At the Movies

Sherlock Holmes
USA/UK, 2009

MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some startling images and a scene of suggestive material.

Directed by: Guy Ritchie

Written by: Michael Robert Johnson, Anthony Peckham, and Simon Kinberg (screenplay); Lionel Wigram (story)

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong

Synopsis:

Sherlock Holmes (played by Robert Downey, Jr.), along with his trusted ally Dr. John Watson (Jude Law), investigates a string of brutal ritualistic murders in this 2009 effort from British director Guy Ritchie. When Holmes and Watson arrive upon the scene just in time to prevent the aristocratic villain, Lord Blackwood, from doing away with his latest victim, the evil lord warns them that death has no power over him. And, seemingly, he's right about that: After Dr. Watson witnesses Blackwood's hanging and pronounces him dead, Blackwood reappears in London and continues on his murderous path. Scotland Yard is flummoxed, but Holmes is back on the case. And as they search London for Blackwood in order to put a stop to his evil shenanigans, Holmes and Watson are involved in a world of dark arts and dangers more deadly and surprising than any they've faced before.

My Thoughts:

Boring movie, really; nothing but special effects – and extremely annoying special effects, at that. The characters of Holmes and Watson were completely unrecognizable, but since the film was aimed at an audience that obviously had never read the Conan Doyle stories, I guess that really doesn't matter. I suppose the fact that the movie was based on a comic book version of the Holmes tales (by Lionel Wigram) should be a good indication of what to expect. I know I'm fighting the entire trend of the 21st Century here, but I really long for the days when movies had real sets, real locations, and real actors.

And about those real actors – Robert Downey was as watchable as ever, but even his performance couldn't save this one. And Jude Law seemed to have abandoned Dr. Watson in favor of a sort of stiff-upper-lip portrayal of Wilde's Dorian Gray. I'm afraid the rest of the cast wasn't very memorable, but then they had all those special effects planted firmly between them and the audience.

We watched this one on DVD, so maybe the experience of seeing it on the big screen might have improved my opinion. But I doubt it.

Nutshell Review: The best thing about this movie was the poster.

Weekend at the Movies and Monday Movie Meme: Gran Torino

A Novel Menagerie hosts Monday's Movie every week, and invites everyone to "write about any movies, television or big screen, that you’ve seen over the past week." This week, the suggested topic is "Your Favorite Movie of All Time." But if I got started on my fave of all time, we could be here for weeks. So I'll just say a few words about one of the movies I saw this weekend. Well, it did feature one of my favorite movie stars of all time.

The weather was pretty awful around here over the weekend. Messy and cold outside – but inside, that made for perfect movie-watching conditions. Also perfect football-watching conditions, but we won't get into that.

Our Netflix film of the weekend was Gran Torino, Clint Eastwood's film from last year.

Gran Torino

USA, 2008

MPAA Rating: Rated R for language throughout, and some violence.

Written by Nick Schenk and Dave Johannson
Directed by Clint Eastwood

Cast: Clint Eastwood, Christopher Carley, Bee Vang, Ahney Her, John Carroll Lynch

Synopsis (from RottenTomatoes.com):

[T]he story of a grizzled Korean War vet's reluctant friendship with a Hmong teenage boy and his immigrant family. . . . Eastwood stars as Walt Kowalski, an unabashed bigot who never heard a racial insult he didn't love. Bitter, haunted, and full of pride, Walt refuses to abandon the neighborhood he's lived in for decades despite its changing demographics as he clings desperately to a mindset long since out of step with the times. When his Hmong neighbor Thao tries to steal his prized muscle car as part of a gang initiation, Walt is forced to grapple with the world around him. . . . More than simply a racial morality tale, however, GRAN TORINO is about the unlikely bonds that people form to navigate the subtle complexities [of] every day life. . . . GRAN TORINO explores the challenging yet rich new world that can open up when individuals let down their guard, even if for just a moment. Estranged from his family and his church, and without any sense of personal peace, Walt offers all that he has to Thao and his family, namely wisdom and protection. When tragedy strikes the family, Eastwood allows a little classic Harry Callahan to poke through, but the surprising finale posits a hero that Dirty Harry would never have the guts to be. It's a potent symbolic gesture to Eastwood's own growth as a storyteller.

My Thoughts:

I've liked Clint Eastwood ever since I first saw him as Rowdy Yates in the old Rawhide TV show when I was a tot. A lot of his movies are a little more violent and raw than I really like, but I usually enjoy them just because of Eastwood's presence. Even so, I was a little dubious about Gran Torino because of the racial conflict aspect – and these days I tend to shy away from any film or book described as "gritty," "symbolic," or a "morality tale." At my age, I've had just about all the grit, symbols and moralistic preaching I can stand. So I wasn't certain about the movie, but I figured – hey, it's Clint Eastwood after all.

And I wasn't disappointed. Eastwood manages to find an enormous amount of humor and pathos in Walt's bigotry and insularity, without pulling any punches about its crudeness or offensiveness. And the developing relationship between Walt and his new neighbors is very appealing and fascinating to watch. The supporting cast is terrific, and includes quite a few new faces (well, new to me anyway). Both Bee Vang and Ahney Her as the young brother and sister deliver wonderful performances; and I especially loved John Carroll Lynch as Martin, Walt's barber and sparring partner in racial slurs.

I know I'm probably one of the last people on the planet to see this one, but it's definitely got my recommendation.

Did you see any interesting movies last week or over the weekend? If you've got anything to recommend, just leave me a comment or a link to your post.

Monday's Movie: The Horror and the Heist

Over at A Novel Menagerie, Sher is hosting Monday's Movie, in which she invites everyone to "write about any movies, television or big screen, that you’ve seen over the past week."

This is my first time participating, and as I only have a couple of movies to mention (we don't go out to movies much anymore, and I'm trying to keep myself focused on reading instead of staring at the TV screen), I'm going to combine them in one post.

Acacia
Korea, 2003
Written and Directed by Ki-hyeong Park
MPAA Rating: R for violence and language

Synopsis from SundanceChannel.com:
"Korean filmmaker Ki-Hyung Park (Whispering Corridors) serves up an unsettling tale of muted dread about a childless couple's attempts to forge a family. Despite her mother's disapproval, Mi-sook (Hye-jin Shim) and her husband (Jin-geun Kim) adopt Jin-seong (Oh-bin Mun), a quiet, artistic six-year-old boy. Soon Jin-seong evinces an obsessive attraction to a dying acacia tree in the backyard, which he associates with his birth mother. Yet even more unsettling events are in store when Mi-sook unexpectedly becomes pregnant."

My Thoughts:
Strange and definitely "unsettling" film with two adorably spooky kids who looked a little too much like the wraiths in The Grudge for my taste. Pretty good psychological suspense drama with a supernatural touch. One of those films that make the viewer work a little to figure things out. Kept me guessing about what was actually going on, and it delivered surprises right up to the end. Gorgeous cinematography and nice spare settings; even though the film was in color, it almost comes across as black-and-white so that the violent splashes of red in the final scenes are all the more shocking. If you're contemplating adoption, you'll probably want to stay away from this one.

This film kept me watching all the way through, even with its unpleasant subject matter and some pretty graphic violence (including, it should be noted, one rape scene), so I'd give it two bags of popcorn, out of five.

The Thomas Crown Affair
USA, 1999
Directed by John McTiernan
Screenplay by Leslie Dixon and Kurt Wimmer
MPAA Rating: R for some sexuality and language

My Thoughts:
Part of my ongoing attempt to watch some of the movies I missed during the 1990s. This is a remake of director Norman Jewison's 1968 classic starring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway, with Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo in the lead roles. The original Thomas Crown was one of the greatest "heist" films of all time, and arguably Steve McQueen's best on-screen work. Playing against type as the urbane, well-educated and fabulously wealthy Crown, McQueen brought the role to life in a performance that's a thrill to watch, even forty years later. Brosnan, although he's a fine actor and an appealing screen presence, never really sizzles here. And where Dunaway was beautiful, brainy, alluring and classy, Russo is abrasive, unkempt and just downright trashy at times. As my husband said, if you haven't seen the original version, this newer film would be a perfectly acceptable entertainment. But if you haven't seen the original, you're missing a great movie experience.

I'm not quite sure why directors want to try to tinker with film classics; it seems a shame to waste all that money and talent. I wasn't as charmed by this one as the hubby was. I thought the best things in it were Faye Dunaway (doing a cameo as Crown's rather unorthodox psychiatrist) and the reuse of the original's signature song "Windmills of Your Mind." So I'd give it a single bag of popcorn, out of a possible five.


Cross-posted on Joy's Blog.

Stargate SG-1: "Moebius, Parts 1 & 2"

For the 42 Challenge
(TV Series)
Season 8, Episode #173/174 (819/820)
First aired March 18 and 25, 2005
Written by: Joseph Mallozzi, Paul Mullie, Brad Wright, and Robert C. Cooper
Directed by: Peter DeLuise
Cast: Richard Dean Anderson (General Jack O'Neill), Michael Shanks (Dr. Daniel Jackson), Christopher Judge (Teal'c), Amanda Tapping (Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter), Peter Williams (Apophis), Jay Acovone (Major Charles Kawalski), David Hewlett (Dr. Rodney McKay), Don S. Davis (Brigadier General George S. Hammond)

SG-1 and General O'Neill use the time-puddle jumper to go to Ancient Egypt to recover a ZPM. They successfully steal it but they find Jaffa surrounding the cloaked jumper. The future is altered and SG-1 never existed - Daniel teaches English as a second language, Carter proofreads astrophysics papers, and Jack retired from the Air Force and became a charter boat captain. Archaeologists find the video camera Daniel took with them with instructions to find the stargate, find Teal'c, and return to the past to correct the future. [TV.com]

The SG-1 team engages in some "Back to the Future" shenanigans. I frequently have trouble with these stories about returning to the past to save the future (or the present, whatever). There's usually so much of it that just doesn't seem to hold together. And frankly, this one left me scratching my head a bit and mumbling, "What just happened here?"

Of course, I'm really just getting started on the Stargate saga, and by this point in the series a lot has happened that I don't know about. So I realize there were probably things I didn't pick up on. Maybe a second viewing is in order. And I know I really should go back and start at the very beginning. Maybe after I've seen a few more episodes, things will become clearer. After all, the show ran for something like 20 years, right?

But even though I wasn't able to grok all the nuances of this double episode, I still enjoyed it. It gave the three stars an opportunity to ham it up a little, and play strictly for laughs. Usually only Richard Dean Anderson gets to do that. And I loved Jackson's and Carter's geeky counterparts – they even seemed to be a few pounds tubbier than their Stargate selves.

Doctor Who (The New Doctor Who): "The Unicorn and the Wasp"

For the 42 Challenge
(TV Series)
Season 4, Episode #407
Written by: Gareth Roberts
Directed by: Graeme Harper
Cast: David Tennant (The Doctor), Catherine Tate (Donna Noble), Fennella Woolgar (Agatha Christie), Felicity Kendal (Lady Eddison), Tom Goodman-Hill (Reverend Golightly), Christopher Benjamin (Colonel Hugh)

The Doctor and Donna join forces with the world's most famous crime novelist, to encounter a body in the library, poisoned cocktails, and a Vespiform seeking revenge. In 1926, Agatha Christie disappeared for 10 days. Was it amnesia? A nervous breakdown? Or a giant alien wasp? [BBC]

Since I'm a huge Agatha Christie fan, I had really high hopes for this episode. It also had the presence of Felicity Kendal going for it. And the 1920s setting seemed promising, too.

So, did it live up to expectations? Well, yes and no. Overall, I enjoyed it. I thought it had a very "Old Doctor Who" feel about it, which I liked. It reminded me of the kind of stories they used during the Peter Davison era.

The Cluedo game (or Clue, as we Yanks would say) aspects didn't grate with me the way they seem to have done with some of the critics. And I actually liked the shtick of Donna giving away details and titles of Christie works that hadn't been written yet – obviously planting the ideas in Agatha's head. So we really have Donna Noble and the Doctor to thank for the invention of Miss Marple!

On the other hand, I thought the cgi wasp looked a little too Disney-cute to be really frightening – like something from a Mary Poppins nightmare. And I could have done without the manic charades scene when the Doctor rids his body of poison by turning into Jerry Lewis. That wasn't a pretty sight.

So I'd say not exactly full marks, but more of a hit than a miss for this one.

Doctor Who (The New Doctor Who): "The Fires of Pompeii"

For the 42 Challenge
(TV Series)
Season 4, Episode #402
Written by: James Moran
Directed by: Colin Teague
Cast: David Tennant (The Doctor), Catherine Tate (Donna Noble)

The Doctor and Donna travel back to the year 79 A.D., where they discover psychic powers and beasts of stone running riot in the streets of old Pompeii. The time-travelers face their greatest challenge yet: Can established history be safely changed, or must the Doctor let everyone die? [BBC]

This was the first of the New Doctor Who shows I've watched this season. No, wait a minute. I did watch the one with Kylie Minogue. But I don't think I watched any episodes from season three. After the first two seasons of the New Doctor, I got so turned off by the Rose Tyler character and all her baggage that I finally just couldn't take it anymore. And Christopher what's-his-name wasn't really my idea of a good Doctor anyway – much too frenetic, he was always jumping all over the place.

But it was the companion that really drove me away. It seemed every episode was devoted to Rose and her bleedin' family and friends. Like East Enders in Outer Space. Sorry, but I think Doctor Who should revolve around the Doctor, not his companions. The companions are just supposed to stand around and say, "What do we do now, Doctor?" They're not supposed to flirt with the Doctor or upstage him or have their own story lines. And he's most definitely not supposed to fall in love with them.

Donna Noble (played by Catherine Tate) is a much more satisfactory companion, even if she does rake the Doctor over the coals a little too often. I do have a bit of trouble understanding what she's saying – the accent is a little thick. But, so far, she's not too off-putting. A little chunky though, isn't she?

Now David Tennant, however, is a much more likely Doctor – definitely in the same vein as Tom Baker (my fave Doctor) and Sylvester McCoy (another one I liked). Funny and a little bizarre. And he's cute, too. Which is not a requirement, but always a nice plus.

Star Trek: First Contact

(1996; film)
Directed by: Jonathan Frakes; Written by: Rick Berman, Brannon Braga, Ronald D. Moore
Starring: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Alfre Woodard, James Cromwell, Alice Krige, Robert Picardo

Jean-Luc Picard and his crew encounter their adversaries the Borg, who are attempting to conquer the Earth through the use of time travel. The Enterprise crew has to restore history, in order to prevent the future from being changed. They materialize on the Earth, mid-21st Century, in a period just following a supposed Third World War.

(**OK – a bit of a spoiler here.**) Picard quickly realizes that the Borg have gone back in time to try to destroy the Phoenix, which was Earth's first warp-drive vessel. It was the Phoenix that led to Earth's first contact with an extraterrestrial species (the Vulcans). In order to save the future, Riker, LaForge and Troi have to locate Zefram Cochrane, the designer and pilot of the Phoenix, and convince him to proceed with the test flight.

(**And here.**) During this film, Data is captured by the Borg Queen who attempts to corrupt him by offering to fulfill his dream of becoming human. When the Queen instructs Data to fire the Enterprise weapons at the Phoenix, he appears to be following orders, but then deliberately misses. Later, when Picard questions him about it, Data says that the Borg Queen brought him closer to humanity than he ever thought possible, and admits that he was tempted by her offer. Picard asks him how long a time he was tempted, and Data replies, "Zero point six eight seconds, sir. For an android, that is nearly an eternity."

This was the second outing on the big screen for the STNG crew; their first without the cast of the original show. And they did themselves proud. I thoroughly enjoyed this one, but if you're not a bona fide Star Trek junkie, you might be a little lost here - probably not the best place to start your exploration of the saga.

The Hitchhhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

(2005; film)
Directed by Garth Jennings; screenplay by Douglas Adams; starring Martin Freeman, Mos Def, Sam Rockwell, Bill Nighy, Zooey Deschanel

Don't bother with this one – save your time for reading the book or watching the old TV series on video.

AI: Artificial Intelligence

(2001; film)
Directed by Steven Spielberg; written by Brian Aldiss, Ian Watson, Steven Spielberg; starring Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, William Hurt

What a creepy movie. I would only recommend this to anyone interested in experiencing Stanley Kubrick's or Steven Spielberg's entire body of work; otherwise, it's probably a waste of time. But the story by Brian Aldiss sounds interesting. And I absolutely loved the teddy bear.

Andromeda for Our Time, or The Decapitation Follies

I've spent the last couple of evenings watching the updated film version of Michael Crichton's "Andromeda Strain" on A&E. I didn't know they were doing a remake, so I hadn't been waiting on the edge of my seat or anything. But I really enjoyed the book when I read it back in the '70s, and the 1971 film was always one of my favorite sci-fi flicks. So I thought I'd give this new incarnation a try.

It was produced by the Scotts – Ridley and Tony – and that was a great recommendation. Their TV show "Numb3rs" is very watchable. In fact, it's one of the few regular network shows I do watch these days. And Ridley Scott has directed and/or produced some of my all-time favorite films.

The cast sounded good: Benjamin Bratt, Eric McCormack and Daniel Dae Kim – well, what's not to love, right? And I've always liked Andre Braugher, ever since that show he used to be in, about cops in Baltimore ("Homicide"?). He has a certain Barack Obama-like arrogance and smugness which I can't stand in Obama, but find very attractive in Braugher for some reason. I even like Rick Schroeder, although I haven't really seen him in anything since "Lonesome Dove," back in the '80s.

So I had good feelings about the show. That is, before the first episode aired. After that, not so much. Well, it wasn't completely un-entertaining. It's just that it didn't really have much to do with the original novel. One of those instances where they take a perfectly good book and just use the title to riff on. I hate when they do that. Especially in this case because Crichton's original yarn was such a good one – it really didn't need a lot of techno twaddle and cgi frosting to make it appealing.

When they stuck to the original storyline, the show wasn't too bad. Unfortunately, that didn't happen very often. And all the additional "fleshing out" of the plot seemed like just that – filler. The show was definitely too long – the second night's segment was mostly just poor Eric McCormack wandering around in the desert, trying to figure out what he was doing there (he should've been forming plans to dump his agent).

I don't remember that thumb-hacking/throwing bit showing up in the original novel or film, either (am I wrong about that?).

And what's with all the decapitations? I know the special effects people have learned how to make it look appallingly realistic, so I guess they're determined to get at least one good head-lopping into every movie now. But one per show is enough, guys – especially after that guy cutting his own head off. We get the point. You're good. We really don't need to see you do it over again before every commercial break.

Oh, and I could have done without all those screaming Hitchcock birds, too.