The track "Throwing a Stone" came on my music player yesterday afternoon and it made my day. I still enjoy the movie.
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What are your thoughts on M. Night Shyamalan's film Signs?
- Thread starter Hellwarden
- Start date
Understandable but I argue that the movie did earn the twist by making Graham wife's death the throughline that connects all the characters and by foreshadowing the ending with that great scene between Graham and his brother about signs. Graham is challenged throughout the whole movie on his lack of faith and by the end he choose to accept his wife's death by assigning meaning to it and regaining his faith.
you can easily put yourself in the place of seeing that news report for the first time. the footage is done with a handheld camcorder so it feels more on-the-ground than the rest of the movie. and the reveal moment is followed by people screaming in fear on the video. i dont even know if i think its scary. i just find it terribly upsetting. a 'pit in the stomach' moment.
I love this movie. I loved on theaters, I loved on BD, I love it on streaming. I loved as a teen, I love it even more as a parent. It's his best film. It's extraordinary on DD 5.1.
EXACTLY how I experienced it and it's all true. Till this day, still one of the most memorable experiences I've ever had in a movie theater.
youre right. the idea that it wasnt earned is odd. the entire movie sets it up. lol.
"See what you have to ask yourself is what kind of person are you? Are you the kind that sees signs, that sees miracles? Or do you believe that people just get lucky? Or, look at the question this way: Is it possible that there are no coincidences?"
It was filmed on my friend's farm in my hometown. They were super secretive about it, but I knew they were filming SOMETHING over there. It was pretty rad - they did a premiere nearby at one of the Regal Cinemas.
I like the movie, I think it's got flaws, but it's still pretty fun. I like it more just because it's basically set in Doylestown, PA area, and they used a fake T-Shirt from my high school.
I like the movie, I think it's got flaws, but it's still pretty fun. I like it more just because it's basically set in Doylestown, PA area, and they used a fake T-Shirt from my high school.
Posterchild for an unnecessary twist undermining the entire film. How could anyone be scared of aliens so dumb. They travelled across the entire universe to invade a planet they were allergic to.
This bothered me when I saw it, but humans are ready to travel to Mars where they can't breath the air and can't find any food.
I remember seeing it in theaters - must have been 12, I think. Definitely the first "horror" experience I can remember in a cinema.
I'd like to rewatch it, but Mel Gibson definitely sours the overall product.
I'll tell you one thing, though, the soundtrack is fantastic:
I'd like to rewatch it, but Mel Gibson definitely sours the overall product.
I'll tell you one thing, though, the soundtrack is fantastic:
Pretty good movie especially when I saw it 20 or whatever years ago. Spooked me and I enjoyed it.
I saw this in theaters. I think I was the perfect age for it as I really really enjoyed it. The best scare was the birthday party video by far.
It's one of those that, even if I think I'd enjoy it on a rewatch, I wouldn't get as much out of it.
It's one of those that, even if I think I'd enjoy it on a rewatch, I wouldn't get as much out of it.
Personally them really hammering you over the head with SIGNS is poor writing and sort of patronizing to the viewer. I also totally get the faith aspect, that's literally what SIGNS means. But the meeting with his wife is just really so dumb to me. The scene is very well acted and heartbreaking don't get me wrong, but ",swing away", once again, could be any phrase ever. His daughter leaving glasses around is another miracle SIGN and meryl being a baseball player is another SIGN. those 2 signs are really stupid when you think about it though... Meryl didn't need to be a baseball player to squirt some water, he uses a bat to throw water at the alien. Let's deconstruct this.
Wow it all was fate! He's a baseball player so he had a bat to smash the water at the alien, what if he wasn't?! Well he could simply pick up the glass of water and toss the water at the alien... In fact wouldn't that be more effective then splashing the water all over the room? Well wait a minute the glasses were everywhere! Thank god his daughter had that totally weird and totally unexplained drinking water thing that isn't tossed in purely as a device... Oh well I guess it wouldn't have mattered because there is water literally everywhere on this earth. I understand this is oversimplifying it, but the whole thing is interchangeable plot device over plot device.
Want to make clear here I'm not faulting anyone for enjoying it. I guess I'd liken it to the show lost. Some people are totally cool with the way the "mysteries" were manufactured and conveniently worked out how they did, because at the end of the day if the presentation is good, why not enjoy the ride? I'm saying for me personally though I think compared to unbreakable or the sixth sense, the writing is a monumental step down.
"Sign" me up as being the biggest fan of this film. I have the soundtrack, which James Newton Howard does an amazing job on. I love all the creepy scenes, the religious allegory, the characters, everything about this movie I love. The humor is even really good! I would love another film set at the same time showing another family dealing with the invasion. This, and the alien film Prometheus (which also contains a religious allegory), are my two favorite films of all time.
an ok movie, nitpicked to death.
thats what happens when you leave so much open to the viewer to interpret, they can focus on the wrong shit.
like who cares they have weakness to water and the planet is covered in water? find me another planet with life on it that doesn't have water.
why would an alien know what a doorknob is?
thats what happens when you leave so much open to the viewer to interpret, they can focus on the wrong shit.
like who cares they have weakness to water and the planet is covered in water? find me another planet with life on it that doesn't have water.
why would an alien know what a doorknob is?
Re-reading Ebert's 4 star review he really nails why it works:
I miss The Rog.
I miss The Rog.
it's not good, the kid leaving glasses of water everywhere was dumb, the whole preacher storyline thing was insulting, and the aliens look goofy as hell
Each character quirk is laid out and well explained, the fact the Meryl always hit the ball as hard as he could, the asthma and the contaminated water thing but I it's totally understandable if the movie didn't work for you.
In the end, every movie can be summed up by this:
Peter Benchley was not happy with Steven Spielberg's ending where the shark is killed when a compressed air tank explodes in its mouth, claiming it was unrealistic. Spielberg defended himself by saying he will have held his audiences' attention for two hours and they would believe anything in the end no matter how unrealistic or unbelievable the ending really was. Spielberg even thought of an ending where after the shark is blown up, Brody would look up to see several shark fins.
I liked the film if I completely ignore logic but the thing that bothered me the most was the fact that if you were an alien who could be killed by water why would you be outside with no protective clothing on a planet where it rains all the time ?
First of all you are on a farm and farms spray water in their fields., then you have all the humidity in the air. The air alone would have cooked these guys .
Alien Nation had the Water thing too but at least they were harmed by salt water which is not as prevalent in the air.
First of all you are on a farm and farms spray water in their fields., then you have all the humidity in the air. The air alone would have cooked these guys .
Alien Nation had the Water thing too but at least they were harmed by salt water which is not as prevalent in the air.
See, I just can't let this point go.
We're shown that these creatures are advanced enough to master intergalactic travel.
We're shown that they're strong and agile enough to jump on top of a two-story house from the ground.
But when we're then shown that they're unable to breach an ordinary wooden door, as if they're just weak and dumb animals, it comes off as an incredible contradiction. I can't suspend my disbelief at that point. From then on, there's no reason for me to assume that the characters are in any actual danger, because I'm expecting contrived solutions for them from that point onward. In that sense, the goofy ending was right in line with what I was left to expect.
OK, I'm willing to almost forgive the stupidity of a species smart enough to develop not only interstellar travel, but cloaking technology going to a planet that's made up of 70% of a substance they're allergic to (don't even get me started on humidity) with absolutely no protective gear. But in no way are you going to convince me that a creature that can leap a 2 story roof can't kick down a fucking wooden door.
There's parts of this film that are brilliant. The suspense build is amazing. However, it has way too many flaws to forgive and then ending is just horrible. I mean War of the Worlds (2005) bad.
There's parts of this film that are brilliant. The suspense build is amazing. However, it has way too many flaws to forgive and then ending is just horrible. I mean War of the Worlds (2005) bad.
Yeah but we don't have to fight a land war to colonize Mars haha. Haven't these aliens ever heard of Napoleon in Russia?!
No you're missing the point. The idea that there was some grand design isn't well written, because those things weren't necessary attributes at all. Its treated as a light bulb "holy shit! It was all fate!" Moment where in reality none of that stuff actually mattered. Also I totally disagree that they were properly explained, the daughter just randomly drops water. Its the very definition of plot device and they're not cleverly or sharply written at all. The meryl being a baseball player thing is just totally irrelevant, because anybody can swing a bat and likely owns one. Saying "swing away" as she dies could be literally any code word ever to tie it in at the end as a "twist", but there was no logical way to actually decipher- a. Why "swing away", is relevant to the aliens or b. The little girl things the water is contained. Again it's "fate", but that's a cop out because you can simply play mad libs with every piece of the puzzle here, because the pieces aren't actually relevant to the puzzle. He could've been a pitcher instead and she says "tell meryl to bring the heat!" And then he picks up a ball- doesn't even have to be a baseball! And throws it at the alien, which ricochets and splashes water. Him being a baseball player is simply a poorly written device that tricks the viewer into thinking it all tied in neatly, when it wasn't necessary at all.
Contrast this with the sixth sense, which obviously intentionally guides the viewer away from the big reveal (spoilers just in case?), But you can actually go back and point out the tells all over the place, some people may figure it out before it ends. In signs nobody on earth will know why swing away is relevant, you can simply apply that to any sort of foreshadowing. Its not nearly as sharp or well written as it seems.
If you want to see this exact same method of writing amplified times 10, go ahead and watch lady in the water, with all of these weird chara yet quirks fitting perfectly into some weird plot "twist" it you can even call it that. The guy who lifts weights with only one arm, the guy who is a pro at reading cereal boxes, etc. None of that was earned, and neither was any of it in signs.
Edit- as for the jaws bit, I said above, lost is my best example. Some loved it, some hated it. They forced in nonsense twists that don't actually make sense when you think about it outside of moving the plot along. At the end of the day those who enjoyed it simply didn't care. They were thoroughly entertained and lived the presentation. In that regard I enjoy signs for the atmosphere it creates and I actually enjoy the characters and performances, but the twist itself is a disaster.
This is what I'm saying. Humans do incredibly dangerous things for resources. There are also things in our air that are harmful to us when we're exposed to enough of it.
One of a couple of films that showed me how powerful a receptive cinema was. We all loved it, watched it on when it came out on DVD, and noticed how fucking dumb it was. But in that dark room with a few hundred people all gasping and the like? It was great.
The other big one was a more middle of the road film, Dodgeball. On a ninety degree night I saw it in a packed audience and every joke hit, I swore it was the funniest movie I had ever seen. I get it immediately on DVD and while some jokes hit nothing was like the crowd all gasping for air laughing at every minute.
The other big one was a more middle of the road film, Dodgeball. On a ninety degree night I saw it in a packed audience and every joke hit, I swore it was the funniest movie I had ever seen. I get it immediately on DVD and while some jokes hit nothing was like the crowd all gasping for air laughing at every minute.
I saw the movie with my family when I was way too young (born in 1998) and the birthday footage and the shit with the door in the basement totally traumatized me for a long time and I still think about it every now and then. But seeing that led me to now be able to watch literally anything and just laugh at it. The movie sparked my love for horror, even though it's not even close to my top 10 for horror movies now.
Even as a very young child I remember thinking the ending was dumb, but I was at least happy that I could kill the aliens very easily if they ever showed up in my room
Even as a very young child I remember thinking the ending was dumb, but I was at least happy that I could kill the aliens very easily if they ever showed up in my room
The video of the alien from the birthday party in Brazil scared me so bad. Gave me nightmares for weeks.
I have a lot of nostalgia for that movie. I don't think the end is any worse than War of the Worlds. I enjoy both despite how poorly the aliens thought out their planet for conquest.
I have a lot of nostalgia for that movie. I don't think the end is any worse than War of the Worlds. I enjoy both despite how poorly the aliens thought out their planet for conquest.
Watched it in theaters as a teen. The hand under the door>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>birthday scene. Still think of that till this day. The only thing I didn't like about the movie at the time was the fact that they fully revealed the alien at the end. It took away all the mystery plus it looked kind of goofy.
The Sixth Sense is his best movie.
Unbreakable is his most underrated movie.
But Signs is my favorite. Easily. I could watch it a million times over.
I still remember where I was when I left the movie theater two decades ago, and my memory is really really bad.
I have a theory that people who love Signs are in the same camp as people who love LOST. I call it the cool camp of good opinions.
Unbreakable is his most underrated movie.
But Signs is my favorite. Easily. I could watch it a million times over.
I still remember where I was when I left the movie theater two decades ago, and my memory is really really bad.
I have a theory that people who love Signs are in the same camp as people who love LOST. I call it the cool camp of good opinions.
Outside of the name I said the exact same thing about lost a few posts up.
I like how everyone is like it's so dumb the aliens invade a planet where they're allergic to water.
But war of the worlds(book) is considered a Sci fi classic and the aliens are defeated by bacteria on earth.
America's military is one of the most advanced and we've been quagmired in Afghanistan and Iraq for 20 fucking years.
But war of the worlds(book) is considered a Sci fi classic and the aliens are defeated by bacteria on earth.
America's military is one of the most advanced and we've been quagmired in Afghanistan and Iraq for 20 fucking years.
Not that I've mentioned that particular nitpick but you can't see bacteria... You can see TONS of water just by looking at earth
Dumb aliens going to planet that would kill them. I hope they don't play movies like this on our flight to Mars.