Monday, July 06, 2009
A Couple Of Bad Movies
Push and Knowing hit video stores tomorrow. I recently got to watch both (not in one sitting).
Push is a superhero thriller much like Jumper (from last year or so), which I also didn't like too much. People with powers running away from government (or whoever) thugs, blah blah blah. Especially annoying was the young actress Dakota Fanning, who even though only ten or something, insists on acting like she's forty. Somehow, I can't help but suspect the screenwriter is not totally at fault here. I'm sure she'll be a fine actress when she grows up (assuming she's not burnt out at 15). That Amy Poehler skit from SNL was on the money.
Anyway, the movie just wasn't that interesting. The Hong Kong location had me hoping that things would go batshit crazy at some point but that never panned out. Funny then, to see Bosco Lam's name during the closing credits (2nd unit director or something) as he directed one of my all time favorite and batshit crazy movies, Chinese Torture Chamber Story. Ten years ago or so, a short clip, sometimes called Crouching Tiger Porn was kinda popular on the internets. Basically it was a Chinese couple fucking while flying through trees doing kung fu and stuff. That was from Chinese Torture Chamber Story. Lam was working for Wong Jing at the time who was probably responsible for making sure the movie was as batshit crazy as possible.
Another digression: Push was also the title of a novel written by Sapphire about an abused girl fighting illiteracy and caring for her baby who has "Dow Sinder". It was made into a movie recently and called Precious (didn't see it), probably because some douchebag had to make a (not that) crappy movie with her title. Then again, there are a bunch of other movies called Push, also.
Knowing is little more than an unacknowledged remake of Signs with traces of Dark City creepiness (it was directed by Alex Proyas). There are some awesome scenes of destruction; Planes crashing through traffic jams, trains plowing through crowds of people. But aside from disaster porn (a genre I'd like to see more of), the movie was just awful. I do have a new appreciation of M. Night Shyamalan's Signs, though. Not that I didn't like it before.
Push is a superhero thriller much like Jumper (from last year or so), which I also didn't like too much. People with powers running away from government (or whoever) thugs, blah blah blah. Especially annoying was the young actress Dakota Fanning, who even though only ten or something, insists on acting like she's forty. Somehow, I can't help but suspect the screenwriter is not totally at fault here. I'm sure she'll be a fine actress when she grows up (assuming she's not burnt out at 15). That Amy Poehler skit from SNL was on the money.
Anyway, the movie just wasn't that interesting. The Hong Kong location had me hoping that things would go batshit crazy at some point but that never panned out. Funny then, to see Bosco Lam's name during the closing credits (2nd unit director or something) as he directed one of my all time favorite and batshit crazy movies, Chinese Torture Chamber Story. Ten years ago or so, a short clip, sometimes called Crouching Tiger Porn was kinda popular on the internets. Basically it was a Chinese couple fucking while flying through trees doing kung fu and stuff. That was from Chinese Torture Chamber Story. Lam was working for Wong Jing at the time who was probably responsible for making sure the movie was as batshit crazy as possible.
Another digression: Push was also the title of a novel written by Sapphire about an abused girl fighting illiteracy and caring for her baby who has "Dow Sinder". It was made into a movie recently and called Precious (didn't see it), probably because some douchebag had to make a (not that) crappy movie with her title. Then again, there are a bunch of other movies called Push, also.
Knowing is little more than an unacknowledged remake of Signs with traces of Dark City creepiness (it was directed by Alex Proyas). There are some awesome scenes of destruction; Planes crashing through traffic jams, trains plowing through crowds of people. But aside from disaster porn (a genre I'd like to see more of), the movie was just awful. I do have a new appreciation of M. Night Shyamalan's Signs, though. Not that I didn't like it before.
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