This is NOT a horror movie. It's not a *scary* movie either. At best, its a "social commentary", and not even a great one at that. And what was with the freaking microphones?!?!

Has anyone seen this?!

I learned my lesson with "Signs", thanks.

you all love you some shamalama-dingdong.

Not what I expected somewhat of a let down

So, are you recommending it, or shall I wait for the matinee? After reading some reviews, most critics are wishing he try something different. I'm all for him re doing CAR WASH, or better yet Uptown Saturday Night. Bootney Lee!!

Fuck it, I'm just gonna blow the ending...

WARNING: SPOILER



A group of wealthy people, each of whom has had a really bad experience growing up in modern society (relatives robbed and murdered, etc...) all got together and formed a village out in the woods to raise their children and sheild them from the rest of the world.

They paid off some local officials to guard the land as a *wildlife preserve* or something like that, and to keep quiet about what they were doing. Then they built this little village and lived like Amish people more or less.

To keep their kids from going into the *real world*, they conjured up this myth about bloodthirsty monsters who live in the woods. They explain to their kids that they have a "truce" with these creatures to leave them alone if they stay out of the woods which surround the whole village.

So the monsters you see in the commercials are not real, its just a costume the townspeople throw on to convince their kids this story is real.

The whole premise is pretty goofy considering ultimately they will all become inbred and screwed up after a few generations, but apparently the writer didn't think that far ahead. I mean, these are affluent, and supposedly intelligent people, but they did not consider this?

And for some ODD reason, several scenes in the film, you can clearly see the microphone hanging overhead right in the footage. Someone please tell me this wasnt an oversight, because I can't believe they would make that obvious of a mistake in the movie several times as they did.

The Boom mic is SOOO COOL!!! Did any one wear a watch or sunglasses?

Tom said:

that's probably a mistake by your projectionist. when a film arrives at a theater, there's all kinds of extra stuff at the top and bottom of the screen (very often microphones or lighting rigs) that gets cut out of the picture because of the way the film is projected in theaters. that's the mistake of your projectionist, if you could see the boom.

on the other hand, perhaps it's just a really stupid mistake on the editor's part.

http://www.suntimes.com/o...ge30f.html


The Village 1/2


BY ROGER EBERT



"The Village" is a colossal miscalculation, a movie based on a premise that cannot support it, a premise so transparent it would be laughable were the movie not so deadly solemn. It's a flimsy excuse for a plot, with characters who move below the one-dimensional and enter Flatland. M. Night Shyamalan, the writer-director, has been successful in evoking horror from minimalist stories, as in "Signs," which if you think about it rationally is absurd -- but you get too involved to think rationally. He is a director of considerable skill who evokes stories out of moods, but this time, alas, he took the day off.



Critics were enjoined after the screening to avoid revealing the plot secrets. That is not because we would spoil the movie for you. It's because if you knew them, you wouldn't want to go. The whole enterprise is a shaggy dog story, and in a way, it is all secrets. I can hardly discuss it at all without being maddingly vague.

Let us say that it takes place in an unspecified time and place, surrounded by a forest the characters never enter. The clothing of the characters and the absence of cars and telephones and suchlike suggest either the 1890s, or an Amish community. Everyone speaks as if they had studied "Friendly Persuasion." The chief civic virtues are probity and circumspection. Here is a village that desperately needs an East Village.

The story opens with a funeral attended by all the villagers, followed by a big outdoor meal at long tables groaning with corn on the cob and all the other fixin's. Everyone in the village does everything together, apparently, although it is never very clear what most of their jobs are. Some farming and baking goes on.

The movie is so somber, it's afraid to raise its voice in its own presence. That makes it dreary even during scenes of shameless melodrama. We meet the patriarch Edward Walker (William Hurt), who is so judicious in all things he sounds like a minister addressing the Rotary Club. His daughter Ivy (Bryce Dallas Howard), is blind but spunky. The stalwart young man, Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix), petitions the elders to let him take a look into the forest. His widowed mother Alice (Sigourney Weaver), has feelings for Edward Walker. The village idiot (Adrien Brody), gambols about, and gamboling is not a word that I use lightly. There is a good and true man (Brendan Gleeson). And a bridegroom who is afraid his shirt will get wrinkled.

Surrounding the village is the forest. In the forest live vile, hostile creatures who dress in red and have claws of twigs. They are known as Those We Do Not Speak Of (except when we want to end a designation with a preposition). We see Those We Do Not Speak, etc., only in brief glimpses, like the water-fixated aliens in "Signs." They look better than the "Signs" aliens, who looked like large extras in long underwear, while Those We Do Not, etc., look like their costumes were designed at summer camp.

Watchtowers guard the periphery of the village, and flares burn through the night. But not to fear: Those We Do, etc., have arrived at a truce. They stay in the forest and the villagers stay in the village. Lucius wants to go into the forest and petitions the elders, who frown at this desire. Ivy would like to marry Lucius, and tells him so, but he is so reflective and funereal, it will take him another movie to get worked up enough to deal with her. Still, they love each other. The village idiot also has a thing for Ivy, and sometimes they gambol together.

Something terrible happens to somebody. I dare not reveal what, and to which, and by whom. Edward Walker decides reluctantly to send someone to "the towns" to bring back medicine for whoever was injured. And off goes his daughter Ivy, a blind girl walking through the forest inhabited by Those Who, etc. She wears her yellow riding hood, and it takes us a superhuman effort to keep from thinking about Grandmother's House.

Solemn violin dirges permeate the sound track. It is autumn, overcast and chilly. Girls find a red flower and bury it. Everyone speaks in the passive voice. The vitality has been drained from the characters; these are the Stepford Pilgrims. The elders have meetings from which the young are excluded. Someone finds something under the floorboards. Wouldn't you just know it would be there, exactly where it was needed, in order for someone to do something he couldn't do without it.

Eventually the secret of Those, etc., is revealed. To call it an anticlimax would be an insult not only to climaxes but to prefixes. It's a crummy secret, about one step up the ladder of narrative originality from It Was All a Dream. It's so witless, in fact, that when we do discover the secret, we want to rewind the film so we don't know the secret anymore.

And then keep on rewinding, and rewinding, until we're back at the beginning, and can get up from our seats and walk backward out of the theater and go down the up escalator and watch the money spring from the cash register into our pockets.





Copyright © Chicago Sun-Times Inc.

Tom said:

LOL the first thing I said after I saw it was THERE ARE FUCKING BOOM MICS IN EVERY SHOT!

I didn't think it was that bad.... I almost screamed once or twice

But no it's not a horror movie and the social commentary was kinda weak.

Yup Ebert's right as always



I thought Adrien Brody was ok in it though.

Anxiety said:

Signs-- what a ripoff!

Tessa said:

Nah! You just need to find a new bootleg guy.

Good movie.

Sweeny79 said:

As much money as he gets to shoot his shit, that's unforgiveable

And I adore Roger Ebert



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[This message was edited Sat Jul 31 22:04:22 2004 by CalhounSq]

Tom said:

It sounds dorky to say the least. I think I'd rather watch an old episode of the Twilight Zone.

CalhounSq said:

me too

I wanted to see this...

I am itching to scroll up and see the spoiler Tom posted... but I don't dare, in case I actually do go and see it. I really wanna read that spoiler... grrrrr...

I saw this movie over the weekend when I was in Chicago,and it is pure crap.When it was over,alot of people in the theatre were like "So,is this it??!!".The film wasn't the least bit scary,and most of it is a snoozefest.Adrian Brody is a terrific actor,but he needs to be in better movies than this garbage.To those of you who haven't seen it yet,don't waste your money.

AzureStarr said:

me too!

must... control... mouse... ergh

CRAP! Save your $$$.

went with my sister last night...i wouldn't say it was a total waste of time but not GREAT either.

Anxiety said:

That was the stupidest film I ever saw.

Why would aliens invade the Earth if they were allergic to WATER?

They wouldn't have stood a chance if they'd tried to invade Greater Manchester in the U.K. - because it rains every fucking day! Crazy...

HornyPonyDoYoDance said:

Exactly.

I think M. Night Shyamalan is a good director but he needs
to quit the writing and hire a good screenwriter for a change

Sweeny79 said:

As Tessa noted, this was the fault of your projectionist. I saw it last night, and there were no mics in any of the shots.

That having been said, I really was incredibly dissapointed with this film. I've enjoyed all of Shyamalan's films to date (even the much maligned "Signs"), but I just found this one to be a dull, dumb dud.

BinaryJustin said:

Actually, the aliens were only suppossed to be on earth to harvest humans for food. They weren't planning on becoming permanent residents. A subplot was removed where it was noted that it wasn't raining anywhere on earth since they appeared, thus leading to the conclusion that they were controlling the weather.

The movie was ok. I did enjoy it but probably wont see again.

I can't believe that this crappy film is the Number One movie right now


Let see how well it does in it's second week.I bet the horrible reviews and the negative word-of-mouth will hurt this movie in subsequent weeks.But I guess it doesn't matter,since the film is already a hit?

Have it on dvd, pretty good effort. I enjoy his films.