Knowing...Ambitious Scifi movie...or black eye for the genre?

Knowing is a pretty strange film. Its from Director Alex Proyas, a pretty strange director. Alex’s work includes The Crow, Dark City and I Robot. Very dark films with gloomy yet opimistic storytelling.

Knowing, I have to say, is one of the first movies in a while where I am absolutely and utterly speechless. I’m not sure what to make of this movie, and this is not a good thing. It is hauntingly depressing and morbid. I understand where they were going with this and maybe what I’m feeling now is exactly what they wanted me to feel. So in that case they succeeded. I just absolutely did not expect it to happen the way it did. I think this really could have been an awesome movie but its reduced to something with bad acting and a very thought provoking storyline and twist that just felt tacked on at the end.

I’m usually a big fan of scifi movies with awesome twist endings like this but its just too morbid. But again, Proyas probably wanted me to feel exactly as I do right now. Although that touch of hope is there at the end, I just feel like its too forced. Knowing is not a bad movie its just way too morbid in an era of society where “terror” has been too prevalient on our minds.

But this movie is timely as 2012 is approaching, a year prophesized to be plagued by a cataclysm. Some say solar flares could be something we need to watch out for, something that plays a pivotal role in this film. My only advice is, after watching Knowing, watch a comedy, it’ll put you in better spirits. Out of 10 I give Knowing a 6.5.

Now that I know the big secrets of Knowing I’ll have to watch it again sometime in order to take it in again and appreciate it for what it is, a very ambitious scifi cautionary tale. Now that I think about it, Knowing really feels like a longer Twilight Zone or Outer Limits episode.

STAR TREK IS REBORN!!!!!

I just watched the eleventh Star Trek film in the theaters. I was completely blown away and totally satisfied by what JJ Abrams has done. This truly was a successful reboot of the franchise. It was funny, exciting, thrilling, nostalgic and epic. This movie has brought new life to a series that has been dead for several years. Star Trek has always been a "geeks" only club for years and when it was announced that J.J. Abrams (Felicity, Alias, Mission Impossible III and Cloverfield) would be directing a reboot film where it would tackle the monumental task of satisfying the millions of fans as well as bring in new ones. Abrams succeeded as Star Trek is the best reviewed movie of the year and the highest grossing Trek film ever!

The cast was great, all of them were able to breathe in new life to their characters. The hook for long time fans was to see these classic characters at a younger age. What was Kirk, Spock and McCoy like during their academy years? What brought them all together? In this new and altered timeline, long time and new fans were able to see how this all came about. Secondary characters like Sulu, Uhura, Scotty and Chekov really stood out, especially with the addition of comedy to their roles. I am a firm believer that if an audience can laugh with or at the character, it builds upon the connections.

Karl Urban's take on "Bones" was especially good. He managed to channel Deforest Kelly with is mannerisms and speech patterns. The scenes with Urban's Bones are some of the funniest higlights in the film for me.

This movie really didn’t need the Nimoy cameo but it was the icing on the cake that really made this film more than just great…it made it fantastic. This truly is the first Star Trek for everyone. I know that I had said that Intellectual Trek died on Friday when this film came out but now that I’ve seen it, the heart and soul of the franchise is back again. This time in the capable hands of talented writers, actors and Abrams himself.