"SWING AWAY...ON MY NUTS" (reviewed by AX)

I totally agree with my pal Og on this one. There is no way anybody in their right mind will dislike SIGNS. It's basically perfect. And if you don't think so, I hope the aliens come down and shove something huge and shiny into your ass pipe.

SIGNS is about a small family in rural Pennsylvania that finds giant crop circles in their corn field one day. Granted, crop circles are the most boring and uninteresting of all UFO phenomena, but the fact that Night Shyamalan managed to make such a kick-ass movie based on them is just a testament to how incredibly talented he is.

Instead of going into more detail about the story, or about what happens, let me just tell you...this movie works exceptionally well with a large audience. People were screaming a lot, I jumped a few times, and there was a lot of laughter to break the tension. I noticed people laughing just because they were scared as fuck. A couple people even got up and left because it got too intense at times. Very, very effective storytelling and pacing.

My favorite Night Shyamalan film is still UNBREAKABLE, just because I still get all tingly every time I see it. THE SIXTH SENSE is never the same after the first time you watch it, but it's one of those movies where you watch it again and again and go "GOD DAMN! How fucking clever is he?" constantly. I think this guy is giving us some of the greatest movies of our time, and hopefully he will be able to keep up the good work. He seems to enjoy appearing in small roles in his films, kinda like how Hitchcock did. That's pretty damn neat, and probably the only way you're gonna see an Indian man on the big screen that isn't part of some convenience store joke.

SIGNS is better than WAR OF THE WORLDS. It is better than 2001: A SPACE ODDYSEY. It is better than CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND. It is better than FIRE IN THE SKY or COMMUNION. And it's better, by far, than INDEPENDENCE DAY.

(8.10.02)