lady in the water Tagged Articles at Cinematical

"I was 64-years-old when I made this film, and I think I finally discovered the child within me. It turned out to be ... a little girl." Man, I love Terry Gilliam. The above video is his introduction to the film Tideland, and I found it on a new Cracked list which covers 9 Awesome Directors Who Temporarily Lost Their Mind. Basically, the list is pretty much that: directors who are primarily known for their awesome films, but for some reason slipped in a few random duds that seemingly came from left field. Tideland is Gilliam's dud, according to them, and since I still haven't seen the film, I can't say whether they are right. But I can tell you that I absolutely love this video intro from the director, and it makes me want to see the film even more.

Also on their list are Francis Ford Coppola (Jack), Steven Spielberg (Hook, though he should've been on there for 1941), Spike Lee (She Hate Me), Guy Ritchie (Swept Away), M. Night Shyamalan (Lady in the Water), Sidney Lumet (The Wiz), Ridley Scott (A Good Year) and Clint Eastwood (the years 1996-2002). Some of these films were loved by many, so I could see this list potentially rubbing people the wrong way. What do you think of it? And what other directors surprised you with a random crappy film mixed in with an otherwise spotless record?

Have I ever told you how much Cinematical loves Zooey Deschanel? Okay, maybe not everyone at the site adores Ms. I Swear I'm Not On Heroin, I Just Naturally Look Stoned, but there's a decent amount of us who partake in a little happy dance each and every time the gal lands a new role. That said, Variety just announced that Zooey (how can you not love a girl named Zooey?) will star alongside Mark Wahlberg in M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening. Oh, it's happening all right; regardless of how many studios he's pissed off and/or disappointed, folks at 20th Century Fox are eager to give him another shot at bringing in those box office dollars. And, with Wahlberg and Deschanel onboard, I'm certainly willing to remain optimistic.

Pic, which has a very Day After Tomorrow/War of the Worlds vibe to it, revolves around a man who takes his family on the run when an "apocalyptical natural crisis threatens to end civilization." No, it isn't set in the Warner Bros. offices on the weekend Lady in the Water hit theaters; this flick is set in Philly and begins shooting in August. Currently, there's no word on who Zooey will be playing; although they're nine years apart, I assume she'll be taking the role of Wahlberg's wife. Unless they decide to age her down so that she can pass as his dysfunctional teenage daughter. His sister? His niece? A stoner girl he runs into along the way? Don't know, don't care -- if Zooey is in it, I'm game. The Happening will land in theaters (and most likely dictate the uncertain future of Shyamalan's career) on June 13, 2008.

Since he films all of his movies in and around my beloved home town of Philadelphia, I've always had a real soft spot for M. Night Shyamalan. I still believe that The Sixth Sense is a damn good film, that Unbreakable is a still-unheralded masterpiece, and that Signs is a pretty slick "reality-based" sci-fi thriller. But after suffering through The Village and Lady in the Water, I'm beginning to wish the guy would move on to Baltimore, Boston or another east coast city. (Nah, not really. It's pretty cool to have a "local filmmaker" of Shyamalan's talent and influence.)

But a few weeks back M. Night "won" a pair of Razzies for worst director and worst supporting actor, one of which I don't think he really deserved ... but that supporting actor slap, yeah, I can get behind that one. Apparently the self-admiring movie-maker didn't even hear about his Lady in the Water Razzies (yeah, right) and it took a reporter from New York Magazine to spill those beans. And Nighty got just a little bit defensive: "Look, I loved that movie. It's a beautiful, beautiful movie. So there's some disconnect from the intention to the perception of it. I hope, just with time, that will ease. All of my movies have benefited from time."

OK, so maybe in 62 years Lady in the Water will be the new Casablanca ... but I really freaking doubt it. It's a ponderous, indulgent and (bottom line) silly movie that the critics disliked and the audiences pretty much ignored. But hey, one or two failures in a row can often lead to a big-time comeback project that everyone rallies behind and adores. For the record, Shyamalan is presently working on adaptations of Avatar: The Last Airbender and (yes) He-Man and the Masters of the Universe ... so I wouldn't exactly hold my breath waiting for that big comeback love-fest.

[via Hollywood Wiretap]

Over at Latino Review, they've posted a review of the much-circulated -- and much rejected -- script by The Sixth Sense director M. Night Shyamalan called The Green Effect. Sadly, the script recently went around Hollywood and nobody was interested -- which is something the author of the review just can't understand. At the site, the reviewer goes on and on about how fantastic the script is and how Night is getting the shaft in Hollywood after only one "flop" -- the less-than-stellar Lady in the Water.

In the piece, the reviewer also goes on to say that any studio executive who passed on the project should be fired because, among other things, Shyamalan's films have made billions and this script has a chance of doing the same. I kinda agree -- at least about the shafting part. It's a story probably as old as Hollywood itself. A writer/director has a huge success the first time he gets a chance and then spends the rest of his career trying to live up to that success. Shyamalan is a talented writer/director and I hope he won't follow in the footsteps of another very successful first-timer who never really "recovered" from his initial success -- the genius Orson Welles.

Welles was never really the same after Citizen Kane and spent the rest of his career trying to live up to it. Shyamalan, at least, has already had a few successful films under his belt. Heck, even Spielberg made one or two not-so-good movies -- just watch 1941 if you don't believe me. So, in spite of his recent downturn, I think Shyamalan has the talent and skills to bounce back. What do you guys think?

After dissing Disney and handing Warner Bros. the box office flop that was Lady in the Water, M. Night Shyamalan is packing his bags and heading to Paramount -- or, more specifically, MTV Films and Nick Movies. The writer-director has just inked a three-picture deal to adapt Nick TV's animated kiddie show Avatar into a big-screen, live-action trilogy (or shall I say, potential trilogy). Oh yes, and this comes only a few hours after Fox announced that it had officially greenlit James Cameron's Avatar ... though the only thing both projects have in common is the same title.

If it all goes through, this will be the first time since 1999's Stuart Little that Shyamalan takes on a project that is not based on his own original story (Shyamalan adapted Little from the E.B. White book, but did not direct), and only the second time the filmmaker has decided to work on kid-friendly material (unless you count his so-called bedtime story, Lady in the Water). While I'm not familiar with the toon, Avatar: The Last Airbender (the full title of both the show and the film) is apparently set in an "Asian-influenced fantasy world" and revolves around an irresponsible, care-free Avatar who is placed in charge of stopping the Fire Nation from wreaking havoc on the Water, Earth and Air nations.

It sounds wonderful, but it's not that easy -- see, both Fox and Paramount claim they own the name Avatar. The latter says they registered the name with the MPAA, while the former went all schoolyard bully and noted: "We own the movie title 'Avatar.' There won't be another film called 'Avatar' coming from anyplace." Hell yeah! Something tells me that Fox rep threw in a little "Booyah!" afterwards, yet Variety decided it might be best to leave it out. It's also important to note that Shyamalan is also shopping other projects (the man does have an ego and a rep greater than twelve Fire Nations combined), and so Avatar: The One Where M. Night Bites the Bullet and Takes It Up the You Know Where might not be the next Shyamalan epic to go into production.