(upbeat music) Hey folks and welcome to the Daily Ratings Podcast. It's a show where each week we're going to be sitting down with Vincent Daley to get his thoughts on the latest movies he's been watching. Both older films and new releases. And don't worry, there's no spoilers. Vince will give a brief review of the movie, share some thoughts, and of course, then write the film. The Daily Ratings are always fair, honest, and most importantly, they're consistent. On today's show, Vince will be rating and reviewing. We have 2013's After Earth, directed by M. Night Shyamalan. We also have 2015's The Visit and 2021's Old, all directed by M. Night Shyamalan. We then have newly released, kind of, The Watchers, directed by Ish Shanna, Night Shyamalan. And then we have newly released Now in Theater's Trap. Daddy's back in town. We've got M. Night Shyamalan on that one. It's a Shyamalan family reunion. Let's see what Vince got to say about it and enjoy the show. (upbeat music) - Mr. Vince and Daily, how we doin' over there, baby? - You tell me, boy. (laughing) - How's it goin', Tom? - Welcome to the Shyamalan family reunion. - Yeah, I was gonna say the alternate title was Shyamalan Strikes Back. This is our second director study for The Man, but I like Daddy's coming home. (laughing) That was a lot better. - Well, because his daughter, his one daughter, did The Watchers. - Yes, and then his other daughter is in a trap. - Yeah, so Daddy's home. - So we're all here at the table. (laughing) Daddy's home. (laughing) - How was the Shyamalan, by the way, my voice is a little hoarse. I lost my voice this weekend. (laughing) - That's all good. - How was your week? How was the Shyamalan? - A week was good. I think I originally wanted to cover Cuckoo, D-D, other various noises as titles for movies. (laughing) But all of it was either knocked out by Deadpool and Wolverine or knocked forward, like when Cuckoo's case. - It just got pushed a week. - Yeah, so I trap was the only release. And like I said, I kind of just went with my gut. I made that quick comment on, I think it was the Twister's episode where I was like, so kind of curious about his career a little bit. So what do you know? He gets the second, the only second director episode that we've ever done. We've done director episodes, but no one's got second one under their belt. - Just full episodes. Yeah, we have both of those that have spanned as well. Just spanned multiple episodes. Well, he works a lot every two years. He's pumping out a film. - Yeah, actually, when you think he went away, he didn't, he never went away. - Yeah, I listened back to our old episode, which is a great follow-up to this if you're interested in Shyamalan's career. You said it at the end of "Knock at the Cabin." You were just like, "Oh, give me another two years. "And we're back, and what do you know? "We're back." - "We're back, we're back, we're trapped." - Yeah. (laughing) - I watched "After Earth." - Oh! - By the way. - Yikes. (laughing) - How else interest me, except for old, 'cause my boy is in it. - Oh, okay. - But I just went for "After Earth" on that one. - Interesting, interesting. Yeah, I think goals for this episode, goals for the-- - Yes, at the stage. - The second Shyamalan study. I wanted to watch "Trash" because I was on the road, and that's when I get in the mood to watch "Trash." (laughing) You know, just something about it was just like, "All right, just whatever's on TV." (laughing) I knew I wanted to save the Unbreakable Trilogy because that's definitely gonna be good for future, you know, future episode content. - What is that? - Oh, that's Unbreakable. - Oh, glass. - Glass and split. (laughing) Yeah, yeah. Right. Like I said in our twister's ep, you know, I'm kind of curious about his latest films. This anti-twist or leading with the twist element and writing around audience expectations, I think is kind of an interesting angle that he has with his movies. He has almost a relationship with his movies. But most of all, an episode to properly communicate his dicey career making movies. You know, last time we covered the obvious ones, including a must watch of all things. Now it's time to cover "M9" in the 2010s, "The Dark Ages." (laughing) These are all pretty rough movies, except for the most watched. (laughing) So. - Yeah, I mean, he did the sixth sense. I think he was like 28-ish? - Yeah, yeah. - 28, 29 years old. It's crazy. - Right. - And then he did "Signs." And then he just continues to make films every year. - Yeah. - And we're really out of Pennsylvania now, it seems. - Oh, wait. - 'Cause he was such a Pennsylvania director. - Sure. He still tries his best to, as many times, at least one little thing. Actually, the only one I really wasn't able to spot was after Earth of where it was tied to. But like, even things like when he did like "Last Airbender," the pagoda is I think in "Redding" or something like that. (laughing) You know, so. We also have a winner of "The Most PA." - That was another question you asked in the, oh, the M. Night Shyamalan episode that we did. What is the most PA film? What is the most Pennsylvania film? - Yes. - And we have our winner this week, for sure. For better or worse. (laughing) - Well, there's only one it has to be, I think. Oh, baby, wait, I don't know. I don't know. Ooh, stay tuned. (laughing) We'll tease it, obviously, so people listen ahead. Any other opening notes? - No, no. I mean, like to quote a former producer, this is one of them where they're all bad. (laughing) Okay, so let's jump back to 2003, just 11 years ago. This film is called "After Earth." Had a big marketing campaign. It was being really talked about. Even when I was kind of watching it myself, and I was like, what was the buzz around this film? And I was like, oh, yeah. This was one of the first films shot and also screened in 4K resolution. - Oh, wow. - I didn't just take that out. - I didn't take that out. - The new Sony cameras. I remember at the time it was big. So let's jump back to 2013. Will Smith and Will Smith. Little Will Smith. - And Will Smith. - Why don't you set this film up? We'll take it back and forth. How did you like "After Earth?" - Well, all I'm gonna say is buckle up. (laughing) Yeah, much like my desire to cover the happening, which got a juicy 22 last time on the Shyamalan special. And even slightly why I wanted to cover the Watchers this week, I have heard nightmares about this film. One of the many internet punching bags over the years after Earth was a failed vehicle Will Smith used to rocket his kid into stardom, whether they deserved it or not. The script was an original idea from Will Smith looking to capitalize on the positive reception of including his son Jaden in 2006's "The Pursuit of Happiness." Jaden also does go on to a semi-successful career like the Karate Kid remake, for instance, the later 2020s, or not 2020s, 20 knots. But this approach backfired big time as Jaden Smith brought little to the doomed vanity project and in the PR circuit for the film showed he was just so incredibly unlikable in his rising star persona. - Like off the screen. - Oh yeah. - Yeah. - And I feel like it just like totally backfired as far as like you, much like Will Smith, you buy Will Smith, you know, you're going for the star. The exact opposite effect happened through what he was trying to kind of unnaturally push him into stardom. - Yeah, I mean, it doesn't help that he's not good at acting. - Yeah, yeah, and this is boy, this is a demonstration of that, it is real bad. Sadly, "M Night" kind of suffers the most here, believe it or not. On top of Smith creating, or "The Smiths", creating more noise than hype around the film, Sony shafted "M Night" by removing his name from any marketing, including the goddamn movie poster. This was a reactionary move by the studio after his adaptation of "The Last Airbender" was universally panned as like one of the worst movies of a whole decade. You know, "M Night" commented on this with a variety of responses, but mostly saying the decision was made to avoid expectations with "After Earth" being a sci-fi survival film and out of his normal twist thriller formula attached to his name. Kind of why I wanted to cover this because I think this week is about examining how the twist formula in Shyamalan's pocket has evolved. But if you ask me, I think that line is bullshit and Sony did our "Keystone Boy" dirty by, I mean, how you gotta do that, how you gotta strip the director's name from his own movie, you know? - Yeah, I mean, after watching the movie, I would want my name stripped of it as well, but that's the thing. - So maybe, maybe he made out the best. - And Will Smith approached us doing some reading on it. Will Smith really went to him with the idea. - Yes, yeah. - Did you hear about what the original story kind of was? - No, no. - But it was, they were on back road, they were supposed to be modern day, just him and his son were driving around on back roads and then they get into a car crash in every mode area. Will Smith gets hurt and then, then, wait, Jaden needs to, you know, whatever. And I was like, well, there's your Pennsylvania movie. - Yeah, sure, absolutely, absolutely. And probably there's your better movie than this. 'Cause this gets definitely, you know, kind of lost in its own trying to juggle sci-fi and clearly just not the comfort zone of that night, you know? - And I bring it up, though, because also it's, you know, he was stripped from it, you're right, from the marketing and everything like that. And like I said, it was, it's not like Will Smith had this idea, so then they ended on Shyamalan. Will Smith appalled him, you know? - Wow. - But what again, do? - Yeah, what do you guys do as right? After Earth is a survival sci-fi movie, not too far from something like a '65 that we covered. - Yeah, this is the back of my mind, all day. - Yeah, yeah, they definitely both shared this like overgrown Earth aesthetic and definitely the survival spin to it. Right away, this shovels out some, some heavy bullshit exposition to us, mixing multiple doomsday scenarios of humanity, all to introduce a reason for ghosting a technique where the soldier can suppress all fear and emotion. Will Smith plays the legendary soldier that develops ghosting in response to an alien threat, but his son struggles to live up to those expectations in his shadow. And they go on a spaced bonding trip that goes horribly wrong. It really was like a spaced road trip, but I think that's very telling that it started as like a normal road trip. - It's exactly with it, yeah. And they, what do you know, end up crashing back on Earth, overgrown, quarantined and hostile to all human life. Tom, you know, I try not to be too hard on accent work, I mean, now that you've seen this, I mean, you know where I'm going with this. I didn't know you're gonna watch this of all things. You know, the accent work, I feel sometimes it can be subjective around like what works in the experience of the movie, you know, I feel like there's a lot of examples I could make, you know, what's coming to mind right now is like Dark Knight Rises, where it's like, yeah, this is outrageous when you hear Tom Hardy speaking with this accent, but in the movie itself, I don't know, it's kind of up to you to see if it works with the character in his vibe. - And he watched Tom Hardy and the bike riders. And it was like, well, you know. - Let's go out of the hotel. Yeah, maybe he's the source of the weird accent work. I'm also a bit skiddish from one of my own reviews. I incorrectly bashed Sam Neil one time for having sloppy accent in an old review and it turns out it was his normal voice, so my bad. (both laughing) - What movie was that? - Oh, no, that's bonus points for the folks to find. Listeners, if you can find it, I don't know. We'll send you something, I guess. - Oh, I know what movie is going to be. - Yeah, we've only covered so many Sam Neil movies, so. But for real, folks, Jaden Smith's voice acting in this is just God awful. I mean, just the worst thing I've ever heard. At many moments, it feels like a middle school performance of like Shakespeare, you know. Jaden shifts in and out of his real voice during moments of panic, and then when he's calm, the most like overly pronounced Queen's English, like it's so proper, it's like, what is that? (both laughing) I thought it was real bad. I thought he was enough to kill it. - I could've just took it as he was bad at acting. - Yeah. - I could get this and say and think dialect or accent. - Right, right, he's just like. - It's just bad acting. Like Will Smith, I don't see him doing an accent in this. I just see him trying really hard to be some sort of general, and he's not, he's Will Smith. - Right, right. - And emotionless and not using his greatest strength, which is charisma, you know. - But Jaden was, I mean, Jaden was all over the place with his inflections, and sometimes he's just like he's speaking South Philly, and then, so maybe he's a little accent stuff. - Yeah, yeah. - Yes, but either way, I mean, he, as the focal point of this, you know, as much as Will Smith is in, you know, the story and his father in this, it's really Jaden's show when it comes to it. You know, at first I was ready to blame Em Knight for this as like we mentioned last time with the village. His scripts can sound almost inhuman at times. Also, someone clearly has to be directing Jaden to use this accent work. I doubt he could just whip out this acting choice and no less have it be accepted by hearing how terrible it is. No, yeah, it's real bad. You know, regardless of the blame, I felt, for me, this killed the entire movie. Many moments Jaden is the only actor on screen and was not bringing it home. I felt nothing for the stakes of this survival film. You know, I understand it's a survival film 'cause I just, I didn't care if he died, you know. I mean, it was very visceral in that sense or just like, I have no attachment to this because I have no attachment to my actor, my main actor on screen, you know. - Yeah, he was battle around. He wasn't enjoyable to watch. And it was just this classic. I mean, we were watching a kid movie. - Yeah. - And a kid just sucks at acting. - Yeah, yeah. - Hey, it's not easy. It's not for everyone. - Right. - But it's just, it brought everything down. And Will Smith didn't help it either. - Yeah. - I'm sorry, but his portrayal of his character was just like, oh, you know, what are we doing here? - Yeah, it seems to me. - We all know you Will Smith. - You know, Spock wannabe, you know, no emotion, but then he, oh, of course he breaks a little bit. You know, I mean, it's like, all right, please, enough. Enough. (laughing) - Actor, acting in this movie is kind of further highlighted as a problem because nothing else is really there to support it. - Yeah. - You know, I'm the first, especially with sci-fi's to get praise to like design and like cool visual eye candy and whatnot, but that sci-fi design is dull. It's a mix of kind of overly minimalist, overly smooth looking tech. Nonetheless, it's just constantly has to be justified to us by funneling bullshit explanations into our ear. You know, it might sound like an odd comparison, but take a lesson from Predator. Does any of the Predator's alien tech need to be explained? No, it's purpose is shown through action, you know? Hey, what's that thing on his arm? Oh, it's beeping like a clock? Oh, it's a bomb. Okay, got it, you know, I didn't hear the Predator say, and this was developed for after a failed exposition, or a failed adventure on a planet and I had to adapt, you know, no, none of that. Will Smith is the man in the chair, and he is always in Jaden's ear, giving some explanation of the tech that Jaden uses. I feel like just a lot could be done there to either show it through action or just like, don't explain it. I feel like it's really self-explanatory, you know? Yeah, a lot of this shit is. It's just comparing this to the movie '65. Yeah, yeah, that good sense. That came out last year, right? Yeah, that came out last year. It's just you need to compare them because there's so much not happening, and it's kind of just really boring, and it's not a good film. And you would think when you're setting yourself up in a futuristic or prehistoric Earth that's supposed to be inhabitable for humans, you kind of have the entire world at your disposal and what can happen, and then not that much happens. So it was just, man, nothing was, it wasn't a banger. No, it's not a banger. Not it, this is not it. And I think you bring up a great point because it is such a goldmine of possible opportunities of like, okay, let's maybe do like mutated creatures or how vicious is the plant life, or I don't know, take a page from Jumanji and like, make it like this like slideshow reel of just like, all right, we're up against something new, you know? Right, the original Jumanji, yes. Yeah, yeah. Right, right, right, right, not the digital rock Jumanji. So, but I completely agree, the movie could be longer, but like even take, take the Revenant, which is still a movie that we like, even if some critics hate it, which is shocking. Oh yeah, that's garbage. But the fact of just like, he's in a can of shit, and then he gets out of it, and then he's in a bigger can of shit when you're just like, oh my, when you're literally going in your seat, like, oh my God, how is he gonna get out of this one? That could be amplified so much, 'cause it could be non-stop, whatever you're dealing with, animals and then a bigger animal, or the rapids, or just like this, that the other thing. It's the mark of a survival film, it stakes, you know? And this just, you know, I don't know. Yeah, exactly. Big Willy style can't save this one either. I just wanted to say Big Willy style, 'cause that's just like the best name for an album, I think I've ever heard. Mostly because he is demoted, once again, to being this man in the chair. He gives monotone instructions to his son. He yells at his son. His son does otherwise rinse and repeat for an hour and 41. Much like something like Gemini Man, this just lacks Will Smith's strongest attribute, his charisma. I mean, like also a little bit of a repeat of when we covered the bad boys. It's just like, man, it's like we're not leaning, he's not leaning with his best foot forward. And it only just further drives you into the pit of boredom as you watch this. Yeah, it's a muted character. He's handcuffed and it's just, it's a box you don't want to put Will Smith in. Absolutely. And it's a box created, a self-inflicted box, because they come up with this like ghosting concept that I just feel like could be totally removed and not much changed because Jaden is not trained as a ghost. His arc is not losing his emotion. It's all just in this hodgepodge of like, okay, civilization collapse and then we had an alien fight and then we got to fight the aliens in a different way. It's just like all this stuff was just such a waste, such a self-inflicted wound. Folks, do you feel like watching an hour and 40 minutes of emotionless, Vulcan acting and bland, muddy 2013 CGI? Well, you're in luck, but for everyone else, steer clear from this vanity project already forgotten to time and practically scrubbed from M night's own track record. We're going to go ahead and give after earth 2013 a well-deserved 28. Whoa, I cannot wait to see how low we can go in this episode, fill out the low ends. Whoa, that's my favorite, 28% for after earth. Lovely, lovely, lovely. I'm not going to give it, I'm not going to, I'm going to give you so many two shoes. It deserves a bad two shoes, I'll say that much. But boy, 28%, okay. Well, here we are two years later. (laughing) That's just a 15, yeah, like clockwork. And this film is called The Visit. Don't know much about this film. Oh, okay. Set it up for us. Feel like this is going to be one of our last Pennsylvania films for him (laughing) because I think we're in Pennsylvania. Oh, right, yes, we are in Pennsylvania proper, not just a name, because like for instance, good example, Trap, he says he's in Center City, Philadelphia. He's at the, you know, whatever the Wells Fargo Center. That's right, I'm sorry, okay. But realistically, he filmed in Canada, you know, he filmed in Toronto, so. So, okay, so The Visit, this is a found footage. Kind of, I don't know, horror film? Yeah, absolutely. All right, yeah, get into it, break it down for us and tell us how you liked it. Yeah, well, I've definitely shown my hand on not really enjoying, you know, the vast amount of these movies. But, you know, for 2015, the found footage sub-genre has had plenty of imitators over the years. And even more debate over who was the true originator of the style. You know, while plenty of actually nerds of the internet will cite examples going all the way back to the 1970s, largely it was born into the mainstream with 1999s, the Blair Witch Project, our rating at a fantastic 82. That was really a wonderful movie to revisit for the podcast. In the coming years, we see an explosion of the style. Horror further adapting it in, or adopting it in projects like paranormal activity. And even sci-fi using it in blockbusters like Cloverfield. But wherever you land on this general discussion, I think we can all agree, by 2015, the style had been beaten to death, which makes our boy M9 painfully late to the punch on this trend, and no doubt influenced by his new buddy, Jason Blum. Our favorite of the podcast. - No favorite punching bag. - Yeah. - Oh, Blum bag. - Yeah, Blum bag, I like that. - That's right, folks. This film starts the collaboration with Blumhouse Productions, which will continue for M9 following with two films, Split in 2016, and Glass in 2019. Yet again, we have another era for our director with both his own style and audience expectations for his stories changing. Like we talked about before, I'm rooting for him as a creator, but I think that opinion formed at some time during this. He kind of came out with this trilogy of the blue with the unbreakable trilogy. It's just like, who was asking for this, but he's doing it anyway. I think this was the moment in time that I started rooting for M9. And also seeing him as, like I said, in the last episode, his own worst enemy. He's like a George Lucas in that like, you can't stop him, but he's also his own worst enemy, especially in the writing department, so. The visit is, once again, a found footage horror that feels like a modern spin on Hansel and Gretel, as far as like a fairy tale goes. Two kids visit their estranged grandparents and discover them having mysterious and odd behavior that is covered up with adult double-speak, explanations covering it up. The oldest sister is making a documentary and is an inspiring filmmaker. That's where we get this found footage spin to it. And the younger brother, well, the younger brother breaks out in rapping frequently. - Oh, no. - And get ready, replaces cursing with pop star names for the entire movie. - All right, so we've got this little white boy rapping. (laughing) - I can't curse. - And no less the raps were written by M9. (laughing) So now we know that M9 can't rap either. (laughing) Yeah. - Oh, that's bad. - This is almost, I don't know, this movie, it was very hard to pin down for this reason, 'cause in ways it shifted constantly, like a snake in between, so bad, it's good, very, very bad, and like, I don't know, there's some redeeming qualities to it, but not with this kid. This is really, this next to old was the peak of like, wow, I definitely still hate kid acting. You know, we questioned it a little bit on some positive kid acting, you know, earlier in the podcast. - I don't, I don't think we've queshed it. - This is reaffirmed it. - Okay, okay. (laughing) - Yeah. - When did we ever like kid acting? - I don't know, there's a few. - There's diamonds, there's diamonds out there. And we always say "Stranger Things" and then we, you know, it's just like, oh, it's a movie podcast, so. - Right, right, we got stuff right there. (laughing) - The style of horror here in the visit is bizarre, strange, and meant to disturb rather than focus on usual jump scares, certainly, you know, common to the Blumhouse brand even by 2015. And that's nice to see. Like I said, there are redeeming qualities of this where I kind of wanted to root for this movie, but the experience hangs on if you can get past some very heavy kid acting and a Shyamalan script that per usual feels like an alien wrote it. (laughing) It wraps included. I would say despite my snark in the beginning, I do kind of enjoy this found footage angle here. This hits on a very specific detail of why I think Blair Witch works in like its own kind of concoction. And it's that our characters want to be filming. Across the board, the main critique of the subgenre is why would someone continue to film, no less hold camera shots, cinematic shots, if their life was threatened? And that's a valid criticism. Having your characters being a filmmaker isn't a perfect solution, especially in the hands of children, but it at least gives them a core motivation to the character to keep the recording light on. So I think that was important to the buy-in of this found footage angle. I also enjoy how the sister is, she doesn't really know what type of documentary she's making, so it does let the film itself bounce around and tone a little bit. The brother rapping and breaking out in these comedic moments isn't a great one, but equally the sudden flashes of disturbing content around the grandparents makes for a unique horror experience. And that's why I just said a moment ago, like really pulled in directions on this one. This one had like great qualities even to it and had horrifically bad qualities to it, which what can you ask more from an end? My chamalan experience. - So how much does really, okay, so you like the camera work of it? - No, I think the buy-in to the found footage is there. - Oh, okay, fair, okay, fair. - Yeah, 'cause I'll definitely get into a moment where it doesn't work, but yeah, the distinct aura, or let me be honest, the real stench on this is without a doubt, chamalan's own writing that not only feels removed from anything a child might say, but it's something I question if any human being at any point in history would say either. You know, this aspect took me right back to the village for the second time this week. Everyone just sounds insane, like, wait, wait, wait. No less children. - Yeah, it's a huge problem with found footage because you wanted to sound so real. - Absolutely. - You want all the characters to just feel like real people. - Absolutely. - His writing does not do that. His writing doesn't do it in after Earth either. - Yeah, it's just so far removed from, you know, anything a normal person would say, and maybe that could be a praise in some areas. You know, I'll throw him a softball here and say it might add to the horror aspects, especially with these themes of like dementia, mental decay in the grandparents, like what came out of their mouth, you know, that adds an element, but honestly, what is slightly gained hurts the kids so much more. It widens an already massive gap in quality between acceptable acting and the worst thing I've ever (beep) seen, and that's all within this movie. - And it's why I wouldn't blame the actors here unlike what we saw with Jaden and after Earth. I think like this was, this is all-- - This is all I'm nudging. - Yeah, that's all I'm nudging. - He needs a script doctor. - He dies. - He needs to write your story completely and full. - Yeah. - What you want, we see what you're doing, and then you can just get a guy in there that can just like, "Hey, let's make this more realistic." - Exactly, exactly. And in that statement is why I compare him to George Lucas 'cause like you look at the prequels and I say the exact same thing, it's just like-- - That's very funny. - Just get a second eye on this. Just one more. - That's very funny. - Oh, so, I'll give away the goat. Tom, I'm very happy to say that this might be the most PA movie. - Okay, yeah, this is why you're against it. - Yeah, 'cause it can't be Trapp. - No. - And then I was like, "It's at the Watchers, "maybe the daughter in the backwoods of Pennsylvania." - Right, right. - But go ahead, wait, wait. We've got Dutch family here. - Uh, yeah, yeah, it's a PA Dutch family. You know, this is a great consolation prize for this movie that is a train wreck in so many ways. I actually listened back to, like I said, our old channel and episode, and I can't recommend that enough. It was really solid app. My favorite part was you said, "What's the best Pennsylvania film?" This has to be our winner on top of-- - Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. There's a big difference of the best Pennsylvania film. - Okay. - And the most Pennsylvania film. - Okay, out of Shyamalan, this is the most Pennsylvania film. - Okay, okay. - Oh, not, oh, Shyamalan are all directors. - Shyamalan, I'm speaking just to what? What is in recent memory, you know? Yeah, and that's a good distinction, because best, I don't know, that could be a lot of things. - Right, isn't "Dear Hunter" and "PA" in the beginning? - I think the "Dear", oh, the "Dear Hunter" is one. - I think so. - Of course, prisoners. - Oh, oh, don't get me started with prisoners. Anyway, okay, go ahead. - What? - I'm tripping you up here. - On top of this home-grown camera vibe that's going on, Mason Town PA is so accurate to 90% of this state. It was shocking. It was like, you know, the daughter is like filming out the window and like getting like establishing shots for her documentary. Man, it just bleeds Keystone. Keystone recognizes Keystone. - Yeah, baby. - I see you at night. (laughing) It was really great. So, a consolation prize, and that's it. Nothing more beyond that, because literally it probably doesn't matter to anyone but you and I. - It's true, it's true. - Yeah. Folks, where I wanna end this one is actually on performances because I think it's a real make or break for this film. And it is a make or break. I feel like there are elements here that really work. And if the performances don't bother you that much, I think there's something here to possibly recommend. Like I said, our Kid Actors are more suffering because Shyamalan's writing, though Ed Oxenbold, who plays The Boy is probably the most unrealistic child ever to attempt to be an actor as well. I mean, not to shit on him some nine years later, but I'm like, "No, don't put him in the movie." - And he directed a guy, when we were like, "Oh, what kid do we like?" - Yeah. - Haley Joel Osman in the sixth sense. - Oh, and of course, right, right, of course. And if anything, like, so good, so good. - Right. - The grandparents on a positive end are pretty creepy. And luckily, that's where a lot of this movie works is with the grandparents. The sudden flashes of like age or mental decay is an interesting angle for horror because once again, it's not a jump scare, but two, it's objective is to disturb. It's to disturb the kids, ultimately. So I don't wanna give away some of the punches of this, but like, for instance, the grandpa has like depends, like adult diapers and whatnot. And how this is staged as a horrific type of thing, like something that generates horror is so interesting because it's like, well, they can easily explain that he's like, you know, he's just an old guy or whatnot. But in the moment for the kid, that's real. That's kind of like disturbing in the moment. And you don't know how to react to it. And that's conjured through the film. And I wanna give credit where credit is due there, but at the same time, so many moments come off as hammy and almost haunted house style acting with them leaning into the camera for a big scare. You know, while these scares, or rather, I should say, when these scares are at the worst, these characters are literally just standing there filming the person trying to be scary. And the whole logic of the movie kind of breaks down. It's where I have a hard time pinning this because many moments of the demented acting were done subtly and really throw you off in a way that probably a lot of people, a lot of audiences can relate to. Old people are weird sometimes. Yet the big payoff scares towards the ends might as well be them looking at the camera directly and yelling boo. And I don't know where to push it. I don't know where to position it for that reason. So with that said, a little bit of my gut here, we're gonna go ahead and give the visit 2015 a 37. - Okay. (laughing) - I think that makes sense for everything that you were saying. - Yeah. - I don't know how much it could be better than that. When you kind of set the stage like that for us. - Yeah. - 37%. Okay. Okay. - Beware of that rapping, beware of the kid replacing his curses with pop stars, especially towards the end of the film 'cause he keeps it up and it's just like, oh, okay. - Really takes you out of the story. - It takes you out of the story 'cause it's supposed to be a kid. - Right. - Right. Okay. All right, let's keep things rolling here. Boy, we really, I would like to see the average score of some of our top directors for the number of directors that we have a decent amount of movies on the site of. - Yep. - I'm not sure he's doing a very good job. - Yep. - So this is in 2021, we're jumping to. - Right. - Which is he's done films in between this, correct? - Specifically Split and Glass. - Oh, he's in that world. - Yep, yep. - What world is that in again? That is his own universe? - Yeah, that's not connected to any comics, but it is a superhero story. So think like a, you know, like a syn city. - I see, I see. - The boys even, you know, I mean, it's his own comic world where comic books kind of exist. - Created by him. - Yes. - Okay. All right, so then we're through this, and that's pretty probably why you just put this on then. - Yeah. - We're on old, that's it. It's the most simple-titing titles ever. Old 2021, definitely out of Pennsylvania now. This does have my, this does have my boy in it, which is a Gail Garcia Bernal. - Yeah. - Who you liked in Amoris Peros. - Yes. When did he become your boy? - I was an early adopter of the Mozart, the Mozart show on Amazon. - Oh, that's right, that's right. - I like the show so much I can't remember. - The Mozart and the jungle? - Yes, thank you. - Yeah, that's right. - I just found his acting very, very good. - Sure, yeah. - And then you liked him in Amoris Peros. - Yes, yes. - Which is an early on. - In a redo film. - So, okay, anyway, old 2021, why don't you set the film for us? - So despite a drought in movies coming off of 2020, this was actually a movie I really didn't have much interest in checking out originally. After the conclusion of M. Knight's resurrected unbreakable trilogy, this movie seemed like an unusual return to more boilerplate story ideas, movie pitches that feel only slightly above a Twilight Zone episode, and clearly carried by M. Knight's reputation being revitalized during this time, and he really was at a peak, you know, despite COVID. - He was at a peak here. - Oh yeah, I mean, the hype around glass and split, split being a legitimately good movie. Glass, not so much. - Okay, it was fresh juice, certainly, yeah. - Yeah, M. Knight had finally shaken the reasons he was cut from his own movie posters in the early 20s. - Right, okay, gotcha. - Yeah, so, again, rooting for him. My biggest takeaway though, watching this was really regretting it, not covering it before, knock at the cabin, because I feel some key aspects are like dead similar here, just like, you know, absolute clone of each other. His focus on putting even younger kid actors in the story is a weak spot for both films, younger than usual of what he's doing when he's pulling in and lower quality and acting to boot. Both also fall into M. Knight's new approach of his iconic style, where he seems to be leading with the twist instead of saving it for the end. And finally, both could have definitely used him more time in the oven to lift the concept above its very simple plot line. It's kind of funny in addition to simple story titles, his movie plots are getting simpler and simpler. - That's a good point. - You know, he's, it's more boilerplate or not even to use a turn of phrase like that. Like, it's like elevator pitches. Like, hey, wouldn't this be cool? And he makes the movie. - Which I think is why he's hurt that he's so quantity over quality. - Yeah. - Because just like you said, just let it bake a little bit more. - Yeah, yeah. - If he could come out with probably some banger ideas, but it's like you, you're not gonna get anywhere near a sixth sense every two years. Hell even every four years. - Yeah, yeah. - With the rate that you go on, it's almost like he needs to simplify everything and keep his machine going. - Yeah. - And it's like, take four years. It's all good. - All right. - Come up with the banger. When you have after Earth, when you have so much working for you, you can actually run with it then. - Sure. - Sure. - But anyway, sorry. - No, no, I think you're dead on the money because really that that's ultimately where I'm coming from with the end of trap as well is that I think just give it some time at night, you know? Even if you wanna put your daughter in a movie, listen, just give it some time. So old is a dip into body horror this time with a snappy hook and a big cast that evolves chaotically to keep you at the edge of your seat. And a group of vacationing families from Philadelphia. - There you go. There you go. Gotcha. - Or Pennsylvania. - Or given an opportunity to attend a private beach, putting all walks of life on a dangerously secluded stretch of the island, each of them starts to have increasingly odd events happen to them, most notably around the passage of time on the beach. Quickly, this escalates out of control with kids becoming teenagers, medical conditions progressing and bodies decomposing right before your eyes. The victims of the beast beach much problem solve with a ticking clock crushing every move they make before they are all too old to do anything at all. Once again, the kid acting is horrible here. - Yeah, and he's got some young kids in here. - Yeah, really young. - What is he doing? - I don't know. - I don't know what the kid acting. I mean, he should outsource this part. (laughing) - Yeah, I mean-- - I mean, casting decisions are-- - Yes, he has the same casting director for everything. - I don't know. That's definitely a good research point. Maybe he sees it as central to his brand as the twist 'cause it does go back to signs in sixth sense, having a kind of a kid perspective on everything that's happening, but boy, is it real bad here? The kids are bad, the lines written for them might be the worst in M9's whole career. I'm not joking, it takes only six minutes into the film for these children, these six-year-old boys to have a conversation joking about bank loans and asking people their occupations. (laughing) It's like, "Hey, end night, no one talks like this." (laughing) Like, I don't know. I don't know why-- - This is great. It's so funny with the Lucas thing too. It's a great scene with Mark Hamill, and he's being interviewed. I think it was Johnny Carson. - Yeah, yeah. - And he's talking about a line that he'll never forget because it's just the most unrealistic line ever. And he's just like, "No one talks like this, George." - Yeah. - I just don't think it's very realistic. (laughing) And I think they ended up changing that line, but there's no way in here, I don't know what it is. I don't know what it is with this guy. Now, it's based off a graphic novel, so I don't know, it's called "Sand Castle." - Oh, okay. - And was it, I don't know if it's, that has to do from it? Because if you were just-- - An artifact, sure, you know what I mean? - Yeah, yeah. - Pulling from that kind of vibe or however that flow is in that graphic novel, 'cause they all kind of have their own little flow. - Yeah. - But it just seems like he's not good at writing at all. - Yeah, and it still pumps him out. - Yes. - He's just a machine. I think it's a good point though, that you make because ultimately, this does have kind of an electric premise, this beach, it's like a "Good Twilight Zone" episode. You know, you're gonna get to know some characters. - Yeah. - They're gonna go through some stuff, maybe how they come out alive, you know? - And it could be simple, it could be a quick shoot. I don't know, 'cause it was probably filming during COVID. - I think so. Also, that's where this secluded beach angle, probably is a savvy business move, you know? - I think it totally works. - Yeah. - And how long is an hour and 48? I mean, it just feels like, you know. - Yeah. Let me also, side tangent, let me recognize that this week was really a breeze in the sense that all of these are an hour and 40 films, so that's where, like, I'm rooting for him, now you know, make a good one, is all. - And I don't know if we brought this up on our last episode that we did him, he really likes to stay PG-13. - Yes. - And I don't know if that, well, would you say that absolutely hurts him? Or does his brain not have rated our brain? - I don't know, I actually, is this one PG-13 as well? - Yes, yeah. - Well, it kind of pushed it a little bit. I feel like for old specifically, that he's in direct conflict with trying to do a body horror. - Okay. - This is about kind of a nightmare scenario of making the audience squirm a little bit of like, oh my God, what if this happened to me? - Right, okay. - And I feel like the PG-13 rating is always gonna be in conflict with that, so. But interesting point, I'd be curious, actually, to look back if which ones were PG-13. I think happening maybe was not PG-13, but clearly. - I would be surprised if they all, I mean, the sixth sense is PG-13. - Oh, yeah, yeah. - The script for the adults isn't much better than this kid acting, but luckily, characters swap over to being adults because of this rapid aging premise. I think I'm more so disappointed when it comes to the casting decisions here. I'm disappointed to the potential in these casting choices, which I was legit excited to see. Sadly, they all fall into very simple roles with clumsy, defining moments ruined by the script. Like we talked about already. Gail Garcia Bernal, great from the Inaridus Study. Excited to see him. Vicky Crips from The Phantom Thread in 2017. Largely wasted here. - Oh, she's also in the new, I think she's in the brand new Vigo Mortensen film, too. - Oh, really? - And apparently people are saying she's really good in it. - Yeah, yeah. - A good actress, absolutely. Kind of similar vibe to, oh, I'm missing her name, but when we covered a zone of interest and an enemy of the fall. - Oh, my God, that would be of a fall. - Yeah, that's what's her name. - I can't remember. - Yeah, but similar like that where it's like, clearly she's not trying to lose the foreign accent, but good in its own right, you know? - Good, yeah, yeah. And she is in that, what is it called? It's called the dead don't hurt, the Vigo film. - Oh, interesting. I should give that a watch at some point. - Yeah. - It's gonna be out in demand soon, if not already. - Yeah. - Anyway, these are the two starring actors, leading actors. - Yes, they're the main two parents. - And you're fine with. Nothing is done with them, it's like loss of potential. - But a box. - It's not a disappointment here. Yeah, put them in a box, but also. It's also like, the moments they have to define themselves is just like, it's nothing, you know? - Oh, of course, yeah, yeah. - It really does boil down to a Twilight Zone episode, 'cause it's like, they don't have time to have breathing room with it. - Like, you're the parents in Jurassic Park? - No. Maybe. - You're like, you're not thinking about the parents. - You have to think about Jurassic Park. - Just keep running with it, go ahead, go ahead. (laughing) - Rufus Suel, I think it's pronounced, it gives me another moment to mention the cult classic Dark City, it's coming, folks. We'll eventually cover Dark City. Maybe on my birthday I'll cover Dark City. - Okay, go for it. - And plenty of others, like Thomas and Mackenzie, big fan of her, Alex Wolfe, Abby Lee, all rising talent that I was rooting for to be in meaningful projects, none of them come out particularly strong here. And honestly, I can't quite put my finger on what's lacking that would make this work better, you know? I don't really have a solution here in looking at this, it's just kind of like, comes out as, blah, you know? - Right, make it a better script. - Yeah. - Fix the story and you have a killer hour and a half Twilight Zone. - Exactly, yeah, maybe even shorten it a little bit further. My one guess about how the movie flows is actually a critique I don't think I've ever made on the podcast, and the pacing is actually a bit too quick, believe it or not. By 30 minutes in, everyone has a pretty good hypothesis of what's going on. This lets the runtime cram in a lot of horror scenarios in a short period. We're kind of just balancing around to everyone just experiencing the nightmare of this beach. But I think if the problem solving was giving a little bit more room to breathe, the body horror was maybe given some more time to marinate, I think it would hit a lot harder. There's just not enough time for dread to set in, because we're constantly jumping to the next horror beat, and that concept of dread is very important when you're not doing jump scares, you're not doing cheap scares in the film. Also because everyone figures out the beach so quickly, the runtime feels like it's on rails, both for us and the characters, we're just kind of like waiting for things to wrap up. Or at least that was my experience with it. - Wear things, dive off the deep end, and boy, I hate that it's a theme in these 2010s, these later projects of M-Night. The last 20 minutes though, takes a pretty big turn for the worst. It just doesn't stick the landing, including one of the most ridiculous cameos from M-Night himself. He shows up in trap, which is definitely in competition, being that he talks about his daughter in that. But this one is definitely the most ridiculous M-Night cameo. He gets like a solid six minutes on screen. That was like, but... I obviously won't go into detail on this, but it goes back to what I said with leading with the twist. In old Shyamalan movies, take the happening, for instance, the worst of the bunch, but still, a good example. The twist is the payoff to the mystery. Red Crumbs leading us to answers turned out to be slightly wrong, only for another answer to solve the mystery, the kind of the rug pull on us. Here, characters peg it pretty easy, and now that forces him to make an ending that doesn't suit his style, specifically having a twist that tries to create a satisfying story arc or have an optimistic ending, and that should be the opposite goal of a body horror, or a horror in general, you know what I mean? We shouldn't really be going out on a high note. We see similar awkward landings to the ending in glass and knock at the cabin. Honestly, those both fit in the same brand of like, these endings, these ending twists, I almost wish they just were omitted, you know? It kind of hurt the whole experience to it. So here's hoping trap can do better. So we're gonna go in and give old 2021 a 38. - Okay, 38. - This poor guy, this poor guy just needs a little bit, just needs to, I don't know, energy shot of good writing. - What if we had M9 on the podcast? (laughs) - Pennsylvania's the same podcast. - Well, we have Pennsylvania going for us, which is great. - Yeah, right, that's our only advantage. - Other than that, we'll tell him not to listen to any of our material. - Right, right. - Do we include the watchers and new nemathes? - That's your call. I mean, I get that we're late to the punch on it, but... - We'll keep it new, it's still new for us. - Sure, sure. - All right, so before we get on to our next two films, folks, and we just wanna remind everybody that Vin and I are completely producer supported. We're not gonna have ad, we're not gonna shove advertising on to you or on the site. It's not pay to play, so there's not paywalls, there's no tier structures or anything like that. Basically, it's the value for value model. And Vin and I have the website, we do the podcast every week, it's all there for you and it's technically free. But the idea is that if, are you enjoying it? Are you listening? Are you checking out the site? 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You can just, you have comments or critiques, anything that you feel the need to say or ask us. When you're producer of the show, that just means the world and we want to acknowledge that. We'll read your note right here in the producer segment and give you a shout out and thanks as well. So anyone, if you're enjoying what we're doing here at the dailybraidings again, it's the dailybraidings.com, head to the donations tab, and you can send in whatever amount, no matter how small or how big it's all there for you, whether it's set donations or you just pay whatever number and you send that in. When you're sending your donation note, you can do it through PayPal or email us at tom.vin@thedailybraidings.com. Tom.vin@thedailybraidings.com email us there. We thank you for all those who have produced this year. And if you want to be producer of episode 147 next week, just head to the dailybraidings.com. All right, with that, Vint, let's keep it going here. So did you see the watchers in a theater? Like at one of the, as they start to trickle down. No, no, actually this was good for the on-the-road watch to tackle it, just, it was, I had to buy it ultimately, but it was like, yeah, yeah, exactly. It might still be trickling around on some of the smaller theaters. Oh, really? You're on the smaller circuits. Interesting. But okay, this is the watchers and this is Eshana Knight Shyamalan. Yes. And first movie by her. Yeah, first movie is she did some directing on her father's TV show, Servant, on Apple TV+, or Apple Plus, or Apple TV, but that's about it. This is fresh out of the gate, pretty much. Okay, so let's see what she does on a bigger platform. We have some familiar faces in this film, but let's just break down the watchers for us, Vint. Yeah. So this was an early release, not too long ago, and while we didn't cover it, like I mentioned chatting about trailers last time, it was probably a dodged bullet, honestly. Metacritic with a dicey 46 and wrong tomatoes with an even worse 32 uncharacteristic. Yeah, that's very rare for those two things, be off like that. Yeah, yeah. So I kind of felt morbidly curious to check this out and give Shyamalan's daughter a shot at the directing chair. And overall, I'm kind of coming a little bit lighter than both of those. This movie wasn't great, but I also don't think it was a train wreck like those other scores would indicate, especially that 32-in-run tomatoes. So if anything, this felt like a gateway movie for specific youth audience, not into horror or thrillers just yet, and something that I was conscious of the PG-13 rating for, not really realizing-- Oh, she got one too. Yeah, yeah. I just assumed this was rated R. Really? Well, the way the trailer was, I thought it was like this scary spooky thing. Yeah, yeah, right. It does definitely try to be like super spooky at first, but that does take a backseat. I think that's also a thing where the criticism of the film more, because it's definitely, the movie you get is not the elevator pitch. We're pretty much done with that, like 45 minutes in, and then it's something else. Okay, sticking with the Shyamalan. Oh, yeah, yeah. She is her father's daughter. As Shana Shyamalan has some brief experiences of writer and director on her father's Apple TV show, like I said, "Servant," show that has surprising levels of viewership, especially for Apple TV, and an audience either loving it or tearing it to shreds. So folks write in if you have any opinions on "Servant." This is her next project immediately after that, and looked to be so much in her father's style of thriller, then it almost felt copycat-ish, and the poor first film to define Shana's career, kind of breaking out on her own. The Watchers is a mystery thriller with a dash of fantasy. We follow Dakota Faving, a party-centric Irish youth, with a mysterious past that seems to be a mix of tragic and haunting. For her job at the pet store, she has to deliver a bird to the countryside, but when she arrives, a seemingly endless forest consumes her with the only shelter being an observation box in the middle of the woods. Three other prisoners are trapped there as well, and are well familiar with the rules to survive. Stay in the daylight, don't open the door after dark, and be mindful that the Watchers allow them to live. Each night, the Watchers come to observe our prisoners like fish in a tank, and probably one of the honest aspects is how easily the prisoners slip into their new roles as pets. Who or what the Watchers are are the question, however, and you're in luck, because we get that answer pretty damn quickly. (laughing) - I like the idea, by the way. - Yeah. - Like this idea, it's like, okay, it's a small film, but this has some legs to it. - Yeah, absolutely. - It's a spookiness to it. I think even the trailer was pretty good. The trailer grabbed my attention. - It wasn't bad. - Yeah. - And did it really give you much? - You're right. - You know, as far as conclusion or twists things, you know what I mean? - Right, right. - Turns out. - Okay. - There's really not much. (laughing) The film takes a hard pivot and becomes just, it's not really like a twist either, it's kind of just become something else halfway through, and I feel like that's what just threw critics off, specifically. I would say on the good end, the writing feels a lot more natural, which is great to see that quality. Is it hereditary from her father? (laughing) However, this has got some big blocks of dialogue which are constantly info dumping, almost every aspect of the mystery here. Prescribing us answers for anything you are even relatively curious about. Much like old, this has some pretty snappy pacing, which while we don't have really time for fear to set in, it kind of is worth it for how quickly this mystery moves. You know, it's not like a boring movie, per se. But the common critique online is about the story and how it just gives the audience way too much, and I really do agree with this. Each character has their own experience with the watchers and gives a big rundown of what they know. This creates more of a show don't tell problem where not only do we only solve the mystery by someone telling us the answers of the mystery. - Yep, nobody likes that. - But legitimately, we miss out on horror scenes that could be made to show us those clues, those breadcrumbs, you know? I feel like that's what's really robbed from this, is it's horror vibes. And I totally get where that's a frustrating aspect to the film. But I think why I'm coming a little bit more positive is that it still kind of could potentially fit in some sort of youth audience, kind of a gateway, the horror that's not too scary. - I think that, and not only that, we could be attached to Dakota Fanning. - Yeah, sure. - Too very lovable. - Absolutely. - And nice to be along with the ride with. - Yep, yep. Also, I'm forgetting her name, the chick from Barbarian is in this as well, is a sporting actor. Is that Georgina Campbell? - Yes. - Okay. - Yep, that's all right. But it's important to note that it's not too scary, and that's where I'll kind of make a stand on this film. I'll give some credit for being this kind of decent thriller that's only PG-13, and I feel like there's some intentionality to aim at a young adult market. Like I said, there's a dash of fantasy here that feels like a good fit into that genre of movies as well. For instance, I could see this kind of going after an audience for some of the darker Harry Potter films, or Twilight. - Okay, okay. - You know, well, that's not me. (laughing) I don't think it's necessarily a bad approach, and I feel like Ashanna's female voice as a director, coming to this, clearly she probably grew up with those type of films, so kind of makes sense of a little bit in the DNA. But I also understand how the ending leaning into this more, and specifically away from almost anything the trailer shows, is a big disappointment when the initial premise and that style of the story gets pushed aside, I mean, 45 minutes in, hour at max, I mean, it really gets pushed aside. I understand that as a disappointing factor to the film, 'cause I was kind of disappointed as well. This heavy twist though, it did feel very reminiscent of our first Shama on Special, where these type of big reveals, that's what made M9 famous in the first place. - Yeah, yeah. - Now where Ashanna falls short, is in the themes thrown out in the run time. There's little to nothing done with them. A small example is like this pet store occupation of our main character, and then this fish tank set up, I mean. - They're the birds in the cage. - Right, literally goes nowhere, but other than like, oh, that's, yeah, I guess that kind of makes sense, you know. Goes nowhere otherwise. Once again, these could've been used as the breadcrumbs to let the audience connect to what the watchers are, connect the dots for themselves, without being told every ounce of the mystery. And I really mean that, like any question you have walking into this movie will be answered by dialogue and not being shown. - Not being shown, yeah. - And even in regards to her copying her father's style, the twist should ideally bring in themes, bring it all together in some way. No spoilers as always, but this dash of fantasy seems like it is just completely overtakes, it overpowers the ideas in the story in exchange for using its setting in a creative way. I don't know if it's worth it. And worst of all, Bienning gives us a small dose of sequel bait, which I doubt will ever get made after the critical reception of this film. And if anything, I genuinely hope Ashanna can move on to other story concepts, including a re-roll of using the Shyamalan twist. We're gonna go ahead and give the watchers a 41. - Okay, 41. (laughing) That's good for this week. - And it's free, yeah, that's great. - Very bad box office too, of course. It did not do well, it really came and went. Now, it was also, I think this was right around what was the course of the beginning made. Despicably, no, not first of two. - Inside out? - Yeah, inside out two. First of two is coming up. But I think it was right around that weekend too. It just got clobbered, it just got forgotten. - Absolutely. - Kind of left in the dust. - Like we're seeing what's happening with the Deadpool Wolverine on some of the smaller releases. - That's a good point. - Yeah, yeah, twist is still kind of holding. - Oh, really, interesting. - Already has a video on demand on like the 19th of August. And it's just like, it's kind of doing okay. - Let it go. - You're just telling people not to go to the theaters for movie tickets. - Yeah. - Anyway, okay, so the Shyamalan's have yet to break 50 this week. - Let's see. - Let's see if the newest and latest can do it as daddy and daughter, both hit in the summer pretty hard. (laughing) This is now truly in theaters now released. This is just out for a few days. This is called Trap, another ingenious title. (laughing) We're back in Philly, as you said here. Vin set up Trap and get into it for us. - Well, he hooked me. The man hooked me, you know, not only did that second trailer catch my eye and catch my attention enough to mention on the show. - Yes, he did. - But with some trouble seeing what I wanted to cover originally for this week, the bastard got another whole week dedicated to him, so. The first director to do so, and doesn't make me happy, but then again, it kind of does make me happy. (laughing) I really, I, I, I enjoyed this week of watching. I mean, I know these are like horrific scores, but I enjoyed watching this week and something about being on the road. It's like what, it's like the cabin vibes. Like whatever's on TV, it works, you know? And with this it was just like, they're all in hour 40. It didn't put out to put a ring on it, you know. They were breezy watches, you know. - Okay, yeah. - I knew they were all bad in some way. - He sounds like they didn't have to try. - It's interesting. Well, I'm glad you're taking this route, because it's either that or it's sent, would have sent you into a deep depression. - Yeah, yeah. (laughing) - Exactly. - And also, there's something about being home with Shyamalan, you know? (laughing) We're all key stoners here, we're all good. - You're all good. - Keystone proud. - Yeah. - You know, unlike the film we started this week with, Trap takes the polar opposite approach and leans heavily on the Shyamalan brand, marketed as a new M9 Shyamalan experience or even titled as M9's trap in some listings for the movie. And this is where I questioned how the twist has evolved in his own work. You know, while this first trailer cut for this, briefly tried to play Keep Away with the villainous spin of the story. Soon after, we saw PR leaning directly, heavily into the twist and putting Josh Hartnett, center spotlight as our campy killer. I think this was the best thing about the story too. And the best thing it had going for it. It allows us to understand the stakes of our character and that he has to escape the trap set by the police, all while giving the viewers a twisted character to either root for or root against. I think that this is where, when I say like, boilerplate or elevator pitch type of ideas, this one is like, all right, you got it M9. This is an electric premise. I think a fun premise. And from the jump, that's why I was into this. And I kinda like the trailer along with you. Because I'm getting vibed, I like the idea. Part of it also, it just seems like a bigger movie. You have a lot of extras on screens. - Oh, right, right. - And there's something about that where I'm watching a maybe faster, louder, more participatory movie, like that many people on screen and stuff, that's getting into maybe away from the horror, as it seemed, and you're getting into a thriller paste movie. - Yes. - There's something there I'm just like, if this is a new M9, if this, we're getting into fourth era M9, right? - Yeah, yeah, I guess so, yeah, fourth era. - Fourth era? - That's how I can be, I can be down for this. - Yeah, yeah, scale it down in concept, like in the headies' concepts and just make it, make it an experience. I mean, that's where I like him almost in the branding of like, this is an experience, but. - Question is, where does it go, I guess? - You know, where is it going? - Where does it go? - Where does it stick blending? (laughing) - Also, quick bone to pick. - The press circuit has been heavily marketing, this is Josh Hartnett's big return to acting. Yeah, the dude has never stopped, he's just been in shitty movies. (laughing) I mean, not even remotely truthful either, 'cause Hartnett was in big productions like "Openheimer" and "Black Mirror," even if it wasn't like the, yeah, exactly, I had to look it up, but. - Was he the guy who played? - He's one of the scientists in. - He's wear glasses, kinda looks like Superman. - Yeah, yeah, absolutely. - That's a huge role. - That's a huge role, what are the biggest, most renowned movies? (laughing) - So, yeah, this is big return to acting, oh sure, sure. (laughing) Sheppling bullshit our way. - A trap is 100%, a true suspense thriller that puts us in the shoes of a serial killer who just happens to be a father taking his daughter to a concert. The fake mega pop star, Lady Raven, has sold out Center City, Philadelphia. (laughing) Scratch that, it's actually just Toronto, like every other goddamn movie. (laughing) Josh Hartnett juggles dual lives, a domestic corny father and a murderous sociopath named The Butcher. While the night starts out fun and light, excited for his daughter to see her favorite pop star, quickly he observes the walls closing in around him and the police and the FBI and hell, even a mastermind profiler, very cartoony, intend on not letting anyone out of this arena until they find The Butcher. Without panicking or letting on to how screwed he is, The Butcher has to escape the night Taylor made for him that his daughter will surely never forget. Folks, concept wise, I think this was a sharp premise for a movie, however, I think the biggest strength and the biggest weakness is framing the story within this concert. I think it's a large positive for me and what type of scripts I like, what kind of story premises I like. I'm a big fan of a story that has structure we can identify with, a massive concert like this, has a lot of set pieces that are instantly recognizable. When Hartnett is scanning the area for opportunities or weak spots, the audience is able to do the same. Spotting security cams, maybe taking some notes of exits. - This is gold, this is great. - Blending into a huge crowd, yeah. - This is like a bad bond. - Right, sure, yeah. You know, there is an interactive quality to it and that's where I'm all right with even, you know, this branding around an experience, you know? It lets the viewer interact with the story because they can do exactly what our character is doing, thinking of ways of how they would get out of this trap and I think that's electric. I also think it helps the pacing because there's a ticking clock at play. Not only is the concert only going to be so long, Hartnett has to get back to his daughter to juggle this like father persona. But for all that praise, it does create some unrealistic moments in the narrative and I feel like where this movie, I did not look at the ratings on this. Scout's honor. - Oh good, good for you. - Yeah. (laughs) 'Cause I definitely, I think I like this movie, but I didn't want to be tainted as always. But I think where people are going to have problems with this 'cause everyone has a problem with them, right, is that there's a lot of unrealistic moments that will probably strip you out of the narrative. A very simple one that took me out of this. Any time he takes his daughter away from this performance, she's like going nuts over. Why would the daughter leave any of the music set behind? Why would the daughter leave her near front row position to the concert, you know? - Very interesting. I have not heard this as far as the reality of it or what would actually happen. - Yeah, there's, the film is kind of peppered with these little moments that I could see the type of plot hole type of nerds of the internet, the cinemasins and shit like that, will easily like just pigeon hole this to death. And I'm not saying that's wrong either. You know, again, a very simple example with no spoilers. No way in hell with this little girl under any circumstances, leave mid-set of this, like, you know, she's going ballistic over this. You know, especially around the fanaticism around Lady Raven, who is supposed to be on par with any pop star today, so. - Taylor Swiftie and Tyse, yeah. - Absolutely, absolutely. But that's where things kind of chip away. That's where it's a strength. I think a really strong strength of the idea of the plot. And then just an execution comes out a little sloppy. That is a great note and a great bridge to talk about Lady Raven herself, who is played by M. Knight's own daughter, Salika Shyamalan. At first I couldn't tell if this was a blatant nepotism to boost your singing career or just, hey, just another savvy business move, you know. - She is a singer, isn't she, in real life. Yeah, that's right. - So I was a little split on it, not to parody his own titles, but especially with how minimal the soundtrack here is in parts, it really did feel like, no, maybe he's just, you know, he's working savvy. - I think he's a family man. I think he's just a family man. - Yeah. - That's what it comes down to. - These are Pennsylvania values here. (laughing) - You know, sadly there is a moment though that it tips over to being too much of an inclusion. And in ways, there's a section of this film that it moments makes it feel like she's the main character. - Oh, that's not good. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. And I feel like it just hurts. Some of the great momentum the plot had, specifically around the focus and the panic of our killer. There really is a moment in this. And I saw this with my family. There was a moment in this that I looked to the people I was watching with and I said, I don't know where this is going. (laughing) There's a moment, it was just like-- - In a very good way. - Yeah, in a good way. And unfortunately, this is also the moment where that inclusion kind of tips over to being a little bit too much. - A little bit too much. - Yeah, a little bit more like, I think anyone is going to spot this and be like, oh, this is kind of like, he's just putting his daughter up in his own movie. - Right, right. - You know, it kind of seems-- - Adam Sandlerish. - Yeah, sure. - Sure, absolutely. So, so that's an element there that I think it's a little tough. Moving on to Josh Hartnett, I thought he was pretty solid in this in this kind of like subtle fight or flight observation. He's quiet. He's not showing it on his face, but you can see his eyes are darting and whatnot. And us at, you know, once again, this is where the brilliance of this premise comes into play because we know the stakes. We don't need him dialogue, you know, we don't need him narrating over this to give us the stakes. We know the stakes. We see it tightening around his neck, the noose. But after sitting with this review for a bit, I realize I feel like I love the character more, not really the acting involved. - Yeah, sure, okay. - You know, for instance, I love the dual game he has to play, juggling his father persona and obscuring the killer inside him. The more pressure put on him, the more cracks that start to show. I also think seeing what smokescreen he throws out is a fun movie experience. You kind of like a catch me if you can from 2002. You know, it's like, it's entertaining seeing what cards are played and what maybe cards are held back a little bit for later on in the plot, you know. I think that's an entertaining story to kind of play out. I also thought it was a fun angle to take for the story to put us inside the boiling pot. You know, I haven't made a food of reference in a while, but it really is like we are just so center to feeling that white-hot nervousness, that embarrassment when you got called to the principal office. That's the energy that it captures. He's like, oh, I am so screwed, but he can't show an ounce of it on his face. - Of course, yep, yep. - And I feel like there's just so many elements here that in the best type of M9 Shyamalan type of way, he's really writing to connect with the viewer. He's really writing to connect with the audience. With all that said, however, I think countless casting choices would have been so much better than Josh Hart did. - Yeah, some of mine. - Ah, no, but like anyone else? - Really? - Yeah, you know, Hartnett-- - Would Ryan Reynolds be better in this role? Because I could totally see Ryan Reynolds in this role. - Maybe, maybe. - Talk about a blockbuster summer, that he took him off of this. You know, Hartnett benefits greatly from acting silently. It's these moments where he's not like a cartoonish character. He's not like going in the bathroom being like, what am I gonna do when, you know, things like that. He's silent the whole time. That pays dividends to his acting ability. He's not giving these cartoonish evil speeches, but when he starts doing that, that's where I wished anyone else was in this role. 'Cause I feel like he just did not have the chops for this more maniacal side of the character. Plus there's just super random moments in the film, one where he just takes off his shirt randomly and it just felt like fanservice for John Hartnett. And it's just like, I don't know. So I feel like it spawns from my frustration with this film that it's not like an amazing movie. It's a really good premise wrapped up in a lesser movie. And I feel like something to let it escape that lesser movie shell would be a switch in the main character, main actor, so. But you're right, I don't really have a, who would want? I don't know, just room to phone? I don't know, it's like, it's so weirdo, but. - Nicholas Cage? - Yeah, yeah, yeah, this would be a great Nick Cage property. - How was the music in the film? - Minimal. - Because the trailer, I liked the music. It had a pace to it and that's what I liked about it. It was, you know what I mean? I liked this chasing aspect to the film. - Oh, for sure, for sure. - But minimal, huh? - Yeah, because a lot of it is Lady Raven, these. I honestly don't know if these were all made for the movie or there's prior music or something like that. I'm not really sure. I would say actually specifically, that's where an element comes into play that this does feel like a streaming movie. This feels a little bit, you know, lesser as far as the shell. - I can't, you said that had been a lot of a lot of his films. - True. - Even before streaming, they probably kind of felt stream movies in retrospect, you know what I mean? - Right, you pick it up on Red Box or something. - Yeah, yeah. - It sounds like the deliverables weren't there, basically. - Yes, yes, it's a little bit not sticking to the landing. It's a little bit just like the execution of the whole thing. - Right, right. - Music is actually one of those areas, I feel like. - That could have been souped up. - Yeah, even just the score, just those like, pensive moments, a lot of moments are really like dead quiet in this film and I found myself asking like, why? You know? - It should be loud. - Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's a concert, you know what I mean? Even that, like just make it kind of like a dizzying experience. - Well, even just like those John Wick scenes, where all you have is action going on and just blaring music. - Yeah, yep. - You know, it doesn't have to be decked though. - Right, right. - But something as maybe Josh Harnett is working his way through this problem, you know, these issues. - Absolutely, yeah, like a pensive, like, you know, some sort of ticking clock element to add to it, you know? But really, I'm coming out, like, like the visit, I'm really pulled in some opposite directions here. You know, folks, I felt this was such an electric idea, but just wrapped up in a significantly lesser movie. And many times the production quality just feels so distinctly lower budget and it's like, man, I don't know, deserved better almost. I think my elevator pitch for this movie, folks, is that it's basically Shyamalan's take on the anime death note, especially when it comes to the game of wits between police and our killer. But, like, so many films this week, it just doesn't quite stick the landing and is more than a little spotty in quality in areas. Contrary to M9's own branding on the title of this film, I think, honestly, I would kill for another director's take on Trap as ridiculous as that would be. With that said, we're gonna go ahead and give Trap a 60 on the dot. - Okay, we're above water. - We have 60% is getting to an all right movie. - I think so, I think I would be willing to defend this enough. It's premise enough that, you know, it's enough of a fun experience that you have and such an interactive type of story that I think I'm willing to defend. - There's something there, yeah. - Yeah, and you've totally stayed away from kind of other-- - Stayed away. - Stayed away. - The big thing, I believe, is what I'm picking up on. People really like where it goes or where it's going. The second half of the film is where people get dropped off completely and you kind of spoke a little bit towards that, but not so much the holes here or there. It's just the tonal switch. When you take that Shyamalan second act or further act, that's what people have a lot of issues with. - Wow, wow. And I get it because even there's a moment where it's like, wow, what is gonna happen? Like we are off the rails in like a really good way. Like I could not even begin to predict where it was gonna go, but I think by the end it's just like, oh, okay. (laughing) - Oh boy, oh boy this week. - Yeah, yeah. - Vin, do you have any closing notes on these films here before we kind of talk about the future weeks or no? - No, I mean, listen, I'm happy. We can give some more time with Shyamalan. He really doesn't have another one in these. We don't have enough movies. I think we could technically do the three unbreakables, the lady in the water, which is, I don't know. And then the Avatar movie, which is like, God awful. - The airbender. - Yeah, yeah. - So. - Oh, just wait two years. It's gonna be just way two years. - It's a flashback to the lessons. - Set your calendar, folks. - Yeah, yeah, let's move back. - And coming up, you know, in the coming weeks of daily ratings, what do we have in mind? We're closing out Western week, or Western month. (laughing) - Yeah, a little scrambled, I like the last Western month. - Yeah, those, it's always spilled into August, but. - That's just fine. - Yeah, we're gonna do the Cowboys for the John Wayne slot. I do want to squeeze in Let the Corpses Tan, which will be the polar opposite of the Cowboys. Cowboys is like a family Western film. Let the Corpses Tan sound scary by the name alone. And then for the new releases, we have the Borderlands movie. - No. - A lot of actors. - No, I'm not excited. - A lot of actors, man. - Let me just say, gamer wisdom, looter shooters don't usually have good story. So this is not gonna be, no one's repping Borderlands story. And then I'm hoping not to be overhyped for it, but the horror movie Cuckoo, it should be in theaters and hopefully a great time. - Okay, excellent, some things on the horizon there. I can't wait for the Cowboys. I thought it was coming this week, so I gotta watch, I'm gonna watch it again, 'cause why not? (laughing) For next week. Vint, thank you so much while you're away this week, making it happen, getting these films watched. Appreciate it so much for you, stop and bye. And before my voice completely goes, we're gonna wrap this puppy up here, folks. So on the Shyamalan dinner night, family night here, we've got After Earth with a 28%. The visit with a 37, old with a 38 and the watchers, the watchers with a 41. You haven't done five movies in a while. - Yeah, you have for real. - The watchers with a 41% and trap. Really, almost seeming like a massive movie here with a 60%. (laughing) So folks, thank you so much for listening. We appreciate it so much. And we'll see you next week on the Daily Ratings podcast. (upbeat music) Hey, if you enjoyed the podcast, if you would, give us a good rating or get the word out and tell a friend about us. Just a reminder, the Daily Ratings is completely producer supported. We wanna stay away from advertising. We don't wanna have any paywalls or tier structures or subscriptions. It's all just value for value. So are you finding value in any of the things that we're doing here at the Daily Ratings? Then become a producer and donate whatever amount of value that is. Just go to the donations tab on the dailybraiding.com. And while you're there, be sure to check out the massive amount of films that Vince has rated. So thanks so much everybody. We'll see you next time on the Daily Ratings podcast. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)
