The Fall of M. Night Shyamalan

Once upon a time, M. Night Shyamalan was one hell of a storyteller. He began his directorial career marvelously with the supernatural thriller The Sixth Sense, followed by a unique kind of comic-book movie, Unbreakable, and the fantastically original sci-fi drama, Signs.
His fourth film, The Village, was the beginning of his rapid decline. It was his worst-reviewed movie at the time of its release in 2004, and moviegoers began labeling him as a "one-trick pony," in response to most of his movies having twist endings. I, for one, enjoyed The Village. It was scary, intense, and delivered A-List performances from the whole cast.

I don't know what to make of Lady in the Water, Shyamalan's fifth film released in 2006. Dubbed "a new kind of bedtime story," it garnered horrible reviews. It was here that I began doubting Shyamalan's talent. Had he lost it all? Or were his first three movies the result of luck? Lady in the Water wasn't that great, but it also wasn't terrible. It was muddled by too large of a cast, too convoluted a story, and a less-than-admirable marketing campaign, but it had some very moving moments, thanks to the always excellent Paul Giamatti.

The Happening was Shyamalan's first R-rated project. It was a goofy, campy B-movie that I can honestly say I somewhat enjoyed. It topped Lady in the Water and The Village with bad reviews, yet I couldn't help but appreciate Shyamalan just having fun. I enjoyed it for all the wrong reasons, and I don't really care. It gave me hope that maybe old M. Night still had it in him.

And then there was The Last Airbender. Ohhhhh boy, The Last Airbender. If you want me to provide a synopsis, I won't. Go here. I quite honestly cannot express without expletives how terrible this movie was. There were no good parts, no funny moments. It was two hours of frying pans to the head, one big bathroom break of a movie that left me feeling disgusted. I exited the theater wondering how The Last Airbender, based off a popular television show, actually made it to the cineplex. Don't they have advanced screenings or something, to critique movies before they're released to ensure they're fit for the theater? The critics at the showing for The Last Airbender were either tripping on LSD or dead. I was angry I spent any money seeing it, and if anyone reading this feels like they should give it a chance, don't. The acting is absolutely dead-pan, the plot makes no sense, and the special effects are lifeless. If you want further proof that it is quite possibly one of the most disappointing films ever made, check out the TomatoMeter. And there's going to be a sequel!

M. Night Shyamalan was at one time my favorite director. I loved Signs, Unbreakable and The Sixth Sense. They were bold, challenging films that required intellect to enjoy. I don't know what happened. Somewhere after those 3, something in Shyamalan's brain turned off. It was as if his imagination said "F*ck it" and blasted out ridiculous ideas one after the other. Redemption will be a long, tumultuous road for this man, and with another Airbender film on the way, it looks like it won't come any time soon.

However, the light at the end of the tunnel is not completely distinguished. There are three (planned) films being released in the next few years under the supervision of Shyamalan entitled "The Night Chronicles." The first of the three, called "Devil", looks promising. Here's the Wiki page. Let's all hope it isn't another God-awful piece of trash.

Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned

Most people have not heard of Wells Tower, few have read his work, and even fewer have written about it. This is disappointing, because not since Flannery O'Connor's Everything That Rises Must Converge has the American short story been so deliciously unique and entertaining as in Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned. While O'Connor wrote of violence and redemption, Tower constructs worlds where both are at times ubiquitous, and at others non-existent. His prose slingshots the reader between sadness, horror, joy and liveliness within the confines of only a few pages, enticing us closer and closer to emotional retribution. We travel to the far off land of good-humored Vikings, a frustrated little boy, teenage romance and rebellion, feuding brothers and scandalous infidelity, guided only by the slick prose Tower wields with seemingly little effort.

Each story is its own sequestered gem, completely contained within itself as all great stories should be. Tower tells the tales he wishes to tell efficiently, while avoiding literature cliches that befall so much of the new fiction these days. They are completely "in the now," twisting the traditional beginning middle and end format to their liking.

One particular story I wish to highlight is my favorite of the bunch, which shares the title of the book itself. It follows a band of spiritless vikings who, in their tedium, go for a good old fashioned raid. It is here that Tower exercises his talent for evoking both belly laughs and gasps of surprise almost simultaneously. The Vikings, ingeniously endowed with present-day humor and dialogue, embark on their raid in a flurry of perversion, expletives and bloodshed. There is one act of violence, perpetrated by the top-ranking Viking, that spits in the face of what we call funny, but makes us laugh anyway. I appreciate this not only for its refreshing quality, but for the way Tower confesses through his writing the understanding that it takes a little bit of ridiculous to have fun. I finished Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned feeling invigorated, having been confirmed that there does exist at least one great modern short story writer. I highly recommend this book so that you may feel the same way.

The best part of the summer

The Discovery Channel's Shark Week, or Happy Shark Week as it is know this year, has finally arrived. I'm very excited, because through my eyes, Shark Week has only been getting better and better since Mythbusters joined in on the festivities in 2005 with their episode dedicated to Jaws.

It appears the new lineup of specials will cover everything from the powerful bites of the world's toughest sharks, to an entire episode dedicated to how high a Great White can leap out of the water. To say I am excited is an understatement.

The whole week-long event officially starts tonight, but one look at the Shark Week page on Facebook proves that the party's already started. I'll post more on the specials as they air over the course of the week. This is the link to Shark Week Home. Enjoy!

In the Shadow of Man

When it comes to reading, I prefer to keep an open mind as to what kinds of books I read. I enjoy classics like Catch-22 and Watership Down alongside the mainstream fiction of Michael Crichton and Dan Brown. I can read Flan O'Brian's The Third Policeman one week, and Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot the next. By doing this, I feel I have allowed myself to break free of favoritism. I'm very glad I did, too, because over the last few months I've had some really great reads.

The book I want to highlight is one that took me by surprise. I found it while walking through Barnes and Noble one afternoon, in the Nature section. It's called In the Shadow of Man, by Jane Goodall. I had always known of Jane Goodall and her work, but never the details. In the Shadow of Man encapsulates the early years of her work with the chimpanzees of the Gombe nature preserve in Africa. Her experiences are brought to life in a vivid, undeniably moving narrative that is not normally found in a non-fiction book. I would rank her up with Carl Sagan as one of the most talented science writers of the 20th century.

What makes In the Shadow of Man such a great read is the honest, heartfelt manner in which Goodall describes her time with the chimps. She steers clear of anthropomorphism as well as she can, yet we cannot help but see a bit of ourselves in the chimpanzees she interacts with. They are individuals with personalities and flaws, who together build a complex, highly social society with eerie similarities to our own. I was taken aback by how moving an account of the death of a chimpanzee could be when chronicled in Goodall's lucid prose. I felt genuine sadness for them, and for Jane, who had watched them grow over the years of her studies into what we could call heroes, cowards, parents, and friends. The passages depicting friendship amongst the chimps are by far the most enthralling parts of the book. You realize the depths that relationships between chimpanzees can reach, nearly matching our own. It raises a multitude of questions as to what defines human, where is the line drawn?

The approach Goodall takes to answer these questions is one of the highlights of her work. She presents a powerful argument for the continuation of research and preservation of chimp culture on the basis that we can learn much about ourselves in the process. If you aren't much of a chimp person, or you just don't know much about them, I strongly encourage you to give this book a try. By chance I discovered it, and it opened my eyes to a topic I knew very little about. Also, take a stroll through Barnes and Noble sometime, you never know what you'll find.

Inception

I'm choosing to write about Inception first because it is still relatively fresh in my mind. I have seen it 3 times since its release a few weeks ago, each viewing at a separate theater. When I told my friends this, they shot me strange looks, and asked me how I could do such a thing. My answer is that Inception, while a groundbreaking summer blockbuster, is also an emotional and intellectual thrill ride. I cannot tell you how long I have waited for a movie like this to come along, a movie that challenges its audience to think, rather than be distracted by explosions, vapid character engagements and whatever else is usually found in the average summer movie package.

The plot line I will explain as simply as I can, without any spoilers. Leonardo Dicaprio plays Dom Cobb, a very peculiar kind of thief. He, along with his long time associate Arthur, enter the dreams of individuals and steal their ideas. The movie centers around a different kind of job, where instead of stealing ideas from someone's mind, Cobb and his team must implant one deep within their target's subconscious. How they do this is one of the countless things Inception does to blow its audience's minds, and to explain any further would be confusing to the reader, so I'll stop here. You'll have to see for yourself

Inception is unique in that it knows exactly what kind of movie it is, what story it is telling, and how to tell it effectively. It is said that Christopher Nolan, who also wrote and directed The Dark Knight, spent 8 years working on the script. I say it was time well spent. Nolan has crafted a wholly original piece of work, and has, in a sense. reinvented the heist film. I appreciate his attention to detail, and the way the movie handles itself so eloquently. In the day and age of Transformers and Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore (the title alone promises a bad time), Inception stands alone as a movie with brains.

I would be amiss if I didn't mention Hans Zimmer's score. Its a pulsing, trembling ensemble of brass horns, and somber electronic tones that really scoot the story along at breakneck speed. I always think of the scoring of a film to be the most important part, and I can tell Nolan feels the same way.

All in all, Inception works on, literally, multiple levels. It harbors a surprising amount of emotional depth for a summer movie, and I could't have asked for more. My guess is that Inception will be nominated for Best Picture, which it truly deserves. Quick note: If you leave the theater wondering if you're dreaming, you're not. You've just seen an awesome movie.

Hmm. I apologize for the formatting of the last post. It's been awhile

Let's take it from the top!

In the summer of 2008 I started this blog as an experiment with the help of my math teacher Mr. McClain. I wrote moderately about movies,

the television show LOST, and other topics I deemed important. I was a genuine rookie, and as autumn slowly replaced summer, and school

became my top priority, I stopped. It has been nearly 2 years since my last post, and I promised myself I'd give it another shot.

So here I am, ready to write.

My plan is to continue this blog through out the school year.

I feel it will benefit me greatly to exercise my grammatical skills while writing for the school newspaper. As we worked

to schedule my classes for the upcoming semester, my counselor encouraged me to choose "career-oriented" classes.

I knew I had always wanted to write, so naturally the Elkhart Central

Blazer Pennant monthly newspaper was the class for me.

I was nervous at first, having my work read by the entire school. As it turns out, I seemed to have a knack for pennant writing,

and I received the Story of the Year award for "3D: The Future of Entertainment (?)."

I was enthralled at the prospect that my work was being recognized by my peers, and it has given

me the confidence to further expand my writing and explore new ideas.

So now, here I am. This blog will, over the course of this school year, fill with my thoughts, reviews, and rants. I plan to highlight the events of my

summer in the next few weeks, such as the Fourth of July, the LOST series finale (sniff sniff), my thoughts on the oil spill,

book reviews, and my two favorite movies of the summer, Toy Story 3 and Inception.

My next post will be arriving soon!