Lady In The Water

Lori and I saw "Lady In The Water" today and we both liked it very much. There have been many films this summer I wanted to see but this is the first I actually made it to since I've always enjoyed M. Night Shyamalan's films. Even "The Village" which really pissed me off with its "trick" ending.

"Lady" is an ancient fairy tale dumped into a current day apartment building. Paul Giamatti, doing another fantastic job, is the building superintendent trying to figure out the pieces to make the fairy tale come true and return the Narf he finds in his pool back home.

Along the way he, the other residents and the audience try to figure out who serves what role in the story. There are some enjoyable scenes and insight into the writing process courtesy of the resident film critic who spells out all the obvious roles. This isn't a straight horror film, as some of the ads make it seem, and it certainly isn't a kiddie intended fairy tale either - blurring that line is part of what made Disney drop this project when it was just a script. They were also very concerned with having a film critic character who might offend film critics.

While everyone around the globe seemed to agree the "The Sixth Sense" was amazing, Night's follow ups have split audiences and critics alike. I'm sure "Lady In The Water" will do the same. I really enjoy the slow, quiet brooding of his stories. "Unbreakable" is one of my favorite movies ever, but I've heard many complain that they thought it was completely boring. Lady won me over from the very opening when the myth of the water nymphs and man is first told. I really enjoyed it, there are some laughs, some scares and some chills. In short, it was fun and that is my only goal in seeing a movie.

Poor Homer

Our beloved dog Homer looks like someone punched him in the face. He's got a big shiner under his right eye. It just showed up today, can't tell if it's some sort of bite, allergic reaction or if he picked a fight with a coyote or fisher cat (saw one of those for first time in my life in my own back yard this week, freaky looking).

Was rereading Stephen King's "On Writing" this week in preparation for an online fiction writing class. The book is sort of a personal class in writing direct from Stevie. Anyway, it got me and Lori talking about our favorite Stephen King short stories and we both said the one where a guy is attacked in his apartment by a group of little green army men.

Low and behold, tonight on TNT as part of Nightmares and Dreamscapes miniseries - "Battleground", that very story brought to life. It was very cool and the only hour in television that I know of completely void of dialogue. But really, what is there to say when your at war with a bunch of green plastic army guys?

Oh, and things are getting exciting in "Illegal Aliens" land. The modern film masterpiece is still scheduled to be unleashed this fall and a teaser may soon be hitting the air waves. I've started a page recapping all my previous posts regarding "Illegal Aliens" production, I'll be adding more news as it is available.