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Posted By: gnollslayer Jan 18, 2005 - 10:59 pm

I'm beginning to think M. Night Shyamalan is incapable of making bad movies. This movie is every bit as good as his others, and it twists like no other. While I enjoyed Signs more, this movie has made it into my collection quicker than any other movie but Fellowship of the Ring.

First off, if you don't like scary movies, don't worry. It's not scary. At least, not much of it is scary. Very little gore, excellent plot twists, and characters that you can really relate to. The imagery and cinematography is great too.

But be warned, this movie is not driven by action sequences, it is driven by characters and emotion. My parents thought it was the most boring movie they'd ever seen. Too bad, because they're really missing out on a great film.

Also, if anyone else on here is as obsessed with film scores as I am, you'll be glad to hear that this film boasts James Newton Howard's best score ever. I seriously don't know if he'll be able to top it.

Basically, if you liked Shyamalan's other films, you won't be disappointed.

Posted By: Sindatur Jan 19, 2005 - 06:31 am

Gnollsayer, I'm with your parents. I liked Signs alot, and the Bruce Willis one was very good as well (despite the fact I don't think much of Bruce Willis), but this one left me cold. We watched it twice just to be sure we really disliked it as much as we did, because the first time we watched it, we figured we must have missed something. But even after watching it a second time, it didn't appeal to us at all.

Perhaps it's because it was advertised as a Horror flick, and that's what we were in the mood for. Still need to check out Unbreakable, though, haven't seen that one.

Posted By: gnollslayer Jan 19, 2005 - 08:58 am

Unbreakable is my least favorite of Shyamalan's films. It's good, don't get me wrong, but not on the same level as the other ones.

The Village was really misadvertised. It's not horror at all. Even the somewhat scary parts aren't really horror. It's more of a social comment or a psychological study than anything else, which is probably why it has a narrow appeal. Some of the shots were just so amazing though: the one where Ivy is holding out her hand for Lucius to come and you can see the dark figure looming right there... sorry, I won't spoil it. Also, the whole sequence in the woods with the voiceovers and the fiddle music, and the brilliant imagery; I can't get over how awesome that is.

Most people who liked this movie say that they don't generally watch horror. I generally don't like horror either, but I love fantasy, and the "quest" to the towns had a great fantasy feel to it.

Posted By: Don Jan 27, 2005 - 12:08 am

The village?
[Language Edit. Magus] terrible, [Edit. Magus] dialogue, character driven for no [Edit. Magus] reason, decent beginning, just plan [Edit. Magus] mid, end, everything else.
I got a done before taste in my mouth and I don't know why.
Don't know what he was thinkin, Shyamalan is not a good director, "Sixth Sense" -good, "Signs" -ehhh, the rest -[Edit. Magus].
Village had a great base concept, but M. Night was smoking something and dropped it on it's head.

Posted By: Magus Jan 27, 2005 - 12:45 pm

Sorry for the editing, but it's my job as a moderator. Bleaping letters out of swears is not allowed.

Posted By: fanuilh Jan 28, 2005 - 08:52 am

I liked "The Village." It was billed as horror, but it isn't, exactly (and that has more to do with the limitations of the movie genre classification system than anything else, I think). More a look into the human psyche, which tends to be more unsettling than anything else. There were clues all the way through the movie (Shyamalan does this -- and when you glom onto what's going on it's a smack-yourself-in-the forehead moment) that the little community wasn't what it seemed to be, beyond the secrets and the strange creatures said to inhabit the woods. You have to look behind the actors to catch the clues, though, for instance at the buildings and the way they're constructed.

I thought it was a very good movie. Character-driven stories interest me more than action-driven anyway -- no amount of flash-and-boom or special effects can make up for not having a story, in my opinion.

Posted By: Magus Jan 28, 2005 - 09:55 am

I think that most classification systems are limited and so other movies/stories/authors are inappropriately typecast.

Posted By: Safire_slash Mar 17, 2005 - 07:33 am

i was initially very disappointed, i had gone to see a horror movie, and gotten something completely different. However brilliant cinematography. a somewhat guessable storyline, nothing about it really surprised me- the costumes were completely wrong, though i think that was intentional. However, re watching it, it was worth the money i paid- interesting concept and good for pondering ^^ Actually, cinema-geek i am, i'd buy it simply for the cinematography ^^

Posted By: Magus Mar 17, 2005 - 03:09 pm

I think it was Manji who said that the concept of the movie was better then the movie itself. That seems to be the opinion of everyone I talk to about it, and I must agree. But it was enjoyable all the same.

Posted By: gnollslayer Mar 17, 2005 - 09:49 pm

The cinematography is awesome! I still love this movie, and still love the beautiful shots every time I watch it. I must say though, that I liked Signs better than this.

Posted By: Magus Mar 18, 2005 - 01:08 pm

Yeah. My ranking of M. Knight Shayamalan's movies thus far is as follows.

1) Unbreakable

2) Signs

3) The Sixth Sense

4) The Village

Posted By: gnollslayer Mar 18, 2005 - 05:28 pm

I would ranks "Signs" as the best, "The Sixth Sense" as second, "The Village" third, and "Unbreakable" fourth. I like them all, though, so it's easy to see how they could fall in any order.

Posted By: Magus Mar 19, 2005 - 04:37 am

I believe that The Sixth Sense had more themactic merits to it, and the ending was quite the shocker. But I personally enjoyed Signs better. But Unbreakable is one of my all time favorite movies, awesome all the way through.