freaking bizarre movie. Saw it yesterday with the kids. Charming in its way, but don't go if you like stuff tidy and logical. It's more like a dream was transposed to a movie except my dreams never run the same thread for that long. The sprinklers were the scariest part. We laughed more than we jumped. Came away entertained.

I suspect though the main theme is movie critics are idiots. One figured prominently as a character.

Couple minor twists, but nothing like 6th Sense.

Agree with movie critcs that it's too scary for young tykes and silly for the rest. But I like silly.

I gave up on Shyamalan after "Signs". The guy's talented, but he really needs to branch out. He ain't David Lynch. And he ain't Hitchcock either.

I think this one will alienate all except pee wee herman fans.

I think this one will alienate all except pee wee herman fans.

... HEH! ;)

Supposedly Steve Colbert is going to sue :freak:

I think this one will alienate all except pee wee herman fans.

D'OH! You had to bring it up...

Supposedly Steve Colbert is going to sue :freak:
Sorry... Don't get the reference.... :confused:

Sorry... Don't get the reference.... :confused:

Me either. Even googling it. I'm so not with it.

But who wouldn't enjoy finding a nymph in the pool in your wet shirt?

Paul Giamatti (http://www.imdb.com/gallery/ss/0452637/Ss/0452637/05801.jpg?path=gallery&path_key=0452637) has potential for the next Bond I think.

"The Sixth Sense" is a terrific supernatural thriller. Shyamalan's other films pale in comparison.

"Lady in the Water" is a pretentious, talky, ego-fueled mess that could only have been made by someone utterly out of touch with reality. Having bought into his own "visionary genius" myth, Shyamalan goes so far as to literally cast himself in the role lest we miss the point. The result is one of the most masturbatory and self-indulgent films I've ever seen.

One critic summed up the experience of watching "Lady" best by saying it's like accidentally walking in on your roommate while he's getting off to a picture of himself.

Trust me when I say it's not a pretty picture.

Sorry... Don't get the reference.... :confused:

Without getting into spoilers, there's a certain animal Colbert has been warning us about since he got on the air that is no good and always means harm to Americans. Even the topiary ones.

"The Sixth Sense" is a terrific supernatural thriller. Shyamalan's other films pale in comparison.

"Lady in the Water" is a pretentious, talky, ego-fueled mess that could only have been made by someone utterly out of touch with reality. Having bought into his own "visionary genius" myth, Shyamalan goes so far as to literally cast himself in the role lest we miss the point. The result is one of the most masturbatory and self-indulgent films I've ever seen.

One critic summed up the experience of watching "Lady" best by saying it's like accidentally walking in on your roommate while he's getting off to a picture of himself.

Trust me when I say it's not a pretty picture.

well yeah. and besides it makes fun of film critics.

well yeah. and besides it makes fun of film critics.

As if critics needed another reason to pan this turkey. Talk about gilding the lilly.

Based on his steadily diminishing returns at the box office ("Lady" is tanking) I'd say Shyamalan's audience is trying to tell him something.

Substitute The Village for Lady in the Water in all of these threads and you get the same result.

I absolutely loved Signs. I despised The Village and Lady in the Water with the same passion. Shyamalan was due for a halfway decent effort this time out, but he shot himself in the foot once again.

His self indulgence has veered wildly off the meter and the studio suits have got to start taking notice. Both films had boffo opening weekends due to the marketing and trailers, then came the extreme dropoff as the word got around. Has he completely forgotten that regardless of his motivation, he is still making films to be consumed by an audience other than himself?

"The Sixth Sense" is a terrific supernatural thriller. Shyamalan's other films pale in comparison.

"Lady in the Water" is a pretentious, talky, ego-fueled mess that could only have been made by someone utterly out of touch with reality. Having bought into his own "visionary genius" myth, Shyamalan goes so far as to literally cast himself in the role lest we miss the point. The result is one of the most masturbatory and self-indulgent films I've ever seen.

One critic summed up the experience of watching "Lady" best by saying it's like accidentally walking in on your roommate while he's getting off to a picture of himself.

Trust me when I say it's not a pretty picture.
LOL Dang, man! Don't hold back now, y'hear? Tell us how you really feel! :D

Without getting into spoilers, there's a certain animal Colbert has been warning us about since he got on the air that is no good and always means harm to Americans. Even the topiary ones.
OK I'm quite serious when I say this - and starting to become embarrassed - but, who is Steve Colbert...?

And why ya gotta use big words like "topiary". :confused:




;)

I really do have no clue who Steve Colbert is, tho.

Warthog!
Its modern!
Didn't see signs!
Mr. Glass!
He's dead!

Coherent Thought
Is Dead???

OK....after all I have raed and seen I'll wait for a RENTAL on this one.

What is it about Signs that folks do not like?
Did folks expect more science, aliens and scary stuff?.....man! I think (so far) that his films have had a almost inocent and simple approach that other film makers can not seem to do.....no BIG SETS, No reliance on BIG effects and focuses on the story and the charactors. I may feel a lot different about signs if I was not a Parent?

The Village wasn't GREAT but it wasn't bad either.

Now....I saw the first CLERKS the other day and laughed my arse off! :lol:

OK I'm quite serious when I say this - and starting to become embarrassed - but, who is Steve Colbert...? .

http://www.gwinnettbizjournal.com/dbimages/0206_Colbert.jpg

And why ya gotta use big words like "topiary". :confused: .

Maybe because "the art of creating ornamental sculptures from the medium of shrubery and sub-shrubs" is an unwieldy frakkin' mouthful?

To be fair, the only reason it's in my vocabulary is because I read Stephen Kings The Shining about 50 times in my youth.

He's host of The Colbert Report. It's a mock news show, where he plays an over-the-top conservative news anchor.

I'd never heard of Colbert until someone refered me to a recording of the scathingly funny speech he made at the annual White House Press Corp dinner (which, last time I checked, was the highest rated podcast on Itunes). That one speech prompted me to ad Comedy Central to my cable subscription.

Not only is Colbert wicked funny, but he's got a pair of seriously large cajones.

What is it about Signs that folks do not like?

I usually don't let myself get bogged down by logic problems, but "Signs" strains credibilty to the breaking point. I mean, the aliens travel lightyears to invade Earth only to get locked in a pantry? "Holy cow! The humans have pantry technology! Who knew? We must return to our homeworld while there's still time!"

Gimme a break.

And then there's the way Shyamalan makes all his actors talk real slow and in a whisper. Guess he thinks it makes his overly earnest dialogue sound more dramatic, but it drives me nuts.

I usually don't let myself get bogged down by logic problems, but "Signs" strains credibilty to the breaking point. I mean, the aliens travel lightyears to invade Earth only to get locked in a pantry? "Holy cow! The humans have pantry technology! Who knew? We must return to our homeworld while there's still time!"


To say nothing of the fact that it doesn't make much sense for aliens that find contact with water deadly to invade a planet that's mostly water. I guess they have superior umbrella and raincoat technology.

Not only is Colbert wicked funny, but he's got a pair of seriously large cajones.

It was really funny when the show first started, and folks like Tom Delay's staff issued statements saying the Colbert Report was the only fair news program on TV!

Marlowe,
I thought Signs was OK and all, but every time I hear this particular critisism, it drives me crazy.

Hey, Fire is dangerous to us, but we still grill food over an open flame! and live near active volcanoes.
Some fish are poisonous to eat if prepared incorrectly, but we still eat them.
same with mushrooms etc, etc...

Now, the pantry, I'll grant you.

The biggest problem is that assuming beings with spaceships are automatically smarter about everything else than we are.

Maybe this was the advance party the aliens sent to make exactly these types of determinations. Is that liquid dangerous to us? are there inhabitants who would fight back? What's the food like? and so on.

The biggest nit I would pick is that the aliens had no sort of space suit to protect them, but we landed on the shore of the new world with out a full edical immunization against local desease, so what do we know?

end of rant

Marlowe,
I thought Signs was OK and all, but every time I hear this particular critisism, it drives me crazy.

Hey, Fire is dangerous to us, but we still grill food over an open flame! and live near active volcanoes.
Some fish are poisonous to eat if prepared incorrectly, but we still eat them.
same with mushrooms etc, etc...

Now, the pantry, I'll grant you.



And if we were traveling thru space looking for planets to settle on, how likely would we be to decide to colonize one that's surface is 74% fire? Or whose surface is covered with 74% active volcanos? Or poisonous fish? And whose skys routinely rain fire? or volcanos? or poisonous fish? And whose population that we intend to conquer, while we are naked, can spit or pee fire, volcanos, or poisonous fish?


Maybe this was the advance party the aliens sent to make exactly these types of determinations.

I guess they missed signs of the presence of the dangerous liquid from orbit, little tell-tales like maybe, I dunno, the oceans. Or clouds.

Signs is a stupid movie, with a stupider premise. The only recent movie I can think of that's as scientifically stupid is Waterworld, where Costner's fishman can make a filter system that allows him to recycle and drink his own urine, yet it never occurs to him to pour some of the gazillion gallons of seawater surrounding him thru it! Ditto for the bad guys, who can refine gasoline from crude oil, but apparently never heard of a distilization.

Not only is Colbert wicked funny, but he's got a pair of seriously large cajones.

Or as he likes to put it, muchos huevos grandes.

I'm with Fluke. I liked Signs.

The biggest problem is that assuming beings with spaceships are automatically smarter about everything else than we are.

Well, clearly their weed-whacking technology is light-years ahead of ours. Good thing too, because without the ability to make crop circles they'd be unable to steer their spaceships from one end of our planet to the other.

"Signs" boldly ponders the question "What would happen if the earth was invaded by a bunch of feeble, under-achieving, aqua-phoebic dumb-asses?" Shyamalan answers the question by locking one of his nit-wit invaders in a pantry; a lethal blow to the invading army's morale which prompts them to throw in the towel and beat a hasty retreat back home (assuming they were able to find it).

Sorry to beat a dead alien, but "Signs" is a comically stupid movie.

Humans is just such good eating. Worth the danger.

What if they (the Aliens) had a reaction to something in "our" water that wasn't in "thier" water and therefor didn't know (or misunderestimated) the danger?

Think of the bacteria that killed the "martians" in the original War of the Worlds. Nobody is calling them stupid martians for not doing a micro biology sweep first.

and who said they were out to colonize? could have been a simple hunting trip
:tongue: or their version of "spring Break" :hat:

I mean, the aliens travel lightyears to invade Earth only to get locked in a pantry? "Holy cow! The humans have pantry technology! Who knew? We must return to our homeworld while there's still time!"

"To say nothing of the power of their fearsome holy louisville sluggers"

"To say nothing of the power of their fearsome holy louisville sluggers"
That reminds me of the Simpsons Halloween episode where aliens invade after Lisa uses the monkey's paw to rid the world of all weapons.

"Your superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons!"

And later when Flanders uses the paw to get rid of the aliens. One of the aliens is chasing Moe. Suddenly, he comes running back.

"AUUGH! He has a board with a nail in it!"

A MESSAGE TO THE HOSTILE ALIEN INVADING ARMIES HOVERING SILENTLY OVER OUR PLANET, HIDDEN BEHIND THEIR CLOAKING DEVICES. PLEASE REMEMBER TO...

EAT THE CANADIANS FIRST!!!


CANADIANS: THE FREE-RANGE NORTH AMERICANS


-Ian Punnett - Coast-to-Coast Live
Having fun with his "tasty" Canadian listeners

A MESSAGE TO THE HOSTILE ALIEN INVADING ARMIES HOVERING SILENTLY OVER OUR PLANET, HIDDEN BEHIND THEIR CLOAKING DEVICES. PLEASE REMEMBER TO...



EAT THE CANADIANS FIRST!!!








CANADIANS: THE FREE-RANGE NORTH AMERICANS








-Ian Punnett - Coast-to-Coast Live

Having fun with his "tasty" Canadian listeners

Canadians are also lower in cholesterol and you don't have as much fat to trim off. Taste great with red wine.

Canadians are also lower in cholesterol and you don't have as much fat to trim off.Except for a certain thick cut of Canadian ham.

[IMG-LEFT]http://images.zap2it.com/20050928/williamshatner_emmynominees05_240.jpg[/IMG-LEFT]

http://www.gwinnettbizjournal.com/dbimages/0206_Colbert.jpg
Ah, OK. I never knew the dudes name, 'cause I don't normally watch Comedy Central! I've seen bits of his show once or twice, tho. Hilariously funny stuff! I just don't watch a lot of TV these days and when I do it's specific programs recorded on my TiVo.... :o

Maybe because "the art of creating ornamental sculptures from the medium of shrubery and sub-shrubs" is an unwieldy frakkin' mouthful?

To be fair, the only reason it's in my vocabulary is because I read Stephen Kings The Shining about 50 times in my youth.
Heh... Darn that oversized vocabulary of yours! Darn it to Heck! :)

I knew what topiary meant, BTW. I just can't remember a time I've heard it in an average, every day conversation such as this. Certainly never from the folks I work with on a day-to-day basis - USAF aircraft maintainers. ;)

Well, clearly their weed-whacking technology is light-years ahead of ours. Good thing too, because without the ability to make crop circles they'd be unable to steer their spaceships from one end of our planet to the other.

"Signs" boldly ponders the question "What would happen if the earth was invaded by a bunch of feeble, under-achieving, aqua-phoebic dumb-asses?" Shyamalan answers the question by locking one of his nit-wit invaders in a pantry; a lethal blow to the invading army's morale which prompts them to throw in the towel and beat a hasty retreat back home (assuming they were able to find it).

Sorry to beat a dead alien, but "Signs" is a comically stupid movie.
I'm another of those folks who liked "Signs", tho mostly 'cause it's a good popcorn movie, IMNSHO. It's not a problem for me to overlook the asteroid-sized impact craters in the plot, I guess. Of course, I just rationalize a lot of it as being that perhaps the aliens aren't nearly as good at some things as we are - like problem solving, apparently! - and are more of a conqueror race, stealing technology from other races as they go from world to world.

As to the water "allergy" thing... I love that seen in an older "Stargate: SG-1" episode where Carter and Daniel are talking about movies and Carter comments on "Signs". Daniel's response was classic - (paraphrasing) "if you know that's how these movies are going to end, why do you watch them?" :)

I probably wouldn't give "Signs" such a hard time if Shyamalan didn't take himself so seriously. I mean, the guy goes around comparing himself to the likes of Hitchcock, Serling, and Spielberg. :rolleyes:

As far as I'm concerned, from a creative standpoint, he's a one hit wonder (albeit a very rich one) who's been treading water since the day "The Sixth Sense" opened. Judging from "Lady's" lackluster opening I'm not the only one who thinks so.

I dunno that I'd call him a "one-hit wonder", exactly. Didn't "Unbreakable" (another of my favorites, 'cause I like Super-Heroes!) do pretty well at the box office?

On the subject of the dialogue, yeah, I agree that all too often it's not the greatest. In fact, it's often rather monotone in most of his movies. That's the one thing that I don't much care for about his direction - almost all the actors are so calm and reserved and acting like they're on thorazine or something. That's especially true of "Signs", tho I think it was done to good effect where Mel Gibson's character was concerned.

I dunno that I'd call him a "one-hit wonder", exactly.

I said "from a creative standpoint." "Unbreakable" and "Signs" were both huge commercial successes. And while each Shyamalan film has grossed significantly less than the one preceding it, "Lady" is the director's first post-"Sixth Sense" film to qualify as an unmitigated flop.

I'm not sure how many folks know this (or even care to), but Shyamalan and Disney parted company due to "creative differences" over the "Lady in the Water" script just prior to production. Disney's Head of Production had serious, and as it happens legitimate problems with the screenplay; problems she dared to express to Mr. Shyamalan. Unused to such criticism, the overly-sensitive auteur bolted for Warner Bros. who promptly green-lit the film as written. Class act that he is, Shyamalan then hired a sycophantic biographer to pen a self-aggrandizing "making of" book in which Disney and the aforementioned Production Head are taken to task for "not getting” Shyamalan’s “vision."

Suffice it to say Disney's vision was 20/20, and they are now enjoying the last laugh.

I did not see any weapons or tool belts on those aliens....except for that gas stuff....so why should he have been able to get out of that pantry.....most humans are lucky to get out of their own underware at night without falling face down on the floor!.....and that same alien did get out...he was the one in the livingroom at the end of the film......SWING AWAY!

The idea is to have fun in a film.....not to compare it to real science or science we do not have yet.

It's like my older brother.....he had sixth sense figured less than one quarter into the movie....well.....I said your thinking too much and not enjoying what was intended!

BUT!....I still have not yet seen Lady in the water so I may think it stinks like cat liter that is NOT Gritty Kitty!

The idea is to have fun in a film.....not to compare it to real science or science we do not have yet.

I totally agree. Far be it from me to tell anyone what movies they should like or dislike, and that was never my intention. Clearly I have issues with Shyamalan, but considering his films have grossed north of a billion dollars he must be doing something right.

Part of my frustration probably has to do with how much I admire "The Sixth Sense." Shaymalan busted his butt to get that script right, and the results yielded the sort of home run, pop-cultural phenomenon we don't see very often. I don't expect M.N.S. to be able to replicate a once-in-a-lifetime score like "The Sixth Sense," but I do wish he'd focus less on his celebrity and more on his writing. Sometimes even a dreamer needs a reality check.

Just wondering ... has any other director had such a fall from grace?

I don't know about 'Fall from grace' but this wasn't the best idea Mr. Lucas ever had! http://www.theforce.net/timetales/tt1-8/JAR-JAR.JPG

Neither was this!

[IMG-LEFT]http://www2.uol.com.br/setonline/reportagens/imagens/208_goste_ou_morra_13.jpg[/IMG-LEFT]

LOL!!! :lol:

Hmmm.
Howard and JarJar both feature a 'duck bill with a stupid smile' face shape, and both are not considered 'successes'.
Coincidence?
I'd say if you are a creature designer avoid smiley duck bill shapes...

Jim :)

If those aliens were allergic to water, how did they manage to eat humans? We're Ugly Bags of Mostly water, after all.

Maybe they just liked Human jerky....

I did not see any weapons or tool belts on those aliens....except for that gas stuff....so why should he have been able to get out of that pantry...

Yeah, that's kinda my point.

When it comes to dramatically compelling alien invaders I'll go with the "acid for blood" type over the "can't get out of pantry" variety every time.

And we should all "fall from grace" like George Lucas.

And apparently us Canadians are tasty ugly bags of mostly water. :p

And I know what really drove Anakin to the darkside when Jar Jar said "Meesa you faddah!"
Huzz

Did someone say Human Jerky?

http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2003/WORLD/meast/11/27/sprj.irq.main/story.bush.turkey.ap.jpg

It's peeeeple! It's peeeeple!

No its not! its Bush's Baked Beans! :tongue: