Blu Ray review: The Book of Eli (2010)

The Book of Eli
2010
118 minutes
rated R
Available June 15th from Warner Home Video on DVD, Blu Ray, iTunes, and OnDemand.

For the theatrical review of this picture, go here.

The Blu Ray - Like all recent Warner Bros titles, the film is housed in a double-disc set, with the Blu Ray containing the feature and supplemental features on one disc and a DVD copy containing the film and a digital copy of said film on the other. As for the Blu Ray, the disc accurately represents the muted, brown-centric color palette and is generally rich with detail. Like Sherlock Holmes (and I'd presume The Wolfman), this is a film that was likely shown in theaters with incorrect bulb-lighting levels all over the country, which probably rendered it relatively underlit and grubby looking in auditoriums. Thus, I can only presume that the Blu Ray probably looks better than the theatrical presentation in all-but the best theaters. This is not an audio powerhouse in any sense of the term, but the sound effects, music, and dialogue are properly separated and the dialogue is always crystal-clear.

Shrek Forever After wins Memorial Day box office derby, while Sex and the City 2 and Prince of Persia crash. Weekend box office review (05/31/10).

Usually the above picture would make me sad, but Allison is actually napping again! As expected, Shrek: The Final Chapter was able to easily surpass Sex and the City 2 to take the three-day weekend crown and the four-day weekend crown over Memorial Day weekend. The contest on Friday was close enough that Shrek: Forever After was able to capitalize on strong family matinee business as well as the HBO sequel's downward plunge. In the end, the three day total is $43.3 million and the five-day total is $55.7 million. That's a drop of 38% from last weekend's disappointing three-day $70 million opening sprint. Since every single Shrek picture opened on the same weekend, the comparisons are easy to make. For reference, the first Shrek actually increased 0.4% over its second weekend, grossing $42.4 million in its second, holiday-inflated frame. The second picture set a record for the largest non-opening weekend of all-time, grossing $72.1 million and dropping just 33% (it's still the third-biggest second weekend, behind The Dark Knight's $75 million and Avatar's $77 million second-weekends). The third picture was beset by poor word of mouth and the monstrous opening weekend of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End ($114 million over Fri-Sun), plunging 56% from $121 million to $53 million in its second frame.

Sex and the City 2 drops from Thursday opening day, while Prince of Persia plummits into a bed of spikes. Friday box office (05/28/10).

Well, as expected, Sex and the City 2 has pulled in about the same amount of money in its first two days that the original film pulled in on its opening day. On its first Friday, the film actually dropped 8.5% from its Thursday take, meaning that the film may in fact be frighteningly front-loaded. Even Terminator: Salvation increased 10% on its first Friday and second respective day of release. And Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull increased 22% on its second day, and the Thursday opening day turned out to be the lowest-grossing day of its five-day weekend. While the 8.5% drop is smaller than the respective Thurs-to-Fri drops for Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (-33%), Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (-19%), and The Matrx Reloaded (-26%), those film has much larger opening-day tallies from which to plummet accordingly with upfront demand ($50 million, $30 million, and $42 million respectively). With a $13 million-grossing Friday, the critically-trashed sequel has now grossed $27.2 million in two days, or just a touch more than the $26.7 million earned by the original picture on its first day of release two years ago.

Equal rights means equal responsibility. Why Glee's 'breakthrough gay scene' succeeds as drama but fails as a teachable moment.

It may be a doozy of a stand-alone dramatic scene, but last week's verbal tongue-lashing on Glee from Kurt's father to Finn was not the proud moment in gay/straight relations that it has been sold as. The scene in question has been heralded elsewhere as some kind of wonderful teaching moment about the hidden prejudice in all of us. Frankly, the scene is more about how a relatively reasonable person lashes out at the stunning manipulations of a sexually-aggressive asshole. Yes Finn (Cory Monteith) lost his temper and lashed out (he uses the term 'faggy' to describe the decorations purchased by Kurt for their new living quarters), but Kurt (Chris Colfer) bears responsibility as well. The clip below (after the jump... blame formatting issues) ironically removes much of the context that explains the outbursts in question.

Sex and the City 2 pulls in $14.2 million on opening Thursday.

With $3 million in midnight screenings, the opening day tally for Sex and the City 2 is $14.2 million. At first glance, it would appear that Warner Bros has again hurt themselves by splitting their proverbial opening day over Thursday and Friday, as opposed to getting one massive opening day total on Friday that can be bragged about. There really isn't much to compare this to, as there have only been a handful of movies that have chosen the 'worldwide all-at-once' Thursday release date. Films generally open on Thursdays in other parts of the world, so studios have occasionally tried simultaneous worldwide releases to combat international piracy. Nine films have previously chosen to open on Thursday in the last eight years. Four of them were on Christmas Day, 2008. They were Marley and Me ($14.3 million on Christmas Day), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ($11.8 million), Bedtime Stories ($10.7 million), and Valkyrie ($8.4 million). Taking into account this anomaly, let's simply concentrate on the other five pictures that used the Thursday jump over Memorial Day weekend or pre-Memorial Day weekend.

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland crosses $1 billion worldwide.

As of yesterday, Disney's Alice in Wonderland is the 6th-biggest global grosser of all-time. At just over $1 billion in worldwide revenue, film is the third-biggest non-sequel grosser of all-time, behind only the James Cameron double-whammy (Titanic and Avatar). As is regularly the case these days, the film made around 67% of its cash ($667.7 million) from overseas dollars, with 'just' $332.4 million coming from domestic ticket sales. It is $1.8 million away from overtaking The Dark Knight on the all-time list, and $66 million away from Disney's biggest grosser, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. It's a bit of a slog for a film that comes out on DVD/Blu Ray next week, but the film is a mere $119 million away from surpassing Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King as the third-biggest film of all time. Not bad for a film that many expected to crash after its (record-setting) opening weekend due to poor reviews and lousy pre-release buzz.

Jonah Hex gets a second trailer.

Considering how long it took Warner Bros to put out an initial trailer, I'm a little shocked that we already have a second preview less than a month later. Still, they trailers are different enough to perhaps justify each other. The first trailer for the famously troubled production emphasized plot and the ensemble cast. This new trailer, which is forty-seconds shorter, has a lot less Megan Fox, almost no John Malkovich, and a whole lot of Josh Brolin. Point being, this one is about explaining who or what Jonah Hex actually is. Fair enough, but I still think the first trailer was a better marketing tool. In emphasizing action and random spectacle, the new trailer makes Jonah Hex look like a run-of-the-mill action picture. Yes, that probably sums it up the final film pretty well, but if you're going to get anyone outside of action nerds, comic geeks, and western-buffs to buy tickets, the film has to look like something better. The film opens on June 18th, and I don't expect to see many press screenings until two or three days prior to opening. As always, we'll see...

Scott Mendelson

Mendelson's Memos Flashback - As Sex and the City 2 opens, a look at female escapist fantasy and how it differs from male escapist fantasy.

I have a heck of a lot more readers now than I did in September 2008, when I first published this massive essay on gender and escapism. Since Sex and the City 2 is facing (fairly or not) the same kind of scrutiny that the first did, I thought it was worth a re-look. This is not about whether the films are good or not, but whether critics properly understand the genre that said franchise represents. If you've been reading me from the beginning, this is pretty much as it was with a few minor tweaks...

The Bechdel Test - a test most films do not pass.

I've brought up 'the Bedchdel Rule' several times in the past, but this is an amusing look at just how many mainstream films fail what should be a pretty basic standard.

Scott Mendelson

A few minor loose ends left over from the Lost finale...

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.