March 27, 2009 - The Austin Chronicle

KNOWING D: Alex Proyas; with NicolasCage, Rose Byrne, Chandler Canterbury, D.G. Maloney,Lara Robinson, Nadia Townsend, Alan Hopgood, AdriennePickering. (PG-13, 122 min.)The precipitous decline of NicolasCage from moody arthouse upstart tomuscle-bound action hero to popcornselling,check-cashing hack has been welldocumented,so I won’t go into it here. I’lljust say that it can’t be any good for anactor’s reputation when he’s outemotedby a quartet of faceless CGI space aliens.In Knowing, Cage is nearly somnambulantas John Koestler, an astrophysicist,widower, and father of one who divideshis time between raising his son, Caleb(Canterbury), contemplating the randomnessof the universe, and drinking heavily.When Caleb brings home a mysteriouspiece of paper covered in seemingly arbitrarynumbers that was pulled from a50-year-old time capsule, Koestler useshis skills as a math wiz to determine thatthose numbers aren’t random at all but theexact dates, locations, and death countsof every major global disaster that hasoccurred since that paper first went intothe ground. Koestler’s friends, of course,think he’s a drunken paranoid, clutchingat straws as a way to make sense ofthe senseless death of his wife. But itbecomes harder to argue with him whenplanes and subway trains start crashing oncue and deadly energy bursts start workingtheir way from the sun toward the Earth’sozone layer. In true mid to late-period-Cagestyle, Knowing is a film in which little thingslike acting and writing and intelligibility takea back seat to special effects. But, my,oh my, what special effects Knowing has.Proyas (I, Robot) may not care much for thesubtleties of social behavior, but the manpulls no punches when it comes to humancarnage. I’ve never seen so many peopleon fire before or been forced to contemplateat such length the death throes ofwoodland creatures. And the film’s coupde grace – an apocalyptic wave of fire andbrimstone – is so beautiful and terrifying,it will make the filmgoers both thank Godfor their quiet little lives and forget theyever saw Independence Day. Knowing isa nonsensical, pop-philosophical stew ofbiblical prophesy, meteorological aberrations,spooky kids, and aliens disguisedas German techno artists, but damned ifit isn’t an anxiety-fueled kick in the teeth As perfect as a movie can beGomorrah (NR)Crossing Over (R)EK: The Power of One (NR)The Haunting in Connecticut(PG-13)Slightly flawed, but excellentnonethelessHas its good points, and itsbad pointsthat feels just right in shaky 2009. It’s justengaging enough to make you accept thepossibility that two kids from the Bostonsuburbs may just be mankind’s only hopefor the future and just exciting enough tomake you forget that you’re watching aNicolas Cage movie. – Josh Rosenblatt★★★ Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek, AlamoDrafthouse South, Barton Creek Square, CMCedar Park, Hill Country Galleria, CM RoundRock, Southpark Meadows, Highland, Gateway,Lakeline, Tinseltown North, Tinseltown South,WestgateMONSTERS VS. ALIENSD: Rob Letterman, Conrad Vernon; with the voices ofReese Witherspoon, Hugh Laurie, Seth Rogen, Will Arnett,Paul Rudd, Rainn Wilson, Kiefer Sutherland. (PG, 94 min.)Back in 2007, DreamWorks mogul JeffreyKatzenberg rather boldly stated that heintended to only release films in 3-D fromthen forward, making the studio’s Monstersvs. Aliens something of a gauntlet throwdown.While the flagship film’s effect happilydoes not induce the eye-crossing andstomach-turning so common to motion pictures’attempts to bully two dimensions intothree, one would hope for an endorsementmore ringing than “Monsters vs. Aliens:Doesn’t give you a migraine!” We meetthe pert, if unremarkable, Susan (voicedby Witherspoon) on the morning of her weddingto Derek (Rudd), whose vacantness istelegraphed in his job title of TV weatherman.(Curiously, we never learn how Susan spendsher days; her ambition appears limited toa desire to see Paris – and really, whodoesn’t?) Soon, an errant meteor pulsatingwith a mysterious substance signalsceremony-interruptus; Susan, in closestproximity, gets her DNA scrambled andmorphs into a literal bridezilla by sproutinglike Jack’s beanstalk some five stories tall.The government quickly whisks her away toa containment center, where Susan – nowcalled Ginormica – makes reluctant friendswith a whole host of monsters, which iswhere the film finally has some fun. TheArea 51 residents include a half-man, halfcockroach,the product of a mad scientist’sself-experimentation (a deliciously acerbicLaurie); a lovable fish-ape hybrid called theMissing Link (Arnett); and, perhaps mostwinningly, BOB (Rogen), an amorphousBicarbonate Ostylezene Benzoate so dafthe tries to woo a plate of jiggling Jell-Oat a backyard barbecue (he is, after all,technically brainless). The film filters theopenings & ratingsMonsters vs. Aliens (PG)Scott Walker: 30 Century Man (NR)Sunshine Cleaning (R)12 Rounds (PG-13)/Mediocre, but with one or twobright spotsPoor, without any saving gracesLa bombafantastical plot doodlings of those campysci-fi classics of yore – the tin-can flyingsaucers and marauding 50-foot woman –through the modern formula for animatedpictures (morality plays tempered by a chorusof wiseacres). It’s a shame the balancedidn’t tip more in the direction of the former,because there is something rather dopilysweet in its story of a misfit band of monstersunleashed from quarantine to defendEarth from an alien invader. The misfits, asever, must take a back seat to the morality,and the result – while in no way migraineinducing– traffics in rote truisms (love theskin you’re in; leave no man behind; etc.)that are admirable but perfunctory and leaveno greater an impression than BOB did onthat Jell-O mold. – Kimberley Jones★★ Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek, AlamoDrafthouse Village, Barton Creek Square, CMCedar Park, Hill Country Galleria, CM RoundRock, Southpark Meadows, Dobie, Highland,Gateway, IMAX Theatre, Lakeline, Metropolitan,Tinseltown North, Westgate VULCAN VIDEOFOREIGN. CULT. CLASSIC.112 WEST ELIZABETH ST & 609 WEST 29TH STtwo-for-one tuesdays & wednesdaysstudent discount thursdaysbuy-sell-tradeopen til 2am on weekendsGO TEAM VULCAN! a u s t i n c h r o n i c l e . c o m MARCH 27, 2009 T H E A U S T I N C H R O N I C L E 79