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Post by Rey Kahuka on Jul 26, 2021 17:00:23 GMT
It's about six hours or so for me, not counting a stop for lunch. How long for you? Highway traffic felt worse this year than in past years, didn't it? Acadia, really all of Mt. Desert Island is fantastic. It's just about 500 miles so it should have taken 8 hours on a normal day, including one stop for gas, a few pee breaks for my wife (who has to pee as if she's 8 months' pregnant) and normal traffic at the Throgs Neck. We had our dog with us so we made longer stops than we normally do but even with that, the last 100 miles took about 3:15 without stopping. It was rough. All of it was just congestion too. No accidents, no construction, just massive amounts of people. That's actually why I don't travel in the summer, there are always just so many more people. September is my ideal travel month. It's still warm out but everyone is back in school or back to work so everything is just a lot less crowded, everywhere. One thing I noticed during the pandemic was the surge in people going hiking because everything was shutdown. I get out into the woods as much as possible, so I have to admit I'm selfishly annoyed that everyone rediscovered the outdoors over the last 16 months. I can see it on the mountain trails in my area, and the traffic going up to Maine was incredible this year. Yay everyone getting outside, boo for getting in my way.
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Post by klawrencio79 on Jul 26, 2021 17:08:28 GMT
It's just about 500 miles so it should have taken 8 hours on a normal day, including one stop for gas, a few pee breaks for my wife (who has to pee as if she's 8 months' pregnant) and normal traffic at the Throgs Neck. We had our dog with us so we made longer stops than we normally do but even with that, the last 100 miles took about 3:15 without stopping. It was rough. All of it was just congestion too. No accidents, no construction, just massive amounts of people. That's actually why I don't travel in the summer, there are always just so many more people. September is my ideal travel month. It's still warm out but everyone is back in school or back to work so everything is just a lot less crowded, everywhere. One thing I noticed during the pandemic was the surge in people going hiking because everything was shutdown. I get out into the woods as much as possible, so I have to admit I'm selfishly annoyed that everyone rediscovered the outdoors over the last 16 months. I can see it on the mountain trails in my area, and the traffic going up to Maine was incredible this year. Yay everyone getting outside, boo for getting in my way. It's true. The traffic getting there was fine, but Bar Harbor itself was completely full. The trails, however, were pretty much empty which was terrific.
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Post by Rey Kahuka on Jul 26, 2021 17:31:27 GMT
One thing I noticed during the pandemic was the surge in people going hiking because everything was shutdown. I get out into the woods as much as possible, so I have to admit I'm selfishly annoyed that everyone rediscovered the outdoors over the last 16 months. I can see it on the mountain trails in my area, and the traffic going up to Maine was incredible this year. Yay everyone getting outside, boo for getting in my way. It's true. The traffic getting there was fine, but Bar Harbor itself was completely full. The trails, however, were pretty much empty which was terrific. The trick to Acadia and Bar Harbor for that matter is to do everything on the early side. Get on the trails early (not sunrise, but even by like 9AM you should be fine), and if you're going into town, go to dinner early. Like old person early if you have to, because you're going to have a wait on your hands once it gets past 6. My wife and I joke that Acadia is practically our second home at this point, so parking in Bar Harbor or really anywhere on MDI has never been an issue (knock on wood) because we know all the hidden corners. The trails have never been unmanageable, but the crowds (not really crowds but you know what I mean) in the park really thin out the farther away you get from the usual hot spots like Jordan Pond, Dorr Mountain, Cadillac, etc. It's not like you can have a bad time at Acadia.
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Post by masterofallgoons on Jul 26, 2021 18:40:40 GMT
It's true. The traffic getting there was fine, but Bar Harbor itself was completely full. The trails, however, were pretty much empty which was terrific. The trick to Acadia and Bar Harbor for that matter is to do everything on the early side. Get on the trails early (not sunrise, but even by like 9AM you should be fine), and if you're going into town, go to dinner early. Like old person early if you have to, because you're going to have a wait on your hands once it gets past 6. My wife and I joke that Acadia is practically our second home at this point, so parking in Bar Harbor or really anywhere on MDI has never been an issue (knock on wood) because we know all the hidden corners. The trails have never been unmanageable, but the crowds (not really crowds but you know what I mean) in the park really thin out the farther away you get from the usual hot spots like Jordan Pond, Dorr Mountain, Cadillac, etc. It's not like you can have a bad time at Acadia. I may be heading up there in a couple of weeks for the first time. If we do go, it will likely be with mostly non-hikers, so I'll likely be on my own for most of that kind of activity, but that doesn't bother me. Any advice as far as what to do and see? Where to stay? I know we have to stop by the town of Blue Hill where my wife's 2nd cousin (or something) owns a coffee shop and a couple of cabins, but otherwise we I think it'll be up to me to decide what everyone's doing.
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Post by Rey Kahuka on Jul 26, 2021 19:57:52 GMT
The trick to Acadia and Bar Harbor for that matter is to do everything on the early side. Get on the trails early (not sunrise, but even by like 9AM you should be fine), and if you're going into town, go to dinner early. Like old person early if you have to, because you're going to have a wait on your hands once it gets past 6. My wife and I joke that Acadia is practically our second home at this point, so parking in Bar Harbor or really anywhere on MDI has never been an issue (knock on wood) because we know all the hidden corners. The trails have never been unmanageable, but the crowds (not really crowds but you know what I mean) in the park really thin out the farther away you get from the usual hot spots like Jordan Pond, Dorr Mountain, Cadillac, etc. It's not like you can have a bad time at Acadia. I may be heading up there in a couple of weeks for the first time. If we do go, it will likely be with mostly non-hikers, so I'll likely be on my own for most of that kind of activity, but that doesn't bother me. Any advice as far as what to do and see? Where to stay? I know we have to stop by the town of Blue Hill where my wife's 2nd cousin (or something) owns a coffee shop and a couple of cabins, but otherwise we I think it'll be up to me to decide what everyone's doing. If you can get a cabin (for free), you need to jump on that. Things are getting pricey up there. We rent a house about ten minutes outside of Bar Harbor. We stayed at the Harborside forever ago, it was fine but honestly I prefer to stay out of town to avoid the chaos-- and our location makes the commute to pretty much anywhere on the island identical in terms of time. There are campgrounds as well if you're into that. If you aren't hiking you can still enjoy the park, though I don't know if a pass is worth it if you're only spending limited time in the park. You can go to Cadillac Mountain without hiking (it's a popular destination in the park, so much so that there's now a mandatory reservation required to drive up, on top of your park entrance fee (I think the reservation is like $2 or something but you have to make it well in advance, and if the weather is bad you're SOL). If they aren't hiking, would they be into biking at all? You can bring your own or rent bikes in Bar Harbor and use them on the carriage roads in the park. To me it isn't as great as hiking, but you still see some great views and a few magnificent bridges constructed in the 1920s and 30s. Acadia isn't one chunk of land, it's kind of spread out all over MDI so there are little beaches and picnic areas to visit as well, again though you'll need a park pass to use those (and don't expect to do much swimming in the ocean in Maine). There's no shortage of stuff to do on the sea, either. - You can sail around the harbor on the Margaret Todd on sunset (it's basically chilling and drinking on a schooner at sunset. I mean it isn't a party boat, but there are drinks available). - There's also a company that does a whale watch. I'll be honest and say the whale watch kind of sucks these days. The whales are staying farther out to sea which makes the boat have to enter choppier waters at faster speeds (in order to still squeeze in multiple trips per day to make the venture profitable for the company), which means there's a good chance you'll be using the barf bags they provide. My son and wife both puked last time, I didn't because I'm obviously the toughest guy ever. - You can take a sightseeing ferry over to the Cranberry Islands out of Northeast Harbor. It's a fun little trip, I got some great pictures on the island as well. Quaint little church there as well as a museum. I think it's a three hour tour (though if you remember the lyrics to the Gilligan's Island, you might think twice.) -There are other trips that take you to see puffins, seals, various nesting birds etc. - Speaking of islands, I know you said they aren't hikers, but at low tide you can walk out to Bar Island on the sandbar, beautiful to be on the bar around sunset as well. It's a short hike to the center of the island with a nice view of the harbor and of town from a different perspective. But you can skip the hike altogether and just hangout on the bar. There's no shortage of restaurants in Bar Harbor. Ironically I'm not a seafood guy, but all of MDI as well as Trenton and Ellsworth have plenty of great places for that. Bar Harbor itself is filled with touristy places that are always fun, but it also has jacket required options. With a six year old we usually stick with pub food places (but let's be honest, I don't usually for the stuffy places anyway). I can give you details on various restaurants but you can probably find reviews just as easily online. Plenty of great ice cream places if you're into that. There's also a lumberjack show in Trenton if that sounds interesting to you. Now onto the hiking. There isn't a bad trail in the park. Dorr Mtn. is a popular one with fantastic views, right next to Cadillac Mtn. Jordan Pond and the Bubbles are popular, which means they'll be a little more crowded. Hiking Acadia Mtn. to St. Sauveur Mtn. will get you a great view of Somes Sound. Penobscot, Parkman, Mansell, Gilmore, all great hikes. And keep in mind these are small peaks, most of them between 600' and 1200', so you can do many of them on one hike. The Goat Trail and connected Norumbega trail on Norumbega Mtn doesn't have a great view from the summit, but it has incredible views elsewhere and features a little bit of everything. Hiking by the shore of a pond, a waterfall, and views that will inspire you to find trails on the other mountains you saw. (Really they all do that last part.) And you usually won't see many people out there. I could talk Acadia/MDI all day, let me know if you want more specific information about anything up there before your trip.
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Post by klawrencio79 on Jul 26, 2021 20:03:01 GMT
I may be heading up there in a couple of weeks for the first time. If we do go, it will likely be with mostly non-hikers, so I'll likely be on my own for most of that kind of activity, but that doesn't bother me. Any advice as far as what to do and see? Where to stay? I know we have to stop by the town of Blue Hill where my wife's 2nd cousin (or something) owns a coffee shop and a couple of cabins, but otherwise we I think it'll be up to me to decide what everyone's doing. If you can get a cabin (for free), you need to jump on that. Things are getting pricey up there. We rent a house about ten minutes outside of Bar Harbor. We stayed at the Harborside forever ago, it was fine but honestly I prefer to stay out of town to avoid the chaos-- and our location makes the commute to pretty much anywhere on the island identical in terms of time. There are campgrounds as well if you're into that. If you aren't hiking you can still enjoy the park, though I don't know if a pass is worth it if you're only spending limited time in the park. You can go to Cadillac Mountain without hiking (it's a popular destination in the park, so much so that there's now a mandatory reservation required to drive up, on top of your park entrance fee (I think the reservation is like $2 or something but you have to make it well in advance, and if the weather is bad you're SOL). If they aren't hiking, would they be into biking at all? You can bring your own or rent bikes in Bar Harbor and use them on the carriage roads in the park. To me it isn't as great as hiking, but you still see some great views and a few magnificent bridges constructed in the 1920s and 30s. Acadia isn't one chunk of land, it's kind of spread out all over MDI so there are little beaches and picnic areas to visit as well, again though you'll need a park pass to use those (and don't expect to do much swimming in the ocean in Maine). There's no shortage of stuff to do on the sea, either. - You can sail around the harbor on the Margaret Todd on sunset (it's basically chilling and drinking on a schooner at sunset. I mean it isn't a party boat, but there are drinks available). - There's also a company that does a whale watch. I'll be honest and say the whale watch kind of sucks these days. The whales are staying farther out to sea which makes the boat have to enter choppier waters at faster speeds (in order to still squeeze in multiple trips per day to make the venture profitable for the company), which means there's a good chance you'll be using the barf bags they provide. My son and wife both puked last time, I didn't because I'm obviously the toughest guy ever. - You can take a sightseeing ferry over to the Cranberry Islands out of Northeast Harbor. It's a fun little trip, I got some great pictures on the island as well. Quaint little church there as well as a museum. I think it's a three hour tour (though if you remember the lyrics to the Gilligan's Island, you might think twice.) -There are other trips that take you to see puffins, seals, various nesting birds etc. - Speaking of islands, I know you said they aren't hikers, but at low tide you can walk out to Bar Island on the sandbar, beautiful to be on the bar around sunset as well. It's a short hike to the center of the island with a nice view of the harbor and of town from a different perspective. But you can skip the hike altogether and just hangout on the bar. There's no shortage of restaurants in Bar Harbor. Ironically I'm not a seafood guy, but all of MDI as well as Trenton and Ellsworth have plenty of great places for that. Bar Harbor itself is filled with touristy places that are always fun, but it also has jacket required options. With a six year old we usually stick with pub food places (but let's be honest, I don't usually for the stuffy places anyway). I can give you details on various restaurants but you can probably find reviews just as easily online. Plenty of great ice cream places if you're into that. There's also a lumberjack show in Trenton if that sounds interesting to you. Now onto the hiking. There isn't a bad trail in the park. Dorr Mtn. is a popular one with fantastic views, right next to Cadillac Mtn. Jordan Pond and the Bubbles are popular, which means they'll be a little more crowded. Hiking Acadia Mtn. to St. Sauveur Mtn. will get you a great view of Somes Sound. Penobscot, Parkman, Mansell, Gilmore, all great hikes. And keep in mind these are small peaks, most of them between 600' and 1200', so you can do many of them on one hike. The Goat Trail and connected Norumbega trail on Norumbega Mtn doesn't have a great view from the summit, but it has incredible views elsewhere and features a little bit of everything. Hiking by the shore of a pond, a waterfall, and views that will inspire you to find trails on the other mountains you saw. (Really they all do that last part.) And you usually won't see many people out there. I could talk Acadia/MDI all day, let me know if you want more specific information about anything up there before your trip. We did the Bar Island trail, I've always wanted to see one of those exposed-land-bridge types of trails and I can't believe just how far in and out the tide goes over there. Totally agree with what you said about where to stay. We stayed about 1.5 miles outside of town and we mostly rode our bikes in and out of town. It was a cinch, although finding places to lock them up was a bit of a challenge as there are only a handful of bike racks around town. I tried the lobster ice cream. It was...just ice cream. I wanted it to be kinda gross for some weird reason, but it didn't really taste like much other than vanilla ice cream with some salty brine mixed in.
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Post by masterofallgoons on Jul 26, 2021 21:02:50 GMT
I may be heading up there in a couple of weeks for the first time. If we do go, it will likely be with mostly non-hikers, so I'll likely be on my own for most of that kind of activity, but that doesn't bother me. Any advice as far as what to do and see? Where to stay? I know we have to stop by the town of Blue Hill where my wife's 2nd cousin (or something) owns a coffee shop and a couple of cabins, but otherwise we I think it'll be up to me to decide what everyone's doing. If you can get a cabin (for free), you need to jump on that. Things are getting pricey up there. We rent a house about ten minutes outside of Bar Harbor. We stayed at the Harborside forever ago, it was fine but honestly I prefer to stay out of town to avoid the chaos-- and our location makes the commute to pretty much anywhere on the island identical in terms of time. There are campgrounds as well if you're into that. If you aren't hiking you can still enjoy the park, though I don't know if a pass is worth it if you're only spending limited time in the park. You can go to Cadillac Mountain without hiking (it's a popular destination in the park, so much so that there's now a mandatory reservation required to drive up, on top of your park entrance fee (I think the reservation is like $2 or something but you have to make it well in advance, and if the weather is bad you're SOL). If they aren't hiking, would they be into biking at all? You can bring your own or rent bikes in Bar Harbor and use them on the carriage roads in the park. To me it isn't as great as hiking, but you still see some great views and a few magnificent bridges constructed in the 1920s and 30s. Acadia isn't one chunk of land, it's kind of spread out all over MDI so there are little beaches and picnic areas to visit as well, again though you'll need a park pass to use those (and don't expect to do much swimming in the ocean in Maine). There's no shortage of stuff to do on the sea, either. - You can sail around the harbor on the Margaret Todd on sunset (it's basically chilling and drinking on a schooner at sunset. I mean it isn't a party boat, but there are drinks available). - There's also a company that does a whale watch. I'll be honest and say the whale watch kind of sucks these days. The whales are staying farther out to sea which makes the boat have to enter choppier waters at faster speeds (in order to still squeeze in multiple trips per day to make the venture profitable for the company), which means there's a good chance you'll be using the barf bags they provide. My son and wife both puked last time, I didn't because I'm obviously the toughest guy ever. - You can take a sightseeing ferry over to the Cranberry Islands out of Northeast Harbor. It's a fun little trip, I got some great pictures on the island as well. Quaint little church there as well as a museum. I think it's a three hour tour (though if you remember the lyrics to the Gilligan's Island, you might think twice.) -There are other trips that take you to see puffins, seals, various nesting birds etc. - Speaking of islands, I know you said they aren't hikers, but at low tide you can walk out to Bar Island on the sandbar, beautiful to be on the bar around sunset as well. It's a short hike to the center of the island with a nice view of the harbor and of town from a different perspective. But you can skip the hike altogether and just hangout on the bar. There's no shortage of restaurants in Bar Harbor. Ironically I'm not a seafood guy, but all of MDI as well as Trenton and Ellsworth have plenty of great places for that. Bar Harbor itself is filled with touristy places that are always fun, but it also has jacket required options. With a six year old we usually stick with pub food places (but let's be honest, I don't usually for the stuffy places anyway). I can give you details on various restaurants but you can probably find reviews just as easily online. Plenty of great ice cream places if you're into that. There's also a lumberjack show in Trenton if that sounds interesting to you. Now onto the hiking. There isn't a bad trail in the park. Dorr Mtn. is a popular one with fantastic views, right next to Cadillac Mtn. Jordan Pond and the Bubbles are popular, which means they'll be a little more crowded. Hiking Acadia Mtn. to St. Sauveur Mtn. will get you a great view of Somes Sound. Penobscot, Parkman, Mansell, Gilmore, all great hikes. And keep in mind these are small peaks, most of them between 600' and 1200', so you can do many of them on one hike. The Goat Trail and connected Norumbega trail on Norumbega Mtn doesn't have a great view from the summit, but it has incredible views elsewhere and features a little bit of everything. Hiking by the shore of a pond, a waterfall, and views that will inspire you to find trails on the other mountains you saw. (Really they all do that last part.) And you usually won't see many people out there. I could talk Acadia/MDI all day, let me know if you want more specific information about anything up there before your trip. All good info, thanks! For the record, I'm very much looking forward to hiking, but doing anything even remotely challenging is unlikely to fly for anyone else... but that's been kind of a sore spot for me since the last time I went to a national park with the same people, so I won't be stopped this time. I'll be more than willing to go on my own. Blue Hill appears to be about a 45 min drive from Mt Desert Island (although it looks like it could be faster by boat... not sure how accessible that would be, but maybe worth looking into). Very preliminary planning now, which could be a huge mistake (I guess I'll see), but I'm not sure if it's worth staying that far away and/or if a free place to stay is available to us... but the idea of bringing or renting bikes makes sense to me. The low tide walk sounds great, and anything involving getting on a boat, other than whale watching, will likely be well received. Puffins sound like a cool site to see. Anyway, thanks for the info, if I need anything further I'll be sure to bother you and Klaw about it.
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Post by screamingtreefrogs on Jul 27, 2021 8:26:55 GMT
M Night Shyamalan's new movie 'Old' got critically panned by the critics - Which probably means it's brilliant with a spooktacular twist ending and I'll love it Going to get a mini M Night Movie Marathon going with some of his best - The Happening The Village Devil Split Signs Let's Do It!
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Post by masterofallgoons on Jul 27, 2021 12:44:59 GMT
M Night Shyamalan's new movie 'Old' got critically panned by the critics - Which probably means it's brilliant with a spooktacular twist ending and I'll love it Going to get a mini M Night Movie Marathon going with some of his best - The Happening The Village Devil Split Signs Let's Do It! I don't think 'panned' is accurate. The reviews are mixed. Some very positive, some very negative and a lot in between. On Rotten Tomatoes and on Metacritic the numbers are about the same, which is interesting considering they calculate them entirely differently.
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Post by Rey Kahuka on Jul 27, 2021 14:01:34 GMT
M Night Shyamalan's new movie 'Old' got critically panned by the critics - Which probably means it's brilliant with a spooktacular twist ending and I'll love it Going to get a mini M Night Movie Marathon going with some of his best - The Happening The Village Devil Split Signs Let's Do It! Split is the only movie I like on that list. Underrated, incredibly dark twist ending. The Unbreakable connection overshadowed one of the darkest twists in cinema history. The audience watches her survive an encounter with this superhuman monster, only to find out she's still living with her sex predator uncle at the end. Brilliant setup, weaving in those flashback throughout the film, making it look like she eventually got away from him. Then at the end the cop says, "Your guardian is here to pick you up." She doesn't move. "Your uncle is here to pick you up." The hopeless look on her face. So depressing, such a chilling twist. Shyamalan has maybe three good movies. The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Split. I guess Signs is fun if you watch it as a comedy. Everything else is terrible.
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Post by sdm3 on Jul 27, 2021 14:02:41 GMT
Critically panned by the critics.
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Post by screamingtreefrogs on Jul 27, 2021 14:06:58 GMT
Critically panned by the critics. Indeed
Critically panned by the critics while they were critiquing the movie
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Post by screamingtreefrogs on Jul 27, 2021 14:08:36 GMT
Split is the only movie I like on that list. Underrated, incredibly dark twist ending. Agreed. Split was great. Enjoyed Unbreakable and Glass
Glass had a pretty sad ending for my tastes
Sixth Sense is a masterpiece which I'm saving for October viewing
Not a fan of 'Devil'? Thought it was criminally underrated.
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Post by Rey Kahuka on Jul 27, 2021 14:26:29 GMT
Split is the only movie I like on that list. Underrated, incredibly dark twist ending. Agreed. Split was great. Enjoyed Unbreakable and Glass
Glass had a pretty sad ending for my tastes
Sixth Sense is a masterpiece which I'm saving for October viewing
Not a fan of 'Devil'? Thought it was criminally underrated.
To be fair I have heard good things about Devil, though I haven't seen it. Glass is one of the dumbest movies ever made. It's legitimately awful. It's a bold choice to kill off your hero, but making him go out like a bitch to some random third party who was just introduced. Unconscionable. You're straight up trolling your audience. Imagine James Bond gets killed by a firearms accident at the shooting range. Indiana Jones gets pushed down the stairs by some guy who was mad he got the last bag of chips out of the vending machine. That's how fucking stupid the end of Glass was. An indestructible man with super strength gets drowned in a puddle. By some group introduced at the last minute of a trilogy. You couldn't try to write a worse movie.
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Post by klawrencio79 on Jul 27, 2021 14:27:08 GMT
M Night Shyamalan's new movie 'Old' got critically panned by the critics - Which probably means it's brilliant with a spooktacular twist ending and I'll love it Going to get a mini M Night Movie Marathon going with some of his best - The Happening The Village Devil Split Signs Let's Do It! Split is the only movie I like on that list. Underrated, incredibly dark twist ending. The Unbreakable connection overshadowed one of the darkest twists in cinema history. The audience watches her survive an encounter with this superhuman monster, only to find out she's still living with her sex predator uncle at the end. Brilliant setup, weaving in those flashback throughout the film, making it look like she eventually got away from him. Then at the end the cop says, "Your guardian is here to pick you up." She doesn't move. "Your uncle is here to pick you up." The hopeless look on her face. So depressing, such a chilling twist. Shyamalan has maybe three good movies. The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Split. I guess Signs is fun if you watch it as a comedy. Everything else is terrible. I've never been a fan of his but I agree mostly. I think Split is kinda fine, James McAvoy and Anya-Taylor Joy are both fantastic in it, but the movie underneath those two performances is pretty stupid. 2, maybe 3 years ago, I re-watched Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. I think the Sixth Sense is a quality movie, but I don't get the unabashed adulation it gets. It's good and has some truly impactful sequences, but overall I find it to be overlong and somewhat tedious. Unbreakable, on the other hand, that movie was really something. It's brilliantly shot, everyone has great chemistry in it, the music is terrific, everything about it clicked for me. It's weird that you watch something like that, and then you watch dogshit like The Village, The Happening, Lady in the Water and so on, and you wonder where his sense of filmmaking went. He clearly has talent and a unique ability, but it's like he becomes so enamored of twists that he builds the entire movie around them and everything feels shoehorned in. Plus, his lesser entries are so devoid of tension and the performances are largely awful.
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Post by klawrencio79 on Jul 27, 2021 14:28:59 GMT
Agreed. Split was great. Enjoyed Unbreakable and Glass
Glass had a pretty sad ending for my tastes
Sixth Sense is a masterpiece which I'm saving for October viewing
Not a fan of 'Devil'? Thought it was criminally underrated.
To be fair I have heard good things about Devil, though I haven't seen it. Glass is one of the dumbest movies ever made. It's legitimately awful. It's a bold choice to kill off your hero, but making him go out like a bitch to some random third party who was just introduced. Unconscionable. You're straight up trolling your audience. Imagine James Bond gets killed by a firearms accident at the shooting range. Indiana Jones gets pushed down the stairs by some guy who was mad he got the last bag of chips out of the vending machine. That's how fucking stupid the end of Glass was. An indestructible man with super strength gets drowned in a puddle. By some group introduced at the last minute of a trilogy. You couldn't try to write a worse movie. Devil is better than some of the other ones, but it would have been better served as a vignette in an anthology, rather than a feature film. He didn't direct that one though.
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Post by screamingtreefrogs on Jul 27, 2021 14:33:40 GMT
Agreed. Split was great. Enjoyed Unbreakable and Glass
Glass had a pretty sad ending for my tastes
Sixth Sense is a masterpiece which I'm saving for October viewing
Not a fan of 'Devil'? Thought it was criminally underrated.
To be fair I have heard good things about Devil, though I haven't seen it. Glass is one of the dumbest movies ever made. It's legitimately awful. It's a bold choice to kill off your hero, but making him go out like a bitch to some random third party who was just introduced. Unconscionable. You're straight up trolling your audience. Imagine James Bond gets killed by a firearms accident at the shooting range. Indiana Jones gets pushed down the stairs by some guy who was mad he got the last bag of chips out of the vending machine. That's how fucking stupid the end of Glass was. An indestructible man with super strength gets drowned in a puddle. By some group introduced at the last minute of a trilogy. You couldn't try to write a worse movie. Well then it worked, eh?
You didn't see that ending coming from a mile away and it stirred an emotion within you
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Post by Rey Kahuka on Jul 27, 2021 14:48:40 GMT
Split is the only movie I like on that list. Underrated, incredibly dark twist ending. The Unbreakable connection overshadowed one of the darkest twists in cinema history. The audience watches her survive an encounter with this superhuman monster, only to find out she's still living with her sex predator uncle at the end. Brilliant setup, weaving in those flashback throughout the film, making it look like she eventually got away from him. Then at the end the cop says, "Your guardian is here to pick you up." She doesn't move. "Your uncle is here to pick you up." The hopeless look on her face. So depressing, such a chilling twist. Shyamalan has maybe three good movies. The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Split. I guess Signs is fun if you watch it as a comedy. Everything else is terrible. I've never been a fan of his but I agree mostly. I think Split is kinda fine, James McAvoy and Anya-Taylor Joy are both fantastic in it, but the movie underneath those two performances is pretty stupid. 2, maybe 3 years ago, I re-watched Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. I think the Sixth Sense is a quality movie, but I don't get the unabashed adulation it gets. It's good and has some truly impactful sequences, but overall I find it to be overlong and somewhat tedious. Unbreakable, on the other hand, that movie was really something. It's brilliantly shot, everyone has great chemistry in it, the music is terrific, everything about it clicked for me. It's weird that you watch something like that, and then you watch dogshit like The Village, The Happening, Lady in the Water and so on, and you wonder where his sense of filmmaking went. He clearly has talent and a unique ability, but it's like he becomes so enamored of twists that builds the movie around that and everything feels shoehorned in. Plus, his lesser entries are so devoid of tension and the performances are largely awful. Split is weird and goofy in a way, the superhuman part is the least interesting element of the film for me. The premise beyond that is brilliant. This completely unhinged psychopath likes to destroy things that are beautiful, but he spares this girl once he realizes she's damaged, too. She's using her wits and her experience with evil to find a way to survive, you absolutely believe she has the fortitude to do this because she escaped a monster before; only to find out she never really did. It's as bold a twist as I can think of. Imagine that pitch meeting. "The implication at the end is the heroine is still actively being molested by her uncle. Roll credits." Shyamalan has balls, I have to give him that. Unbreakable is an incredible film. Literally ahead of its time. If it came out today, it would be hailed as a fresh take on the superhero genre. I love the simplicity of the concept. "What if a superhuman just wanted to be a regular guy." And it's played as a drama, not an action flick at all. The twist is clever in that early Shyamalan 'this is so obvious I can't believe I didn't see it coming' kind of way. Filmmakers are like musicians, sometimes the creative impetus evolves into something incredible while other times entire albums are very clearly going through the motions. In Shyamalan's case, it's easy to discern his passion projects, the stuff he really has great inspiration for; from his 'I kind of have an idea here and I might as well cash in' projects. For me, Split was a great film and linking it to Unbreakable was a fun wink to his fans that should've ended there. Glass was Shyamalan at his worst, cashing in on the 'superhero trilogy' concept and trying to outthink himself as well as the audience. "They'll never see this coming." No we won't, because it makes no fucking narrative sense and ruins the entire story.
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Post by Rey Kahuka on Jul 27, 2021 14:57:21 GMT
To be fair I have heard good things about Devil, though I haven't seen it. Glass is one of the dumbest movies ever made. It's legitimately awful. It's a bold choice to kill off your hero, but making him go out like a bitch to some random third party who was just introduced. Unconscionable. You're straight up trolling your audience. Imagine James Bond gets killed by a firearms accident at the shooting range. Indiana Jones gets pushed down the stairs by some guy who was mad he got the last bag of chips out of the vending machine. That's how fucking stupid the end of Glass was. An indestructible man with super strength gets drowned in a puddle. By some group introduced at the last minute of a trilogy. You couldn't try to write a worse movie. Well then it worked, eh?
You didn't see that ending coming from a mile away and it stirred an emotion within you No, it didn't. That's not how storytelling works. Imagine I was talking to you beefeater aliens high wire roadkill that cloud looks like a hamburger giraffes. There are rules to an established narrative, you don't throw in non sequiturs to try to prove how clever you are. The point of a story, even a thriller with a twist ending, isn't to make sure nobody on the Earth could ever guess what happens next. You're writing a cohesive story that, while not everyone will feel the same way about it (that's the point of art), people will appreciate the journey they took to get there. The pieces of the puzzle should all fit together even if you don't like the picture in the end.
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Post by masterofallgoons on Jul 27, 2021 16:09:35 GMT
Well then it worked, eh?
You didn't see that ending coming from a mile away and it stirred an emotion within you No, it didn't. That's not how storytelling works. Imagine I was talking to you beefeater aliens high wire roadkill that cloud looks like a hamburger giraffes. There are rules to an established narrative, you don't throw in non sequiturs to try to prove how clever you are. The point of a story, even a thriller with a twist ending, isn't to make sure nobody on the Earth could ever guess what happens next. You're writing a cohesive story that, while not everyone will feel the same way about it (that's the point of art), people will appreciate the journey they took to get there. The pieces of the puzzle should all fit together even if you don't like the picture in the end. Yeah, your spot on with Glass (that's not the only problem with that movie by a long shot), but something like that can work. I remember people complaining similarly about No Country for Old Men when that had come out. The idea that the main character is killed off screen, unceremoniously was called bad writing by the people that weren't on board, but of course that solidifies the thing that the story is all about. Those who into that movie because they thought the violence and suspense were cool and didn't really understand what the Coens and by extension Cormac McCarthy were going for didn't see that it was thematically imperative for it to happen that way. Now that was set up, but the idea of the harshness and randomness of violence in the universe comes back later in a truly random moment when Anton is hit by the car. His character walks away from that, but if McCarthy had killed him off by some random occurrence I think it would still have been in line with what the story was communicating.... Sorry for derailing things here... just was reminded of previous arguments i've had.
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