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Signs (Vista Series)

Signs (Vista Series)

List Price: $14.99
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Most Touching Movie of the Year.
Review: It is quite hard to write this review, as I don't want to give away any vital plot points, but feel the need to explain why M. Night Shyamalan's latest masterpiece, "Signs," is such a beautiful film.

Mel Gibson plays a Pennsylavia preacher who lost his wife and opts to becoome a farmer. One morning, he, his brother (Juaquin Phoenix), and his children discover crop signs in their corn. The next day, they find that nearly 20 crop signs have been found in England, India, and several other countries.

As the story unfolds, each member of the family reveals his or her quirks and shortcomings. Gibson's character, through three dream sequences, reveals the stunning circumstances under which he lost his wife (and his faith).

Eventually, we find that there are in fact aliens (which admitedly do look very B-movie-esque) who may or may not be planning on invading the earth. It is at this point that Shyamalan's brilliance truly shows. Gibson and Phoenix discuss, while watching the shocking news, the different types of people in the world: Group one, the people who think of things as chance or circumstance; and Group two, those who believe in miracles.

In Shyamalan's previous films, "The Sixth Sense" and "Unbreakable," the endings were sharp, swift, jaw dropping events. In "Signs," however, the ending, one of the most beautiful endings I have ever seen, brings everything else in the film together, revealing the true miracle that is life.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Pretty good
Review: I overall liked this movie but there were a few weak spots, especially for a Mel Gibson film. For one thing, the aliens had interstellar spaceships but can't knock down wooden house doors? Come on.

Also, thery're not interested in our planet but have instead come to "harvest humans?" Sorry, this premise was already used in the mini-TV series "V" from 20 years ago, which I thought handled the issue much better as a sci-fi movie.

The poison gas they have that comes out their thumb was also pretty cheesy. Jeez, maybe they could have given the aliens big schlongs and they would be more of a threat to humans that way? It would have made as much sense.

Most of the acting is good, as both Gibson and Phoenix are fine actors, and the scene where Phoenix gets to swing away with the baseball bat at the bad-guy alien is pretty entertaining, although not likely to endear us to future space invaders or to the Protect Hostile & Ivading Aliens advisory board.

I understand this wasn't a big-budget movie and that the director is a young and upcoming type, having previously done The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, both of which I liked a lot. For that I give him credit, since, except for the points I mentioned above, I mostly enjoyed the movie.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This Movie Makes You Think
Review: Anyone who goes to see this movie and is expecting another Independence Day is going to walk away disappointed.

But if you open your mind to the real theme of this movie; how one man looses and regains his faith, you are going to love it.

Go see this movie!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: More than your average scarefest
Review: With "Signs," M. Night Shyamalan proves once again that he's one of America's most accomplished commercial filmmakers. While "Signs" lacks the perfect sheen and momentum of "The Sixth Sense," it is also less diffuse and more moving than "Unbreakable." In telling the story of a disillusioned minister and his family threatened by alien invasion, Shyamalan borrows here and there--a pinch of Spielberg, a dash of Hitchcock, a hint of George Romero--but melds the film into something unmistakably his own. There are moments here as terrifying as any in cinematic history, all the more so because they leave the worst to the audience's imagination. The dictum "Less is more" applies to horror movies as much as anything, and Shyamalan understands that better than anybody. Above all, Shyamalan understands the overriding importance of spirituality in human lives--that the religious sense is, indeed, an essential part of our humanity, perhaps THE essential part. It is the spiritual theme in "Signs" that lifts it above the usual run of horror flicks, and also makes the wordless final scene one of the most satisfying in recent memory. Shyamalan of course is also an excellent director of actors; Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Cherry Jones and the two child actors give quiet yet deeply moving performances. It's too bad, then, that Shyamalan couldn't finesse the plot holes better--isn't it convenient, for example, that Gibson's son finds a book that tells the family everything it needs to know about the aliens? The worst aspect of "Signs," however, is James Newton Howard's thudding score, which telegraphs the point of every scene and seriously undermines the film's impact. (So watch Howard win an Oscar...)

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Scooby Doo meets the Aliens
Review: After all the hype I finally went to see this hoping to be entertained by a great movie. Signs is the same corny rubbish that Hollywood churns out every year. It's not scary, It's not interesting and the outcome is just ridiculous. However I did enjoy the shots of the the cornfields.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Group teraphy with Aliens
Review: I must say that M. Night Shyamalan is a genius!!.One of the best directors in a very long time, and he also writes his own films!.
His last work was Unbreakable, a great great movie.It had a wonderfull trailer, and it was an excellent film.
The sixt sense is a classic, scary and full of screams and chills.

Signs treats with aliens and how they get in to our planet.
Mel Gibson plays Graham, a former priest farmer that lives with his two children Bo and Caulkin's littlebrother Rory.
Also with Merrill(Joaquin Phoenix), his brother.

One morning, the family wake up and discover like 3 or 4 giant circles with strange things in the corn field.
The day after, a lot of circles have been found in differents farms.Then strange lights appears and everything gets scary.

This is one of the scariest, funniest and coolest films I ever saw.
I was scared all the movie.Every scene and charachter are frightening.
The final secuence is a hart stop big BOO.It has a lot of surprise scares.

Shyamalan is a genius like I said.He also plays the town vet in the movie.He's a great actor.
He also acted in Unbreakable and Sixt sense.

The end was a little dumb.I mean It was like Jeepers Creepers, only that this was only in the end.
But it had a very cool conclution and a very deep message.
Don't wait to see this movie!
Although it had a little lame ending I got scared like a dog.

SIGNS
Starring Mel Gibson,
Joaquin Phoenix,
Rory Culkin and
M. Night Shyamalan.
Directed by M. Night
Shyamalan
Running time: 110min.
Rated: PG-13

Final Grade: B

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Give me a damn break
Review: All the fundies in the world can show this movie to all their influential kids in sunday school. That's where this movie belongs, in a church. The movie had me hooked with the alien invasion genre.. but then the stupid (non god-believing) aliens finally show their faces and are wiped out by baseball bats and glasses of water. This movie wasn't about crop circles, it wasn't about aliens, it wasn't about Mel Gibson and his growing collection of wrinkles.. it's about GOD. The writer obviously wanted to let the whole world know that he believes in the invisible man in the sky that has to make his presence known through coinsidence. I'd give this movie zero stars if I could. If religion as a whole makes you ill, avoid this movie like the plague. Just another movie in a long line of that cater to peoples unquenchable thirst for feeling good about themselves and their short meaningless lives.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: See It Twice
Review: M.Night Shyamalan has made another interesting and unconventioal film where you need to know the ending to truly understand and appreciate the story and yet you need to have seen the movie unfold to truly understand the conclusion. Like The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable,a Clif Note version could not adequately summarize or do justice to the story; hard core sci fi and Mel Gibson action adventure fans should be warned that this is neither of those genres,but rather a psychological mystery thriller infused with wonderful periodic comedic relief. Even the true meaning of the title only becomes clear as the movie unfolds.Suffice it to say that the alien markings in his Pennsylvania cornfield are not the most crucial signs in the family life that Mel Gibson is trying to rebuild following the tragic accident that killed his wife and caused him to resign from the ministry and lose his faith. Most of the limited violence and bloodshed is suggestive, but nevertheless psychologically disturbing, especically for younger children.I enjoyed it much more the second time, when the shock value of these scenes had worn off and I could pick up the all the nuances and implications which I had not caught when I first saw it because I was so involved in the action and the story line. In conclusion, it was a three star film the first time but five star the second time, so SEE IT TWICE.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Aliens sold separately. Let me explain...
Review: This film is not about aliens. You know how toy commercials show you what a full toy set can do with the action figures, the vehicles they can ride in, the places they hide or work in. That's what this film is like. Take Mel Gibson's role as a pastor who's left the church and lost his faith when his wife dies in a horrible car accident. He's an action figure you can purchase in a set that also comes with a son (Rory Culkin), daughter (Abigail Breslin), and brother(Joaquin Phoenix). The aliens are extra and are like the vehicle that is sold separately. You don't need the aliens to enjoy the figurines. That's what this movie is like. At the core, and forgive me if this sounds cheesy but, this film is about finding faith. It's cliche, and I'll tell you what worked and didn't work.

The actors all did a wonderful job in their roles, but it's the story itself that is suspect. I believe this story would've been just as effective had the writer thrown in a hurricane or some other natural disaster in place of the aliens. I mean, think about it. You have a guy who loses his faith, and at one of the critical moments in the film where he's locked away in a basement with his family, he pleads to god for his son's life and subsequently regains his faith. Personally, I think the aliens were tossed in to generate intrigue for the film, as well as to tap in the X-File fans. But when all is said and done, the aliens weren't that crucial to begin with when you consider what the writer used as the alien's kryptonite. "High quality H2O" in the words of Adam Sandler in the Waterboy. They were completely dispensible, and easily at that. They left in a hurry and that was the end of the story. Geez, put a little more thought into it, will ya?

On a brigher note, I think the director did a great job of building suspense and keeping the audience at the edge of their seats at key moments. He also got the dry, subtle humor down. But for most of the film, it was slow and kind of boring (even according to a guy who loved the film). So "Yay" for the directing and acting, "Boo" for the story.

I can, however, recommend this as a family film.

LEAP rating (each out of 5):
============================
L (Language) - 4 (good humor, kids will understand it)
E (Erotica) - 0 (n/a)
A (Action) - 2 (final fight scene)
P (Plot) - 2 (pastor loses faith, pastor regains faith, aliens sold separately)

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Different... not your "typical" M. Night Shyamalan feature
Review: Most people (at least I feel that way) consider "Sixth Sense" to be the standard by which all M. Night Shyamalan movies should be measured. If that is the case, then "Unbreakable" was terrible and "Signs" is... well, just different. But it's different in more than one sense: on one side it seems like a really low budget movie (with not too many performers, not too many locations and not too many special effects for an alien movie -at least for Hollywood's standard for alien movies).

Stop! That's another thing: most people have said "Signs" is about aliens. Well, I found the movie to be more about loosing faith and regaining it, and the alien thing to be just the background for this, the real theme of the movie. It can be argued that the topic could have been touched in a different way, but I still liked it: I thought it was dealt with in a way that combined in a pretty unique way suspense (M. Night Shyamalan's tademark) with a LOT of humor... something you normally wouldn't expect neither in a movie of his nor in an "alien" movie (more to the point). As for performances, the kids were very good, and so was Mel Gibson but Joaquin Phoenix proved once more what an awesome actor he can be. Way to go, Joaquin!


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