Special Movie Debate: M. Night Shyamalan

[Reed Rothchild | 9,547]

[Gloves | 11,790]

I've only seen Signs and The Village. I didn't like the former and I really liked the latter.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,547]

2 minutes ago, Gloves said:

I've only seen Signs and The Village. I didn't like the former and I really liked the latter.

Wait, you also haven't seen The Sixth Sense?

We need some sort of horror movie club 

[Gloves | 11,790]

4 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Wait, you also haven't seen The Sixth Sense?

We need some sort of horror movie club 

Lol yeah I've never seen it. I don't tend to watch things that have been spoiled for me, and you can imagine how that might have been one of those back in the day. 

[Tulpa | 3,510]

3 minutes ago, Gloves said:

Lol yeah I've never seen it. I don't tend to watch things that have been spoiled for me, and you can imagine how that might have been one of those back in the day. 

Vader's Luke's father, Kevin Spacey is Keyser Soze, and Rosebud's the name of Orson's sled.

Now you don't have to watch any movies ever again.

[doner24 | 1,196]

I’ve seen all the movies from The Sixth Sense through The Happening. Like most of them with The Sixth Sense the fave, and The Happening the worst. Really want to watch Split and Glass soon. 

[fox | 1,667]

1 hour ago, doner24 said:

I’ve seen all the movies from The Sixth Sense through The Happening. Like most of them with The Sixth Sense the fave, and The Happening the worst. Really want to watch Split and Glass soon. 

I’m in the same boat.  Started out really strong with Sixth Sense and Unbreakable and just progressively got worse.

Final straw was The Happening which was sold as this super violent the kids gloves are coming off R rated horror flick and turned into a huge joke.  Got tired of the hype and misdirection, for such undercooked flicks.

I do prob need to see Split and Glass at some point

Edited November 12, 2023 by fox

[RH | 4,915]

He went down hill fast in my book but The Village was the fluke of the list of what I’d seen.  I enjoyed it but I had an expectation of what that twist would be.

I’m actually not sure he’s as good of a director as we thought he was for his first couple of movies that were big.  Once you know that his “thing” is a shocking, unexpected reveal it colors all the movies you see. It’s what he does. So when you’re always waiting for the revelation bomb to drop, it’s just not that exciting.

[nrslam | 476]

I've generally enjoyed them, but by their very nature there's no reason to see them more than once.

[Sumez | 2,966]

The only movie of his I've seen that I thought was enjoyable was The Sixth Sense, but I probably need to rewatch it.

Of his more recent movies, I recall Split getting a moderate bit of praise, and while it did have some enjoyable parts (and fortunately didn't rely on any stupid twists), it was overall extremely shlocky.

I know I've seen Lady in the Water, but I remember nothing from it outside of it being incredibly bad.

At least he's making the movies he wants to make, rather than the typical Hollywood boardroom jank we're seeing so much of these days, which is always an admirable trait, even if he's consistently kinda bad.
It's sort of the same vibe I'm getting from the Wachowskis - they are always making interesting movies that feel like they should be good, they just doesn't seem to be able to make them good - but I respect them for trying.

Edited November 13, 2023 by Sumez

[Mega Tank | 964]

Signs, Split, Glass are up there, but I think Knock at the Cabin has to be my new favorite.

 

[Mega Tank | 964]

On 11/12/2023 at 7:08 PM, RH said:

I’m actually not sure he’s as good of a director as we thought he was for his first couple of movies that were big.  Once you know that his “thing” is a shocking, unexpected reveal it colors all the movies you see. It’s what he does. So when you’re always waiting for the revelation bomb to drop, it’s just not that exciting.

Maybe you should watch Knock at the Cabin

Edited November 14, 2023 by Mega Tank

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

15 hours ago, Gloves said:

I've only seen Signs and The Village. I didn't like the former and I really liked the latter.

I saw Signs in the theater when it came out because a friend of mine wanted to see it. It wasn't great. I've seen The Sixth Sense too, but outside of the twist at the end, I don't remember the rest of the movie being all that memorable.

[Tulpa | 3,510]

4 hours ago, Sumez said:

The only movie of his I've seen that I thought was enjoyable was The Sixth Sense, but I probably need to rewatch it.

 

It's pretty plodding and slow, which I think a lot of people forget when the twist occurs and throws them. But knowing the twist in advance, you might have fun seeing the clues here and there. 

I get admiring him for being different, and he gets points for that, but it still doesn't make the bad films any better. He was also pretty good at randomly ratcheting up tension out of nowhere in a few of his movies, but it was kind of inconsistently implemented. And somewhere along the line he stopped doing that.

Edited November 13, 2023 by Tulpa

[RH | 4,915]

3 hours ago, Mega Tank said:

Maybe you should watch Cabin in the Woods.

I honestly don't know if this is a joke or not because I've stopped paying attention to his films as they've come out for years.  I do know that when I gave up on wanting to see them right away in theaters, I'd wait for reviews from the media and viewers.  The last I saw was Lady in the Water and, I think, from their reviews were poor so I never paid any attention to his career after that.

But still, I have nothing against the guy.  If he's made a good film since then, I'm not opposed to watching a newer title of his.  He definitely keeps getting investor cash to make his movies, so someone keeps watching them.

[TDIRunner | 2,742]

I've only seen Signs and The Sixth Sense.  I didn't really care for The Sixth Senses.  I enjoyed the ending to Signs, but I didn't feel it was worth watching the rest of the movie just for the ending.  I haven't really had much of a desire to watch anything else from the list.  

[Mega Tank | 964]

17 minutes ago, RH said:

I honestly don't know if this is a joke or not because I've stopped paying attention to his films as they've come out for years.  I do know that when I gave up on wanting to see them right away in theaters, I'd wait for reviews from the media and viewers.  The last I saw was Lady in the Water and, I think, from their reviews were poor so I never paid any attention to his career after that.

But still, I have nothing against the guy.  If he's made a good film since then, I'm not opposed to watching a newer title of his.  He definitely keeps getting investor cash to make his movies, so someone keeps watching them.

Can't dive into details, but give it a chance.

[Kguillemette | 1,545]

Only seen 2. Not my cup of tea.

[Sumez | 2,966]

1 hour ago, RH said:

honestly don't know if this is a joke or not because I've stopped paying attention to his films as they've come out for years.  I do know that when I gave up on wanting to see them right away in theaters, I'd wait for reviews from the media and viewers. 

I don't know if Mega accidentally typed the wrong title instead of Knock at the Cabin? 

But Cabin in the Woods is not a shyamalan movie, and it's not like one at all. It might tangentially resemble one due to the "things aren't like they seem on the surface" approach, but it's a parody of that rather than a pure implementation, and the "twist" is revealed only a few minutes into the movie

[Reed Rothchild | 9,547]

1. The Sixth Sense
2. Unbreakable
3. The Visit
4. Signs
5. The Village
6. Glass
7. Old
8. Knock at the Cabin
9. The Happening

Most of them qualify as a sort of guilty pleasure, at worst.

[doner24 | 1,196]

1. The Sixth Sense
2. Unbreakable
3. The Village
4. Signs
5. Lady in the Water
6. The Happening

Although the twist in The Village is kind of lame, the atmosphere of the movie is pretty cool. 

[Brickman | 3,993]

Lady in the Water was where I gave up on him. That movie was awful.

I did enjoy The Sixth Sense, The Village and Unbreakable though. I’ve heard Split is good but I’m guessing that’s because the cast probably carry the movie.

I think he is an average director but RH said it best. He seemed like a better director than I feel like he actually is. He’s now painted himself into a corner with the whole twist angle that it’s probably hard for him to do anything else. 

[Tulpa | 3,510]

33 minutes ago, doner24 said:

Although the twist in The Village is kind of lame, the atmosphere of the movie is pretty cool. 

Yeah, that was one where he could really twist the suspense up, just by having a kid stand on a stump at night.

I remember when that movie was released and some dude on a forum I used to frequent went on a huge multi paragraph  rant, basically saying "I WANTED TO SEE MONSTERS BLOWN AWAY BY MUSKETS, NOT AN IMA TRICKZ U MOVIE!!! FU M. NIGHT RAMALAMADINGDONGYOURNAMEISWEIRDANDFOREIGN!!!! "

Edited November 13, 2023 by Tulpa

[Sumez | 2,966]

4 hours ago, Brickman said:

I’ve heard Split is good but I’m guessing that’s because the cast probably carry the movie.

You're pretty much watching it just to see James McAvoy hamming it up! 

The actual story is kinda embarrassing. 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,547]

Funnily enough I've seen Glass but not Split.

It's one of those movies where everyone makes the worst choice possible at every turn.