I want to see it. I liked all of his movies accept the last two. I saw the preview at a screening of iron man and it looked really good. The environment revenge storyline is kinda cool. Now that I'm walking around again, I look forward to going out to see some of the blockbusters coming out. I'm going to try to see this one
-----Original Message----- From: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2008 7:50 PM To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Subject: RE: [scifinoir2] M. Night Shyamalan: HE'S NOT 'HAPPENING The trailer looks good. I'm not a big Marky Mark fan, but I guess his limited emotional range would work for a movie where he'd basically have to be puzzled and in the dark much of the time. The scene with the people falling (jumping?) off the buildings spooks me for some reason. One thing about Knight: when he's on, he's one. He crashes and burns every now and then, but big props for his ambitions. I'm looking forward to it. And Martin, you have *got* to see "Iron Man"! It is really good, fun, and exciting. I'm planning to go pay for a third viewing! -------------- Original message -------------- From: Martin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Tracey, I want to see it. Whether or not time allows me the luxury is another matter altogether. Martin (still hasn't laid eyes on Ol' Shellhead) Tracey de Morsella <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: The following is a positive review: "The Happening" was screened in Madrid last tuesday. Go here to see a review (the critic gave it 4 out of 5 stars): http://www.labutaca.net/films/61/elincidente4.php Here a BabelFish translation, retouched by me: A ghost, a superhero, a Martian, a monster and a siren. These recurrent elements have been used by the brilliant M. Night Shyamalan in his last films -we are talking about his production from "The sixth sense" (1999) onwards, because that movie began his international and commercial recognition-, characters that serve as a colourful excuse to present tremendous tragedies about the solitude, the loss of innocence and, definitively and in an inescapable way, the internal and external fragility of human being. Nevertheless, the considerable critical and public catastrophe of the unjustly neglected "Lady in the water", his last work, placed him in a complex situation facing the industry. For that reason, that he succeeds in his return even when he resigns in a certain way to the essence of his previous work -especially as far as concerns the narrative tempo- it is wonderful news. Something strange harasses New York. A wave of suicides without apparent reason expands all over the city, an uncontrolled fury that doesn't distinguish age, creed or social position. Faced with this situation, the authorities begin to plan the evacuation of the downtown. But when other cases appear in different states, a global panic spreads, an inevitable fear towards the unknown. First of all, it is necessary to indicate that "The Happening" has one of the most demolishing beginnings of recent cinema; a brutal, gelid prologue, shot and displayed with a technical and aesthetic perfection that maintains the spectator in tension, hypnotized by the unfolding events. But it is somewhat strange, inevitably, that unfolding of a mechanic -and fascinatingly morbid- violence, an approach far away from the previous works of the Indian filmmaker, which opted, for virtually all the footage, for intuition and suggestion rather than exhibition. So here we are facing a new and different Shyamalan, who largely prefers to articulate a spectacular thriller aimed to a majority, perhaps concerned about a possible -and, in the end, warningly definitive- rejection of a public not accustomed to the elaborated and chillingly sensible works of this unique director. But that is precisely the great triumph of the film. Because based on a structurally simpler script, in which the classic and linear narrative division emerges avoiding more complex and twisted ways, the master of ceremonies gives some magisterial lessons of a visual tension that seizes every minute of a history in which the man succumbs to the constant threat of a quiet surrounding, a silent and hostile frame in which only the whisper of the wind anticipates an imminent attack. Each scene is carefully planned, with a wisdom that harmonizes brutality and lyricism; a magnificent director of actors -he's been showing it throughout all of his work-, [Shyamalan] is amply capable at the time of turning innocence, a common subject of his cinematographic ideology, in a forceful and universal sample of the most innocent love: there are the doubts of Soul (Zooey Deschanel), that collide with the unshakeable simplicity of the open, sober and sincere temper of Elliot (Mark Wahlberg), a young marriage put under some hesitations more common to those ones of two children that the ones of an adult and consummated couple. Around them exists a desperate humanity, incapable of assimilate what happens, trapped in an extreme situation that leads them away and closer continuously. Tenderness, horror, affection, primitive passions emerging in a lethal but calm context, once discerned the basic rules of this tremendous natural revolution. This canvas is, and isn't, a brother of the previous pictures of the human essence drawn by a creative brain able to disturb our spirit at will, to take our emotions from a side to another with astonishing ease. The projection finalizes, and our mind is still trapped in a fantastical, personal and fabulous world. Perhaps he [Shyamalan] has capitulated somewhat, but he has done it with courage, and he remains equally necessary in the submissive creative panorama that we are living today. -----Original Message----- From: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Tracey de Morsella Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2008 12:33 AM To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Subject: [scifinoir2] M. Night Shyamalan: HE'S NOT 'HAPPENING Anybody plan on going to see this? June 1, 2008 -- M. Night Shyamalan's 'Sixth Sense' made him a legend, then egomania spiraled his career into an even more twisted ending HERE'S something about M. Night Shyamalan that inspires his detractors to wax metaphorical. In the leaked reviews leading up to "The Happening," the director's been compared to an ex-girlfriend you can't stop hooking up with ("because, you know, it might work this time"), an abusive spouse ("if I just love him enough, he'll stop hitting me") and, most colorfully, Lucy Van Pelt: "She winks, nods, and says 'Come on, Chuck, just give the old ball a kick. I promise I won't move it this time.' But you know she will. She always does." How did we get so disenchanted with the man who gave us "The Sixth Sense," the awesomely spooky thriller that inspired Newsweek magazine to proclaim him "The Next Spielberg"? Why did no one exact a mercy killing of the debacle that was "The Lady in the Water," or point out - before it got made - that the "twist" at the end of "The Village" was really more of a punch line? And, while we're asking, who thought it would be a good idea to let Night (as he's known) introduce the online clip from his newest film - out a week from Friday - by claiming it's "the scariest movie I've ever made" and comparing it to "The Exorcist" and "The Godfather"? The director followed those comparisons with an anecdote about an early screening audience for "The Happening," who "came out and were so shaken, they just stood around holding their arms and stuff." This we can believe . . . but probably not for the abject fear the director attributed to the scene. Stumbling around zombie-like is a common reaction when you step out of a movie in which you can't quite believe you were had, again, the same way as the last time around. And the time before that. One industry insider, who asked to remain anonymous, attributes viewers' Shyamalan sadism to the pure power of hope. "It's because they see 'The Sixth Sense' as one of the great movies of recent times," he says. "They're waiting for that Night to come back, and so far, he hasn't." And, unfortunately, it's looking like "The Happening" has a certain stink on it that doesn't bode well for turning things around. In this case, it's the stink of biochemical terror. In the R-rated thriller, Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel play a couple in the midst of a society that abruptly falls apart as people mysteriously start to die because of . . . something in the air. Something twisty, we're betting, and mysterious! That's what Shyamalan does, after all. The twist at the end. And, arguably, you can't blame the guy for clinging to a formula that worked so surprisingly well to begin with. THE ONE THAT HAPPENED We're going to reference the end of "The Sixth Sense" here, so if you're one of the three people who hasn't yet seen it, for god's sake, stop reading now. It was the conclusion nobody saw coming (except that inevitable annoying friend who claims they knew it all along, which we're not buying): Bruce Willis' character was dead! The whole time! Shyamalan's reveal ranked up there with the man parts in "The Crying Game" and Kevin Spacey's gimp-to-villain stroll in "The Usual Suspects" as movie moments that made everyone audibly gasp - and tell all their friends to run right out and see it, too. This, the studio did not see coming. "People forget, 'The Sixth Sense' was dumped in August by Disney," says David Poland of Movie City News. "At that time, August was not exactly a gangbuster date - it was only afterward that people started releasing pictures there. But it muscled its way into being a long-running hit." The "I see dead people" phenomenon made Shyamalan a household name in 1999, at the very start of his mainstream film career - his previous films, 1992's "Praying With Anger" and 1998's "Wide Awake," were flops - and catapulted him into a level of heroworship that, some say, created a megalomaniacal monster. "He came on the scene like the next Steven Spielberg," says the insider, referencing the aforementioned Newsweek cover. "That's pretty amazing, for a kid. And that probably was the kiss of death. I think that may have gone to his head, and he just believed that no matter what he wrote, it would turn to gold. And then 'Unbreakable' came out [in 2000], and everyone was waiting for it to be fantastic, and it opened big - but the movie disappointed." It was the first time, but certainly not the last, that Shyamalan was hoping lightning would strike twice. His next two movies, "Signs" (2002) and "The Village" (2004), attempted the same ta-dah! formula, with diminishing success and louder grumbling from audiences. In the case of "The Village," despite respectable performances from Joaquin Phoenix, William Hurt and especially Bryce Dallas Howard as a blind tomboy, the twist came off as almost insulting to audiences. As one critic put it, Shyamalan was "riding a one-trick pony, and that poor pony is nearly dead." UNCRITICIZABLE The obvious question is, why didn't someone just tell Shyamalan his scripts weren't working? According to Poland, it's because the director increasingly envisioned himself as an eccentric auteur, beholden to no one and working outside the system - which included industry types who might be able to poke holes in his plots. "He's isolated himself, basically," says Poland. "He lives in Pennsylvania. He's not surrounded by yes men - he's basically on an island. In some ways, that's honorable. But he did seem to get stuck in his own mythology." He also had the numbers on his side. Despite critical pans and audience boos, his first three post-"Sixth" films all made money; even "Unbreakable" and "The Village" grossed around $250 million worldwide. It was 2006's "Lady in the Water" where the director really went off the rails - and allowed the train wreck to be documented in Michael Bamberger's book, "The Man Who Heard Voices: Or, How M. Night Shyamalan Risked His Career on a Fairy Tale." The awkwardly reverent chronicle of Shyamalan's quest to make "Lady in the Water" ended up being a fascinating look at what happens when a director comes to believe he's infallible. When faced with a group of three Disney executives who flatly tell him his script about a mythical creature living in a swimming pool makes no sense, the director simply shuts down. "He had known these people for years," Bamberger writes of Shyamalan's reaction. "He had always liked them; he had always thought they were smart. He knew they were good people. But a different type of group thinking had taken hold of them. All of a sudden they looked like strangers." Disney President Nina Jacobson, in particular, attempted to help the director hone his vision, says the insider. "She had the courage to say, 'I didn't think this was a good as you can do, let's work on it'," he says. "But he's a guy that's so full of himself he felt everything on the printed page was perfect. "So," he continues, "he went to Warners, and they picked it up, and that was a disaster. And he did that book, which was a bigger disaster." At Warner Bros., Shyamalan was allowed to run with his vision of Paul Giamatti as a building superintendent who saves a storybook character from evil, hyena-like creatures ("scrunts") - and of himself as a character who is living out a prophecy that he will save the world with his brilliantly written words. The director was similarly hubristic about his importance in Hollywood; shortly before "Lady" was released, he told Time, "I've made profit a mathematic certainty. I'm the safest bet you got." With poetic tragedy, it was his least profitable film to date, not to mention the worst reviewed: "So convoluted and ultimately preposterous that you're almost embarrassed by the earnestness of the actors trying to carry it off," one critic wrote. "What's supposed to be fanciful storytelling is really just audience punishment," another complained. "Those who see it may feel a need to act like a pool lifeguard and blow the whistle on Shyamalan," wrote a third. Warners got out of the pool. As Variety reported, when Shyamalan first shopped around his screenplay for "The Happening," "no studio loved the draft enough to make a deal." But then something interesting happened - the director learned to compromise. "People who work with me know that I'm collaborative," the director told Variety. "If you can give me a good idea that can help me to make a better movie, then there is no ego issue in taking that advice. Ultimately, this was a very positive process, and one that will ultimately help in making this movie the best it can be." Eventually, Fox picked up "The Happening," in what might be considered budget shopping: "One great thing about Night is that he's a very efficient director," says the insider. "None of his movies cost more than $50 or $60 million. So the economic formula isn't nearly as risky as some of the other things people invest in. You can open a $50 million movie with s - - - ty reviews, and it drops like a stone, and because it didn't cost a lot to make, at the end of the day you can still make some money." SIGNS OF SENSE Will getting off his high horse allow Shyamalan to start making quality movies again? We'd like to think so, but the director hasn't made it easy. For better or worse, his trademark "twist" isn't so much a twist as a fact that seems to become obvious midway through. The "scary" clip introduced by Shyamalan online consists mostly of Wahlberg, Deschanel and John Leguizamo wringing their hands aboard a train. At one point, Leguizamo screams, "Text me! Text me!" at his wife on the cellphone. Also, a Defamer report circulated that when Fox execs saw the film back in January, they pulled the TV trailer that was scheduled to air during the Superbowl. But whether Shyamalan manages a turnaround with "The Happening," he's still got at least some of Hollywood - and America - pulling for him. "I think deep down people really believe that Night is a tremendously talented guy, and he's one screenplay away from finding the magic again," says the insider. "Finding magic over and over again isn't easy. I think Night's now discovering that." 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