(SPOILER ALERT: DO NOT READ THIS POST IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHO DID WHAT)
[And now for balance and fans of the art of Extreme Plot Busting, an undeniably better movie busted down to a single sentence.]
Psychiatrist realises he was murdered by patient after analysing boy who can communicate with ghosts.
The Sixth Sense (1999) is the American psychological thriller written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, starring Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment that put Shyamalan on the map. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and quite rightly so.
[Pedantic busters should note that although not stated as a rule, it is acceptable, in the fashion of newspaper headlines, to omit both the indefinite and definite articles (i.e. a and the) from a bust as long as the meaning of the sentence is still clear.]
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sixth_Sense
Monday 21 March 2011
The Happening (2008)
(SPOILER ALERT: DO NOT READ THIS POST IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHO LEARNS WHAT)
[Sometimes it's just fun to plot bust a really bad movie.]
The Happening (2008) is an American horror-thriller film written, co-produced and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, starring Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel and John Leguizamo.
In the end Mark Wahlberg confirms his belief that science can't explain all the mysteries of nature.
Spooked by a series of mass suicide events that begin in New York and then rapidly spread to other major population areas of the north-eastern United States, high school science teacher, Wahlberg, decides to join the general evacuation by boarding a train bound for the country together with his wife, Zooey Deschanel, and their best friend, maths teacher colleague, John Leguizamo, who has his young daughter with him, but whose own wife must follow on later, as she is unable to reach their train in time.
However the reassurance of knowing that they are on their way to safety is soon dispelled as the passengers on the over-crowded train receive an ever increasing number of distressing news reports and cell phone calls that suggest the plague of suicides is spreading to ever smaller communities like the ones they are headed for.
Eventually the group find themselves stranded in some one-horse town, when they and the other passengers are forced to disembark the train, whose driver refuses to continue further because he cannot raise anyone on his radio.
Seeking sustenance in the town's apparently lone diner, further speculation on the tv news and then a power blackout sends the crowd into a blind every-man-for-themselves panic which has them scrambling to flee the area in every available vehicle.
Struggling to find a ride, Leguizamo asks Wahlberg and Deschanel to take care of his daughter so that he can travel back to the city they abandoned in order to search for his wife who he can no longer reach on her cell phone. A decision which turns out to be a fatal one on his part.
Although Wahlberg, Deschanel and Leguizamo's daughter are fortunate to be offered a lift from a middle-aged local couple who own a near-by plant nursery, their luck soon runs out, as the group finds themselves trapped at a country crossroads where a large group of vehicles have congregated as all their escape routes appear to be blocked by evidence of the affects of whatever is causing the mass suicides.
Cornered, Wahlberg attempts to find a solution to their predicament by applying scientific method to the evidence he has so far gathered. Inspired by some crack-pot plant-society theories suggested by his nurseryman companion, he determines that the threat is coming from the surrounding vegetation that is somehow reacting to large groups of people. Together with the help of a fleeing army private and a local realtor, he decides that the best course of action is for them all to seek shelter in as sparsely a populated area as they can find.
However, as they head out on foot through the surrounding fields, despite their efforts to split up into ever smaller groups, nothing seems to reduce the chances of them triggering the suicide inducing effect of the surrounding plants. The best that they can hope for is to hide indoors away from the wind that seems to herald an attack. This proves difficult though, as those buildings that they do come across are inhabited by murderous gun-wielding locals determined to keep both strangers as well as the poisonous air out.
Eventually, reduced to just three, Wahlberg, Deschanel and Leguizamo's daughter are reluctantly taken in for the night by a reclusive, grief stricken and paranoid old lady, who has apparently managed to cut herself off entirely from the outside world and is seemingly oblivious to and unwilling to even contemplate the looming threat.
Unfortunately, the house proves not to be the sanctuary that they had hoped for, as, come the morning, the suspicious old lady finds Wahlberg snooping in her room, and demands that he and his companions leave at once.
In a fit of rage the old lady goes out to commune with her vegetable plot and promptly tops herself having succumbed to the plague that is now upon them. In the process, she manages to break many of the building's downstairs windows, which forces Wahlberg to take refuge in a back room, where he discovers he can communicate through a speaking tube with Deschanel who has inexplicably taken Leguizamo's daughter out to explore an out-building.
The couple, who have been experiencing commitment issues highlighted by their failure to start a family, lament the fact that they will now die separated from each other as escape seems impossible. Without a second thought, the pair stride out to meet their inevitable doom together in the swirling wind.
However, for once luck is with them, because as quickly and as mysteriously as the plague arose, it now seems to have abated, as they survive to both make good on their promise to Leguizamo to look after his now orphaned daughter, as well as start a family of their own.
Whether they will live happily ever after is unclear, as, in the dying moments of the story, nature is shown to have resumed its inexplicable vendetta against humans for desecrating the planet?
It is undeniable that M. Night Shyamalan has made a career for himself in the movies by asking interesting questions, like what would it be like to be a ghost and not realise it, or does the existence of super-heroes require the existence of super-villains? However, some of his answers have proved less than satisfying or even entertaining. Equally, it is unfortunate that none of the performances here represent the best work of those involved. Indeed, it was quite hard to keep a straight face at times while producing this bust. Nevertheless, given that some movies are so bad that they can attract a following precisely because of their short-comings, this 9-11, "I see dead people" inspired, thanksgiving roast may have something to recommend it, in the end.
Source(s): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Happening_(2008_film)
[Sometimes it's just fun to plot bust a really bad movie.]
The Happening (2008) is an American horror-thriller film written, co-produced and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, starring Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel and John Leguizamo.
In the end Mark Wahlberg confirms his belief that science can't explain all the mysteries of nature.
Spooked by a series of mass suicide events that begin in New York and then rapidly spread to other major population areas of the north-eastern United States, high school science teacher, Wahlberg, decides to join the general evacuation by boarding a train bound for the country together with his wife, Zooey Deschanel, and their best friend, maths teacher colleague, John Leguizamo, who has his young daughter with him, but whose own wife must follow on later, as she is unable to reach their train in time.
However the reassurance of knowing that they are on their way to safety is soon dispelled as the passengers on the over-crowded train receive an ever increasing number of distressing news reports and cell phone calls that suggest the plague of suicides is spreading to ever smaller communities like the ones they are headed for.
Eventually the group find themselves stranded in some one-horse town, when they and the other passengers are forced to disembark the train, whose driver refuses to continue further because he cannot raise anyone on his radio.
Seeking sustenance in the town's apparently lone diner, further speculation on the tv news and then a power blackout sends the crowd into a blind every-man-for-themselves panic which has them scrambling to flee the area in every available vehicle.
Struggling to find a ride, Leguizamo asks Wahlberg and Deschanel to take care of his daughter so that he can travel back to the city they abandoned in order to search for his wife who he can no longer reach on her cell phone. A decision which turns out to be a fatal one on his part.
Although Wahlberg, Deschanel and Leguizamo's daughter are fortunate to be offered a lift from a middle-aged local couple who own a near-by plant nursery, their luck soon runs out, as the group finds themselves trapped at a country crossroads where a large group of vehicles have congregated as all their escape routes appear to be blocked by evidence of the affects of whatever is causing the mass suicides.
Cornered, Wahlberg attempts to find a solution to their predicament by applying scientific method to the evidence he has so far gathered. Inspired by some crack-pot plant-society theories suggested by his nurseryman companion, he determines that the threat is coming from the surrounding vegetation that is somehow reacting to large groups of people. Together with the help of a fleeing army private and a local realtor, he decides that the best course of action is for them all to seek shelter in as sparsely a populated area as they can find.
However, as they head out on foot through the surrounding fields, despite their efforts to split up into ever smaller groups, nothing seems to reduce the chances of them triggering the suicide inducing effect of the surrounding plants. The best that they can hope for is to hide indoors away from the wind that seems to herald an attack. This proves difficult though, as those buildings that they do come across are inhabited by murderous gun-wielding locals determined to keep both strangers as well as the poisonous air out.
Eventually, reduced to just three, Wahlberg, Deschanel and Leguizamo's daughter are reluctantly taken in for the night by a reclusive, grief stricken and paranoid old lady, who has apparently managed to cut herself off entirely from the outside world and is seemingly oblivious to and unwilling to even contemplate the looming threat.
Unfortunately, the house proves not to be the sanctuary that they had hoped for, as, come the morning, the suspicious old lady finds Wahlberg snooping in her room, and demands that he and his companions leave at once.
In a fit of rage the old lady goes out to commune with her vegetable plot and promptly tops herself having succumbed to the plague that is now upon them. In the process, she manages to break many of the building's downstairs windows, which forces Wahlberg to take refuge in a back room, where he discovers he can communicate through a speaking tube with Deschanel who has inexplicably taken Leguizamo's daughter out to explore an out-building.
The couple, who have been experiencing commitment issues highlighted by their failure to start a family, lament the fact that they will now die separated from each other as escape seems impossible. Without a second thought, the pair stride out to meet their inevitable doom together in the swirling wind.
However, for once luck is with them, because as quickly and as mysteriously as the plague arose, it now seems to have abated, as they survive to both make good on their promise to Leguizamo to look after his now orphaned daughter, as well as start a family of their own.
Whether they will live happily ever after is unclear, as, in the dying moments of the story, nature is shown to have resumed its inexplicable vendetta against humans for desecrating the planet?
It is undeniable that M. Night Shyamalan has made a career for himself in the movies by asking interesting questions, like what would it be like to be a ghost and not realise it, or does the existence of super-heroes require the existence of super-villains? However, some of his answers have proved less than satisfying or even entertaining. Equally, it is unfortunate that none of the performances here represent the best work of those involved. Indeed, it was quite hard to keep a straight face at times while producing this bust. Nevertheless, given that some movies are so bad that they can attract a following precisely because of their short-comings, this 9-11, "I see dead people" inspired, thanksgiving roast may have something to recommend it, in the end.
Source(s): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Happening_(2008_film)
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