Bird Box's Better Aspects Get Let Down By An Overly Convoluted Script

Over the course of the last few days, Bird Box has become one of the most talked-about movies of the moment, with memes (which seem to be coming from genuine real-life people despite early reports to the contrary) centered around the movie popping up everywhere and Netflix bragging about their record-breaking viewership numbers for the film. Well, I guess since the internet is now so abuzz with so much talk regarding Susanne Brier's new movie Bird Box, I suppose now is the time for me to pen down my thoughts on the motion picture, which I never could have imagined generating so much widespread conversation, for good and for ill.

The Happening, Like Hot Dogs, Gets A Bad Rap, But Unlike Hot Dogs, It Totally Deserves That Bad Rap

After the double-whammy of the fun thrillers The Visit and Split, going back to watch M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening for the first time is akin to stumbling upon a photo of your friend being deeply intoxicated after that same friend has been sober for four years now. It's a glimpse into a darker era of a person's past, one that's still stuck in the back of your mind even as he cleans up his act and improves himself. Needless to say, The Happening is pretty much an awful bad terrible sinful rot of a motion picture, but it is an entertaining disaster in contrast to Shyamalan's later dismal efforts like The Last Airbender and After Earth which never went beyond being simply dismal.

Split Is The Biggest Sign Yet That M. Night Shyamalan's Creative Resurgence Is Happening

For those concerned that M. Night Shyamalan's 2015 film The Visit was some kind of fluke, that he would be returning to the level of quality found in The Last Airbender and After Earth in future works, put those anxieties to rest. It turns out we may be in the midst of, at the very least, a nice uptick in the career of M. Night Shyamalan, as his newest film, Split, is a thrilling little romp that's equal parts nonsensical and thrilling. It's basically a B-movie plot superimposed onto higher quality filmmaking and acting, and if that sounds like a complaint, it really isn't at all. Actually, the film's willingness to embrace the nonsensical and absurd is very much part of its own charm.