Science Fiction

Denzel Washington is one part prophet, one part assassin, one part messiah, and one part ordinary, flawed person in this ground-breaking post-apocalyptic movie.

Unlike the other post-apocalypse movie this year, The Road (the most depressing movie ever, beating out Angela’s Ashes for first spot), Eli is a story of hope and the enduring human spirit.  It is also a story of faith: unusual for Hollywood, the man of faith, the Bible and religion are portrayed positively in this film. Weird.

I cannot recall seeing a post-apocalypse movie that dealt with these topics in quite the same way.  If Mad Max, The Postman and Waterworld were good movies, with good stories and better acting, this one would still be better.

Iron Man (DVD)

Everyone is surprised that this movie opened as the second-highest grossing non-sequel movie in history. Everyone except me (with crystal-clear advantage of 20-20 hindsight). The fact is that most “blockbuster” movies in the last quarter have been awful and inspired people to stay home, or just go out somewhere else (how about dinner and a half-marathon). I’m not sure if it’s because of the writer’s strike or what, but it appears this dry spell is finally over.

You heard it here first: there were many pent up “movie nights” waiting to happen, and this was the first movie to take advantage of that. The next few “summer” blockbuster releases will not beat records. If I’m wrong, I’ll eat this web page!

The movie itself? Pretty good CGI action hero flick. Acting was good. Story was good. Tying the comic book into current events worked OK. A few interesting twists (who was that kidnap video directed at?) And, best of all, we can finally forgive Gwyneth Paltrow for Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

Sequel Warning: Do not leave the theatre during the credits. Wait until the very end, after the credits. You get a very distinct Ferris Bueller’s Day Off moment feeling when Robert Downey Jr. walks in and says “You’re still here? It’s over. Go home. Go!”. No, that doesn’t happen. Instead, you get a little surprise. Spoiler Warning: “Get these motherf***ing snakes out of my motherf***ing high-tech robotic suit.”

Enjoy the show! It’s the best we’ve seen in awhile, but don’t read too much into that.