Presented by Every Wednesday in August, Vulture will choose a film to watch with readers as part of our Wednesday Night Movie Club. This week’s selection comes from Vulture critic Nicholas Quah, who will begin his screening of Signs on Wednesday, August 6, at 7 p.m.
ET. Head to Vulture’s Twitter to catch the live commentary. Is it lame to still get unabashedly excited for a new M.
Night Shyamalan flick? Sure can seem like it. At some point over the past 20 years, it became outré ever to have fallen head over heels for the films, particularly the early ones, by the director once considered a wunderkind successor to Spielberg. Perhaps it was the erroneous impression that all Shyamalan movies are about the twist.
( The Sixth Sense ’s legacy continues to loom large.) Or maybe it was his earnest sensibilities, which often tip into maudlin? Or was it possibly his penchant to cameo in his works, suggesting a filmmaker who drank a little too much of his own Kool-Aid? Most likely, it was that he directed two absolute bombs in quick succession — After Earth and the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender adaptation — both of which played to his worst tendencies and validated his detractors’ critiques. However we got here, Shyamalan’s Spielbergian standing is long lost, even as the director, now 54, has been waging a steady comeback since 2015’s The Visit .
Trap , his latest release, is great dumb fun, but it probably won’t bag him his first Oscar nod in 24 years. Gen.