M. Night Shyamalan

Yesterday we saw Lady in the Water and Monster House.

*NO SPOILERS* Lady in the Water got really bad reviews. However, my deep love for M. Night Shyamalan's past movies (except Unbreakable) made me really sure I would still like this movie. And I'd been waiting for it to come out for a very long time. I kind of think M. Night is really mean because he always has to have some scenes that make me cry buckets, for example...

6th Sense: the conversation that Cole has with his mom in the car to tell her he sees dead people.

Signs: when Mel Gibson tells his kids individually what their mom said when they were born.

The Village: the scene where Lucius pulls Ivy from the porch into the basement, and the scene where Ivy is walking through the forest and there is a kinda narration by one of the characters: "She is more capable than most in this village. And she is led by love. The world moves for love. It kneels before it in awe."

And the music he uses is pretty similar, especially in the Village and Lady in the Water... it's so so good... so about Lady in the Water... the most cry-inducing scene is unexpected... the "Lady" is talking to another character (not to give anything away for ppl who are gonna see it), kinda telling him a story, and THAT music is playing, the one that is sad and uplifting...

What I have to say about this movie is the critics aren't wrong but it depends on what kind of person you are... Botton line is, you hafta be geeky to love M. Night's movies... and not be obsessed with hidden agendas... and only care about characters... and I don't need realism... most of my favorite movies are "unrealistic"... for me, everything in a movie is real during the time I am watching it, so it doesn't matter how weird the created world is, as long as the characters and emotions are real... but for those who are not like that, who are grounded in the real world, then I get that you might not like this movie for this reason...

On a side note... I LOVE THE VILLAGE. Another poorly reviewed film. Sorta SPOILER>> With this one, the created reality is not exactly fantastical, as in, it is possible that the events that occur in this movie could be real, once u get to the end. It got bad reviews because it's not creepy enough and the surprise ending isn't cool enough... but Ivy (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Lucius (Joaquin Phoenix) are so beyond brilliant... how about just watch the two scenes mentioned above--the one on the porch and the one with Ivy in the forest...

Monster House (computer animated story about kids and a haunted house) is "Ain't It Cool News' 10th Anniversary Film Event" as in, Harry Knowles's favorite film of the summer so far. As for me, I was surprised that I somewhat enjoyed it, since I'm not much for most animated films, due to the fact that they are targeting kids. One thing I don't like about Disney movies is the "funny" lines that are so rated G. Monster House (not Disney) doesn't have those lines and features real emotion in the characters, and it is pretty easy to see this not as animation if the characters' heads weren't disproportionately big.