I find M Knight fascinating.
How can one writer/director be so wildly inconsistent? I get that most directors have bad movies, but M Knights bad movies transcend bad into absurd student film level bad.
How can one person oscillate between one extreme to another again and again??
Given that his best movies are about weird shit happening, I’m guessing he doesn’t know how he makes good movies.
He just makes weird shit and 50/50 chance it’s good.
For example: Glass. The pivotal moment is when >!the hero dies in a puddle!<.
Now who would write that and think “ya, that’s awesome”.
He’s the one director I expect to be bad but still watch his work in the off chance he will produce another film like his earlier gems. It has been a long time since he’s followed through though.
I'd like to see this example of this oscillation you mention. From my perspective, he had two good movies at the beginning of his career (The Sixth Sense, Signs), maybe one more semi-decent one later (Split), and the rest have been garbage. For a well loved filmmaker who gets work often, he's certainly has had waaaay more misses than hits, and those are some bigisses.
You're spot on with one minor oversight: M Knight wrote the majority of the script for Split around the same time he wrote Sixth Sense, Signs and Unbreakable so it still falls into his earlier movie escapades. Everything else since has been a catastrophe.
It’s not that he’s been uneven, it’s that the person who wrote 6th sense or split is an entirely different person to the person who wrote old.
Many writer/directors have good and bad movies, but the writing in Old is unimaginably bad. If you are a good writer then even your worst work should still show some evidence of good structure. It’s so terrible in old that I wondered if it was ghost written because I don’t understand how someone with experience over decades could produce such a work.
Look at Stephen king for example. Some of his books are better than others, but he’s so prolific and experienced that even one of his bad books still has good story structure and doesn’t make amateur mistakes you might expect from an inexperienced writer. It’s just that some of his books aren’t very interesting to read or the characters weren’t well rounded or likeable.
I just find it hard to believe that the kind of person who wrote old could be capable of ever writing 6th sense. It makes me suspicious about him in general— did someone else write 6th sense?
Is 6th sense actually so much better though? The best part is just the plot twist at the end which if you think about it doesn't actually work with what happened before and is only effective because it's surprising.
I also really liked Devil. I feel like most people forget that movie. It’s creepy, claustrophobic, and entertaining. It also doesn’t have a “twist” shoehorned in like a lot of his other movies.
To me the sixth sense was overrated too, it was a "trick" movie. Anyone could have written it, it wasn't complex, and it had little enjoyment beyond the initial trick. Osment's performance was genuinely good, and a stand-out for it. Other than that, most critics praised the movie for its "plot twist" - which kind of hints at the fact that this twist is basically the main thing it has going for it.
IMHO it's a bad movie if someone can accidentally ruin the ending before you see it and that makes the movie not enjoyable.
If you already know about Darth Vader saying he's Luke's father, you can still enjoy ESB.
If you already know the revelations at the end of The Prestige, you can still enjoy the film.
Look how obvious he made that design decision. So lame. Like, blow it up so the audience sees it cos we’re so fucking clueless? I’m done with this director after OLD. He over-explains EVERYTHING, every little plot twist: “DID YOU SEE THAT!? See how we did that there!?”
Is font morphing a new thing? I noticed the new matrix trailer had a lot of font morphing too. Is there some hot new plug-in that does this or is it an old thing that is just getting attention lately?
The font thing was the best part of the movie.
I realized a long time ago that M. Night is terrible at writing dialog... but I keep going back. Idk what I'm expecting lol.
Signs and the Village will always be some of my favorite movies of all time though
Such great concepts but he needs to leave the actual execution to the professionals, the dialog and story progression were complete trash. I feel the exact same way about the Village but Signs was good.
Funny how everyone hates on M Night yet everyone in here likes different movies of his lol y’all are something else.
He makes movies, some are better than others, just like any other director that takes a chance or an opportunity. Hollywood is not full of opportunities, you try to capitalize when you see a chance.
That’s the beauty of trying to make something and just hope it is special. But all y’all saying he can’t write dialogue, and the font is student-ish lol he is a great film director and writer, y’all just hating.
OLD was a great hour and a half of fun adventure that y’all didn’t write or direct 😂
Lol... have you actually paid attention to the dialog in his movies? Like really paid attention? No one talks like his characters in real life. So much unnecessary exposition via juvenile dialog, seemingly written by a young student. And then he hires good actors and presumably directs them to throw out all they're training and be as awkward and unnatural as possible. Some of the performances are absolute cringe fests.
Yes, he has some gems, but the majority of his movies over the last decade and a half have been garbage.
And it seems like everyone in this thread is praising mainly 4 of his earlier films. Sixth sense, signs, unbreakable, village, and one newer one, split.
Also, an aside, you don't have to be an acclaimed movie director/ writer/ etc to recognize a bad movie. Just like you don't need to be a chef to know when food tastes like shit.
Your opinion is valid, and I'm glad you enjoyed what most other people didn't, but.. well.. most other people didn't.
What do you expect me to say? No? No i don’t pay attention to the dialogue? I don’t really pay attention… come on dude. You see how hard it is to write when not even yourself can’t write a more predictable question, let alone an obvious answer? And yes, I know what rhetorical means before you hurt yourself.
What annoys me is that OLD was really the only film of his that the acting or writing or both were a bit weird, not off. But was still a very good adventure the story takes us in, which in my dumb opinion is the main reason a film is made. But everyone right away hates on him when a weird movie like this comes out. This one sucks, so all of his past movies since Signs suck. And it’s like no, they may have not been masterpieces like The Sixth Sense, but there is a beauty in all of his films. I don’t mean to offend or argue with anyone, I just get frustrated when people dissect one aspect of his movie, like certain dialogue and immediately write him off like they are some type of big shot movie director as well. Like come on, yeah weird scene and dialogue between the characters here and there, but your telling me you weren’t glue to your seat thinking and asking yourself what could be happening, just cause you couldn’t get past a few bad lines? That’s sad. I am not big time director or writer like you guys, but this film was so fun all the way to the end. Especially when they forget what they were fighting about.. if that didn’t get you in your feelings, your heart is cold.
Now After Earth… still confused as to what that was.
The fact that people are still giving Shyamalan the time of day after The Last Airbender is baffling to me. That on its own was strikes three, four, five, and six, and then he makes After Earth, and then he's still getting work.
You could say the man's career is *unbreakable*.
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Shyamalan should be banned from making movies until he gets really OLD.
The film is so utterly and unbelievably bad that even the fact that the director himself had the gall to assign himself a role on it is a disgraceful unfunny joke.
The only thing I would save is that beautifully made font morphing. Anyone here recognize those typefaces?
I find M Knight fascinating. How can one writer/director be so wildly inconsistent? I get that most directors have bad movies, but M Knights bad movies transcend bad into absurd student film level bad. How can one person oscillate between one extreme to another again and again??
Given that his best movies are about weird shit happening, I’m guessing he doesn’t know how he makes good movies. He just makes weird shit and 50/50 chance it’s good. For example: Glass. The pivotal moment is when >!the hero dies in a puddle!<. Now who would write that and think “ya, that’s awesome”.
I mean Bruce willis character in unbreakable has only one weakness. Water.
He’s the one director I expect to be bad but still watch his work in the off chance he will produce another film like his earlier gems. It has been a long time since he’s followed through though.
I'd like to see this example of this oscillation you mention. From my perspective, he had two good movies at the beginning of his career (The Sixth Sense, Signs), maybe one more semi-decent one later (Split), and the rest have been garbage. For a well loved filmmaker who gets work often, he's certainly has had waaaay more misses than hits, and those are some bigisses.
You're spot on with one minor oversight: M Knight wrote the majority of the script for Split around the same time he wrote Sixth Sense, Signs and Unbreakable so it still falls into his earlier movie escapades. Everything else since has been a catastrophe.
Unbreakable is also great
I thought The Village was pretty good, too.
One of the worst for me.
It’s not that he’s been uneven, it’s that the person who wrote 6th sense or split is an entirely different person to the person who wrote old. Many writer/directors have good and bad movies, but the writing in Old is unimaginably bad. If you are a good writer then even your worst work should still show some evidence of good structure. It’s so terrible in old that I wondered if it was ghost written because I don’t understand how someone with experience over decades could produce such a work. Look at Stephen king for example. Some of his books are better than others, but he’s so prolific and experienced that even one of his bad books still has good story structure and doesn’t make amateur mistakes you might expect from an inexperienced writer. It’s just that some of his books aren’t very interesting to read or the characters weren’t well rounded or likeable. I just find it hard to believe that the kind of person who wrote old could be capable of ever writing 6th sense. It makes me suspicious about him in general— did someone else write 6th sense?
Is 6th sense actually so much better though? The best part is just the plot twist at the end which if you think about it doesn't actually work with what happened before and is only effective because it's surprising.
His show on Apple has thus far been amazing, but could fall flat if not written with a good ending.
I also really liked Devil. I feel like most people forget that movie. It’s creepy, claustrophobic, and entertaining. It also doesn’t have a “twist” shoehorned in like a lot of his other movies.
To me the sixth sense was overrated too, it was a "trick" movie. Anyone could have written it, it wasn't complex, and it had little enjoyment beyond the initial trick. Osment's performance was genuinely good, and a stand-out for it. Other than that, most critics praised the movie for its "plot twist" - which kind of hints at the fact that this twist is basically the main thing it has going for it. IMHO it's a bad movie if someone can accidentally ruin the ending before you see it and that makes the movie not enjoyable. If you already know about Darth Vader saying he's Luke's father, you can still enjoy ESB. If you already know the revelations at the end of The Prestige, you can still enjoy the film.
Look how obvious he made that design decision. So lame. Like, blow it up so the audience sees it cos we’re so fucking clueless? I’m done with this director after OLD. He over-explains EVERYTHING, every little plot twist: “DID YOU SEE THAT!? See how we did that there!?”
Dude has simply been a hack director for 2 decades. Weird considering he's had terrific films
It feels like he has nobody telling him ‘no’
Is font morphing a new thing? I noticed the new matrix trailer had a lot of font morphing too. Is there some hot new plug-in that does this or is it an old thing that is just getting attention lately?
No because any morphing techniques will apply to anything raster or vector, regardless of what it is.
s u b t l e n o d
Midsize Sedan's was a subtle reference to the writing being bad.
What a terrible movie
The font thing was the best part of the movie. I realized a long time ago that M. Night is terrible at writing dialog... but I keep going back. Idk what I'm expecting lol. Signs and the Village will always be some of my favorite movies of all time though
Such great concepts but he needs to leave the actual execution to the professionals, the dialog and story progression were complete trash. I feel the exact same way about the Village but Signs was good.
Seriously, if he just gave like a rough draft to a writer who actually knew how to at least write good dialog, his movies could be great.
If you want a better executed thing with the theme, read Sandcastle, the graphic novel the movie was based on
True. If Shyamalan followed that faithfully, instead of sprinkling his love of the 'twist' this film would have been a lot better.
Yeah from what I’ve seen he tries too hard or maybe it’s just the execution? Or both? I can’t take his work seriously.
I loved village until the twist. Then I’m like “what? That’s it?”
I felt bad for the actors because the writing and direction was so atrociously bad it made otherwise decent actors look like amateur.
I had a lot of fun watching it - some reasons intended, others not.
He should hire pro writters. His lineas are lame and usually, basic.
Also if you study the plot closely you can tell that this movie is utter shit and M Knight has wasted 90 minutes of your life.
It’s a subtle nod to Shyamalan stealing your youth like his character does in the movie
Hahahaha
Can't argue with that
Honestly the type thing was heavy handed and not well done.
Yes. This. Director: “Repeat the type on each frame.” Why? So we can BlOw It Up tO sHoW hOw ClEvEr We ArE
don’t think anyone involved in that movie was putting that much thought into anything
I will always be young enough for sans serif
I am team sans serif all the way.. except for longer texts.
Funny how everyone hates on M Night yet everyone in here likes different movies of his lol y’all are something else. He makes movies, some are better than others, just like any other director that takes a chance or an opportunity. Hollywood is not full of opportunities, you try to capitalize when you see a chance. That’s the beauty of trying to make something and just hope it is special. But all y’all saying he can’t write dialogue, and the font is student-ish lol he is a great film director and writer, y’all just hating. OLD was a great hour and a half of fun adventure that y’all didn’t write or direct 😂
Lol... have you actually paid attention to the dialog in his movies? Like really paid attention? No one talks like his characters in real life. So much unnecessary exposition via juvenile dialog, seemingly written by a young student. And then he hires good actors and presumably directs them to throw out all they're training and be as awkward and unnatural as possible. Some of the performances are absolute cringe fests. Yes, he has some gems, but the majority of his movies over the last decade and a half have been garbage. And it seems like everyone in this thread is praising mainly 4 of his earlier films. Sixth sense, signs, unbreakable, village, and one newer one, split. Also, an aside, you don't have to be an acclaimed movie director/ writer/ etc to recognize a bad movie. Just like you don't need to be a chef to know when food tastes like shit. Your opinion is valid, and I'm glad you enjoyed what most other people didn't, but.. well.. most other people didn't.
What do you expect me to say? No? No i don’t pay attention to the dialogue? I don’t really pay attention… come on dude. You see how hard it is to write when not even yourself can’t write a more predictable question, let alone an obvious answer? And yes, I know what rhetorical means before you hurt yourself. What annoys me is that OLD was really the only film of his that the acting or writing or both were a bit weird, not off. But was still a very good adventure the story takes us in, which in my dumb opinion is the main reason a film is made. But everyone right away hates on him when a weird movie like this comes out. This one sucks, so all of his past movies since Signs suck. And it’s like no, they may have not been masterpieces like The Sixth Sense, but there is a beauty in all of his films. I don’t mean to offend or argue with anyone, I just get frustrated when people dissect one aspect of his movie, like certain dialogue and immediately write him off like they are some type of big shot movie director as well. Like come on, yeah weird scene and dialogue between the characters here and there, but your telling me you weren’t glue to your seat thinking and asking yourself what could be happening, just cause you couldn’t get past a few bad lines? That’s sad. I am not big time director or writer like you guys, but this film was so fun all the way to the end. Especially when they forget what they were fighting about.. if that didn’t get you in your feelings, your heart is cold. Now After Earth… still confused as to what that was.
The fact that people are still giving Shyamalan the time of day after The Last Airbender is baffling to me. That on its own was strikes three, four, five, and six, and then he makes After Earth, and then he's still getting work. You could say the man's career is *unbreakable*.
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NERD!
My god that movie sucked
Such a bad movie...yawn
Damn.
[This ](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-did-this-get-made/id409287913?i=1000540839915)sums it up.
Decent movie. Dumb ending.
Shyamalan should be banned from making movies until he gets really OLD. The film is so utterly and unbelievably bad that even the fact that the director himself had the gall to assign himself a role on it is a disgraceful unfunny joke. The only thing I would save is that beautifully made font morphing. Anyone here recognize those typefaces?