Bah, I wish the bluesnews link to this page had mentioned it was made by freddiew. I'm sure I'm the minority, but I find his stuff lacking any sense of creativity or style... Good production value, but extremely lame like any Michael Bay movie.

>> ^Phreezdryd:

Ah, that takes me back. The original Transformers. Helps me forget about the Michael Bay exploding car commercials.


Ditto. Also, the newer animated Transformers suck! I wished I kept my 1980s/80s toys since they are worth a lot! I still have my Voltron from it though!

Ah, that takes me back. The original Transformers. Helps me forget about the Michael Bay exploding car commercials.

It's a Roland Emmerich movie. About Shakespeare.

I can only assume the theatre explodes at some point.

Coming soon, Michael Bay directs a romcom chick flick.....

self *promote for Michael Bay!

It's ok, it was just Michael Bay coming to fill up his car.

Michael Bay's late work?

Blind me! Sorry to be a bit of a snob, but what a garbage of a trailer? From what I can see, it's more like a Michael Bay movie with Chinese gravity. Ya it was fun when Crouching tiger hidden dragon came out, but it has gotten really old.

The quality of movies exported from China just get worse and worse! What the hell happened to the absolute gems that Zhang Yi Mou used to make which got banned in China? What about the emotional roller coasters of Chen Kai Ge? The best movies of his I watched in recent years is "Forever Enthralled", even that was nothing more than a rehash of "Farewell my concubine".

*sign* Jiang Wen is the only director keeping my hope up, I just hope his next movie is better than "Let bullets fly".

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

That's what was missing from Citizen Kane - freeway car flips. Michael Bay should do a remake.>> ^spoco2:

>> ^dag:
Well how about the free pass that Bay gets to make the same rock-m-sock-em robot movie over and over. God, if I never see another Transformer again in my life I'll be happy.
What's wrong with you? Don't you want to see a car chase on a freeway again?
With cars flipping over?
Come on, we all love cars flipping.
On freeways.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

Well how about the free pass that Bay gets to make the same rock-m-sock-em robot movie over and over. God, if I never see another Transformer again in my life I'll be happy.

I've *at least* mildly enjoyed every Shymalan flick I've seen. (although I have not seen the Airbender movie) My point is that a lot of Directors get a free ride. I wouldn't say that Shymalan is one of them. In fact he seems to be mercilessly mocked and ridiculed. Probably because he puts himself out there - and comparing himself to Hitchcock doesn't help. He's eccentric - and I like him.
>> ^smooman:

>> ^dag:
I'm with you on this one. I would prefer to watch the worst Shymalan movie over the best Michael Bay flick. Somehow Bay gets a free-ride for his CGI splooge fests. At least M. Night's movies focus on story over special effects. And also - Sixth Sense was a sensational movie - he gets a lot of credit from me for that one. >> ^shponglefan:
I don't get all the Shyamalan hate. I've seen almost everything he's made (starting with Sixth Sense up to and including The Happening), and imho he hasn't really made a bad movie. The problem seems to be he made a really good one (Sixth Sense) and has been living in its shadow ever since.


while i dont contest your points on michael bay (but really tho, someone has to make the dumbed down, cgi porn, movies that will appease the average movie goer) couldnt one argue that shyalaman was more or less given a free pass to shill out essentially the same movie in a different package over and over and over again. he makes sixth sense, its a smashing success, he's hailed as among the best new filmmakers at the time, everyone and their mom wants to finance his next movie....i dont see a difference

>> ^dag:

I'm with you on this one. I would prefer to watch the worst Shymalan movie over the best Michael Bay flick. Somehow Bay gets a free-ride for his CGI splooge fests. At least M. Night's movies focus on story over special effects. And also - Sixth Sense was a sensational movie - he gets a lot of credit from me for that one. >> ^shponglefan:
I don't get all the Shyamalan hate. I've seen almost everything he's made (starting with Sixth Sense up to and including The Happening), and imho he hasn't really made a bad movie. The problem seems to be he made a really good one (Sixth Sense) and has been living in its shadow ever since.



while i dont contest your points on michael bay (but really tho, someone has to make the dumbed down, cgi porn, movies that will appease the average movie goer) couldnt one argue that shyalaman was more or less given a free pass to shill out essentially the same movie in a different package over and over and over again. he makes sixth sense, its a smashing success, he's hailed as among the best new filmmakers at the time, everyone and their mom wants to finance his next movie....i dont see a difference

at the request of BoneRemake (because my "m night shyalaman is an idiot" rebuttal wasnt long winded enough =P):

sixth sense was "meh" for the following reasons:
"These souls who for whatever reason are not at rest are also not aware that they have passed on. Theyre not part of consciousness as we know it. they linger in a perpetual dream state; a nightmare from which they cannot wake." this may sound familiar. it may sound familiar as the general premise of The Sixth Sense and central to the "twist" (if you could even call it that) ending.

it may also sound familiar as a line from Poltergeist, and also being the central premise of the conflict resolution.
speaking of poltergeist, the open cabinet drawers scene in sixth sense is directly lifted from the moving chairs scene in poltergeist. you may call this an homage, i call it half-assed hackery.

his color reference as hints are just too obvious. theyre vague and ambiguous at first, but once you start noticing em it becomes plainly clear. as for the whole "twist" BRUCE WILLIS IS DEAD OMG YOU FOOLED ME YOU OLD TOSSER i felt it took away from the movie. when i originally went to see the sixth sense with my dad i went to see a tense psychological thriller that would chill me. and for the first 20-30 minutes or so, it did not disappoint..... until my dad and i figured out willis was dead (the "i see dead people" scene gave it away for us). we were dumbfounded at first, wondering what in the hell this had to do with furthering the plot, but we didnt need to wonder anymore once the movie became about bruce willis being all emo about being dead. and the big reveal at the end, considering we already knew, really just made us both scoff. simply put, it was a pretty scare and intense movie when it was about the boy, then it became boring and stupid when it does a 180 and becomes about bruce willis. thats my opinion anyway, tomaytoe-tomawtoe

now having said all of that, there is one, and only one thing, i like about shyalaman: his vision as a director. He's not a genius or anything, but he's pretty damn good. he has a real knack for framing, tone, and pacing. probably the only thing i like about sixth sense was his ability to add tangible tension through masterful pacing and mood setting.
....i take that back. theres two things i liked about sixth sense. the overall directing, and the anniversary dinner scene. that scene really did add an ambiguity to the whole dilemma of willis being dead. on one hand the scene must play out as an emotionally drained wife frustrated (and even pissed off) at her husbands increasing distance. simultaneously she must convey a mournful widow still in grief over her husbands death on their anniversary (and the anniversary of his death if im not mistaken). that scene is legit. but credit must be given to the actress and her portrayal more so than shyalaman because she nailed it beautifully.

whether he makes shitty films or not, sixth sense rocked the boxoffice and gave him some arguably deserved limelight. but his subsequent films proved that he is a one trick pony. his movies became exponentially more and more transparent, more and more boring, and more and more stale, lacking anything of substance. (with the exception of Signs arguably. i personally didnt love it, but i kind of liked it and its a solid enough film if you disregard the shit ending) the fact that his handle of "the twist ending filmmaker" is a passive aggressive insult shows this.

m night shyalaman as a filmmaker just.......sucks. theres really not a better or more concise way to put it. as a director, however, he really does shine......which brings us to devil, a movie in which he wrote and produced but did not direct. so basically the one thing he's actually good at, he didnt fucking do in that movie........and it shows.....its utter shite. at the risk of sounding pretentious, the twist ending (cuz you know theres fucking gonna be one, its a shyalaman movie for christ sake) is so limp and stupid, you can figure it out just from watching the damn trailer (i did).

and as far as the michael bay (barf) comparisons, i think the only difference is this: michael bay knows what he is. he knows exactly what kind of movies he makes. In cinema, motion pictures come in two forms: Films (art form) and movies (entertainment). Michael bay makes the latter, and he knows it, and everyone who watches his movies knows it. shyalaman makes movies masquerading as film. seriously, when your go to device is the plot twist, and you have one in each and every one of your god awful movies, they really lose the "surprise" appeal which utterly defeats the purpose of it in the first place and thus, deserves to be mocked

there, that a thorough enough rebuttal for ya, you crusty bastard? =P

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

I'm with you on this one. I would prefer to watch the worst Shymalan movie over the best Michael Bay flick. Somehow Bay gets a free-ride for his CGI splooge fests. At least M. Night's movies focus on story over special effects. And also - Sixth Sense was a *sensational* movie - he gets a lot of credit from me for that one. >> ^shponglefan:

I don't get all the Shyamalan hate. I've seen almost everything he's made (starting with Sixth Sense up to and including The Happening), and imho he hasn't really made a bad movie. The problem seems to be he made a really good one (Sixth Sense) and has been living in its shadow ever since.

Dane Cook is the Michael Bay of comedy. Manufactured for the un-discriminating viewer.

If I hadn't known any better I'd swear this was directed by Michael Bay -- it doesn't look like Peter Berg's usual style at all (which isn't a bad thing to me, since I kind of hate Peter Berg. I know some people like him though).