Okay, so I’m late on this review.  Overall, I liked the movie, but I wouldn’t recommend you pay theater prices to go see it.  Wait till it comes out on video or cable.  I really was excited when this movie was announced and that Denzel was attached to the project.  Even the first theatrical trailer had me hyped about it. Book of Eli is about a lone man traveling across a post-apocalyptic world with a sacred book.  When asked where is he taking it, he answers, “where it needs to be.”  Cryptic.

I thought Denzel performed all his stunts exceptionally.  I also think that the Hughes Brothers did an excellent job adapting it for the screen.  The pyrotechnics were great.  I like to see things blow up.   My main problem with the movie is length.  The Hughes Brothers spent a tremendous amount of time showing us how bad ass Eli was.  They also spent time showing people doing a lot of traveling: walking, driving, etc.  I could have easily cut out about 20-30 minutes of the movie.  I have been a fan of the Hughes Brother’s work, From Hell, Menace to Society, Dead Presidents, but all of those movies were tight.  Book of Eli seemed like they tried to make an Epic with less than epic material.

Let me start this review by saying that I liked the movie.  It was a fun ride.  Plenty of action, explosions, and effects.  Now, that being said, I had some issues.  But let’s start with the good things.

The effects were good.  I thought the action was well paced, and the story line was easy to follow.  I have to eat crow on something.  I had said previously that I the Waynans brother was going to make the movie unwatchable.  He didn’t do too bad of a job.  He wasn’t over the top as he is prone to be, and his comic relief didn’t take away from the story or anyone else’s screen time. The movie benefits from a plethora of sold performances led by Christopher Eccleston as James “Destro” McCullen,  Ray Park and Byung-hun Lee brought some excitement with all their scenes, together and separate, as Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow.  All the cool tech, especially the holographic communicators.  The S.H.A.R.C.s were cool, even though there was no Deep Six.

Problems:  The Cobra Commander’s mask at the end: Lame. The obvious nods to fans (Look at that. Real American Heroes…It comes with Kung-fu grip) Lame.  For fear of spoiling too much, there is a character who switches sides and loses everything that ever made that character appealing.  I could have used more characters mentions or cameos, like Deep Six, Shipwreck, Flint, etc.  The accelerator suits. Lame and unnecessary. Oh and as Lobo pointed out to me, the obvious Star Wars references especially towards the end of the movie.  Lame.

Overall, I enjoyed watching the movie.  And I would recommend it for anyone who was a fan of the cartoon series or the toys.  But don’t expect too much when you go see it.

True Blood is about  a psychic waitress named Sookie Stackhouse, Oscar winner Anna Paquin, who lives in a small town in Louisiana.  She meets and becomes interested in Bill Compton, a 176 year old vampire.  An interest that is magnified by her inability to read his mind.  At the same time Bill comes to this small town, strange things begin to happen, and being the only known vampire, he’s the obvious choice for the source of those bad things.  The most interesting thing about this show is the social backdrop.  The Chinese have created a synthetic blood.  The synthetic blood is being bottled and sold as “True Blood.”  Because of this, vampires have come out of hiding and have staked, no pun intended, a claim for equal rights.

I liked the show, but there are some things that irritate me a little.   For one, Rutina Wesley, who plays Tara Thornton, Sookie’s best friend, is so abrasive that she’s almost impossible to watch.  Nelsan Ellis plays an over-the-top homosexual chef Lafayette Reynolds in the bar where Sookie works.  He doesn’t bother me, but he is so funny and good in this role that he’s a distraction and seems to be the only actor on the show who is believable.  I guess that my other problem with the show.  There are some talented actors, but they don’t seem to be selling their roles.  After 2 episodes, I don’t feel any connection with any of the characters.  Maybe its too early.  Maybe it’s because it feels like HBO wants to try and cash in on the rising popularity of Twilight.  Who knows.  But I guess I’ll watch it since there really isn’t anything else on T.V. Sunday nights.

So, I heard about this movie over a year ago that had an interesting premise about a kid who  could teleport anywhere in the world and the only star signed on at the time was Samuel L. Jackson who would star as a NSA agent tracking him down.  Sounds good?  Well, the execution sucked.  Mainly because of Hayden Christensen.  Christensen can’t carry the lead in a major film.  If you’ve seen Life as a House, and Shattered Glass,  and the Virgin Suicides, you have seen the best of Christensen.  Unfortunately, he never brings the talent showcased in those movies into the big movie roles.  He literally sleepwalks his way through this movie as the main character, David Rice, and the other actors are carrying him.  However, he’s the one with all the screen time, and he sucks. 

Samuel L. Jackson’s not a NSA agent, but a Paladin, a member of a group of religious fanatics who have hunted and killed jumpers for thousands of years.  He turns in a good, solid performance.  Rachel Bilson turns in a good performance as David Rice’s girlfriend.  The star of the movie is Jaime Bell.  He stars as the other Jumper, Griffin,  who fills David in on what it means to be a Jumper.  Bell’s performance makes the movie worth seeing.   The ensemble, minus Christensen, saves this film for complete and utter failure.  Also, the special effects are pretty good.   Diane Lane turns in a brief performance as David’s mother.  If you want to go see a good special effects thriller, go see it.  But don’t expect too much.

“Tin Man” is the Sci-Fi channel’s re-imagining L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz. I watched the first and second night of this three part miniseries. Sci-Fi promoted this series almost as much as Flash Gordon was promoted. That should have been my first warning. The second was Sci-Fi’s scheduling of the second night to run against Chuck and Heroes, which are two of the Sci-Fi channel’s target audience’s favorite shows, especially since these were the mid-season finales. Thankfully, Sci-Fi repeats their “television events” almost immediately after airing.

Briefly, the story follows D.G. (originally Dorothy Gale) who works a dead end job as a waitress dreaming of bigger and better things. We find out that she isn’t from this world but from another world called the O.Z. (Outer Zone) and that she is the key to saving it from an evil sorceress, Azkadellia (the Wicked Witch). She is joined on her journey down the old road by Glitch, a man who lost half his brain as a punishment for being a criminal, Raw, a cowardly beast with psychic abilities, and Cain, a former cop, known as tin men in the O.Z. We get the classic characters of munchkins, the Mystic Man (the Wizard) played by Richard Dreyfuss, and even the flying monkeys who spring from the cleavage of of Azkadellia. Literally.

The effects aren’t bad for a television series. Obviously, the network wanted this to be a success. The visuals are pretty good, despite the filter that the director, editor, or director of photography went with. What I mean is that everything seemed to be in perpetual early evening, an almost dusk. It’s a decent story for the most part, but it could have been done better. Many of the puns and allusions to the original story don’t have to be so blatant. Anyone watching has probably seen the Wizard of Oz dozens of times. I can do without lines like “If he only had a brain,” or “They’re off to see the Wizard.” Side note: It may not be suitable for your under 5 crowd, but that’s a parent’s call. There are hookers, a pimp, torture, some pretty gruesome scenes, and the Mystic Man is a drug addict who uses on screen. But I digress.

If you don’t have anything else to watch, especially with the writer’s strike, give this a shot. If you miss it, you won’t miss much. Rent The Wiz.

Two fists for making Toto a black man.