a-the-ist
- noun - One who denies or disbelieves in the existence of God.
ag-nos-tic - noun - One who disclaims any knowledge of God,
but does not deny the possibility of His existence.
The two words above are often confused, but I definitely consider myself to be Agnostic. I'm not religious at all, but I accept the possibility of there being a God out there. I don't believe in Adam and Eve, nor do I believe in that whole thing where "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." I believe in the Big Bang Theory and the Theory of Evolution. I own a Bible, but I don't believe most of what's inside. It's got some great stories, though, very dark stuff. Within the first few pages, there's sex, violence, murder, and incest. God was an angry god, one who had no qualms about flooding the earth or destroying Sodom and Gomorrah. The Bible is filled with great stories, but I see them as just that, stories. Nothing more, nothing less. I could be wrong, it's just my opinion. That being said, I can't deny the possibility that God exists. I'm not 100% positive that He (or She) exists, but I can't say for sure that I believe He/She doesn't. Yes, I believe in the Theory of Evolution and I believe in the Big Bang Theory, but the great question has nothing to do with what happened, how everything was created, or how we got here. The great question is why. Why are we here? Why is there a universe? Why is it that we all live on the third planet in the Solar System, a planet that just happens to have everything we need for us to live on it? The question of why is the reason that I'm Agnostic and not an Atheist.
The movie that best covers what I'm talking about is "Contact," the film starring Jodie Foster, directed by Robert Zemeckis, and based on the novel by Carl Sagan. It's a great movie that doesn't exactly answer the question of why, but explores it like no movie ever has before. "Signs," the latest film written by M. Night Shyamalan, does something similar, but I can't tell you more about that. Doing so would give away one (or some) of the movie's big surprises (but the surprises aren't the same kind found in another M. Night Shyamalan film, "The Sixth Sense"... don't walk in expecting an ending as jarring as that one).
I walked in knowing very little about "Signs." I knew who wrote and directed it, and that's all I really needed to know to get me to see it. I had seen a few commercials and trailers, so I knew that it had something to do with the phenomenon of crop circles. Quite honestly, that kinda turned me off. I love all things having to do with the supernatural, so when I hear "true" stories about UFOs and ghosts, I get really into it. I hope that some of those stories ARE true. The thing is, crop circles were proven to be a hoax. There was even a televised demonstration of how it can be done. However, not ALL of the crop circles found were proven hoaxes. There were a few that had patterns way too complex for the hoaxers to pull off. Still, the fact that the movie seemed to be about crop circles didn't exactly get me more interested. The movie isn't entirely about crop circles, though. Sure, they play a role in the film, but it's not what the movie is about. It's much more than that. Saying that "Signs" is about crop circles is like saying that "Unbreakable" (the great film that M. Night Shyamalan made before this one) is about a guy who survived a train crash.
I actually got to see "Signs" several days before it's official release date. It was to be released on Friday, August 2, but I saw it on Tuesday, July 30, and all the seats were filled. It was a free advanced screening, and the theater had plenty of assholes in it. I heard cell phones go off nonstop, at least ten separate times, no lie. People were laughing during inappropriate moments, a girl in front of me talked from beginning to end, and during the frightening moments, the screams were purposely overboard. Ugh. Why are there so many disrespectful, inconsiderate, annoying, stupid, thoughtless, selfish assholes in the world? Despite the constant distractions and disruptions, I was still able to enjoy the movie, but it gets really slow at times. REALLY slow. Excruciatingly slow.
The film stars Mel Gibson (I guess Bruce Willis was busy), and he's fantastic. It's a role very different from what he usually plays, but he's perfect in it. Then there's Joaquin Phoenix (he was great in "8mm," "Quills," and "Gladiator") as his brother, and he's awesome. His character is the source of much (and much-needed) comic relief, and Joaquin Phoenix plays the role beautifully. The guy is a great actor. Mel Gibson's character has two kids in the movie, the son is played by Rory Culkin (brother of Macaulay Culkin and Kieran Culkin), and he's really good. Abigail Breslin (her feature film debut) plays Mel Gibson's daughter, and she's adorable, but probably not the best young actress in the world. Finally, like in "The Sixth Sense" and "Unbreakable," M. Night Shyamalan gave himself a small role, but his role in this one is the biggest one he's given himself yet. He does fine, but I find it very distracting when he does that.
James Newton Howard, who did the music for "The Sixth Sense" and "Unbreakable," is back, and this is probably his best music to date, or at least his best music for an M. Night Shyamalan film. James Newton Howard is becoming to M. Night Shyamalan what Danny Elfman is to Tim Burton, and that's certainly not a bad thing.
In my review of "The Sixth Sense," I gave it a 9. I gave "Unbreakable" an 8. After seeing both movies several more times, I now like "Unbreakable" more, probably because it appeals to that comic book geek side of me. Right now, I like "Signs" the least of the last three films by M. Night Shyamalan (before he did "The Sixth Sense," he wrote and directed two films, "Wide Awake" and "Praying with Anger," neither of which I've seen). Then again, the theater where I saw "Signs" was filled with assholes, so maybe I'll like it more when I see it in the privacy (and merciful silence) of my own home.
"Signs" is a movie that spends 90% of the time building up to something. During that time, there are some scary moments, corny moments, funny moments, surprisingly effective sentimental moments, and yes, some slow, boring moments. But then comes the remaining 10%, and I gotta tellya, it blew me away. Also, it made me think about things that have happened in my life, good and bad, and again, I asked myself the question of why.
Scale of 1-10: 8