M. Night Shyamalan's THE VILLAGE

[jamesmaya]

This premiered yesterday, I think. Has anyone seen it?

[nukevor]

I saw a sneak preview last Thursday. For the most part, I liked it. There's a flash of "Signs" in this movie (not just with Mr. Phoenix) but it doesnt completely overwhelm. The female lead is great, she's the daughter of Ron Howard. The best thing about "The Village" is that once the film is over, you have more questions than answers, more than any other of M Night's films combined. Of course, there are lots of great WTF?! moments...in other words, a perfect date movie!

[Jimbo]

I saw it last night, overall thumbs down. It's hard to talk about a Shyamalan film for fear of giving something away, but I'll just say that I wasn't at all surprised at the way things ended up. Some good acting by a great cast, Ron Howard's daughter gives a terrific debut performance. Nice moody cinematography. A few scary jolts, but much of the dialog is very silly ("What about the ceremony of the meat?"), not to mention contorted to preserve the plot. Watch for Shyamalan in a sly cameo that would do Hitchcock proud.

[Scott Wheeler]

It was tight and well thought out as usual. It wasn't nearly as rich a ride though as was The Sixth Sense or Unbreakable. But it wasn't fatally flawed like Signs. Good movie but not great.

[RDK]

I know I'm in the minority about him, but I have yet to see a Shyamalan film that I've really liked. From the advance word I've heard re: Village, I ain't rushing out to see it...

[Evan L]

I agree RDK. They're way too confusing for me. Sixth Sense was OK, but that's it.

I guessed the ending of that one half way through, BTW.

Evan

[JohnG]

This new one has had a great ad campaign. It really seems to be a movie you have to see. Too bad if the hype isn't worth the $9.25.

I liked both The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. Thought Signs was too Twilight Zone been there done that.

[Dave D]

A few scary jolts, but much of the dialog is very silly ("What about the ceremony of the meat?")
:laugh: :laugh:
Sounds Monty Python-ish!

[Totti]

:laugh: :laugh:
Sounds Monty Python-ish!

You got that right!!! All this guy's movies are like a Hitchcock parody a la Monthy Python.
Sometimes I got no choice but to painfully waste a couple of hours of my time on this kind of movies because of my kids. The sixth sense was so silly and predictable even my kids figured it out on the beginning, Signs, and now this.
I tell my kids all people should get together and send the movie studios a payment every month so they won't have to put out movies like this anymore and everybody would be happy, studios would make the money so desperately seem to need and I wouldn't have to sit thru bad acting, stupid plots and Bruce Willys, Dome More, Broad Pit, Chow Chow Fat..........

[RDK]

I tell my kids all people should get together and send the movie studios a payment every month so they won't have to put out movies like this anymore and everybody would be happy, studios would make the money so desperately seem to need and I wouldn't have to sit thru bad acting, stupid plots and Bruce Willys, Dome More, Broad Pit, Chow Chow Fat..........

No need to send money. Just don't pay to see the stuff you don't wish to see... :rolleyes:

[d.r.cook]

M. Night's shaping up as a one-trick pony who's trick is not all that great.

Sigorney Weaver/William Hurt=faux legitimacy (Her role could've been handled with ease by a half-decent summer stock actor)

But of course, as long as he opens with blockbuster numbers (as he has with this), he will be bankrolled to "do what he does."

But I can't say Manchu. Cand. was any better.

Hooray for Hollywood.

[Totti]

No need to send money. Just don't pay to see the stuff you don't wish to see... :rolleyes:
You didn't get me, my kids make me go see all this crap with them!!!!!!!
I do need to send the money :cry:

[GregM]

One of the worst movies I've ever seen. Terrible acting. Aweful plot. Writing so bad that the dialogue was painful. The audience was actually laughing in deadly serious scenes because the writing was amateur-hour. Dull imagery gussied up to provide shock value. But the worst by far was the overt political overtone. I may as well have watched F911, as far as that goes.

The only thing I liked was Hilary Hahn's violin in the soundtrack, but the movie theater had a sound system that sounded like crap and the cell phones going off in the crowd didn't help. Wish I stayed home.

[Dave D]

Geez. I really like M. Night's stuff, but this sounds wretched.

[MikePh]

http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/ebert_reviews/2004/07/073006.html

I read Roger Ebert's review the other day. Maybe the funniest review ever... :laugh:

[Totti]

Eventually the secret of Those, etc., is revealed. To call it an anticlimax would be an insult not only to climaxes but to prefixes. It's a crummy secret, about one step up the ladder of narrative originality from It Was All a Dream. It's so witless, in fact, that when we do discover the secret, we want to rewind the film so we don't know the secret anymore.

And then keep on rewinding, and rewinding, until we're back at the beginning, and can get up from our seats and walk backward out of the theater and go down the up escalator and watch the money spring from the cash register into our pockets.



Jeez!! This is sooo funny!!!!!!

[GregM]

That's exactly how I felt! Ebert nailed it.

[MikePh]

Haven't seen it, but it seems that "those they do not speak of" are mentioned quite a bit in the movie...Ironic, don't you think?

[thegage]

I think that "Unbreakable" is a minor classic, but this one really stank. It reminded me of the type of plots we wrote in grade school fiction class because we thought they were "clever", when in fact they were merely the product of young, inexperienced minds.

John K.

[JohnG]

I think that "Unbreakable" is a minor classic, but this one really stank. It reminded me of the type of plots we wrote in grade school fiction class because we thought they were "clever", when in fact they were merely the product of young, inexperienced minds.

John K.


Yep, count me in also as one who got "Unbreakable". It is a slow movie that builds up to an ending that at first may not seem revelatory but it actually is...the comic book superhero world placed into real life was brilliant....hadn't been done before.


btw...the trailer for Unbreakable is one of the best ever done.