M. Night Shyamalan makes another crappy movie - 'angry muttering could be heard from audience'

[Liberal_in_LA]

Shyamalan Desperately in Need of an Ang Lee-Like Redemption to Stay in Hollywood

The July 4 holiday weekend was supposed to be a box office showdown between Twi-hards and anime fans, but the battle was over before it even began. Midnight showings of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse on June 29 drew record crowds, but late night screenings of M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender brought further shame down on the troubled director's head.

The Last Airbender has a 9 percent approval rating

Rotten Tomatoes, one of the best Hollywood barometers, shows M. Night Shyamalan's latest work clocking in at only a 9 percent approval rating. In contrast, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse currently has a 50 percent approval rating, which is logical, since the films are made for fans, not critics. Within hours after its release, The Last Airbender earned the dubious title of "Worst Reviewed Film of 2010."

Fans sound off about The Last Airbender

Twenty-four hours after the Twi-hards took over the Irvine Spectrum Mall, fans of the Nickelodeon series Avatar: The Last Airbender, stood in long lines in Irvine to see Shyamalan's 3-D, live action adaptation. In at least one auditorium, derisive laughter and angry muttering could be heard from the audience. When the screen finally went dark, some fans even booed loudly.

Where did M. Night Shyamalan go wrong?

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5549002/critics_and_fans_heap_scorn_on_m_night.html?cat=9

[sakabatou]

1. Trying to turn an episodic show into a movie

Bad casting
Probably some other stuff

[phleshdef]

9. There is no excuse for not being able to translate the show into a good film.

The show itself was one ongoing story from front to back. All the writing was done for him.

[sakabatou]

14. Yup

[spiritual_gunfighter]

2. It is bizarre to see the career decline of Shyamalan

I thought The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs were really great, but then what happened??

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. I liked 6th sense, signs, and The Village. Then it was downhill, going faster and faster

Lady in Lake was awful.

[ikri]

18. He keeps trying to shoe-horn the plot twist into every film

It's like the massive plot twist has become his personal signature and he just keeps ramming the plot twist in there every time no matter whether the film requires it or not. If you know you're watching one of his films you know that the plot twist is coming at some point completely destroying the impact that the plot twist could have on the film, it worked in the Sixth Sense and to a lesser degree in Unbreakable and Signs but every time he does it now it just damages the film.

[Mimo78]

47. Even the best ideas wear of

That is a fact. Some thinks might work more then once but you can't do the same thing over and over again believing someone could still be surprised.

[CTyankee]

4. I loved "The Sixth Sense." I thought it was amazing and I didn't guess the

ending until almost the very end. It was a great movie.

After a few of his others, I gave up on him. I was sorry, too. I'm sorry that he has fizzled and that greatness he had with "Sixth Sense" has deserted him...I wish he could regain it. I would definitely go to his movies again if he did...

[Liberal_in_LA]

5. I like 'surprise ending' movies. 6th sense was awesome

[CTyankee]

10. I love them so much. "A Beautiful MInd" was like that, too and I loved it.

I was pretty much fooled, altho I had a little suspicion that something was "off."

Usually, the so-called surprise ending movies doesn't surprise me. I guess what's going on and that's a big downer...

Can you recommend others to me?

[Liberal_in_LA]

16. Liked 'Beautiful mind" also.

In sixth sense... I recall the scene at the restaurant. I thought "She's not interacting with him"... Something
was off.

Regarding recommendations... you may have seen more than I have.

[muffin1]

26. Did you see

'Stir of Echoes'? It came out at roughly the same time as 'The Sixth Sense', so it was overlooked by many. I liked it better than 'The Sixth Sense', which I liked, too. Anyway, it stars Kevin Bacon, Kathryn Erbe, and Ileana Douglas.

[TheFarseer]

31. yes, that was a really good movie too

funny how you never hear anything about it but it was very nearly as good as 6th Sense.

[TheDebbieDee]

33. Stir of Echoes.....I love that movie, too.

It is as good as the Sixth Sense.

[MorningGlow]

44. The Others

With Nicole Kidman. Also a ghost story but a cool twist. Great spooky "look" to it all too. :thumbsup:

[Brickbat]

6. By discarding most of the mythology and "bible" of the Airbender universe, you lose much of the

magic of the original. My kids are dismayed at how little the movie resembles the show, to its loss.

[WI_DEM]

7. He let the success of Sixth Sense limit him--he keeps trying to copy that film

he needs to move on.

[Duer 157099]

8. I watched "Signs" last night and "The Sixth Sense" last week

Those, imho, were his only two brilliant works, and they truly were brilliant.

A sad case of shoulda stopped when he was ahead.

Oh well. He's still far ahead of many who never even had one success.

[Initech]

11. Further proof Hollywood is running out of ideas.

[Codeine]

12. Unbreakable is the only really great film he's made.

Sixth Sense was good, but not great. Signs was a bad film with good acting. Everything else has been unmitigated shit.

[FormerDittoHead]

41. I loved the Sixth Sense, but Unbreakable is the unsung masterpiece.

Maybe you have to be a comic book fan to really like it, but damn, that's one great movie.

"Signs" had way too many holes in it for me to respect it.

I didn't even bother seeing "The Village", but I saw "Lady in the Water" (sic) and felt my intelligence totally insulted.

[redqueen]

13. I really wish he hadn't got his hands on that movie.

I knew when I saw that he was directing it that it would be a huge disappointment. x(

[KamaAina]

15. Technical quibble with Unbreakable

the protagonist supposedly has osteogenesis imperfecta -- "brittle bone disease" -- yet he has grown to full typical adult height. In the reality-based world, my two favorite OIs (not to mention two of my favorite human beings, period :loveya: ) are 3'8" and about 3'6" respectively (both are female).

[Luminous Animal]

17. "Where did M. Night Shyamalan go wrong?'

M. Night Shyamalan has always been a hack.

[onager]

43. Thank you! I call him "M. Night Charlatan"

What kind of pretentious asshat calls himself "M. Night" anyway? Is his first name "Mid?"

I'm one of the few people who didn't think "Sixth Sense" was all that hot. But it was definitely his career peak.

"Signs" was just awful. Long before the end, my suspension of disbelief was already creaking and groaning, until it ultimately collapsed in the Chasm of Totally Unbelievable Crap.

I saw "The Village" on a long plane flight from Europe. Fortunately, I had a book also, since I figured out that Big Story Twist about 15 minutes in. But I'm sure it was also quickly figured out by your average zombie with a chain saw cleaving his brain.

And not so long ago, I figured even a blind pig finds an acron every now and then, so maybe The Great Director could finally pull a decent movie out of his Shyamalan.

That was "The Happening," in which nothing much happened except me falling off the couch laughing. While pining for the MST3K crew to show up and provide some real entertainment.

[maxsolomon]

19. where did the producers and studio that keep funding him go wrong?

we don't need content providers this bad.

[blogslut]

20. The fans were against the film before it began filming

...because they felt the casting was racially inaccurate:

http://www.lwbcommunity.org/race-bender

[JackRiddler]

21. Where did he go wrong? With the silly ghost movie where Bruce Willis was already dead at the start?

Seen with the right person, it was comedy gold.

[Oregone]

22. Was his career already dead, and we just get to find out now?

Is Sixth Sense an allegory for his life?

[JackRiddler]

23. The next movie's twist is that it never got made.

[TexasObserver]

24. He's had one film worth watching.

It's not enough to skip his movies. I want my time back. He can keep the money.

[TheFarseer]

25. Is it worse than Lady in the Water?

I noticed that Lady in the Water is higher rated on rotten tomatoes than The Happening or The Last Airbender, neither of which I saw because I vowed not to see another of his films after Lady in the Water - which is quite possibly the worst movie I've ever seen and quite frankly, I can't imagine anything being any worse than that horrible piece of crap.

[muffin1]

28. Well, I saw The Happening,

and if Lady in the Water is worse than that...well, let's just say you deserve nothing but happiness for the rest of your life.:)

[Liberal_in_LA]

36. Lady in the Water was worse than the Happening.

[nonconformist]

29. The Happening is really awful.

I liked The Sixth Sense, Signs and The Village. After that, nada.

[Liberal_in_LA]

37. me too

[KansasVoter]

27. Shyamalan is an ass and owes me money!

[JonLP24]

30. I loved Unbreakable

Sixth Sense and Signs are the only other movies of his that I saw which I liked. Sixth Sense much more than Signs. I guess I haven't seen any of his crap yet.

[Warren DeMontague]

32. That stupid Jesus-y one with Mel Gibson and the not-too-bright Aliens who come to

the planet that's covered with 2/3 water, forgetting that despite their ability to travel across interstellar distances, they're not waterproof, apparently...


yeah, that one sucked major ass.

[Liberal_in_LA]

38. lol n/t

[ZombieHorde]

34. Damn. When I first heard about the Avatar movie I was really excited.

This is really disappointing news.

[saltpoint]

35. I suggest Shyamalan do a re-make of OKLAHOMA! next.

It's the logical career move.

[Fire Walk With Me]

39. "There's only two films in me, and I just wrote the third...

...don't know where I got the inspiration or how I wrote the words..."

-Paraphrasing They Might Be Giants.

[mcollins]

40. Went with the wife and kids.

I didn't think it was that bad of a movie, but it was for sure a kid's movie. The acting was like watching a cartoon on the kid's channel. A bit over the top in places, a bit flat in places. The lead just didn't pull it off, IMHO. Having seen the cartoon with the kids on occation I could follow the story better than the wife, but it lacked depth. Of course this is just chanpter one of four.

The 3D stuff was done well. It worked for the story.

There was a bit of 'WTF' with the love interest of two of the sub-leads, I mean, should I be hoping they get together or are they too young to be thinking that? There was a strange Japanese inside joke feeling to some scenes as well.

Not a complete waste of time, but close.


(better than Pokemon. Not as good as Avatar)

[sakabatou]

42. Sub-leads....

Sokka and Princess Yue?

[Name removed]

45. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[sakabatou]

46. I saw it

What an awful movie. The series is much better.