Ny Times Reading Quiz 2009/03/25: Recovered Pieces of Asteroid Hold Clues to Early History

2009 scientific discipline fiction thriller picture show

Knowing
Theatrical release poster
Directed past	Alex Proyas
Screenplay past	Ryne Douglas Pearson Juliet Snowden Stiles White
Story by	Ryne Douglas Pearson
Produced by	Alex Proyas Todd Black Jason Blumenthal Steve Tisch
Starring	Nicolas Cage Rose Byrne Chandler Canterbury
Cinematography	Simon Duggan
Edited by	Richard Learoyd
Music by	Marco Beltrami
Production companies	Escape Artists DMG Entertainment
Distributed by	Summit Entertainment (U.s.) Contender Entertainment (U.k.)[1]
Release date	March 20, 2009 (2009-03-20)
Running time	121 minutes
Countries	United States United Kingdom
Linguistic communication	English
Budget	$l 1000000[2] [3]
Box office	$183.7 one thousand thousand[iii] [nb 1]

Knowing is a 2009 American science fiction thriller motion picture^[iv] directed and co-produced by Alex Proyas and starring Nicolas Cage. The film, conceived and co-written by Ryne Douglas Pearson, was originally attached to a number of directors under Columbia Pictures, just information technology was placed in turnaround and eventually picked up by Escape Artists. Production was financially backed by Elevation Entertainment. Knowing was filmed in Docklands Studios Melbourne, Commonwealth of australia, using diverse locations to stand for the film's Boston-surface area setting.

The moving-picture show was released on March 20, 2009, in the United States. The DVD and Blu-ray media were released on July seven, 2009. Knowing grossed $186.5 million at the worldwide box part, plus $27.7 million with dwelling house video sales, confronting a production budget of $50 1000000. Information technology met with mixed reviews, with praise for the acting performances, visual style and temper, simply criticism over some implausibilities and the ending.

Plot [edit]

In 1959, a Lexington, Massachusetts, unproblematic school celebrates its opening with a contest in which students describe what they believe will happen in the future. All of the children create visual works except for Lucinda Embry, who is guided by whispering voices to fill her newspaper with a serial of numbers. Before she can write the final numbers, the allotted time for the job expires and the teacher collects the students' drawings. The following day, Lucinda engraves the remaining numbers into a closet door with her fingernails. The works are stored in a time capsule and opened fifty years afterward, when the current class distributes the drawings inside among the students. Lucinda's sheet is given to Caleb Koestler, the nine-year-old son of widowed MIT astrophysics professor John Koestler.

John notices that Lucinda's numbers are dates, death tolls, and geographical coordinates of major catastrophes over the past l years, and iii have yet to happen. In the post-obit days, John encounters two of the three final events in person: a plane crash and a New York City Subway railroad train collision. John becomes convinced that his family unit has a significant role in these incidents: his wife died in one of the earlier events, while Caleb was the i to receive Lucinda'southward message. Meanwhile, Caleb begins hearing the same whispering voices as Lucinda.

To prevent the last event, John tracks downward Lucinda'south daughter Diana and her granddaughter Abby. After some initial atheism, Diana goes with John to Lucinda'southward childhood home, where they find a copy of Matthäus Merian'southward engraving of Ezekiel'southward "chariot vision", in which a bang-up sun is represented. They also discover that the terminal two digits of Lucinda'southward bulletin are not numbers, but 2 reversed letter of the alphabet E's, matching the message left past Lucinda under her bed: "Everyone Else". During this search, Caleb and Abby, who were left comatose in the car, accept an encounter with the beings who are the source of the whispers. Diana tells John that her mother had e'er told her the appointment she (Diana) would dice. He also visits Lucinda's instructor who tells him of the scratching on the door left past Lucinda.

The next solar day, Abby colors in the lord's day on the engraving, which gives John a revelation. He rushes to the MIT observatory and learns that a massive solar flare with the potential to destroy all life will hit the Earth on the last engagement indicated by the message. Equally Diana and Abby prepare to take refuge in some nearby caves, John goes to the school and finds the door on which Lucinda engraved the final numbers, and identifies them every bit coordinates of a place where he believes that salvation from the solar flare may be found. The disbelieving and hysterical Diana loads both Caleb and Abby into her car and flees for the caves.

At a gas station, the whispering beings steal her car with Caleb and Abby inside. Diana pursues them at speed (in a stolen SUV) but is killed in a traffic accident involving a semi-truck, on the date her female parent predicted. The beings have Caleb and Abby to Lucinda's mobile home, where John encounters them shortly thereafter. The beings, who act every bit extraterrestrial angels, are leading children to safety on interstellar arks. John is told he cannot go with them because he never heard the whispering, so he convinces Caleb to leave with Abby, and ii pet rabbits they institute, and both are transported away by the beings. The following morning time, John decides to be with his family unit when the flare strikes, and drives through a chaotic Boston to his parents' firm, where he reconciles with his estranged father. The solar flare then strikes, destroying the Globe'south atmosphere and all life on the planet. Meanwhile, the ark, along with others, deposits Caleb and Abby on another world resembling an earthly paradise, and departs. The two run through a field towards a large white mysterious tree (unsaid to be the tree of life).

Cast [edit]

• Nicolas Cage equally John Koestler
• Rose Byrne as Diana
• Chandler Canterbury every bit Caleb Koestler
• Ben Mendelsohn as Phil Beckman
• Lara Robinson every bit Abby / Lucinda
• D.Grand. Maloney every bit The Stranger
• Nadia Townsend as Grace
• Alan Hopgood as Reverend Koestler
• Adrienne Pickering as Allison Koestler
• Joshua Long as Young Caleb
• Danielle Carter as Miss Taylor (1959)
• Alethea McGrath equally Miss Taylor (2009)
• Tamara Donnellan as Lucinda's mother
• Travis Waite as Lucinda's father
• Liam Hemsworth as Spencer

Production [edit]

Camberwell High School, a public secondary school in Victoria, was used as the filming location for William Dawes Uncomplicated

In 2001, novelist Ryne Douglas Pearson approached producers Todd Black and Jason Blumenthal with his idea for a film, where a time capsule from the 1950s is opened revealing fulfilled prophecies, of which the concluding one ended with 'EE' – "everyone else". The producers liked the concept and bought his script.^[5] The projection was gear up at Columbia Pictures. Both Rod Lurie and Richard Kelly were attached as directors, simply the film somewhen went into turnaround. The project was picked upward by the product company Escape Artists, and the script was rewritten past Stiles White and Juliet Snowden. Director Alex Proyas was attached to direct the project in Feb 2005.^[vi] Proyas said the aspect that attracted him the nigh was the "very different script" and the notion of people seeing the future and "how information technology shape their lives".^[5] Summit Amusement took on the responsibility to fully finance and distribute the film. Proyas and Stuart Hazeldine rewrote the draft for product,^[7] which began on March 25, 2008 in Melbourne, Australia.^[8] The managing director hoped to emulate The Exorcist in melding "realism with a fantastical premise".^[ix]

The motion-picture show is set primarily in the boondocks of Lexington with some scenes set in the nearby cities of Cambridge and Boston. However, it was shot in Commonwealth of australia, where director Proyas resides.^[5] Locations included the Geelong Ring Road; the Melbourne Museum; "Cooinda", a residence in Mount Macedon which was the location for all of the "domicile and garden" scenes; and Collins Street.^[ii] Filming also took place at Camberwell High Schoolhouse, which was converted into the fictional William Dawes Elementary, located in 1959 Lexington.^{[10] [11]} Interior shots took identify at the Australian Synchrotron to stand for an observatory.^{[12] [13]} Filming also took place at the Haystack Observatory in Westford, Massachusetts.^[fourteen] In addition to applied locations, filming also took place at the Melbourne Key City Studios in Docklands.^[15] The airplane crash, which was mostly shown in one have in the picture show, was washed in a nearly-finished pike outside Melbourne, the Geelong Ring Road, mixing practical effects and pieces of a aeroplane with figurer-generated elements. The scenographic rain led to the usage of a new gel for the flames so the fire would non be put out, and semi-permanent brand-upward to make them last the long shooting hours.^[5] The solar flare devastation sequence is set in New York City, showing notable landmarks such every bit the Metlife Building, Times Square and the Empire Country Building being obliterated as the flare spreads beyond the Earth'southward surface, destroying everything in its path.^[xvi]

Proyas used a Red One 4K digital photographic camera. He sought to capture a gritty and realistic await to the pic, and his arroyo involved a continuous two-infinitesimal scene in which Cage's grapheme sees a airplane crash and attempts to rescue passengers. The scene was an backbreaking task, taking two days to gear up and two days to shoot. Proyas explained the goal, "I did that specifically to not let the artifice of visual effects and all the cuts and stuff we can exercise, go far the way of the emotion of the scene."^[17]

Soundtrack [edit]

Knowing: Original Motion Pic Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by Marco Beltrami
Released	March 24, 2009 (2009-03-24)
Genre	Motion picture score
Length	65:39
Characterization	Varèse Sarabande

The music for the film was written by Marco Beltrami, but also features classical works such every bit Symphony No. vii (Beethoven) - Allegretto,^[18] which is played without any accompanying sound effects in the last Boston disaster scene of the moving-picture show.^[xix] Beltrami released the soundtrack equally a CD with 22 tracks.^[20]

Music in the film only not released on the soundtrack

• The Planets, Op. 32: IV. "Jupiter, The Bringer of Jollity" - written by Gustav Holst^[eighteen]
• "News Theme" - written and performed past Guy Gross^[eighteen]
• Symphony No. vii in A major, Op. 92 - equanimous past Ludwig van Beethoven and performed by Sydney Scoring Orchestra

Reception [edit]

Box office [edit]

Knowing was released in 3,332 theaters in the United States and Canada on March xx, 2009, and grossed Us$24,604,751 in its opening weekend,^[1] placing first at the box office.^[21] According to exit polling, 63% of the audition was 25 years sometime and up and evenly split between genders.^[22] On the weekend of March 17, 2009, Knowing ranked commencement in the international box office, grossing U.s.a.$9.8 1000000 at ane,711 theatres in ten markets, including outset with US$3.55 meg in the Britain.^[23] The film had grossed US$80 1000000 in the United States and Canada and US$107 one thousand thousand in other territories for a worldwide full of Us$186.5 million, plus The states$27.7 million with home video sales, against a product budget of US$fifty 1000000.^[3]

Critical reception [edit]

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the motion picture a 34% critic rating based upon a sample of 184 critics with an average rating of 4.80/ten. The site'south consensus: "Knowing has some interesting ideas and a couple good scenes, merely information technology'due south weighted down by its absurd plot and over-seriousness".^[24] Metacritic gave the film a score of 41% based on 27 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews."^[25]

A. O. Scott of The New York Times gave the movie a negative review and wrote, "If your intention is to make a brooding, hauntingly emblematic terror-thriller, it's probably not a good sign when glasses of mass death and intimations of planetary destruction are met with hoots and giggles ... The draggy, lurching two hours of "Knowing" will make y'all long for the cease of the world, even as you worry that there will not be time for all your questions to be answered."^[26] In the San Francisco Chronicle, Peter Hartlaub chosen the film "an excitement for fans of Proyas" and "a surprisingly messy endeavour." He idea Nicolas Cage "borders on ridiculous here, in office because of a script that gives him little to do just freak out or act depressed".^[27]

Writing for The Washington Mail service, Michael O'Sullivan thought the movie was "creepy, at least for the first two-thirds or and so, in a moderately satisfying, if predictable, style ... But the narrative corner into which this movie... paints itself is a simultaneously brilliant and exciting one. Well before the motion picture neared its by turns dismal and ditzy conclusion, I plant myself knowing—yet hardly able to believe—what was about to happen."^[28] Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times institute it to exist "moody and sometimes ideologically provocative" and added, "Knowing has its grim moments—and by that I mean the sort of blench- (or laugh-) inducing lines of dialogue that have haunted disaster films through the ages ... So visually arresting are the images that watching a deconstructing airliner or subway train becomes more mesmerising than horrifying."^[29]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times was enthusiastic, rating information technology 4 stars out of four and writing, "Knowing is among the best science-fiction films I've seen—frightening, suspenseful, intelligent and, when it needs to be, rather awesome."^[xxx] He continued, "With expert and confident storytelling, Proyas strings together events that keep tension at a high pitch all through the film. Even a few serenity, human moments have something coiling beneath. Pluck this movie, and it vibrates."^[31] Ebert subsequently listed it as the sixth all-time motion picture of 2009.

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian suggested Knowing was saved by its ending, concluding that "the film sticks to its apocalyptic guns with a spectacular and thoroughly unexpected terminate."^[32] Philip French'due south review in The Observer suggested the premise was "intriguing B-feature apocalypse, determinism versus free will stuff" and that the catastrophe has something for everyone: "A chosen few will patently be swept abroad past angels to a better place. If yous're a Christian fundamentalist who believes that Armageddon is nigh, y'all'll have a family unit hug and wake up to exist greeted past St Peter at the Pearly Gates. On the other hand, Darwinists will exist gratified to see Gaia and her stellar reverse numbers sock it to an unconcerned mankind."^[33] Richard von Busack of Metroactive derided the striking similarity betwixt the film and the Arthur C. Clarke novel Childhood'south End.^[34]

Accolades [edit]

The moving-picture show was nominated at the 8th Visual Effects Society Awards in the category of "Best Single Visual Effect of the Twelvemonth" for the airplane crash sequence.^[35]

Release [edit]

Habitation media release [edit]

Knowing was released on DVD on July 7, 2009, opening in the The states at No. 1 for the calendar week and selling 773,000 DVD units for US$12.5 1000000 in revenue. In full, 1.4 million DVD units were sold in the The states for a US$21.1 million and US$25 million worldwide. From Blu-ray sales, the film besides earned U.s.a.$ane.vi million in the United States and a full of US$2.vi one thousand thousand worldwide. The estimated gross for global domestic video sales is U.s.a.$27.half dozen million.^[36]

Litigation [edit]

On Nov 25, 2009, Global Findability filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Pinnacle Entertainment and Escape Artists in the U.S. Commune Court for the District of Columbia, claiming that a geospatial entity object code was used in the film Knowing which infringed Patent U.s. 7107286 Integrated data processing system for geospatial media.^{[37] [38] [39] [40]} The example was dismissed on January x, 2011.^[41]

Scientific discipline controversy [edit]

Regarding the film's grounding in science, director Alex Proyas said at a press conference: "The science was important. I wanted to brand the picture credible. So of course nosotros researched as much as nosotros could and tried to give it as much authenticity as we could".^[42]

Ian O'Neill of Discovery News criticized the pic's solar flare plot line, pointing out that the most powerful solar flares could never incinerate Earthly cities.^[43]

Erin McCarthy of Popular Mechanics calls attending to the film's confusion of numerology, the occult's study of how numbers similar dates of nascency influence human affairs, with the ability of scientific discipline to describe the world mathematically to make predictions well-nigh things like conditions or create technology like prison cell phones.^[42]

Steve Biodrowski of Cinefantastique refers to the movie'southward arroyo as disappointingly "pseudo-scientific". He writes, "Cage plays an astronomer, and his discussions with a colleague hint that the film may actually grapple with the question of predicting the futurity, possibly even offer a plausible theory. Unfortunately, this approach is abased every bit Koestler pursues the disasters, and the moving-picture show somewhen moves into a mystical arroyo".^[44]

Asked well-nigh his inquiry for the role, Nicolas Cage stated: "I grew up with a professor, so that was all the research I ever needed". His father, August Coppola, was a professor of comparative literature at Cal Country Long Beach.^[45]

Run across as well [edit]

• 2012 (film)
• 20th Century Boys
• List of films featuring the deaf and hard of hearing

Explanatory notes [edit]

1. ^ Worldwide Theatrical + Domestic Dwelling house Marketplace Performances.

References [edit]

1. ^ ^{a b} "Knowing (2009)". Box Part Mojo. Amazon. Retrieved April ten, 2009.
2. ^ ^{a b} Ziffer, Daniel (Apr 7, 2008). "Night at the museum". The Historic period. Australia. Retrieved May 21, 2008.
3. ^ ^{a b c} "Knowing". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved December seven, 2018.
4. ^ "Knowing (2009) - Alex Proyas | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related". AllMovie.
5. ^ ^{a b c d} Knowing All: The Making of a Futuristic Thriller. Knowing DVD.
6. ^ Laporte, Nicole (February 16, 2005). "Proyas digs Knowing gig". Variety . Retrieved May 20, 2008.
7. ^ Fleming, Michael (Dec 10, 2007). "Cage to star in Proyas' Knowing". Multifariousness . Retrieved May 21, 2008.
8. ^ "Byrne Set for Sci-Fi Thriller Knowing". VFXWorld.com. Animation World Network. March 4, 2008. Retrieved May 21, 2008.
9. ^ Vejvoda, Jim (July 24, 2008). "SDCC 08: Knowing When to Push". IGN . Retrieved November 27, 2008.
10. ^ Nye, Doug (July 7, 2009). "Grumpy Old Men,' Knowing' peak brusque list of new Blu-ray releases". Victoria Advocate . Retrieved September 22, 2008.
11. ^ Metlikovec, Jane (March xxx, 2008). "Nicolas Muzzle goes back to school". Herald Sun. Australia. Retrieved May 21, 2008.
12. ^ Bernecich, Adrian (October 28, 2008). "Powerhouse for inquiry". Waverly Gazette.
13. ^ "International Film Shot at Australian Synchrotron" (PDF). Lightspeed. Australian Synchrotron Company, Ltd. April 1, 2008. Retrieved November 12, 2009.
14. ^ Minch, Jack (September 23, 2008). "Hollywood coming to Westford". The Sun.
15. ^ Wigney, James (April 27, 2008). "Nicolas'due south golden cage an empty trounce". Herald Sun. Australia. Retrieved May 21, 2008.
16. ^ "Knowing Film Locations." On the Set of New York. N.p., due north.d. Web. April 9, 2012. <http://onthesetofnewyork.com/knowing.html>.
17. ^ Minnick, Remy (August 12, 2008). "Alex Proyas: And Knowing Is Half The Battle". Comic Volume Resources . Retrieved November 26, 2008.
18. ^ ^{a b c} "Knowing (2009) Soundtrack". Soundtrack.Net. Autotelics, LLC. Retrieved June sixteen, 2017.
19. ^ "KNOWING-The End of the World". YouTube. Retrieved June 2, 2011.
20. ^ "Knowing (Original Motion Movie Soundtrack)". Varèse Sarabande. Archived from the original on June 2, 2012. Retrieved December 27, 2011.
21. ^ McClintock, Pamela (March 22, 2009). "Knowing tops weekend box office". Variety . Retrieved March 22, 2009.
22. ^ Greyness, Brandon (March 23, 2009). "Weekend Report: Knowing Digs Up the Digits". Box Office Mojo . Retrieved April 5, 2009.
23. ^ McNary, Dave (March 29, 2009). "Knowing tops foreign box role". Variety . Retrieved March 30, 2009.
24. ^ "Knowing (2009)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved September 5, 2019.
25. ^ "Knowing Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 19, 2016.
26. ^ Scott, A. O. (March 20, 2009). "Extinction Looms! Finish the Aliens!". The New York Times . Retrieved March 31, 2009.
27. ^ Hartlaub, Peter (March 20, 2009). "Movie review: Knowing funny for a thriller". San Francisco Chronicle . Retrieved March 31, 2009.
28. ^ O'Sullivan, Michael (March twenty, 2009). "Few Surprises in Knowing". The Washington Post . Retrieved March 31, 2009.
29. ^ Sharkey, Betsy (March xx, 2009). "Review: Knowing". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved March 31, 2009.
30. ^ Ebert, Roger (March 22, 2009). "Beloved and hate and "Knowing" -- or, practise wings have angels?". rogerebert.suntimes.com . Retrieved August 31, 2014.
31. ^ Ebert, Roger (March 18, 2009). "Knowing". Chicago Lord's day-Times . Retrieved August 31, 2014.
32. ^ Bradshaw, Peter (March 27, 2009). "Film review: Knowing". The Guardian . Retrieved Nov xx, 2011.
33. ^ French, Philip (March 29, 2009). "Flick review: Knowing". The Observer . Retrieved November 20, 2011.
34. ^ von Busack, Richard (March 25, 2009). "Tribulation 99. 'Knowing': Bad twenty-four hours with black rocks". Metroactive . Retrieved Jan 6, 2019.
35. ^ "8th Annual VES Awards". visual effects society . Retrieved Dec 22, 2017.
36. ^ "Knowing (2009) - Financial Information". The Numbers. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
37. ^ "Complaint" (PDF). Courthouse News. November thirty, 2009. Retrieved March 28, 2012.
38. ^ Gardner, Eriq (December ii, 2009). "Can a scientific discipline-fiction picture show infringe a tech patent?". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved March 28, 2012.
39. ^ Hunker, Dennis. "Patents and the Movie Industry: Stopping Nicholas Cage". PatentlyO web log. Retrieved March 28, 2012.
40. ^ "GLOBAL FINDABILITY, INC. v. Summit ENTERTAINMENT, LLC et al". Justia. November 25, 2009. Retrieved February 18, 2018.
41. ^ "Case Docket for No. 09-2247". Retrieved March 28, 2012.
42. ^ ^{a b} Erin McCarthy Knowing Blends Scientific discipline Fact with Fiction Popular Mechanics, Retrieved January 5, 2012
43. ^ Ian O'Neill "Knowing" How Solar Flares Don't Work Astro Engine, Retrieved January 5, 2012
44. ^ Steve Biodrowski Knowing - Science Fiction Picture Review Cinefantastique, Retrieved Jan 5, 2012
45. ^ "Baronial Coppola, arts educator, dies at 75." San Francisco Chronicle

External links [edit]

adamspuladogaver.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowing_%28film%29

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