Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Pielorinho" data-source="post: 1781975" data-attributes="member: 259">First, I'm glad you enjoyed the movie; I wish I had.&nbsp;That said, no film is inherently flawed or inherently good.&nbsp; It's *all* a matter of opinion.&nbsp; De gustibus, the Romans say, non est disputandem.&nbsp;&nbsp;I'll thank you not to characterize it as &quot;whining.&quot;&nbsp; It's a criticism of the movie.&nbsp;I read interviews before the movie came out in which Shyamalan was bragging about the twist.&nbsp; He did several things in the movie entirely for the purpose of deceiving the viewer, not least of which was misdating the tombstone in the movie's first scene (which served no explicable purpose within the movie's narrative).&nbsp; The twist was central to the movie's structure.&nbsp; I wish it had not been; I wish he had explicitly made the twist clear in the first five minutes, because it was uninteresting, as you point out.&nbsp; He did not.&nbsp; He built it up, and I therefore thought (based on this movie, not on his previous movies) that it was going to be something interesting.&nbsp; It did not live up to my hopes.&nbsp;&nbsp;Sorry, but that's exactly what I'll say.&nbsp; Claiming that it's poorly directed is a value statement; value statements are by definition opinions, and therefore by definition are neither right nor wrong.&nbsp; I believe it was poorly directed in several ways.&nbsp;In other ways, it was brilliantly directed, which made my attitude toward the movie all the more complicated.&nbsp; If it had just been another Independence Day, I would've loved dishing on it.&nbsp; But the acting was wonderful, and the cinematography was beautiful, and most of the scripted dialogue was interesting, and the movie's central conceit was a great one, full of potential.&nbsp;With a quarter-twist of the Plot Wrench, it could've been one of my favorite movies of the year.&nbsp; But it was just off enough that I left the theater wanting to wipe the bad taste from my mouth.&nbsp;Again, I'm glad you enjoyed it.&nbsp; The fact that I didn't does not reflect poorly on me, any more than the fact that you did reflects poorly on you.&nbsp;Daniel</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Pielorinho, post: 1781975, member: 259"] First, I'm glad you enjoyed the movie; I wish I had. That said, no film is inherently flawed or inherently good. It's *all* a matter of opinion. [i]De gustibus[/i], the Romans say, [i]non est disputandem[/i]. I'll thank you not to characterize it as "whining." It's a criticism of the movie. I read interviews before the movie came out in which Shyamalan was bragging about the twist. He did several things in the movie entirely for the purpose of deceiving the viewer, not least of which was misdating the tombstone in the movie's first scene (which served no explicable purpose within the movie's narrative). The twist was central to the movie's structure. I wish it had not been; I wish he had explicitly made the twist clear in the first five minutes, because it was uninteresting, as you point out. He did not. He built it up, and I therefore thought (based on this movie, not on his previous movies) that it was going to be something interesting. It did not live up to my hopes. Sorry, but that's exactly what I'll say. Claiming that it's poorly directed is a value statement; value statements are [b]by definition[/b] opinions, and therefore by definition are neither right nor wrong. I believe it was poorly directed in several ways. In other ways, it was brilliantly directed, which made my attitude toward the movie all the more complicated. If it had just been another [i]Independence Day[/i], I would've loved dishing on it. But the acting was wonderful, and the cinematography was beautiful, and most of the scripted dialogue was interesting, and the movie's central conceit was a great one, full of potential. With a quarter-twist of the Plot Wrench, it could've been one of my favorite movies of the year. But it was just off enough that I left the theater wanting to wipe the bad taste from my mouth. Again, I'm glad you enjoyed it. The fact that I didn't does not reflect poorly on me, any more than the fact that you did reflects poorly on you. Daniel [/QUOTE]

Verification