Movies have a strange relationship with history, that’s for certain. On the one hand, they have the ability to bring to life, in spectacular detail, the intricate recreation of historical events. On the other hand, films can have a misleading and even potentially dangerous relationship with history, and can change the past for the benefit of storytelling or for political ends. And there’s always the option of using films to challenge traditional notions of history. Finally, many movies play with history through the benefit of cinema’s artifice. Arguably, it’s this last function that you see history function most often in relationship to mainstream Hollywood cinema. In playing with history, Hollywood rarely possesses a calculated political motive or a desire to recreate period detail. In seeking solely to entertain, Hollywood portrays the historical, but rarely history itself. Tom Shone of Slate has written an insightful piece about a unique presence of that historical mode all over the movies seeking to be this summer’s blockbusters. Citing X-Men: First Class, Super 8, Captain America: The First Avenger, and Cowboys & Aliens as examples, Shone argues that this is an unusual movie summer in terms of the prominence of movies set in the past. However, while such a dense cropping of past-set films is unusual for this season, these movies don’t seem to be all that concerned with “the past” at all – at least, not in the way that we think.

June was a rough month for This Week in Blu-ray. Only a few of you actively missed it, judging by the emails, but I’m sure that even more of you felt a hole in your very souls due to the lack of weekly Blu-ray buying advice. By my count I am four weeks behind as of today, four weeks that each had worthy releases — some of which you may have purchased already. So in an effort to be brief, I’ve selected the most prominent releases and mixed them in with the Blu-rays hitting shelves this week. It’s my way of smashing four weeks of release together and wiping away the blood. In the end, it should give you a good road map for what you should have been doing all along.

Ever wondered what the world might be like after the apocalypse? Well, according to the Hughes Brothers, it will include a grizzly Denzel Washington wandering the country, carrying a big ol’ book to salvation. It will also include a lot of ass kicking at the hands of Denzel. At least that’s what you’re gonna see in the film The Book of Eli. And since booze will be scarce (but not as scarce as water, apparently), enjoy your time now with this apocalyptic drinking game.

Sexy Japanese nurses! Bloody revenge! Teens with lascivious split personalities! An overdue library book lost in the apocalypse! More bloody revenge! Not MacGruber! Jews and Aussies! Rip Torn’s poop-covered buttocks! And a romantic comedy from the director of Daredevil!

WonderCon 2010 hits San Francisco this weekend, and once again I’ll be there soaking in the movie previews, hot cosplay ladies, and eclectic merchant booths. And unlike last year I’m determined to enjoy it all goddammit.

The live-action Akira is close to having not one, but two directors. Will its wanton greed pay off?

Avatar is again the winner of the domestic weekend box office for the seventh weekend in a row with a haul of $30 million. What’s more, the movie has cracked $2 billion in the box office worldwide, the first motion picture in history to do so.

We are not far away from Avatar toppling the Titanic all-time records for domestic and worldwide all-time box office. To sum it up, Titanic’s worldwide record is going down probably sometime tomorrow. Avatar is going to be all-time box office champ,

This week, on a very special episode or Reject Radio, Landon Palmer attempts to explain why his fascination with nun orgies hasn’t gotten his Masters degree taken away from him.

Happy Martin Luther King Day, James Cameron! Not even Denzel Washington and The Book of Eli could stop Avatar from a fifth straight weekend on top of the box office.

Reader be warned, as the following is a hyper-aggressive vularthon between two of our most entertaining and unique voices. Send the kids out of the room, and enjoy…

Kevin Carr sits his chubbiness down and sees if The Book of Eli, The Spy Next Door and The Lovely Bones can make the grade.

The Fat Guys suffer through the January Sewer, which is the weeks of the new year that hold very little hope for quality films. They haven’t seen anything this week, due to non-screenings and late screenings, so they talk about the upcoming Spider-Man reboot.

Following in the grand tradition of post-apocalyptic films featuring lone heroes on epic adventures, The Book of Eli features a man who takes thirty years to walk across America. Didn’t Forrest Gump make the same journey in under one?

The big question this week is whether this is the weekend when some movie — any movie — can finally end Avatar’s run of four weekends in a row at the top of the weekend domestic box office? The Book of Eli, maybe?

Rob Hunter leads you into the valley of despair known as January, with a week-by-week guide of all the major (and limited) releases.

This week, on a very special episode of Reject Radio, we take a look at an Arrested Development, Comic-Con 2009 and 2010, and complete several hours of court-ordered community service.

Just in case you’ve been hankering for another ‘last man on Earth’ movie, here comes Denzel Washington in The Book of Eli.

While the official Comic-Con ’09 schedule of events won’t be online until next week, we have been receiving a stream of emails from studio contacts and other back-alley scoopers, all telling us what we should be seeing when we’re cramming into the world famous Hall H.