Race to Witch Mountain:
Race to Witch Mountain is a re-imagining of the 1975 film Escape to Witch Mountain. It tells the story of a Las Vegas cabbie who enlists the help of a UFO expert to protect two siblings with paranormal powers from the clutches of an organization that wants to use the kids for their nefarious plans.
Former Vegas crime boss wheelman and current down-on-his-luck cab driver Jack Bruno (Dwayne Johnson) winds up on the adventure of a lifetime when he unwittingly agrees to transport two young kids, Sara (AnnaSophia Robb) and Seth (Alexander Ludwig), to a remote location in the Nevada desert. Upon discovering the children’s true identity, and their monumental mission to save Earth, Jack enlists the aid of UFO specialist Alex Friedman (Carla Gugino) to help the kids reach their final destination of Witch Mountain, a top secret government testing facility. Promising to help Sara and Seth accomplish their quest, Jack and Alex must fend off the forces of evil, including a ruthless government agent (Ciaran Hinds) and a murderous juggernaut cyborg intent on eliminating anyone who stands in its way.
I actually saw this film about a week ago now with a few of my friends and although I had higher expectations of it, it delievered a somewhat entertaining atmosphere, with decent characters, fun action seqences and not suprisingly and suprisingly good acting. I have to admit before seeing this film there had been a few decent reviews so I had sort of built up a good profile of it in my mind. All I can say is that it didnt quite get there but I gained a better understanding of the talent in the film.
Ever since watching Bridge to Terabithia I have been quite amazed at the talent that is ever so present in AnnaSophia Robb and although the film wasnt the best, she makes it worthwhile, she is beleivable in her character Sara and strives to make her character likable, which she does well, (aside from the phrase JACK BRUNO every two seconds), In my eyes she defienelty has a future in the film industry and every step she takes, she is opening up more oppurtunites, loved her in it. Ever since the the dreaded “The Seeker” Im sure almost everyone has given Alexander Ludwig a hard time, Im here to tell you its not his fault, bad script, not sticking to the book, NOT HIS FAULT, in this film he proved to me that he was an actor that is continuing to grow, just needs to choose better films. Lastly I wanted to talk about ‘Not the rock’ Dwayne Johnson, I thought that he did really well in this role, and although many people give him a hard time about the roles he chooses, he is becoming a much more confident actor.
Overall I thought this film was a fun, entertaining, action driven, likable film, and I know people are going to compare it to the original, Ive decided against doing this. 3.5 out of 5, suitable for all ages.
Knowing:
Knowing tells the story of a teacher who opens a time capsule that has been dug up at his son’s elementary school; in it are some chilling predictions — some that have already occurred and others that are about to — that lead him to believe his family plays a role in the events that are about to unfold.
From the trailers of Knowing you’d be convinced that you’re going to watch a cheesy, try to save the world picture with a wound tight Nicolas Cage at the center gritting his teeth and ducking his way to the perfect ending. Well, you’d be partially correct. Cage is definitely giving his wound tight hero routine that he’s worked so hard to develop over the last half dozen films. As for the cheese factor, that’s where you’ll be surprised. Director Alex Proyas manages to deliver a rather decent sci-fi flick that has plenty of suspense and intelligence.
I saw this with a couple of my guy best friends, and was actually quite impressed, although it confused me at times, I found it quite a compelling story, one that is worth watching. I admit that although this seemed missable to me when seeing the trailer advertised I changed my view of it after seeing it. I know that there are a lot of either Cage haters or Cage lovers, well for me I would have to say that I have a love/hate relationship, on the one hand I love him because he comes from a long line of family members who are beyond awesome, and on the other hand I dont particularly like him because he’s always doing films that I hate, this wasnt one of them.
“Knowing” is different from your mindless popcorn thrillers because it isn’t mindless. It’s sometimes thought provoking and triggers a variety of emotions from the viewer. The film is funny when it needs to be, after having watch a very disturbing scene. The action scenes are amazing, some cringe-worthy, in a good way, actually, because it’s not just “Wow. Cool special effects,” although there really are some top notch effects, but because they are very hard to watch.
The Film has some very decent performances, Nicholas Cage (hate saying this) wasnt that bad, he has a few moments that just had me rolling my eyes, but thats just me, go and make your own opinion of him, a person who I was very Impressed with was young actor Chandler Cantebury who portrayed Cage’s son Caleb, he brought a lot of strength and depth to his role and so really levelled with his a lot of the time, and for such a young actor, he did a great job.
I just HAVE to say it because I’m an aussie and most of this was filmed in melbourne, (im from melbourne). I really enjoyed being able to say to my friends in the film , hey look its flinders st, I have to admit that was preety cool. It was quite funny actually because one of my friends didnt even notice and when I told him he was all like, ‘I wouldnt of even noticed if you hadnt of told me’. If your australian go see it purely for this, its quite cool.
I though the film was a cool sci fi/action that anyone would enjoy (even if your not too fond of Cage), give it a try, never hurt anyone, 3 out of 5.
