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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: 2 stars
Summary: Ultimately unrewarding
Review: Firstly there are reasons to like this film, most of which relate to the visually pleasing stylisation which echoes Hitchcock & early Spielberg. The director obviously has a talent for conveying suspense through subtle image - a trait which made the Sixth Sense so enjoyable. Like the Sixth Sense the first half of this film builds plenty of atmosphere through a perceived threat that we are only shown glimpses of. The films main themes of loss of faith and greater meaning are channelled through Mel Gibson's character, a pastor whose wife has died.
In an almost patronising way Gibson is made to eat his 'cynical' words as the events that unfold around him suggest life experiences have a greater universal meaning & connection than his jaded belief that everything is random & unrelated suggests.
The main problem with this film is the events that occur are hard to swallow. The aliens that are apparanly intent on taking over planet earth aren't able to bust down a bolted door, nor can they withstand an attack with a baseball bat - you would expect a species colonising other planets to be slightly more resilient than that. On top of this the aliens are featured far too prominently towards the end of the film, they look ridiculous and further undermine the weakening plot.
This film tries to do too much and ends up being neither interesting philosophical pontification nor scary movie.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Come on People
Review: This movie is much much much better than the Sixth Sense! This one is actually scary. The Sixth Sense told a better story, but the ending was WAY TO PREDICTABLE! This one had the perfect mix or horror and sci-fi and a little bit of humor. Go see it. One of the best pictures of this year. You'll like it. It won't diturb you, so you can sleep, but still be shaken up about this.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Monkey LIKE signs!
Review: WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON WITH EVERYBODY! Can't anyone see a perfect blend of old time sci fi,get out your hankerchief honesty, bloodchilling horror, offbeat humor, flawless art design, sophisticatedly unique and spooky imagery, great sound design/visual effects and really good music?I jus' don' get it. Obviously anybody who doesn't like this movie is doing it voluntarily. And I...(sniff)...I'm sorry(choke)...but I think I'm getting a little vacclemped! Talk amongst yourselves...I'll give you a topic,a peanut is neither a pea nor a nut...there now,I feel better!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: I liked it at first...
Review: ...but after thinking about this movie for a while, I liked it less and less.

On the surface, it's a neat idea. An alien-invasion story given a personal twist by focussing in on a single family, with emphasis on how it affects them and their lives. I thought the loss-of-faith angle was well explored.

But on further reflection, I started realizing how superficial it all was. A clergyman losing faith because his wife was killed? That's a time when people usually turn to their faith, and become stronger in it (in my experience), and not just reject it wholesale. Yes, it does happen...but for a clergyman to do it, that must indicate that his faith was very weak, and that he had no business being in a position of spiritual authority. And, of course, his faith returns at the end...it changes with the wind, it seems! The final scene is unlikely and silly, and could have been handled in a more realistic and thoughful manner. Shyamalan wanted to do a movie about faith, but sadly, he was unable to look any deeper than the surface.

As for the alien invasion part of the story...it's stupid. Just plain stupid. Alien transmissions intercepted by baby monitors? Silly. And the final way in which the aliens are dispatched makes NO sense whatsoever. (I won't reveal it.) But it's on a level of stupidity that if you think about it for more than five seconds, you'll realize that the aliens should have been unable to leave their saucers at all. Shyamalan has talked about how he tried to do the best thriller he could. He failed. The sci-fi elements of the story are stupid, stupid, stupid, and Shyamalan should be ashamed of himself.

On the upside, Gibson's performance was good, but not exceptional. Joaquin Phoenix was OK, the kids were below average. The lady cop was cool, though. And it was tense and exciting at times.

But...this is just B-movie tripe pretending to be profound and meaningful, when it's not.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not as great as i hoped!
Review: Signs was another unbreakable to me... a slow drawn out movie until the end, except in this film the ending wasn't as good as in unbreakable which also dissapointed me. Ever since I saw sixth sense I hoped that the director would put a little more effort in his future films and yet I am still waiting for another great movie as his first. Many loved Signs but for some reason I didn't think it was as great as everyone thought... I almost feel asleep watching the movie and it didn't really pick up until the end, and even the end was horrible and made no sense what so ever. It was a great waste of time, and if you have nothing else to do but to watch a drawn out boring movie with about two scenes with an Alien in it... definitley watch it but do not go in the Theatre's expecting another great film like Sixth Sense!! If you want to know what it is about...well I'ts about the same story as in every other alien movie... aliens coming to Earth to concure it... that's it!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: WAW signs is the best in 2002
Review: the first time i saw signs i was really surprise about all the
thrill and the scary scenes ... i was laugh and cray and i wish that the film well never ended . and i can't wait to see it in dvd mel gibson is the best waw

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Creepy, accessible and better than I'd expected
Review: A few years ago M. Night Shyamalan proved himself as a major player with his sleeper hit 'The Sixth Sense', following it up with the critically appraised yet less accessible 'Unbreakable' later on. Now he tackles aliens, along with the issue of how September 11th has affected us all. The set-up has Gibson as a bereaved priest who has lost his faith after his wife died in a car accident a year ago, now living with his brother Joaquin Phoenix and two children. When crop circles start appearing he assumes it's a hoax, yet as disturbing facts come to light we swiftly realised that this is the work of sinister alien life forms and that an invasion signalling the end of life as we know it is at hand.

Obviously this won't be to everyone's taste. Alien movies are a hard thing to get right - should it be part parody or should it be taken literally? For the most part Shyamalan chooses the latter, and thankfully so as the few attempts at humour often fall flat, especially with a script that at least in the beginning is clunky at best. But that isn't really what anyone goes to see a Shyamalan (or more often than not any horror flick) for, but to be chilled, freaked out and to see how he'll tackle a difficult subject. This is done very well, especially through inspired use of photography that makes it appear as if it is taken by some secret voyeur; indeed, the sense that some ominous force (God? Aliens? Who knows?) is watching is palpable throughout. Whether the camera is sweeping through fields of corn or studying a darkened room there always seems to be a feel that something is just off screen ready to pounce. There are also some inspired turns, with Gibson underplaying effectively and supported more than ably by the young actors that play his children, both of whom are superb. In fact, it's only really in Phoenix that there is any problem, and it certainly has nothing to do with his acting but more with the fact that a clearly talented actor has been, to an extent, wasted in a strangely stereotypical role.

All in all though Shyamalan goes for the route of human horror rather than blood and guts, with more and more focus being leant to a family in crisis as the impending invasion looms. One scene in particular, where Gibson tries to force his family into having a happy last meal together and they all end up in tears. As he showed in 'The Sixth Sense', an unseen horror is a much greater one and this is neatly balanced by the mixture of feelings the family has to a threat from the skies, in an obvious yet sensitively played metaphor for terrorism. If, when the aliens finally do appear, they are a little disappointing, this appears to be more of a budget problem than anything else and the ending is pulled off very well indeed. Whilst it may not be quite as excitingly different as 'The Sixth Sense', it certainly is an excellent follow-up.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A completion of a brilliant trilogy
Review: After he became famous because of his talent to make a cliche to something which is realistic and emotional, M. Night Shyamalan is a director you can easily put next to the other Big Boys like Ridley Scott or Tim Burton. Now, he returns to complete something which he calls a trilogy. A trilogy of realistic and dramatic, suspensefull thrillers. And it seems like he is aiming for a place next to the Big Boss, Steven Spielberg. Not only because of his attempt to make Aliens new again (something Spielberg also did some years ago with his Close Encounters of the Third Kind) but also by showing that he has a brilliant vision, and now he is ready to entertain a very wide range of audience.

The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable were, although handling themes who were very much fiction, still very serious, emotional and above all; slow. With his new attempt of re-inventing a cliche, he changed a lot and still kept a lot the same. To start with the similarities, next to the main story line, there's also a plot about a man having to cope with the loss of his wife and losing his faith. Having faith in something seems to be the main theme of the movie; a pastor having to regain his faith in God, and his children who do or do not believe in Aliens who are taking over the world.

This, of course, gives the movie something we have missed in a lot of blockbusters lately: depth. It also provides the much needed emotions and realism set agianst a story which is, at first, totally unconvincing. The mix of these two elements makes the whole movie much more believable and thereby also way more suspensefull. And as before, the movie never gets really violent.

The movie also continues in the tradition of the director showing up in a cameo. Only this time his cameo has grown into an important character which was, to say the least, a bit surprising. But hey, the man does a great job and it makes the character really stick out, which is very important.

But the most surprising element of all, which leads us to the differences between the previous 2 of his movies and this one, is the wit and humour at moments you need a relief. And this is at times really needed, because next to the tension you really feel in your body when sitting at the edge of your seat, you also get a fair amount of shock reactions (even more as in The Sixth Sense) All this adds up to the most intense motion picture experiences we have seen in, well, quite a while. And if you add to this a storyline which is faster in giving information and richer in action sequences, you get a movie which a very wide audience should see.

To come to a conclusion, I could fairly say that, because of the much Shyamalan-elements, the fans of the director won't be disappointed. And because of the more commercial style, everyone who never really liked a movie of M. Night before should give Signs a try as well. If they like a good suspense movie, they are in for a wonderfull motion picture experience.

And don't worry about the ending, like I did; although it doesn't leave much room for a deep discussion afterwards, it certainly will leave you satisfied.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: If you didn't love this film...
Review: I hate to say this, but the only people I've talked to who didn't like this movie completely missed the point. This is surprising, because the movie does an excellent job in showing it to you.

This is an incredibly well conceived movie. The theme hinges on this principle: everything happens for a reason. Gibson's character, a priest who gave up his faith when his wife died, believes that things just happen and there is no reason behind it.

All along the way there are signs (hence the title) that there is a reason that things happen the way that they do. At the end, they all merge together like pieces of a puzzle. A very intense and moving film, with incredible depth and emotion.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: They should take the "IGNS" and replace it with "UCKS"
Review: I went to see this film after seeing the creepy trailer in the theater. I couldn't believe how awful it was.

Mel Gibson looks like he's seventy years old. His kids are so cute you want to vomit. And his Brother, Joaquin Phoenix, Looks to be 30. I guess their Mother's reproductive organs didn't stop working after 40 years!

This movie has about as much suspense as overdosing on Mylanta. The plot is rather basic. They find crop circles in a field full of corn. Who's crop it is is a mystery. I guess after denouncing his priesthood (Gibson is a priest in the movie) He decided to grow friggen corn instead. Anyhow, The dog acts weird and his daughter starts drinking alot of water. The director makes a forgettable appearance as the quiet veternarian. His acting is similar to the whole film, Awful!

This movie is designed for people who are incapable of enjoying a real movie. Not only is the director annoying in the movie and interviews, He also gets the funding to make movies like this. If this had no big publicity campaign, No-one would have seen it, Because on quality alone, This film fails miserably.

One more thing. I thought Gibson and Shylamalan were suppost to be a couple in this movie which shocked me because Gibson is a known homophobe. I asked the lady sitting next to me if that what was going on. She looked at me and moved.


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