I always watch a movie all the way through. I stay until the last credit, until the final copyright, until the harsh theater lights snap back on. And I generallly use the time between the end of the movie and the end of the credits both reflecting on the grandeur of the cinema experience and solidifying my thoughts on a particular film.

So right now I’m stumped.

I watch movies, I get meanings, I think about connotiatons and symbols and plot-shaped things. I think about analysis, and over-analysis, and surface meanings and permutations. And I can generally pin down why in my gut I like or dislike a movie.

With Signs it is different. I love this movie, and I have no idea why. I sit here, in the parking lot of The Block contemplating, and I’m drawing a blank. Why do I like it so? Certainly having Macauly Caulkin 2 as a main character was a turn-off. Certainly the resolution, once we got to where we got, could never live up to the rest of the movie. Certainly the style is neat…but why do I love this movie?

The story is simplistic, yet powerful. It truly is all about the journey. What does it mean?

Those going to see the movie should watch for the M. Night Shyamalan cameo as a guy who sleeps too much…

A final thought: this movie succeeds brilliantly at describing things to the viewer without showing them. What we can imagine is much more real and scary than anything that could be put on screen, and Shyamalan understands this. The wonderful blend of showing and telling really makes this movie work. And it probably had the added benefit of saving on the effects budget.

There we go. I’m starting to analyze. Now I’m getting somewhere…

But do I really want to understand this movie?