Cinematical

He's not a bad filmmaker by any means, but it's my opinion that he isn't a great writer. If he would stop writing and trying to be so damn different (which isn't a bad thing, trying to be unique, he just picks some stupid stories and goes through with it in dumb ways, in my opinion), he'd be great. I'm hoping he will start directing movies that others write for him eventually.

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I am of the same opinion as you. I enjoyed 6th sense and Unbreakable a great deal. Liked Signs despite its painful flaws and hated the Village so much I wanted to begin screaming like Joel Siegal at the Clerks 2 screening.

One thing that Shamaylan has going for him is that he usually does a unique twist on classic tales. Sometimes this works, sometimes it fails. I have no doubt after hearing the reviews and watching the trailer that Lady in the Water is another miss (starring the inexplicably hailed Howard, seriously, what has she done to earn her praise?)

But this will happen with film makers that take risks. Some of their ideas will be brilliant, others, complete failures. One thing I will say is that the Village was a well directed, well acted film, I just hated the screenplay so much I couldn't bear to watch it.

I'd be interested to see what he could do with someone else's screenplay...

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He sucks. Never liked him, even though The Sixth Sense was decent. But everything else is just horrible and more horrible. They aren't "rough patches." Each movie has gotten progressively worse. I haven't seen Lady in the Water, but after The Village, which actually made me ANGRY, I don't think I will. Man, he sucks.

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if he did a Harry Potter movie, that'd answer the question. have him direct a story we know, and see if it's terrible or not.
i liked unbreakable best out of his movies, and have found it to be the most rewatchable. i'll probably go see LitW, but i'm not going to go opening weekend.

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I kind of agree entirely with your views:
The Sixth Sense - hokey in retrospect, but worked at the time, and he packed it well with wonderful little details and character moments.

Unbreakable - Killed by critics, but I remember thinking it was a vast improvement on The Sixth Sense. I thought big things were in store for M. Night.

Signs - I respected his decision to do tension and horror with no effects, but... the end of the movie just killed it. The payoff sucked plot-wise, the sudden use of effects looked cheap and killed the whole point I thought he was making (you don't need effects for scares.) Worth watching, but not a great movie. Average.

The Village - One of the worst movies I've ever had the horror of seeing. Everyone figured the twist out early. You couldn't connect with any of the characters. And, unlike most people, I thought Bryce Dallas Howard was awful.


Now? I think Disney appears to be right. Everything I've read about the movie seems like criticisms I'd agree with. It sounds a tad idiotic.
I think M Night has let it all go to his head. And I think he's likely ruined. He's broken, so to speak.

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Unbreakable was a GREAT movie. Visually, he is great... I mean, truly great. He has very good control of the frame, a good editing sense, the whole package. The early scene in Unbreakable while Bruce is being quized by the doctors right after he wakes up... and in the far background you can see the shape on the gurney... and as Bruce's tension mounts the blood starts to spread on what you realize was the only other survivor... awesome moment.

However, I think that the Village, while enjoyable enough, was a disappointment (as was the last 3rd of Signs). This movie looks like it might be as well... I think you are possibly right, Scott. M. Night needs a producing partner, someone he can trust for honest assessment of his ideas. Or, perhaps, he should make a movie not from his own script and see how that goes. Very few filmmakers are able to go their whole career as writer/directors. And those that do almost always get accused of retreading their earlier work.

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I dont agree but then i do!
i like the movies but somewert as good as others of course!! and also tonight im going to see lady in the water and i cant wait!!!

ALSO the village wasnt that good but u cant jujde if lady in the water will be the same byez!!

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Note that I think something similar happened to Michael Bay... he achieved such huge success, basiclaly out of nowhere, with Bad Boys (which was a guilty pleasure) and then the wildly fun (and clever, quality actioner) The Rock, that he just thought he could do no wrong and made a string of just terrible, indulgent messes.

Note that I'm not saying that Michael Bay isn as good of a filmmaker (though he is gifted at staging action sequences), just that he also seems to have gotten a bit out of control.

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Not sure how you can compare M. Night to Bay, who went almost directly from being a production assistant on a sitcom ("Night Court") and appearing as a bit player in "Miami Vice" to directing bombastic action movies like "Bad Boys" and "The Rock."

Shyamalan's films have been pretentious and arty even though they have all been designed for mainstream public consumption. I haven't seen "Lady in the Water" yet, but maybe this will be the tipping point in his career. He needs to immediately step down from that high horse he's been riding since "The Sixth Sense" and let others have some input on the kind of material that he decides to shoot.

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Sixth Sense - Brilliant
Unbreakable - Good
Signs - Mediocre
The Village - CRAP
Lady in the Water - Wait for the DVD

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"That the filmmaker became so popular and so powerful so fast that now he's working in a virtual vacuum, a one-man filmmaking machine that's become insular, isolated, and beholden to no one -- and that includes the producers and studio execs who just might be able to contribute something important to the process."

What a great description of George Lucas!

My main problem with M. Night is that he's obviously hypersensitive to criticism and as a defense mechanism crafts his movies with the primary purpose of tying the hands of film critics. Because they can't talk about "the twist," they can't talk about the movie in any intelligent way; they're neutered.

And I felt that way long before he showed himself to be a major diva. (Really: http://www.culturesnob.com/2005/01/village_idiocy.php.)

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i think M. Night is the worste horror movie director. his movies aren't scary at the least. The 6th since wasn't bad and niether was unbreakable and signs but the reason they did so well wast the actors in them. He cannot be called a horror movie director when they're directors like Wes Craven u guys remeber him oooo yea he did a couple of movies like A nightmare on ELm st. which at the time was banned in many european countries and what about Stepthen king's movies that are based off his books he may not be a director but he's one hell of a writer. so don't even say he's just been havin some bad at-bats with his movies casue they're just gettin dumber and dumber oo yea i'm affraid of a village with the worste lookin "creatures" ever. what did they get the funding from a wal-mart for that movie?

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Guess I'm the odd duck out. I thought The Sixth Sense sucked major ass...totally boring plot and the film stood still. Unbreakable = ass.

Then came his little alien movie. Suddenly he became a decent filmmaker. Yes the movie fell apart when you look at it logically but it was damned entertaining, imho. Sit down, get sucked in and enjoy.

The Village was just outright fun for me. Great casting, superb acting, great story (the fake protagonist, the stabbing, the adventure in the forest) and I dug it.

I look forward to Lady. The trailer looks good. And the reviews are encouraging - they hate it, so it's probably a damn good movie.

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I guess I'm one of the few who really enjoyed the village. I thought the acting was good, nice story and a great twist. I would watch it again over 6th Sense anyday. Unbreakable very, very underated. Excellent characters and story. Signs had a great build up but where was the famous M. Night twist? There really was none. In general he has very interesting stories....and he's going to have a flop or two along the way. That might bring him back to earth again...just a little.

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Well, I think he's a brilliant filmmaker willing to take risks. I'm not saying his movies don't have flaws in them, but I have absolutely enjoyed everyone -- including The Village.

I just don't happen to think his work is geared at mainstream appeal, and that the success of Sixth Sense was a bit of a fluke.

It's silly when I read critics who complain that he's not a horror film director. He's not trying to make horror films. He's not stuck in any one genre, actually.

He clearly enjoys taking "genre" films and twisting and tweaking them. And his movies always have an underlying issue going on that has nothing to do with the surface genre.

Signs isn't a sci-fi film, and it's not about alien invasion. It's about issues of family and faith vs. science, and such. The Village wasn't a costume drama. It's about parent-child relationships and the lengths some people go to in order to attempt to shelter their children from pain and risk (and the ultimate failure of trying to do so).

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Sixth Sense was so-so, even if I hadn't guessed the ending 20 minutes in. Signs was unwatchable. The Village was just goofy. But what all his films seem to have in common is spooky effects, but not much else going on. Compare any of them to The Others. Now that was a good spooky movie!

Whether anyone can rescue Shyamalan from his ego and teach him there's more to filmwork than foggy camera shots and self-indulgence we shall see. Instant success is dangerous: Hollywood can blow you up but it can also take you down. If he'd had someone sit on him from the beginning and given him a real screenwriter, he'd be much better off. Perhaps after a few humbling experiences we may yet see some good work out of him.

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i had a bad feeling about the dude from minute one. i resisted "the sixth sense" initially because i was sure that the big surprise ending wouldn't really be that shocking. finally, dragged by friends who raved the opening week, i sat and guessed "the great twist" ten minutes in. my friends were incredulous; surly i read about the endling elsewhere and were just tugging their lug. nope, sorry, that film was about as subtle as a using a comet to pound a nail.

since then he's done little more to this viewer than irritate. "unbreakable" had a brief chance to give peter weir's "fearless" a run for its money until i realized it was a comic book geek's wet dream. "the village" reminded me of 70's b-movie drive-in fare, and not very good fare at that, PLUS i had that one pegged BEFORE i even read a polt synopsis.

he is neither brilliant or a risk-taker, and to suggest he is either discounts several decades worth of achievements by others who turly were either brilliant, risk-takers or both. i suppose by today's standards perhaps he seems edgy. that doesn't say much about today's standards.

then again, i know this one kid who thinks m. knight is a genius. this kid also thinks that "goonies" is the best film ever made in the history of cinema. seriously. and he refuses to watch anything ever shot in black and white. i think this kid, and many more, will keep emperor shyamalan invisible pockets lined regardless of what any of us think.

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The Village was one of his best films. A dark film that addresses the effects of isolationism on society and its impact to the individual. Did the fact that a blind girl became the hero just fly over everyone's heads?
The studios tried to push it off as a horror film when it was anything but. That's why it garnered the criticism.
Open your minds instead of your scream factor and you might appreciate his most personal and compelling film.

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I agree with Culture Snob: "Unfortunately, Shyamalan hasn’t matured as a filmmaker since his Sixth Sense breakthrough. He’s still fixated on the surprise, so he continues to try to repeat the first act of his career instead of moving on to the second."

If I were 12 years old, I'd probably like his films a lot. But the Sixth Sense was slow because it's essentially a short film that's been stretched into a feature. Unbreakable pissed me off because it was marketed as a straight drama to trick audiences, and the film ended at the story's midpoint). Signs was such a bad joke that I skipped The Village. I don't think Shyamalan is capable of crafting a fully developed feature-length story. He just stretches his short stories to the point where I'm thinking, "Jeez Louise, Shyamalan, got milk?"

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I agree with Culture Snob: "Unfortunately, Shyamalan hasn’t matured as a filmmaker since his Sixth Sense breakthrough. He’s still fixated on the surprise, so he continues to try to repeat the first act of his career instead of moving on to the second."

If I were 12 years old, I'd probably like his films a lot. But the Sixth Sense was slow because it's essentially a short film that's been stretched into a feature. Unbreakable pissed me off because it was marketed as a straight drama to trick audiences, and the film ended at the story's midpoint). Signs was such a bad joke that I skipped The Village. I don't think Shyamalan is capable of crafting a fully developed feature-length story. He just stretches his short stories to the point where I'm thinking, "Jeez Louise, Shyamalan, got milk?"

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