Why I wasn't planning on seeing the live-action Avatar even before they announced the casting

[james_davis_nicoll]

"Written, Directed and Produced by M. Night Shyamalan".

He had one good movie in him and I've seen it. Tragic casting is only the (or rather "a") specific way in which his version will suck.

Comments

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

I liked Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, though I haven't rewatched either yet. I avoided Signs by reputation.

[rimrunner.livejournal.com]

I avoided Signs by reputation.

Good call, it was terrible. Stylish, but terrible.

[mrbankies.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed the first two thirds of Signs. Shamallamadingdong did a nice job of building suspense, then flushed it all down the toilet with the reveal. It's the only movie of his I've seen, no real interest in seeing any of the others.

[arielstarshadow.livejournal.com]

did a nice job of building suspense, then flushed it all down the toilet with the reveal.

QFT

[heron61.livejournal.com]

I thought both of those were excellent - I've rewatched both & they held up well [[1]]. I also very much liked Lady in the Water. OTOH, I didn't see The Village or The Happening, & while I didn't actually regret seeing Signs, there also was nothing at all to recommend it.

So, for me he's at 50% very good and 50% dodgy to terrible.

[[1]] Rewatching The Sixth Sense was a different experience for me than most, since I bizarrely guessed the twist from watching an early trailer and went in looking for it. I literally didn't know that it was supposed to be a secret twist until I found out that everyone didn't know the psychiatrist was dead.

[almeda.livejournal.com]

See, I loved Signs and The Village, and I think at least part of the problem others have with them was expecting an entirely different movie than it turned out to be.

Neither is a monster movie. In a way, they're both really intimate psychological portraits (and in the latter's case, a sociological gedankenexperiment about what happens when you try to let a consciously-made society move to the second generation). Also, neither is really a 'twist' movie in the ways that Sixth Sense and Unbreakable were.

However, I do have doubts about a Shmalayan Airbender, because he's such a weirdly stylish director, and it's so ... actiony? Not brainless action, but still.

[joenotcharles.livejournal.com]

You can make an intimate psychological portrait without throwing in sheer stupidness at the end.

If the aliens had mysteriously left with no explanation, if they'd been defeated by the government off-screen, if they'd come to a climax that stood up to the rest of the movie, if ANYTHING REMOTELY SANE had happened it would have been a great movie. In fact, if it had cut off mid-sentence before the stupidity started it would have been fine. But the ending of the movie actively ruined everything that came before, not because it "wasn't what I was expecting" or "wasn't the type of movie I like", but because it was TERRIBLE.