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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
 Posted - 06/14/2008 : 4:13:29 PM
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Haven't seen it yet, but judging from the buzz (or is that snoring?) it's safe to say we'll be talking about this on the boards for weeks to come.
Till then, I'll let one of my favorite Internet critics have the first word:
"It's borderline unwatchable and raises the question of whether anyone will be satisfied with what the director has translated from script to screen. This isn't a long movie - unlike many summertime would-be "big events," it clocks in well under two hours - but it serves as an endurance test...
"Had The Happening worked, it might have been the kind of creepy story that gets under your skin, but the actual movie looks and feels like something made for almost no budget by a filmmaker with mediocre talent...
"The Happening is a bore with none of the tension and suspense needed to keep us interested. Even simple scenes reek of contrivance. Everything in this movie is artificial - fake to a level beyond what even those with blockbuster-benumbed senses will endure. We don't believe in these people, their relationships, their circumstances, or even the things they say. Worse still, we don't care. It doesn't matter if they live or die, if there's a happy ending, or some kind of twist. The Happening is a movie to walk out of, sleep through, or - best of all - not to bother with."
-- James Berardinelli
Ouch.
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TheFoywonder
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
833 Posts |
Posted - 06/14/2008 : 4:51:28 PM
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Saw it last night and must say I found it not good enough to be good but not quite bad enough to be camp. I like the premise, but the overall movie doesn't work. The movie has plenty of mood but not an ounce of tension. A lot of stuff that's meant to be horrifying actually comes across as darkly comedic and stuff that's meant to be intentionally funny left me thinking "What the hell?" So much of the dialogue is astoundingly bad and the acting is nothing short of atrocious. More than anything else, when it was over I was left with a sense of "whatever".
Now Playing in Foyeurism at Foywonder.com: PILOT ERROR 2: EXO-MAN & INFILTRATOR - Two more failed pilots from the past starring power-armored heroes
Plus: B-WARE THE BLOG is alive at http://www.livejournal.com/users/foywonder |
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hk6909
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
651 Posts |
Posted - 06/14/2008 : 4:52:27 PM
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Sounds like M.'s one of those filmmakers who gets worse with time.
Now we know what the south's gonna do again, get eaten by a huge fish. |
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BradH812
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1294 Posts |
Posted - 06/14/2008 : 10:36:53 PM
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| James Berardinelli gave The Mist a glowing review, which I found shocking, but for the most part, while I don't always agree with him, I respect his opinions. If he slams a movie but good, 90% of the time it deserves it. He also had a column on his site which covers (more effectively) some of the stuff I said about Shyamalan. The sad thing is, Night used to be a much better director than he was a writer. If this is any indication, he's starting to tank in the directing area as well. |
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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
Posted - 06/15/2008 : 01:24:09 AM
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Yeah, I don't know any critic I agree with 100% of the time, but Berardinelli's a good one. And unlike, say, Roger Ebert, he somehow manages most of the time to be able to review a movie cogently without giving away spoilers.
Speaking of which, my other favorite Internet critic, Rob Vaux has also weighed in on The Happening. His observation here applies not only to M. Night's latest film, but most of his films period:
"Here's the problem in a nutshell: M. Night Shyamalan moves heaven and earth to create the scariest corridor in the spookiest haunted house in the world. Shadows throw strange and disturbing shapes on the wall, while the creak of every floorboard sends unseen things scuttling across the corners of our vision. We're drawn through the terrifying atmosphere by an irresistible fascination, for at the end of the corridor stands a door, and on the other side lies The Scariest Thing We Will Ever See. What is it? We have to open the door to find out. We inch forward with trembling hands, edging slowly closer. No matter how frightening it may be, it contains the answers to all the nightmares around us: the chilling knowledge that explains why our hearts are pounding so loudly, why our pulses have quickened so unbearably, and why our guts have clenched into such squirming knots. Through sheer force of will, we latch our hands on the doorknob, steeling ourselves for the inevitable gaze into the Gorgon's face beyond. Then with a shriek of hellish intensity, we wrench it open, revealing at last the manifestation of our deepest fears...
"...and it's Big Bird.
"But that's not the joke. The joke is that is even as we stand there yelling, "What the (bleep)?! It's Big Bird!" Shyamalan can't understand for the life of him why we're not scared anymore."
Amen.
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Edited by - zombiewhacker on 06/15/2008 01:24:58 AM |
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Sardu
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1126 Posts |
Posted - 06/15/2008 : 06:18:32 AM
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Actually, if I met Big Bird behind a scary door I'd crap on myself.
"Meeting you makes me want to be a real noodle cook"
--Tampopo |
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Neville
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Spain
1590 Posts |
Posted - 06/15/2008 : 08:02:02 AM
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I've seen the movie. It's a notch over Lady in the water, in the fact that at least this time the premise is interesting, but the execution is botched. Looks like Shyamalan has decided to cut on the atmosphere department and pump up the shock value, probably expecting to gain more adepts this way.
What it feels like is like a slap in the face to those, like me, who expected a return to form, or at least a return to the proven formula of Signs. But without his carefully crafted atmospheres, the flaws in Shyamalan's style, such as the bad dialogue and the awkward humour, are in full display here, and that's not a good thing.
So it's strike one and strike two for Shyamalan. We'll see what he does next time. At least it's not the stinker some critics say, I've got to give Shyamalan that.
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Edited by - Neville on 06/15/2008 08:06:08 AM |
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Ericb
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
648 Posts |
Posted - 06/15/2008 : 09:34:50 AM
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I wonder if M. Night got the idea from this flick:
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0076760/plotsummary
"The alien villain responds by launching an invasion which telepathically drives Earthlings to suicide"
"I reserve the right to look as well as be boring." - Robert Fripp |
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BradH812
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1294 Posts |
Posted - 06/15/2008 : 12:11:30 PM
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Eric, I haven't even clicked on that link, so let me see if my psychic powers are in full force.
Starship Invasions? |
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Ericb
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
648 Posts |
Posted - 06/15/2008 : 12:39:55 PM
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Yes
"You talk to us about heavy artillery. Thank God, we don't have any. It's the lightness of its guns that make the French army what it is." - representative of the French General Staff to the budget commission of the Chamber of Deputies, 1909 |
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Neville
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Spain
1590 Posts |
Posted - 06/15/2008 : 2:43:37 PM
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| Come on, it's not as if Shyamalan's previous movies were entirely original, right? I haven't seen Starship invasions, but I did notice traces of John Whyndham and War of the worlds here and there. |
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BradH812
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1294 Posts |
Posted - 06/15/2008 : 9:08:35 PM
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You haven't seen, Starship Invasions? Neville, my friend, see if you can procure a copy, sit yourself down, and pop open a beer.
On second thought, don't pop open a beer. You may spew it all over your TV as you let out yet another howl at some of the stuff that movie dishes out.
Personally, I saw a lot of War of the Worlds in Signs, but Shyamalan did it better than Spielberg did, in my opinion, and he was willing to admit cribbing from the earlier novel and film. |
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Neville
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Spain
1590 Posts |
Posted - 06/16/2008 : 01:39:53 AM
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| I'll see to that, but chances are the filmis not available in my country. |
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Ericb
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
648 Posts |
Posted - 06/16/2008 : 07:12:13 AM
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The suicide part of Starship Invasions is pretty disturbing and not the kind of thing you'd expect in a junky space opera like that. It's like eating a twinky and finding a hot pepper hidden in the last bite.
"You talk to us about heavy artillery. Thank God, we don't have any. It's the lightness of its guns that make the French army what it is." - representative of the French General Staff to the budget commission of the Chamber of Deputies, 1909 |
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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
Posted - 06/16/2008 : 6:28:27 PM
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The premise for Starship Invasions reminds me a little of this:
[url]http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075930/[/url] |
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hentai_wolf
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
139 Posts |
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