ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

Although M. Night Shyamalan's first three movies — The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs — were brilliant and flawless, I haven't been impressed with any of his films since then.

The Village, The Lady in the Water, and The Happening left me scratching my head, wondering if I just didn't get the movies or I'd developed head lice.

I concluded it was the former.

After all, The Sixth Sense was a fresh new approach to ghosts stories, Unbreakable was a brand new way to present a superhero (and his archenemy), and Signs was the scariest alien invasion movie since The Thing from Another World!

The rest of the films all had a murky premise at best and stories that wandered around like a drunken party guest!

I already own the DVD of Signs, and I just ordered the DVD's of The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable for well under $20.00, with free shipping thanks to Amazon Prime!

Here's a few interesting trivia items from IMDB for The Sixth Sense.
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When Cole and Malcolm are entering Kyra's bedroom at her wake, Malcolm is standing directly behind Cole; however, when the camera cuts to the shadows on the floor as the door opens, we only see Cole's shadow. Another clue that Malcolm is actually dead. Also, on the doorknob, we can see the reflection of Cole's face but not Malcolm's face (although we probably can see his body).

Note from me: This is one of the many clues I missed when I first saw this movie. The ending knocked my socks off, and they both landed right in the laundry hamper! It was plum supernatural!

While circling a passage in the notes, Bruce Willis does so with his right hand. Willis is actually left-handed; he learned how to write right-handed so that viewers wouldn't notice that his wedding band was no longer on his hand. Willis also draws the circle clockwise (like a left-handed person would), while most right-handed people would draw it counter-clockwise.

Note from me: Hey, left-handed people DO draw circles clockwise! I'm a left-handed artist, and most of my figures and heads are drawn facing to the right because the curved lines are easier to draw that way — like this one below!
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Hold a pen in your left hand and pretend to draw a clockwise arc like the right side of a circle using just your wrist. Then try to draw a counter-clockwise arc the same way, like the left side of a circle.

You'll quickly see what I mean!

Throughout the movie, Malcolm never moves any objects (except the Latin dictionary), and he does not interact with anyone but Cole. For example, he never opens a door. The chair he sits on while in the restaurant with his wife is already pulled out. And when he reaches for the check, his wife just beats him to it.

Note from me: This was so cleverly done I never noticed it during the movie. However, I should mention that the first time I watched it I had to leave the theater in the middle of the movie because by ex-wife was so grossed out by the boy who blew the back of his head off while playing with his father's gun, she insisted that we leave! (I didn't get to see the whole movie until a few years later — after the divorce.)

Reputedly, Haley Joel Osment got the role of Cole Sear for one of three reasons. First, he was best for it. Second, he was the only boy at auditions who wore a tie. Third, director M. Night Shyamalan was surprised when he asked Haley Joel Osment if he read his part. Osment replied, "I read it three times last night." Shyamalan was impressed, saying, "Wow, you read your part three times?" To which Osment replied, "No, I read the script three times."

Note from me: I'm impressed. I can't read scripts, because a script is like a blueprint of a house — a detailed representation of the house's component parts. Blueprints are only used to construct the building. They are not meant to be works of art.

A novel, however, is more like a painting. It shows how the building looks — complete with color, perspective, details, landscaping, and even the cloud-filled blue sky above it! Being an author and an artist, I prefer novels and paintings to scripts and blueprints.

On the Vista Series DVD, if the Main Menu is left idle long enough, a discordant note will play as a ghost walks past the breakfast table on the screen.

Note from me: I order the two-disc DVD today just because of this recommendation for it.
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All the trailers for this fine film are bloody awful! They're the worst examples of that horrible "slide show" technique, with quick scenes fading in and out. In this case, the scenes only last about one second, so we don't really know what's going on.

It doesn't make us want to watch the movie and it certainly doesn't give us a good idea of what the story is about. The version below is the best of the ones I watched on Youtube . . . and it's still horrendous!

____________ The Sixth Sense 1999 HD Trailer


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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Here's a new Movie Facts of the Day, this time on Daily Motion instead of YouTude!

Enjoy!
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______ The Sixth Sense - 1999 - You didn't know


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)