M. Night Shyamalan's After Earth gets a 'viral video'. Plus, a brief look back at classic M. Night Shyamalan teasers...

Another bit of catch-up from Comic Con weekend, this 75-second alternative history of the Earth presumably provides a bit of background exposition for Sony's summer 2013 sci-fi spectacle After Earth.  The idea of Will Smith teaming with M. Night Shyamalan is incredibly exciting, as I've written before (long story short, they are both mega-star control freaks who will hopefully temper each other's bad impulses while embracing each others' good ideas).  While I won't paste the plot exposition here for those who don't want to know, I will say that Sony has not been shy about revealing the core story-line as if it were just another science-fiction adventure film.  It's a little disheartening frankly, as I fondly remember the days when M. Night Shyamalan's films went into theaters with barely a hint or two as to what it was actually about.  Unbreakable, Signs, The Village, and Lady in the Water all had bare-bones teasers that often hid the true premise of the respective film, leaving much unknown to the ticket-buyer walking in on opening day.  Yes The Happening didn't have any story twists per-se to reveal while The Last Airbender was based on an existing television show, but I do recall a certain thrill at the intentional withholding of information following The Sixth Sense's surprising success.  They were masterclasses for selling a movie without giving away much at all, and they all retain their impact no matter what how we feel about the finished films.  Anyway, M. Night Shyamalan's After Earth opens June 7th, 2013.  Click below the jump some classic N. Night Shyamalan teasers (thanks to Trailer Addict for keeping these around).  Which one is your favorite?  For me, it's a toss-up between Unbreakable and The Village.

Scott Mendelson

Review: Chronicle (2012) is a compelling character drama, a visual dazzler, and a thoughtful deconstruction of the 'chosen hero' myth.

Chronicle
2012
83 minutes
rated PG-13

by Scott Mendelson

I've written a lot over the last couple years about how, if superhero films are going to survive, they are going to have to be able to be about something other than the generic tropes of superhero comic book adventures.  Captain America excelled because it was a World War II period action drama, while Green Lantern mostly faltered because it wasn't about anything other than its own conventions.  Chronicle (written by Max Landis and directed by Josh Trank) is a shining example of a powerful emotional tragedy that involves certain comic book conventions without really being about them.  At heart, the picture is a fierce rebuttal of the now-cliche 'with great power comes a superior destiny' motif that has been central to the last ten years of big-budget fantasy pictures, both those based on comics and those based on young-adult fantasy novels.  More than just a deconstruction of fantasy tropes, Chronicle is a thoughtful and empathetic story of  three disparate teens who end up with special powers and how it does or does not change them.