The village, Yes, it really is that bad

[MythosaAkira]

The first half is very good, the acting is excellent, and I think he is able to establish a sense of mounting dread. The film visually is gorgeous. Adrien Brody, Joachim Phoenix and Bryce Dallas Howard are wonderful. There is a genuinely shocking and unexpected moment in story that had the audience gasping (it was very well done).

I completely agree. If that scene is the one I'm thinking about, given the nature of what was involved, I think that made it even more horrific in its delivery (man, that wasn't too vague, was it? Trying not to spoil anything...)

Personally, I figured out the ending twist about half-way through or so, and I was really hoping that what I was thinking wasn't going to be how it turned out.

One thing I noticed (spoiler warning):

Spoiler

At times it seemed like some of the characters slipped out of their "period" speech into a more modern style. I'm used to this in many "period" movies, but I'm wondering if this was actually intentional in this film. In retrospect, I recall noticing this with some of the elders, but not with characters like Ivy. If this happened *only* with the elders, it might have been due to their having come from the "modern" world (as modern as the 70's was). I might be off here but if this was the case and it was intentional, it was a nice subtlety.

Anyway, it was a fun movie but not quite what I was hoping for.

 

[Quasqueton]

Wow. I'm surprised at the reactions here. I and part of my game group went to see it last night, and we all enjoyed/liked it.

And from what I could tell, hearing the laughter at the proper spots, and gasps at the proper spots, I thought the audience was enjoying it too.

I sometimes wonder about this forum -- LOTR is over the top great, and everything else sucks. <shakes head>

Quasqueton

 

[wizardneedsfood]

No, it's not that. I like a ton of other movies as well besides LOTR. Then again, the vast majority of people I've talked to on several different forums covering widely varying topics disliked the film. The first half bored me and the second half was just dumb almost to the point of insulting my intelligence.

Then again, I'm the guy who liked Troy and Van Helsing, so what do I know?

 

[aurance]

I sometimes wonder about this forum -- LOTR is over the top great, and everything else sucks. <shakes head>

Quasqueton

Uhm... no? What forum have you been reading?

 

[MarauderX]

It was pretty good, but as others have said the second half kinda strings along.............

Spoiler

At the very end, I couldn't help but think M. Knight stole the ending from Monty Python and the Holy Grail

 

[KChagga]

Ugh. I guess the movie was ok, but I am severly disappointed in it. I can't believe that this movie will do much business once word of mouth gets out. Definitely Scooby Doo does Twilight Zone. I kept expecting them to come across old mr. Withers. :\

I say to hell with you M. Night Shamalamadingdong. All movies don't have to have twists and this one would have been much better without your crappy twist.

One big thumbs down to this movie.

 

[Dr Midnight]

...The retard...

Yeah, ha ha, the retard!

I have a family member with Down's Syndrome. You wouldn't use that word if you understood what it feels like to hear or read it in reference to the likes of someone you care about.

 

[Ahnehnois]

Signs was a good movie. But, at some point, the guy has to stop using the same formula. The more we expect a big twist, the less effective it is.

 

[EricNoah]

You wouldn't use that word if you understood what it feels like to hear or read it in reference to the likes of someone you care about.

Agreed ... folks, this isn't a term we like to have used around here; it's rude and insensitive at best.

 

[Pielorinho]

Saw it Friday night, and I agree with most of what was said above. If you want to go see it, you can actually far improve the movie, IMO, by reading the spoiler below:

Spoiler

it takes place in modern times

I was guessing that that was the case during the first couple of scenes, and as the movie progressed I was hoping that wasn't going to be a big twist, because it was so freakin' obvious, and when it was the twist, it was really disappointing. If he'd just come out and made it clear from the beginning, I wouldn't have been so distracted by it, and the later events would've been that much MORE mysterious and interesting.

That said, there was one humongously stupid hole in the movie:

Spoiler

We've got a strong, violent, mentally ill member of our village! We've got a prison for him! We've got these scary monster costumes! I know--LET'S KEEP ONE OF THE COSTUMES IN HIS PRISON!

Sheesh. The movie would've worked just as well if Noah had escaped from his prison via the floorboards, broken into the shed, and snagged one of the costumes there. This was really dumb, IMO

Daniel