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Wide Awake (1998)
A Definite Improvement Over Shyamalan's First Film
This is a heartfelt but flawed film. You feel for this young boy, Joshua, as he has a spiritual journey looking for signs. Sometimes he's hopeful and feels like there's meaning to the bad things around him. Then he's discouraged to not find any explicit sign of anything.
He looks for signs from various resources: religious leaders, family members, teachers, etc. I love the scenes were he consults adults for wisdom. Joshua is shown receiving much wisdom and comfort from these leaders in his life, and he responds to them with such an innocent way.
Shyamalan is pretty good at writing a child's point of view and it's wonderfully simple and pure. Even though the point is sometimes lost, there's always this childlike curiosity to scenes that's quite enjoyable. Joshua is a great character in how he grows from having an inward struggle to find spiritual meaning to finding solace through being a good human being to others.
Beside the main theme of the film, other positives include the enjoyable cinematography and music. Also, there's no weak performance in the film. Rosie O'Donnell is particularity good in this, (but she has a much smaller role than one would think). On the other hand, the biggest weakness of this film is that it's a tad too generic.
Sure, some scenes are a bit awkward even sometimes cringe-worthy (humor not hitting the mark and such), but it's an enjoyable children's film that deals with some heavy subject matter.
Praying with Anger (1992)
Not bad... not exactly good.
First off, I have never until now seen a Shyamalan movie, but I'm aware of his reputation. I thought I'd start with his first film.
I'm kind of surprised that it wasn't horrible. Sure, narrative-wise it's mess and the acting/dialogue is off. But there are genuine good, sometimes even great moments.
For example, the parts where Dev (Shyamalan) is finding his Indian heritage are wonderful (for the most part). There's also a riot scene towards the end that's actually pretty exciting. Both the intro and ending are fairly solid. There's nice cinematography and music as well.
Yet all of these good parts are kind of voided by the bad. The whole thing is kind of awkward and meandering. Jokes fall flat, and scenes don't have the impact they should (a lot of the beats are off). There was even a random football scene out of absolutely nowhere. I wonder if Tommy Wiseau was taking notes...
I'd really only recommend this to hardcore Shyamalan buffs, and it would be much better if Shyamalan would release it in something better than potato VHS quality. Perhaps they could release it as an easter egg on a Sixth Sense Blu-ray... Alas, he seems to be completely embarrassed by this movie. Now that his reputation is in the trash, perhaps he's more open to a proper release.
Il colosso di Rodi (1961)
Leone's worst film
Just style over substance the entire way through. The script is just awful. The biggest thing this movie has going for it is the action and the spectacle of the Colossus. I wanted to like this so much more. Maybe I would have liked it if it was all just the action scenes/spectacle. I suppose this is before he got his footing.
It's probably true that he might not have had much input in it, and I sincerely hope so. Despite my complaining, it's not THAT bad of a movie. It's just so middle of the road that it's hard to pay attention to. I almost fell asleep several times. Watch it only if you're a really hardcore Leone fan, a Rory Calhoun fan, or an old sword and scandal flick lover.
Watchmen (2009)
Watch the Ultimate Cut
Set in a fictional 1985 where Richard Nixon has been elected about 5 times and the world is on the verge of Nuclear Disaster worse than during the Cuban Missile Crisis, this film is an excellent movie about comic book heroes, not in their prime, but in their downfall. It reminds me a bit of The Incredibles, (but I think the Watchmen comics came way before that). These masked avengers are almost anti-heroes by nature, and I question their actions and convictions way more than I have any other comic book heroes in any other movie.
If not anything else, this film is beautifully shot. The cinematography of this film is some of the best I've seen in a while. Zack Snyder does well with the stylized looks.
I really enjoyed this ultimate cut, but I'm not sure how I'd react to a theatrical cut or the director's cut. It's really long, sure, but people complain about the theatrical cut being too long, so it's probably better to endure the longest version. I hear the ultimate cut is the most faithful cut to the comics.
The characters are all, in my opinion, wonderful as are the actors that play them (especially Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach. Holy crap.) They all play that questionable hero quite well, yet they all do it in a strikingly different way.
It can feel overly long, and the writing and rambling philosophical talk can seem heavy-handed, but I feel this film gets enough of that right to make up for the so-so stuff. There's a really well done animated segment that I believe is only in the ultimate cut. The whole story with that is amazing as well.
I've heard a lot of criticism of Zack Snyder, but this movie really convinced me to watch more films directed by him. He gets some great performances out of actors and really knows how to keep a consistent tone to a movie. And this one is really gritty and grim. It's underrated for sure, but it's definitely not the most underrated film ever.