Christopher Orr, The Dark Knight, The New Republic.
Michael Atkinson, The Dark Knight, Zero to Conduct blog.
Roger Ebert, Iron Man, Chicago Sun-Times.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, Combustible Celluloid.
Paul Clinton, Spider-Man, CNN.
Todd McCarthy, X2: X-Men United, Variety.
Andrew Sarris, Unbreakable, New York Observer.
David Edelstein, The Incredibles, NPR radio broadcast.
Desson Thomson, Hero, Washington Post.
Jody Houser, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Firefox News.
Rob Vaux, Wonder Woman, Sci-Fi Movie Page.
KJB, Buffy the Vampire Slayer series finale, IGN.
Melissa Anderson, The Blind Side, The Village Voice.
Marcus Yoars, Pan's Labyrinth, Plugged In.
Kenneth Turan, Watchmen, Los Angeles Times
Tim Posada, Kick-Ass, Beverly Press.
Review: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
By Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Bay picks up the Transformers story by sending Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf yelling every line of dialogue) off to college, leaving behind his mechanic girlfriend Mikaela (Megan Fox). Let's pause a moment and talk about Bay and his masterful objectification of women. He intros Fox in tight shorts, bent over a motorcycle. I can almost hear Bay behind the camera like a porn director who's captured a clone of Angelina Jolie: “Push that butt out, Megan, twitch it. Now turn, bend, show the rack. Now lick those lips, pout that pout. Hey, makeup, we need more lip gloss.” He even brings in another hottie, Isabel Lucas, as Alice, another student who never cracks a book. I assume this is Bay U. Alice gives Sam tongue in ways you won't believe.
Oh, where was I? Yeah, the bots. Sam also leaves behind his first love. That'd be Bumblebee, the yellow Camaro who morphs into Sam's robot guardian angel when needed. He's letting his friends the Autobots, led by Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen), work out their differences with the feds. But what of the devious Decepticons, led by Megatron and The Fallen? Do you think they'll escape confinement and try to destroy the world in battle scenes where you can't tell who's fighting who? Do you think Bay cashes his paycheck?
The plot devolves into a chase story in Egypt and the destruction of the pyramids. More importantly, the story answers the question of who will say “I love you” first — Sam or Mikaela? I'll never tell. I have to salute Bay for helping to create two of the most offensive bots in screen history — Skids (Tom Kenny) and Mudflap (Reno Wilson), Chevy concept cars who do black stereotypes in ways that would shame Jar Jar Binks.
But I've said enough. Go ahead, have your senses senselessly pounded for two and a half hours. And, please, it's not that I hate robot movies. I stand second to no one in admiring the power and dark poetry that James Cameron brought to the first two Terminator films. I even have a dream that the great bots of movie history — Robby, Gort, HAL, R2-D2, C-3PO, the alien from Alien, the sentinels from The Matrix and all the Terminators — will one day march on Bay, who is the true Decepticon. Disguised as a human director, Bay is actually a destroyer of dreams. When Hasbro invented those Transformers toys, the intention was for kids to use their imagination about what those bots would morph into. Bay crushes that imagination with his own crude interpretations that seem untouched by human hands and spirit. I know there are still 17 months to go, but I'm thinking Transformers 2 has a shot at the title Worst Movie of the Decade.
The Book of Eli Opens New Chapter of Spirituality
By Tim Posada, Beverly Press,
After a nine-year hiatus, Albert and Allen Hughes (directors of Menace II Society) return with their most theological film to date. Denzel Washington continues his reputation as a powerful leading man but attempting this story of biblical proportion digresses to cliché and provides a contradictory point that ultimately hurts the message of The Book of Eli.This is an old west tail masked as a post-apocalyptic thriller. Our lone ranger, Eli (Denzel Washington), has been traveling west for 30 years with an important book. What book? Here’s a hint from Eli himself, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Over 30 years ago, people believed this book was the cause of the war, thus all copies were burned, save one. Before Eli can reach his final destination, the town law, Carnegie (Gary Oldman), develops an interest in him, coveting the sacred text he is hiding. Carnegie knows the hegemonic power that book holds and will do anything to acquire it, and Eli will do anything to protect it. Opposites collide in the wasteland once called America, and only God knows who will win. Throw in the sultry damsel Solara (Mila Kunis), lots of slow motion and a few decapitations, and you’ve got yourself a dystopian film of spiritual conviction.
As a former seminary student and current son of a pastor, I can say with some certainty that films with Christian undertones have a difficult time portraying faith in a relatable way. The number of enjoyable faith-affirming films is far shorter than those that feel cheesy and forced. The Book of Eli suffers from a similar disease, turning Washington, as Eli, into a single-minded prophet who quotes the most easily recognizable verses. How hard would it be to find some different verses to quote? I mean the Bible is rather dense.
Let’s debunk a myth right now: all films are preachy, not just religious or politically inclined ones. The trick is telling the story without digressing to condescension. The Hughes brothers’ film fails not because it addresses religion but because it doesn’t go deep enough. To its credit, rare moments capture an almost supernatural presence but they don’t happen enough. Instead, the film returns to the warn-out story of a “Christian soldier” hell-bent on fulfilling a task for God, regardless of the lives lost in the process. Sure, each life taken in the film is deserved (that’s the ‘nice’ part about creating characters the audience wants to see die) but the large portions of that text Eli holds so dear provide a very different story about the role of violence in the world—specifically about how to end it. But that just wouldn’t be as interesting as wielding a gun, bow or machete while reciting scripture.
This is Denzel Washington at his most cryptic. Even at 55, the man knows how to handle a fight scene, but don’t expect this one to satisfy your need for action (of which there are only a few big scenes), since he spends most of the film walking. Washington’s role is far more introverted, relying on his ability to depict a holy man on a quest with a rage problem. He half succeeds. A camera and soundtrack of the same four-note melody can only do so much.
When a character is introduced reading Mussolini, it’s clear who the villain is. Gary Oldman returns to his former days as the corrupt. Remember Zorg from The Fifth Element? How ‘bout Stan from The Professional or the living dead in Dracula? Oldman plays a compelling antagonist with a conniving plan to create his own barren empire. But he needs that book. Like the Fred Phelps types (of the irreligious group God Hates Fags) out there, Carnegie wants to use the Bible for his own purposes, distorting the original meaning to manipulate the public. Stealing a page from Mussolini, Carnegie understands the power of religion to control people and he desperately wants to revisit the days of the Crusades and Witch Trials when Christianity’s power became a bloody mess.
As an action film, The Book of Eli is decent, but as something meant to be taken seriously, it doesn't go far enough. It had all the right elements to be great, but the Hughes brothers failed to create a story with enough substance to emphasize the significance of Eli’s book, instead falling prey to the same concerns many had 30 years ago. People burned the book because it was used for evil. Somehow the filmmakers don’t see that creating a holy warrior willing to kill all in his path to protect a book recreates the same evil so many feared.
