Knowing

There's not much in this little world of ours that I love more than going to the movies. I so enjoy going to the theater (think about that for a moment...Theater. That's what it is. You're going to see a show. It may not be a play, but it's still a show. It is the modern equivalent of a night at the opera or, more closely, the theatre. I think this is lost on us most of the time, and I like to remind myself of it occasionally). I enjoy going out for a night at the movies, because that's what we do, and that's what we've always done. When March rolls around, my brother, my sister and I shout with joy and glee "Movie Season!". We love it. Soon after we gather the crew together for a fresh series of our quality program, The Clark Family and Friends Present: A NIGHT AT THE MOVIES! There's nothing better than driving on a warm summer night to our choice of cinema establishment, walking into the cool auditorium and taking our seats and getting swept away, if only for a couple hours. It's a beautiful thing. It makes my heart all warm and fuzzy.

I also think this is because I am one kid who never outgrew his bedtime stories. When I was an infant it was my mom and dad reading me stories. When I was still young, it was the ADVENTURES IN ODYSSEY radio program from Focus on the Family. I loved those tapes oh-so-much, and fell asleep listening to them most every night growing up. After that, my parents finally let me have a television and a dvd player/playstation 2 in my room, and I would watch movies as I fell asleep, something I still do quite often. Sometimes it's dvds of television shows, but movies are the subject of the hour.

I relish the opportunity to sit in a darkened room filled with other people and be taken in by a story. Stories are so vital to us as human beings (this is something I wish to blog about in the future, so stay tuned). Why do you think we do this? Why do you think a couple hundred strangers gather together into said darkened room just to watch a movie? It's because stories are integral to our psyches, they fuel us, inspire us, make us laugh, and, dare I say, they sometimes even make us cry. This is the modern day fireplace. Our forebears gathered around the hearth in the eveningtime and listened to their elders tell them stories of adventure, intrigue, and excitement. The movie theater is no different, except that our narrator usually has a much better budget.

I am encouraged by this phenomenon.

Tonight proved to me once again why I love movies so much. I went to see the film Knowing. Before you say anything, I realize that I am talking about a Nicolas Cage movie, and likely what many will call a "special-effects popcorn flick"...(It is not lost on me that many times I have criticized both Nicolas Cage films and special-effects popcorn flicks). For some reason, this movie was different.

It's going to be difficult to say anything about this movie without revealing things, but I shall do my best.

There are so many things that could have gone horribly wrong with this movie, but they didn't. Actually at one point while viewing the movie, I thought to myself, "This movie is so good...it's got such a good grip on the story...don't lose it, don't lose it..." And for once, it didn't. It held out until the end and finished what it started. It didn't blow it, as has happened in so many movies of this particular genre. I thought this was going to be one of "those" movies, where it has the potential to be really bad or really good, and most of the time they end up being the former. One of the movies that take a good idea then saturate it with so many digital effects that somewhere along the way the story is suffocated.

I thought this is what Knowing was going to be. It wasn't.

It had good ideas, then finished them well. It gripped me, and didn't lose me until the credits rolled. It was intense, the special effects were very well done AND only used when necessary (something I very much appreciated), and the cinematography was actually quite beautiful at many points (thank Alex Proyas, the director, who also did The Crow and I, Robot).

I wish I could discuss this movie with people. All I can say is that I had a prediction regarding the plot of this movie, and I was right. I just didn't know how right I was, and how awesome that prediction would turn out to be.

I am going to say it right now, many people won't like this movie. Why? Because it's a genre that has been done so many times before, mostly in ways that have been disappointing or have likely left a bad taste in peoples' mouths (I could name some of the films I am talking about, but it would probably clue you in to the plot of Knowing, so I won't). It has many cliches, many typical elements, and many things that we have seen time and time again.

BUT.

At no point did Knowing feel old or tired, and the "typical elements and cliches" are done in a way that was, to me, fresh and new. It was like this film took all the good parts of the kind of movies that came before it, and threw out all the bad parts, and finally did it right. Finally.

But people still won't like it because of the kind of movie it is. I know this, expect it, and accept it. I still loved the movie.

There were parts of the movie that seemed so real, and were so intense that I was completely lost in what was happening on screen. I forgot I was in a movie theater. That is my definition of a good movie.

Normally, I see a trailer for a movie and one of two things happens. First, I think it looks good and it is. Second, I think it looks bad and it is. Rarely, I see a trailer and I'll think it looks good and it sucks. But the rarest of all is when I see a trailer for a film and think that it will be okay, at least worth watching, and it shatters my expectations and goes vastly beyond what I ever hoped it would be. This is what Knowing did for me tonight.

And so, knowing that I am starting to ramble, the award for Suprise Movie of Life goes to: Knowing.

You should go see it. It's GREAT, and it reminded me once again why I love movies.