Was The Book Better?

THE BOOK OF ELI-2010-In this strange big budget post-apocalyptic movie co-producer Denzel Washington is Eli, a violent loner trekking across the devastated US protecting a secret sacred book.

From what he says it seems to be....The Bible!

He kills a lot of scum with a sword, gun and bow and arrow and talks about "the war" and a "hole in the sky". He enters a town run by Carnegie (Gary Oldman) who controls the water supply and is searching for the book Eli is conveniently coveting. After more killing he leaves the town with Solara (Mila Kunis) with Carnegie in hot pursuit. Michael Gambon and Frances del la Tour play a helpful cannibal couple. It's well directed but the story drags despite the killings and the surprise conclusion isn't really worth the wait (although you do get Malcolm McDowell in an un-credited role!). Also with Jennifer Beals, Tom Waits and Ray Stevenson.

The directing brother team of Allen and Albert Hughes had previously made FROM HELL, DEAD PRESIDENTS and MENACE II SOCIETY.

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Junk times two...

No Frills Friday:

VIRTUOSITY-1995-I really hated this movie a lot. Denzel Washington is a cyborg. It's weird to see him in this sci-fi mess that looks more like it should have starred Don "The Dragon" Wilson. Russell Crowe chews the scenery as a computer image that comes to life. Gee, both these guys went on to win Best Actor Academy Awards! This movie must have been ahead of it's time! Actually it was more like a warning of things to come!

The director (Brett Leonard) later made an adaptation of the comic book "Man-Thing" for the big screen. I'm sure he's destined for an award too....

STALKED-1994-This is a weird low budget stalker movie. Crazy Darrell (Jay Underwood who portrayed "The Human Torch" in the unreleased FANTASTIC FOUR movie the same year) saves the life of Maryam D'Abo's son. He falls in love with her and becomes a nuisance. He takes pictures of her, breaks into her home, smells her underwear and talks about her to his mini-tape recorder. He kills his friend (Lisa Blount) in a car wash and throws his mother down a flight of stairs and makes it look like an accident. When D'Abo (from THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS) rejects him he really goes nuts and starts killing everyone! Director Douglas Jackson has made a lot of junk and also worked on the FRIDAY THE 13TH TV show.

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