Archive through December 29, 2002
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TV ClubHouse: archive: Movies Sept 2002 - April 2003: Signs: Archive through December 29, 2002

Fflur

Wednesday, July 31, 2002 - 09:39 am EditMoveDeleteIP
I saw this last night a special screening..and as soon as I come out from under the bed I will be happy to discuss it. Just kidding. It is very scary, but at the same time very funny. I found the subject of your lack of faith or strength in faith interesting but not preachy. The kids were great in this picture. And this is most definately an old fashion hands over your eyes, grab on to the person next to you picture.

Webkitty

Wednesday, July 31, 2002 - 03:43 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Oh goodie! We are going to see this next Wednesday afternoon, can't wait! Thanks Fflur!

(also, thanks for not giving too much away, I want to be surprised)

Kady

Wednesday, July 31, 2002 - 07:46 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Wow Kitty, we sure go to the movies alot. I can't wait to see this either. Does it start Friday? If so, we will go see it then.

Calamity

Monday, August 05, 2002 - 08:20 am EditMoveDeleteIP
I thought "Signs" was terrific but then I liked "Unbreakable", too, a movie that seemed to disappoint a lot of people. "Signs" has some pretty unnerving moments - of the what-you-don't-see-is-more-scary variety. My house is surrounded by corn fields and I told my dog we weren't going to be taking our usual late night strolls for a while!

Juju2bigdog

Tuesday, August 06, 2002 - 10:41 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Saw it today and liked it, although I found a lot of the fake scares annoying, like loud noises when there was nothing scary there at all.

Oh, I agree with Fflur, the kids did a great job of acting.

Whoami

Wednesday, August 07, 2002 - 08:17 am EditMoveDeleteIP
I've been wanting to see Signs, but comparing it to Unbreakable scares me. Unbreakable was probably my 2nd worse "recently" seen movie (A.I. being the worse).

Webkitty

Wednesday, August 07, 2002 - 08:59 am EditMoveDeleteIP
I'm going today, I'm going today!! Will report back later..............

Calamity

Thursday, August 08, 2002 - 09:24 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Hi Whoami: Awww, you actually thought "Unbreakable" was THAT bad? I can understand how it might not be everyone's cup of tea but still...I'm afraid many people (critics and audiences) saw it hoping for "The Sixth Sense" part two and were so disappointed it wasn't that they couldn't accept the movie on its own terms. I don't claim it to be one of the greatest films in history but I suspect that over time it will be better appreciated. On the DVD there's a brillant deleted scene that Shyamalan really liked but left out because it didn't fit the somber tone of the rest of the film. It involves Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson's character) as a young boy at a street fair. Absolutely nerve-wracking and also heartwrenching.

In any case, "Signs" is no more "Unbreakable" part two than the latter film was "The Sixth Sense" part two. I only mentioned "Unbreakable" because I think that there is good chance that people will have expectations about what "Signs" should be about and will more than likely discover that it's something wholly different.

I've learned not to debate the quality of "A.I." with those who didn't like it :) .

Rissa

Thursday, August 08, 2002 - 10:42 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Calamity. I agree with you about Unbreakable. I really enjoyed it too!!! I did have to work at reminding myself that it wasn't the Sixth Sense which is kinda silly really. I didn't go into Star Wars expecting to see an American Graffitti remake so why did I expect this director to do one movie over again?
And I half-way agree with you on AI. I absolutely loved it until he went in the water. At that point I was getting ready to put my jacket on, prepared to leave the theatre a very happy viewer. Then it just totally switched gears and seemed to drag and drag. It wasn't so much that the last portion stunk as it seemed like a different movie by a different director. Totally switched tracks after 2 hours into a Kubrick 2001 surreal type film and it was too abrupt for me.

I did see Signs last week with hubby. I loved it !!! He thought it was *good* but tried to be too many things. I think he's pouting because he didn't get to pick the movie. :)

Calamity

Monday, August 12, 2002 - 01:55 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Hi Rissa, I guess for someone who didn't like the premise of "A.I." at all this might seem silly, but I sobbed through the last 25 minutes or so of that movie - I had no idea it was going to be so emotional (some might shamelessly tearjerking). Sure it had its share of flaws but I was still impressed by much of what Spielberg tried to accomplish with that film. Unlike "Unbreakable" however, I haven't watched "A.I." again now that it's available on video. Can't bear the thought of how heartbreaking the ending was. I had a disagreement with someone who insisted that it was another patented Spielbergian happy ending and I stormed back, "How can you call THAT a happy ending?!" Jeez, I'm getting depressed just thinking about it.

I'm so glad you liked "Signs" :) . ***Spoilers*** Even though I'm still upset about the dogs. Sniff. Loved most everything else though. Kinda drives me crazy that people are concentrating on the sci-fi aspect of the film and ridiculing the alien invasion. Were they paying attention at all? :)

Azriel

Monday, August 12, 2002 - 03:29 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I went and saw Signs last Friday. It was a great suspenseful movie. LOL! I nearly jumped in my sister's lap a couple of times and I hid my head on her arm. I'm thankful that I live no where near any corn fields :)

I thought it was a great movie. It was funny and touching. Everytime I think of those three, sitting on the couch, in their aluminum foil hats, I have to chuckle.

Kitt

Monday, August 12, 2002 - 04:22 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
It was such a weird film, some parts were almost comedy, but I think the overall message about coincidences and signs was very touching. I really liked it. Hard to discuss though.

Nancy

Saturday, August 17, 2002 - 07:28 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
i saw this movie today--its definitely a scarey but touching/enlightening movie too--it is hard to discuss-- :)

Mssilhouette

Sunday, August 18, 2002 - 02:20 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Aww c'mon now folks...here TVCH we can discuss everything!

The movie Signs was about it's title. Obvious signs and not so obvious. And who exactly created these signs and for what purpose. The big picture is revealed at the end of the movie as you put the pieces together.

Signs seems to tell a tale about one man questioning his place in the universe or to be more specific his belief.

The scary parts are only when there is an unknown. It's also funny how some would look at a sign and see benevolence and some would see malice. I think that's the basic heart of the movie...When there is a sign what do you see and believe?


Oh yeah, I did enjoy the movie by the way and jumped a lot! LOL

Whoami

Sunday, August 18, 2002 - 09:54 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I saw it tonight with my sisters, who felt I needed to get out of the house for a while (see story below). Didn't like the part with the dogs either. Kill all the idiot adults off you want movie producers, but leave the beasts and children alone.

"It's also funny how some would look at a sign and see benevolence and some would see malice. I think that's the basic heart of the movie...When there is a sign what do you see and believe?"

Very well said MsSil. I've wondered often over this last year and a half that I've been unemployed why it was exactly. Mom's health was already pretty bad when I was laid off in Jan of 2000. I spent most of the next several months driving her to doc's appointments and physical therapy. But, every time I aggressivly searched for a job, there was NOTHING out there. It's been so bad that even the temp agencies won't take on new temp workers. Anyway, Mom had a stroke on July 3, and now my life has been consumed with that (daily visits to the hospital, rehab center, nursing home). She's home now, and needs me around for a while yet. So, if I had been employed, it would have been a big problem. So, even though it's been depressing to be viewed as undesireable to every yahoo who has interviewed me, it really was meant to be (just like the movie said).

Webkitty

Monday, August 19, 2002 - 02:11 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
WARNING ~SPOILER~ WARNING (don't read if you don't want to know anything about this movie)

I thought the movie was about two different ways to look at life: is it a series of ramdom coincidences? or: is there is a meaning or purpose for everything that happens.

Obviously, the "signs" that showed up in the cornfield were from hostle aliens

Mel Gibsons character's wife believed that there is a meaning and purpose for everything that happens.
She beleived that there is guiding force in the universe that helps us along by letting us see "signs" along the way.
When she tragically died, Mel's faith in that belief went with her. He became cynical, and felt that we are all just mearly matter taking up room in the universe, randomly moving through our lives. "there are no coinsidences"

We keep seeing flashbacks of the car accident that his wife died in. Her last words to him were: ~Tell Merrill to swing away~ (Merrill was his younger brother, played by Joquin Phoenix, who was a failed pro/semi-pro baseball player. But he was a POWERFUL hitter when he DID connect)

Mel thought that what she said were just the neurons firing off in her brain as she died. RANDOM images/thoughts/words. It didn't MEAN anything. That there was no reason or purpose for her death, or for the words she said as she slipped away.

But we see as the movie goes along, little bits and pieces of his faith returning, until the very last scene with the scary alien.

Her words come back to him in a FLASH of clarity:

~Tell Merrill to swing away.~
Mel connects! He sees in an instant that her words were NOT random, because right behind Merrill, hanging on the wall, is his old bat that he used to hit those powerful, grand slams with!
~chills!~

The evil alien is about to kill his son, Mel tells Merrill to swing away!!! Merrill grabs the bat and bashes the living sh!t out of the alien!!

Mel's son is saved, some people figure out how to kill the aliens, the rest leave Earth, and the threat is passed.

The very ending shot is Mel putting back on his minister's collar, he has regained his faith that everything that happens, happens for a reason. There are no coinsidences.

The end

Whoami

Monday, August 19, 2002 - 02:54 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Webkitty (More spoiler warnings here....)

You left out the parts about why the son had asthma, and why the daughter had an obsession with "stale" water.

Webkitty

Monday, August 19, 2002 - 03:03 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Whoami, you go ahead and tell that part!

My intent wasn't to spoil the whole movie, but since we've started down that road, spoil on!!!

More things that are NOT coincidences to come folks................

Juju2bigdog

Monday, August 19, 2002 - 05:28 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Yes, but, Mel had to have it "proved" to him before he regained his faith. Does that count in the godliness department?

Hummingbird

Friday, August 23, 2002 - 07:14 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Fantastic movie! I screamed out loud in the theatre when the dog lunged at the kid. I never do anything like that at the movies! I don't think that was a spoiler. It happened early in the movie.

Jkm

Monday, September 16, 2002 - 08:10 am EditMoveDeleteIP
We saw it at the drive in followed by The road to Perdition.

Wow -- Kids got real spooked -- but it was not gorey -- most of the "scary parts" were suspense (which always does me in)

I was confused at the end though. Was Mel trying to decide if the alien was not bad and helping his son and then the flashback to wife saying to have the brother swing away, he decided the alien was bad?

The alien didn't spray anything on the son until they started coming at him with the bat.

I thought the kids were a little strange and cardboard at the beginning.

Over all great movie!!!

(kids feel asleeep before the second show luckily)

Monkeyboy

Friday, December 27, 2002 - 01:53 am EditMoveDeleteIP
wow im in a minority....i thought this movie completely sucked out loud! but oh well.

Hummingbird

Friday, December 27, 2002 - 08:20 am EditMoveDeleteIP
I disagree. I liked it. I am looking forward to seeing it again on PPV TV.

Wargod

Sunday, December 29, 2002 - 01:22 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Saw it last night and loved it! Just my type of scare movie with no blood, and lot of what you don't see is scarier than what you do see.

The only problem I had with this (and its really very silly) was the boy not taking his inhaler with him when they went to hide! If I'm leaving the house or going into a situation where I may need Kotas inhaler for her asthma, the first thing I'm doing is grabbing that inhaler, LOL. I totally understand why in the movie it was needed for him not to have it, but still! LOL.

I'll definitely be getting this dvd when it comes out cuz I just loved it, LOL.

Monkeyboy

Sunday, December 29, 2002 - 01:32 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
i think the only reason i didnt like it was because I saw it at a dollar movie theatre and the picture was very dark and the sound was bad...ill probably re watch it when it comes out on DVD