I GUESS I'M NOT ALONE - I really don't want to keep harping on Signs, but I just took a look at the transcript of Jeff Giles' live chat that happened on MSNBC.com at noon ET today. When asked which Shyamalan film is his favorite, Giles said: "I like Sixth Sense best, and Signs second best. Signs is funnier than Sixth Sense but Sixth Sense is scarier. I'd say Signs was more touching, but that traffic-accident scene in Sixth Sense where the boy tells his mom that he has a secret--and that he's been "speaking" with his late grandma--is unbeatable in tear-jerking terms."

In case you missed my post from earlier this morning, I wrote: "The scene in the car between Toni Collette and Haley Joel Osment at the end of the film, where the boy finally reveals his secret to his mom, and explains that her dead mother is proud of her, still provokes an emotional response from me whenever I see it."

It's a devastating scene. And it works because Shyamalan trusts the emotional integrity of the words and his actors' ability to convey that emotion. No score or close-ups to direct our response. It's worth breaking out the DVD just to watch it.

In the chat Giles also points out that "Shyamalan made certain that Disney didnt mention the Sixth Sense in ANY of its marketing materials because he wanted to avoid the comparison." Did anybody notice this when watching the trailer? I remember thinking once that they say "M. Night Shyamalan's...Signs" at the end as if everyone in the audience was supposed to know who he was. It never occurred to me that it was precisely because they never mention Sixth Sense or Unbreakable. Certainly a gutsy move, if not the smartest financially.