Jamie and Patrick climb on stage and grab the microphone from Kevin James. “This man is a fraud,” they yell, “they man has no honor as he won’t name us. He will only imply that we have exceptionally itchy balls from the safety of parody. But we don’t. So Kevin James,” they turn to look at him, “Prepare to do battle.” They throw the microphone into the crowd and begin to pummel him with all their twin might. In that moment they are a mix between man and jaguar, monstrous beings that only vaguely resemble humans. Kevin James’ eyes are wild with fear. He attempts to scramble his way back into the bathroom he allegedly destroyed, but Jamie and Patrick suspect was just another one of his foul lies used for a cheap laugh. Before he gets there, they grab him by the legs and fling him like a ragdoll into his precious crowd. He begs them for help, but the crowd recoils, fearing that any help they give will be met with a storm of fury from Jamie and Patrick. Kevin James scrambles backwards, bumping up against the duffel bag he carries with him containing the many awards he has won. He attempts to appease them by giving them these trophies, like a man hoping to appease an angry god, but Jamie and Patrick simply bat away his 2013 MovieGuide Grace Award. “Help me, robot man!” Kevin James screams in desperation at Michael, but the robot nods his head. The twins have finally got it. The people are always right and the people want blood. “You’ve awakened The Beast and here comes the boom,” Jamie says demonically and with that they launch into a flying twin kick that knocks Kevin James’ head clean off. That’s right! We are watching the M. Night BMT classic Glass. He has launched himself out of director jail, but it doesn’t mean he can’t throw us a BMT bone once in a while. Let’s go!
Glass (2019) – BMeTric: 16.9; Notability: 27
StreetCreditReport.com – BMeTric: top 18.4%; Notability: top 7.6%; Rotten Tomatoes: top 18.3%; Higher BMeT: Cats, Secret Obsession, IO, Escape Plan: The Extractors, The Fanatic, Hellboy, The Curse of La Llorona, After, The Poison Rose, The Silence, Tall Girl, Rim of the World, The Hustle, In the Tall Grass, Playing with Fire, Polaroid, The Haunting of Sharon Tate, Serenity, Primal, Countdown, and 26 more; Higher Notability: Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Men in Black: International, 6 Underground, Cats, UglyDolls, Gemini Man, Above Suspicion, The Kitchen, Angel Has Fallen, Zeroville, The Dirt, The Goldfinch, Hellboy, Shaft, Rim of the World, Otherhood, The Hustle, Rambo: Last Blood; Lower RT: The Poison Rose, Polaroid, The Coldest Game, The Hustle, The Fanatic, Buddy Games, Hellboy, After, Polar, The Haunting of Sharon Tate, Cats, The Jesus Rolls, Serenity, Miss Bala, Lucy in the Sky, Jexi, Iron Mask, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Zeroville, Men in Black: International, and 24 more; Notes: Man, should we just watch Cats again? What a glory.
RogerEbert.com – 2.0 stars – There are glimpses of the crazy, ambitious movie that “Glass” could have been, and that’s what saves it from complete “Happening”-level disaster. Once again, McAvoy is giving it his all, even if he’s not getting as much back in return as he did last time (and is balanced by another half-hearted Willis performance in which I swear you can practically see him fall asleep). And there are just enough out-there ideas in “Glass” that it’s impossible to completely dismiss even if they don’t come together. It’s that fine line between ambitiously clunky in a way that engages the viewer and just sloppy. I honestly kept trying to engage with “Glass” as a fan of Shyamalan’s early films, comic books, and movies that try to mash-up familiar genres in a way that makes a new one. I ultimately resigned myself to the fact that it’s not my fault that it’s broken.
(Yeah, this is roughly the gist I got from a few different podcast discussions. Although some of those were more impressed with the gall of M. Night to pull the rug out from the viewers in the end.)
Trailer – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7ztHi9ejp4/
(Solid trailer. Given how well received Split was this was quite highly anticipated as well. Looked awesome.)
Directors – M. Night Shyamalan – ( Known For: Knock at the Cabin; Split; Old; The Sixth Sense; Signs; Unbreakable; The Visit; The Village; Wide Awake; Praying with Anger; BMT: Glass; The Last Airbender; The Happening; After Earth; Lady in the Water; Notes: Y’all know M. Night. Incredible that we have officially finished his filmography … again I guess, we did previously at one point too it looks like.)
Writers – M. Night Shyamalan – ( Known For: Knock at the Cabin; Split; Old; The Sixth Sense; Signs; Unbreakable; The Visit; Stuart Little; The Village; Devil; Wide Awake; Praying with Anger; BMT: Glass; The Last Airbender; The Happening; After Earth; Lady in the Water; Notes: The son of two doctors (I think) in Philadelphia which is why he always sets his films there. Prior to him ever directing a film he declared he would be the next Spielberg. He kind of was for a bit.)
Actors – James McAvoy – ( Known For: Split; The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; Deadpool 2; Atonement; The Bubble; It Chapter Two; Wanted; X: First Class; X-Men: Apocalypse; X-Men: Days of Future Past; Atomic Blonde; Trance; The Last King of Scotland; Filth; Gnomeo & Juliet; Muppets Most Wanted; Penelope; Becoming Jane; Starter for 10; My Son; Future BMT: Victor Frankenstein; Sherlock Gnomes; BMT: Glass; X-Men: Dark Phoenix; Notes: He was pretty good in Split, although I didn’t care for the little kid character. Scottish, and a bit amazing he’s never been nominated for an Academy Award at least.)
Bruce Willis – ( Known For: Pulp Fiction; The Fifth Element; Split; Sin City; The Sixth Sense; Moonrise Kingdom; Die Hard; Alpha Dog; Unbreakable; 12 Monkeys; The Expendables; Over the Hedge; Assassin; Wrong Place; Looper; RED; Paradise City; Planet Terror; The Last Boy Scout; The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part; Future BMT: Tears of the Sun; The Cold Light of Day; The Jackal; Blind Date; Hostage; Surrogates; Striking Distance; Loaded Weapon 1; Last Man Standing; Cop Out; Look Who’s Talking Too; Sunset; The Story of Us; Rugrats Go Wild; Billy Bathgate; Rock the Kasbah; BMT: G.I. Joe: Retaliation; Armageddon; Glass; Death Wish; Color of Night; A Good Day to Die Hard; The Bonfire of the Vanities; Perfect Stranger; Hudson Hawk; Mercury Rising; North; The Whole Ten Yards; Notes: Sadly retired from acting due to, effectively, dementia which caused aphasia. His last few years of multiple horrible films was basically him making a little bit of money for his family prior to revealing the diagnosis.)
Samuel L. Jackson – ( Known For: Avengers: Endgame; Pulp Fiction; Avengers: Infinity War; Goodfellas; Kingsman: The Secret Service; Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace; Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker; A Time to Kill; Inglourious Basterds; Jurassic Park; Django Unchained; Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith; Iron Man; The Avengers; Captain America: The First Avenger; Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones; The Hateful Eight; Oldboy; The Incredibles; Thor; Future BMT: The Legend of Tarzan; Spiral; Star Wars: The Clone Wars; Rules of Engagement; Life Itself; Sphere; The Spirit; Basic; Loaded Weapon 1; Formula 51; One Eight Seven; The Man; Fluke; Amos & Andrew; Strictly Business; Freedomland; BMT: Glass; Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard; Jumper; Shaft; xXx: State of the Union; Twisted; Notes: Incredibly prolific. Obviously smashed out an incredible run in the MCU, and now has a new TV show there as well.)
Budget/Gross – $20,000,000 / Domestic: $111,048,468 (Worldwide: $246,999,039)
(That is really good. Ever since M. Night paired up with Blumhouse he’s been making bank because I think he basically puts up the whole $20 million himself and gets like all the profit.)
Rotten Tomatoes – 37% (149/408): Glass displays a few glimmers of M. Night Shyamalan at his twisty world-building best, but ultimately disappoints as the conclusion to the writer-director’s long-gestating trilogy.
(Yeah, basically. But films that are this close to not qualifying are usually either boring or good. I guess we’ll see.)
NY Times Short Review: In his enjoyable, messy sequel to “Unbreakable” and “Split,” Shyamalan joins together three adversaries in a world of ordinary terrors.
Poster – Glass Smash
(This is unfortunately just OK. I like the different colors and the artistic qualities I’m seeing, but it looks a little like when a TV has motion smoothing on. And look at that font. Horrible. Just do better, cause I like the ideas. B-.)
Tagline(s) – None (F)
(I don’t see a real tagline on the poster, which is where I like to get my taglines. IMDb does have a whole bunch listed though, so they must have been used somewhere. Just not here.)
Keyword(s) – wisdom
Top 10: The Dark Knight (2008), Inception (2010), Forrest Gump (1994), The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), The Dark Knight Rises (2012), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), Batman Begins (2005), Inglourious Basterds (2009), The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Future BMT: 88.5 Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd (2003), 84.0 Prom Night (2008), 83.5 Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World (2011), 82.2 You Got Served (2004), 80.0 Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience (2009), 79.6 Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000), 78.8 Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (2011), 77.5 Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (2009), 77.2 Superhero Movie (2008), 72.3 Bewitched (2005), 71.4 The Animal (2001), 69.3 College Road Trip (2008), 68.9 Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004), 68.5 Poltergeist (2015), 68.2 Yogi Bear (2010), 67.6 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993), 65.6 The Haunting of Molly Hartley (2008), 65.6 Halloween Ends (2022), 65.3 Fat Albert (2004), 65.0 Scary Movie 4 (2006)
BMT: Batman & Robin (1997), The Emoji Movie (2017), The Last Airbender (2010), Fifty Shades of Grey (2015), The Cat in the Hat (2003), Crossroads (2002), Norbit (2007), Fantastic Four (2015), From Justin to Kelly (2003), The Master of Disguise (2002), Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000), xXx: State of the Union (2005), Sex and the City 2 (2010), Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021), Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007), Fifty Shades Freed (2018), The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009), Little Man (2006), Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 (2015), Taxi (2004), Freddy Got Fingered (2001), I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998), Zoolander 2 (2016), Kangaroo Jack (2003), Are We Done Yet? (2007), Police Academy 5: Assignment: Miami Beach (1988), The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 (2011), The Boy Next Door (2015), Wild Wild West (1999), Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000), Year One (2009), Are We There Yet? (2005), Big Momma’s House 2 (2006), Marmaduke (2010), The Roommate (2011), Tammy (2014), Abduction (2011), Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous (2005), A Good Day to Die Hard (2013), Independence Day: Resurgence (2016), … and many more
Best Options (Horror): 84.0 Prom Night (2008), 68.5 Poltergeist (2015), 65.6 The Haunting of Molly Hartley (2008), 65.6 Halloween Ends (2022), 64.7 The Grudge 2 (2006), 64.5 Darkness Falls (2003), 63.6 Valentine (2001), 61.2 A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010), 59.9 Exorcist: The Beginning (2004), 58.7 Scary Movie 2 (2001), 55.2 Annabelle (2014), 50.7 Saw 3D (2010), 50.5 Halloween Kills (2021), 49.3 The Omen (2006), 48.5 White Noise (2005), 40.9 Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010), 40.4 Gothika (2003), 36.9 The Amityville Horror (2005), 36.5 Hide and Seek (2005), 33.2 House of 1000 Corpses (2003), 27.8 Dark Shadows (2012), 27.7 Saw III (2006), 25.7 Idle Hands (1999), 23.9 The Uninvited (2009), 19.2 Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013), 17.0 Saw II (2005), 16.9 Glass (2019)
(Oh hell yeah, we picked the last one. The reason is because we were already watching a bunch of M. Night films. So … there we are. We almost watched Prom Night.)
Welcome to Earf (HoE Number 13) – The shortest path through The Movie Database cast lists using only BMT films is: Bruce Willis is No. 2 billed in Glass and No. 1 billed in Armageddon, which also stars Ben Affleck (No. 3 billed) who is in Pearl Harbor (No. 1 billed) which also stars Josh Hartnett (No. 3 billed) who is in Here on Earth (No. 3 billed) => (2 + 1) + (3 + 1) + (3 + 3) = 13. If we were to watch The Jackal, Nights in Rodanthe, and The Glass House we can get the HoE Number down to 12.
Notes – Samuel L. Jackson said of working with James McAvoy on the movie, “As good as I like to think I am or what I do and how I do it, watching somebody transform characters in front of your eyes and have an argument with four different people is pretty amazing.”
Director M. Night Shyamalan was able to incorporate unseen footage from Unbreakable (2000) into this film, for flashback scenes involving the younger versions of David and Joseph.
Although Disney owns the rights to Unbreakable (2000), director M. Night Shyamalan retained the rights to any potential sequels, so that the studio could not make one without his involvement. Such was his desire for creative control that he co-financed this film by mortgaging his house.
Director M. Night Shyamalan talked about the importance of colors in this movie, saying, “I chose green for David Dunn because psychologically, it is associated with life giving properties. David is the protector of life. I chose ochre or mustard for The Beast because this color is associated with religious ceremonies, Hindu and Buddhist. A monk’s robe. I see The Beast as an evangelist, a preacher who wants to help save ‘The Broken.’ Finally, I chose purple for Mr. Glass because this color has been associated with royalty, majestic qualities. Elijah sees himself as important, a main character of comics.”
Director M. Night Shyamalan said that the original cut of the film had a run time of nearly three and a half hours. He “trimmed it up a bit” by cutting three of Kevin Crumb’s 23 personalities out of the film.
The original script for Unbreakable (2000) included Kevin as an emerging villain for David to face against, but director M. Night Shyamalan could never make it work within the confines of a single movie. Thus, Kevin ended up being Split (2016) off into his own movie, with this film as the culmination of the original idea.
Awards – Nominee for the Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor (Bruce Willis, 2019)
Bad Movie Twins 