'The Village' (DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVENT SEEN IT!)
I'm curious to see what other people think about 'The Village.' My friends all disagreed over whether it was great, ok, or really crappy. I thought it was just ok--a lot more could have been done with the concept of a secluded village (28 days later, anyone?) and the creatures could have been handled differently up until the time they were revealed. The story was interesting, but left me jsut sitting in my seat during the credits wondering why the movie just "stopped." What did you all think?
Comments
Originally posted by His Dudeness
I saw it yesterday. Definetley his best movie. This movie is about innocence, the loss of it, and those who you think are completely innocent...... are not.
I do like what he was going for... but I have got to say -for me- it was not his best work. There is no doubt that the movie is better than 99% of the junk that comes out... but I was a little disappointed.
Originally posted by His Dudeness
I was a bit disappointed with Unbreakable. Of course, I only saw it once, so I might have missed the point.
(unbreakable spoilers below, in case you haven't seen it yet)
i was suprised by how much i liked unbreakable (thought he dvd extras of him talking about deleted scenes was one of the worst i have ever seen). i found it to be a story of accepting who you are, even if that means allowing yourself to accept that you may have exceptional abilities that put you outside the mainstream. (edit: usually, in movies such as these, the outsider is somehow portrayed as "troubled" or has some sort of deficiency or abnormality, and the person in the end accepts that "problem" as part fo who they are... this film is not unique in what it was trying to say, but it was very unique in how it told it... problem is it alienated a LOT of people who, as soon as they hear "comic book" turn off their brain and think "this isn't REALLY artistic.") the bruce willis character in that movie spent his entire life trying to escape and avoid his special abilities in order to conform and give him and his wife and those he loved a normal life. when really, he could have still had a normal life, AND been able to do so much more.
i saw it as speaking to lots of people growing up who may be otherwise gifted in one area or another, but shun these talents in an effort to conform or belong to what they feel is safe and accepted in society. the whole comic book understory really was just the thread that explained the otherwise unbelievable mr. glass and his insatiable need to "discover" willis' abilities as the only way to explain his own misery and pain in life (essentially, sam jackson's character needed to know that there was another person on the other end of the spectrum from him to allow him to come to grips with his own horrible physical fate. that allowed him to stop thinking that it was some sort of divine punishment, and really just his place in the range of humanity.
anyway, that's how i saw the movie. maybe i was reading too much into it.
(spoiler end)
also, the village got slaughtered by several critics, including ebert, but sometimes that's when a critic fails to "get" a movie and translates that frustration into the movie's fault... who know? i haven't seen it, and i doubt i will anytime soon.
...
Eventually the secret of Those, etc., is revealed. To call it an anticlimax would be an insult not only to climaxes but to prefixes. It's a crummy secret, about one step up the ladder of narrative originality from It Was All a Dream. It's so witless, in fact, that when we do discover the secret, we want to rewind the film so we don't know the secret anymore.
And then keep on rewinding, and rewinding, until we're back at the beginning, and can get up from our seats and walk backward out of the theater and go down the up escalator and watch the money spring from the cash register into our pockets.
That said, beautiful movie. Ivy, Noah and Lucius are the "See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil" threesome.
How?
Ivy's blind, duh. She can't see the modern world once she's in it. But I also don't think anyone expected Ivy to make it back. I've heard that the ending we all saw was an alternate ending to the movie added after someone leaked the original ending... From what I've heard, I wish we'd gotten the other ending because this one actually felt like it was tacked on at the last minute.
Noah may not be in on the deception as the elders are, but he's figured out what's going on. When everyone's at the table and they hear the creatures in the woods, Noah laughs because he doesn't hear them as evil. He knows it's the elders.
And this is one thing that's never really explained in the movie, but Lucius doesn't speak about the creatures unless he's reading something he wrote.
Just my theory, anyway.
Shyamalan is taking himself entirely way too serious.
Originally posted by rok
(unbreakable spoilers below, in case you haven't seen it yet)
i saw it as speaking to lots of people growing up who may be otherwise gifted in one area or another, but shun these talents in an effort to conform or belong to what they feel is safe and accepted in society. the whole comic book understory really was just the thread that explained the otherwise unbelievable mr. glass and his insatiable need to "discover" willis' abilities as the only way to explain his own misery and pain in life (essentially, sam jackson's character needed to know that there was another person on the other end of the spectrum from him to allow him to come to grips with his own horrible physical fate. that allowed him to stop thinking that it was some sort of divine punishment, and really just his place in the range of humanity.
Kinda like Neo in the Matrix, eh? Of course, he's not looking for the other end of the anomaly (Smith), but Smith is there and they eventually come to blows.
I kinda liked Unbreakable. I've only seen it once but I found it entertaining.
I thought it was very good.
There were a few other items that seemed to make the film a little off to me, but over all I liked it.
Time® had an interesting little blurb at the end of this week's Olympic Preview issue, though -- noting that The Village, The Manchurian Candidate, and I, Robot all carry pretty clear political messages. This says something for the movies -- perhaps if only limited to a few, mainstream theater might be making a comeback for decency and expressing something significant to the audience. It's a shame we have to wait until the holiday season for Hollywood's "Best" (which even then aren't really controversial but just over-acted and full of wonderful cinematography).
Originally posted by hardhead
Ugh, I want my money back...
Shyamalan is taking himself entirely way too serious.
In some ways I sort of wished that the creatures had been real, as I was getting into that part of it before they revealed the lie. Was waiting to see Lucious be the hero, prove his bravery etc. All the better to turn it around on the viewer I suppose.
Joaquin (sp?) Phoenix was great with that strong silent type. He was great in Signs too (as well as Gladiator and To Die For). I'm really liking him as an actor more and more. Can't wait to see what he does next.
good call on the chair, empty chairs have heavy significance in many eastern religions. i didn't catch it while watching, if you see it again watch the crowd scenes the extras behave really oddly, walking side by side, it looked like a school pageant.
overall i thought the movie silly and the choice the town makes in the end idiotic. yeah just keep your head in the sand people it will be all right.
at first i thought it was an allegory for the post 9-11 world in which we live, but now i'm not so sure.
i'd give it a c+ or a b-, but it's the most provactive c movie i've seen in a while.
for fun i talked village speak to my wife for a couple of days after seeing the movie until my wife threatened to kill me in my sleep with a meat cleaver.
First off, it was advertised as a scary movie - maybe not a horror - but a really good thriller. Not scary in the least. It may have been tense in the beginning, but as soon as the "secret" was revealed there was no more tension, because you knew it was just an elder in the costume (which I thought looked pretty sad by the way)
The creature is basically a rip-off of the Pok-a-roo from the Poka-dot-door. A funny looking home made costume occupied by a member of the cast. Not original in the least.
It's a shame because there was some great acting going on - all for nothing unfortunately.
Lastly, and probably Ebert's biggest problem was the "suspension of disbelief" or lack there of. Not believable, not at all. When Ivy ran into the security guard it was like WHAM - I was snapped out of that movie like we had gone into a commercial break. Bad bad film making right there.
I don't buy the arguement that people who didn't like the movie because they didn't "get" it. I think they didn't like it because they "got it" a little too early in the movie. Before the secret was "out" I thought that all the house's looked a little too modern and well built for the 1800's. As well, when the elders met behind the shed and it was revealed that Ivy was leaving the village, and some of the elders started freaking out - they lost their "accents" - I don't know if that was intentional, or bad acting.
Any how, regardless, if "M. Night Shyamalan" is going to keep making these types of films, he should really change his name to something a little more appropriate - like "M. Folktale Shyamalan"
I also don't go into movies trying to pick them apart as I watch them (ooh, there's a boom mike/continuity error!). I knew there was going to be a twist, because that's the director's schtick, but I was willing to wait for it. But to each his own.
Originally posted by mlnjr
I also don't go into movies trying to pick them apart as I watch them (ooh, there's a boom mike/continuity error!).
I don't go into movies trying to pick them apart either - unfortunately, mistakes that Night made just jump out at you, like if someone smeared lipstick on the Mona Lisa.
Anyhow, here is a review of the film from the macrumors board which I thought was pretty good:
Some of my favorite lines from critical reviews of M. Nights latest, "The Village"
"Every village needs an idiot...and M. Night is hoping it's you..."
"...this one is only cable worthy."
"...what will moviegoers think when they realize they've actually bought**a ticket to an atmospheric but mostly mellow romance that delivers only a**few jolts?"
"...might have made a good 20 minute short or a Twilight Zone episode."
and my favorite:
"I see a dead movie..."
...which is what perhaps what this character may be thinking in the pic I included with this post. Without a doubt, the highlight of this ponderous bore of a flick (with the exception of a terrific scene which has nothing to do with the creatures in the woods) is a spectacular film debut of none other than Ron Howard's daughter. The rest of the cast is wasted - I've seen William Shatner act better.
I think most will figure out the twist within the first 1/2 hour - it's fun to just sit back and try NOT to figure out what's really going on here - it makes the film a bit more tolerable - but at M. Night's 4th outing, we can't help but NOT try and figure out where the twist lies; after all, it's what M. Night is all about, and we expect it by now. Are you going to get an "Oh, WOW!" out of it like the unforgettable 6th Sense (the first was still his best)? Not this time - more like a "Oh, ok, I thought that might be it..where'd I park the car again?" Just to make sure that the loose ends are tied up, M. Night makes his trademark appearance (in the reflection of a glass door this time, like a caged bird that falls in love with itself in a mirror) and, via his character, makes sure we get it a la' any Bond villian who has to explain his plot to agent 007 for world domination before setting the laser to kill.
I don't want to completely trash it - creature glimpses are truly wierd, and when we are finally treated to a full monty, this jaded moviegoer was still happily revulsed (read: "impressed"), and the cinematography is as pretty and atmospheric as you can imagine, not to mention a top notch soundtrack. It's hard to fully detest the movie - in fact, it's quite good - except it's too long, the acting is Al Gore Skool, some lines are unintentionally funny, the dialouge is Amish-Puritan-Old World-Mish Mash, and the plot twist may be too damn inevitable for today's viewers. Did I say it was quite good?
That's the problem with this film - it's so darn pretty, and you want M. Night to live up to the hype so much, and Bryce's acting is so enriching, and the idea has such potential - I can't say I hated it, but I think what clinched it for me was the thinly veiled references to post 9/11 control and isolation and fear of the other, admitted to by M. Night himself in interviews. Mr. Shymalan needs to adopt a screenplay next time and stop writing.
You could have done better than that, child. Honestly.