Jaymole

I'm looking at the ratings I gave his films, and I must say I have never seen such a perfect downward spiral from any director over a 5 film span (at least in terms of what I feel they rate):


Sixth Sense ***1/2
Unbreakable ***
Signs **1/2
Village, The **
Lady in the Water *

I was one of M. Night's biggest admirers after Unbreakable, but he really needs to start rethinking the choices he makes in material. I still think he is a very talented director, I just think he needs to make some films based on scripts other than his own.

madcougar

Any idea who's playing Raj, Dwayne and Rerun? I hope Dee and Shirley are going to be in this too.

madcougar

From the Variety story: Shyamalan told Daily Variety he expects to cast a big male star for the lead.

I bet this lunatic is referring to himself!

ChefWinduAZ

Actually he has made 7 films. The first two were 'Praying With Anger' and 'Wide Awake'. Both of which bombed.

HE Pennypacker

You forget Night's first studio film, Wide Awake. No twist in that and absolutely nothing supernatural to it. I suggest those who keep calling Night a "one-trick pony" watch that film. So that's one sans twist. Next, Signs. What is the twist in this film? What you refer to is not a twist in any sense of the word. People used to call it a "revelation," but now I'm not even sure about that. Night doesn't lead us to believe one thing only to pull the rug from under us later on. There were no surprises. Certain events that occurred in the past impacted the future, that's about it. The way Night structured this film, where everything “comes together” at the end is what leads many to say there is a twist…I’m guessing. Saying there is a twist in Signs is the equivalent of saying there is a twist in Magnolia. Finally, Lady in the Water didn't have a twist. That makes three films without a twist.

As far as I'm concerned, he's batting 4.5/6 (Signs was only half-way decent). But let's say he is batting 2/5, those two films are enough to convince many people of Night's prowess behind the camera. Say what you want about his writing (which is indeed iffy), but even the rather crappy Lady in the Water had moments of greatness. For that reason I find your "with LITW being on par with anything Uwe Bol has ever done" comment rather mystifying. Even without The Sixth Sense on his résumé, Night shouldn't be forgotten due to the skill he showed in his presentation of Unbreakable. Mark Millar even called it the greatest superhero film ever made, that's gotta say something. My comments were basically in response to people who have given up on him completely. He’s shown greatness before, isn’t it just a matter of time before he shows it again?

I don't know, Night is hardly flawless, but it just seems to me people (not you, in general) dissect his films more closely than other filmmakers out there. There's nothing wrong in the occasional nitpick, but I doubt many other films would hold up when scrutinized to this degree either.

Coral

With M. Night's ego, there's a chance of that being the case.

Supermallet

There are many examples of artists who did something great once (and I do mean once, The Sixth Sense is a terribly overrated film) and never did anything great again. Most of those artists make mediocre films. Shyamalan has passed beyond that and made some awful films.

You think his films get dissected more than other filmmakers out there, and he's the only filmmaker that gets a bad rap? Do a quick search in movie talk for Quentin Tarantino, George Lucas, and Kevin Smith, among others.

calhoun07

Surely you mean...

Abob Teff

SPOILER WARNING! (Not that much damage can be done at this point.) I'd have to second the motion that the "twist" in SIGNS is that there is no twist. The events of the film simply happen for no reason. The whole world is invaded so that a man who lost his faith can regain his faith and DO NOTHING WITH IT?

A much better ending would have been if once the events unfolded, everything spirals back and we find out that it is not Mel's wife pinned against the tree dying in the accident, but it is actually him dying, and the events in the film are his reconciliation to re-accept his faith before he dies so that he may go on to heaven. Signs was a well made movie, but the fact that it had no point really kicked it to the curb.

I don't get the negatives on the Village -- I thought it was one of the stronger films. The clues were pretty well placed (I think a good mystery is not one where you simply put together the jigsaw, but have a gut feeling and have to re-examine it afterwards to figure out your suspicions) and the story was relevant and intriguing.

calhoun07

I always thought Signs was meant to be taken as a dream/allegory. There are plenty of clues that the whole alien invasion thing wasn't actually happening, but was allegorical or a dream of some sort.

Goldblum

TomOpus

I'm still willing to give Night's movies a fair shake. For the record I liked Lady in the Water more than The Village... probably due to lowered expectations.

PopcornTreeCt

BREAKING NEWS!

Mark Wahlberg is HAPPENING!

That is all.

chris_sc77

I gotta say I never thought I'd be excited for another M. Night Shyamalan film after the Lady in the Water (even the thought of that "film" disgusts me, one of THE WORST films I have ever seen and I dont use phrase lightly), But the happening has me very excited. Great Cast ( Mark Wahlberg, John Leguizamo, and Zooey Deschanel ), and an R rating has got me able to forgive him for LITW. The title is kinda silly but the poster is pretty effective:

Seantn

I actually didn't even pick up on the tagline until reading it a few times to realize that it's referring to his other films.
----------

We've sensed it.

We've seen the signs

Now it's happening

riotinmyskull

i'm getting a "close encounters" vibe from the poster

mikelowry

The poster looks creepy and an effective teaser material. I look forward that Shyamalan hits the spot this time after the disappointing Lady in the Water and The Village.

dcprules

I do like that poster. Are you sure it's gonna be rated R (that's would be quite a change from Shyamalan)?

After Lady in the Water (a movie I didn't like at all, though I absolutely adore James Newton Howard's score for the movie), I'm more than up for a good new Shyamalan film.

Brack

Boy, I can't wait for some lame twist, like it's all a virtual reality game or some nonsense.

The Bus

Signs is one of my favorite movies.

Lady in the Water was pretty bad, but it wasn't awful. I enjoyed it while I was watching it although I doubt I will want to see it again. The Village I enjoyed eventhough the "twist" was told to me beforehand.

I'll still see this. I hated Unbreakable and Shyamalan redeemed himself with Signs. If this movie is on par with Lady in the Water then I will probably not rush to see the next movie he has.

One thing I love is that he continues to film in the Philly area.

DVDho78DTS

Looking forward to this. I've enjoyed all his films even though I was letdown tremendously by The Village, yet can still appreciate the social commentary and of course the cinematography that comes with it.

Also, I don't see his name in the cast so that is a welcome change.

Tarantino

I like his movies. I look forward to an R rated one.

= J

The Bus

He needs to keep it to a minor cameo: someone with 1 or 2 lines, at most.

CKMorpheus

I don't care what people say, I love Shyamalan. Lady in the Water was a disappointment, but my little sister sure loved it, so I think we're not the correct demographic.

Looking forward to this, interesting cast. Rated R? Let's hope for a topless Zooey.

Supermallet

If he got Zooey Deschanel naked, I'd forgive him for everything.