http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/samuel-l-jackson-says-m-night-shyamalan-hasnt-made-a-good-movie-since-unbreakable-20121220

Samuel L. Jackson Says M. Night Shyamalan Hasn't Made A Good Movie Since 'Unbreakable'


The last time this writer wrote something even slightly negative about M. Night Shyamalan on this very site – the phrase "diminishing returns" was thrown about if memory serves - it was open season in the comments section. The writer-director certainly still has his passionate fans who don’t need much provocation in order to jump to his defense, but it seems that Samuel L. Jackson isn’t one of them. The actor is known for speaking his mind, and during an interview over at the Huffington Post to promote “Django Unchained” he did just that on a variety of issues, including the career of Shyamalan.
As the conversation moves onto “Unbreakable,” and whether we’ll ever see him in a sequel to that movie Jackson doesn’t mice his words regarding his former director. Here’s the brilliant exchange that follows, which is probably best read in its entirety:

“We're never going to see a sequel to that movie, are we?"
There were supposed to be three. I don't know.
People liked "Unbreakable."
You'll have to ask the brilliant director who wrote it and didn't do the rest of them.
He moved on to "The Last Airbender."
I mean, he hasn't made a really good movie since then.
"Signs" was OK.
There's some issues. I didn't like that thing in the cornfield.
I thought it was OK.
I didn't see the Wahlberg one.
"The Happening”?
Yeah.
I haven't either. But wouldn't "Unbreakable 2" be a good career movie for him?
Yeah! Well, he suffered from what happened to Quentin when he made "Jackie Brown.” He didn't make "Pulp Fiction 2," he made "Jackie Brown" -- which is a wonderful fucking movie.”

The conversation then briefly segues into a discussion of “Jackie Brown,” but soon returns to the topic of M. Night and “Unbreakable”…

“If M. Night announced tomorrow that "Unbreakable 2" is going to happen, it would be all over the Internet.
Everybody would be waiting for it, yeah. It would be crazy for it. It would trend through the roof now on Twitter. But, yeah, they would. But Quentin makes movies that Quentin wants to see. I don't think M. Night makes movies for the same reason. Quentin makes movies that are genres that he wants to see. "I like Spaghetti Westerns -- I'm going to write a Spaghetti Western. I like blaxploitation movies, too - so I'm going to make the protagonist black." So, he's got a blaxploitation western with Hong Kong undertones. The "Bullet Ballet" undertones. He wants to see it and I want to see it. I want to be in that kind of movie.

I think M. Night gets too caught up on having to have a twist.
Yeah, there's that. And there's, you know, "I'm smarter than everybody coming to watch my movie." Quentin's not that. He's just, "I want you to love my movie. I want you to love it and enjoy it because this is fucking cool."

So that’s a pretty damning indictment of M. Night’s career. That’s five of Shyamalan’s movies there that Jackson’s writing off straight away, as well as questioning his filmmaking intentions and suggesting that the director believes he’s smarter than his audience. It’s a shame, because Jackson’s right, we probably would go crazy for an "Unbreakable" sequel, and let’s not forget that QT himself rates that movie incredibly highly and we’d be inclined to agree with him. But after that brutal assessment it sounds like that sequel probably won’t ever happen, and neither does it sound likely that Jackson will be buying a ticket for “After Earth” when it hits on June 7th then. And if he does, well expect to hear exactly what he thought of it.

Thanks Sam.

lol

http://c.asset.soup.io/asset/1716/1084_a5ac.gif

Night cast him once, promised sequels, and never made em.

Tarantino damn near got him an Oscar and has cast him in nearly every film since.

Did we expect Sam to go to bat for Night and decry Tarantino? I'm confused.

anywhere but on here.

That's why I found this shit funny.

...to give a proper personal ranking in that one thread to no response. lol

I'm still surprised.

and i saw everything except airbender
that was just offensive


i will be trying After Earth though
~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

GEAUX IN, SAMUEL!

M. Night *DOES* suck as a writer-filmmaker.

And yea, if UNBREAKABLE 2 happened, he'd get his career back.

But, he's not. And he will continue to be hot, stankin shit.

I do think he has sucked in his last few as a writer, and he's been unable to step back and separate the good from the bad in his own work.

But his visuals have always been gorgeous and moody. Except for his last two films, he's always had strong performances from his actors as well.

It's part of why I'm so excited for this new film, which ISN'T written by him. Let's see what he can do now that he's not holding the burden of being the writer.

>I do think he has sucked in his last few as a writer, and
>he's been unable to step back and separate the good from the
>bad in his own work.

Sixth Sense was great, Unbreakable outstanding...

Signs and beyond? SMH

he's not a horrible director but I really need him to *NOT* write for a while.

>But his visuals have always been gorgeous and moody. Except
>for his last two films, he's always had strong performances
>from his actors as well.

meh....Lady In The Water? The Happening? because there were some WILDLY inconsistent and shitty performances in those films...

I didn't see Last Airbender so I don't know how good folk were in it..

>
>It's part of why I'm so excited for this new film, which ISN'T
>written by him. Let's see what he can do now that he's not
>holding the burden of being the writer.

you might be right.....or not.

Giamatti, Howard, even some good stuff from smaller dudes like Balaban and Bill Irwin.

I actually don't hate it. The only bad thing about it is the over-the-top "don't movie critics suck?" subplot. Other than that, it's a totally passable 6 or 7 out of 10.

Yeah, The Happening is terribly acted. It's got Wahlberg in it. He's terrible in pretty much everything. Even Spielberg couldn't save Wahlberg.

>Giamatti, Howard, even some good stuff from smaller dudes
>like Balaban and Bill Irwin.
>
meh it wasn't consistent for me. Though, I did think Sarita Choudhury was hilarious as the nosy neighbor (i think she played the neighbor or was she the landlord).


>I actually don't hate it. The only bad thing about it is the
>over-the-top "don't movie critics suck?" subplot. Other than
>that, it's a totally passable 6 or 7 out of 10.

personally, had that *NOT* been in the movie I would like it more. But, that subplot was distracting as hell and took away from everything else.

>Yeah, The Happening is terribly acted. It's got Wahlberg in
>it. He's terrible in pretty much everything. Even Spielberg
>couldn't save Wahlberg.


Wahlberg is horse shit, but he puts asses in seats...so he must have some talent. Though, he plays the same limited ass "pained constipation" face in all his movies. makes no sense.

http://goo.gl/naO2S

___________________________________________________________________________
Bitch, don't kill my vibe.

RodLightning.net

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsJ4O-nSveg

much more than any other filmmaker not named Tyler Dogg.

one question: why is that?

and don't bother with "he made bad films" excuse...LOTS of directors have mad bad ones and don't get dat EFFORT.

all i saw there was a hipster from a hipster blog baiting Screaming Sam into hatin on the best Director he's ever worked with...the first to be able to reveal greater depth in his range, far beyond the ANGRY and UNHINGED Screaming Sam that he was being cast to play over and over and over. And if he wasn't playing that, he was transitioning into ELDER STATESMAN, that refined, intellectual black man garbage. Unbreakable opened new doors for him and Bruce...both of their performances were lauded. and if the artistic gate-keepers had been a lil looser with "comic book" movies 12 years ago, they both woulda been nominated.

this was a hipster laying the groundwork to create disinterest and apathy for after earth because they are SCARED.

and quentin makes movies that don't take any RISKS...his characters are cartoons...they're blonde ninjas and goofy hitman.

even wes anderson has grown outta using using surrealism as a CRUTCH!

>the best Director he's ever worked
>with

Too far.

OR SCORSESE!? C'mon.

and he was a big player in the marty dogg and spielberg joints

spike just mad a film that worse than anything knight dogg's ever done.

spike?

and miracle at st. anna. spike?

and she hate me? spike?

You imply that it's not based on merits, so what do you think the reason is?

Mind you I'm a fan of both - although for VERY different reason, but I would love for you to flesh out what you're talking about a lil' more.

same thing Tom Cruise just went through for a few years...

night dogg ain't done anything wrong...he ain't say anything wrong...people just think it's "cool" to throw shots at him. no one actually knows his strengths and weakness as a director. they just say "hahahaha...i wonder what the twist will be...*lame joke*" and that's the whole exchange.

until someone "cool" co-signs night dogg and he has a hit, it will be "cool" to dumb on him without offering any real insight or critiquing of his work.

>people just think it's "cool" to throw shots at him.
>no one actually knows his strengths and weakness as a
>director.

I don't think he's criticizing him because it's cool.

And if anyone is qualified to speak on his strengths and weaknesses as a director, it's Sam. Whether he's right or not is a different story, but having actually worked with him, he knows a hell of a lot more than any of us...

Personally, I was pretty surprised that his comments were so strong. He could have easily taken a more diplomatic approach - something along the lines of "It would have been great if the sequel happened, but you know how it goes, the studio fucked it up, blah blah..."

He definitely didn't NEED to go into the whole "he thinks he's smarter than his audience" thing, which I thought was a pretty strong criticism...

shittin on m night costs nothing these days. in fact, as you can see, it GAINS you "cool" currency...as if same needed more of it. but, everyone could use more currency.

>much more than any other filmmaker not named Tyler Dogg.
>
>one question: why is that?
>
>and don't bother with "he made bad films" excuse...LOTS of
>directors have mad bad ones and don't get dat EFFORT.
>
>all i saw there was a hipster from a hipster blog baiting
>Screaming Sam into hatin on the best Director he's ever worked
>with...the first to be able to reveal greater depth in his
>range, far beyond the ANGRY and UNHINGED Screaming Sam that he
>was being cast to play over and over and over. And if he
>wasn't playing that, he was transitioning into ELDER
>STATESMAN, that refined, intellectual black man garbage.
>Unbreakable opened new doors for him and Bruce...both of their
>performances were lauded. and if the artistic gate-keepers had
>been a lil looser with "comic book" movies 12 years ago, they
>both woulda been nominated.
>
>this was a hipster laying the groundwork to create disinterest
>and apathy for after earth because they are SCARED.
>
>and quentin makes movies that don't take any RISKS...his
>characters are cartoons...they're blonde ninjas and goofy
>hitman.
>
>even wes anderson has grown outta using using surrealism as a
>CRUTCH!

M Night hasn't had a good track record for me, as I saw Sixth Sense only after someone told me the ending first (yea, it sucks).

I did like Unbreakable and Signs.

The Village was only OK.

The Happening and Lady in the Water are both some of the worst pieces of crap I've ever watched, LOL bad, and that happened during both movies in full when I first watched them.

I haven't watched Last Airbender, nor do I have any interest to, sounds and looks God-awful.

QT does well by me, so I side with BAMF on this, so he gets a shot, on me.