Now commencing, the week of “The” …
The Spy Next Door:
Our first “The” film is this little throwaway kid friendly family film starring Jackie Chan as a secret super spy who also babysits. Or something like that. Take the kids, sure, but don’t expect to be anything other than predictable. Not worth my money, and I had the opportunity, three times, to see this for free and never did.
The Lovely Bones:
Our second “The” film is an adaptation of a very successful book. I’ve actually wanted to read the book, however, I put that idea aside once I heard there was to be a film. Films always have to excise content from the book, sometimes that’s good and sometimes that’s bad. If the film is good, I’ll read the book in a couple of years. Anyway, if you don’t know, its about a girl who is raped and murdered looking in on the world after her death. She follows her family and the man who killed her and she watches her family fall apart and the murderer prepare to go after another girl. I’m not sure I’ll make it to the theater for this one, mostly because dramas don’t really benefit from the big screen (and often are hurt by people who won’t shut the hell up), but if I head to the cinema, this will be on my list.
The Book of Eli:
Our last “The” film is this post-apocalyptic tale. I was lucky enough to get into a screening of this last night, and let me tell you, in my opinion, this is one damn fine film.  The Hughes Brothers have taken Gary Whitta’s script and painted it beautifully on the screen with excellent use of Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman.  I know some people in the theater were bored, because their shuffling and chatting occasionally distracted me, but I was enraptured.  Even having already seen it, I may pay to see it again.  Well done, gentlemen.  Well done.
And here ends the week of “The”.
Check out The Lovely Bones in the theater if you can. Its solid. I had some issues with parts of the story (mostly in character decision making towards the end) but the visuals are cinema worthy (kind of a more subtle What Dreams May Come). Definitely will have more impact on the big screen.