E Unit

This is amusing. Still don't know if film school can help him any. I did see Devil, and good lord was that a waste of time. Still not as much a waste of time as The Happening.

http://mnightschool.org/

http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04...hool/?hpt=Sbin


Fans campaign to send M. Night Shyamalan to film school
If you've been disappointed with the movies M. Night Shyamalan has turned out ever since his 1999 blockbuster "The Sixth Sense," you're not alone. Three former fans have launched a campaign to send the Razzie winner back to film school.

According to PopEater, author/copywriter Chris Baker and his two pals are trying to raise $150,000 to help Shyamalan become a better filmmaker. Baker got the idea when he saw a trailer for "Devil" last year and the audience laughed at the phrase "From the mind of M. Night Shyamalan."

After learning that Shyamalan was planning to make the futuristic thriller "1000 A.E." with Will and Jaden Smith, Baker and his buddies launched M. Night School, a website where fellow concerned fans can donate funds to help the writer/director finesse his craft.

"If we all donate just one dollar, we can send M. Night back to NYU so he gets the help we all so desperately need," reads the site, which has raised approximately $540 thus far.

The trio hope to present Shyamalan with a giant check, but if he should refuse it, they will set up a scholarship in his name, hold a film festival, and send the winner to NYU.

"Together we can write a better ending to this story than M. Night could ever dream of — let alone capture on film," reads a statement on the site.

Baker acknowledges that Shyamalan "will probably be hurt" by the campaign, but, he adds, "his movies do make money, for better or for worse, which is kind of the irony of the whole thing."

Groucho

He's actually not a bad film maker, he's just got an enormous ego and a complete lack of introspection when it comes to his own work.

GenPion

I wonder if these guys ever went to film school themselves. How would this author Chris Baker feel is someone started a campaign to send him back to school to improve his writing skills? This is juvenile and beyond ridiculous.

I'm reminded of the campaign to have Weezer break up. That's a band that I personally don't feel has made a great album in many years and yet I would never donate to support such a proposition. These campaigns are vile internet sensations now.

MrSmearkase

Agreed.

Michael Corvin

BTW, did he even have anything to do with Devil? I thought they just slapped his name on there as a, "selling point."

Serious Groucho?

At any rate, I do agree with this. He has talent, but his ego gets in the way of being truly great. That and horrendous scripts.

BambooLounge

Oh please, it is a different way to mock those that are very mockable. I find this "campaign" a hell of a lot funnier than that college humor video making fun of M. Night.

And what's the worst that happens? These clowns actually raise $150,000 and set up a scholarship for someone to go to film school as I doubt M. Night would even acknowledge, let alone accept the scholarship offer.

Final verdict: amusing and harmless

rexinnih

Actually it would be cool if he did accept and go to film school. First day he should stand up and say, "Without film school I directed one of the highest grossing movies of all time setting me up to make millions and millions through directing other movies that were critically panned and crucified by anonymous internet geeks with nothing better to do. So while you sit here making movies about gay cowboys eating pudding, I lived your dream." Follow this up with a brown moon and walk out the door.

Groucho

Except he did go to film school (NYU).

islandclaws

Sort of like Shyamalan's output over the last decade...

It's a joke, just like his movies. I don't expect him to take the offer seriously, but I hope it catches his attention and maybe forces him to take a closer look at his filmmaking techniques.

Dragon Tattoo

Film school couldn't help him make a palatable movie, anyway. Shyamalan's beyond help.

Hokeyboy

Internet Nobodies on the Rampage!!

God bless their widdle, talentless, insignificant hearts.

SuckaMC

The only thing that annoys me about this is that folks like myself who actually try to make film projects have to watch money get thrown at a bizarre and worthless cause.... instead of coming to me and helping my budget

www.thechangebegins.com

shameless plug above.

GenPion

I disagree with your assessment on Shyamalan's film-making abilities and the output he has had with his career. As many are surely aware on this forum, I have remained a fan and supporter of his efforts despite the harsh critical reception he has received in recent years.

WallyOPD

Why would this do what many years of valid criticism from much more reputable sources has not?

Pizza

Bunch of asses. I may not have liked all of Shyamalan's movies, but I've enjoyed most of them. He suffers from the curse of making his greatest film early in his career, ala Orson Welles. He's a talented filmmaker who has a hard time to take a few steps back to look at his work constructively, just like most directors. He's taken a few risks and they didn't pay off.

inri222

I'd like to see him direct a movie based on a screenplay that is not his and see what he could do with it.

Fist of Doom

Someone should start a fund to build a time-travel machine. Then we can send these guys back to 2006, when bitching about M. Night was actually somewhat fresh and original.

Numanoid

M. Night is the last director that needs film school. He is quite intelligent and can direct very well. There are a thousand worse directors out there.

Michael Bay, for instance, doesn't seem to understand at all the language of film. He just solves all his problems with quick editing, canted angles, or shots against a giant sun (without regard to where the sun would actually be in the given scene).

Groucho

Well said. Shyamalan would make for a very good "studio director" I think.

Timber

Writing is chief among his problems. His directing is fine, although I find it a bit boring.

CRM114

Exactly. His problem is with his poor storytelling skills (at least the last few) and the inane scripts. The Happening probably could have been OK if he hadn't done Signs. It was almost the same movie. The Village was very clever and I somewhat enjoyed it. His first two were pretty good. Lady in the Water? Ouch. That's where you just need to restrain yourself and say this story is really bad and even if I think it's good, it's just not going to translate to a film under two hours.

Stop writing M. Night. Give directing a try. Make a film with a critical eye on the story and all the details of it. I hear Rendezvouz with Rama needs a director.

Spottedfeather

Other than The Happening, he hasn't made a movie that was any good. With Sixth Sense, you could see the ending coming a mile away. The entire movie was extremely boring and predictable. The Village looked good but the acting was horrible, save Donald Sutherland. Signs was just stupid and totally unoriginal. He wasn't even trying. Lady In The Water may have been a good movie if done by anyone else, but under his direction, it was just a horrible mess. The Happening, on the other hand, while not especially exciting, kept you interested. I, for one, didn't know what was causing people to kill themselves until the characters started figuring it out.

JayDerek

It's opposite day apparently!

PopcornTreeCt

BambooLounge

Is that the same guy who bad mouthed Lumet in the RIP thread..."Other than The Wiz..."?