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Alien Invasion

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Signs (Vista Series)

Signs (Vista Series)

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Aliens invade Mel Gibson
Review: Mel Gibson plays a minister who has come out on the wrong end of a crisis of faith. He loses his wife to a freak car accident, and becomes quietly embittered. His two children and brother live with him, but there is a sad distance between him and the family.

Signs begin to appear, cut out of farming crops. They appear to be alien in nature, and people are torn between believing they are the calling cards of explorers, or navigational signals of invaders.

The real story, though, is how these aliens effect Gibson and his family--especially him. Ironically, he ultimately sees the aliens as barers of signs--though not from themselves.

Bottom-line: This is a plodding, but dramatic psychological story. It has wonderful material for conversations, it does well as a "made for TV" level movie. Those seeking action should go elsewhere.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Signs
Review: One of the few genuinely spooky of today's horror films. 'Signs' does a masterful job of giving the film a creepy feel by suggestion rather than out-right confrontation. The ending was a bit anti-climatic but all around this film is worth seeing.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Finally, a masterpiece (but some are too blind to see it)
Review: I guess movies have been so crappy lately people have forgotten what a good movie really looks like. Signs isn't about logic, it isn't about action, it isn't about details. Signs is about emotions, fears, and about how we choose to view life. But it seems people are too concerned about logic and realism too see this movie for what it really is. What people aren't realizing is that this movie is not about an ALIEN INVASION. This movie is about one person, and how it affects him and forces his outlook upon life. But wait...why, it's not logical for aliens to fear water and blah blah blah...IT DOESN'T MATTER. Alfred Hitchcock would love this movie.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Sign says "Pass"
Review: This movie takes the very promising premise of crop circles and totally ruins it. Instead of exploring what they can possibly mean, the movie gives us the most perfunctory and implausible explanation of all and we find that the whole concept of alien incursion is really there as an excuse, for the lack of a better backdrop, to depict an epiphany of faith. By treating the alien subject matter in such a lackadaisical way, they end up with a farcical movie that makes everything incredulous, including the faith plot they are trying to advance. Moreover, it is littered with faux pas, such as a mortally injured accident victim draped on a car with perfect hair and not a speck of blood. I would give it zero stars if I could, the only redeeming quality being the performance delivered by Joachim Phoenix.

The aliens, we are told, are ultra-sneaky, they do not want us to know that they are here, those that are already on the ground try to hide from contact and their ships even have the capability to hover over us invisibly. Well, ok that is not unreasonable, but wait a minute, if they go to such great lengths to hide their presence why are they manually cutting huge signs all over the world for all to see? Apparently a race with interstellar technology can't make or read maps, take terrain photos in any spectrum, nor posses any other navigation aids whether they be laser, radar, or even rudimentary infrared beacons (which makes the fact that they were able to find Earth at all in the infinity of space a miricle far exceeding Mel's). I mean plain old 21st century earth technology aircraft can find and hit a bunker in Iraq without having to send paratroops in first to visually spray paint or make earth mounds 50 yards long saying "This way to Saddam bunker #56," do we?

Then we have a crib radio intercom intercepting the alien's radio communications when the entire military/scientific community cannot. We are told that the aliens will only fight hand to hand because if they use technology they will damage earth resources. Considering that there are more than 6 billion people on Earth who would not have had this rule explained to them and would use any weapon at hand from ballistic missiles to bb guns to baseball bats, an invasion force of say 100,000 running around trying to catch everyone by hand must be a pretty moronic one. But wait, if they are that moronic how have they invented space travel and we haven't? This ridiculous premise resulted in about a quarter of the movie being devoted to terrified people holing out in a lonely wooden house with boarded up windows while the 'zombies' outside milled around, banged on doors, made scary noises and poked groping hands through holes. I use the word zombies purposely because I literally thought I was watching a remake of "Return of the Living Dead." It was ridiculous. Come on fellas, zombies are supposed to be brainless, I thought you were trying to make a sci-fi movie here.

Ok, we pull a tuft of hair out and overcome that hand-to-hand for resource thing. But what resource? Water kills them, water is to them what sulfuric acid is to us. Giving the movie the benefit of the doubt and ignoring contemporary scientific thought at this time that water is the necessary foundation of any life in the universe, the viewer will still be left scratching his/her (now slightly balder) head in puzzlement. Why Earth? Earth is water. If they wanted rocks or minerals there's Mars and 10 billion other places. Want humans? Humans are 70% water. Bio-matter? ALL bio-matter on Earth is water based. They are so afraid of water they don't even land near lakes and it isn't like standing water in lakes will just leap up at them but Earth has RAIN, mist, fog, snow, low cloud cover, dew drops in the morning, you name it. A stray rain cloud would wipe out entire contingents in seconds including the contingent that apparently traveled a gazillion miles in the nude to bang on a lonely homestead with their fists like zombies (wait I said that already). But I am getting ahead of myself even here. If a quarter-glass of water can instantly burn them to the bone, Earth's atmospheric humidity factor would be high enough to get them sizzling the moment they touch down. These things would be acceptable if they had made this movie a comedy, a spoof or just light-hearted escapism fare, but for a movie that wants to be taken seriously, they are inexcusable. I spent the entire movie grinding my teeth.

Give this movie a pass if you are a sci-fi fan, rent "Return of the Living Dead" if you are a horror fan, get "Phenomenon" or the like if a miracle/inspiration movie is what you are looking for.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Mel is great
Review: I liked M. Night Shamalyan "Signs." This is a very young and bright director. He's know Steven Spielberg, but he's making better movies than most directors out there.

Signs tells the story of a former revrend played by Mel Gibson who has crop circles start appearing at his home. He thinks it's mischief and tells his family not to worry about it. It ends up becoming worse and an alien invansion in obviously going to happen.

Signs has great acting. Mel Gibson plays his character to perfection. All of the characters in the movie are played well. You feel diffrently for each person in the movie and they do a great developing themselves. M. Night Shamalyan even has a cameo in the movie and he is believable.

What "Signs" does so well is suspense. You are on the edge of your seat the entire movie. Diffrent things will make you jump in the movie that you never would have expected.

Signs is a great movie. It's one the family can watch together. I'd reccommend to everyone, and especially suspense or Mel Gibson fans.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Suspense Trilogy Going down Hill
Review: From a surprising ending of the Sixth Sense, which is after all only a somewhat good pastime movie, to the [derivative] style of the Unbreakable, to this movie, Signs, Shyamalan's suspense films are really going down the hill fast.

In this movie, the filmmakers are trying hard to create an environment and style imitating those in the great Stanley Kubrick's movies. However, unlike Kubrick, they lack the ability to master the overall suspense and that something, which will, in Spielberg's words, grow on you.

The film fails to grasp your attention in an intelligent way. Everything seems staged and manually put there for you to accept. However, not everyone is a sentimental freak as the audience was originally intended!!! This movie is, after all, a boring, ridiculous journey that will lead you to two things, 20 minutes of sleep and the decision of never watching it again.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: CONFUSING SIGNS
Review: Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix shine in this "thriller" by M. Night Shamalyan, the gifted young genius who brought us the classic "Sixth Sense." In fact, these two performances are the main reason "Signs" is as effective as it is. Gibson's scenes with the man who ran down his wife (director Shamalyan in a credible yeoman role) and with his wife who is dying are stunning and gut-wrenching. His fight with his lack of faith is also clearly delineated by the talented Gibson. Likewise, Phoenix's role as the younger brother is touching and convincing; only wish he didn't whisper so much. And one has to admit the scene where Gibson finds his siblings looking like Hershey's Kisses is a howler. But overall, the script is ambiguous enough to wonder: why did the aliens leave so suddenly; why did only one show up at Gibson's farm? The aliens seemed easy enough to dispatch; so why such "horror" around the globe? Shamalyan's struggle for "atmosphere" overrides the holes in the plot and the lack of any real suspense. Though critically acclaimed, this is one of those movies that could have been great, but merely emerges mundane.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Not worth your time
Review: This was movie I have seen in years! Poor script, poor acting and no suspense. Save your money and time.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Offensively far-fetched mumbo jumbo - Gibson's WORST!
Review: Using the long exposed crop circles hoax as a back drop, this story offers signs of alien visitors simultaneously terrorising various parts of the world. Focusing on unusual (if not completely incredible) circumstances of one family, we learn of a chain of events culminting in the acceptance of "everything happens for a reason".

Aside from the extremely slow movement (several scenes are needlessly drawn out, as though to "stretch" the plot) and the shoe string budget (Mel Gibson is the only major expenditure, as all 6 or 7 others appearing are unknowns), the "coincidences" presented are just a bit much to swallow. Each of at least 5 major stroy elements have odds of 10,000 to 1. Add them up, and every family member should have been struck by lightning AND won the State lottery! The "aliens" are less imaginative than anything ever shown on Star Trek. A skinny person in a green rubber suit, that's how far 21st century sci-fi has come? Embarrasing!

The unsatisfactory conclusion leaves only one though: Was this film necessary? What a waste of everyone's time. Do yourselves a favor and find something better to do with an hour and a half of life. Mel Gibson has definitely picked the wrong script this time.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Signs is more than sci-fi mayhem...
Review: M. Night Shyamalan's (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable) Signs is an atypical invaders-from-space movie that emphasizes character and thematic development over the all-too-familiar big-budget special effects extravaganza a la Independence Day.

Instead of using huge set-piece battles with flying saucers, ray guns, and the cool-but-ineffective Earthlings' conventional forces, Shyamalan goes for the less obvious yet more chilling technique of focusing on the extraterrestrials' insidious moves and their effects on Graham Hess (Mel Gibson) and his family.

The overall feel of Signs, which is confined to the Hess farm and a small nearby town just outside Philadelphia, is that of an above-average Stephen King adaptation. As in The Sixth Sense, Shyamalan places ordinary people (in this case, a small family of four) in an extraordinary situation, beginning with reverend-turned-corn-farmer Hess' discovery of crop circles in his fields. At first convinced that it's all a big hoax pulled off by the local miscreants, Hess and his younger brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix) witness very disturbing events on and around the farm, most of them centering on Graham's two young children.

To write more about this incredibly effective film would be criminal, especially to those reading this review who have not yet seen Signs. It's scary, yes, but it also has scenes of warmth, humor, and even revealing insights about spirituality and science.

Signs is, ultimately, more than just a simple chiller. It is also a clever meditation on human nature, and, more importantly, about faith, the effect of grief on one's belief system, and the redeeming power of hope.


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