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Signs (Vista Series)

Signs (Vista Series)

List Price: $14.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: This movie lacks heart, depth, and any imagination.
Review: This is a very typical Hollywood film where they market it as a great film which you then see and it really turns out to be a waste of time. Gibson and the whole cast play wooden characters that you don't care about, the camera work is terrible, the script non-existent, and the ending has some really bad GCI effects. This movie is so terrible it should have gone straight to video.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Chilling... Haunting... Wonderful...
Review: In my book, Signs is one of the top films of 2002... (Behind Road to Perdition and Minority Report, of course)

Like in all my reviews, I am not going to waste my time telling you that you NEED to see this movie... BUT... I will point out the aspects of what makes it a truly wonderful film.

Being a film student I have had the chance to study M. Night Shyamalan's use of placing certain items in the film that will, or already has, reflect events to come. Such as: A red door nob in "The Sixth Sense". Is it just me, or was Signs chock-full of circles and stars. I mean... THEY WERE EVERYWHERE! Stars on Mel Gibson's bed! Circle on the wall paper! Everywhere. Truly brilliant in my opinion. Hats off to Shyamalan!

The score in the film has got to be one of the most chilling scores to date. Reminds me all to well of the haunting score from "The Others", which was not used to make you jump out of your seat, rather pull you deeper into the movies fear-envoking scenes.

I can honsetly say that Signs terrified me... not visually... but with sound. A dog barking, then squealing in pain, gives you a mental picture of "what [...] is happening out there?"

Mel Gibson's performance as a priest who has lost his faith is absolutely flawless. The two children provide very true to life performances. ESPECIALLY the little girl.

One final note: The main reason this movie was so good... and so scary... was the fact that it seemed so real. I'm not saying the aliens were real... so don't get me wrong. I'm saying that you begin to feel as if you are part of this family, trapped in this house, in a deathly situation... with no way out. Not only that, but you keep wondering how the movie is going to end. And when it does, the reaction from the audience was: "Oh, [...] I get it now!"

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Anyone who can't appreciate this work of art can Kissmeoss
Review: If someone tell me that he completely unsatisfied with this movie, all i can say is that steven spielberg didnt have a shark in all of his movies so why shyamalan need a twist in every one of them? please, i would just like to take a moment and tell you imbeciles to grow up and appreciate art as it is shown in its finest form here. and if you cant appreciate it, you are only going to let the good things in life pass you right by before you know it is gone. this is a movie about lost faith and a belief in an entity that protects us. appreciate it even if you dont like it. dont diss it. as good as this movie is, there have been movies on the other end of the scale that have recieved better ratings from people who close their minds to the everyday ethics of the human mind. that is what Signs is all about. its about how you, or me ar anyone would feel if we were in such a position, in such a place, and not what the president of the united states of america would be thinking. enjoy it, because it deserves to be cherished.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Exposition Takes Backseat to Storytelling
Review: In "The Sixth Sense" and "Unbreakable," M. Night Shyamalan emphasized storytelling and mood and avoided unnecessary exposition. In "Signs," he goes too far, such that the world of his story is not fully fleshed out and contains glaring holes.

To avoid spoilers, particularly those that give away its non-twist surprise ending (don't expect a "why didn't I see that before?" twist as in the other two films), "Signs" is about an alien invasion as seen through the eyes of Father Graham Hess, a farmer and former preacher who has lost his faith. The audience sees nothing which Father Hess and his family do not. This focus precludes scenes from such other invasion films as "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" or "Independence Day": the military response, the scientist's explanation of who the aliens are, what they want, and why they are here, etc. These scenes are not missed, and the imperspicuity helps the suspense. But there is vagueness in what we DO see. While advanced aliens could be susceptible to low-tech attacks, particularly if the higher beings lack brute strength, the aliens are portrayed as under-armed technologically. They seem more like pranking frat boys from outer space than a military invasion. Factual errors are also unexplained: the aliens' ships are said to all be "within a mile" of crop circles - yet they are hovering over downtown Mexico City!

Worse still is the incompleteness of the characters' world, both factually (er, which religion was Father Hess a reverend in?) and emotionally. Although Mel Gibson turns in one of his best performances, his character's emotional detachment damages the story. He has given up, so the audience has no reason to care until the end of the movie.

Alien and UFO enthusiasts will be disappointed. This is a film about higher themes than crop circles and extra-terrestrials. However, it made my heart pound in several scenes, and Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix as his brother Merrill are outstanding, so for first-time viewing, it works. Repeat viewings may not hold up as well.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: No! No! WRONG! You did it all WRONG!
Review: (May contain spoilers)

What? What is this? It's ruined! Why? Why would you SHOW the alien's face? When I say this, I mean actually SHOW the alien's face as in "you get a good look at it". If this wouldn't of happened and Shyamalan would of found a better way to end it, "Signs" would have been a much better movie. Besides the revealing of the face, where is the true horror? Yes, there was a couple of parts that made me jump, but it wasn't frightening enough. The comedy that was placed in the film didn't quite overwhelm it, but some of it wasn't necessary. I can understand completely that when some (or alot) of people went to see "Signs", they were hoping for a pure horror/drama with only a tiny bit of humor maybe here and there. So, the concept of the whole "fun scary-type film" got me kind of disappointed in the end. When I walked out of the theater I just said 'that wasn't at all like I hoped it would be'. The typical ending, the alien...the fact that it just wasn't frightening ENOUGH. Oh yes, the whole movie? Everything? It's not about the crop circles...it's not about the aliens...and no, it's not about the world coming to an end. If you really, and I mean seriously want to know, go see it (only if you're dying to know). It's not exactly that hard to notice.

For those of you who are wandering, I'm not just ragging on this movie because I have nothing better to do, I just wanted to get my point across. Now, not EVERYONE is gonna hate "Signs", but based on alot of these reviews and what my friends and people I know have been telling me (and what I thought of it), it wasn't very good.

So, alot of you who are expecting to see "one of the greatest films" or "a great scary picture", I'm only gonna say this......"it's not happening."

Other than "Signs" I recommend some of these horrors and horror/dramas: "Event Horizon", "Ginger Snaps" and "Resident Evil".

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: THEY DO NOT COME IN PEACE...
Review: This is a superlative movie on many levels, and the director, M. Night Shyamalan, proves that he is a force with which to be reckoned. After his blockbuster hit, "The Sixth Sense', the viewing audience expected great things from him. When his next film, "Unbreakable", did not draw the raves that "The Sixth Sense" did, the viewing public anxiously awaited his next film to see if Shyamalan could, once again, hit it out of the ballpark. With "Signs", he confirms that he is, indeed, one of the directorial greats.

This film is about many things. It is about loss of a loved one. It is about family. It is about relationships. It is about things that we cannot control. It is about the inexplicable. It is about destiny. Yes, it is most certainly about alien invasion. It is also ultimately about one man's crisis of faith.

The film is a wonderful, scary, and amazing film. It centers around the Hess family, who has recently sustained the loss of Colleen Hess (Patricia Kalember) in a terrible accident one night. Wife to Graham (Mel Gibson), mother to Morgan (Rory Culkin) and Bo (Abigail Breslin), and sister-in-law to Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix), her death was felt on many levels. Graham, a minister in rural Bucks County, Pennsylvania, was so distraught over the senseless (or so he thinks) death of his wife, that he left his ministry and is now living a purely secular life with their children and his brother, Merrill. Graham simply cannot understand why God has seemingly forsaken him. The death of his wife has divested him of his faith, and he finds himself struggling in the world without it.

One morning, Graham discovers crop circles in the cornfield in front of his house. Other strange things begin to happen, all while he is trying to maintain a sense of normalcy in a world that has suddenly changed in a way that he could never have envisioned. Worldwide, crop circles are mysteriously appearing, seemingly strategically, and, before one knows it, alien invaders are here. They are creepy. They are scary. They do not come in peace. The focus of the film is not so much on the alien invaders, however, but on how the family responds and interacts in this time of crisis.

There are some very frightening scenes in this film. They are all the more frightening for what one does not see rather than what one does see. There are some aspects of "The Blair Witch Project" at work here. Shyamalan certainly understands the concept that less is sometimes more and uses it to great effect. The effective use of tension by the director is one of the great strengths of this film. Sly, subtle humor is also used to great advantage. The other important component of the film is the acting.

There is not one bad performance in this film. Shyamalan, who normally gives himself a brief cameo in his own films, gave himself the part of Ray Reddy, the man who was the catalyst for the tragedy that enveloped the Hess household. He gives a more than credible performance. Abigail Breslin is simply delightful as little Bo, a child too young to fully comprehend what is going on around her, but who, nonetheless, reacts to its shifting permutations. Rory Culkin (yes, Macauley's younger brother in real life) gives a wonderfully intense performance as Bo's big brother. A somewhat singleminded child, he immediately becomes a believer in extraterrestrials and tries to gain an understanding on his own of what is to come.

It is Mel Gibson, however, along with Joaquin Phoenix, who ratchets up the ante. Mel Gibson gives a beautifully nuanced and sensitive performance, playing it totally straight with occasional flashes of humor. It is a performance of a conflicted man who cannot bear what has happened to him and does not reach an understanding until it is almost too late. In the end, he is able to see how some of what has happened to his family has had a semblance of a greater design. Even his wife's last words to him, so seemingly meaningless before, grow rich with meaning at the end.

Joaquin Phoenix is one of the younger generation's most talented actors. He infuses the role of Merrill with a vulnerability that is, at times, heartbreaking. Yet, somehow the viewer knows that the Hess family can count on him to be there for them one hundred percent. While he is not so conflicted as his brother Graham, however, he seems to need validation.

As the film barrels towards its climactic ending, scenes leading up to Colleen's last moments are woven throughout the film. This serves to show the viewer that the events of the present have meaning when grounded in the context of the past. It will come full circle in the end. This is a wonderful, beautiful, suspenseful, and scary film that is well worth seeing, and I eagerly await release of the DVD.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: dissapointed - lost
Review: How many undeveloped plots can one movie have - and how many aren't concluded? See this movie and bring a calculator to count them up. This is the first movie I have ever seen where no plot was concluded and the conclusions had no beginning. Terrible movie, waste of time and money. hy couldn't alens get through the doors? How did the alien get to Mel Gibson's house? Just a few questions never ansered or posed. Just a bummer all the way around.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The True Side of "Signs" (by a true film student)
Review: As opposed to many "film scholars" who will use the jargon of the journalist trade, I will put this simply (with a few film student terms): In the eyes of any viewer, this should rate as one of the best films of all time. Manoj "Night" Shyamalan does wonderfully in his exposition, regardless of what others have let [drop] from gaping mouths. The story is simple to follow, every scene is masterfully detailed and meticulously shot in the pure tradition of "mise en scene."

Mel Gibson's performance as a tortured spiritual leader and the ensuing tension in family and everyday life makes for one of the better roles I believe he's ever portrayed. The dark style that has graced each of Shyamalan's previous films, which we are all familiar with, proves fresh yet again as we are invited to feel the same anxieties as those of the characters in the film, using true human emotion to convey character feelings as opposed to Hollywood glitz. Those who concentrate on the short, minimalist section of CGI have forgotten, maybe they didn't even notice, that there is a story of human passion, spirituality, trust, fear and hope that precedes. An A-list film. I highly recommend it for those with a passion for TRUE cinema.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Signs, Signs, everywhere...
Review: ... this movie delivours a main course meal with a side of pepsi to drink. shamalan is a great director and shows you this in the movie. His first hit that knocks you shocks off and makes you want another pepsi was the sixth sense. then the other great movie that is in my opinion his best was Unbreakable. the ending shocked you and while the movie goes on it changes the whole movie you think your watching. but enough about that. mel gibson gives another great preformances. this is a great movie so go to the movie theater and pick the best pepsi out of the bunch. MR.GREEN.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Suspense Followed By Thrills
Review: Still scarey the second time around. Hilarious and spine tingling. Is it real or isn't it? Day of the Triffids meets War of Worlds meets the Twilight zone. Dr Bimbu steals the show.


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