The Bullseye Spotlight 4.07.07: M. Night Shyamalan
Posted by Scotty Flamingo on 04.07.2007
A positive column that will probably piss off more people than usual…
Do you have a certain movie, show, or celebrity that you love, but you don't see much praise about? We're not talking The Shawshank Redemption here, everyone loves that. This column is about those things that seem to be unfairly criticized or forgotten completely. This is The Spotlight.
Greetings readers! As promised last week, in celebration of April Fool's Day, we will be going into the Bizarro World and I will be doing columns that are the complete opposite of The Bullseye!
What's that? That means they'll be entertaining... You son of a….
So here's the deal. Usually I bash something that I think is overrated or just doesn't get enough criticism. For the month of April, I'm going the other way. I'm going to praise films, shows, and celebrities that I feel don't get enough good will from the community. However, I'm sure there will be the usual amount of controversy and I might as well stir up the waters from the get go. But first, let's get some reader feedback.
The Ricochet
Apparently, the Phantom Zone has an internet service provider as I got some mail from General Zod.
"Pretty good column this week, man.
Even though I'm a huge Dexter fan, I should point out that Dexter falls under the "Cop" sub-genre of forensics. He is after all, a blood-splatter expert...he works for the cops...oh, and he just happens to be a serial killer. But still...any mention of Dexter deserves high praise from me.
Now, KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!
Your eventual ruler and future dictator of Planet Houston,
ZOD"
Good point General. I would say that it is a little less of a cop show than something like The Shield though, as much of the show focuses on Dexter's life as a killer and his background. However, there is usually a weekly case that he is working on, so for that, the show gets the cop label. Now please don't sick Non on me.
Moving right along and keeping with the opposite theme, here's a segment that in the typical Eye is just a quick gripe. But here on The Spotlight, will be a quick kudos.
The Snapshot
This week's Snapshot is on The Incredible Hulk. With this week's news that Hulk will get a new look, the new revision/remake/ sequel/whatever to the Ang Lee mess of a movie looks to be starting off good by going in a totally different direction. I thought that Lee's Hulk really dropped the ball and there is a lot of potential for a great movie to be made with the Hulk. I thought Lee's film hit it in a few scenes (most notably the desert scene where Hulk fights the tanks), but the rest was a mess.
Rumor has it that the Abomination will be the villain in this one. I kind of wish that'd leave out a villain for the first movie since the Hulk is kind of his own worst enemy and doesn't really need a villain as much as say, Spider-Man. Use the first movie to focus on Banner's struggles with the Hulk. Then bring in Abomination in the second one to show someone who abuses his powers rather than takes responsibility. Banner realizes that he needs Hulk sometimes and a kickass fight wraps up the movie.
And now, it is time for the main event!
M. Night Shamalan
M. Night Shaymalan burst out of nowhere in 1999 with The Sixth Sense. What was a seemingly typical supernatural thriller exploded into one of the biggest films of all time with heavy word of mouth about its twist ending. I can remember going to see it on a Saturday afternoon. I had heard good reviews, but didn't really expect much. I didn't even see the twist coming and it knocked me on my ass. Suddenly Shymalan was the hottest write/director in Hollywood.
A year later, Shamalama released Unbreakable to positive reviews. However, the box office was not nearly as hot as it had been for Sixth Sense. This time Shymalann took on the superhero genre. I love this film. I think that it is the best comic book movie of all time even though it doesn't feature any comic book characters. Again, there is the twist ending and I think that it is just as good of a twist as Sixth Sense. I figured it out just moments before it actually happened, but since I was looking for the twist this time, I think it was an impressive feat.
Next up for M. Knight was Signs, a movie that takes a typical Hollywood film plot (the UFO invasion) and showcases it in an entirely different way. Night was back on track here with a box office of over $200 million. However there were some mixed reviews. Personally, I think the film is incredible up until the very end and then kind of loses it.
At this point, things turned south for Shamalaan. His next two films, The Village, and Lady and the Water were attacked by critics and fans. In addition, the box office for both was far weaker than his previous movies. In the present, you probably won't find a director who draws as much venom as Night. People just get pissed off by the mention of his name.
And this is where I differ from everyone. I STILL think that Night is one of the best filmmakers we have. I also do not think that The Village and Lady In The Water were nearly as awful as people claim. Let's start with The Village. I think this is a very good movie. No, it isn't up there with Unbreakable or Sixth Sense, but I think it is every bit as good as Signs because I think it holds up better as a whole, where Signs got off track with its ending. I believe that The Village also does a good job of exploring the theme of fear in our society. A lot of people do not like the twist in The Village, but when you see what the movie is trying to say, the twist is perfect.
Lady In The Water is Shamaalan's biggest bomb both critically and financially. Again, I don't think it deserves much of the criticism that it receives. One of the things that Night does is take a traditional genre and twist it in an unconventional way. With Unbreakable, he took the superhero genre, and brought it down to earth in the style of a quiet drama. With Lady, he is taking the classic bedtime story and putting it in the guise of a horror/suspense movie. The plot is overly simplistic, and sometimes silly, but that is the way bedtime stories are. Probably the biggest gripe about Lady is Night portraying himself as an author who will change the world. Most people see this as ego, but I thought it was interesting casting. In the fictional world of Lady in the Water, the person who will change the world is the man who wrote the script in real life, in essence the creator of that world. I also find the scene where the film critic faces off against the monster to be a great combination of teasing the viewer about the trappings of film conventions and also thumbing his nose at his own critics.
The bottom line is that love him or hate him, M. Night is one of the most creative filmmakers out there. How many directors can you think of that have tackled such a wide variety of subjects? Psychic children, superheroes, UFO's, turn of the century fanatics, and modern day bedtime stories. True, most of the time the films are based on the supernatural, but even then, Night handles them in interesting ways. You never quite know what you are going to get with an M. Night film and that is welcome in an age where everything is about remakes and sequels.
Coming up this month, we'll take a look at one of my favorite shows that you probably haven't heard of, the best TV pilot ever that wasn't picked up, and more. All right here, on The Eye!
I mean, the Spot!
