Reviews

It is 31 years since the 'Flash', says Eli, when a hole opened up in the sky and the sun burned up the 'World Before' and everyone not underground. He came out after the Flash, he says, and wandered for a time until a Voice led him to the 'book' - his book - and told him to take it West.

And so the movie begins. It IS of the stuff of standard post-Apocalyptic sci-fi fare and it is certainly not bereft of flaws but the 'Book of Eli' does have some things to offer its viewers and some intriguing posers too. Like what exactly IS this book? Well, it is no surprise that it is the Holy Bible - stating that is perhaps not even a spoiler nor is the Viewer intended to take any other view. And yet there is a special quality about this PARTICULAR Bible that is the key to the story and also to Eli himself.

And just who IS Eli? Denzel Washington, a phenomenal actor whom I greatly admire, is given the difficult task of defining the main character. And Eli is a multi-faceted, not easily defined one at that. At times Washington's Eli resembles Wesley Snipes' Blade, wielding a lethal, machete-like sword and fighting off bedraggled way-faring gangs eager to plunder his back-pack and make off with his water and food and scavenged items (which include BTW an old MP3 which he loves to play at night and fall asleep to) while at other times, he seems to bear an almost mystical, prophetic quality not unlike Ian McKellan's Gandalf. Huh? Seriously! He is the only source for the Viewer and for the movie's younger generation of the glimpses and knowledge of the 'World Before' and the only source of hope for the present ruined one. He is very much a prophet of his age and the key to everything lies in the success of his Quest.

But the Road West leads through a tiny, dusty Old-West style town ruled by an older intellectual-sort turned war-lord named Carnegie (Oldman), mindful of the ways of the 'World Before' and obsessed with finding a certain book - and we the viewers again know which one. With it and its inspiring words, he will be able to gather all the remaining people in America to him and re-build a great society under him. When Eli comes into his town to barter for supplies and to power up his MP3 and is forced to swiftly dispatch a few of Carnegie's minions in the bargain, Carnegie is on to him.

From here, the two 'quests' of both men are inextricably linked and in the balance is the ruined world's future as well as the fate of Carnegie's 'captive family' a mother and daughter whom he terrorizes and uses to get at Eli. The mother, Claudia (Beals), is blinded by the Flash while young and the daughter (Kunis) finds herself eager to learn everything she can from Eli of the 'World Before', gaining a sense of his hope for the future, and eventually seeking even to accompany him on his quest.

But Carnegie gets the best of Eli and gains the book (!!). Eli, however, continues to the West coast anyway and completes his quest. How this can be so is the twist to the film which I will not utterly ruin.

Overall, this was a decent satisfying sci-fi yarn. The cinematography and the various shots of the burned landscape were truly excellent. The ever-present, dirty grey-orange tones in the film made you FEEL the heat and desolation, and yet the film was beset all the same by an at-times frustratingly weak and quirky script. The writing of the ending could have been 'cleaned-up', even revised, but it still imparted an impact.

This is perhaps my all-time fave film for watching at night by myself - a 'me' film. There have been some other posters that have made similar statements. It is first and foremost a story for people who live 'in here' (as I'm tapping my temple). Do I mean introverts? Yeah, I guess I do. In other words, it is not just a story for people living with mental illness or clinical depression or who have such people in their families. Anyone can take a lot away from this film but MOSTLY introverts, I think.

I am an introvert. I also like to write and aspire to be published one day. When Virginia's sister tells her children that their aunt lives two lives she is making a more accurate statement than she perhaps realizes for Virginia lived 'in there' as well as in the world. When the sister is leaving, Virginia asks her: 'Do you think one day that I will escape?' (from living 'in there'). I had tears in my eyes because I could understand so clearly what she was going through. But Virginia KNEW that she would never really escape from living 'in there'. The scene at the railway station where Leonard pours out his soul, it is perhaps my favourite in the whole film....he is always reaching out to Virginia, the woman whom he loves, but she can never quite reach back to him. And both of them know it. This is why she rationalized her death as being her way to release him from her own prison within her mind.

This was not really a critique of the film itself, only a psychological insight to its message, one which happened to touch me greatly.

After waiting patiently for 2 and a half years after LWW, I confess I am a little disappointed by PC. On a very broad, general level I am seeing and feeling that Andrew Adamson's devotion to the works of CS Lewis is not on a par with, say, Peter Jackson's devotion to those of JRR Tolkien. He is beginning to exhibit a willingness to keep his visual story of Narnia on a well-trodden plane.

What I mean is this: - there is an overabundance and over-dependence on what film-raters call "fantasy battle sequences" or "fantasy violence". These sequences have tremendous action and a lot of awe-inspiring visuals but do not add a jot to the story by BEING so. I realize that the unfortunate reality of today's viewers especially younger viewers is the necessity of these sequences because they've 'already seen it before'. Adamson is feeling the need to deliver in this area more than in LWW and it is a distraction.

Other problems were the adding of parts that were not in the book. I realize that there is always a bit of artistic/directorial licence in films but one particular difference is detrimental to the actual story. The initial assault by the Pevensies and Caspian and the Old Narnians against Miraz's castle was one of the above-noted scenes which caused a lot of killing off on both sides and which then sent us right back to where we were before it happened. We already know that Miraz is a bad guy and the story went nowhere in the mean-time.

Also, Miraz's assassins did not kill him after his single combat with Peter only to continue the war but in order to bring peace with Caspian and the Old Narnians. The war was too long.

Finally and worst of all, Aslan's coming was so late and his actions so few that he was almost an after-thought.

However, there were some notable highlights:

• The Pevensies discovering and exploring the ruins of old Cair Paravel (including the part where Lucy, in a final inspiration of where they actually are, has them all stand in order on the sites of their crumbled thrones) In that moment they became kings and queens again and I truly got chills!

• Caspian's ride to safety in the forest

• Peter Dinklage's comedic, wry Trumpkin

• Warwick Davis's zealous, foolhardy Nikabrik

• the sheer scale of the building of the bridge over Berunna by Miraz's troops (this was truly awesome)

• Lucy's entire dream sequence (perhaps my favourite scene in the whole movie)

• Aslan's How and its layout

• the werewolf and hag in cahoots, trying to get Caspian to free the White Witch from her ice prison

• Edmund's driving his sword through her middle from behind and shattering the prison

• the collapsing of the ground under the Telmarine cavalry before the How

On the surface this is a low-budget made-for-TV movie but I found myself sinking into it more and more and more until my entire body was tensing and my hands clenching. When a story comes along which compels you to THINK after it is finished, it is a gem. This was by no means an air-tight written story but the CHARACTERS were real and their lives were real. Based on a '24' real-time type script, the movie follows one day in the lives of two completely unrelated women. Their only connection is a horrific accident involving the two of them resulting from road rage at the end of it. The movie begins at the end, in effect, and gives us the details of that day gradually. The camera occasionally shows us the time during the flashbacks, on an office wall or a car dashboard. It is filmed in a real-life, over-the-shoulder, CNN type mode which makes you feel like you are walking into the conference room with Andrea Roth's Diana Burke or sitting at a table in a restaurant with Kathleen Roberston's Beth Welland. And all the while, the anger and despair of these women slowly builds to that exploding point.

The movie is very much an indictment of our dog-eat-dog society as well. Even though these women live in the bustle of the city they are ALONE and it is a shock to you to realize that the human being next to you on the highway or passing you in the hallway could be living a life like these two women. The movie ends with one of them surviving and the other passing away and you, having entered into their lives, are left to process what decisions and actions and circumstances brought them to that fateful moment. That's all. And you will, if you see the movie.

There are two very powerful scenes in this movie which I want to mention. Kathleen Robertson's performance here I will not soon forget. There is a scene in the restaurant just before the cake arrives during her son's birthday party - and while the son has been invited to the kitchen by the chef - where Beth has been informed by her ex that his lawyer feels they have a strong case for full custody of their son. She has just lost her job and has nothing while he and his new girlfriend have just bought a nice house in the burbs. He mentions it casually like it was of little consequence but when the son returns the camera is only on Kathleen's face. For a full minute all of the noise in the place filters out and you are left with seeing the poison come into her eyes in complete silence. I have not seen or felt a more authentic, human scene in a film. The other was at the end - and this is the real spoiler - as the doctors inform those at the hospital of Beth's death. Once again the camera is only on one person - her son - and when the moment comes his entire body wilts and his eyes become vacant. You realize that he is the only one who will miss her. I was left gasping as I saw it.

For anyone who is looking for a real human story here is one for you.

This movie is really an adult bed-time story and so you, as an adult, have to ask yourself, 'Am I willing to suspend my disbelief for 2 hours?' If the answer is, 'Ah....no' you will be shaking your head after this one is over and cursing yourself for having seen it. HOWEVER, if the answer is 'Sure, I'll give it a try' you MAY get something out of it you weren't even expecting. For a guy like Night Shyamalan and his imagination you need to approach his work with that openness. I think, by now, most of his fans do. SO, here it is: a narf named Story(Bryce Dallas Howard) comes to visit an apartment building in Philadelphia, meets the Super, Cleveland Heep (Giamatti), needs to get back to her own world, and is pursued by a terrifying creature called a Skrunt. In the process she utterly changes the lives of each of the motley collection of tenants including among others, Shyamalan himself, of course, and Bob Balaban as Mr. Farber.

That's the plot and the real theme of it is how the tenants can come together and work together, putting aside all their own differences in order to help Story elude this sinister creature and get back to her world. THAT, as an adult, is what you need to get out of this film. The ruined life of Heep is itself renewed as he finds himself to be 'The Healer' who can bring Story back after suffering from the poisonous gashes of the Skrunt. Each of the other tenants finds a kernel of hope from their experiences with Story, as well.

Altogether an okay experience but it stretches the viability factor verrrry far. Cheers.

This is a highly provocative film replete with graphic images and high tension. It is not an easy film to watch in very many ways. It has two dimensions to it - a political/religious conflict on the surface and a human conflict underneath. Spielberg takes on an incident of living history and delves beneath its 'black and white' news story veneer: the 1972 killings of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics.

I must be honest here and confess that I was too young to remember this incident first-hand and that my prime motivation for watching it was to see Spielberg's take on it (a la Schindler's List). Indeed at times this film got on a par with that previous film of his in terms of its intensity.

I thoroughly enjoyed Eric Bana's performance as Avi, the loyal, unassuming Mossad agent (whose wife is expecting their first child and who has visions of quietly providing for his family and really no further expectations or ambitions) who finds himself closeted in a room with generals, political officers, and even the Prime Minister and prevailed upon to accept a mission unlike any he could ever have imagined or expected: the hunting and assassinating of 11 Palestinian operatives who were each responsible for the Munich incident. He accepts because of his sense of obligation not just to the State of Israel but to the overall backdrop of the historical struggle and suffering of the Jewish People. The film is essentially about the transformation of Avi's world view and of the torment of his soul which result.

Avi's entering the wider conflict between Israeli and Palestinian and between Jew and Muslim even snags him and never lets him go. It is like a vortex from which he can never fully escape and Spielberg uses the transformation of Avi to illustrate the full repercussions of the wider conflict in human terms we can understand.

Poignant moments that really bring this out in the film are: - Golda Meir stating matter-of-factly that 'all civilizations at one time find themselves having to negotiate their values' and later solemnly concluding 'I have made the decision. The responsibility is mine.' - Ephraim casually declaring that Avi is officially 'unofficial' after signing himself into the ultra-secret netherworld of clandestine assassination - Hans? telling Avi that he is like those military men he has met who do the things asked of them - especially the dark things - 'on the run' thinking that it is all okay and that they are in control of their heads - another comrade telling Avi that 'righteousness' is what defines a Jew and that if it is lost so is the soul. - when he returns to Israel Avi is greeted by young Israeli soldiers as a hero even though he is stone-faced and utterly changed

The last scene was perhaps the best of all. In it Avi demands proof that the men he killed were involved in 'Munich' and Ephraim downplays the significance of such a necessity to the objectives that were reached. He juxtaposes the specific deed (the killings of the 11 men by Avi and his group of assassins) with the general endeavour (the future saving of the lives of Jews from the hands of Palestinian terrorists) and considers the giving of such proof irrelevant in the final analysis. Avi rejects this and finds that he has to turn his back on his homeland and remain in the United States. He defies Ephraim to put their faith as Jews and their personal working relationship above extremist political agendas:

"Break bread with me. Doesn't it say somewhere that if a Jew asks another into his home to break bread the other must come? Break bread with me, Ephraim." To which Ephraim replies blandly, "No." and walks away. Spielberg brings it home very nicely in this film.

Yes, don't think that this is another roll-your-eyes turkey replete with bad acting and ridiculous clichés. I admit I was skeptical that this film would be much more than an 'Eight Is Enough' mystery adventure when I first signed it out from my local library!! Imagine my shock - yes, shock - when I found myself plunging into an eerie, completely off the wall, occult story which held me straight through to the end! Just what the heck is that light-force thing in those woods and the phantom breezes? Why the heck is that old lady weirding out on the older daughter and could that daughter possibly be linked to her own daughter's disappearance? Why is everyone else weirded out by the looks of this older daughter. And who the heck is POSSESSING the younger daughter? We got cracking windows, mysterious words written backwards, and a doll-turned-oracle warning of imminent deaths. This all goes far beyond what you would consider 'normal' mystery for 1980. Even a contemporary horror would likely not give you as much 'weirding out' - this is as best as I can describe it. The movie was not necessarily SCARY so much as it was DISTURBING. Bottom line is that I was impressed with it for being other than what I assumed it would be.

Impossible to discuss this movie at length without putting a spoiler warning. Even saying it is a ghost story from the ghosts' point of view might warrant it. It begins with Grace (Kidman) waking up screaming from a nightmare - and the tone is set. With a patient, meticulous script both the mood of the story and the story itself are carefully and almost lovingly built up until the catch is sprung on you. Viewing it a second time - like Sixth Sense - it hangs together nicely. That's really all I can say except that I was impressed by Kidman's versatility here and also by the children's' performances. Alakina Mann was particularly unsettling at times as Anne, the mysterious, mistrustful daughter who first sees the 'Intruders'. A fine yarn and a fine film.

It's rare that a film can capture a story from a novel and beautifully adapt it for the screen and in fact turn it into something somehow unique at the same time. So it is with "Dolores". A co-worker, who is a Stephen King aficionado, cited this one shining example of a movie version of one of his books that she actually preferred to the novel. Right away, as the viewer, you are thrown into a car with a broken family, an unstable mother and her estranged stand-offish grown daughter, glimpsing a small, isolated, suspicious island community on the way to the old family home full of painful, bitter memories - and you spend the rest of the movie discovering their hidden secrets. Kathy Bates is once again equal to the task of the marvelously enigmatic title role character but I found Jennifer Jason Leigh spell-binding as the spiteful, lost, embittered daughter. It is her slow, slow shedding of this bitterness towards her mother that is the essence of this movie. There is a scene between the two that I consider one of the best scenes in all of film - period. How JJL failed to garner attention for her performance here is incomprehensible. The film's use of flash-backs throughout places you 'back' and enables you to get a feel for Dolores and her thoughts and actions for yourself as well as her family, her marriage, her home, and her small community. YOU get to decide if Dolores is guilty of murder. Christopher Plummer is also well cast as the thorough, relentless investigator who pursues her and who has his own secrets. Lastly, I have put a spoiler warning here because I want to mention the last scene. Fittingly, it is between mother and daughter. Earlier in the film, Dolores had told her daughter: "I don't CARE what other people think (about what she did)! It's what YOU think that matters!" At the end, JJL solemnly declares: "I'm not sure how to feel about what you did. Maybe I never will. But I know you did it for me." I recommend this film to anyone who has ever suffered because of, or ever been hurt by, the ones he/she loves. It's a gem.

I agree with some other comments re. the acting and dialog here. This is not an in-depth psychological thriller and I didn't expect that kind of profundity shall we say. Yeah, Christensen COULD have been a little weak for the crucial pivotal role he played but there were some very fine sequences and scenes nevertheless. I particularly appreciated the way in which Lucas interspersed Episode IV images into the movie: Senator Organa's ship is the same type that opens Stars Wars: New Hope. The star-cruisers look more closely like the Imperial Star Destroyers in New Hope. Of course Palpatine assumes his Emperor garb and voice. A true SW fan will enjoy this yarn. I think by now non-fans will not expect anything other than what they get in the film if they watch it.

I need to say something special about the score. Yes, we have the theme and its variations and the tunes that will take you back 28 years (yikes) but I noticed something deeper and more elaborate as well. I have heard that Lucas sought collaboration in this installment because he needed to cultivate a darker atmosphere. There were several times where there was an ominous choral score which overlay the scenes: particularly two - the entire scene with Anakin and Palpatine in the grand "theatre" and the 'juxtaposing scene' of Anakin in the Jedi Temple and Padme in her apartment 'facing each other' telepathically. In the first the lure of the Dark Side for Anakin is literally FELT through the music and in the second the doom of their relationship is likewise foreshadowed. These were to my mind 'un-Lucas-like' scenes somehow and it really did help make this film wholly different! It was good to see Lucas give the viewer some added depth. I think he knew the End and also the Beginning of the story deserved it.

As a Canadian, I laughed my head off for the first 2/3 of this movie and after that I stopped but only because it started to fall apart NOT because any material in it was offensive. The jabs at BOTH countries was excellent. I also live near the Falls and got a blast out of the "plungers" into the river. Funniest parts: -Jim Belushi announcing that Canada has massed 90% of its population along the border in obvious preparation for an attack. -Boomer and Honey and everyone insulting Canadian beer at a hockey game and causing a riot. -Stephen Wright as an RCMP officer in parade dress getting punched and stating, "That was totally unnecessary." -argument about Toronto or Ottawa being the capital of Canada -the deployment of Omega Force in spite of Rip Torn's mentioning of its strict prohibition against Caucasians according to the Helms Amendment -the "Summit Thingy" between Alan Alda and the Russians and their obsession with MTV and "what's that other one? VH-1!" -the "Canada Desk" at the CIA.

Also, at the hospital, Honey getting a get-well card from Gordon Lightfoot and looking out the window, seeing a blizzard and dog-sleds and muttering, "Ottawa." under her breath. Moore SCORES!!! ALL the clichés and satires are perfect on both sides of the border.