The info WD

[Malevolent Creation]

Margaret Peterson Haddix's RUNNING OUT OF TIME (1995) bares too striking a
resemblance to M. Night Shyamalan's new film THE VILLAGE.

Haddix found out about the resemblance from reporters & fans who upon
returning from a theater outing immediately tracked down her phone or e-mail
address. She was deluged by people who wanted her to know they recognized
her book, would-be "surprise" ending & all. Not all fans initially assumed
plagiarism; they just wondered why her book wasn't mentioned in the
credits.

Fans had been posting about the plagiarism in newsgroups & in amazon.com
reviews even before Simon & Schuster found out about it. Fans who have seen
Shyamalan's script which includes scenes not included in the film have
found even the deleted scenes are derived from Haddix's book.

Now Simon & Schuster has been in discussions with Disney in an attempt to
avoid a court case. Haddix hasn't been involved in any of this, but
informs journalists she is still weighing her own options. Disney &
Shyamalan's company Binding Edge have issued a joint statement denying
plagiarism. Yet Haddix's book sold a half-million copies, was awarded
prizes & even nominated for an Edgar Award, so is not an obscure book that
couldn't possibly have been seen by Shyamalan.

In fact Haddix's book had been sent to the major producers & was twice
optioned, to Viacom then to Nickelodian. But options expired in 2003. This
type of behavior is typical in the film industry -- books bandied about
the industry for a couple years to see if they can be made, then shortly
after options expire, the movies are made without reference to the book
that was already being discussed within the industry.

Shyamalan's "original" script for SIGNS is also believed to have been
plagiarised from an unproduced screenplay that had earlier been making the
rounds, called LORD OF THE BARRENS. Federal suit has already been filed by
Robert McIlhenny of Trilenium Pictures against Disney & Shyamalan.
McIlhenny's attorney is presently looking into the newest allegations, to
see if there can be documented a pattern of behavior that will bolster the
Trilenium Pictures suit against Shyamalan as plagiarist.

 

[Karmic]

whoa

 

[neal]

haha and everyone thinks that guy is so clever.

 

[Malevolent Creation]

Shyamalan likes to delve into the supernatural and the abnormal and stuff that is just plain weird. He also likes to take his time filming it, because his movies move at the speed of a my pals at work: very, very slowly. There is much eerie anticipation, underscored more by the music than any action on screen, but nothing much ever seems to happen in his films. I found myself starting to doze off in the theater more than once, and probably would have done so even if I hadn't just eaten a big lunch. I may well have missed some of the film's nuances, but there isn't really much of a plot line and I wasn't planning to give a blow-by-blow description anyway.

"The Village" has an intriguing premise of a quasi-religious cult-like community living entirely self-sufficiently and totally cut off from the surrounding civilization. It is located in a valley surrounded by a forest and inhabited by some 60 people, mostly living in family groups. The setting is reminiscent of a reconstructed pioneer village and the residents are all White, making everything seem on the surface quite idyllic. Everyone in the village takes meals together, dining on long tables "family style." Everything else about their lives is likewise communal, but we really don't know until very late in the film exactly why these people are living together here and what exactly is the tie that binds them.

But underneath this pastoral utopia are dark and foreboding happenings. Village people have taken an oath never to leave, and are warned of strange and dangerous creatures in the surrounding Covington Woods if they should ever venture to leave to go into "the towns." One of them, a blind girl no less, does so out of necessity at one point, and we have on the screen some scenes that looked like they were cut and pasted from "The Blair Witch Project," another vastly-overrated horror flick.

I will admit that I could not follow some of the plot and no doubt missed much of the symbolism the dooga director apparently had in mind. I didn't even "get" the surprise ending because I missed hearing one of the key words just before the screen credits unexpectedly started rolling. I do like surprise endings, but I hate the abrupt ones so often favored by modernist filmmakers. The point is, I couldn't give away the ending, even if I wanted to, because I'm not really sure exactly what happened. I'm not going to rack my brain about it either, because there's nothing about this weird fantasy worth any further thought.

I said the characters were all White, but not the cast. One of the major roles is played by jew Adrien Brody, the super-hooknosed star of "The Pianist." He plays the villain in this movie, but unfortunately is not identified as a jew. He is without doubt one of the ugliest kikes around, which is why I can't for the life of me understand why Coca-Cola (or is it Pepsi?) has recently done a TV commercial featuring him as some kind of movie star "hunk." Talk about Chutzpah!

The bottom line is, don't waste your time or money on "The Village." It is sleep-inducingly boring and not even very scary, and even William Hurt's presence can't save it.That's not surprising, however, since Shyamalan has already demonstrated in "Signs" that he can waste even the considerable talents of Mel Gibson. I think the teenaged amateur critic on Yahoo said it better than I can: "Hey, dude, that was one weird movie."

 

[DecTV]

I never got all that Shyamalan hype. The Sixth Sense felt horribly boring (my brother even fell asleep during the film). After about five minutes of the film I figured out what was going on. So I guess I spoiled it out for myself. I saw Signs a few months ago and thought the idea was pretty good but the actual film was mediocre at best.
Too much of a civil engineering student to get into Shyamalan's films I guess.

 

[neal]

I said the characters were all White, but not the cast. One of the major roles is played by jew Adrien Brody, the super-hooknosed star of "The Pianist." He plays the villain in this movie, but unfortunately is not identified as a jew. He is without doubt one of the ugliest kikes around, which is why I can't for the life of me understand why Coca-Cola (or is it Pepsi?) has recently done a TV commercial featuring him as some kind of movie star "hunk."

hahahaha.....wow.

 

[Karmic]

dude, sixth sense ruled.

Signs? Meh.

This one?
Dunno.