WILL SMITH INEXPLICABLY DECIDES TO WORK WITH M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN, BRINGS KID

This would have made sense 10 years and several shitty M. Night movies ago.

At least he's not writing the thing.

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Originally Posted by Evi 

At least he's not writing the thing.

I think he's co-writing. Sorry Evi.

Let's be honest, Will Smith's last few films haven't been gems. This guy needs to get his house in order ASAP.

Even if he's not writing (and it would appear that he is not, even though the screenwriter of the heavy-handed Book of Eli is hardly an inspiring choice), I am not part of the chorus that claims M. Night Shyamalan is a great director still, if only he would allow others to write the screenplays for his movies.  His style is simply not as novel as it once was, with directors such as Duncan Jones and Tarsem displaying more cinematographic quality than Night has in the last few years.  Furthermore, his much-touted rapport with child actors has been getting progressively worse over the years, and you cannot just blame that on the screenplay - Night the Director and Night the Writer are linked no matter what, and as a director, Night is still going to bring the sensibilities that he displays in his screenplays.  He's still going to make choices as a director that are just as baldly misinformed and terrible, even if he's not penning the screenplay himself.

If you hated Eli, the choice of screenwriter isn't a radical departure from M. Night's sensibilities.  He's not making serious compromises on the basis of just directing alone.

Just like the tremendous vision that he brought to the fantasy genre, right?  Oh, wait...

Seriously, it boggles the mind that studios still want to work with this man.  I thought the de-emphasis on his role in Devil's marketing was an omen.

According to reports that I'm reading online, Shyamalan co-wrote the script, so he's not making a complete concession here.

I've seen a lot of child stars in my time, but something about the way the Smiths are thrusting their children into the spotlight feels really unnerving to me.

I'm only interested if it's a cross-pollinated double sequel:  THE PURSUIT OF THE HAPPENING.  

If there's a God, he'll use this opportunity to kill all three of their careers in one fell swoop. 

The comments are weirdly fixated on me hating on this apparently unfairly maligned director.

Yeah, I don't know why the commenters are acting so offended, M. Night has squandered all the good will built up from his first few features so it's hard to understand how he's still getting these sorts of opportunities when his name is box office poison right now - despite the decent worldwide gross of Airbender (kids just aren't that discriminating, the little bastards...).

The seemingly never-ending Will Smith/Jaden Smith hate among commenters and board members I can't understand though.  Jaden isn't the first, and he won't be the last, child of a celebrity who's wanted to follow in their parents' footsteps.  His career has been managed very shrewdly by his father and his mother, and he has talent (for a kid).  I don't get the nepotism charges, of course his parents are gonna guide his career, they're producers with mad sway in the industry.  Him getting hookups from his daddy doesn't bother me any more than Seth Rogan and Paul Rudd being given hookup after hookup by Apatow, or Scorsese and his obsession with DiCaprio.  It's the business.  I'm not sure if M Night and Will Smith are a good combo or not, maybe that's a dynamic that M Night needs, a big star with big ideas and a big ego to keep M Night's worst impulses in check.  Or maybe it's a recipe for disaster.  Let's just hope the interwebz doesn't completely implode from the density of its hatemongering for the Smiths and M Night.  Wouldn't rooting for this to be any good be sort of...refreshing?

First and foremost the Smith's have fuckall to do with my issues with M. Night. The guy hasn't made a good film in years.

How he continues to work and get his projects greenlit I will never know.

I still admire the guy for his first 3 blockbusters but the smell hasn't gotten better with your direction over the years Night its gotten worse.

I had some hope that something outside his twist obsession (Last Airbender) might bring out something worthwhile god was I dumb.

That film is awful its a turd on cinema.

You could put any actor in Hollywood including someone as beloved as Will Smith and I wouldn't think of spending my money to see this film.

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Originally Posted by dajuice7 

 

 

The seemingly never-ending Will Smith/Jaden Smith hate among commenters and board members I can't understand though.  Jaden isn't the first, and he won't be the last, child of a celebrity who's wanted to follow in their parents' footsteps.  His career has been managed very shrewdly by his father and his mother, and he has talent (for a kid).  I don't get the nepotism charges, of course his parents are gonna guide his career, they're producers with mad sway in the industry.  Him getting hookups from his daddy doesn't bother me any more than Seth Rogan and Paul Rudd being given hookup after hookup by Apatow, or Scorsese and his obsession with DiCaprio.  It's the business.  I'm not sure if M Night and Will Smith are a good combo or not, maybe that's a dynamic that M Night needs, a big star with big ideas and a big ego to keep M Night's worst impulses in check.  Or maybe it's a recipe for disaster.  Let's just hope the interwebz doesn't completely implode from the density of its hatemongering for the Smiths and M Night.  Wouldn't rooting for this to be any good be sort of...refreshing?

I don't hate Will Smith.  Here's my thing.  With the track record of child stars acting out their lost childhood as adults in dangerous, self-destructive ways, and knowing first-hand how brutal and tough the industry can be, it just...it just weirds me out a bit that they're putting their young children out there like that.  It's their business, and they'll have to deal with that time bomb should it explode.  And for the record, I'd say this about ANY celebrity who let their kid into the industry.  Jada Pinkett being quoted as saying that it's her kids' "destiny" to be famous doesn't help much.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Renn Brown 

The comments are weirdly fixated on me hating on this apparently unfairly maligned director.

 

Then fuck them. Anyone defending M Night movies at this late date deserves more M Night movies. 

Every movie has been literally worst than the one before. I didn't see how a movie could possibly be worse than the Happening, but M Night is crafty. He made Last Airbender bad in a boring way, which turns out to be the worst of all. 

And as per the forcing of Jaden Smith on the world. Sure, it's annoying now, but the schadenfreude when his life spirals wildly out of control ought to be epic. I mean, can you imagine how entitled he's going to come off as when he's, say, twenty two years old? Gonna be epic. 

In fact, as far as I'm concerned, this is a perfect storm of oblivion, coming right at us.

The Devil was a horrid piece of shit.  I can't believe this Twilight Zone obsessed hack keeps getting work. 

And I'm shocked the Studios aren't pissed that Shyamalan buried an incredibly popular franchise that had the potential to on for many films.  Air Bender could've been the next big kiddy franchise if the cards were played correctly.  I would say its unprecedented the amount of kiddy hate this film inspired.  Has there ever been a film kids hated as much as Air Bender?

It may have made 300 million worldwide, but theres a reason there is not sequel planned, while previously the Studios had hoped for a long lasting franchise.

The studios realise this film only made that money due to the good will created by the cartoon.  300 million may have made it moderately profitable, but the opportunity costs of ruining such a beloved franchise probably far outweighs any profits.

Air Bender was truly a bad film, its remarkable the cartoon was popular enough to allow it to get to 300 mill.

There's been some debate about whether Airbender's culminative intake is actually that decent, given the budget of the film itself, its marketing (they advertised at the Super Bowl and several other high-profile venues), etc.  Paramount's pre-release hype suggested that this franchise could be their next Harry Potter, but it's now April and we have not heard one peep about a sequel, even if Night wants to work on other projects first.  My sincere hope is, by the time all is said and done, the child actors age too noticeably.

Financials aside, it still boggles the mind that a studio can seriously praise Night's supposed "vision" for science fiction when his foray into the fantasy/AA (Action/Adventure) genre exploded right in his face.  Signs, his most classically "sci-fi" film, was decent but hardly outstanding in its vision (which I still consider to be some of Night's most overwrought writing to this day).

I think anyone who's watched Airbender agrees that it's a failure. Even if they do sequelize it, which I doubt, it'll probably be a reboot with a new cast to distance it from the original.

Well, Evi, I have met a small number of people who claim to have watched Airbender and enjoyed it (including, most disturbingly, a few fans of the show).  Suffice to say I never came into contact with them again, because anyone who thinks that M. Night's adaptation even remotely did justice to the promise of the source material is working on a plane of existence so foreign to me that I just can't even bother to comprehend what their standards are.

In addition, the group that claims M. Night's films are not "so bad" and that critics "are out to get him" still exists, even post-Airbender.

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Originally Posted by Draco Senior 

 

In addition, the group that claims M. Night's films are not "so bad" and that critics "are out to get him" still exists, even post-Airbender.

Erix, get in here.

Erix did not like Airbender, and he's actually one of the few semi-apologists who I genuinely respect.  I may disagree with his views on Night, but he's able to express more substantial thoughts than "Well, if a foreign newcomer had directed The Happening, it would have had a stronger reception!" and "Well, the critics just have a bias against M. Night!", etc.

After his post-Airbender interviews (in which he repeated the assertion that foreign markets still consider his work to be "genius"), I have no hopes of M. Night ever learning from his mistakes.