Someone Should Set M. Night Shyamalan's House On Fire
Entertainment Weekly has an interview with M. Night Shyamalan this week in the run-up to tomorrow's release of The Happening. The interview mostly focuses on Lady in the Water, and I mostly focus on this:
But I love that movie. If my house was burning down and I could run in to get two movies, I'd go get Unbreakable and Lady. I don't know why; maybe they are more me than anything else. The other movies are parts of me. I have no regrets. I love that f---ing movie, and if killing critics in a movie is going to get me that, it's all right. [Laughs] I didn't do it as part of an agenda, the movie was about storytelling and about emotionally what I need to do. What I believe is important to make a good story is you have to put yourself into it. And people on the street have come up to me and said that [watching Lady was] some kind of transformative experience for them, in some bizarre and spiritual way. It's definitely the most spiritual movie I've ever made. It's sad, because maybe it was just too innocent for the times or whatever.
Woof. I will give Shyamalan one pity point for not backing down. It is frustrating when people react to negative criticism by trashing their own work, and he doesn't do that. But could the guy be any more clueless about what he's inflicted on the world? Also, nice family. If M. Night Shyamalan's house was on fire maybe he should go get his kids. And who are these people on the street? Like homeless people? Homeless people who watched Lady in the Water because that's what was playing in the TV aisle of Service Merchandise when they tried to get out of the rain? And, AND AND I'm sorry Shyamalan, but Lady in the Water was NOT "just too innocent for the times or whatever." No, David Blaine. That was not its problem. The problem was that it was just too horrible for the times or exactly that. No or.
My favorite new thing about The Happening is how all the advertisements on TV now keep saying "M. Night Shyamalan's first R-rated movie." What? Who cares about that? Even 13-year-olds are not impressed. They are too busy having sex and stealing SUVs. I remember when I was in junior high my friend Dave and I made my mom buy us two tickets to see the R-rated The Lawnmower Man, but that was because The Lawnmower Man looked AWESOME (admittedly, this was before I'd been Bar Mitzvahed and become A MAN.) First R-rated movie. More like his first L-rated movie, where L stands for Lame. Get it? Also just kidding, this is his millionth L-rated movie.
Posted by Gabe at 11:27 AM in Interviews
Tags: Lady In The Water | M. Night Shyamalan | The Happening
i'm fairly sure that there hasn't been a Service Merchandise store open since the mid 90s. i would have liked to see a hobo-watching-bit-torrented-clips-at-a-public-library-multimedia-station instead, although i guess it would have ruined your joke.
CONTEMPORIZE, MAN!
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Service Merchandise is still a good joke, though. Something about the name and the diamond logo speaks to the grandiosity of Mr. Shylaman.
Though I have to say: I thought The Village was really, really good. Why is everyone shitting on The Village? Even the Nerve guys shit on The Village. But you know who doesn't shit on The Village? Slavoj Zizek, that's who!
SPOILER ALERT: http://www.thepervertsguide.com/extras_zizek_thevillage.html
IT'S ABOUT GDUBYA OMGZ
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I'm just glad somebody else hates this guy as much as I do. Everyone I know thinks he's brilliant. Even the tagline for this monstrosity makes me cringe. "We've Sensed It. We've Seen The Signs. Now... It's Happening."
It's like he's got an experiment going on how self-aggrandizing one person can be before the world revolts and hangs him with his own film stock.
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the ending to the happening was weak, i'll admit, but it was still thoroughly entertaining and kept me freaked out of my mind, which is exactly what i expected from the movie. i say not bad, m. night and keep making great movies like Lady and Unbreakable. they are special to some people, even if rich hipsters think they must be retarded.
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Ok, I LOVE this guy! No one seemed to understand the point of the villige but if you watch it with an open mind, you will understand that it is about family and what you will do just to protect the ones you love. I think since so many missed the point and were just sorry that it wasn't a "real" horror flick Night decided to do something like the Happenening. I think it has a very good powerful message and we should all heed the warning. The earth is where we live. We must take care of it because if we don't well....you saw the movie.
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