This movie was so hard to watch because I read the book beforehand and already knew the basic story and outcome. I deliberately read the book first because I heard it was an amazing story and books tend to be better than the movies that follow, however I have to say that the movie Lovely Bones was just as good as the book.  It was so moving and so emotional. At some point, every parent has feared the worst and seeing this movie just brings all that fear home. After being murdered, 14 year old Susie has to watch the murderer get away, her parents deal with the quilt and sadness her death has caused them, and her other siblings lives change dramatically for the worse. From her own heaven, Susie finally learns that the only way she can move on and stop missing her family is to give up on the vengeance that she thinks the man who murdered her deserves.

Even though I’m not a big fan of Denzel Washington, I really enjoyed this post-apocalyptic movie in which he plays the carrier of a book that promises to help save what’s left of mankind. The scenery is dark and gritty and you can almost feel the dryness and desperate need for water. Everyone that has survived up to this point has had to do so by giving up a large portion of their humanity and some have even resorted to cannibalism. The book promises to give laws, rules, and hope for the future of mankind, and Denzel Washington’s character, Eli, has a vision in which he learns that he must take the book west. He runs into a cruel ruler of a small band of people who also wants the book and will do anything to have. Eli is forced to fight for his life in order to deliver the book and fulfill his destiny