Day 299 - 10/26/09 - Movie #299
BEFORE: I admit it, I was a little (OK, a lot) let down by "Lady in the Water", but I'm willing to give the guy another chance. Because if I discount this M.Night guy, I can't finish Shock-tober the way I want to...
THE PLOT: The population of a small, isolated countryside village believe that their alliance with the mysterious creatures that inhabit the forest around them is coming to an end.
AFTER: I'm going to be really careful here and not say very much about the plot, because this is one of those films where you don't want to spoil what's coming up in the film. I (sort of) knew what was coming - because I read way too many movie reviews, and not everyone is as careful as I am to not write about spoilers.
If you're reading my blog about movies, I could just assume that you're only interested in reading my opinions movies that you have seen yourself, but just to be on the safe side - if you have any interest in seeing this movie, check it out for yourself. Before you read an article or review written by a jerk like me.
What I am willing to talk about is - there's this village, see? And they're cut off from the other villages of towns, ostensibly by design. The WHY of their isolation is the mystery. Another mystery is what haunts the woods around the village, creating horrible moaning sounds, and occasionally making forays into the village to harm livestock and scare the people. And for some reason, the village has forbidden the color red in clothing and decor, and it is simply called "the bad color."
Joaquin Phoenix plays Lucius Hunt, who questions the WHY of the situation, and his love interest is a Ivy, a blind girl played by Bryce Dallas Howard (who also played the narf in "Lady in the Water") and the third part of a (sort-of) love triangle is Noah, played by Adrien Brody. The elders in the village are played by William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, and a number of character actors like Brendan Gleeson and Celia Weston.
I wish I could comment more, if you're intrigued, definitely check it out. Or search the internet for spoilers, they probably aren't hard to find.
RATING: 6 out of 10 magic rocks
SPOOK-O-METER: 4 out of 10 (a blind girl lost in the woods is surprisingly creepy...)
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This was a landmark film for me: it's the one that absolutely, positively, and precisely proved to me that M. Night Probablynotevenhisrealname is, at heart, a self-indulgent twit who doesn't like to work very hard and who occasionally gets lucky.
ReplyDeleteThis was a crappy, crappy flick. I saw the trailer for it and thought "You know, if M. Night Shamblyman weren't such a great filmmaker, I'd assume that this movie will have the sort of trite, clichéd 'twist' ending that you'd see in a high-school sophomore creative writing assignment but not a high-school junior's."
Yes, I saw it coming right in the trailer. And I got it by thinking "With a setup like this, what could be the DUMBEST, laziest possible payoff?"
I liked "Sixth Sense," I thought "Unbreakable" was decent if not great, and I thought M. Night Shoobydoobydoo was actually creative. So I didn't think my premonition would come true.
Since this flick, I'm more excited by the phrase "...from the writer/director of 'Paul Blart, Mall Cop'" than the name M. Night Blabbityblah.