'Lady in the Water' -- High-Def Digest review

[PeterB]

Wow -- a movie I actually liked for once, but everyone else hated:

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/ladyinthewater.html

Pretty good disc. The movie just looks drab, though, and once again Warner drops the Dolby TrueHD track from the Blu-ray release. Still, I liked this enough overall to give it the thumbs up.

[Tejstar]

I didn't see this either as it didn't get fantastic reviews. However, I have liked Shyamalan's previous films so will pick this up if it's not too expensive!

[moviewizguy]

I liked all of Shyamalan's movies and I really liked this one. One wonders why the critics lashed on this movie. Maybe it had that obnoxious critic character who

Spoiler:

gets killed in a horrible demise

.

I honestly think that is the reason why critics hated the movie. It's a truly great film with a great moral. This film does for fantasy movies what Unbreakable did for superhero movies and what The Sixth Sense did for ghost stories and what Signs did for alien invasion movies. Shyamalan takes unrealistic genres and tries to make them look realistic. Oh, and LitW has one of the best ensemble casts in a film ever. Loved every one of those characters.

[eastx]

I don't think Lady in the Water is as amazing as you're saying Moviewiz, but it certainly captures a terrific sense of wonder. I'm not sure what the point of the critic character in the film was (other than as an excuse for them to have a big party). Paul Giamatti's character and acting were spectacular. On the other hand, the ending itself was extremely underwhelming. Not sure what M. N. Shamamlamadingdong has against pay-off and resolution, but damn him for it.

[BostonMA]

Originally Posted by moviewizguy

I liked all of Shyamalan's movies and I really liked this one. One wonders why the critics lashed on this movie. Maybe it had that obnoxious critic character who

Spoiler:

gets killed in a horrible demise

.

I honestly think that is the reason why critics hated the movie. It's a truly great film with a great moral. This film does for fantasy movies what Unbreakable did for superhero movies and what The Sixth Sense did for ghost stories and what Signs did for alien invasion movies. Shyamalan takes unrealistic genres and tries to make them look realistic. Oh, and LitW has one of the best ensemble casts in a film ever. Loved every one of those characters.

most of the reasons that critics had problems with the film i can see, like how it was way to easy for giamatti and crew to believe in a fairy tale-like thing happening in the real world. i like the movie and shymalan a lot, but it's not on the same level as unbreakable, the sixth sense, or the village for that matter.

[Josh Z]

Originally Posted by moviewizguy

I liked all of Shyamalan's movies and I really liked this one. One wonders why the critics lashed on this movie. Maybe it had that obnoxious critic character who

Spoiler:

gets killed in a horrible demise

.

I honestly think that is the reason why critics hated the movie.

No, we hated the movie because the movie sucked. No hidden agenda. Sometimes, it's as simple as that.

[Cochise]

Originally Posted by Josh Z

No, we hated the movie because the movie sucked. No hidden agenda. Sometimes, it's as simple as that.

I got Lady in Water on HD DVD for $.01 cent + $2.98 shipping from an Amazon Marketplace merchant, and after watching it thought I'd paid too much for it.

(It was a pricing error, but the merchant honored it)

[Josh Z]

Originally Posted by Cochise

I got Lady in Water on HD DVD for $.01 cent + $2.98 shipping from an Amazon Marketplace merchant, and after watching it thought I'd paid too much for it.

I got it for free to review for my last job, and I still felt ripped off.

[HuskerGuy]

Originally Posted by moviewizguy

I liked all of Shyamalan's movies and I really liked this one. One wonders why the critics lashed on this movie. Maybe it had that obnoxious critic character who

Spoiler:

gets killed in a horrible demise

.

I honestly think that is the reason why critics hated the movie. It's a truly great film with a great moral. This film does for fantasy movies what Unbreakable did for superhero movies and what The Sixth Sense did for ghost stories and what Signs did for alien invasion movies. Shyamalan takes unrealistic genres and tries to make them look realistic. Oh, and LitW has one of the best ensemble casts in a film ever. Loved every one of those characters.

You even liked The Happening

[BostonMA]

Originally Posted by HuskerGuy

You even liked The Happening

i liked the happening too, it got awful marketing as the next excellent m night film when all it really was was a good b movie. my explanation of my feelings to it are in the review thread for it. i'd say the happening>lady in the water, but theyre both solid films imo, and i'd give happening a 3.5/5 and litw a 3/5.

[Lordoftherings]

I feel very bad, cause I got "Lady in the Water" on HD DVD. It really sucks!

* But there is NO WAY that I'm getting it again on Blue.

--> My recommendation: STAY AWAY from it, don't even think or talk about it.

[HuskerGuy]

Originally Posted by BostonMA

i liked the happening too, it got awful marketing as the next excellent m night film when all it really was was a good b movie. my explanation of my feelings to it are in the review thread for it. i'd say the happening>lady in the water, but theyre both solid films imo, and i'd give happening a 3.5/5 and litw a 3/5.

Fair enough, different strokes and all that.

[Emoney7]

I don't get the hate for this movie personally, it's a modern day fairytale, that stays pretty lighthearted for the most part with some good performances, I don't really know how you could hate that....

It definetly not even close to M.Night's best (Unbreakable), and its on his downhill slide that led to The Crappening. Mediocre? I could see that, but hateful? Just don't get it....

My hddvd has a place in my collection, and is a decent 3.5/5 star movie when I'm in the mood.

[moviewizguy]

Originally Posted by HuskerGuy

You even liked The Happening

I do. I thought it was terribly mismarketed as a mainstream apocalyptic film when Shyamalan took a rather unconventional direction with an intriguing and original premise. I gave it a 7/10 and I consider it Shyamalan's "worst" of all his movies but I thought it was an entertaining B-movie. The ending was disappointing, though.

[moviewizguy]

Originally Posted by Emoney7

I don't get the hate for this movie personally, it's a modern day fairytale, that stays pretty lighthearted for the most part with some good performances, I don't really know how you could hate that....

It definetly not even close to M.Night's best (Unbreakable), and its on his downhill slide that led to The Crappening. Mediocre? I could see that, but hateful? Just don't get it....

My hddvd has a place in my collection, and is a decent 3.5/5 star movie when I'm in the mood.

I agree. In fact, if you compare it with other fairytale movies, it's not any different. It's just that the movie took place in the real world that got people "iffy" about the premise. Still, Unbreakable was financially and critically successful and that film tried to make a superhero movie look realistic. I don't see why LitW was also critically successful.