Relieved I didn't end up reviewing this proper, because it's the rare instance where I couldn't possibly separate my deep attachment to the source material from the movie they made out of it. (Now I know how Harry Potter fans feel when they complain about the absence of house-elf subplots and etc.) It was clear the moment they announced that It would be two movies instead of one that the interweaving of past and present would have to go, even…

Both relieved and a little disappointed to discover that I wasn’t the only one to see more Shyamalan than Kubrick or Tarkovsky in this imperfect space odyssey. The clunky dialogue and thin characterizations, the undeniable formal pleasures, the secondhand Spielberg family dynamics, the gooey New Age spirituality—all feel like vintage M. Night. And the twisty climax is swing-away-Merrill ridiculous, overpowering any emotional truth with the sheer power of its absurdity.

I’m right down the middle on this one, to the…