The Book of Eli has arrived on Blu-ray and it’s ready to deliver us. It got mediocre reviews when it was in theaters as the film was criticized for its preachy nature, uneven plot twist and lack of action. Now that the film is on Blu-ray we get to take another look at it. The question is, does The Book of Eli manage to entertain, or does it fall off the path and lose its way? Read the full story

Another Tuesday coming up means another week of collecting and watching awesome movies that have hit shelves at your local video store. Here’s what’s good, okay and horrible: Read the full story

ACTION

If the films of the 1990s gave us reasons for the end of the world, the films of the 2000s took those reasons to their logical conclusion. We were shown what the end of the world will look like, and shown who’d be there when the dust settled. Last fall it was a father (Viggo Mortenson) and his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee), and there most precious resource was a gun. In January, it was Denzel Washington and his most precious resource was a book. That and a Samurai sword.

The days of apocalyptic glimpses are far behind us (remember 1992′s Terminator 2 and its inspired, momentary glances forward?). These days, terminators are fought 20 years from now in the middle of human extermination and heroes like John Connor have to deal with the poor decision-making of their ignorant leaders, yelling cynical, culturally-relevant lines like “If we stay the course, we’re dead! We’re all dead!”

The 1990s’ curious/adventurous predictions of future technology and its ability to destroy the world were replaced with films (at the tail end of the 1990s and throughout the 2000s) so technologically advanced that they mirrored the technology responsible for said imagined disasters. Films like The Matrix, The Lord of the Rings and Avatar employed computers to develop creatures that, while not quite photo-realistic, appear very much alive. Explosions occur right in front of our eyes, yet exist only inside the mind of a device.

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The Hughes Brothers came back after a 9 year hiatus with The Book of Eli. It looks like they are getting right back into it as Vulture reports they are in talks to direct the live-action remake of Akira. They say the script is by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby (Iron Man) but we know The Book of Eli screenwriter Gary Whitta was working on it at one point, so this connection makes sense. The film is to be produced by Leonardo DiCaprio‘s company, Appian Way as well as Andrew Lazar, who is doing Jonah Hex for Warner Brothers as well. Vulture reports the synopsis below. Read the full story

Avatar passed The Dark Knight to become the second highest grossing box office movie of all time, this weekend, pulling in an estimated $36 million (via BoM). This brings its grand total to $552 million, domestically, just shy of Titanic‘s $600 million. Internationally though Avatar has officially passed Titanic, THR reports. James Cameron‘s newest film has garnered $1.288 billion at the international box office, beating Titanic‘s $1.242 billion by $46 million.  Back to domestic, Legion debuted in second with $18.2 million dollars, bumping The Book of Eli to third. Read the full story

This picks up where we left off with screenwriter Gary Whitta in the Part 1 segment of our interview concerning The Book of Eli. Enjoy.

I remember hearing earlier on that everyone involved wanted to keep what the book was a secret, but that hasn’t really been carried over into the marketing campaign.

Gary Whitta: Yeah, they just changed their minds at one point. Initially earlier on everyone was instructed not to say what the book is and for that to be apart of the twist in the film. At some point, I wasn’t involved in this because that is a totally separate conversation, but at some point they just said,”we wouldn’t be able to hide this, we can’t really do trailers for this, and it’s too big of a part of the movie.” The interesting thing is that a lot of people are still going in not knowing what the book is. Not everyone reads as much about movies as people like you and me. Some people are going in not knowing what it is and it’s not a huge reveal. It’s interesting the first time you see what the book is.

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In this episode of the The Film Stage podcast Jordan Raup and Dan Mecca discuss Tom Ford’s A Single Man and The Hughes Brothers’ The Book of Eli. We also talk about Joe Carnahan‘s new projects as well as two things Marc Forster is rumored to direct. You can stream the episode below or download it here. (right click + save as…) Read the full story

I’ve never interviewed a screenwriter before. I’ve talked to directors/screenwriters, but never just a screenwriter. So when I hopped on the phone with Gary Whitta I was hoping for a good experience which actually ended up being a great one. I was a bit worried about seeing the film just a day before our chat since that’s not the best amount of prep time, but after I saw the film I had plenty of questions running through my head I was excited about asking. If you’ve read my review then you know I really enjoyed it and it’s always great to talk to people behind films you not only enjoy, but also admire. The Book of Eli is ambitious and different from the current wave of post-apocalyptic films. It also features a new side of Denzel we haven’t seen before, Gary Oldman going all out as the villain and it’s also a welcoming return for the Hughes brothers. Whitta is one of the main men responsible for Eli’s audacity and talking to him for an hour and forty minutes was a real treat. While not all of that conversation is here since some of that time involved us sidetracking and talking about other films, I have of course included everything revolving around Eli. Now with the long introduction out of the way, here’s what Mr. Whitta had to say: Read the full story

Last year was a phenomenal time to be a genre fan. There was Moon, District 9, Avatar and even Star Trek to fuel the hunger for fresh and exciting new entries. Now it’s 2010 and things couldn’t be off to a better start. With Daybreakers and now The Book of Eli this is shaping up to be another excellent year. The Book of Eli is unique and original; it may not be perfect, but there’s a level of ambition at work that isn’t seen very often.

Eli (Denzel Washington) is a man on a mission. A mission he’s been on for almost thirty years. He’s heading west in possession of a very important and very powerful book. To him, the only thing that matters is accomplishing the mission he’s been sent on. If someone gets in his way, he’ll of course retaliate with brutality — in other words fight you off with a giant body chopping blade. He’s not interested in saving the ones around him if it causes a sidetrack; he’s only looking out for the book he has. He’s carrying a message of hope. A message that some want to harness for the wrong reasons, that’s where Carnegie (Gary Oldman) comes into play. Once Eli makes his way into a nice quaint run down town he finds himself in even more trouble. What Eli has is what Carnegie has been looking for for many years. It’s a book that will give him the power he wants and to do what he truly believes in. Eli will not give it up and will do so at all costs. This leads to an old fashioned face off between the two. Even Carnegie’s lover’s daughter Solara (Mila Kunis) gets involved, but understandably takes Eli’s side.

In the wrong hands, this story could have been mishandled in the worst way possible. It could have been another standard formulaic action romp, another film that doesn’t live up to its great ambitions and something that we’ve undoubtedly seen before. But it isn’t. There’s a few elements here and there that can be connected to past films of the genre, but luckily the film is aware of that. Far too many films lack a sense of awareness of that what they’re trying to do at times has been done before and don’t even try to make an effort by at least putting their own spin on it. This is one of the keys to The Book of Eli’s success, it’s at least aspiring to do something new. It barely ever divulges into the overused tropes set by previous films– that especially applies to the last twenty minutes.

What happens in the third act won’t be spoiled here, but it’s another factor that breathes audaciousness. There’s a twist that will undoubtedly split audiences and some may downright despise it, but there’s a message there and it’s certainly far from predictable. Without spoiling much, it doesn’t end the way most films similar to this would — i.e. final battle then roll credits. It’s known within the first few minutes that this is different, there’s no pandering narration or the always laughable text appearing onscreen describing the events that took place or how the world became the way it was. It’s the opposite, the first few minutes fully pulls one into the world the Hughes brothers have crafted. Everything you need to learn about the world and Eli’s isolation is cemented in a subtle silent manor.

The second act mostly revolves around the struggle between Carnegie and Eli, which is of course more than fun to watch despite feeling a tad episodic at times. They’re two men who contain the polar opposite set of morals and yet share something in common. They’re both dedicated and believe that what they’re doing is right. It’s an intriguing contrast that doesn’t make the face off come across as the standard good guy vs bad guy scenario. Washington and Oldman unsurprisingly handle the dynamic greatly. Washington perfectly portrays a sense of dedication and the heroism of Eli. Heroism may not be the perfect way to describe Eli though. His mission is priority number one and he won’t go out of his way to help others if it gets in the way of his mission. He doesn’t act all gung-ho, he does his best to stay under the radar. He’s the man with no name or a samurai if you will placed in a post apocalyptic world.

Similar to his classic performance in The Professional, Oldman is menacing and even somewhat likable. He’s a man who is doing terrible things to achieve what he wants, but when he cracks a joke you laugh with him and more importantly he’s an antagonist you can understand. He’s not just evil for the sake of being evil. He’s partially right that the book could help build towns and a society. There’s an underlying goodness there, but he’s ultimately more interested in exploiting that power.

Kunis also handles herself well despite taking a moment or two to warm up. This is a grimy world that embodies savageness, so at first it’s a bit odd seeing someone like Kunis appear. After that, she holds her own with Oldman and Washington. She’s strapped with the challenge of making the usually cliché arc of going from just another person to an action heroine. It’s not an easy transition to portray, but Kunis does it convincingly. She adds a sense of innocence which makes Eli’s transition of going from a man on a mission to someone with a real sense of humanity believable. There’s also an array of fantastic supporting performances worth mentioning from the always wonderful Tom Waits, the intimidating Ray Stevenson and the classy Michael Gambon. They’re unsurprisingly excellent even to the point where you selfishly wish for more of them. Especially with Stevenson who’s a bit underused.

This is a more than welcoming return for the Hughes brothers. Their last film From Hell was slightly overlooked and far more engaging than some would claim, but Eli is unquestionably the superior film. They shot this with the red one and it looks rather stunning. The wide compositions of all the deserted landscapes add an even broader sense of isolation and eeriness. This is a technique that’s been used before, but it’s still none the less effective. The Hughes brothers have always shown a knack for framing and they continue that trait here. Their action choreography especially stands out. They’re all easy to follow, swift and as violent as one would expect. This heavily applies to the first action beat which is done greatly with a single take — clearly inspired by Oldboy.

The Book of Eli is a very good film that will most likely even work better on repeat viewings. If one is fully able to buy into the overall concept of the story then they will find themselves embracing the ambitiousness, the excellent performances and of course the final act.

As a quick final side note: Atticus Ross’s score is terrific.

8 out of 10

What did you think of The Book of Eli?

WeAreMovieGeeks has uncovered a new poster for the upcoming horror remake of The Wolfman, starring Benicio del Toro. The poster can be viewed below: Read the full story