Chasuk

This is one of the best movies ever filmed on such a minuscule budget. Is it scary? Not really, but it does provide a satisfying adrenaline rush on more than a few occasions.

I would have enjoyed it more if it had not been marketed to obvious idiots. If this movie had been about a guy buying a camera because his girlfriend had reported Tinkerbell sightings, would anyone ask if it was real? Living in this post-Ghost Hunters/Blair Witch Project world, the sad answer is probably "yes."

The acting was very anti-Method. Stanislavski would have wept. However, as this film's topic already strains the limits of credulity, the natural, non-dramatic style of these young actors was particularly effective.

I'm a director fan more than an actor fan. Nicholas Cage I enjoy occasionally, though he seems to be in as many bad movies as he is good. Alex Proyas cemented my attention with The Crow and Dark City, and then earned my disdain with I, Robot. I hoped Knowing would be another winner --- after all, Roger Ebert liked it -- but it was not to be.

The kiddie cast was largely pleasing, Lara Robinson (Abby / Lucinda) more so than Chandler Canterbury (Caleb Koestler). Our heroine, Rose Byrne (Diana) reminded me of a younger Jennifer Connelly. I meant that as a compliment.

If you liked M. Night Shyamalan's Signs, then you have already seen Knowing, except Knowing wasn't as good, and I consider Signs to be one of the worst pictures I have seen in the last ten years. Only Transformers 2 scores lower on my suck-o-meter.

It started out well, with an intriguing premise tautly directed. Then the whole thing devolved into the sort of twaddle that made What Dreams May Come such a bad picture. If you liked What Dreams May Come, then you might consider this review an endorsement.

They dumbed down the concept of determinism to the point that it was egregiously wrong, but that's perhaps a minor quibble only interesting to philosophy majors.

Profoundly disappointing.