for us, Merrill. We're all on our own.
Today’s Hollywood rarely creates art.
Their prime product is now a confection of Woke agitprop and child grooming.
Fie upon them, I say. Fie!
Newsome/Pressley 2024!
Whatever. I’m not watching his cabin movie about 2 faggots with a kid.
” I am curious as to when that stopped happening.”
it stopped happening decades ago, but most recently has greatly accelerated when it was decided that story, dialog, character development, entertainment value could all take a back seat to filling films chock-a-block with “progressive” propaganda, people of color and LGBTQWERTY+ folk ...
Maybe if those characters were based on Mitchell, Cam and Lily, it would add a level of levity to the movie.
Sorry, cant stomach anything he says after watching “The nonHappening”
Sorry, cant stomach anything he says after watching “The nonHappening”
We love “Signs”.
You shouldn’t discriminate against cheesy aliens. That’s hate speech. They have feelings, too, y’know.
I think he did “The Village”, too. Didn’t like that one.
His movie “The Village” was like a political movie
“Sixth Sense and Signs were still his best.”
Agree. Some good lines from both of them.
“You had a tone.”. (Hubby and I use that a lot.)
“I see dead people.”
Swing away Merle, swing away.
Signs is a really good movie. Might be time for a rewatch.
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