So the holidays are over. It’s almost like they never even happened. I hate that feeling. But let’s carry on the Christmas spirit of love and harmony all year long, shall we? LOL. Just kidding. How about we all just get fat from the candy we got and break our resolutions and never work out again? Perfect! Anyway, I was going to see Avatar again with my friend Hollie, but the show we were going to see (and all subsequent shows for the night) were sold out, so we saw Sherlock Holmes instead.
Let me start off by saying that I’ve never seen any previous Sherlock Holmes movies or television shows (except for the Holodeck episodes from Star Trek: The Next Generation, of course) or read any of the books. So it’s not gonna be one of those “OMG! He’s not wearing the hat!” or “But the books never made reference to that particular hat anyway, so it’s all good!” kinda reviews. I’m just going in as a movie viewer.
So how was it? It was great! Pretty much everything about it was great. The story, the acting, the action, and the mystery were all handled really well. The mystery was pretty solid, and kept me guessing the entire time. It’s not one of those mysteries that you could have guessed during the movie, but when they explained everything at the end, you remember seeing the hints that they laid out throughout, so you feel like the writers knew precisely what they were doing, rather than pulling a lame explanation out of their ass at the end.
The acting was all fantastic as Robert Downey Jr can pretty much do nothing wrong, and Jude Law was excellent as well. Rachel McAdams seemed a bit off, as if she wasn’t being as good of an actress as she usually is, but then me and Hollie decided afterwards that since she was playing an American, her non-accent threw us off and made it seem like she wasn’t really trying compared to all the other actors who had typical British accents. We kinda love Rachel so that’s our story and we’re sticking to it.
The action was all pretty thrilling and fun. One part that I really liked about it was how they made Holmes’s genius come out during the fight scenes. He would pre-plan every strike during hand to hand combat for prime effect, and then when he would execute them, everything came out flawlessly. It was just a little touch that I loved immensely. The final action set piece was also really great. I love when movies save their biggest action set piece for last, rather than have amazing ones at the halfway point (the drill scene in Star Trek and the Optimus forest battle in the awful Revenge of the Fallen) which makes latter ones seem not as good. This had great action throughout, but with a build up to the finale.
So yeah, definitely go see this movie! Now I’m tempted to go back and read some of the books. Have you guys read any of them? Is there a prime Sherlock Holmes book that I should read? Let me know!
I can tell with you absolute certainty, having not seen anything but the clips of this film, that the original books are not even a teeny tiny bit remotely like this movie. They are rather cerebral, focus on details and contain pretty much zero physical action. Which doesn’t mean they aren’t good, but if you approach them based on what you liked about this movie, you are going to disappointed and get turned off, which would be a shame.
I’ve read most of the Sherlock Holmes stories. The Hounds of the Baskervilles is very good. I wanted to go and see this over the holiday and didn’t drag my butt out of the house. Grrrr. Maybe this weekend. Sigh. Glad to hear it lived up to the hype.
I was just looking for some of the other titles and I found this site which has some of the stories available for FREE. Enjoy
RDJr.!!! I’m swooooooing. Someone tell me if you see David coming.
I’m looking forward to seeing this. It’s interesting that you brought up Rachel McAdams. In the trailer it didn’t seem like she belonged in the time period. But maybe it was the accent.
josh – the water in the cup is rippling. Run!!
I absolutely loved this movie! The kids and I caught it on Christmas Day (much to Matt’s dismay, since he wanted to see it too [lol]) Everything you said is spot-on. Guy Ritchie is a freakin’ genius in my book anyway, so I went into it with high expectations and, yes, they were all met. The snappy dialogue, the action sequences, the characterizations — all classic Ritchie. I will say that Guy seemed to tone down his signature quirkiness, which was a tad disappointing, but it was still a great film.
Now Robert Downey, Jr. has *two* franchises to keep up with! Because there damn well better be more of him as Sherlock Holmes.
Looks like I’ll be taking Matt to see it, since I want to watch it again.
Awesome! I am glad the movie lives up to the hype, I am really looking forward to seeing it…. someday. Maybe I will catch it this weekend when we head to the “big city” [feat. WalMart]. Oh, and I agree with David; you will not like the stories if you are expecting anything like the movie. You *might* like the old Young Sherlock Holmes; it’s probably a bit dated now, but I remember really liking it when it came out.
Michelle M. [feat. Davidasaurus Rex]: LOL!
Craig: I liked how they showed all the clues before the end. My one complaint about Up was that you couldn’t see the little mailman on the porch in the lift off scenes.
David: Sherlock Holmes was described as a skilled pugilist in the books. It just didn’t come up that often because written descriptions of action sequences aren’t that interesting and are hard for readers to evaluate how realistic they are. These problems don’t apply to movies.
I hate to get all serious so early on a Monday, but, Holy fucking crap.
Dave: This is the only Guy Ritchie movie I’ve seen.
M Nico: Michelle M sent me Young Sherlock Holmes on DVD for Christmas! Can’t wait to watch it.
Ryan: That always bugged me about Up too!
M. Nico: {sigh} Yet again, the media demonizes Christians. The workings in Uganda are Christian Right, not the Christ right. The Christian Right are a politically charged minority in Christiandom, not the majority. I wish I didn’t always get lumped in with those unbiblical braintards.
Craig: You totally need to see Snatch! A clever, complicated, hilarious Guy Ritchie movie about a bunch of bumbling thieves. Very British. Very stylish. And a lot of fun.
I haven’t seen this yet nor Avatar. I need to get to the movies some time soon.
Josh: I think you are the only one who can definitively tell us if David is coming.
Dave S.: You aren’t lumped into that group at all. At least not by those of us who know you here.
John FTW. You are on today.
I haven’t seen Avatar either. I’m blaming it on non-stop snow. Who the hell wants to go out in that stuff.
Africa: I fear it will get worse before it gets better which is frightening.
I love Rachel McAdams! And ugh sick. RD Jr. is not even cute. Josh and I finally disagree on something!
And did y’all hear about how the sequel rights may be taken away from Ritchie cause of homesexshual undertones?!
“I hope this is just an example of Mr Downey’s black sense of humor.” = LOL
I can’t wait to see this movie. I’ve heard great things about it, and your review has reinforced my desire haha. I haven’t read any of the books so I can’t help you there. But am I glad you liked the movie.
I just need to see Avatar first!
My story has hit the papers.
john: What? I don’t get it.
I can see the need to use a pseudonym to avoid all the creepy stalker types horning in on Polt’s turf, but why short change the Puntabaschlong? 13.5 inches? Yeah, maybe when swimming in the arctic and putting all the polar bears to shame.
The movie was really great, and for those fans of the written fiction, it comes off very much like it was the Real Story, not the toned-down version in Watson’s published stories. Nothing came off as particularly off-canon or opposed to the original tone of Doyle’s work. Not that he would care — he loved other people using the characters.
Craig I highly recommend the Jeremy Brett series of Sherlock Holmes tv series / tv movies on DVD — they are on the whole very faithful to the books/short stories: they do frequently combine more than one short story into one tv episode, which actually improves upon the originals. But as far as I’m concerned, Jeremy Brett *is* Sherlock Holmes — he’s just the definitive performance. (Just as David Souchet *is* Poiroit.)
Since I’m a Size Queen (no, Josh, not about dick size *rolls eyes*), I can’t help but recommend the entire collected works — these annotated versions are wonderful:
The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Short Stories (2 Vol. Set) (Hardcover)
and
The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Novels (A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of Four, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Valley of Fear) (Hardcover)
If you don’t want to go whole hog, I would recommend starting with some short stories, the Blue Carbuncle is fun and is holiday-related (and Christmas DOES last until the 6th); frankly the Hound of the Baskervilles is a bit weighty to read, especially to start with. The Dancing Men is probably my favourite story.
M. Nicodemus on the 13.5 inches. Hilarious
Just because John mis-spelled the word.
Josh on the “John: What? I don’t get it.” Yeah, right
Dave S: I prefer Andrew Sullivan‘s term “Christianist” for the so-called “Christian” right.
I also second Dave S:’s suggestion of Snatch, although I tend not to like very violent films, even when I can admit that they are well-made. I thought Fargo was phenomenal but I don’t think I could bring myself to see it again; I don’t think I’ll *ever* see Reservoir Dogs. I *know* I will never see No Country for Old Men or There Will Be Blood.
I did see Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrells *and* Snatch, with no small amount of trepidation, and both were extremely funny and clever.
Plus Snatch is the one movie where I am 100% in agreement with the Brad Pitt fans. He is not only hilarious in that movie, but he’s smokin’ hot. In jeans. (Josh, I’m allowed to ogle shirtless men — doesn’t mean I don’t agree they’re more than bodies.) Frankly, Brad usually just doesn’t do it for me. But in that movie he sizzles.
I don’t know what’s more hilarious: Michelle’s original “water in the cup is rippling” joke or M. Nicodemus’ “Michelle M. [feat. Davidasaurus Rex]: LOL!” I keep looking for an opportunity to try my hand at the ubiquitous Joshrico [feat.] joke, but I fear I would botch it and things would go horribly, horribly wrong
(Oh, Craig — you’re a dork!)
Justin: There are two wayz to instigate a mega nuclear Joshrico sass attack: 1. Attempt & fail @ a [feat.] sentence, or 2. Roll your eyez @ me.
You’ve already done one and could very well commit the second @ any time…WATCH URSELF! ::eyez glow neon orange wiff sassy glimmer::
John: I like to surprise him.
R-U-D-E
Oh dear. Are there documented instances of mega nuclear Joshrico sass attacks? And if so, were there any survivors, and were they horribly maimed?
(When did I roll my eyes at you? My memory is poor at my old peepaw age…)
BTW have people been following the lovefest of comments Craig has been getting on his GWIP page? He’s one popular adorkable. One guy has been … particularly *ahem* vivid in his affections… It has actually made me almost afraid to imagine what would happen if Craig *did* upload a shirtless GWIP pic (avec glasses, of course!).
Josh: Sorry, had to get pervy, it is the new year after all.
David: I hope you at least let him close his eyes.
Craig: 13.5? I’m sorry, but that is just unreasonable. It needs a thigh holster.
john: Huh?! Oh…you meant “cumming.” I know this is hypocritical COMING from me, but SPELL BETTER!
Justin: Oh, my… I just read Craig’s GWIP page; Nick seems to be edging in on Polt’s (stalking) territory
Shit, I have to get over to GWIP.
13.5 is mutant. Keep that thing away from me. Admire from a distance only.
Wow, you are popular over there. I would have left a comment but it likely would have thrown the other posters into a tizzy to have someone without a Y chromosome post. Besides, you know I love ya anyway.
Josh: Cumming/Coming, beer/bear or in this case otter. Whatever, you knew what I meant. Don’t make me eyeroll you featuring a failed feat. sentence.
*pulls up chair for ringside seat to joshrico nuclear sass attack*
I love the way the comment threads in this blog turn so entertainingly dramatic in less time than it takes Craig to decongest …
I read those comments from Nick the other night. There better not be any more, cause there’s only room for ONE stalker in Craiggers bushes under his window in the back yard, and if I find Nick there, well, I WILL cut a bitch.
HUGS…
I loved the movie, despite the fact that I was going as part of the marital compromise (meaning we always see what my husband wants to see and doesn’t have to accompany me to the second “Sex and the City”) Anyway, I LOVE RD Jr., especially when he is sober. I loved the banter between Robert (we are BFF) and Jude Law….it was so natural. I also liked how the explanation at the end made sense to a plain, old gal like myself.