Reason to Be Fearful, Part Three
M. Night Shyamalan’s Eastrail 177 Trilogy is now complete. In the first part, Unbreakable (2000), Samuel L. Jackson’s character deliberately causes a train wreck that “creates” two super heroes. James McAvoy’s character’s father is killed, and the son, abused by his mother, eventually suffers multi-personality disorder and is able to crawl on ceilings and leap like a frog. Bruce Willis’ character, the only survivor of the wreck, discovers that he is immune from injury. Confined to a wheelchair because of brittle bones, Jackson’s character creates comic books. I do not recall how, in his condition, he was able to derail the train. In Split (2016), the focus is on McAvoy’s character, now a serial killer. In Glass (2019), the protagonists are eventually housed in a facility under the care of a shrink, played by Sarah Paulson, who wants to end the increasingly popular belief that super heroes are among the living. Of course, it all leads to a showdown, and a neat twist at the end. Participating in key events are a young woman freed by the murderer in the second installment, played by Anya Taylor-Joy; the author’s loving mom, played by Charlayne Woodard; and the crash survivor’s son, played by Spencer Treat Clark. They are woven neatly into the narrative. Shyamalan, who wrote the screenplay as he did for the previous parts, places the three main figures on the same plane, which did not work for me, although I realize monsters are usually loved by someone in real life. I had little sympathy for the maniac or the afflicted writer, each responsible for so many deaths. I thought that in the end the story would have been merely a contrivance of the author, one of his comics, but it seems to want to be taken at face value. 151,000+ users at IMDb have rated Glass, forging to a consensus of 6.7 on a scale of ten. It was a winner at the box office. Made on a budget of $20 million, it returned $246+ million worldwide. Although I can’t say I liked the series, I found it interesting and a fresh, much needed departure from the barrage of standard super hero movies being made. Shyamalan’s quest to equal the brilliance of The Sixth Sense (1999) continues. None of his subsequent films have come close. Here are McAvoy, Jackson and Willis in character:
Sign of the times, foxnews.com headline: “Canadian single dad faces human rights complaint for asking about babysitter’s gender.”
I’ve hit a bump in the road in my literary quest. A friend who liked Inside Out wanted to rate it at Amazon. Suddenly there is a block on all ten of my books. I emailed the company and was told the legitimacy of the customer reviews has been questioned. I don’t know if it has to do with the few wherein it was obvious the person knew me, or if someone recently tried to do me a favor by mass posting. I’m only mildly disappointed, as there aren’t enough reviews of my works to impress prospective buyers.
Business was a lot better than usual at the floating book shop on this beautiful summer day. My thanks to the gentleman who reminds me of Nikita Khrushchev, who bought five novels in Russian; and to the two women who took home one each; and to Danny, who purchased three works of non-fiction; and to Monse`, who selected two books on popes; and to the woman who chose Sisters by Danielle Steel; and to Bad News Billy, who spent a few days in the hospitals following an accident in which his airbag deployed and he incurred a few bumps and bruises but little damage to his car, as opposed to the other vehicle. He went on a buying spree for the nurses who were so good to him, opting for several works on pregnancy, two medical books in Russian, and Seal’s Human Being CD.
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