‘Lovely Bones’ long on screen time, short on focus

January 20, 2010

Anonymous Lake Oconee Breeze Wed Jan 20, 2010, 08:00 AM EST

“The Lovely Bones”

Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material involving disturbing violent content and images, and some language.

“The Lovely Bones” was a very big best selling book of fiction. I never read it, so don’t expect me to make an informed comparison. It is narrated by a 14-year-old girl who was murdered in 1973. She can do this because she is in the “in between:” the world between earth and heaven. She won’t “go on” because her murder has not yet been solved. And this “in-between” land looks a bit too much like a screen saver. Director Peter Jackson may have spent a tad too much time between the CGI studio and the Shire.

Mark Wahlberg plays the murdered girl’s father. How depressing: Marky Mark and his tighty-whities now plays a middle-aged man, a father of three with an early 1970s haircut. Speaking of 1970s; the sets and costumes are spot-on. I thought I was still in high school.

OK. College.

There is no mystery in “The Lovely Bones.” The sick killer is played by Stanley Tucci. Tucci plays creepy with amazing deft. The dramatic tension is focused on will the bad guy get caught, the mystery solved and the girl pass on to heaven? You might say there is a happy ending, but it comes from a unique direction.

But not unique enough. The movie is too long and seems to lack focus. Is it a crime story or is it about life after death and unresolved spirits? “The Lovely Bones” would make a fine HBO film or even a quality production on Tru TV, but not what I would expect from Mr. Jackson.

“The Lovely Bones” earns three bow ties out of five

“The Book of Eli”

Rated R for some brutal violence and language.

I expected “The Book of Eli” to be yet another tired story of post-apocalyptic America. Denzel Washington plays Eli; a chap who has been trekking for more than thirty years. He has a book. A book desperately wanted by a bad guy named Carnegie (Gary Oldman playing a cleaner, less profane Mickey Rourke). The book is obviously The Bible and Eli is clearly a prophet; a prophet who prays and respects women, but smites the wicked with Old Testament vehemence. (He also has to eat feral cats but I shall refrain from cracking wise on that point).

“The Book of Eli” has an amazing similarity to a spaghetti western but that makes for some good entertainment. However, the film has so many “improbables” that eye-rolling is inevitable. And yet, the ending is pretty darn good, nevertheless reminiscent of Fahrenheit 451.

The weakness is with the sexy damsel distressed, Solara (Mila Kunis). She lives in a parched world starved of education, water and dental care but she looks like she has been at a California spa with great hair care and teeth bleaching. She may be good to look at, but she is mostly eye candy, not worthy of sharing frames with Denzel Washington.

One gripe: Eli has the only Bible left in a post-apocalyptic world? The Bible is the most published book in the history of printing. All copies are lost but one? Give me a break. I have just two words that make that impossible: The Gideons.

“The Book of Eli” earns four bow ties out five.

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