The Book of Eli – Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis and Jennifer Beals star in this post-apocalyptic tale. Washington’s character is a drifter named Eli who is desperately looking for food and water. Oldman is running a town and is searching for a book that will make everyone follow him if he possesses it. The book is the bible, as in this film, no known copies of it survived after the apocalypse. Washington and Oldman do battle over it, and you can use many biblical references to describe the battle of good and evil from this point on. From all accounts, even though the film was released in the winter, The Book of Eli is better than you would expect (then again it stars Denzel and I think Denzel does not make bad movies). It’s also a welcome return to directing for The Hughes Brothers who directed the underrated From Hell. This is definitely the highest profile title of the week.
When in Rome – This film stars Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel and follows the story of Beth, a curator at the Guggenheim who is unlucky in love. She goes to Rome to attend her younger sister’s wedding and ends up meeting a guy named Nicholas. Beth really wants him to be the one, so she goes to the Fountain of Love and takes coins (her thinking is that people throw coins in the fountain for their dreams to come true, so if she takes some of the coins, she will have good luck). Unfortunately for Beth, the people who threw in the coins start following her around. Is Nicholas only following her around because she took a coin from a fountain, or does he generally love her? When in Rome was critically panned on its release, and did not do very well at the box office.
Youth in Revolt – Michael Cera stars in this film and it follows the life of Nick. Nick is in love with Sheeni, but Sheeni wants nothing to do with Nick because he is not cool. This does not faze Nick because Nick comes up with an alter-ego named Francois Dillinger, who is super-cool (and not just because he has a mustache. Francois ends up getting Nick in trouble, and chaos happens. The question is will Nick get Sheeni? You’ll have to watch to find out. Youth in Revolt was a bomb in theatres this past winter.
Unthinkable – This film stars Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Sheen and Carrie-Anne Moss and is about Jackson’s character using torturous methods to get his prisoner to reveal the locations of some nuclear bombs that are located in three U.S cities. The film raises the moral dilemma about whether or not it is right to get information at any and all costs, even if you are using techniques that are against the law in the name of the greater good.
TV ON DVD
Family Guy: Volume Eight – Peter, Lois, Brian, Stewie, Meg and Chris continue their comic misadventures. It contains 15 episodes (the last seven from Season 7, and the first eight episodes from Season 8. I know there is a backlash against the show, and you know the style of jokes they are going to tell (flashbacks with obscure references), but it still makes me laugh.
American Dad: Volume Five – The tales of Stan Smith and his family continue on this DVD, which contains the remaining 14 episodes from Season 4. I have not watched many episodes from the show, but I don’t enjoy American Dad as much as I enjoy Family Guy. Just thought I’d tell you that.
Everwood:The Complete Third Season – This is the penultimate season of the series of the family drama that stars Treat Williams. Dr. Brown (Williams) is torn about telling his son a secret as the season starts while his son returns from Juilliard disappointed with his performance at the school, and vows to do better. Everwood is yet another show that I have never watched, but I think Treat Williams is an underrated actor, so it might be worth checking out.
Hawthorne: The Complete First Season – This show stars Jada Pinkett Smith and follows the life of Christina Hawthorne (Smith) who leads a group of nurses at Richmond Trinity Hospital. Reviews have been mixed on the show, as I keep reading that it has problems balancing drama with comedy. Season one is only 10 episodes long, so it is not a big investment of time if you want to get started in the series.
MacGyver: The TV Movies – I’m sure this was planned to be a tie-in with the release of MacGruber because the movie would generate interest in the show it parodies. Unfortunately, with MacGruber being such a bomb at the box office, it doesn’t generate interest in these TV movies. Or does it? With MacGruber doing so poorly, maybe people will watch these TV movies and realize why the original MacGyver was so much fun in the first place!
Until Next Tuesday!
