"Lady in the Water" reviews & thoughts

[buffybeast 0]

Did anyone besides Canadian Destroyer see "Lady"? He liked it but all I hear is that the movie is horrible.

[cd213 0]

Did anyone besides Canadian Destroyer see "Lady"? He liked it but all I hear is that the movie is horrible.

 

It seems that people are juding on preconcieved notions. Like I stated, if you like Night's previeous stuff, you'll like this, if you hate him, skip it.

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I've watched plenty of movies in my life, but in all of my 26 years, I have never seen a theater full of people erupt in laughter at the end of a film, because of how horrible the movie was.

 

That is, until I saw Lady in the Water last night.

 

I saw it with my 14 year old niece and my 15 year old nephew, and they both hated it, saying that it was one of the worst movies that they've ever seen.

 

I'll try to think of more to say about the cluttered mess of a film soon.

 

[Guest Smues]

Just got back from it and thought it was decent. I'd love if M. Night would stop casting himself in important roles.

[Guest Hotbutter Spoontoaster]

It's not a terrible film.

I felt a lot of people where I saw it were waiting for the usual M. Night twist. I wasn't expecting one, and just felt it was a good, happy ending.

It was decent, and knowing it was a bedtime story for kids was pretty cool.

[MDH257 0]

Saw it last night. It's nothing special, but its certainly not as bad as its being made out to be.

 

Though for certain Shyamalan shouldn't have given himself the role that he did.

[Ripper 0]

Well..once again. I liked it.

 

I really think that people go in thinking his films should be one thing and when its not, they shit all over it. If he released this film under an alias, it wouldn't be getting these reviews. Its a fantasy film with a happy ending and people were waiting for the twist...and it didn't come. I liked it. It will be added to the DVD collection.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

First octuple post ever, I bet.

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Another thing that I just thought of - am I the only one here that kept laughing and thinking of Pinky from Pinky & The Brain every time they mentioned the NARF!!!?

 

Oh my God, she's the madam...NARF!!!

[godthedog 0]

saw it last weekend. it's pretty god damn bad.

 

after a certain point, you could really feel him stretching for ways to put tension in the story & fill the running time. i swear for something like 20 minutes, in what's supposed to be the big set-up for the climax, the only thing that happens is "oh, we read the signs wrong, it should be like this," and they go back and fix it. and then it happens again. and then it happens again.

 

also, baldy acknowledging your characters are only there to serve the plot in a clever way is still no excuse to not write good characters. it's a sneaky way of evading criticism and avoiding the problem of making the audience actually give a shit. audiences want the material to be smarter than them, but not in that stupid smarky kind of way. a real writer proves he's smarter than his audience by actually OUTSMARTING them, not giving away the formula he's using, play-by-play, as he's using it. i already know the rules, i know shyamalan knows the rules, i don't give a shit, and i don't pay to listen to him tell me about how much he knows them.

[TheBostonStrangler 0]

From someone who decided to flush his $7.50 down the toilet for this one - (Tons of spoilers)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the very least, the movie tries to keep you guessing, which makes it tolerable the first time through. With the different roles in their weird little party, you at least think about who's who. Sure, I guessed most of them right immediately, but it's still something. I'd imagine it would be much, much wose the second time around. Other problems with the movie:

 

- M Night Shymalan casting himself to play his ill-conceived vision of himself as a writer who's gonna change the world. Egotistical prick can't act, and can't write or direct anymore either.

 

- The movie critic character, which was nothing more than M. Night giving all the people who (deservedly) hated the Villiage a big 'fuck you'.

 

- At one point, a vine-encrusted wolf gets beaten to death by three vine-encrusted apes while a giant eagle swoops in to carry a sea nymph off to her underwater home to become queen. That basically speaks for itself.

 

This was an idea that might have worked for another director, but it just didn't work for Shymalan. I still have no idea why they had the scene where Giamatti almost got trapped in the little room underneath the pool - it was a horrible way to try and produce tension which was clearly not going anywhere. Movie gets a C- from me.

[cabbageboy 0]

Okay, I am actually thinking of going to see this flick over the weekend. I have my 2 free tickets from the screwy Clerks 2 screening (where the sound was messed up and the reel broke). It might be the only way I'd ever see this movie at the theater. Hell, at this point I'm intrigued at M. Night Shyamalan movies for the car wreck appeal. I can't believe the guy cast himself as a visionary writer that is going to change the world with his ideas.

 

Incidentally I stumbled on The Village last night via the Starz On Demand. Man, I thought it was a mediocre movie in the theater originally but on TV that movie is truly death to all that is living. My brother said it might well be the worst movie he's ever seen. My dad did nothing but rant on how he'd rather be watching a Chuck Norris movie instead. After it was over I apologized to everyone for even putting it on. Then to make it up to my dad we watched Code of Silence tonight for his Chuck Norris fix, haha.

 

I think adding Chuck Norris to The Village would actually improve the movie: "Those of which we do not speak....it's time to die!"