Nolan at the Crossroads
Last night’s Santa Barbara Film Festival Chris Nolan tribute was fine. Nolan was gracious and charming in his usual curt-but-frank sort of way, and moderator Pete Hammond asked lively and intelligent questions. And it was cool when Leonardo DiCaprio (wearing a super-short 1930s haircut for Clint Eastwood‘s J. Edgar, which starts shooting on 2.5) stepped out to present the Modern Master award.
Modern Master award recipient Christopher Nolan (l.), moderator Pete Hammond (r.) at Santa Barbara’s Arlington theatre — Sunday, 1.30, 8:40 pm.
The after-party happened at some ESPN tin-shack honky tonk-type joint on lower State Street. I’m sorry but I’m not very big on places that have extremely polite, 450-pound, seven-foot-tall black guys asking you for your ID at the door. I was half-interested in chatting with Nolan for a few minutes but I got tired of waiting around and and tired in general so I bailed…sorry.
Nolan’s big take-away quote was “it’s best to pursue the movie you want to see the most…one you really want to see yourself.” (Or words to that effect.) So that means Nolan really and truly would like to see another Batman movie? Honestly? And he’d like to see another Superman movie (which he’s producing)? Because I don’t believe him. At all.
Isn’t Nolan making The Dark Knight Rises (which starts filming in May) as a payback to Warner Bros. for their having bankrolled Inception? And isn’t he helping out on Zack Snyder‘s Superman flick because…well, c’mon, really, why would he want to make a Superman film? Why would anyone?
However well made they may turn out to be, Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises and Zack Snyder‘s Superman film are essentially (or conceptually, if you will) bullshit fanboy ComicCon movies that will almost certainly do nothing to profoundly affect the cause of great cinema or accomplish anything other than the selling of tickets.
Chris Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio at the finale of last night’s Santa Barbara Film Festival Modern Master tribute.
One of HE’s broken-record rants is that fanboy superhero movies are a blight and a scourge and a form of cultural cancer, etc. All I can say is that Nolan — obviously one of the most talented and fascinating major-league auteurs of the day — is doing nothing to enhance his resume with these projects. I think he’s basically marking time and doing them for the money.
In a Howard Hawks-ian sense Memento was Nolan’s His Girl Friday or Ball of Fire, Insomnia was his The Big Sleep, The Dark Knight was his Red River and The Dark Knight Rises is going to be his Land of the Pharoahs .
Nolan needs to man up down the road and say no to the money and make some kind of little Memento-ish film again. He has to get off the corporate payroll and reclaim his soul by doing something other than make big expensive fanboy movies…please.
Note: This video of DiCaprio delivering his remarks last night looks pathetic, of course. But I’m posting it because at least you can hear what he said. My regular camera had no battery power so I had to resort to my iPhone.
Be careful what you wish for. Francis Ford Coppola seemed to be building towards some sort of critical mass with Apocalypse Now, but then went back to “smaller” films. Some were interesting. Most were not. Once you’ve played Caesar’s, it’s hard to go back to the local supper club.
Why wouldn’t Nolan make another “bullshit fanboy ComicCon movie”? After all Inception is nothing but that, just without a superhero, which makes it easier for simplistic people to praise it for its alleged complexity….
Here we go again. Wells forgets to mention THE PRESTIGE, one of the best sci-fi, period, kickass mind fucks of recent years. Just caught it on BD and fuck, does it ever hold up. Even better than when I first saw it.
No one is telling this master what to do. He is the mst exciting, original big budget filmmaker working today. the last thing he needs to do is “man up.” HIs films are all about that and so much more. He does what he wants, will continue to do so and will continue to kick ass.
To say that his Batman films have been nothing but fodder for fanboys is so asinine. His BATMAN films have been the only truly GREAT comic-to-films made. I expect the 3rd to be nothing less than as great as his first two.
Jeff, I’m not sure if I’ve seen anyone in such outright denial over what a filmmaker “really” wants. You don’t like comic books, so Nolan, deep down, must hate them too? Yikes. You’re projecting. At best. At worst, you’re pathological.
Did you notice that Inception was a huge hit? If Nolan wanted to walk away from Batman, I’m pretty sure he could. On the other side, if he was in pursuit of a paycheck, he could commit to three more instead of just a trilogy-capper. He seems fully invested, emotionally/intellectually, in making Batman movies. That’s why — hello?? — his Batman movies are so good. A touch melodramatic, occasionally on-the-nose in dialogue, sure, but smart and crafty reinterpretations of a classic pulp character.
Also, I love Inception and Memento and pretty much all of his movies, but if you consider them on this whole other thematic/intellectual level from the Batman pictures (and if I can try some Wellsian projection here: no, you actually don’t; you like Nolan’s Batman movies but you want to rant against comic-book culture instead of ignoring it), then, wow, I don’t know what to tell you. Is the guy who made the dream-trip sci-fi movie and the movie about dueling magicians really come off as anti-comics, anti-pulp, anti-melodrama?
In fact, fuck just about everyone who gives career advice to awesome directors. Occasionally it’s thoughtful but most of it is cliched bullshit.
WORST FUCKING PIECES OF ADVICE TO TALENTED FILMMAKERS
1. “Go back and make something small.” Sure, that could be interesting for any number of directors. But do you really need Steven fucking Spielberg or Christopher fucking Nolan, who actually have the visual, story, and filmmaking sense to make interesting big-budget movies, to make some micro-budget indie for the supposed artistic maturity of it?! And, what, cede EVERY big-budget sci-fi movie to Michael Bay? Christ. Also: lots of talented directors do this all the time, and make really great movies that no one pays much attention to (see: The Girlfriend Experience). If you’re talking about some indie guy who has lost his way in the big-budget studio system, sure, maybe, but… offhand, can you think of anyone really great who seems to have permanently sold out to big-budget land? Maybe Sam Raimi, not so much for what he’s made but for a future slate of almost nothing but big tentpole movies that don’t sound so interesting. But his last movie *was* something small and awesome. So basically, anyone who should be taking this advice pretty much already has.
2. “Direct someone else’s screenplay.” This applies to writer-directors, of course. Because what could be more interesting than taking a distinctive writing/directing voice and muting the writing part? Because there are SO many good mainstream screenwriters out there who Wes Anderson or even M. Night Shyamalan should be busting their ass to serve. Even if, like Shyamalan, the writing talent seems to have dried up, the solution to my mind is not “find someone else’s script.” It’s WRITE A BETTER FUCKING SCREENPLAY. Work harder! Do better! Of course, that’s not oft-offered advice because it’s not concrete or pithy enough. Maybe because the “better screenplay” thing is harder than it looks.
3. “Get someone to make him cut it down.” I love 90-minutes-and-out experiences too, but who the fuck are you, the lost Weinstein brother? Would Funny People be WAY MORE AWESOME at 85 minutes?! I actually love that movie but I doubt that taking out 20-30-40-50-60 minutes would do anything to improve its rep with people who disliked it, except maybe they’d dislike it somewhat less? Who gives a fuck about making people dislike something less?
All of these suggestions are about as fresh, interesting, and insightful as saying A.I. “should have” ended with the robo-kid waiting at the bottom of the ocean.
@jesse…
I could nitpick here and there, but good rant, generally speaking. Especially re: Spielberg and “small” movies. That guy was born to make big movies the way David Lean was…
Wells to Jesse: There is nothing in the known universe that deserves the term “cliched bullshit” more than superhero fanboy movies.
When TDKR comes out, Nolan will have made 8 features, 3 of which are based on comic books. It’s not like he’s churning out fanboy properties on a Zack Snyder-esque level.
So, Jeff, you weren’t into The Dark Knight? You didn’t like it? Didn’t call it one of the better movies of 2008? Batman Begins, you kinda secretly hated it despite considering it a good movie?
I don’t know why you bother modifying “superhero” with “fanboy” (or vice versa), since you seem to consider anything to do with comics a fanboy wank. Even movies you like. That doesn’t strike you as a little diseased? That you can watch a movie, say it’s really good, and then say the director should run away?
I even agree with you the tiniest bit about the overpopulation of superhero movies, although that’s more because I’d love to see more big-budget sci-fi craziness like Inception (you’re kidding yourself if you think fewer superhero movies will equal more smart, small-scale dramas or indies). I can’t imagine that Thor, Green Lantern, and Captain America will ALL make good movies.
But Aronofsky’s Wolverine movie? Hell yes.
Another Nolan Batman? Hell fucking yes.
Just about anything can be done well. So many romantic comedies are shit, but that doesn’t mean I think they should stop making ‘em. Advice as prescriptive as yours rarely does anything because it’s based on dogma, not reason or critical analysis or anything interesting.
Kill all superhero movies. Slay them, suffocate them, poison them, cut off their heads. Bury their bodies and those of their families in a huge hole and then hire a steam shovel to cover them up, and then walk away and don’t look back.
Jeff: So you’d rather Nolan had never made the Batman movies? Even though you liked them?
“So that means Nolan really and truly would like to see another Batman movie? Honestly? And he’d like to see another Superman movie (which he’s producing)? Because I don’t believe him. At all.”
I have no problem believing that Nolan is making the Batman movie that he wants to see. And as far as Superman goes, does anybody really see him being very hands-on with the project? Isn’t he really just there to lend it a little Dark Knight credibility after the Superman Returns debacle?
I think all these “indie” movies these days, where it’s nothing but well off white people with some dysfunctional family, with some weird quirk, trying to find some sort of meaning in their lives, are the most cliched, unoriginal films going.
Why wouldn’t Nolan come back? You can’t end TDK with Batman on the run and then say “nah, I won’t conclude that story.”
I love directors that take the challenge of doing large movies, instead of the safe route of staying in their niche.
I was into The Dark Knight big-time. I own the Bluray and can watch Heath Ledger’s performance over and over. And I quite admired Batman Begins. But I’m sick of it, I’m sick of it, I’m sick of it, I’m sick of it, I’m sick of it, I’m sick of it, I’m sick of it, I’m sick of it, I’m sick of it, I’m sick of it, I’m sick of it, I’m sick of it, I’m sick of it, I’m sick of it, I’m sick of it, I’m sick of it, I’m sick of it, I’m sick of it, I’m sick of it, I’m sick of it…I’m sick of the repetitious scheme of superhero movies!
TL: I don’t believe Nolan will be hands on that much, because Supes and Batman will be filming at the same time, but I believe he and Goyer came up with the story
I’m with Wells on this one. Batman Returns was clearly a sell-out flick (check out its Oprah-level self-help psychobabble and limp attempt to emulate the Spiderman 2 train sequence in the climax.) The Dark Knight was infinitely less of sell-out, but face it, that movie’s major selling point is no sadly no longer with us. Honestly, is anybody out there really wondering “Gee, I wonder what’s going to happen with Bruce Wayne’s complex character? Will they gave him another Expendable Love Interest? I wonder how old Alfred will fair out in the end?” There is no dramatic or emotional impetuous to this movie being made or seen. What would you really prefer to see, another ingenious, original, sincere, personal movie like Inception, or everybody going through the bullshit Franchise Emotional Cresendo motions, with Caine and Freeman working overtime with the wise-old man platitudes?
There is NOTHING repetitious about Nolan’s BATMAN Flicks.
NOLAN POWER.
Surely “The Prestige” is Nolan’s best film. It’s his most thoroughly stacked together narrative and the way he takes it apart and then reassembles it at the end (with Jackman’s wonderful monologue) is masterful.
Jeff, what’s happened to your “it’s the singer, not the song” belief?
Because, hell, even if Nolan was to announce he was making a Norbit sequel, I’d be first in line to see it.
So for you, Nolan doing Batman 3 is not so much a Nolan movie; a follow-up to *two* movies you really liked; or a potentially imaginative crime picture starring Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway, and Michael Caine… but, far more dominantly, a superhero movie, and therefore dead to you? You feel that it will have more in common with Daredevil or Fantastic Four and the boilerplate of the genre than with all of those other Nolan movies you liked?
OK, well, have fun with that idea, buddy. Maybe if someone from the cast dies in post you’ll turn the corner.
Kill all pretentious, boring arthouse movies. Slay them, suffocate them, poison them, cut off their heads. Bury their bodies and those of their families in a huge hole and then hire a steam shovel to cover them up, and then walk away and don’t look back.
Superheroes aren’t REPETITIVE, Wells – they’re archetypal. If you can’t tell the difference I don’t know why you watch any movies at all.
Those Greek plays and myths are pretty repetitive too, you know. And Chuck Berry songs. And Warhol paintings. And and and…
You only hate “comic book” movies for totally unrelated reasons having to do with where you rank comic reading on your personal scale of social acceptability.
Superman is SUPERMAN for a reason and there all sorts of interesting things writers and directors can do with the bold strokes of his story. Paradoxically, few have managed to pull that off cinematically.
Similarly there is a reason people like Burton (before he went off the rails) and Nolan are interested in the psychology emerging from Batman. You don’t have to like it but you could at least understand that whether or not YOU think it’s what he should be doing that Nolan WANTS to do Batman. (And most people, here and elsewhere, are happy with the intelligence he’s brought to the project and are happy to see him continue.)
Jeffrey knows exactly what he’s doing with this post. Take shots at Nolan (or Cameron) and watch the comments pile up. (Though, to be fair, he really does hate superhero films with a violent passion.)
The Prestige sucked.
First half of Batman Begins is great…the formulaic second half sucks.
The Dark Knight was clunky, hurt by a messy 3rd act, but Heath Ledger is incredible and watchable.
Memento, Insomnia, and Inception are his best.
I would like to see Nolan do a full on sci-fi/fantasy movie after finishing “The Dark Knight Rises”. His movies up to this point have been grounded in reality for the most part, and he has definitely made that work. But the prospect of Nolan going completely out there in a world created from scratch like, say, R. Scott in “Alien” could be interesting.
Why the fuck is this thread a glitchy mess, compared to the Barry one?
“I was half-interested in chatting with Nolan for a few minutes but I got tired of waiting around and and tired in general so I bailed…sorry.”
You can always hope someone will bum you a ticket for the Memento thing on Friday, where you can hopefully snag a ticket.
Palmer: “He is the mst exciting, original big budget filmmaker working today.”
Once again, “original” does not apply to Inception.
jesse: “But do you really need Steven fucking Spielberg or Christopher fucking Nolan, who actually have the visual, story, and filmmaking sense to make interesting big-budget movies, to make some micro-budget indie for the supposed artistic maturity of it?!”
When Stevie unironically whores for Michael Bay films or defers Indy 4 to Star Wars prequels-era Lucas, it might not be a bad idea for him at this point.
“But Aronofsky’s Wolverine movie? Hell yes.”
I personally think his version will out-camp Ratner’s, given how he actually thought people were laughing with him on scenes in Swan.
Rashad: “I think all these “indie” movies these days, where it’s nothing but well off white people with some dysfunctional family, with some weird quirk, trying to find some sort of meaning in their lives, are the most cliched, unoriginal films going. ”
You forgot about gun-toting gangsters who are either set on retiring or going for one last big score.
Jeffrey: “I’m sick of the repetitious scheme of superhero movies!”
It’s getting old for me, too, and I’m the target audience. There’s a reason Moore came up with Watchmen, even though fanboys mistakenly think it’s a love letter to the medium.
Tristan: I think you mean Begins, not Returns. Also, stop calling Inception original. It’s a remake of Paprika.
Tribeca: If the song ends up being over-sampled by the likes of Gleeks, it loses its value. Hence why the Kings of Leon gave that show the finger.
JR: I didn’t think The Prestige sucked, but it could’ve been a tad less plodding.
I’m still trying to figure out if the argument means that Wells also dislikes “Red River.”
In which case, all logic has officially gone out the window. It’s almost like that thread where JW said “High Noon” is better than “Rio Bravo.”
just like fucking clockwork. anytime wells devotes a post to nolan, tristan eldritch comes out of the cave to file his complaints. he must have “nolan” as a google reader alert.
just kidding, bro. bump the fist.
i’m not much of a superhero guy myself, but nolan’s movies are lightyears beyond the others. TDK in particular has far more going on it than most people realize. a lot of allusions to Ceaser and ancient rome; the Joker being a modern incarnation of the native american trickster god Coyote (the running dog motif throughout the movie); the Joker being an example of Hobbes’ arguments for WHY man needs laws and government (otherwise we’d revert back to “bellum omnium contra omnes,” or “the war of all against all” which is exactly what the Joker represents); several examples of game theory, namely, the prisoner’s dilemma (the ferry sequence), etc. for a major “tentpole” movie, TDK has a fuckload of themes and subtexts in it; some obvious, others not so much. if you’re familiar with jung or with john nash and his paranoid game theories, then there’s a lot you’ll recognize in TDK. but if you don’t care about any of that stuff, the movie works expertly at face value as a kinetic crime drama. another great thing about TDK is that it’s basically a 2 1/2 hour episode of The Shield but with Batman characters. Nolan really dipped into the ’80s crime noirs like To Live and Die in L.A. and Blade Runner and used them as guidelines for TDK. another reference for the movie is The Hitcher, particularly Rutger Hauer’s John Ryder who is basically a proto-Joker. Ryder WANTS to die in the movie–he wants C Thomas Howell to kill him–just like the Joker WANTS Batman to kill him. the great thing about the Joker in TDK is that he NEVER shows any fear at all. even when he’s hurled from the tower he fucking laughs hysterically. that’s some real psychopath shit right there. the guy is just completely UNFUCKWITHABLE. contrast that with Nicholson’s Joker, who screams like a little girl.
Begins is great too, but the dialogue is awful. and Katie Holmes just takes me out of the movie every time she’s on screen. and i LOL at all the people who now say Inception is overrated and “not as deep as the sheep make it out to be.” i always ask someone who says that what Cobb’s totem was and they ALWAYS say “the top.” no. watch again. movie isn’t as simple as they think it is.
and just about 10 years on, Memento is still amazing. my 2nd favorite Nolan film after TDK.
oh and DZ, get the FUCK over it already. i’m the first person (actually, no, i’m not; YOU are) to say that Inception was influenced by Paprika but guess what, numb nuts? Paprika was a total rip off of DREAMSCAPE, so STFU and DEAL with it.
“There’s a reason Moore came up with Watchmen, even though fanboys mistakenly think it’s a love letter to the medium. ”
Who? The vast majority of fanboys of the comic know it’s a deconstruction of the heroes. (Snyder obviously doesn’t.)
Kingdom Come was a nice fuck you to Watchmen.
“Also, stop calling Inception original. It’s a remake of Paprika.”
They’re nothing alike except for going into dreams
Also Unbreakable is the best superhero movie. A masterpiece.
Phantasmata – ha, it’s a fair cop. I’ve actually vowed many times to stop whining about the Nolan Batman movies, but I can’t seem to help myself. I go into some kind of involuntary Batman-bashing spasm. I gotta give it a rest. At least until the new one comes out!
The ending to Unbreakable (the postscripts) is beyond awful, and nearly ruins everything that comes before it.
“In which case, all logic has officially gone out the window. It’s almost like that thread where JW said “High Noon” is better than ‘Rio Bravo.’ ”
Yeah, I saw the Hawks comparison, and I was shocked — shocked! — that he didn’t take the opportunity to diss on of Nolan’s films via Rio Bravo. Perhaps The Prestige, saying “he always felt The Illusionist was a deeper and richer film in the genre?”
“You forgot about gun-toting gangsters who are either set on retiring or going for one last big score.”
And you forgot about gun-toting gangsters who alternate between ironically quoting the Bible, and making pithy pop-cultural references. Or, to put it In your movie-autistic language: Tarantino = Kon, Troy Duffy = Nolan/Aronofsky.
I don’t really have the slightest idea what it is people dislike about the Nolan Batman movies — specifically, The Dark Knight — so much, other than perhaps it’s a backlash against them being overwhelmingly successful from a financial standpoint?
phantasmata’s post #28 is a pretty good summation of why I think it’s a brilliant fucking movie, even outside of its ghetto-ized genre.
“The ending to Unbreakable (the postscripts) is beyond awful, and nearly ruins everything that comes before it.”
No clue as to what you’re referring to
phantasmata: “Paprika was a total rip off of DREAMSCAPE, so STFU and DEAL with it. ”
There was a bar and a flooded city in Dreamscape?
Rashad: “Who? The vast majority of fanboys of the comic know it’s a deconstruction of the heroes.”
No, they don’t, or they wouldn’t have bought into later cash-in gimmicks where superheroes get killed.
“They’re nothing alike except for going into dreams”
Oh, and the sub-plot about the protagonists in both films being reluctant to be on a certain floor where it reminds them of someone close to them who died becuase of a mistake they made was just a coincidence.
Kane; “And you forgot about gun-toting gangsters who alternate between ironically quoting the Bible, and making pithy pop-cultural references. Or, to put it In your movie-autistic language: Tarantino = Kon, Troy Duffy = Nolan/Aronofsky.”
Whedon also relies on pithy pop-cultural references. Plus, that Bible thing was copied from the Sonny Chiba Bodyguard and God Told Me To. And while Kon did mention PF as one the films he and/or his staff liked before he died, QT’s still not in his league, in terms of constructing mature and multi-layered characters.
“No, they don’t, or they wouldn’t have bought into later cash-in gimmicks where superheroes get killed. ”
Yeah, because comic fans should have just given up reading comics because of Wathcmen right?
And Kingdom Come came along and offered a response to Watchmen’s perspective, that is equally as respected within the comic world.
Rashad: “Yeah, because comic fans should have just given up reading comics because of Wathcmen right?”
No, they should’ve given up on reading lazy comics because of Watchmen.
Kaned – in my case, it’s Bale’s terrible lead performance and the almost-equally terrible dialogue that everybody has to say. But ‘Dark Knight’ was a big improvement over ‘Batman Begins’.
I think Bale is great in the part. I really don’t have a problem with the heavy smoker’s voice he uses as Batman. Also, no problem with the dialogue overall, especially for a popcorn-superhero-comic book movie.
the problem with the dialogue is that it’s straight out of a popcorn-superhero-comic book movie. Which would be fine, but it makes it difficult to take any of the “serious themes” seriously when they’re flatly expressed with comic book dialogue without any subtlety. And, since the movie is caught up in its own serious themes, it bogs down the film more and more as it goes on.
Rashad –
*SPOILERS for Unbreakable to follow to the end of my post*
I’m talking about the fucking freeze-frames and the subtitles on the two main characters right before the end credits. How much more clearly do I need to spell it out? If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then you clearly need to go back and watch the film before deeming it “a masterpiece.”
Look, I think on the whole it’s pretty great, but that last scene is terrible…TERRIBLE. The ending “reveal” strives for levels of Sixth Sense-ish profundity (which has since been correctly diagnosed as one of Shyamalan’s fatal flaws as a writer), when it fact it’s really not that big of a twist — or a surprise for ANYONE who’s paying attention that is even vaguely aware of the cliched superhero tropes . There’s far too much over-emoting going on — esp. when considering the rest of the film is emotionally understated to the point of almost elegance — the dialogue is painfully on-the-nose (“now that I know who you are, I know who I am…I’m not a mistake” — WTF!), and the setting is similarly meta to the point of nausea (meeting in a comic book shop???).
Look, there is a TON to admire about the flick. The fact that it takes itself (and its genre) seriously, tries to imagine a believable real-world scenario in which superheroes would exist are ahead of its time, and hugely influential on some of today’s best comic adaptations (Nolan’s, certainly). The movie’s composition and mood are striking (always a hallmark of Night’s directing talent, regardless of the quality of the script), and Newton Howard’s score is right on the money, as usual.
But the way Unbreakable concludes is soooo bad to me. Like, I almost think chopping off that last 5 minutes would have been preferable to the way it stands now. I abhor the climax in a way that most cinephiles reserve for Hitchcock’s Psycho (which, incidentally, I don’t hate at all…it strikes me as a relative to ACO “I was cured all right”).
Yeah, I always thought the ending of ‘Psycho’ was a joke by Hitchcock, like “This needs to be explained, so I’m going to do the most cursory obviously-bullshit explanation possible”. (I feel the same way about ‘Night of the Living Dead’; I think the theories put forth in the movie for why the dead rise aren’t serious, any more than any of the other stuff on the TV ["They're dead, they're all messed up"] is.)
I agree 100%.
You know in all those silly movie polls, Some Like It Hot usually takes the prize — or at least ranks very high — for “funniest ending,” but if you have a really dry, deadpan sense of humor, the climax of two films are arguably even more amusing.
As a matter of fact, while they’re both wonderful at creating dramatic tension and sustaining cinematic mood, I feel that’s where the Shyamalan/Hitchcock comparisons sort of end for me. Alfred — in addition to a few others like Polanski — had such a deft touch at black comedy and light, perverted metaphors (think of that train going through the tunnel at the end of NxNw), that Night’s serial graveness can’t help but seem overly forced and pretentious in comparison
I would say that Shyamalan’s sense of humor has been underacknowledged, sometimes even mistaken for “unintentionally funny” by audiences who are quick to assume they are smarter and more sophisticated than the movie they are watching (an understandable impulse given the existence of certain movies, but still, annoying). There are funny moments in Unbreakable, Signs, The Village, and even the particularly bad ones (Lady in the Water, The Happening) that I think are actually playful tension-breakers, not laugh-out-loud ridiculousness.
But: you’re right that he doesn’t have the sly, darker touch of humor that Hitchcock shows — his sense of humor is a little more silly, maybe even a touch corny — which is probably why he has a rep as humorless and solemn. But I don’t think it’s fair to characterize him as endlessly pretentious and sober-minded.
“The ending to Unbreakable (the postscripts) is beyond awful, and nearly ruins everything that comes before it.”
No clue as to what you’re referring to
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