cult film freak: m. night

Showing posts with label m. night. Show all posts

Written by James M. Tate / 2/12/2019 / No comments / 2019 , action , bruce willis , comic book , franchise , horror , james mcavoy , m. night , new , samuel l. jackson , sequel , superhero , thriller , trilogy

BRUCE WILLIS IN M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN'S 'GLASS' W/ SAM JACKSON

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixC8s3A5h54vSjqOZ-Qqv_W8wdyB-OLhrrhOzRRYqizYmMTzX1G8g0iX31jFNQYkrUCfO-F4dn8qpkU752qK5Hhnh7VHRrpyTApijJ76UkJwKoPTzjpX_ymYRPEGU0mlcvmrs-Fs5uwOeS/s1600/https---blogs-images.forbes.com-scottmendelson-files-2018-11-GLASS-1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="845" data-original-width="1280" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixC8s3A5h54vSjqOZ-Qqv_W8wdyB-OLhrrhOzRRYqizYmMTzX1G8g0iX31jFNQYkrUCfO-F4dn8qpkU752qK5Hhnh7VHRrpyTApijJ76UkJwKoPTzjpX_ymYRPEGU0mlcvmrs-Fs5uwOeS/s400/https---blogs-images.forbes.com-scottmendelson-files-2018-11-GLASS-1.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The poster shows the main problem... way too much McAvoy  2019</u></td></tr>
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M. Night Shyamalan never needs to provide a director commentary track for GLASS since the actors do it for him. A two-tier sequel, one for the subtle classic UNBREAKABLE starring Bruce Willis as a security guard who can't be injured, manipulated by title character Mr. Glass, played by Samuel L. Jackson; the other SPLIT, the recent thriller/horror with James McAvoy as a zoo employee serial killer of young girls...<br>
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Unfortunately, and despite the title, this is <i>not </i>an UNBREAKABLE sequel. Having AMERICAN HORROR STORY actress Sarah Paulson play a psych-ward shrink with a three-day pass (using two unrealistically inept security guards) to cure this eclectic trio of their supposed hyperactive fantasies, it's really about sustaining SPLIT. And for the audience, having to deal with a killer with multiple personalities is one thing... Being stuck with an otherwise talented British actor showing just how damned talented he is, is, well.. Hell on Earth... and slowly...<br>

2019, action, bruce willis, comic book, franchise, horror, james mcavoy, m. night, new, samuel l. jackson, sequel, superhero, thriller, trilogy

BRUCE WILLIS IN M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN'S 'GLASS' W/ SAM JACKSON

The poster shows the main problem... way too much McAvoy 2019 M. Night Shyamalan never needs to provide a director commentary track for...

M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN'S THE VISIT

2015, horror, m. night

M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN'S THE VISIT

year: 2015 It took M. Night Shyamalan to put some pizazz into the completely overused "video camera documenting terror" genre,...

Written by James M. Tate / 5/16/2015 / No comments / m. night , matt dillon , suspense , TV

LOOKING INTO THE WAYWARD PINES PILOT EPISODE

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtKogNFhADrR9PVPbhzNYxY7RChw2eWNJ503nHYQ2BFnwjZMb_vj31KQDFjmFzJ43DhzGBi-_tgc-STH998gHqXUAFLb7a31uTMYuBiR6h_mdD1tqkSm0lyjl1sNvWR4wbFdKCsKwzdxc/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtKogNFhADrR9PVPbhzNYxY7RChw2eWNJ503nHYQ2BFnwjZMb_vj31KQDFjmFzJ43DhzGBi-_tgc-STH998gHqXUAFLb7a31uTMYuBiR6h_mdD1tqkSm0lyjl1sNvWR4wbFdKCsKwzdxc/s1600/2.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2015 Grade: C+</td></tr>
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Matt Dillon stars in WAYWARD PINES, and how. There’s little left for any other character since his Secret Service Agent Ethan Burke is so desperately alone, and beyond LOST... No not on an island but an idyllic small town ala Norman Rockwell; a sort of Mayberry existing in THE TWILIGHT ZONE. And with genre producer M. Night Shyamalan at the helm, you would think a few surprise elements would appear out of the woodwork – but the twists in this adaptation of someone else’s novel are already built in from the get-go…<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Outsider</td></tr>
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PINES has been compared to TWIN PEAKS since its very conception, but the Neo Noir aspect of David Lynch’s bizarre mystery is nowhere to be found, really, other than a guy in a stiff suit out of his element. Just a 45-minute setup where we met a few strange people – especially one particular nurse who provides the sole indication that M. Night is involved beyond the pilot’s meticulous direction: she could do a horror movie wonders, and Melissa Leo seems to be having a blast unveiling her creepy, campy, old fashion Alpha Female role.<br />
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The pilot WHERE PARADISE IS HOME cuts back and forth with an injured Dillon… involved in a car crash on the way to investigate missing Secret Service agents, waking up in a sparse hospital without a cell phone… to his hometown where a brooding son and perfect wife stress on the news, while the Agency tries locating his whereabouts, in vain… <br />
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But what only seems to matter, while a bleeding, bruised Dillon trudges around and finds no resources... except for Juliette Lewis's port in the storm... is the final establishing exterior shot that the show’s very own promotion and description already gave away, blunting any mystery that should still be lurking around every shady corner. For in a town as openly strange as WAYWARD PINES, where else is there to go? It almost feels like the magician revealed the trick too soon.

m. night, matt dillon, suspense, TV

LOOKING INTO THE WAYWARD PINES PILOT EPISODE

2015 Grade: C+ Matt Dillon stars in WAYWARD PINES, and how. There’s little left for any other character since his Secret Service Agent E...

Written by James M. Tate / 6/01/2013 / No comments / 2013 , jaden smith , m. night , science fiction , will smith , zoe kravitz

AFTER EARTH

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikIMYTgcgf7aRfcsE3ptkTL9yTv_jWytiDDxE-8322JAyx5nMnmmyeGf6lWH-VaOb52isEwbfpgm4bpEFg3eWYhbwWVnWKuCAJcWCHPmzq6_dMwLNlSrWVpfhDAUbThJxLP5l-UqjM7O1A/s1600/after-earth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikIMYTgcgf7aRfcsE3ptkTL9yTv_jWytiDDxE-8322JAyx5nMnmmyeGf6lWH-VaOb52isEwbfpgm4bpEFg3eWYhbwWVnWKuCAJcWCHPmzq6_dMwLNlSrWVpfhDAUbThJxLP5l-UqjM7O1A/s640/after-earth.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2013 cast: Jaden Smith, Will Smith, Zoë Kravitz, Sophie Okonedo rating: **1/2</td></tr>
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A hybrid of George Lucas’s “used future,” the main spaceship a sleek stingray-shaped vessel with primitive interior; James Cameron’s existential stranger in a strange land AVATAR; and PLANET OF THE APES wherein two “astronauts,” in this case real life father/son Will and Jaden Smith as Cypher Raige and Kitai, land on Earth in a future where deadly creatures (including gorilla-like antagonists) are hostile to all things human. <br />
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Skipping past the backstory of Earth’s original demise caused by everything preached in AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH plus some really aggressive aliens, mankind resides on a planet where young Katai is training to be like his father, not only an intrepid General but he can make himself invisible to the alien foe. This is called “Ghosting” and like all science-fiction films there are odd terms commonplace in this otherworld we’re thrust into. But only the basics are important here: bravery and skill and how the reluctant, vulnerable youth has to eventually combine both to survive. <br />
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The underdog Katai gets an unfortunate chance to prove his worth when their spaceship, with his father and a host of doomed soldiers on board, is caught in a meteor storm and crash-lands on the hostile planet Earth. Cypher is severely injured and has to give his son instructions as he treks into the wilderness, fighting adversaries while in search of the tail end of the craft: here’s where a device is located that can ensure a rescue.<br />
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Much of the film has Jaden Smith’s Katai alone against the elements, but not entirely. His father gives him instructions from the crashed ship, providing the youthful hero not only loopholes for several nail-biting situations but Katai's never given enough chance to prove himself outside father’s constant influence. In other words, Will Smith’s expository-input gets downright tiresome, turning what could have been a sleek Jack Londonesque survival tale into a Monday Night Football color commentary.<br />
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Jaden’s acting isn’t bad, relying mostly on a deer-caught-in-headlight reactions and sporadically breaking down in tears. Meanwhile, Will Smith seems to be reading his dialog in slow motion – then again he’s acting like every monotone character set in director M. Night Shyamalan cinema… Although he has an excuse since his character’s under heavy medication... And as dad's broken leg gets worse, son fights the big bad beast that’s been anticipated all along (including several dreamlike flashbacks).<br />
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AFTER EARTH probably won’t heal the maligned M. Night and yet it’s better than anything he’s directed in years. Certain scenes, especially that final battle verses the beastly CGI alien, has enough suspenseful intensity where Katai's situation seems more desperate than Jaden can pull off emotionally. But as a revved-up action hero, the kid does all right.

2013, jaden smith, m. night, science fiction, will smith, zoe kravitz

AFTER EARTH

year: 2013 cast: Jaden Smith, Will Smith, Zoë Kravitz, Sophie Okonedo rating: **1/2 A hybrid of George Lucas’s “used future,” the main s...

Written by James M. Tate / 1/04/2012 / No comments / eco-horror , m. night , mark walhberg , suspense , zeroes

THE HAPPENING

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkJ6kE18Vb52ry5sZ1baULIgK9Ri5oZG7Cz_f20BvP0mSUP-gr9gZNW_3Axmb04hlilE-OcEGJ7l7HMOqq5yZG9Es2aF9vJlXAld-Zfy92c-ixHCL0JRdS413LooIuBuguPOvu1t87fuQ/s1600/happening-teaser-trailer.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5455949679065318642" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkJ6kE18Vb52ry5sZ1baULIgK9Ri5oZG7Cz_f20BvP0mSUP-gr9gZNW_3Axmb04hlilE-OcEGJ7l7HMOqq5yZG9Es2aF9vJlXAld-Zfy92c-ixHCL0JRdS413LooIuBuguPOvu1t87fuQ/s200/happening-teaser-trailer.jpg" style="float: right; height: 112px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
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<b>title:</b> THE HAPPENING</div>
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<b>year:</b> 2008</div>
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<b>cast:</b> Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, Betty Buckley</div>
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<b>rating: </b>*</div>
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To quote the iconic  Buffalo Springfield tune, "There's something happening here, what it is  ain't exactly clear." These lyrics sum up half the film, where people  back East are mysteriously going crazy and soon-after committing  suicide. After the cause is known, something having to do with the  environment "fighting back," it's a lot of running around... And the  once prolific writer/director M. Night Shyamalan seems to have run out  of ideas and creativity. Relying on cheap camera work and cheesy dialogue,  he himself claims this as an intentional b-movie liken to the early work of  George Romero and David Cronenberg; low-budget classics relying heavily  on character-development: something this film has little to nothing of.  Eventually the survivors end up in a rural house inhabited by an old  creepy woman played by Betty Buckley (Sissy Spacek's coach in CARRIE), providing the only chilling  moments that don't last long enough.

eco-horror, m. night, mark walhberg, suspense, zeroes

THE HAPPENING

title: THE HAPPENING year: 2008 cast: Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, Betty Buckley rating: * To quote the iconic Buffalo Spr...

Written by James M. Tate / 6/14/2011 / No comments / ensemble , horror , m. night , mystery , suspense , tens

DEVIL

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9CJGsx4bASjHhWXAN5W1ukfL9VdNBQ0Trh0H6y3LfiOiL_6M7uzir7Ds4l5OngwH1FyJohh_wo2A7aQpFvrX3AgSerl8BoVR5EeWfUlwIaljrdmSXOFLVXaULGCxleMjfh8RVLBY39FGb/s1600/Devil-Movie-12-550x366.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618261788907074194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9CJGsx4bASjHhWXAN5W1ukfL9VdNBQ0Trh0H6y3LfiOiL_6M7uzir7Ds4l5OngwH1FyJohh_wo2A7aQpFvrX3AgSerl8BoVR5EeWfUlwIaljrdmSXOFLVXaULGCxleMjfh8RVLBY39FGb/s200/Devil-Movie-12-550x366.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 191px;" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">title:</span> DEVIL<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">year: </span>2010<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">cast: </span>Chris Messina, Bokeen Woodbine, Logan Marshall-Green<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">rating:</span> **1/2<br /><br /><div>M. Night Shyamalan, whose last few directed films have steered away from the patented twist endings, wrote (directed by someone else) a film where the conclusion is hinged upon an inevitable answer to the plot-built question: of the five people stuck inside a high rise elevator, which one is the Devil? Not just a devil, but the real thing. This quirky notion’s set up (i.e. explained) through narration by a Catholic side-character sharing his mother’s bedtime story: centering on the Devil infiltrating a small group of people without making himself known, causing each to turn against each other in violence. Well, well, if this isn’t exactly what happens in the elevator between an eclectic group of characters including:<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyCdhYbOzt_LwJqRJHQq7taY2EAD8YKBX8GEQf6Wb_nlarGclkhBFwXzdZoKyAfbLZ58UOh3inzH7eSDJn1ocuP-mLoGpM79KVR6QVWJUuUw4W94znuFcHrfNwgWkqLbLR81QU1wsoARpC/s1600/devil_shyamalan.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618261529725437394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyCdhYbOzt_LwJqRJHQq7taY2EAD8YKBX8GEQf6Wb_nlarGclkhBFwXzdZoKyAfbLZ58UOh3inzH7eSDJn1ocuP-mLoGpM79KVR6QVWJUuUw4W94znuFcHrfNwgWkqLbLR81QU1wsoARpC/s200/devil_shyamalan.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 177px; height: 200px;" /></a> a claustrophobic temp security guard; a roguish drifter with a questionable past; a pretty divorcee; an old tough lady; and an overly-opinionated salesman, the latter obviously written as the snarky comic relief, but winding up the weakest, and most annoying, of the group. Random slayings occur within the elevator during power failures, so no one knows who the killer is. And on the outside, a world-weary cop, whose wife and child recently died in a car accident, is trying to figure the culprit and,<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1TJGBT2jNRBg_m1MzkvTQev3ZBQX5aI4l8KUlk3xykVNP15sAjYXbisL_fjkdUK2efrbtrOLw9yFzvnP0uljsg9g4XrGRn1F048Vu9vyGd2dMJXBSOZicYoPbuc4xEpm70AfrS6oYUR-i/s1600/dfadfa.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618261631668305858" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1TJGBT2jNRBg_m1MzkvTQev3ZBQX5aI4l8KUlk3xykVNP15sAjYXbisL_fjkdUK2efrbtrOLw9yFzvnP0uljsg9g4XrGRn1F048Vu9vyGd2dMJXBSOZicYoPbuc4xEpm70AfrS6oYUR-i/s200/dfadfa.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 96px; height: 200px;" /></a> after being convinced by our narrator, to find out if he, or she, is truly the Devil. And there is a twist within, probably the most creative aspect of a film that meanders at a somewhat clunky pace inside and outside the enclosed setting. And while some of the dialog seems contrived, and sporadic moments of bombastic C.G.I. bloodshed intrude upon the Hitchcock inspired character-driven suspense, there are pockets of reliable moments within a unique modern fable of right, wrong, and whatever, or whoever, gets caught in-between. </div>

ensemble, horror, m. night, mystery, suspense, tens

DEVIL

title: DEVIL year: 2010 cast: Chris Messina, Bokeen Woodbine, Logan Marshall-Green rating: **1/2 M. Night Shyamalan, whose last few direct...

Written by James M. Tate / 2/07/2011 / No comments / action , m. night , tens

THE LAST AIRBENDER

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDRUlWZdchBHLu18qhTDCOQVlcwpYwP4FW0x77CsegInJmcCBOVWuyuqnkez20L_04opNrZHaOSrYnvP_Ya3_uMzF2-1wkq_0DAS-rtEzKr0NbV7-4abyfxVNWE8_ZdI_hLTBl8-QYBKM/s1600/LASTAIRBENDER.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5571009762817929042" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDRUlWZdchBHLu18qhTDCOQVlcwpYwP4FW0x77CsegInJmcCBOVWuyuqnkez20L_04opNrZHaOSrYnvP_Ya3_uMzF2-1wkq_0DAS-rtEzKr0NbV7-4abyfxVNWE8_ZdI_hLTBl8-QYBKM/s200/LASTAIRBENDER.jpg" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 200px; float: right; height: 154px;" /></a><strong>title:</strong> THE LAST AIRBENDER<br /><div><strong>year:</strong> 2010</div><div><strong>cast:</strong> Nicola Peltz</div><div><strong>rating:</strong> *1/2</div><br /><div></div><div>M. Night Shyamalan's style is to make good actors sound like robots, working fine for Bruce Willis, Samuel Jackson, Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix in his first three (and only good) films. But when dealing with kids who seem right out of a Nickelodeon sitcom, it's downright embarrassing. Based on a cartoon, the film centers on a child with powers aka The Last Airbender who can master (move around) all the elements: earth, water, air and fire, each with their own <em>nation</em>. The evil Fire Nation wants to control him while two Arctic teenagers want to save him. There's a lot of frantic CGI action but even more dialog; all as bad as the monotone delivery. Let's hope M. Night's hit rock bottom, for then he can't sink any lower. Although this was far more enjoyable (fun to bag on) than THE VILLAGE, LADY IN THE WATER, and THE HAPPENING. </div>

action, m. night, tens