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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

The Last Airbender

James T Mather said:
I disagree - I like the writing and general filmmaking in the Sixth sense - the comments below this scene say it all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLyYYHqVTsE

I think this scene is terrific in it's own right.

M's conundrum may be that he has become famous as a director who deals in twists. Thus the audience plays the smart-assed self-defeating game of trying to figure it out before the movie reveals. People love nothing more than than proclaiming "I figured it out" - which really translates as "I can read script markers..." rather than any indicator of intelligence (which would be to write, produce and direct a better film).

It becomes a double edged sword for the writer/director - too many clues and the audience twigs - too few and they feel it's a Deus Ex Machina.

Just felt that the thread had evolved into a group "bash" against M. Night.
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That's an amazing scene. I teared up again. Yeah, I'm a softie!
 
I totally agree James. His big mistake was to follow Sixth Sense with another film with a twist ending. But his biggest mistake was then doing another twist ending film relatively shortly after for all the reasons you give. Seriously, he should have gone and done a rom com or action movie instead.

The other problem is that having the clout of being writer and director means he probably doesn't have any good script editors to tell him when he's losing his way.
 
In many cases, not speaking this as fact just as speculation and likelihood. He probably doesn't get a final say on lot of things. Producers and the production companies can easily ruin any or all good intention he's had with the script. Maybe he intended to have more straight forward stories and the studios pressured him to do more "twists" Just as a actor gets typcasted into parts, he might have fallen into a trap with that. Either way, whether his disastrous films are completely his doing or as a result of a third party, he gets all the blame for it. Tough business, as always.
 
"Signs" was kinda fun...right? Or do I have bad taste?
 
Ending for the film was hit or miss for most people. A lot of people didn't mind it and liked the film, for me the actual showing of what the alien looked like completely killed all the mystery for me, classic case of a bad ending ruining a whole film for me.
 
Tom.Wong said:
Ending for the film was hit or miss for most people. A lot of people didn't mind it and liked the film, for me the actual showing of what the alien looked like completely killed all the mystery for me, classic case of a bad ending ruining a whole film for me.
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Yeah, you're right. But the set-up and the first times we see the aliens on the roof and in the kids birthday home video were pretty freakin' classic!
 
Signs was utterly fantastic, a modern war of the worlds before Spielberg tackled it. Fantastic...right up until the ending.

Water? Really? I mean, I see the parallel between the WOTW germs making it uninhabitable for the Martians, but that doesn't explain the whole "swing away Merrill" bit.

It doesn't take divine inspiration to whack a monster with a baseball bat.

But still, the movie's worth it just for the mexican kids birthday party scene. A fantastic reaction from Joaquin that really sells the horror as well.
 
I love all of M Night's film's up until Lady in the Water. I skipped The Village when I heard all the bad press about it, but when I finally saw it a couple years ago, I was impressed. Unbreakable is maybe in my all time top 20.

True, I couldn't get into LitW, and I've yet to see the happening and probably will skip airbender, but these new flicks don't take anything away from those first 4. For me anyway...
 
I thought The Village was a gorgeous film, and The Happening was hilarious (most likely unintentionally, but still...). His first three films were certainly interesting, though I am not one for twist endings. I can appreciate them though. This one looked like a poor idea from the very beginning. Don't think I will be watching this.

In this industry that is dominated by the story/script, what M. Night really needs is a good script. I don't think he's a good scriptwriter. While I really like The Village, I don't disagree that the script is mediocre. He's a skillful director, but not a writer. What he really needs is a good script, or at least a good writing partner.
 
Subhadip Sen said:
In this industry that is dominated by the story/script, what M. Night really needs is a good script. I don't think he's a good scriptwriter. While I really like The Village, I don't disagree that the script is mediocre. He's a skillful director, but not a writer. What he really needs is a good script, or at least a good writing partner.
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I think M. Night Shyamalan is a better Writer than he is a Director.

There is absolutely nothing special about his Direction. Average shot selection, average performances, everything is just average.

The reason he kept getting movies made was because of his stories and his writing. The problem is that by the time he was making Lady In The Water and The Happening, nobody was telling him "no."

What Shyamalan needs is for people to stop putting him in main creative control of projects. He obviously does not have the best internal quality control.

Everybody has bad ideas, and if you have the means to produce those bad ideas, with nobody to bring you back to reality, you are going to be making some bad ideas into bad films.
 
I really loved The 6th Sense, Unbreakable and The Village. I don't get why that last movie always get bad press. It was more of a drama then a thriller/horror, but I didn't mind.
I loved the story, cinematography and music. Really an underappreciated movie. I was very pleasantly surprised when I saw that movie, and eventually saw it twice in the theatres.

Signs... Well, I thought the movie was okay untill they showed the aliens, especially at the ending. The CGI was sooo bad, and the ending was so stupid (not just the water, just the whole bat-swinging thing) that it really turned me off a bit. I still have the movie in my dvd collection, but I see it more as a missed opportunity and as a great first half.

But don't get me started on Lady in The Water and The Happening. Those movies were utter crap, especially Lady in The Water where he casted himself as a prophetic writer.
He's a talented filmmaker, but he has too much of an ego (with the release of Lady In The Water he just told people he was ahead of his time... eh? You just made a really crappy movie) and he should have a producer and an extra screenwriter be tough on him when the next screenplay is shit.

I still think The 6th Sense, Unbreakable and The Village are great movies, and you have to have some talent to make those movies. So seeing the reviews, I don't think I'll waste my time on The Last Airbender, but I will continue to wait until Shyamalan makes another great movie, which I think will happen - maybe after years of fighting with producers or whatever, but it will happen.
 
Mathieu Ghekiere said:
He's a talented filmmaker, but he has too much of an ego (with the release of Lady In The Water he just told people he was ahead of his time... eh? You just made a really crappy movie)
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But that is just your opinion. Clearly, Shyamalan didn't make the movie to your tastes. He made the movie like he wanted it to be. Why is it so hard to believe that he really thinks he made a great film? Like Lars Von Trier said, "I am the best director in the world. I am sure many directors think the same, but they don't say it." So, it seems, insincerity and false modesty is more appreciated in our society than honesty and confidence. There have been countless instances of masterworks being misunderstood by the viewers and critics.

Or, he could be lying. But that is speculation.
 
I just got back from seeing this movie, and i must say it's one of the worst movies I've seen this year.

Abysmal script and directing. Visuals were alright, but i wasn't a fan of the shot choices, nor the editing of it.

Overall, I absolutely despised this movie. it is this year's G.I. Joe
 
Well my youngest really wanted to see this thing, and unfortunately it's well deserving of all the bashing it's getting.

I was particularly surprised by just how poor some of he cinematography, or the 3D work from the cinematography was.

If it wasn't for the fact that a reasonable amount of the film was actually in focus, I would have suspected faulty projection. There are entire shots, particularly some tracking or "dolly" type moves where the entire frame was badly out of focus for the entire shot.

We had good seats, were centered, and even the kids said it was hard to watch.

The consensus was "well that pretty much sucked at every level"

Perhaps this will help balance the present over emphasis on 3D and magic tricks, and help some folks remember that a solid script and narrative enhancing images really do count.

My $.02
 
Subhadip Sen said:
But that is just your opinion. Clearly, Shyamalan didn't make the movie to your tastes. He made the movie like he wanted it to be. Why is it so hard to believe that he really thinks he made a great film? Like Lars Von Trier said, "I am the best director in the world. I am sure many directors think the same, but they don't say it." So, it seems, insincerity and false modesty is more appreciated in our society than honesty and confidence. There have been countless instances of masterworks being misunderstood by the viewers and critics.

Or, he could be lying. But that is speculation.
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Its very bad for one to not have profound critical comments on a feature film and simply say "it sucks". But this movie blows, I've watched all three books of the Nick show. As basic and rudimentary as those shows are, I would think a writer director of his magnitude would use this opportunity to take the audience on an imaginary ride with all the visual effects, comedy and twisted story he can. But nooooooo he just blew it. really disappointing. I took my nephews to see it, they literally wanted their money back.
 
Subhadip Sen said:
[snip]
In this industry that is dominated by the story/script, what M. Night really needs is a good script. I don't think he's a good scriptwriter. While I really like The Village, I don't disagree that the script is mediocre. He's a skillful director, but not a writer. What he really needs is a good script, or at least a good writing partner.
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I couldn't agree more. The only problem with his bad movies are awful scripts.
 
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