Shyamalan Contempt

It takes quite an effort for me to dislike a movie to the point of contempt.

The latest move from Night Shyamalan called Old made that effort and then some.

Horrendous acting, goofy dialogue, incomprehensible plotting and the usual foolish, over expected Shyamalan "twist" ending.

Yeah, I didn't like it.

What enrages me is that I've fallen for this act before and I was pretty sure I was going to fall into it again even as I paid my matinee admission price.

The predicament in the flick is the characters on a beach in an exclusive resort inexplicably begin to get old as time flies by.

I found myself getting old watching the movie. The time did not fly by.

It's not a good sign when you'rer wondering "when is this thing gonna end/"

Another reason for my consternation is the director himself.

Shyamalan.

I should have known better with a guy like him.

This is the tenth movie of his that I have seen.

Three of those movies are in my bottom 10 all time.

The Village

The Lady in Water

The Village

all of them pretentious at best.

I can't stand it when he shows up in his own movies, pulling a Hitchcock which he does irritatingly in Old trying to add an extra twist to twist ending that had become a belly flop.

Shyamalan began with The Sixth Sense and in the spirit of Elvis movies has gone dwon hill ever since. He hit a mid carrer low with The Village, The Happening and Lady in the Water. All three of those movies announced somersault swan dive before delivering a canonball.

Yeah

Then somehow, he made a comeback with Split and Glass and I thought maybe I could trust the dude again.

I was wrong.

The theater itself was encouraging. The lobby was packed with kids. Our line was being delayed by some sort of kid/parent fiasco when the guy in the line next to us, a tall distinguished looking gentleman and hsi equally attractive wife said "If we get to the ticket taker before you do, you can step in front of us."

They did and we did.

I asked the gentleman what they were going to see.

They said "Stillwater"

He asked what are we gonna see.

I said "Old".

He said "Oh we're not because we're not. I'm surprised you guys are, you look so young."

I said "we're not old, we just run deep."

We laughed.

Meanwhile the kids running the concession stand were also trying to sell the tickets to throng of childen and their parents while popping giant orders of popcorn and extra large soft drinks. 

When we finally made our way to the ticket, popping, pouring kid, the overwhelmed employee tried to sell us tickets which were priced as neither matinee discount nor senior citizen discount.

Lynn had to point out to the kid which button to hit for matinee and which to hit for senior discount.

Lynn said we qualify for the senior discount because "we're old".

We felt a lot older two hours later.