"Lady in the Water" Talkback (Spoilers)

[Isondill]

A Bedtime Story By
M. Night Shyamalan

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/MMPO/505159.jpg

Release Date: July 21, 2006
Studio: Warner Bros.
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Starring: Paul Giamatti, Bryce Dallas Goward, Jeffrey Wright, Cindy Cheung, Freddy Rodriquez, Jared Harris

Plot Summary: Apartment building superintendent Cleveland Heep (Giamatti) rescues what he thinks is a young woman from the pool he maintains. When he discovers that she is actually a character from a bedtime story who is trying to make the journey back to her home, he works with his tenants to protect his new friend from the creatures that are determined to keep her in our world.

Comments?

[Isondill]

I just saw the film late tonight. I must admit, all the bad reviews had me worried it was going to be a major dissapointment... and I'm someone that loved the Village. While I didn't consider it M. Night's best work to date it was certainly entertaining and will likely be even better with a second view. It feels like a very personal film within the boundaries of a fairy-tale/bedtime story. Like all of his movies, it once again deals with issues of faith.

Time to debate it. I'm suprised there wasn't a topic already. Since I'm too tired to write more about the film now I'll simply comment later. I'm interested in hearing views (poisitive or negative) from others that have seen it.

[Lord Dalek]

I liked this, for a panned movie it was certainly more entertaining than Da Vinci Code. Some things I noticed...

-MNS's "fear of water" strikes again! I have never been as scared by sprinkler systems then I have in this movie.

-Bob Balaban's critic character: now this is an interesting little man M. has concocted for us. He is completely aware of his purpose in this film as a sidekick character ready to be killed off. And its pretty funny when the moment he misjudges his purpose is also the moment he dies.

-Compulsory MNS is the worst actor in the film note. Really M. stop going past 3 minutes of screentime, you suck. We were better off when you were just sorta there like as the ticket scalper in Unbreakable

-Narfs. Sorry but I can't help but think Pinky and the Brain.

Still I liked it, flawed but fun, and not nearly as aggravating as some other movies this year. ***1/2

[Terminatah]

I love the way M. Night directs. His style can make me care about the silliest things. I saw this with an audience that laughed EVERY TIME Paul Giamatti stuttered, which got old real fast, plus there was a baby and this was an after-midnight show, but I was still able to enjoy it, which I consider a testament to Shyamalan's talent. Probably one of my favorites of the year so far.

-Terminatah

[MajorTom]

I don't know, I liked it. The main complaint seemed to be that it was and confusing. I understood it fine. The audience I saw it with was obnoxcious. The talked through the whole movie, and talked about how much the movie sucked near the end. Some stupid teenagers climbed up the seats instead of using the stairs, and kept coming in and out that way. But, I still enjoyed it pretty much.
****/*****

[g_UnIt_GaNsTa]

4.5/5. All of it good, especially when Mr. Reeds suddenly speaks for the first time in the film, but Shymalan playing a guy who will get assassinated for writing a revolutionary book kind of irks me.

[Hades]

So what is the twist?

[Conekiller]

There is no twist, they've been saying that forever! just striaght up "bedtime story"

[g_UnIt_GaNsTa]

So what is the twist?


There are little twists throughout the movie but no twist as big as those in Signs and The Village.

[Terminatah]

There are little twists throughout the movie but no twist as big as those in Signs and The Village.There was no twist in Signs.

-Terminatah

[Lord Dalek]

There was no twist in Signs.

-TerminatahYeah there was.

The whole alien invasion being a mechanation of god to get Graham Hess to return to the cloth.

[g_UnIt_GaNsTa]

There was no twist in Signs.

-Terminatah


Um, The alien invasion being destroyed by water and the dumb thing about this whole invasion being there to bring Mel Gibson back into Christianity

[Terminatah]

Yeah there was.

The whole alien invasion being a mechanation of god to get Graham Hess to return to the cloth.
Um, The alien invasion being destroyed by water and the dumb thing about this whole invasion being there to bring Mel Gibson back into Christianity1. The alien invasion being a "mechanation [sic] of God" was not a twist. It was a hardship the character needed to go through in order to face his problems with faith. You can find similar arcs in countless movies.
2. The aliens being vulnerable to water was just a simple plot development. You can find similar plot developments in countless movies.

A TWIST ENDING requires a shocking turn of events (often involving some sort of ironic surprise) that makes you re-evaluate certain truths already set in the story. SIGNS is a straightforward story that never backtracks or redefines anything it sets up. If this weren't an M. Night Shyamalan movie, no one would be calling it a twist.
-Terminatah

[Fresh V]

I saw it on opening day. It was good. I wouldn't call it great, but I wouldn't call it bad either. It was good. But it wasn't that scary. Well, none of Shyamalan's movies were that scary except the Sixth Sense. But that part where the creature smashed throught the wall caught me offguard. The movie was pretty funny. The old man's death scene was hilarious. :P But, like another poster in this thread, all the people in the theater I saw it in laughed like hell at the main character's stuttering. It was funny, but not that funny.

And here's something I noticed in many scenes: you could see the friggin' MICROPHONE at the top. What the hell?

[Terminatah]

And here's something I noticed in many scenes: you could see the friggin' MICROPHONE at the top. What the hell?Roger Ebert has been told in his Movie Answer Man column many times that people could spot the boom mic in movies they saw in the theater, and his reply is always that the projectionist framed it wrong. So don't blame the movie; blame the theater.

-Terminatah

[Lord Dalek]

Roger Ebert has been told in his Movie Answer Man column many times that people could spot the boom mic in movies they saw in the theater, and his reply is always that the projectionist framed it wrong. So don't blame the movie; blame the theater.

-TerminatahThat's still odd considering softmatting just isn't done anymore.

[Isondill]

Many movies are made where the microphones make it into the picture. This happens because of how close they need to be to the actors in order to elevate the sound (so some scenes have them more than others). When a projectionist fails to format the video properly, it shows the extra picture with the microphones. It is not intentional, not out of M. Night being lazy, it is simply unfortunate that certain theaters have not projected the film properly. And of course, it is always removed by the time the DVD is made available.

[Hades]

How do you guys figure the aliens were machinations of a god to get the father back into being a priest?

[g_UnIt_GaNsTa]

How do you guys figure the aliens were machinations of a god to get the father back into being a priest?

Because after the invasion he thinks everything happens for a reason and goes from staunch atheist to reverend.

[SirLemming]

I had a lotta problems with this movie. On the plus side, it was undeniably unique. And it's not like it was a train wreck or anything. And Paul Giamatti was great.

But there were a lot of negatives. I really found it to be way too convoluted, with not enough to make me get involved in the convolusions. And, as with a confusing anime, the biggest problem was that the characters all seemed to get it. I accept Cleveland's willingness to get involved, but why did everyone else accept this stuff so willingly? It was like, "You're the guild who was foretold in this story." "Gotcha. So when's the eagle coming?" It just lacked that down-to-Earth quality that lets the audience get involved.

I also thought that most of the side characters had questionable acting and/or writing. The Asian people were borderline offensive, and at the very least they were overacted. I found it pretty laughable towards the end when that girl tried to say a dramatic line in that ridiculous accent. And the rest were pretty weird too. They just didn't seem like normal people. Something seemed contrived about the whole thing. You never got the sense that this was an ordinary world at all, which seems like it's necessary since they weren't going for total fantasy, but rather reality with an invasion of fantasy (the lady in the water). It seemed like everyone in the hotel existed just for this story.

All this adds up to a movie that just doesn't have as much mystery as it should. The characters are way too willing to accept the concept of the Narfs (Narf!) and evil dogs and alien eagles and space monkeys that appear at the end for no real reason. Where's the sense of wonder?




PS: I like The Village. Not to mention Signs and The Sixth Sense, though I haven't seen Unbreakable.
PPS: There is no such thing as a "Shyamalan Twist". I heard someone complain that this movie is the worst movie they've ever seen, and their explanation was, "I was waiting for the Shyamalan Twist and it never came." He HAS made movies since The Sixth Sense, you know. The Village came close to having a big twist, but it was really just not the same type of thing. And Signs only had the type of plot twists that any interesting movie has to have. To expect a big twist and then criticize the movie for not having one, simply because the director made another movie that did have one, is just completely illogical.



Many movies are made where the microphones make it into the picture. This happens because of how close they need to be to the actors in order to elevate the sound (so some scenes have them more than others). When a projectionist fails to format the video properly, it shows the extra picture with the microphones. It is not intentional, not out of M. Night being lazy, it is simply unfortunate that certain theaters have not projected the film properly. And of course, it is always removed by the time the DVD is made available.
I was wondering about that. The movie did indeed seem to be framed incorrectly, and I saw the boom mic.