M. Night's new film

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I guess this Fox deal to make The Happening is an M. Night Shyamalan bounce-back. After the debacle of Lady in the Water, I mean. Hearing that nobody wanted to buy The Green Effect I figured he'd be in movie jail for at least a year and a half to two years, or perhaps longer. But no -- Night is resilient, relentless, exacting, tenacious. That said, The Happening plot sounds like a big gulp: "a paranoid thriller about a family running from a natural crisis that presents a large-scale threat to humanity."

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on March 7, 2007 at 3:38 PM

comment #1

D.Z. says ...

Shouldn't it be called War of the Worlds 2?

Posted by D.Z. at March 7, 2007 3:56 PM

comment #2

Bilge says ...

Since War of the Worlds was itself curiously similar to Signs...no. Also, there are no aliens. Hence, no "worlds." Or for that matter a "war."

Posted by Bilge at March 7, 2007 4:07 PM

comment #3

jeffmcm says ...

Night has made too much money in the past to go into 'movie exile' for long. Here's hoping Fox is tougher with his horrible screenwriting than Disney was.

Posted by jeffmcm at March 7, 2007 4:10 PM

comment #4

The Movie Man says ...

I'm not totally anti-Shyamlan, I really liked UNBREAKABLE, and seem to be the only person who'll admit these days that he likes SIGNS and yes, I know the aliens wouldn't land on a water planet, and you know what I don't give a shit, that movie is still an effective white knuckler for about 80 minutes or so. That said THE VILLAGE and LADY IN THE WATER were awful (LADY being so terrible I actually felt more pity than anger) and THE HAPPENING is a terrible title, it sounds like what a Shyamalan movie would be called in a spoof on the Simpsons. I'm rooting for it, and I can kind of dig the premise, but I'm cynical.

Posted by The Movie Man at March 7, 2007 4:18 PM

comment #5

epiphanyinbaltimore says ...

I can admit I liked "Signs" - I thought it was pretty near his best, and featured a great Mel Gibson performance. I also didn't think "Lady in the Water" was nearly as bad as everyone said, though. I'll look forward to the new film.

Posted by epiphanyinbaltimore at March 7, 2007 4:24 PM

comment #6

The Movie Man says ...

Also I would like to introduce a theory about Shyamalan and LADY IN THE WATER. If someone has said this before and I'm unintentionally ripping them off then I apologize, but I think that there is no way in hell that Shyamalan can think LADY is good, and that he did it intentionally because he's so obsessed with Spielberg he decided that it was about time to have his 1941 folly, so he'll have something to "come back" from. I'm only half-kidding.

Posted by The Movie Man at March 7, 2007 4:24 PM

comment #7

Geoff says ...

Anyone here like the idea of the movie? I read the script review at latino review and I guess it would be a spoiler to go into it. Apparently it's going to be R rated (it does seem to rely on some disturbing images). I bet Al Gore will love this film.

Posted by Geoff at March 7, 2007 4:44 PM

comment #8

actionman says ...

Geoff: I read the same script review and I think it sounds very cool and quite promising...a gritty, R-rated movie from M. Night could be very very cool. As long as he's not acting in the damn thing himself!

Posted by actionman at March 7, 2007 5:37 PM

comment #9

jeffmcm says ...

The big question I have is, does the new script force one of night's 'spiritual reconciliation' messages down our throats? I gagged on the last three.

Posted by jeffmcm at March 7, 2007 5:45 PM

comment #10

The Movie Man says ...

jeffmcm-the lead character has to face how "things really are" and in doing so will bond with his family.

Posted by The Movie Man at March 7, 2007 5:47 PM

comment #11

The Movie Man says ...

Or at least Latino Review says as much, I haven't read the script myself.

Posted by The Movie Man at March 7, 2007 5:48 PM

comment #12

rocco says ...

Loved 'Signs' because I saw it knowing absolutely nothing about it...Shamy erred by showing the alien at the end, but I totally agree MM, it was a great ride...

...and I never had a problem with water-phobic aliens looking to dominate a water planet, especially if aided by their vehicles and protective suits...oh god I sound like a geek...but carrying on...humans visit a deadly environment all the time...it's called space. Direct exposure in the cold vacuum of space without a suit would result in severe trauma from a number of factors with death likely in less than a minute...does that mean we should stay off the moon because it's naturally inhospitable? It was always a fallacious criticism.

I'm with you...good movie.

Posted by rocco at March 7, 2007 5:57 PM

comment #13

jeffmcm says ...

Delbomber, you make perfect sense...which raises the question of why those aliens weren't wearing their own suits.

Anyway, I don't have a problem with the sci-fi aspects. I just can't stand his polemics and his holier-than-thou moralizing.

Posted by jeffmcm at March 7, 2007 6:13 PM

comment #14

IClavdivs says ...

Perhaps Night should stop working with Bryce Dallas Howard, 2 collaboration and very bad results!

Posted by IClavdivs at March 7, 2007 6:39 PM

comment #15

Ray says ...

This movie will be ASS. The only person who doesn't know it is Shyamalan.

Posted by Ray at March 7, 2007 7:12 PM

comment #16

Thrudvangar says ...

Signs is my favorite Night film. It has humor, drama, action, suspense...I still don't see problems with it. It's just a joy to watch. I get carried along for the ride.

Posted by Thrudvangar at March 8, 2007 3:38 AM

comment #17

The Movie Man says ...

Glad to hear the SIGNS love, UNBREAKABLE is my favorite, I think that one handles the re-emergence of faith material the best, but SIGNS for about 80 or 90 minutes is a brilliantly built ride and I love Howard's faux-Hermmann score. The moralizing at the end (especially the way the wife ties into it) is a bit on the absurd side, but I think there's enough there to recommend it. And while he might be in Hollywood PC hell right now, Gibson is strong in it, and he and Phoenix are good together.

Posted by The Movie Man at March 8, 2007 3:56 AM

comment #18

TL says ...

The Happening? Sounds like a movie about hippies droping acid.

Posted by TL at March 8, 2007 6:20 AM

comment #19

Jay says ...

I thought "Lady in the Water" was excellent. There seems to be just a general hatred for this director. Instead of celebrating someone who is working from their own mind and creating personal works on a large scale, we have this negativity. As a society, we seem to target those who are independently successful and tear them down publicly. A genuine debate about taste is a good thing, but this guy just takes a beat-down.

Posted by Jay at March 8, 2007 7:27 AM

comment #20

RoyBatty says ...

Speaking only for myself, it's not some sort of general hatred for him but an ever rising sense that a talented DIRECTOR doesn't seem to get that he is overall a very mediocre WRITER (seems we have a theme this week - him and Mike Binder). Each of his films has gotten progressively more banal as he runs out of truly interesting ideas and seems to be going further back in a stash of spiral bound notebooks from his youth in search of his next one.

Considering how immaturely he handled being told by Nina Jacobson that LADY IN THE WATER had major problems, it's not surprising that the spectacular crash and burn that the film did has not yet succeeded in disabusing him of the notion that he should be solely writing his scripts.

I think the key problem is that Shyamalan operates as a regional filmmaker, yet doesn't make regional films. He stays in Philly, where he gets to be giant fish in a little-bitty pond. However, his aesthetics are strictly mainstream genre and he is far off the beaten path for finding new sources (ie, scripts and writers) for films that match those aesthetics.

Perhaps if the next one also goes down in flames it might finally occur to him that perhaps writing his own material is not in his, or the audience's, best interest.

Posted by RoyBatty at March 8, 2007 10:19 AM

comment #21

RoyBatty says ...

PS - THE HAPPENING sounds like either a:) a 70's period piece about an EST group, or b:) a joke aimed at Shyamalan on "The Simpsons" (like a marquee Bart and Milhouse walk past).

Posted by RoyBatty at March 8, 2007 10:25 AM

comment #22

RoyBatty says ...

Oops Movie Man, didn't see your post - guess like minds LOL

Posted by RoyBatty at March 8, 2007 10:26 AM

comment #23

rocco says ...

Shamyamalan's star has fallen here in Philly......his films only ostensibly take place [near] here, and native Philadelphians--of which I am thankfully not one--being the most provincial people I have ever known, have stopped considering him one of their own.

Posted by rocco at March 8, 2007 5:35 PM

comment #24