Workable

More linkage over yonder; should be decent if the guy updates for more than four updates.

I watched M. Night Shyamalan's movie Unbreakable tonight; I've seen Signs before, and while I haven't seen The Sixth Sense I've heard the plot twist and that somewhat takes away the impetus to see it.

It's become, at least in some circles, vogueish to dislike Shyamalan's movies. The criticisms leveled — that all his movies follow the same basic structure, that he's always working up to some unlikely and heat twisting plot twist, that once you know the plot twist there's not much point in seeing the movie — are all true. And, although I haven't seen his most recent movie, I suspect he may be becoming aware of the extent to which he is recycling ideas. Signs did not feel to me as if it were nearly as meticulously constructed as Unbreakable.

What I noticed, though, was that Shyamalan has a very deliberate, very careful hand behind the camera. His scenes are very carefully placed, and, for an example from Unbreakable, the way in which the Bruce Willis character's security guard uniform transforms into a superhero's costume — without ever actually changing — is masterfully done. To me, it seems rather like Shyamalan's commitment to one story idea is wasting his talent as a filmmaker. Moving away from gimmick filmmaking would allow his real talent, for making movies rather than twists, to show and would alleviate much of the frustration with his movies.