Well, my defense of M. Night Shyamalan certainly struck a nerve last week. The thread generated the expected disagreements and the occasional vaguely racist mocking of the man's last name but it also, as a commenter pointed out, served as a sort of support group for the strong minority who admire his recent work. There was enough interest in the conversation that I thought I'd follow up by offering this space to discuss this weekend's The Happening, which looks headed for a respectable $30 million-ish opening despite predictably middling reviews.

Our James Rocchi liked the movie, and I offer my abbreviated thoughts after the jump. If you haven't seen it, beware of spoilers.

When it comes to seeing M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening early, the best that Fox publicists can offer me (and other non-daily-newspaper press in Philadelphia) is a 9 pm screening at an inconvenient theater the night before release. I'm going to politely decline, and it's probably just as well. It's become so hip to hate and sneer at Shyamalan and his films that I'm not sure I could handle the pre- and post-screening small talk. I'll see the film on Friday afternoon, alone, or with a friend who's not privy to the buzz and the gossip.

Those who've read my stuff, here and elsewhere, know that I'm one of the more persistent Shyamalan apologists on the intertubes. I won't launch into a defense of specific films here; that's too formidable a task for a Fan Rant. Instead, I want to briefly discuss why I think it's wrong to make the filmmaker into either a laughingstock or public enemy #1, even if you're not enamored of his recent efforts.

The summer weekends are about to get a whole lot more competitive starting this Friday with the debut of two pretty big flicks, The Incredible Hulk and The Happening. On one hand, you have the return of a character who didn't do so well last time he was in theaters. On the other, you have the return of a writer-director who didn't do so well last time he was in theaters. Thus, both men (or monsters) are looking for a bit of redemption this time around. But who will get your money, that's what we're interested in finding out this week. Who will you be giving a second chance to? The Incredible Hulk or The Incredible M. Night Shyamalan?

The Happening marks M. Night's first R-rated feature, which means the film's audience is already somewhat limited. Meanwhile, The Incredible Hulk (rated PG-13) has already started using the success of Marvel's Iron Man to help launch its opening weekend at the box office. That said, I think it's pretty obvious as to which film will make more money than the other, so instead of going down that road, tell us which one you'll be seeing and why. Or, perhaps, you're not interested in either one? Sound off below ...

An extended clip from M. Night Shyamalan's new film The Happening is now online (watch it above or in higher quality over on Yahoo), with an introduction from M. Night himself saying how he was inspired by films like The Godfather and The Exorcist. What we get are snippets of scenes we've seen previously from the trailers, as well as the extended version of the train scene when Mark Wahlberg walks up to those conductors and says, "With whom?" (I love that part and I don't know why.) This is M. Night's first R-rated film, and he claims it's "the scariest movie he's ever made." I guess we'll see about that.

Or maybe someone already did. Yes, folks, there's the "early screening scooper" over at Collider who's written in with a very, very negative review of The Happening (check it out here, but watch for spoilers). This person goes after the acting most of all, as well as the awkward pacing -- going so far as to say "it's bad on an epic scale." Now it's clear M. Night asked for a certain small town, passive-aggressive tone out of Wahlberg, which he's delivered before (to a certain degree) in films like Boogie Nights. But I do agree that his whole shtick seems very odd here, though we're seeing one scene out of context so I won't go off and declare The Happening an absolute failure.

Personally, I hope this film is good. I WANT to love this thing. It looks creepy and uncomfortable, and I dig that about it. Who knows; fingers crossed. The Happening lands in theaters on Friday, June 13th.

UPDATE: JoBlo has revealed a new Red Band trailer for The Happening. Check it out over here. (P.S. And it might contain spoilers, so beware!)

Despite having one of the worst reputations in Hollywood, it would appear that things are starting to look up for M. Night Shyamalan. You can check out the latest trailer Shyamalan's The Happening above, and it already has me sold on the apocalyptic thriller. Even though I was relatively impressed with the first trailer, this one has definitely amped up the creep factor (caused some serious heebie-jeebies when I saw it in front of Iron Man last weekend).

Mark Wahlberg stars as a meek and mild high school science teacher who lands smack dab in the middle of an end of days scenario. And might I add that it will be nice to see Wahlberg play something other than his usual tough guy role -- I mean, it's been too long since he's really had to act. Zooey Deschanel co-stars as his estranged wife and the criminally underused John Leguizamo, Spencer Breslin (brother to Abigail) and Ashlyn Sanchez play fellow survivors.

The Happening is scheduled for release on Friday June 13th, which will put the thriller in direct competition with The Incredible Hulk for opening weekend supremacy. Between the critics who call Shyamalan a one-trick pony, and the bad buzz for the big green guy, it's going to be a tough call for audiences. I know which film I'm going to see first -- how about you?

What I'm about to say might shock you ... ready? I still think M. Night Shyamalan is a pretty good director. Okay, so he may have gone off the rails with Lady in the Water, but everyone is allowed a few stinkers, right? Hopefully things will start to turn around for him with The Happening. JoBlo now has new stills from his M. Night's 'end of the world' drama, and for those of you who like to be surprised, don't worry, they're spoiler-free. In fact, most of them look like they came straight from the trailer.

Most of the details have been kept under lock and key, but we did get some spoilers back in August (read at your own risk). What we do know for sure is that the story centers on an estranged couple (Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel) who band together to save their family during an environmental crisis (remember the news story about the disappearing bees?). That old chestnut even makes an appearance in the narrative. Joining Wahlberg and Deschanel in the cast are John Leguizamo and Spencer Breslin (star of The Shaggy Dog and brother to Abigail) as fellow survivors.

M. Night Shyamalan's live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender now has a release date, according to Variety. Fans of the popular Nickelodeon series can circle their calenders for July 2nd, 2010 -- and start complaining about the title change. In order to avoid confusion with James Cameron's Avatar, the film will now simply be titled The Last Airbender.

The anime series follows a young hero who has the ability to manipulate the elements, and who must stop a ruthless nation from crushing everything in its path. It is heavily influenced by anime legend Hayao Miyazaki, which Shyamalan says was the big appeal of the project. "In The Last Airbender, I see an opportunity to make a live-action version of a Miyazaki film," Shyamalan said. He is penning the script himself, which may give fans a pause. There's been talk that an adaptation is just what Shyamalan needs to get his storytelling focus back on track -- but if he's doing the writing, there's no telling where this could go.

A new trailer for M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening has arrived online, and it's much longer than the earlier teaser we got not too long ago (which has since been taken down by the studio). Here, there's less "bodies falling from the sky" and a lot more mystery; why are all the bees dying, what's going on, where did everyone go, is Mark Wahlberg really our only hope -- that sort of thing. Kinda digging Wahlberg so far from what I've seen -- this doesn't appear to be his typical character; he seems a tad wimpy, geeky. We've all seen these "end of the world" scenarios in films before, so here's hoping M. Night adds a different spin to it.

Like Wahlberg says in the trailer: "There are forces at work here that are beyond our understanding." Whenever that line shows up in a trailer, I'm immediately terrified that M. Night will use it as a way of saying, "I don't have to explain this whole 'end of days scenario' to the audience because the characters don't understand it, so lets just watch people run and jump to their deaths and call it a day." I'll give the guy the benefit of the doubt though; this film does seem to have potential (though there wasn't enough Zooey in the trailer), and I'll certainly head into it with an open mind. This one hits theaters on June 13.

Thoughts on the new trailer?

UPDATE: The video has been removed from the Tube, but you can still see the trailer over here.

The first trailer for M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening is now online (watch it above), and, well, what the hell is happening in this one? From the looks of it, some sort of disease hits the city in which everyone begins killing themselves. It's the strangest thing, but that's what I took away from the trailer. So far, all we've been told about the movie was that a national crisis hits and one family must go on the run. So what's this disease, and why -- out of the blue -- does it appear as if people are stabbing themselves in the neck and jumping off buildings? Odd as all hell, but that's M. Night for ya -- and, while the film definitely looks like a step up from his previous two films, will The Happening fall curse to that late-inning surprise twist that not only made M. Night, but also helped mangle the guy's career?

The Happening stars Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo and Spencer Breslin. Word has it this trailer will be attached to Jumper, when it hits theaters later this month. What will happen when M. Night arrives in theaters with another film on June 13? I guess we'll see ...