Two reviews this week. The first is for M. Night Shyamalan's latest, Lady in the Water (1.5 stars). The Wife thinks I got a little personal. If I did, he started it.
The second was for Monster House (4.5 stars). Very enjoyable, and it was written by none other than Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab.
For those not in the know, Harmon and Schrab made a quickly forgotten (at the time) TV pilot called Heat Vision and Jack. Schrab, however, has a pretty extensice (and robot heavy) résumé besides. As I've been a longtime fan of the guy, I thought I'd share it with you.
First, he wrote a criminally underappreciated comic book called Scud: The Disposable Assassin, following a robot killer for hire on his various misadventures.
Then there's his short film called Robot Bastard. I'll let the synopsis on Schrab's page speak for itself:
The President's Daughter has been kidnapped by the brilliant super-criminal Blood Mamba. All rescue attempts have been thwarted by the evil genius. There's only one thing left to do: send in the Robot. The Robot must fight zombie-monsters and insecurity in order to complete his suicidal mission.
He also directed an awesome robot-themed video for Death Cab for Cutie's "Crooked Teeth."
Finally, he had a bit part in My Big Fat Independent Movie. This is probably a less impressive acheivement (and doesn't involve robots), but my affiliation with Film Threat requires that I bring it up.
Wow, dude. I have to agree with the wife on this one. That was pretty harsh.
Well, I gave up on Shyamalan with Signs. But if his rate of decay has been as strong and steady as I've heard, he deserved the beatdown.
Maybe if he gets enough critical backlash, he'll actually spend more than 18 months before squirting out the next movie.
How can a critter that comes from a Korean fairy tale related by someone who only speaks Korean be called a "narf"? That isn't Korean! Did the daughter translate the names of the critters into equivalent English nonsense words with analogous cultural baggage, like the French translation of Jabberwocky?
This movie was unrelentingly awful. Pete's review was not harsh enough.
And up to this point, I always thought "narf" was what Pinky of Pinky and the Brain shouted. If I ever find that M. Night Shyamalan was that lazy that he ripped off "Pinky and the Brain", he's gonna hear from me too.
Okay... Well, I'm still going to see "Lady in the Water". Though probably when it comes out on dvd.
So I'm not going to read the review, and not going to indulge in anyone else's attitudes before going in with my own. Sorry.
But I should say... I hated "The Sixth Sense", and thought it was incredibly dumb.
But I already had it spoiled for me right on opening weekend, ironically, by a successful published author in an e-mail discussion list. (Don't ask me her name, I can't remember what it was after all this time, I never read her books, and her writing in the e-mail discussion list made me think I wouldn't like her novels for just that reason alone.)
Anyway, I didn't see it until it was out on video like a couple years later. So it just seemed trite and obvious to me.
Anyway...
I really liked "The Village", and I loved "Signs" despite the fact that I strongly dislike Mel Gibson's movies generally.
But I think the issue is... Is that I like these movies for what they are, not what someone might've hoped they'd be, nor perhaps even what Shyamalan may have intended them to be.
With "The Village", there was one very brilliant, or perhaps accidental, 'clue' that gave up the goose... And for that alone I was into the movie. (Hard to explain without pulling a published author in an e-mail discussion list.)
And I don't view "Signs" as a thriller... Neither a horror, nor a sci-fi movie. It's an excellent comedy!
But then, I guess I should mention that among my favourite movies are "Soylent Green", "The President's Analyst", "Play Misty for Me", and "WestWorld". haha. So perhaps you'd have to see through my eyes to appreciate some things. heh.
The critic for CBS Sunday Morning felt the same way about Lady in the Water and did a story on the portrayal of movie critics. Don't mess with the movie critics would be my motto!