Tag: filmmaker of the month

Strictly BallroomS
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May 22, 2023

Strictly Ballroom introduces Luhrmann with stunning, messy style

Baz Luhrmann's 1992 feature debut boasts stunning dancing, intriguing ideas, and muddled storytelling.
Romeo + JulietT
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May 14, 2023

Two inimitable performances anchor Romeo + Juliet

Baz Luhrmann’s hyper-stylized take on Shakespeare makes some odd choices, but not in the casting of some of its key characters
ServantS
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February 28, 2023

Servant haunts through its isolating setting and stupendous cast

M. Night Shyamalan produces an idiosyncratic ghost story whose reality is far from settled.
GlassG
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February 27, 2023

Glass shatters the modern superheroic mode to moving effect

M. Night Shyamalan closes the Eastrail 117 trilogy with a deliberate anticlimax and deep empathy in place of spectacle, and the results are striking.
SplitS
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February 26, 2023

Split saw Shyamalan give James McAvoy the roles of a lifetime

McAvoy approaches the superpowered Kevin Wendell Crumb and his alters with care and empathy, overcoming sketchy psychology.
The VisitT
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February 26, 2023

The Visit was a Pennsylvania homecoming for M. Night Shyamalan

After a series of disappointments, Shyamalan went back to his beginnings with a PA-set thriller that is as concerned with its cameras as it is with its characters.
The Happening (20th Century Fox)T
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February 24, 2023

The Happening is a disaster worthy of love

Shyamalan’s eco-horror misfire almost ended his career, but 15 years later, the film comes off more as a goofy cult classic than box office bomb.
The Village (Touchstone Pictures)S
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February 24, 2023

Shyamalan struggles on the path to The Village

M. Night Shyamalan’s first big stumble has disappointing twists, but that was never its true problem.
Signs (Touchstone)S
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February 23, 2023

Signs and the Mediated Apocalypse

M. Night Shyamalan's alien invasion saga draws its power as much from the perception and presentation of the invasion as it does the event itself.
UnbreakableU
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February 13, 2023

Unbreakable remains a high point for Shyamalan and Bruce Willis

The first of M. Night Shyamalan's Eastrail 117 trilogy frustrates with its approach to superhero comics as a medium but excels in its drama-and-thrillcraft.