Comments on: Open Forum Friday: M. Night Shyamalan… Genius or One Trick Pony?

By: feral cat

feral cat — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 20:27:47 +0000

Personally I have not enjoyed anything he has done, the sixth sense was OK as popcorn films go, but thereÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s been much better. IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ve seen people calling him a genius and an auteur and while I respect film is subjective, I do wonder if they have really thought about that. I mean there are lots of things that I like, even love that I can take a step back from and release just because I like them does not mean they are works of genius.

IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢m not sure heÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s a hack as thereÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s a loyal mainstream audience for his stuff, but in my opinion his work is no match for the likes of Toshiaki Toyoda, Guillermo del Toro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Darren Aronofsky Ã¢â‚¬Â¦ in fact itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s not even in the same league. As for comparing him to proven auteurs I find the notion nonsense, when you talk about genius Akira Kurosawa, Jules Dassin, Sergio Leone, Sam Peckinpah it becomes ridiculous to try and put M. Night Shyamalan in that league.

Still thatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s just my personal opinion, if people really enjoy his work and feel heÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s gifted in some thatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s just a case of personal taste I guess.

By: CrzyDJM

CrzyDJM — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 19:06:06 +0000

I absolutely LOATHED Sixth Sense, and hated Unbreakable even more (if it was possible)…

Signs was great in my opinion and I thought that my faith in him was finally there (everybody raved about Sixth Sense and I was alot happier with “Stir Of Echoes” that same year)…

I actually enjoyed The Village, although I saw the “twist” coming from 10 miles away…Even that being the case, I enjoyed it…I didn’t see the second twist however about the current day setting (sorry for no spoiler alert)…

Lady In The Water is getting bashed horribly but I’m still curious…We’ll rent it, and that will be about as far as it goes…

Just thought I’d pipe up!

By: Henrik

Henrik — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 02:55:54 +0000

Blast! I will say for the record, that I don’t like 6th sense at all.

By: Henrik

Henrik — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 02:54:34 +0000

Genius. My favourite living director.

Sorry for not elaborating, but I’ve spent WAY too much time (you have no idea!) defending the guy the last 10 days… *Sigh*

Genius.

By: Bassmasta-Baychuk

Bassmasta-Baychuk — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 21:39:15 +0000

Take note, Kevin Smith. (lol)

By: Egotist Mike

Egotist Mike — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 18:18:01 +0000

Shyamalan creates films that are easy to hate. Cynics should stay the hell away from his movies. His movies take a little but of effort. You have to be okay with suspending reality for an hour and half to enjoy his movies. It seems to me that the people who are able to accomplish this, find his movies tremendously charming, fun, and emotionally deep.

I will admit that I was tremendously dissapointed in Lady in the Water. You had Giamatti’s brilliant acting (and wonderful character) thrown off by the completely unconvincing acting from 1-dimensional characters. The lack of depth from the rest of the actors was pretty astounding. It’s tough to blame them, though. Shyamalan’s character in the film was just as bad.

My opinion is that he probably did let his ego get the best of him in Lady in the Water and step in front of the camera a bit too much. Since he is obviously not a gifted actor, he should stick to directing, where I think he has more talent than most of his contempories.

By: themarina

themarina — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 23:44:45 +0000

I will agree that the man has talent but his ego is jynormous. He needs to start leaving it at the door otherwise, he’s only going to hurt himself (and some of the damage has already started). I’m not a huge fan of his to begin with and all of the “controversy” around his newest offering, along with the bad reviews have left a sower taste in my mouth. As far as I’m concerned, his next film should be bloody brilliant or he’s lost me for good. I don’t care how talented he is.

I’m sure there are hundreds of up and commers who are just as talented, if not more, than he is – WITHOUT the ego. I could care less if this was his last film. He’s totally lost me.

By: Bassmasta-Baychuk

Bassmasta-Baychuk — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 22:35:56 +0000

“I love how he did the knife stabbing part.”

The best stabbing scene ever was in “House of a 1000 Corspes”, bar none!

By: Sean

Sean — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 18:10:13 +0000

Yeah I guess people felt the twist invalidated the entire movie, kind of like Vanilla Sky or something. It was the first Shyamalan movie where the supernatural turned out to be natural.

And yeah there were some things in The Village that were just screaming to be parodied… the retard and the blind girl for example. But there are still some awesome scenes in it. I love how he did the knife stabbing part.

By: Goon

Goon — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 17:38:18 +0000

i’m not saying the ‘twist’ was mindblowing, but i dont get why the Village twist bothers people so much… i thought the general idea of a handful of rich people starting their own colony in a remote area, where they developed a fake accent and retarded mind control methods, interesting… with the Village i think the previews got everyone all worked up in a frenzy, they were obsessed over the things in the woods…

and again… ignored the movie, waiting for the twist… i think a lot of people were a lot more mad that it was so simple and the monsters werent real, then they were that it turned out they were livign in present day

i’m not even suggesting the movie is without its serious flaws, i just seriously disagree with the characterization of it as a ‘trainwreck’, and yes, i put part of the blame on viewers who have conditioned themselves to view his movies a certain way

By: Boooo.

Boooo. — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 16:27:55 +0000

The guy is a fucking hack. His technical “talent” hardly makes up for his condescension and moronic storytelling methods. The Sixth Sense was okay, but it was all downhill after that… culminating in the The Village, which was hilariously horrible. The best(worst) part was the amatuerish (that’s putting it lightly) use of slow motion. And the twist… oh god, the whole story even. I’m actually hoping Lady in the Water is worse, which it seems like it probably is (if we can believe the critics). I’m sneakin’ into that one and am fully prepared to enjoy a trainwreck.

By: Jay C.

Jay C. — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 15:39:11 +0000

Shyamalan is one of those few directors that releases films that are, at least in my eyes, looked at as ‘events’. The style is so distinct, and you know something interesting will be brought to the table. The same goes for Spielberg, Wes Anderson, Martin Scorsese, and so on. This doesn’t necissarily mean that Shyamalan is on par with those directors.

I really liked Signs. Watching that in the theatre was a pretty exciting experience and garnered the hugest audience reaction i’ve ever seen in terms of screams and scares. I didn’t think The Village was as bad as everyone made it out to be. I think Goon is right, everyone sits there waiting for the ending and trying to figure it all out, ignoring the actual film in the process.

Ego aside, i’ve yet to hate one of his films, and i’m looking forward to seeing Lady In The Water.