tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8035434747786768960.post3600186550433736981..comments2024-03-22T14:44:41.519+00:00Comments on Checking On My Sausages: Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8035434747786768960.post-57742821320646508602010-01-20T07:22:07.964+00:002010-01-20T07:22:07.964+00:00Thanks, Adam, for taking the time to post your tho...Thanks, Adam, for taking the time to post your thoughts.<br /><br />"....mostly because I thought it was a hammy decision on Shyamalan's part to cast himself in that role."<br /><br />You may find the comparison fatuous but many have been the directors who have put themselves in the grand role, like Orson Welles. Maybe your displeasure is more to do with the weakness of his acting or of the role rather than any supposed arrogance on Shyamalan's part.<br /><br />I didn't have a problem with it. If anything I admire his chutzpah. <br /><br />The poor CGI I can agree with, but it wasn't that jarring to me because these are not real-life animals. Subconsciously I don't compare in quite the same way that I would a CGI elephant.<br /><br />I can't argue with you saying you didn't connect with the story or the characters. All I can say, I suppose, is that I did.<br /><br />"When you compare it to something so vast and beautiful like Spielberg's A.I., a movie like Lady in the Water seems more like a just-another-day-at-the-office story that cubicle workers tell each other to pass the time."<br /><br />A.I. is brilliant and indeed a better film but Lady in the Water doesn't try to be vast or epic. To me it's a dialled down domestic fantasy.<br /><br />"something as emotionally complex as Unbreakable, it bothered be that he had to significantly lower his prospects with this film."<br /><br />I didn't like Unbreakable. I'm not entirely sure why but I think I found it too contrived and a little under-heated dramatically.Stephenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07036103762441216161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8035434747786768960.post-10371082220003054892010-01-19T19:17:41.183+00:002010-01-19T19:17:41.183+00:00I truly do wish I could have been as dazzled by Sh...I truly do wish I could have been as dazzled by Shyamalan's vision as you were; this was the film I most looked forward to in the summer of 2006. But I found the film to be a bore. I didn't particularly care about the fates of any of the apartment tenants, since their fates as told by Story seemed devoid of imagination. Even Shyamalan's portrayal of the "writer who is going to change humanity" failed to enlighten me- mostly because I thought it was a hammy decision on Shyamalan's part to cast <i>himself</i> in that role.<br /><br />To be sure, I felt something for the Cleveland character. Giamatti does a good job in the film. What I didn't like was the way the relationship between him and Story is developed. It never takes off. I admired that final shot of him gazing up at her as she's carried off by the Eagle; to me, that shot had more power than all of the elements in the film combined.<br /><br />I also take issue with Shyamalan's lack of experience with CGI, which is painfully evident in this film. The scene where the Bob Balaban character is killed by the mutant dog was badly done- it's more odd than it is suspensful. Actually, all of the villainous creatures in the film are poorly animated and carried out. And they so rarely ever even <i>appear</i> that it's often easy to forget what set the whole conflict of the film into motion. If these creatures are such a threat, then why don't we feel threatened by them? It's largely because they have little to no presence as we're watching.<br /><br />The film is billed as a bedtime story, yet I didn't at all feel like it was an imaginative enough film to earn that title. When you compare it to something so vast and beautiful like Spielberg's <i>A.I.</i>, a movie like <i>Lady in the Water</i> seems more like a just-another-day-at-the-office story that cubicle workers tell each other to pass the time.<br /><br />Again, though, I'm glad the movie worked for you. Still, after seeing Shymalan pull off something as emotionally complex as <i>Unbreakable</i>, it bothered be that he had to significantly lower his prospects with this film.Adam Zanziehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14524618281515322239noreply@blogger.com