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I don´t know what to say, other than... did you watch the movie on fast forward mode again, Jordi?

Just saw STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE, a very fine documentary by Errol Morris. Seeing the film confirms the impression I got from Elfman's score album - it really is his best since MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE.

Did I ever doubt it?

YAY, Lee won The Apprentice!

Now that is what I'm talkin' about!

I don't care if I get spoiled before seeing that movie, I just want to know WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!!!

Enjoy.

I eagerly await your verdict?

I've listened to this one a few times now, and although it shows incredible compositional skills, it's not an album I find particularly enjoyable. The end suite is the only thing I'll return to.

Saying that, it does sound like an excellent score... within the film. (So I'm definitely praising it, just not as an album.)

The problem with it is the length of the album. It's far too long. There is not enough to hold your attention. If this was cut down a bit you would have a spectacular album... maybe something that can rival the fantastic Signs album. But hey, at least with this LONGER version we can create a shorter presentation for ourselves. The Happening definitely has it's moments (and boy... what incredible moments they are) but not enough to be a great score as a whole.



It's good but not as intense as The Hand of Fate Part I.

-Erik-

I except your challenge.

***EDIT***

Try this.

1-2-4-5-6-7-9-10-13-15-16-17-18

Now, I've only listened to this score twice so I might have a better idea as to what the best cues are after more listens but after skimming through them one more time to compile this playlist I think this is the best of the best and makes for a better and tighter listen. I'm actually going to listen to this version right now. And those last four tracks are OUTSTANDING!!!

-Erik-

Back home after last night when i watched THE HAPPENING

MINOR SPOILERS WARNING

Ok, this is not easy to describe; not a simple case of a movie either.

To begin, i'd say that i did like it, a lot. But that comes with a lot of explanations and warnings.

THE GOOD STUFF:

The movie is definitely odd; it has one excellent premise and of the most outstanding ideas I've ever watched on film. Its atmosphere is tremendously cold, its tone is eerie and carries a long, excellent bit-by-bit build-up. The whole point is this though, a build up to where? Unlike all the previous installments by Shyamalan which circled around a big ending through a surprise twist that (at some cases tried, at others succeeded) shocked and awed the audience.

The Happening is a reverse process. As a movie itself, it IS a film of processes. A process of build-ups via significantly chilling scenes and excellent cinematography, tight and - at places - surprising direction, imaginative scenario and claustrophobic envelopment, cold feelings.

Thing is that this leads nowhere near what the audience would expect. And i explain;

THE BAD STUFF - A BIT BIGGER SPOILERS WARNING (although i don't tell you what happens )

Firstly, the acting. You'll notice a progressional drop in casting / acting quality with all the Shyamalan movies - with the exception of THE VILLAGE, especially when compared with the brilliance of THE SIXTH SENSE and UNBREAKABLE. Silly, humor-wanna-be one liners (although not worse than the awful acting and dialogues of LADY IN THE WATER imo) and amateuristic acting - at points even ridiculous (although but this sends me wondering if it was done on purpose) by a bunch of amateurs, with the exception of the leading Mark Wahlberg whom i found pleasant and witty but - i am sure - most found him to be irritating and cheesy; of course there's also John Leguizamo who despite his relatively short appearance, had a very good presence overall.

The female lead, Zooey Deschanel, is completely unacceptable. I can't remember the last time i saw such a cold and soulless performance in a major movie, for me you could have replaced her with a talking flowerpot and it wouldn't make any difference. I don't see how these people still get to work, really.

Strangely though, i managed to get past this. The process captivated me and - to be fair, there were some very effective acting moments in the film, especially the spooky granny that went bananas in the end, she was excellent!

Now, onto THE ENDING:

The way Shyamalan chose to end this is pretty peculiar. I won't tell you what happened, but it's an entirely different direction from the shock and awe tactic of the previous films; it's modest, uncertain, more realistic than other times, leaves the ball of thoughts to the audience and because the theme he chose doesn't eventually have so much thoughts to be made upon, it leaves a very cold taste in the end. I watched the audiences' responses when the end credits rolled with great interest, it wasn't a feeling of anger or an urge to laugh and make fun of the film but rather a general sense of cold disappointment. Not because what Shyamalan tried to tell you didn't have meaning or anything like that but because the way he chose to tell you was indeed cold; and this is not what the average "Shyamalan-going" audience would expect, not even close.


Now you'll be wondering why i liked this? Frankly, i don't know. I guess it was the process that - as i said before - captivated me deeply along with the chillingly cold atmosphere and the masterful direction where at points - especially during the final act, is truly phenomenal with some very well shot and effective scenes, and i also liked the fact that it was very different as a whole; usually, we watch boring movies throughout these days and this was very different, tight process, very strange feeling in the end. Having in mind all its specific traits, i would say that i don't think I've ever seen such a movie before.


NO SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ONWARD

And of course, what added to my enjoyment was the SCORE. I really, really respect and admire the way JNH works for Shyamalan. Or is it the way Shyamalan LETS JNH to work for him? I don't know but to observe the score's function within the movie (although it has a better representation on CD) is really a work of pleasure. The main theme works wonders, especially during the inventive and dark opening titles, the eerie and gorgeous violin / celli soli appear in places that you would never expect them to be and the finale is simply wonderful. I couldn't help but to observe the natural and uninterrupted FLOW the JAMES NEWTON HOWARD scores for SHYAMALAN have, despite the not-so-good quality of some scenes the composer escorts musically, still it emits a strong sense of musical freedom and creativity throughout the entire movie's duration through effective and free (as in non-narrowed down by the usual Hollywood directors' gimmicks) that you can only admire in Shyamalan - and of course the composer.

The score is simply top work for its genre.

So, having said that, i must say that i am virtually convinced that more than 70% of the audience that will watch THE HAPPENING won't like it, they will be left with the cold feeling of disappointment at the best case scenario while others will probably hate it; others will say it's meaningless but i honestly find a lot more after-meaning in this (no matter how stupid it gets in a couple of instances) than the soulless ride that was LADY IN THE WATER although i honestly can't wholly understand why i liked it, the HAPPENING. Although i made some thoughts above, if you go to watch it too, you'll see that it's a very odd and unique movie in its own.

Yeah, i learned to walk into the theater with neutral expectations, especially when it comes to SHYAMALAN 'cause if you do the contrary, you'll most likely end up disappointed.

Very interested to hear your (and everyone else's) views on the film as i've told before, it's one of the most unique and odd films i've ever watched, i'd pretty much like to hear what others think about it!

I didn't read any of your verdict Demetris, but I'm off to see the film in about an hour so I'll report back and compare.

Indeed!

Despite what Michael says above I still won't read your 'Spoilers'.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS


Right then...

I wish I had a way with words like you Demetris but it looks like I'm going to have to keep this brief. This has to be one of the strangest and most inadvertantly funny films I have ever seen. After the first twenty minutes (which are truthfully quite interesting), I just knew that this was going to be another cringeworthy offering from M. Night - he's almost made a genre of it now. I made the mistake of expecting something better but that does not forgive the absolutely apalling dialogue and the laughably wooden acting I had to endure for almost two hours. I mean, is the film trying to commit suicide too? The two leads are sadly miscast and do nothing to help the film in any way - I don't think I've seen anyone react to horror as blandly as this pair, "Oh no...". Zooey Deschanel (as cute as she is) and her character are... awful. It would be far more entertaining to have crazy granny lady playing Elliot's wife; at least then their 'rocky' marriage would be somewhat believable. A most positive thing, though, is that it does contain M. Night's best cameo to date (in the sense that you don't actually see him).

Verdict: A potentially fantastic premise and cautionary tale which starts promisingly but unfortunately goes nowhere, thanks to poor casting and an atrocious script. I've officially lost faith in M. Night, and how James Newton Howard managed to produce such a cracking score from this truly abysmal effort, I'm pretty certain I will never, ever know.

1/5



Well, if you remember, at one point Mark Wahlberg did fail to make that particular distinction.