The case against M. Night Shyamalan.

With the release of The Village, Shyamalan has more power at a younger age than any contemporary filmmaker, but it's unclear yet if he has anything to say. Instead of making vibrant, relevant movies, he's created his Pennsylvania fiefdom and explored his own mind. True to form, the only detail of The Village that Shyamalan has revealed is that he was inspired by Wuthering Heights and that it's a romantic story. It's easy to understand why he's attracted to setting a movie in a period where people proclaimed their emotions in full and heartfelt sentences, or why he enjoys building a village that's impenetrable to the outside world. He's not making movies. He's making cocoons.