I'll say this for M. Night. Everybody's got an opinion about him, so he must have done something right.
The Last Airbender ranks a 9% on Rotten Tomatoes right now. Seven percent if you only look at the top critics. That's fucking awful.
What happened to that guy? I went through Boxoffice Mojo yesterday movie by movie to see how his films have bombed, and they actually haven't. Each film has made money, although each less than the one before, and mostly overseas.
I forgot to look up The Lady in the Water, though, because does anybody remember that movie?
Anyhow, I was in the grocery story just now at the checkout counter, and this was the conversation going when I got there.
BAGGER: Naw, I liked The Village.
CLERK: And Signs. Signs was good.
BAGGER: Signals?
CLERK: No SIGNS. Signs was good.
BAGGER: Yeah it was okay I guess.
CUSTOMER: I gotta disagree. I loved The Sixth Sense. That was the only good movie he ever did.
BAGGER: Yeah that was before he started putting himself in all his films. Sixth Sense was good, though.
ME: And Unbreakable. Unbreakable was an amazing film.
BAGGER: I heard they're making a sequel.
ME: To Unbreakable?
BAGGER: Yeah.
ME: That's a terrible idea. They need to leave good stuff good and not screw it up. He just seems to be getting worse.
BAGGER: For real. You want another bag?
He may be getting worse, but I'll say this for him: That's four people at a grocery store who were able to carry on a conversation in which we mentioned four of his films, and I think it's obvious the conversation began because he's got a new one out today. So I think as long as people still have opinions about the man, he'll still draw the curious into the theater.
Hi Emily,
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely a M. Night fan. His strength is(was)his use of quiet moments to create atmosphere and suspense, especially in the films The Sixth Sense and Signs.
Nowadays most thrillers and horror films never really take the time to create a sense of dread, which I feel is the key for producing real goosebumps.
Check out Lake Mungo for a film that I think a young M. Night would enjoy.
The problem I have with Mr. "Night" is not so much his intentions, which I think are sound, but his execution. All of his films seem to have really good ideas driving them but something gets horribly lost along the way. I fear he possibly believed far too much of his press early on, which hailed him as the "next Spielberg" and all that rot and he has nothing but "yes men" around him who tell him things like, "Oh yes 'Night' this first draft is totally film-able, go for it, second drafts are for amateurs!"
ReplyDeleteCall it the George Lucas Curse. Surround yourself with peons who think you're God so there can never be a dissenting voice in the room. Next thing you know you have a field full of Gunguns saying things like "whosa are yousa?"
Big trouble.
Sixth Sense-Awesome and re watchable
ReplyDeleteUnbreakable-Awesome and re watchable
Signs-Good, but really flawed
The Village-Underrated, but only good the first time
Lady in the Water-Never watched it
The Happening-Quite possibly the worst studio movie I have ever seen. And I've seen a lot of them