Damn you, M. Night Shyamalan

In an effort to keep my blood pressure stable, we didn't watch the election coverage last night. Instead, we popped in "The Happening."

I'm not sure why I keep watching M. Night Shamalamadingdong's movies. Am I a glutton for punishment? Do I just REALLY want to believe that one day, he'll make another good film? Is he just berkeleying with us!?!? Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel aren't horrible actors, right? Did he purposely use the worst possible takes!? Anyone? Bueller?

I liked it. My wife didn't.

Mark Wahlberg is a terrible actor. Just terrible. I don't understand how anyone can like him in anything.

I told my wife about the Jeep/GRM link and she said "So?"... heathens.

The movie was too predictable like all of his later stuff... you still have to watch them four times for all the different hidden bits though.

+1

I don't really understand why some people still rave about how great his movies are.

I had the same idea last night, although I popped in V for Vendetta instead.

The Happening was kind of like Signs to me. It had great potential (more so Signs) but just done wrong in some way.

One of the interesting things about the movie is that it is Shamalangadingdongs first R rated movie. If you watch the movie you have to ask yourself why? I mean it was totally necessary to show the scenes in the movie that made it rated R. I am actually pretty certain it would have been a better movie if it had not been so graphic (some things are far scarier when left to the imagination). As an example the scene with the large lawn mower, it was completely unnecessary to show the mower going over the guy, I am pretty certain that one would have been better left to the imagination.

One good thing about the movie though is that he stayed out of it! Apparently he was the voice of "the other man" on the phone, but I did not notice that. Strangely enough his next movie is The Last Airbender, which is some sort of animated (Japanese?) story.

Oh, and if you are looking for a full on kick-ass movie check out Smokin' Aces, one wild ass movie (PS do NOT see Shootem' Up, a VERY bad version of this type of film). Make sure to check out the LeMans that these guys drive (great challenge paint scheme inspiration):

Come on now, when is the last time you saw a contemporary movie with a guy armed with an MP40 and potato smasher grenades!?!?

Yep, he sucks ass. The 6th Sense was pretty good, everything past that was horrible.

P.S.- I haven't seen Signs, so if it's one of the "good ones", let me know.

I actually liked signs, It wasn't 6th sense but it was enjoyable enough for a M.KS film.

how can you say that Smokin' Aces was better than Shootem' Up?

Smokin' Aces was good...but Shootem' Up had Clive Owen...He is awesome!

The Happening was kind of like Signs to me. It had great potential (more so Signs) but just done wrong in some way.

Weird. I liked "Signs." I didn't love it. But I liked it. I still watch it pretty much every time it comes on. Not so much for the "IT'S A TWEEEEST" element, but for the suspense and creepiness.

If you watch the movie you have to ask yourself why? I mean it was totally necessary to show the scenes in the movie that made it rated R. I am actually pretty certain it would have been a better movie if it had not been so graphic (some things are far scarier when left to the imagination)

A big +1 there. Though the teaser with people jumping off buildings is what got me to watch it in the first place.

Mark Wahlberg is a terrible actor. Just terrible. I don't understand how anyone can like him in anything.

Until this movie, I've never really seen him in anything and gone "Wow, he's a berkeleying horrible actor," but come to think of it, I guess he was supposed to be pretty corny in Boogie Nights, and The Italian Job was a pretty soft-ball role.

Anway, I read this a minute ago, and I guess it pretty much sums up why I keep watching these pieces of garbage:

"Seeing a Shyamalan (film) has become this horrifically abusive relationship where I desperately cling to the belief that if I keep loving him, he’ll stop hitting me."

funnay.

You guys like signs? WTF?!?

The plausibility factor on that for me was nil.

-Quasi Spoiler-

-Quasi Spoiler-

So... you can travel interstellar distances, but you can't use TOOLS! You are unable to find anything that will break down a door? WTF?

And aside from the absurdity of water being acidic to them, if water does hurt you, why did you come to Earth! Wouldn't they skin melt as soon as someone breathed on them? They're also hanging out in corn fields, where it rains, or there are sprinklers.

The whole thing was completely nonsensical.

/Spoiler

/Spoiler

And Smoking Aces was complete crap too. Too many intersecting plots, none of which were fleshed out. Just avenues to loosely tie together gorey action scenes. And the ending was way too predictable and cliche.

maroon92 wrote: how can you say that Smokin' Aces was better than Shootem' Up? Smokin' Aces was good...but Shootem' Up had Clive Owen...He is awesome!

Choosing between those two movies is like choosing between VD and herpes. After watching Smokin Aces I told myself it was the dumbest thing I had ever seen. Then I saw Shoot em Up and changed my mind.

maroon92 wrote: how can you say that Smokin' Aces was better than Shootem' Up? Smokin' Aces was good...but Shootem' Up had Clive Owen...He is awesome!

Salanis wrote: And Smoking Aces was complete crap too. Too many intersecting plots, none of which were fleshed out. Just avenues to loosely tie together gorey action scenes. And the ending was way too predictable and cliche.

Wow, I am really surprised by this! I guess it is just a matter of taste. I thought Shootem' Up was WAY over done and not nearly as stylistically good as Smokin' Aces. Smokin' Aces definitely is stylized, but I found it somewhat similar to Pulp Fiction and True Romance in that sense. Ryan Reynolds was also surprisingly very good. But yes, you really need to watch it twice to really get the story.

No love for the wacky Nazi's cruising around in a LeMans painted in a Eric Hartmann Black Tulip scheme?

So, do you guys hate True Romance also? No love for Brad pit and a Honey Bee water bong?

aircooled wrote: Smokin' Aces definitely is stylized, but I found it somewhat similar to Pulp Fiction and True Romance in that sense. Ryan Reynolds was also surprisingly very good. But yes, you really need to watch it twice to really get the story. No love for the wacky Nazi's cruising around in a LeMans painted in a Eric Hartmann Black Tulip scheme?

The wacky Nazi's could have been interesting. They did manage to kill my least favorite actor in the world.

The fact that it was stylized wasn't the problem. The fact that it was crap was the problem. It wasn't ever clever, witty, or original. It was gorey, and suffered from mistaking gorey for edgy. All of the characters were one dimensional (not even 2d), and nothing that happens is really interesting or surprising.

As near as I can tell, they cam up with some interesting ideas for teams of hitmen, or at least the way they operate. Then they just came up with a really weak scenario to throw them at to raise a body count. But they didn't actually come up with interesting characters, backgrounds, or a plot.

I can remember something like... three lines from that movie. None of them were even as strong as some of the weakest lines from Pulp Fiction, since you wanted to make that as a comparison.

signs was the one with alians that die on contact with water that came to earth to eat humans right?????

yeah that movie was poop.

edit: is the dude with the chainsaw in the picture above wearing painters goggles?

Yup, and the other guy is wearing welding goggles, upside down apparently. This is the least of their depravity.

aircooled wrote: Oh, and if you are looking for a full on kick-ass movie check out Smokin' Aces, one wild ass movie (PS do NOT see Shootem' Up, a VERY bad version of this type of film). Make sure to check out the LeMans that these guys drive (great challenge paint scheme inspiration): Come on now, when is the last time you saw a contemporary movie with a guy armed with an MP40 and potato smasher grenades!?!?

That's a M3:

MP40:

JmfnB wrote: I told my wife about the Jeep/GRM link and she said "So?"...

Ouch.

.

Osterkraut wrote: That's a M3:

Oh well, at least its period correct to the grenades.

I thought Wahlberg was good in Shooter and Three Kings. Four Brothers was mildly entertaining.

but I found it somewhat similar to Pulp Fiction

Ding.

Smokin' Aces is one of my favourite action movies in the past couple of years. Senseless violence. :D

Mark Wahlberg was great in the Departed. Which, in and of itself, is my favorite mainstream movie of the last five years.

The scene where he an Alec Baldwin trade jabs at each other's family is hilarious, and even though his role was small, he played it really well.

He has been alright in most of what he's been in the last five or six years, even if the movie was not so great.

Oh, and anybody who hasn't seen it, go rent The Departed. Right now. Seriously. NOW!

Yeah, I knew Wahlberg was in something I enjoyed. The Departed is great, definitely a second vote from me.

+1

Watched The Departed in theaters on release night and I couldn't have been more blown away.

In completely unrelated news, Spike Jonz is the mother berkeleying man (can I still say mother berkeleying?) We got halfway through "The Fall" last night. Wow.