Rating: Summary: Movie With Heart Review: I don't know what those people who gave Signs a negative review are thinking. Don't they know that good movies don't always have to be about sex, 300,000 dollar cars, exploding CGI ships, and aliens popping out of people's stomachs?While I enjoy those kinds of movies, I also appreciate quieter, thoughtful, suspenseful films. Signs was a great example of that. It's a movie with a heart and a soul. It has a message that all of us need to remember: All things, good or bad, happen for a reason. No matter how dark and terrible things may be - have faith. Things will get better.
Rating: Summary: Dreadful times 10 Review: I'm a fan of Mel Gibson but this, by far, was his most forgettable film. Talk about trite, maudlin conventions, this movie has them all. The basic premise of the movie is so flawed that it's painful to even pretend to accept. Let's see, advanced aliens resort to invading earth by crashing a kids birthday party in Mexico and then pounding on the doors of a farm house in Bucks county PA, wow! Who knew they can be defeated with a baseball bat and a glass of stale water! By the way, why didn't anybody tell these clowns that "father" refers to a catholic priest.
Rating: Summary: Thrilling Suspense... Review: One night when Graham Hess hears his children call from the corn field he finds an enormous crop circle in the middle of the field. Believing that some kids have played him a prank, he disregards the crop circle, but soon after their dog starts acting peculiar. This snowballs by the media, which shows several hundred crop circles around the world that have been made within the last 24 hours. Some believe that this is an immense organized prank, but others have different convictions. However, all notions seem to be directed toward one single concept when strange lights are observed above Mexico City. Signs is an interesting and thrilling film that plays with our perception and it leaves the audience in intense suspense.
Rating: Summary: Signs of failure Review: Awful. Simply awful. From the unsuccessful pretensions of the director to be the next Spielberg to Mel Gibson's over-the-top mugging (I wouldn't call it acting), this movie falls flat in almost every area. The story revolves around a thoroughly unconvincing crisis of faith in the lead character (Gibson), complete with cornball (no pun intended) flashbacks to his wife's death. This scene in particular displays the film's faults - improbable situation coupled with absurd dialogue, and Mel Gibson's utterly unbelievable portrayal of a distraught husband/man-of-the-cloth. And then - aliens invade earth! In what I kept hoping was a dream sequence that would turn the movie's ending into a Sixth Sense-style twist, the improbable and pointless presence of hostile aliens instead turns the film into a ridiculous B-grade sci-fi "horror" flick. The real horror comes from how poorly the whole thing is played out, and how all the acting seems forced and shallow. The story is a mish-mash of sci-fi and religious posturing with a cutesy Spielberg-like children/family focus. I truly began to wonder if I was watching a made-for-tv movie on the PAX channel. Although the fact is that a lot of people (movie critics among them) loved this movie - I don't recommend it at all.
Rating: Summary: How can anyone think that this movie is scary??? Review: I seriously considered walking out of the theater because this movie nearly put me to sleep. Are people so easily scared nowadays that this piece of [expletive] makes them cry? All I heard from people before I went to see this snorefest was, "I was so terrified," blah blah blah. And then--nothing. You know, I was also planning on seeing The Ring, but this movie made me lose faith in the moviegoing public. Everybody says The Ring is scary, too. Which means that it isn't.
Rating: Summary: Interesting, but deeply flawed Review: Director/writer M. Night Shyamalan has taken an interesting approach to the story of a worldwide alien invasion. He keeps the focus tight on the experience of a single family that lives next to one of the fields where crop circles have been appearing. We stay with this family and never learn anything that they don't know. This makes for a very mysterious story. No current filmmaker is better at creating an atmosphere of tension and dread than Shyamalan. Unfortunately, there is an ongoing theme about faith and the connections between seemingly unconnected events that is not well integrated into the story; it struck me as being rather contrived. Furthermore, the resolution is simply dreadful. Suffice it to say that it is difficult to imagine any species evolving with the weakness that these aliens display at the end of the film. Despite these flaws, Shyamalan's skill and artistry kept me on the edge of my seat during most of the story. This is probably the best three-star movie I have ever seen.
Rating: Summary: Deep, intense, yet imperfect Review: After waiting for the film to come out on DVD with such high anticipation, I have to admit I was disappointed. I have such high regards for M. Night Shyamalan and "Signs" was not what I would have expected in a M. Night Shyamalan film. I am not saying the film was terrible -- it was not -- but it's not the best. I found the film very deep, intense, and thought-provoking at times. The film offered an incredible point of view that's rarely explored in modern cinema. The directing of the film was great. By how the film was directed, you could tell it's definiately by Shyamalan. The acting was very impressive. The only major problem I had with the movie was the ending. Without spoiling the movie, I had expected for the ending to be far more cunning and shocking than it was and it failed to give a tasty, surprising twist like his previous two movies did. I did find the film a little bit slow at times but that's minor. Overall, it was an enjoyable and good flick. Just be warned, if you had high expectations of what a Shyamalan film should be, you'll be very disappointed with "Signs". Not Shyamalan's best.
Rating: Summary: A major disappointment from Shyamalan Review: Okay, I loved "Sixth Sense", I was totally non-commital on "Unbreakable", and I really thought that "Signs" was completely pointless. What has become of M. Night Shyamalan's promise of talent? "Signs" is a major let-down for so many reasons. First, its script gives us characters so caught in emotional inertia that it results in the audience completely lacking empathy for them. Second (also a script issue) -- nothing really happens! For a film in which the world is invaded by aliens, so much of the action occurs as descriptions overheard on the news, with the actors reacting with such "oh well..." responses that we never have any feel for the gravity of the situation. As a result, none of the scare elements really work. Where is the hysteria? MAJOR SOILER WARNING: One of the worst elements of the film is the resolution and the classic M. Night "reveal". The idea that these aliens are harmed by water and choose to invade a planet that is, well, mostly water is just so illogical. Couldn't these interplanetary geniuses at least build a waterproof suit? C'mon! What, are we back in 50's B-movie territory? And the concept that "everything happens for a reason" is so slight an idea but given such heavy emphasis in the conclusion. It almost seems as if it was conceived after the fact of writing the final scenes so as to lend some sort of philosphical weight to the image of Joaquin Phoenix with a baseball bat, beating the bejeesus out of an alien! --- END SPOILERS As for the performances, well, given what they had to work with, they are merely ok. Mel Gibson looks so weary throughout the film as to make you want to pull him off the set and put him to bed for a while (am I the only person that thinks that, for a man in his mid 40's, Gibson just looks [bad]?). What's good about this film? Well, it looks pretty nice. Good photography and nice, believable sets. I also kinda liked the idea that we never really get a good look at the alien. A little refreshing in these days of "show it all" Otherwise, we have a slow moving, rather pointless film with a slight script trying too hard to be important. I would loved to have seen a film where the characters are forced to watch the invasion from afar, showing their real terror and dispair at what they know is approaching -- but without all the spiritual clap-trap. This could have been a rural, extraterrestrial "Failsafe". But hey, at least we got me to move beyond the non-commital feeling of "Unbreakable" -- but ya sent me the wrong way, Night!
Rating: Summary: Stabbing a German Shepherd Dog Review: One of the opening scenes of "Signs" is the two German Shepherds go crazy, and the son has to kill one to save himself in the sister. In reality, the plot is rather half baked. Why would the alien hide in a pantry? Why didn't the last alien leave with the rest? As someone said, there plot is like "swiss cheese". Obviously some background belonged in the movie, such as the uncle's baseball career being mentioned in the Army recruiters office. The constant flashbacks of the priest's wife being pinned to a car did not fit. One or two would have been sufficent. This movie is OK, its not terrible, but its not great.
Rating: Summary: My new favorite sci-fi thriller Review: What can I say about "Signs"? I thought that it was one of the best sci-fi movies that has come out since "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind" and "Independence Day". This movie kept me on the edge of my seat through the whole thing. Mel Gibson and Phenoix played their roles VERY well. I would recommend this movie to anyone!
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