It looks like another swing and a miss for writer/director M. Night Shyamalan with his latest endeavour, “The Happening.” wTwNjzVFVU
I think Shyamalan peaked at Sixth Sense (although I didn’t mind Unbreakable) and this doesn’t bode will for the upcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender live action movie based on the hit Nickelodean TV series which Shyamalan is bringing to the big screen.
One bit (and it’s a tiny bit) of silver lining is that an Avatar movie wouldn’t need some stupid and outlandish twist that Shyamalan has been relying on to drive all his movies.
Avatar’s story is straightforward and maybe that’s precisely what Shyamalan needs to do to get out of his rut: Enough with the failed story twists! Just tell a freakin’ straightforward story!
Story twists aren’t necessarily a bad thing. They work but not when they’re overused and are no longer fresh. Falling back on them film after film even after they’ve long stopped working, leaving audiences shaking their heads when the curtain comes down should be a pretty big freakin’ signal that it’s time to try something different.
So Mr. Shyamalan, for the love of Avatar, PLEASE try a new formula because yours is way passed its ‘best before’ date.
The Happening trailer (apparently the best thing about the movie :-P) :
Tags: avatar, last air bender, shyamalan, the happening
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I liked breakable too. Watched the DVD. There was an outtake that they didn’t put into the movie which I thought was a shame. It was brilliant. After a football game it would seem, Bruce Willis is in the locker/fitness room loading up free weights, looks like 400pounds; something you’d see an olympic weight lifter put on. Near by the college kids are celebrating and pretty much ignoring him. He gets on the bench and does two presses. Cut back to the college kids. They’re looking stunned because maaaaybe one of them could come close to doing the same. Cut back to Bruce, gives his typical wry smile and exits stage left. That was funny. Security guard got some cred now.
Too often I’ve seen the trailers portray a totally different movie than the movie itself. Sometimes it didn’t matter (Air America) because the movie was still pretty good but often the trailer is far better then the final product (I can’t remember the bad movies.)
I thought there was quite a few good things in Unbreakable.
I like the way the movie showed how superheroes could possibly be in the right places at just the right time by way of the train station scene where Bruce Willis’ character picks up these impressions from the busy commuters and travelers around him. And despite that ability, the film also showed that superheroes don’t always get there in the knick of time.
The bench press scene was an outtake? That’s strange because I seem to recall seeing it as part of the film when I first saw Unbreakable. Perhaps I watched an outtakes featurette and my memory sewed it into the continuity of the film…
Come to think of it, I think they replaced the stadium bench press scene with the basement bench press scene, where the son loads up the weights with whatever he could find, then runs outs of things to use.
The twist in Unbreakable worked, IMO. It wasn’t outlandish or as predictable as the twist of The Village, or as ridiculous as the one in Signs. It made perfect sense.
I should rent Unbreakable again.