Glass (2019) - Shyamalan buries past effort in ominous superhero nonsense

♥

 

+ Worst Movie of the Year

 

Three contrasting colors and a cool dual image graphic design outline this anticipation-building poster for M. Night Shyamalan's Glass

In a special mental hospital patients are kept, who believe they are superheroes...

 

Glass is written and directed by Indian-born American master filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan (Praying with Anger (1992)), whose 13th feature it is. It is the final installment in his Unbreakable trilogy, which also contains Unbreakable (2000) and Split (2016).

It is a ghastly and yawn-inducing boring dud that takes James McAvoy's (Wanted (2008)) personality split character and his Beast 'superhero' persona introduced in Split for another bow, as this is served as somehow 'psychological' material, while Bruce Willis (What Just Happened (2008)) and Samuel L. Jackson (Jumper (2008)) ravage as their unnecessarily and agonizingly reanimated characters from the memorable Unbreakable. Sarah Paulson (Swimmers (2005)) is on duty to put her face in serious folds as a doctor.

Without a plot that is anywhere near exciting, Glass flows onwards like a swamp of ominous nonsense. It may be labeled a superhero dystopia for adults, - but who will honestly enjoy this horrid junk?

 

Related posts:

 

M. Night Shyamalan: 2019 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

The Visit (2015) - Shyamalan's creepy mini-comeback 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 20 mil. $

Box office: 246.9 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 12.34 times its cost)

[Glass premiered 7 January (Paris, France) and runs 129 minutes. The success of Split prompted Glass, which Shyamalan funded himself, - and likely via this strategy kept star salaries and thus the final cost at an impressive minimum. Shooting took place from October - December 2017 in Pennsylvania, including Philadelphia. Universal Pictures reportedly spent 80 mil. $ at marketing the film. It opened #1 to a 40.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 3 weekends in #1 and one more weekend in the top 5 (#5), grossing 111 mil. $ (45 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 14.2 mil. $ (5.8 %) and Mexico with 10.8 mil. $ (4.4 %). Shyamalan returned with Servant (2019-21) and theatrically with Old (2021). McAvoy returned in X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019); Willis with a voice performance in The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019), The Orville (2019, TV-series) and theatrically in Motherless Brooklyn (2019); and Jackson in Captain Marvel (2019). Glass is rotten at 36 % with a 5.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Glass?

The Witch (2015) - Eggers' unsettling period-set debut creep-out

♥♥♥♥♥

 

+ Best Horror of the Year

+ Best Debut Movie of the Year

 

This poster for Robert Eggers' The Witch lingers at the creepy qualities of a goat

 

17th century New England: An English immigrant family struggles to scrape together enough food and stick together, as a terrible event threatens to drive them apart.

The Witch is the feature debut of great writer-director Robert Eggers (The Tell-Tale Heart (2008), short), stylized on posters and its title credit as The VVitch and subtitled 'A New-England Folktale'. It is a handsomely shot (by Jarin Blaschke (I Believe in Unicorns (2014))), rich on atmosphere and thoroughly unsettling film about a Puritan family who take sin-awareness and self-blame one or two steps too far. It features powerful acting in all the major parts, SPOILER with young Harvey Scrimshaw (Oranges and Sunshine (2010)) as Caleb particularly incredible in his agonizing scenes leading up to his death. Measured in sheer negative power, these scenes are right up there with what Linda Blair went through for The Exorcist (1973), - and so I deeply hope that Scrimshaw is okay today.

Non-Westerners and people with little knowledge of Christianity will inevitably lose meanings and nuances in The Witch. My only criticism of it is about its incessantly oppressive tone, which is as heavy as to make the film at times near the outlandish. SPOILER But in light of its completely occult ending, this may also be fitting.

In any case The Witch is an original and excellent horror.

 

Related posts:

 

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Anya Taylor-Joy (Split (2016)) in Robert Eggers' The Witch

Watch an official trailer for the film here

Cost: Reportedly 3 - 3.5 mil. $

Box office: 40.4 mil. $

= Huge hit

[The Witch premiered January 27 (Sundance) and runs 93 minutes. For lack of tax incentives there, the film had to be shot in Canada instead of New England, and a remote area of Ontario was chosen. Filming was accomplished only using natural light outside and candle lights inside. The film opened #4, behind holdover hits Deadpool and Kung Fu Panda 3 and newcomer Risen, to an 8.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its second week and grossed 25.1 mil. $ (62.1 % of the total gross.) The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Mexico with 3.4 mil. $ (8.4 %) and Brazil with 2.5 mil. $ (6.2 %). The film won the Directing Award at Sundance. The Witch is certified fresh at 91 % with a 7.8 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Witch?