DVD lameness ("Signs" spoilers)

Cafe Society
1

Say what you will about the movie Signs. I happened to sort-of like it. It was far from the best movie I saw last year, and it had many failings. The ending was overdone, the premise was somewhat flawed, and showing the alien at the end was a big mistake. However, I admired much of what led up to the end. I liked the sense of humor of the film (it didn’t take itself too seriously, until the end), and I thought parts of it were genuinely creepy. So… not that bad. Probably the worst of M. Night’s Big Three, but still enjoyable, just as Panic Room was David Fincher’s worst movie, but still worth watching.

Anyway. This isn’t really about the film itself. This is about the DVD release of Signs. It flat-out sucks.

I’ve come to really like the DVD’s of M. Night’s films. The Vista Series releases of The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable are among the best DVD’s I own. Two discs in each package, and the extras are genuinely insightful and worth watching. Unbreakable has a featurette about comic books, and Sixth Sense has one about ghosts. The menu design is pretty good for both, and the packaging itself is pretty cool, with boxes that fold out several times and some good design work throughout. Also, they came with cool swag. Unbreakable had prints of two Alex Ross paintings, done specifically for the film. The Sixth Sense came with a printed storyboard element. Nothing groundbreaking, but just sort of neat stuff.

So, when I learned that the DVD of Signs would be another Vista Series release, I was sort of looking forward to it, even though the film was only OK. I admit, my standards were a bit high, because the previous two Vista Series DVD’s were so nice.

I bought Signs this morning, and I opened it up. One disc. Very few features. No swag. Lame box. Uninspired menu design. This is a Vista Series disc? Someone got lazy.

To be fair, I’ll say one good thing about it… I’m glad they’re continuing the tradition of showing M. Night’s early work. It’s fun to see how filmmakers get their start, and I like the fact that he’s not ashamed to show the early efforts he made. It gives me a little hope for myself. :slight_smile:

However, regarding the DVD for Signs, I have to say I’m disappointed overall. Even if the movie wasn’t all that great, they could have at least made the DVD more interesting.

Color me unsatisfied.

2

You must be one of those who believe that ALIEN 3 never happened. Forgive me for reminding you. :slight_smile:

3

just wait for ultra-mega-platnum limited edition director’s cut widescreen special super gold tampon version of the DVD, due out in three months, listed at $45.99

4

Took the words right out of my mouth, TheeGrumpy.

5

Actually, though I know very few will agree with me (and at least a few will vehemently disagree), I quite liked Alien 3. It was ballsy and stylish, and had a lot of the elements I really liked about the original Alien. There were several flaws (mostly in the writing), but for a first feature, I thought Fincher did just fine with it.

Now, if you were to ask me about Alien: Resurrection… yuck, what a stinker.

Tars, you’re not serious, are you? I haven’t seen any listings for a “special-special” edition of Signs at the usual suspects (Amazon, DVDplanet, etc.). The whole point of my criticism of the DVD is that the Vista Series is supposed to be the “special” edition, analogous to the Criterion Collection or the Platinum series. For such a lame DVD to be released under the Vista mark is really a letdown, and borders on false advertising (that may be stretching it, but oh well).

6

Speaking of Panic Room, that has a god-awful DVD too. I’m sorry, Superbit is not a special feature. I’m sure all 12 people in the country that have home theaters expensive enough to show the difference are excited for that, but the disc is a joke. It has nothing.

7

I haven’t yet seen Signs, but if Signs is worse than Unbreakable, I’m not sure I ever want to see it.

8

Seems I’m Captain of Unpopular Tastes today… Unbreakable was actually my favorite M. Night movie. To me, it’s the best translation of a comic-book idea to the screen I’ve ever seen, even though it wasn’t based on a specific comic. As a comic geek myself of days long past, I guess it was sort of made with me as the target audience, and it hit right on the mark.

YMMV.

9

I’m with you all the way, Avalonian. I loved Unbreakable, although not quite as much as Sixth Sense. Signs was good, although flawed. Beautiful looking movie. Worth watching for the cinematography alone. I also liked Alien 3. Dark, stylish, scary. Awesome ending. Probably would have liked it better if it hadn’t been part of the Alien series, though.

10

I really liked Signs

What is it that people don’t like about the movie?

I think Unbreakable is his best film.

11

i was just foolin’, but i bet there will be a new edition eventually. maybe after two more movies, part of a boxed set

12

Speaking of Panic Room, I believe that Columbia has actually announced a 2 disc special edition but has yet to set a release date.

I also really enjoyed Signs. It wasn’t as good as The Sixth Sense or Unbreakable but it was certainly better than a lot of the typical mainstream Hollywood releases this year.

This has been discussed here before but I think most of the objections came down to a few glaring logical inconsistencies. For example, how is it that a species that has mastered interstellar travel can’t figure out how to open a door? Or why would a species so deathly allergic to water choose to invade a planet that is positively water-logged? These things didn’t really bother me so much as I was so caught up in the movie. I viewed the movie as more of a mood piece where logic is really a secondary concern. Also, M. Night is a masterful director whose long slow camera shots build incredible tension.

I’ll probably buy the DVD but I’ll hold off for awhile to see if another edition is announced for the future.

13

Thanks for clarifying… I’ve been gullible today, it seems. :slight_smile:

You may be right about the special edition, but it seems weird to me that after the heavy promotional campaign for Signs, they didn’t capitalize on it more in the DVD release.

One thing I forgot to mention was the collectible cards that were coming out before Signs, which held secret codes that you would enter on the website to get access to special extras about the movie. The website itself was pretty cool, and the interviews with M. Night, Gibson, and others were pretty good. Weirdly, very little of it showed up on the DVD! Reprints of the cards themselves could have been the “cool swag” with this Vista DVD.

shaking head The logic escapes me.

14

Good news… I’ve held off buying Panic Room in the hopes of just such a thing.

Looks like we agree on more than just Dan Simmons, Hodge. I like your take on Signs, and it meshes with my own. The film was trying to establish a mood, and as far as I’m cconcerned it did so. The story was somewhat weak, but for some reason that doesn’t bother me for this movie. I enjoyed it for what it was, and was able to overlook what it wasn’t.

15

Glad we agree. Judging by the threads I remember when this movie was in the theatres, I got the distinct impression that most people really disliked Signs.

16

I thought Signs was decent enough and many of the logical holes weren’t that big. For instance with the water it’s perfectly possible that the aliens were simply unfamiliar with it on their planet and didn’t know it was harmful to them. Similiarly with the doors maybe they had some completely different technology in their homes and so didn’t understand how to operate them . Just because they had developed interplanetary travel doesn’t mean they would understand everything about Earth.

More importantly the aliens invasion is merely a dramatic device; it’s not that important in itself; the heart of the story is the reaction of the Mel Gibson character to the invasion and his rediscovery of faith. The film is a little corny and doesn’t completely come together but it’s pretty decent overall.

17

I think my biggest problem with Signs is that it could have been so much better. I thought Shyamalan did a great job from a directing point of view–the film had a great atmosphere, the camerawork was cool, it looked and felt like a good movie. I just wished he would have had someone else write it.