# Am I supposed to laugh at the preview for the new M. Night Shamalayan movie?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 30, 2006, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-supposed-to-laugh-at-the-preview-for-the-new-m-night-shamalayan-movie/362763 "2006-06-30T15:58:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-supposed-to-laugh-at-the-preview-for-the-new-m-night-shamalayan-movie/362763/81 "2006-07-03T03:43:46Z")
[QUOTE=Excalibre] You don’t care, and yet you felt defensive enough that you had to pop up with this gem? [/QUOTE] Well, you felt the need to announce to one and all that someday you’d be so kind as to share with us all _exactly_ why you hate Fight Club. I then am not allowed to let you know that at least one person doesn’t give a rat’s ass? ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-supposed-to-laugh-at-the-preview-for-the-new-m-night-shamalayan-movie/362763/82 "2006-07-03T04:03:51Z")
[QUOTE=Aeschines] Pulp Fiction / Goodfellas (Gangsters, criminals, creating our own hells) 1. At Close Range 2. The Panic in Needle Park 3. Bound [/QUOTE] You confuse the hell out of me, but as I said, we’re likely to agree sometimes, and those are some damn fine movies. I especially love that you mentioned **At Close Range** , which I think is terribly underrated. That movie haunted me the first time I saw it, and hasn’t lost any of its power in the decades since. It has a killer cast (Sean Penn, Christopher Walken, Chris Penn, Millie Perkins, Mary Stuart Masterson, David Strathairn, Kiefer Sutherland, Candy Clark, Crispen Glover, Tracy Walter), a fascinating story based on a true story (IMDB tagline: Like father. Like son. Like hell.), great acting, great scenery, great music…I think the movie is generally well-regarded, but it doesn’t seem to come to people’s minds often enough when they’re talking about crime movies. Thank you for listing it first. **The Panic in Needle Park** is, well, Pacino. Nuff said. And **Bound** of course, we saw Bound the day it was released in theaters and became big fans. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-supposed-to-laugh-at-the-preview-for-the-new-m-night-shamalayan-movie/362763/83 "2006-07-03T04:57:13Z")
[QUOTE=Equipoise] You confuse the hell out of me, but as I said, we’re likely to agree sometimes, and those are some damn fine movies. [/QUOTE] Hey man, just goes to show that it’s hard to judge someone’s tastes based on a few opinions. I would NOT say anyone in this thread is an idiot or a “negative barometor” because they liked movies I don’t like. Anyway, we love each other now. Cool! ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-supposed-to-laugh-at-the-preview-for-the-new-m-night-shamalayan-movie/362763/84 "2006-07-03T04:59:24Z")
And cool that we both liked _At Close Range_. I think it’s very chilling movie that shows the dark heart of small-time criminals. Walken’s greatest performance perhaps? Just scary and well-made as hell. I need to get the DVD, probably haven’t seen it in 20 years. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-supposed-to-laugh-at-the-preview-for-the-new-m-night-shamalayan-movie/362763/85 "2006-07-03T12:49:38Z")
[QUOTE=Aeschines] Hey, _Starship Troopers_ and _Showgirls_ did NOT suck. Actually, I like both movies. SG–unpretentious, crazy, unpredictable. Rather like _Beyond the Valley of the Dolls_ in tone and approach (a fave: just watched the DVD last night with Ebert’s commentary; very edifying). [/QUOTE] OK. I’ll even stipulate that _Starship Troopers_ would have been redeemed if it has been equally unpretentious (i.e. if it had disclaimed any connection to the original Heinlein, either as a supposed adaptation or an even more supposed “satire”). ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-supposed-to-laugh-at-the-preview-for-the-new-m-night-shamalayan-movie/362763/86 "2006-07-03T13:01:30Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] Okay, I just saw the commercial. That thing is laughably bad. It hits all of the dumb ‘kids are creepy’ cliches, the worst being the use of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, which cannot be made menacing no matter what the context. I still might see the movie, but they’re selling it the wrong way. [/QUOTE] I saw the theatrical trailer. It was the first in a line of several that elicited no reaction beyond “get this crap off the screen and show the movie (or at least the Spidey 3 trailer” already). ---
**Author:** ![Carlyjay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Carlyjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carlyjay)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-supposed-to-laugh-at-the-preview-for-the-new-m-night-shamalayan-movie/362763/87 "2006-07-03T14:09:39Z")
I am another M. Night Shyamalan fan. I love his movies. Yes, he has his own signature ways of doing things, but so does Tim Burton, and everyone seems to think _he’s_ a genius. It seems to me that it’s “in style” to hate M. Night Shyamalan. People love to go to his movies with the intention of figuring out the twist before everyone else, and then talking about how stupid it was because “I knew the twist from 5 words in!” Whatever happened to suspension of disbelief? I really enjoy his movies. I enjoy _not letting myself_ see the twist until I’m supposed to. So what if there’s always a twist? Is that a crime? In every Spike Lee movie there’s a part where someone runs, but he makes it look more like they’re floating. God, whatta schmuck! Or maybe it’s just a signature and we should live with it and enjoy the rest of the movie. Just my 2 cents. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-supposed-to-laugh-at-the-preview-for-the-new-m-night-shamalayan-movie/362763/88 "2006-07-03T14:18:34Z")
[QUOTE=ZebraShaSha] I laughed, but for other reasons. In the TV trailer, the entire thing is a girl whispering. [/QUOTE] Yeah, when she whispers “The Lady in the Water. Rated PG. Starts July 21”, it kind of loses its effect. > [@Menocchio](#): > > I also wish he’d stop putting himself in his movies. He’s one of my favorite directors, but the guy can’t act for shit. If he must appear, just do a walk-on. Tarantino learned his lesson, why can’t Shamalayan. It wasn’t his film, but Tarantino’s monologue about the homoerotic subtext in \*\*Top Gun \*\* was a classic part of **Sleep with Me**. “You can ride my tail anytime!” ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-supposed-to-laugh-at-the-preview-for-the-new-m-night-shamalayan-movie/362763/89 "2006-07-03T14:27:40Z")
[QUOTE=Carlyjay] I am another M. Night Shyamalan fan. I love his movies. Yes, he has his own signature ways of doing things, but so does Tim Burton, and everyone seems to think _he’s_ a genius. [/QUOTE] “Genius” is a bit strong, but he’s great, if extremely uneven. He does brilliant, excellent films, and then turns around and does absolute complete shit (_Planet of the Apes_, anyone?). ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-supposed-to-laugh-at-the-preview-for-the-new-m-night-shamalayan-movie/362763/90 "2006-07-03T15:01:17Z")
[QUOTE=ZebraShaSha] I laughed, but for other reasons. In the TV trailer, the entire thing is a girl whispering. [/QUOTE] The first time I saw the trailer, I whispered loudly to my husband, “I don’t want to see it.” Both of us then cackled like loons. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-supposed-to-laugh-at-the-preview-for-the-new-m-night-shamalayan-movie/362763/91 "2006-07-03T15:53:37Z")
[QUOTE=Carlyjay] I am another M. Night Shyamalan fan. I love his movies. Yes, he has his own signature ways of doing things, but so does Tim Burton, and everyone seems to think _he’s_ a genius. It seems to me that it’s “in style” to hate M. Night Shyamalan. People love to go to his movies with the intention of figuring out the twist before everyone else, and then talking about how stupid it was because “I knew the twist from 5 words in!” Whatever happened to suspension of disbelief? I really enjoy his movies. I enjoy _not letting myself_ see the twist until I’m supposed to. So what if there’s always a twist? Is that a crime? In every Spike Lee movie there’s a part where someone runs, but he makes it look more like they’re floating. God, whatta schmuck! Or maybe it’s just a signature and we should live with it and enjoy the rest of the movie. Just my 2 cents. 🙂 [/QUOTE] I’m actually pretty good at suspending my disbelief. Or perhaps I’m dumb and don’t pick up on obvious hints. So when I figured out both “twists” in _The Village_, you can rest assured that it wasn’t because of my utter brilliance at predicting movie plots, nor was it the product of trying and trying to figure out what was going on. The surface of the movie simply didn’t hang together; there was no way to suspend disbelief and the “twists” were so obvious that even my hard-headed self figured them out. I couldn’t speak for his other movies, because I don’t remember _The Sixth Sense_ all that well and _Signs_ didn’t really have a twist in the same vein. But I’m quite apt to suspend my disbelief and _The Village_ didn’t work for me anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Carlyjay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Carlyjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carlyjay)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-supposed-to-laugh-at-the-preview-for-the-new-m-night-shamalayan-movie/362763/92 "2006-07-03T16:36:53Z")
[QUOTE=Excalibre] But I’m quite apt to suspend my disbelief and _The Village_ didn’t work for me anyway. [/QUOTE] Hey, that’s totally cool. If there’s a specific _movie_ someone dislikes, there’s nothing wrong with that. I just find that more and more people are slamming M. Night Shyamalan as a _director_ when he’s only put out four big movies in his entire career so far, and it seems that most people like 2 or 3 of them. But suddenly after _The Village_, which I admit was his worst film, everyone was talking about how “stupid” M. Night Shyamalan is, and how “stupid” _all_ his movies are, and how he’s just a joke and so on and so forth, and heck, now that we’re on the topic, wasn’t _Signs_ kinda dumb? Yeah, that M. Night Shyamalan, what a hack. But last time I checked, _most_ people (not all, no hate mail please) liked at least 50% of the FOUR movies he’s put out. I’ve had this conversation dozens of times, and it’s always the same thing. It seems that people think he’s a hack, because that’s how we’re _supposed_ to feel about his movies. Granted, the kid in the trailer seems like a bad choice for marketing, and I’m interested in a discussion about directors and how much power they really do have over the marketing of their films, but I’m going to reserve judgment about the film itself until I see it. If M. Night Shyamalan puts out nothing but turkeys in the next few years, I’ll think about joining the “he’s a hack” team. 🙂 Deal? ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-supposed-to-laugh-at-the-preview-for-the-new-m-night-shamalayan-movie/362763/93 "2006-07-03T17:06:52Z")
[QUOTE=Carlyjay] But suddenly after _The Village_, which I admit was his worst film, everyone was talking about how “stupid” M. Night Shyamalan is, and how “stupid” _all_ his movies are, and how he’s just a joke and so on and so forth, and heck, now that we’re on the topic, wasn’t _Signs_ kinda dumb? Yeah, that M. Night Shyamalan, what a hack. [/QUOTE] _Now that we’re on the topic_? I’m still trying to assimilate the information that not all people consider _Signs_ a stupid, shitty movie, and now you’re saying that people didn’t start saying that until after _The Village_? I was calling that movie dumb way before _The Village_ (which I liked). ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-supposed-to-laugh-at-the-preview-for-the-new-m-night-shamalayan-movie/362763/94 "2006-07-03T17:35:14Z")
[QUOTE=Priceguy] _Now that we’re on the topic_? I’m still trying to assimilate the information that not all people consider _Signs_ a stupid, shitty movie, and now you’re saying that people didn’t start saying that until after _The Village_? I was calling that movie dumb way before _The Village_ (which I liked). [/QUOTE] Yeah, I don’t remember many people not hating _Signs_. In my opinion, _The Sixth Sense_ was pretty good, though nothing particularly amazing. _Signs_ and _The Village_ were simply spectacularly bad. So among the three of his movies that I’ve seen, I have a definitely negative opinion overall. I never particularly noticed it being trendy to hate Shyamalan, but I _have_ noticed that the adoration that he was showered with after _The Sixth Sense_ has diminished quite a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Carlyjay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Carlyjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carlyjay)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-supposed-to-laugh-at-the-preview-for-the-new-m-night-shamalayan-movie/362763/95 "2006-07-03T17:36:44Z")
[QUOTE=Priceguy] _Now that we’re on the topic_? I’m still trying to assimilate the information that not all people consider _Signs_ a stupid, shitty movie, and now you’re saying that people didn’t start saying that until after _The Village_? I was calling that movie dumb way before _The Village_ (which I liked). [/QUOTE] Okay, so you started calling it stupid earlier. My point wasn’t when this-person-or-that-person said this-movie-or-that-movie sucked. My point is, it’s fine if you don’t like a particular movie or three, but it’s another thing to say the director sucks. Particularly when most people liked the first two movies. No? ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-supposed-to-laugh-at-the-preview-for-the-new-m-night-shamalayan-movie/362763/96 "2006-07-03T17:36:48Z")
Personally I’ve only liked 1 of his 4 movies I’ve seen. (were there others?) I enjoyed 6th sense, the other 3 were awful. I’ll probably see this one cause my BF likes crap like that but with only a 25% track record so far, I seriously doubt I’ll like it. ---
**Author:** ![MilTan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@MilTan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MilTan)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-supposed-to-laugh-at-the-preview-for-the-new-m-night-shamalayan-movie/362763/97 "2006-07-03T19:05:01Z")
[QUOTE=Excalibre] I’m actually pretty good at suspending my disbelief. Or perhaps I’m dumb and don’t pick up on obvious hints. So when I figured out both “twists” in _The Village_, you can rest assured that it wasn’t because of my utter brilliance at predicting movie plots, nor was it the product of trying and trying to figure out what was going on. The surface of the movie simply didn’t hang together; there was no way to suspend disbelief and the “twists” were so obvious that even my hard-headed self figured them out. I couldn’t speak for his other movies, because I don’t remember _The Sixth Sense_ all that well and _Signs_ didn’t really have a twist in the same vein. But I’m quite apt to suspend my disbelief and _The Village_ didn’t work for me anyway. [/QUOTE] But see, this is exactly the point that a lot of other people have brought up. The point of _The Village_ has nothing to do with the “twists”. They’re just there. I went in to the movie already knowing both twists, but that didn’t bother me in the least. I enjoyed the movie because of the atmospherics and the acting (which I guess goes to **Cervaise** ’s point about MNS’s being an overrated writer and an underrated director). Plus, in this case the suspension of disbelief isn’t so that _you_ don’t figure out the twists. It’s so you can believe that the _characters_ haven’t figured them out. That, I was perfectly willing to buy. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-supposed-to-laugh-at-the-preview-for-the-new-m-night-shamalayan-movie/362763/98 "2006-07-03T19:18:56Z")
Then he could do a character study without all the melodramatic crap. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-supposed-to-laugh-at-the-preview-for-the-new-m-night-shamalayan-movie/362763/99 "2006-07-03T19:42:35Z")
[QUOTE=MilTan] But see, this is exactly the point that a lot of other people have brought up. The point of _The Village_ has nothing to do with the “twists”. They’re just there. I went in to the movie already knowing both twists, but that didn’t bother me in the least. I enjoyed the movie because of the atmospherics and the acting (which I guess goes to **Cervaise** ’s point about MNS’s being an overrated writer and an underrated director). Plus, in this case the suspension of disbelief isn’t so that _you_ don’t figure out the twists. It’s so you can believe that the _characters_ haven’t figured them out. That, I was perfectly willing to buy. [/QUOTE] Then why are they there? Why the interminable “suspense” when the answers are found? Why, when we look into the shed where I knew those animal costumes were hiding did they spend about two minutes panning the camera as slowly as they possibly could if they weren’t trying to build suspense for the big reveal? He certainly shot _The Village_ as a suspense film, with all sorts of long pauses right before revealing some new detail. Why, if those plot twists were unimportant, did he follow the conventions of that genre so precisely? I don’t buy this idea that just because he fails so dramatically at doing half the tasks of filmmaking, he must therefore have _meant_ to fail. He did a terrible job at that movie, and trying to say that he did it on purpose is completely unconvincing. If, in fact, he _had_ set a convincing period and atmosphere, it _would_ have been an interesting development (although I don’t believe he could have without rejiggering the plot a whole lot, and getting rid of the wolfy-things entirely in favor of some more subtle evil.) ---
**Author:** ![MilTan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@MilTan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MilTan)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-supposed-to-laugh-at-the-preview-for-the-new-m-night-shamalayan-movie/362763/100 "2006-07-03T19:48:17Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] Then he could do a character study without all the melodramatic crap. [/QUOTE] I’m a little confused. Maybe I’m just uncouth, but the only one of the four movies that I thought had a lot of “melodramatic crap” in it was _Signs_. I’m not sure how that accusation applies to _The Village,_, unless you consider the “twists” themselves the melodramatic crap. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-supposed-to-laugh-at-the-preview-for-the-new-m-night-shamalayan-movie/362763.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-supposed-to-laugh-at-the-preview-for-the-new-m-night-shamalayan-movie/362763.md?page=6)