RebeccaWood

"Knowing" starts out with an intriguing premise: a girl accurately predicts the horrible happenings of the world until...???? Questions ran through my head as I watched the movie, how? why? what? who? huh?, but I soon began to feel confused, angry, depressed, dissatisfied...the list continues on and on. "What the crap is going on" was the most frequent thought that my friends and I conjured up, and, by the end, most wanted to leave the theater...and call their mom, for comfort from enduring this movie.

Now, don't get me wrong, the movie was decently made, I suppose. The brutality of the deaths of innocent people was unnerving. Seeing hundreds killed in burning wreckage left me with a feeling of despair, which was, perhaps, the intention of the filmmakers. The downright creepiness of some of the parts had me clutching onto the sides on my chair and desperately wanting the scene to end. Yes, it was intense.

However, there was plenty wrong with the film. The graphics for the most part were sub-par, except for at the end, when they were decent.

Acting overall was just OK. Many laughable moments or...."OK...what was weird/odd/completely ridiculous" moments. Nicolas Cage as a lead character with a strong emotional role did poorly. He is, apparently, unable to act in an emotional role without evoking laughter from the audience. I guess it is up to the individual to decide how annoying he was throughout the film, but...Wicker Man, anyone??

Also, this is not a feel-good movie...at all. As mentioned before, the brutality and creepiness of it all will most likely get to you or at least cause some discomfort. I guess the question is, should someone spend ten bucks and two hours and ten minutes of their time devoted to this film? My answer: Heck no. But your curiosity, much like mine, will likely get to you, and you'll spend it anyway.

Heard of Neo Ned? Not too many have. I, in fact, discovered it last night while I was working the closing shift at the movie theater in my town. As it turns out, the producer of the film is from here and decided to offer a free showing with a Q&A at the end. My opinion: this movie should not have been free. In fact, I wouldn't have minded paying $10.00+ to view it. I would even dare to say that it far surpassed every other film in our theater, and possibly every film that we've had for the last six months. So, to shorten and conclude my rant: It was amazing.

Neo Ned is a story about love, or as a previous audience member mentioned "anti-hate". Ned is a neo-Nazi who grew up in an array of torn homes and who witnessed his father's arrest, which tore him away from his son for many years. As an adult, he ends up in a psych ward, only to meet a black woman, whom he falls in love with.

This is certainly not your traditional love story. In all actuality, it quite possibly breaks many, if not all, of the rules of tradition. But who really cares? Overall, the writing, directing, and acting were superb. Hollywood: stop giving us your half-baked movies and start putting real movies with real stories in our theaters. Neo Ned would be a great way to start.

I would write about the plot here, but seeing how there isn't really one, I find that pointless. This movie is basically about one thing: Awesome dancing. If you walked into this movie expecting anything else, then you walked out severely disappointed. I, thankfully, expected this movie to be a strenuous two-hour music video, and, it having gone above and beyond my expectations, walked out completely satisfied (in fact, I saw it twice).

Step Up 2 presented some of the most amazing street dancing sequences that have ever appeared on film. The final dance literally had me leaning forward in my seat, as if I were watching a high-intensity fight or chase scene.

And come on. I've heard a lot of complaints about the acting. I thought the acting was not too bad, especially since they initially had to find really good dancers...that happened to act. Comparably speaking, I wouldn't say it was any worse than, say,the acting in Jumper, which was fairly horrendous at times *cough*Jamie Bell and Hayden Christenson.

Basic summary:

Highlights: The video that the new crew makes for the streets.

The characters Moose and that hilarious Asian chick.

Latino dance scene

And, of course, the final dance scene.

I gave this movie a 6 out of 10 because this is a film quality grade, and, as a film, it wasn't spectacular. However, Step Up 2 accomplished just what it intended to do: create an awesome excuse to show off amazing dance moves for almost two hours. In fact, it passed with flying colors.