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*** Official THE HAPPENING Discussion Thread - Page 6

post #151 of 171
3/13/09 at 8:13am

Re: *** Official THE HAPPENING Discussion Thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by Inspector Hammer!
And The Village is in a league all it's own, it's rare that film struck me so negatively that it actually made me angry lol. Lastly, how exactly does one go about outrunning wind? I would love to know because I walk a lot and it would be nice if I could stay ahead of it like Wahlberg and Co. did.

You mean The Happening. The Village was pretty bad, too, but not as bad as The Happening!
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post #152 of 171
3/13/09 at 8:33am

Re: *** Official THE HAPPENING Discussion Thread

No no I meant The Village, The Happening was at least silly enough for a laugh here and there and it was a couple of notches more entertaining than TV.

Ohhhh look out! The trees are out to get us!!! Run for your lives!!
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post #153 of 171
3/13/09 at 12:10pm

Re: *** Official THE HAPPENING Discussion Thread

I'm still rather shocked when I see all the hatred thrown at THE HAPPENING. I really don't think the movie was meant to be taken so seriously.

THE VILLAGE and LAKE were downright horrid but THE HAPPENING at least has me willing to check out his next film.
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post #154 of 171
3/13/09 at 1:10pm

Re: *** Official THE HAPPENING Discussion Thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Elliott
I really don't think the movie was meant to be taken so seriously.

You'd never know it by M. Knight's direction, to him the situation is extremely serious and the consequences dire.
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post #155 of 171
3/13/09 at 3:03pm

Re: *** Official THE HAPPENING Discussion Thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by Inspector Hammer!
You'd never know it by M. Knight's direction, to him the situation is extremely serious and the consequences dire.

That true but many "B" movies become cult classics because the stories are silly yet the director's treated them like they were making CITIZEN KANE. Stuff like PLAN 9, HIDEOUS SUN DEMON and countless others tried to be serious and I'd hate to watch these movies in a serious manor.
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post #156 of 171
3/13/09 at 4:32pm

Re: *** Official THE HAPPENING Discussion Thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by Inspector Hammer!
M. Knight thinks he's a master, he wants to be a master but he lacks the modesty IMO.

Well, all this shows me is that you have your mind made up to dislike his work because you don't like his attitude. It's okay not to like his "inmodesty", but don't let that affect your perception of a film.

Quote:
Lastly, how exactly does one go about outrunning wind?

The same way people fight vampires? Or a giant ape like King Kong? I don't know ... but I don't think it's the wind itself, it's more like something visibly seen coming forward, carried on the wind... you can see areas on grass and so forth where it hasn't yet arrived, and it's on its way.

Quote:
Ohhhh look out! The trees are out to get us!!! Run for your lives!!

I guess you're not into horror pictures, then? Throughout the decades there have been plenty of films about nature gone berserk... from frogs, to birds ... to plants (DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS?). If the trees (or something unbeatable in nature itself that we can't quite readily identify but which we can't stop) did indeed cause people to start committing suicide anywhere in any way at any time, it would be pretty terrifying. Should be to anyone, anyway.

Quote:
You'd never know it by M. Knight's direction, to him the situation is extremely serious and the consequences dire.

You don't think what goes on in THE HAPPENING with multitudes of infected people kiling themselves like that should be treated as dead-serious and dire? I think it's treated extremely seriously, as it should be. This is not a jokefest like RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD or EVIL DEAD 2. It's amazing that we've got someone who treats horror like true horror, and all people seem to want are tongue in cheek laughs.
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post #157 of 171
3/13/09 at 8:02pm

Re: *** Official THE HAPPENING Discussion Thread

I even found "Lady In the Water" to be interesting (though all over the place) ... but "The Happening" was just awful.

Mark Wahlberg isn't the best actor but his acting combined with Night's dialogue style was so bad that it became unintentionally funny. A really bad call, he is not believable as a high school science teacher even for a second.

At least "LitW" had Paul Giamatti and a decent ensemble cast going for it.

And honestly the movie isn't scary. I agree that Night is one of the few directors that can actually scare people, but "The Happening" is not one of those films.

The violence and gore was gratuitous and really didn't add anything to the film.
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post #158 of 171
3/13/09 at 8:23pm

Re: *** Official THE HAPPENING Discussion Thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by Inspector Hammer!
No no I meant The Village, The Happening was at least silly enough for a laugh here and there and it was a couple of notches more entertaining than TV.

Ohhhh look out! The trees are out to get us!!! Run for your lives!!

Okay - you combined mentions of The Village and Wahlberg so close together I thought you were referring to them as the same thing, ie Wahlberg was in The Village.

Indeed, The Happening WAS amusing, but unintentionally so. I cracked up when the guy let himself be eaten by a tiger - I don't think I was supposed to be amused!
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post #159 of 171
3/14/09 at 3:30am

Re: *** Official THE HAPPENING Discussion Thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by Colin Jacobson
I cracked up when the guy let himself be eaten by a tiger -

I certainly wasn't. But I guess I'm just weird that way.
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post #160 of 171
3/14/09 at 9:23am

Re: *** Official THE HAPPENING Discussion Thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe Karlosi
I certainly wasn't. But I guess I'm just weird that way.

You certainly weren't what - laughing? Then you have a stronger will than I. I agree that Shyamalan didn't INTEND the movie to be funny, but it was. The flick was so absurd and poorly done that I'm astonished anyone DIDN'T laugh at those goofy scenes.

And I always want to like Shyamalan's work. I liked Sixth Sense and Signs, and I think I was neutral on Unbreakable - I should see it again, as it's been so long I can't recall my reaction well.

The others are varying degrees of terrible. That makes three straight crummy films from Shyamalan - not a good trend. I hold out hope he might rebound, but I'm not confident after three consecutive clunkers...
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post #161 of 171
3/14/09 at 9:59am

Re: *** Official THE HAPPENING Discussion Thread

The tiger scene is where I started to look at the film as a "B" movie. It wasn't a LOL moment but it did make me giggle.
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post #162 of 171
3/14/09 at 11:46am

Re: *** Official THE HAPPENING Discussion Thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by RAF
Well, watching The Happening on Blu-ray after letting it sit on the shelf for a long time taught me one thing. Never let critical reviews sway me. I'm a big M. Night fan but I still listened to the non-hype and avoided this one. On a rainy Wednesday afternoon in March I finally screened it in my HT and was pleasantly surprised. I have to side with the silent minority who absolutely loved this film. No, it wasn't a summer blockbluster type of thing but it held my interest from start to finish. Well crafted, well acted, thoughtful and much, much better than I had expected. I guess I have to thank the panners for making my day with this one.

from this old timer.
I don't really have anything to add, but I wanted to see RAF's comments repeated, since they're what revived this thread.
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post #163 of 171
3/16/09 at 8:20am

Re: *** Official THE HAPPENING Discussion Thread

has any1 seen the behind the scenes making of or commenataries? what doe night say this is? did he intentionally make a B-movie spoof? if he did, then we're supposed to laugh at it.
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post #164 of 171
3/16/09 at 11:22am

Re: *** Official THE HAPPENING Discussion Thread

He didn't use the word spoof, but he did have this to say:

Quote:
"I wanted it to be a fantastic, fun B-movie...The No. 1 thing is I want people to say: 'That was a really fun B-movie.'"


To which I would respond: "Hey Night! You've been given $60 million and some pretty good actors to work with. Your credibility as a filmmaker is declining rapidly and completely gone in many people's mind. Try making an A-movie. You goal should be for people to say, 'That was an M. Night Shyamalan film that wasn't terrible. Maybe he hasn't lost it.'"
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post #165 of 171
3/16/09 at 12:07pm

Re: *** Official THE HAPPENING Discussion Thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pete-D
I even found "Lady In the Water" to be interesting the film.
Quite enjoyed Lady. Giamatti is excellent in it.
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post #166 of 171
3/17/09 at 3:58am

Re: *** Official THE HAPPENING Discussion Thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ben Osborne
To which I would respond: "Hey Night! You've been given $60 million and some pretty good actors to work with. Your credibility as a filmmaker is declining rapidly and completely gone in many people's mind. Try making an A-movie. You goal should be for people to say, 'That was an M. Night Shyamalan film that wasn't terrible. Maybe he hasn't lost it.'"

Please. We don't need anymore glossy "A" horror movies made with $200 million dollar CGI effects, but with no feeling and no characterization. Hopefully more people will wake up to the good old fashioned genre work Shyamalan is doing, if they aren't already too blown out by all the Hollywood blockbusters.
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post #167 of 171
3/17/09 at 8:11am

Re: *** Official THE HAPPENING Discussion Thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe Karlosi
Please. We don't need anymore glossy "A" horror movies made with $200 million dollar CGI effects, but with no feeling and no characterization. Hopefully more people will wake up to the good old fashioned genre work Shyamalan is doing, if they aren't already too blown out by all the Hollywood blockbusters.

Just because Shyamalan is doing "old-fashioned genre work" doesn't mean it's GOOD. As I've mentioned, I want to like his movies, but the last few have been varying degrees of bad. The Happening was so stupid it was insulting - though unintentionally hilarious. I saw no feeling and/or characterization there; I saw a lot of one-dimensional characters - none of whom mattered to me - and silly situations.

And it's not like Shyamalan is making indie movies for $500,000. The Happening cost $60m - cheap by super-blockbuster standards, but not exactly pocket change...
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post #168 of 171
3/17/09 at 8:38am

Re: *** Official THE HAPPENING Discussion Thread

Yes, I was not suggesting that Shyamalan make glossy special effects extravaganzas. I would love to see him continue to make movies like The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, and even The Village. With those, I didn't get the sense that was he was trying to create B movies.
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post #169 of 171
3/17/09 at 10:12am

Re: *** Official THE HAPPENING Discussion Thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ben Osborne
Yes, I was not suggesting that Shyamalan make glossy special effects extravaganzas. I would love to see him continue to make movies like The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, and even The Village. With those, I didn't get the sense that was he was trying to create B movies.

I agree with you that at this point, Shyamalan's goal should be to simply make a DECENT movie. The last few have been so terrible that he needs to prove he can create a competent film that doesn't seem like an embarassment to most who see it...
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post #170 of 171
3/17/09 at 4:19pm

Re: *** Official THE HAPPENING Discussion Thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by Colin Jacobson
And it's not like Shyamalan is making indie movies for $500,000. The Happening cost $60m - cheap by super-blockbuster standards, but not exactly pocket change...

Very true. There are countless horror movies getting great reviews but very little attention and they don't need $60 million.
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post #171 of 171
3/18/09 at 7:02am

Re: *** Official THE HAPPENING Discussion Thread

I truly liked The Happening. But then i thought the movie was about Americans taking their paranoia and fear to the logical conclusion; not about a revolt of nature.
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