The Book of Eli (2010)

The Book of Eli (2010)

7/10

Starring

Denzel Washington

Gary Oldman

Mila Kunis

Directed by The Hughes Brothers

We see it happen many times, the critics and many are wrong about a movie on the first look. The Book of Eli to me is one of those movies which will be much appreciated much later. It ended up doing magnificently well in DVD/Blu-ray sales and rentals, upon the release though the movie was not a box office hit as it grossed $157 million on a $80 million budget.

Standing out as one of the best post-apocalyptic movie I have seen. Given a western setting the book of Eli is set after the aftermath of a nuclear disaster. The damage turned a one-time beautiful world like we see outside to a wasteland where we must deal with cannibalism because of lack of food, and people willing to trade anything because of lack of water.

This adaptation of a post-apocalyptic world is one I very much enjoy, not that I look forward to the end of the world, but the movie placed much fun in the path of the lead character’s journey to deliver a book into the hands of the world.

The Book of Eli stars Denzel Washington as a wanderer tagged Eli who is on a journey based on a call by his faith in God. He is too go west and deliver a King James Bible to the right persons.

For this journey he decided to stay focus and not allow the things happening to people around him or happening in his surroundings be a hinderance. To make it easier for him, he possesses a set of skills in fighting and a mastery in the use of a knife. With these skills he journeys on killing anyone who stands in his way and hunting with ease to keep himself fit.

On his path, he came to a town where he was made to stay the night, the person who runs the town is named Carnegie (Gary Oldman) a man who is hell bent on getting his hands on a Bible.

In his custody is the life of everyone in that town he manages the water and everything else.

He also owns slaves, and Claudia and her daughter Solara (Mila Kunis) happen to be one. Certain train of events led Eli to Solara and when Carnegie found out that Eli had a Bible, he started hunting him down. Making Eli flee with Solara as a companion and Carnegie giving a chase.

You can pull a sting in this movie though and see everything shake, but that string I want to believe was left there so we can see the effect of what happens when you choose to look the other way.

If Eli had helped a couple who were being attacked by some hoodlums instead of looking the other way, everything in this movie would not have happened as it did.

The movie doesn’t stop packing a punch until it ends, and when you think it is all over or you think you know what will happen next, get ready to see enough WTF moments.

Knowing (2009)

Knowing (2009)

6/10

Starring

Nicolas Cage

Rose Byrne

Directed by Alex Proyas

Knowing is not (or I want to believe did not try to) make some known scientific facts portrayed as accurate as this movie claims to have shown us. I also have some criticism on the path the director chose for this movie. This movie is multi-directional and that can make many viewers lose taste in the movie. The movie moves from a scientific path to predicting the future. It then heads down that road to trying to change the future and finally settling for out of this world experience for the few.

Now all these directions can seem possible given anyone can be as confused as the lead was who is trying to find the best path in addressing the numbers before him.

The movie plot is a lot about numbers, dates and GPS location details of events that have happened or will happen. The numbers got into the hands Prof John Koestler (Nicolas Cage) an astrophysicist, when he took his son to school and they were to bring out a time-capsule he school buried exactly five decades ago.

Many letters were written by the kids of the school five decades ago and their teacher back then buried them. She came back to open the capsule and handed the letters over to the kids of the school for them to see what their counterparts fifty years ago had buried.

Caleb (John’s son) walked up to collect his letter only to get a letter from a certain Lucinda and it contained numbers, while his classmates got letters with pictures. Caleb took the list of numbers home and after some examination by John, he discovered that the numbers correspond to date and death toll of tragic events. Many of which had already occurred. He soon later discovered that some of the numbers were co-ordinates where a tragic event was going to happen.

He tracked down the daughter of the girl who wrote these set of numbers (after learning that the girl, Lucinda was dead) and asked about her mother’s ability to predict the future with much accuracy.

She helped him to see that, some of the things written in the list were written in mirror image.

All this led to John discovering something catastrophic was going to happen, besides that he had to deal with men that keep showing up around his son, dodging him and getting away every time he gives chase.

Knowing did well in the box-office and it is one of the last huge Box-Office takings for Cage. The movie like I said can be distasteful for anyone who likes a good movie to be unidirectional with subplots and not multi-directional with subplots.

The Stepford Wives (1975)

The Stepford Wives (1975)

7/10

Starring

Katharine Ross

Paula Prentiss

Peter Masterson

Directed by Brayn Forbes

My first taste Ira Levin's 1972 book The Stepford Wives was the 2004 remake starring (Nicole Kidman and Matthew Broderick) and it always made me feel that it danced to the same tune as the cult original. That is not so, the 1975 film is in the thriller category (although the movie is said to be a thriller/horror, but there is nothing horrific about it).

The movie strikes a sad tone as you watch it unfold with a different direction than the 2004 comedic remake and for its worth, it is a fine film.

The movie tells the tale of Joanna Eberhart (Katharine Ross) a young wife and photographer who moves with her husband Walter (Peter Masterson) and two children from New York City to Connecticut suburb of Stepford.

Joanna quickly starts feeling lonely from the first day, unable to understand why all the women in the town are unable to connect with her.

Her disappointment grew when her husband decides to join an all men’s club. A decision that she couldn’t understand why he was somewhat crying when he returned home from his first visit and heralding his love for her much too often.

She then later finds another person, Bobbie who is just as free as her and is also finding the Stepford behavior odd. Together they decided to form a club, an all-women’s club and invite the women of the town so they can gossip. Only one of the ladies Charmaine in the town seemed to be interested in joining, the others joined in only to be discussing house chores and ironing.

Charmaine express her feelings about her husband not loving her and discusses their planed trip. But, when Charmaine returns from the trip with her husband she had changed. She was now a devoted wife who fired her maid, cleaned up her house and destroyed her so loved tennis court.

Joanna and Bobbie decided to investigate, with a fear that something in the environment is the cause of all this odd behavior in the women. As they could not put their finger on why Charmaine who was loud, happy and carefree will now become like the other wives submissive and bland.

Their investigation didn’t lead much to know where, other than discovering that the women of the town where high-class ladies who once had a mind of their own.

Something wasn’t right with the town and Joanna and Bobbie felt a need to get their families out.

The Stepford Wives is a different movie from the 2004 remake and it is worth seeing. Although many sequels were made after this movie, but them and even the remake have had poor ratings.