The Village

This movie is fantastic. Completely smart, very scary, beautifully shot. Gorgeous on every level. It's the kind of movie I wish I hadn't seen, so I could see it again for the first time. I liked it better than all of M. Night Shamalayanadahan's movies put together, including The Sixth Sense counted twice. Dan and I kept looking at each other and saying, "This movie is so cool." And when it was over, we watched *all* the bonus features, including a ten minute thing on, like, EDITING it or something. We haven't responded to a movie like this since... maybe _Sleepy Hollow_.

It got *awful* reviews.

I think that when the movie came out (I didn't notice, I had a new baby) there was a lot of hype surrounding the plot twists. Kind of like Sixth Sense, where there's this huge thing at the end. So people were too focused on that, and analyzed the whole movie through that filter. We were fortunate enough NOT to know that, or read any reviews, or hear any hype before watching it. Yah, there are twists. But who cares? If you haven't seen it, don't think about any of the media surrounding it, if you can. Just watch it, and don't anticipate anything while you watch. I know, that's impossible.

I cannot express how much I liked this movie. It was... totally perfect. Every moment considered. Every line important, everything in every shot adding value, nothing wasted. A masterpiece.