Sherlock Holmes, and just a tiny bit of DW
As I mentioned last night, I went to see Sherlock Holmes. Overall opinion: Better than I expected. I expected a Big, Stupid Action Movie with a character named Sherlock Holmes. Instead, I got Sherlock Holmes Meets Big, Stupid Action Movie. Much more Holmes-esque than I thought there would be.
There are, as with most good movies, a couple of subplots (one vaguely romantic, one entirely so) to go with the main plot. I have to say, the first time I saw Mary, Watson's love interest (and that alone made me go, oh yeah, here we go with the WRONGness. Watson and Holmes never had love interests!), I thought she was kind of a boring Victorian miss. I also thought she might have overreacted with throwing her wine in Holmes's face, but afterwards, I reconsidered; he did, after all, say in so many words that she was a gold-digger who was only after Watson's money. (I was initially annoyed with the whole "Holmes trying to undermine Watson's relationship because he's jealous" subplot, but I do have to admit, the fortune-teller was a stroke of genius. That was funny--particularly how she just kept going after Watson saw right through her.)
[ETA: I'm wrong about the love interests; scornedsaint pointed out to me that Watson *was* married in the books. Mea culpa.]
Irene, I wasn't sure about. I'm still not. I don't quite buy that someone that young could have got into that much international trouble, especially in the Victorian Age, when it took weeks to travel anywhere. I don't quite buy that she and Holmes had this mad romantic thing going, either. She was certainly intelligent, but the Hollywood thing of "all romantic leads must be young and perfect" ruined it for me. Beautiful, yes; that young, no, I'm sorry, I didn't buy it.
(Though I adored Mary knowing the doctor was really Holmes!)
The plot itself was brilliant. How could this guy "come back from the dead"? Because he never was dead, of course! And the way he managed it was amazing. All of the "magic" stuff was explained (except the woman in the crypt who was about to stab herself, at the beginning), and explained with utter logic. And Moriarty! Of *course* they've set this up for sequels, and now we have Moriarty in the mix! I'm intrigued. He didn't have much of a part in this movie, but I suspect he'll have more at another time.
In all, I thought it was worth $10 to see it in the theater. YMMV, but don't go expecting either "real" Sherlock Holmes, or something completely mindless. This falls right in the middle, imho, and I thought it was very entertaining.
Re: Doctor Who--pretty much everyone who wanted to has had a chance to watch it by now, I imagine. I do have to say, having read your reaction posts, I'm not sure if I have any desire to watch it at all. :P I was never a fan of the Master, even when it was John Simm, and frankly, evil!Time Lords and Timothy Dalton as Rassilon and the "Master Race" and WILF being the one to knock four times after all that buildup....? Seems a bit cheesetastic to me. All this from other folks' reactions, of course; ymmv.
Back to work tomorrow. Yuck.
There are, as with most good movies, a couple of subplots (one vaguely romantic, one entirely so) to go with the main plot. I have to say, the first time I saw Mary, Watson's love interest (and that alone made me go, oh yeah, here we go with the WRONGness. Watson and Holmes never had love interests!), I thought she was kind of a boring Victorian miss. I also thought she might have overreacted with throwing her wine in Holmes's face, but afterwards, I reconsidered; he did, after all, say in so many words that she was a gold-digger who was only after Watson's money. (I was initially annoyed with the whole "Holmes trying to undermine Watson's relationship because he's jealous" subplot, but I do have to admit, the fortune-teller was a stroke of genius. That was funny--particularly how she just kept going after Watson saw right through her.)
[ETA: I'm wrong about the love interests; scornedsaint pointed out to me that Watson *was* married in the books. Mea culpa.]
Irene, I wasn't sure about. I'm still not. I don't quite buy that someone that young could have got into that much international trouble, especially in the Victorian Age, when it took weeks to travel anywhere. I don't quite buy that she and Holmes had this mad romantic thing going, either. She was certainly intelligent, but the Hollywood thing of "all romantic leads must be young and perfect" ruined it for me. Beautiful, yes; that young, no, I'm sorry, I didn't buy it.
(Though I adored Mary knowing the doctor was really Holmes!)
The plot itself was brilliant. How could this guy "come back from the dead"? Because he never was dead, of course! And the way he managed it was amazing. All of the "magic" stuff was explained (except the woman in the crypt who was about to stab herself, at the beginning), and explained with utter logic. And Moriarty! Of *course* they've set this up for sequels, and now we have Moriarty in the mix! I'm intrigued. He didn't have much of a part in this movie, but I suspect he'll have more at another time.
In all, I thought it was worth $10 to see it in the theater. YMMV, but don't go expecting either "real" Sherlock Holmes, or something completely mindless. This falls right in the middle, imho, and I thought it was very entertaining.
Re: Doctor Who--pretty much everyone who wanted to has had a chance to watch it by now, I imagine. I do have to say, having read your reaction posts, I'm not sure if I have any desire to watch it at all. :P I was never a fan of the Master, even when it was John Simm, and frankly, evil!Time Lords and Timothy Dalton as Rassilon and the "Master Race" and WILF being the one to knock four times after all that buildup....? Seems a bit cheesetastic to me. All this from other folks' reactions, of course; ymmv.
Back to work tomorrow. Yuck.