WE, THE GUARDIANS OF THE GENRE, DO VOW TO ABSTAIN FROM ALL THAT IS MUNDANE AND REVEL IN AND GLORIFY ALL OF THE MANY WONDERS THAT COME WITH THE
ACCEPTANCE OF THE GREAT AND GOOD GENRES!
SCIENCE FICTION! FANTASY! HORROR!
I’ll admit it. I’m a sucker for BIG BUDGET sci-fi and
fantasy movies! Every year the huge Hollywood studios pump out several $100 –
$200 million dollar special effects opuses for fanboys to drool over in anticipation
every year. The first of these mega-buck epics for 2012 is John Carter!
John Carter is Walt Disney Pictures’ attempt at another tent-pole
film for a new franchise on the order of their Pirates of the Caribbean films.
After failing with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010), which cost an
estimated $200 million to make and only grossed a little over $90 million in
the United States, they are rolling the big budget dice with John Carter. The
budget for John Cater is being estimated at $250 million and if the trailer is
any indication, most of that was spent on the vast special effects to create the
fantastic setting for the fantasy-version of the planet Mars.
John Carter the film is based on the novel "A Princess of
Mars" by Edgar Rice Burroughs, published under the title "In the Moons of Mars"
and serialized in All-Story Magazine in 1912. In the novel, John
Carter is a former Confederate soldier, who, while prospecting for gold in the Arizona
desert of the 1870’s is somehow transported to the planet Mars. It looks as
though the film John Carter has kept the time and character intact; which is
the only possible way that the fantasy setting of Mars could work.
The director of the film is Andrew Stanton, who was the
director and writer of the Pixar animated films A Bug’s Life, Finding Nemo and
WALL-E. This is his first live action feature, but his experience with the all
CGI animated features should serve him well for the effects laden John Carter.
Another former Pixar director, Brad Bird (The Incredibles and Ratatouille) has
had great success with his first live action feature Mission Impossible: Ghost
Protocol, so there is hope that Andrew Stanton might have similar luck with
John Carter.
Portraying John Carter is 30 year old Taylor Kitsch, who is
best known for his role as high school football star Tim Riggins on NBC's
acclaimed television series "Friday Night Lights”, but will also be
featured in another big budget film in 2012 Battleship. Playing the Princess
Dejah Thoris is relative unknown Lynn Collins. Voicing (and motion capturing?)
Tars Tarkas is veteran actor William Dafoe.
The special effects are headed by Steve Benelisha, who has
worked recently on Captain America: The First Avenger and X-Men: First Class.
I think Disney is taking a real chance on John Carter,
because the source material is not nearly contemporary or classic enough to be recognizable
to a large enough audience to sell it on name recognition alone. Also, by
releasing it in March, instead of the summer months when most blockbusters are
released, they are almost already admitting defeat. Perhaps they are hoping to
score at least the meagerly profitable numbers that Clash of the Titans made,
which was released in April of 2010.
Whatever the reasons for such an early release, I most
certainly will be headed to my local cinema on the weekend of March 9th
to see the visual splendor of John Carter! Enjoy the latest trailer!
"Overall, Underworld: Awakening achieves what it set out to do, which is build on the story and world of the previous Underworld movies, while still creating an exciting and visually stimulating supernatural spectacle!"
Action, Horror and Fantasy
Starring – Kate Bekinsale/Selene, Steven Rea/Doctor Jacob
Lane, Michael Ealy/Detective Sebastian, Theo James/David, India Eisley/Eve,
Charles Dance, Kris Holden-Ried/Quint
Directors – Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein
Writers – Len Wiseman, John Hlavin,
J. Michael Straczynski and Allison Burnett
Rated R – for strong violence, gore and language
1 hr., 28 min.
Thanks to a New England snowstorm last weekend, I had to
wait a week before seeing Underworld: Awakening. For reasons I can’t fathom, my
local theater did not have the film showing on any of its ten screens, so I was
forced to trek to a slightly more distant cinema to see it. Worst of all, this
theater has no stadium seating and they were only showing Underworld: Awakening
in 3-D! I don’t hate 3-D, but of the four films I have now seen in 3-D, I can
honestly say that the process added little to nothing to any of these films.
Fortunately, despite all these seemingly opposing events, I still enjoyed
Underworld: Awakening immensely – with one caveat, which I’ll get to at the end
of this review.
Underworld: Awakening is a sequel to Underworld: Evolution
(2006) and takes place twelve years after “The Purge”. A prologue to the movie
tells us that six months after Selene gained the powers of the Vampire-Corvinus
strain and she and her lover Michael Corvin killed the remaining elder
vampires, the human race discovered the existence of Vampires and Lycans, which
began a worldwide purge of their species. Selene and Michael are captured by a medical
corporation Antigen and frozen in a cryogenic state for study.
Twelve years later, Selene escapes the medical facility, but
soon after begins having visions, which lead her to a vampire David, the son of
Thomas, a Vampire Elder who leads one of the few remaining vampire covens that
remain hidden from humans. David helps Selene rescue a young girl from Antigen,
who Selene sees in another vision. Selene and David fight a group of Lycans,
who are also after the girl, but she is injured in the fight. The girl, who is
another hybrid, is not healing, so David takes her and Selene back to his coven
to be looked at by a vampire physician.
Thomas blames Selene for the human’s discovery and
extermination of vampires, so he is anxious for her to leave his coven, but
David wants Selene to train his coven to defend themselves against both the
humans and the increasingly violent Lycan race. Dr. Jacob Lane, the director of
Antigen, was using the hybrid girl to develop an "antidote" to make Lycans
immune to the deadly effects of silver and enhance their physical abilities. The
girl, dubbed by Lane “Subject 2”, needs the hybrid genetic code to achieve
this, so Lane sends a super-Lycan Quint with other Lycans to the vampire coven
to recapture her. A battle ensues and many of the vampires and werewolves are
killed, but Quint dispatches and nearly kills David before leaving with the
hybrid girl. Selene heals David with her “immortal” blood and they depart to
confront Lanne, Quint and the minions of Antigen.
To start, Underworld: Awakening is even more reliant on
action and violence to carry its plot than any of the other three films. I
assume that the filmmakers knew that anyone going to see a forth film in a
series is going to be familiar enough with the Underworld mythology to not need
lengthy bits of narrative to understand the whos, whats and wheres of the
story. Even after having just watched the previous three films a few months
ago, I was still a bit dazed by how briskly the plot points of Underworld:
Awakening are gone over. I was able to keep up with the basic reasons for why
Selene was motivated to rescue “Subject 2”, but I would have liked a bit more
space between the action sequences to add some depth to the motivations of
Selene and the other characters in the film.
Still, the action sequences are the main draw of the
Underworld films and Underworld: Awakening does not disappoint in this regard.
The opening sequence of Selene’s escape from the high-rise medical center is
amazing. Selene demonstrates her uber-vamp powers on numerous occasions, where
she seems almost to defy the laws of gravity. The Lycans in this film are very
impressive, but the super-Lycan Quint – who is easily nine feet tall – is an
amazing creature to behold. If I have any complaints about the special effects
at all is that at times they are moving so quickly that you have little time to
admire their detailed effectiveness.
Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein, who previously directed the
supernatural thriller Shelter (2010), do a fine job recreating the
dark-monochromatic look and feel of the previous Underworld movies. Len
Wiseman, who previously directed the first two movies – Underworld and
Underworld: Evolution – as well as having a hand in the story for all three
Underworld films, wrote the initial screenplay for Underworld: Awakening. The
three other writers, most notably J. Michael Straczynski of Babylon 5 fame,
stepped in for rewrites, but there is so little narrative that is carried by
dialogue, that I have to wonder what, if any contributions he or the others
made to the script.
Kate Beckinsale steps back into the role of Selene after six
years effortlessly. Her cool, hard, but still quiet deadly passion fills the
screen for most the film’s short 88 minute run time. I do miss her interaction
with her Lycan lover Michael – who only makes a brief appearance at the
beginning of the film – and the leading male role of the vampire David played
by Theo James is little more than male eye-candy. Veteran actor Charles Dance
as the Vampire Elder Thomas adds a nice bit of gravitas to the film and Stephen
Rea as Dr. Jacob Lane is quietly sinister as the head of the medical
corporation Antigen. If Kris Holden-Ried, who plays the super-Lycan Quint, looks
familiar, it is because he plays a similar supernatural creature on the TV
Series Lost Girl. Holden-Ried’s facial features and physicality certainly add weight
to his role as the ferocious uber-Lycan, but I wonder if he is in danger of
being typecast in a way similar to that of actor Ron Perlman.
Overall, Underworld: Awakening achieves what it set out to
do, which is build on the story and world of the previous Underworld movies,
while still creating an exciting and visually stimulating supernatural
spectacle! The one caveat with the film that I hinted at at the outset of this
review, is that the film has a tenuous conclusion that leaves me wondering if
the writers had planned on a longer movie, but didn’t have the budget to film
it. Underworld: Awakening is in definite need of a sequel to finish the many
plot-threads that were left dangling at the end of the movie. While I’m glad
that the film should be financially successful enough to warrant a sequel and
I’m sure I’ll be attending it as well, it might have been nice if Underworld:
Awakening could have had a stronger finish that would not necessarily required
one.
Underworld: Awakening is a wild ride and a worthy addition
to one of my favorite supernatural fantasy series! See it now or later, but
don’t miss it.
“Fright Night strikes just the right balance between horror and comedy, which I
think even fans of the original film will appreciate.”
Horror
and Comedy
Starring
– Anton Yelchin/Charley Brewster, Colin Farrell/Jerry Danridge, Toni
Collette/Jane Brewster, David Tennant/Peter Vincent, Imogen Poots/Amy and
Christopher Mintz-Plasse/”Evil” Ed Thompson
Director
– Craig Gillespie Writer- Marti Noxon
Rated
R – for bloody horror violence and language
1
hr, 46 min.
There
have been a slew of genre movie remakes in the past ten years and more often
than not, the original is superior to the remake. The few exceptions that
spring to mind are: Death Race (2008), the Paul W. S. Anderson remake of the
1975 Death Race 2000 and Dawn of the Dead (2004) directed by Zach Snyder which
is a remake of the 1978 Romero classic of the same name. Now another film can
be added to this rare list of respectful remakes: Fright Night (2011).
While
I enjoyed the 1985 film at the time, more recent rewatchings have not been as
much fun; although I must admit I still like Roddy McDowall’s portrayal of
Peter Vincent as a horror host. Because I’m not an uber-fan of the original, it
probably allowed me to be more open to enjoying the remake.
The
2011 Fright Night follows the same basic plot of the original, with a few minor
character, plot and mythology changes. One of the major changes from the
original film is that Charley’s friend Ed is the one who discovers that
Charley’s neighbor is a vampire and not Charley himself. The other slightly
less important change is that Peter Vincent in the remake is a Los Vegas
magician and not a TV horror host as in the original. I didn’t think either of
these changes affected the overall tone of the film, which is still like the
original a blend of horror and comedy.
Charley
Brewster is a reformed nerd, who now has a girlfriend and has begun hanging out
with the cool kids in High School. Charley’s former nerdy friend “Evil” Ed Lee
tells Charley that their old friend has gone missing and they check in on the
his house only to find it abandoned. Ed tries to convince Charley that his
next-door neighbor Jerry is a vampire and that he is the one responsible for
the recent rash of disappearing students. Charley is convinced only that Ed is
delusional and is just desperately trying to get his attention.
Ed
continues his surveillance of Jerry, until Jerry catches Ed and seemingly kills
him. Charley now notices Ed missing and eventually begins to believe that Ed
may have been right about Jerry being a vampire. Charley sneaks into Jerry’s
house, where he finds that Jerry is storing victims in rooms hidden upstairs to
feed on. After narrowly escaping Jerry’s house, Charley goes to Ed’s house to
look for Ed’s research on vampires. It is there that Charley sees Peter
Vincent’s web site on Ed’s computer, which claims that Vincent is an expert
vampire hunter. Charley goes to Vegas and attempts to gain the aid of the
flamboyant magician, but Vincent pretends not to believe Charley’s story and
sends him on his way.
Charley
attempts to barricade his home from Jerry the vampire, but Jerry attacks
Charley, his girlfriend Amy and his mother Jane in his home, which they flee
from in their mother’s car. Jerry chases after them and they survive, but Jane
is injured in the fight. Charley once again pleads with Vincent for help and
this time Vincent joins Charley to hunt down the vampire and stake him.
There
is a lot to like about Fright Night. The direction by Craig Gillespie, who
previously directed Lars and the Real Girl (2007) and Mr. Woodcock (2007),
shows off a real talent for comedic pacing those other films did not. There are
some scenes that stretch out to create tension and then speed up for the
inevitable violent confrontation, which are then punctuated by well-timed
humor. Some of this clever plotting and humor should be attributed to
screenplay writer Marti Noxon, who wrote dozens of scripts for the similarly
themed Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV program.
Anton
Yelchin, who plays the teenage Charley and is best known to genre fans for
playing Chekov in the 2009 Star Trek film, does a fine job playing a former
nerd and growing teen, trying to fit into his new social situation. Colin
Farrell plays the part of the vampire Jerry with a quite cool air in his human
form. But as a vampire, his vicious and malicious ferocity is truly
frightening. I also liked Toni Collette as Charley’s understanding Mother Jane
and Imogen Poots as Charley’s sweet and strong girlfriend Amy. The standout performance
for genre fans is David Tennant, who is best known for playing the Doctor on
Doctor Who for three-plus seasons. Tennant as Peter Vincent the Goth Vegas
magician is fantastic; playing both the drama-queen stage magician and the
slightly cowardly vampire hunter!
Fright Night strikes just the right balance between horror and comedy, which I
think even fans of the original film will apreaciate. While this version of
Fright Night is definitely more adult in its language and levels of violence
than its predecessor, I never felt that any of it was gratuitous or
unnecessary. If you’d like a break from the dark and dismal horror films of
late, you should give Fright Night a try.
"The action in Attack the Block is almost non-stop, yet the characters and the story are still well defined."
Science Fiction, Horror and Comedy
Starring – John Boyega/Moses, Jodie Whittaker/Sam, Alex Esmail/Pest, Franz Drameh/Dennis, Leeon Jones/Jerome, Simon Howard/Biggz, Jumayn Hunter/Hi-Hatz, Micheal Ajao/Mayhem, Sammy Williams/Probs, Nick Frost/Ron
Director/Writer – Joe Cornish
R – for creature violence, drug content and pervasive language.
1 hr., 28 min.
Director and writer Joe Cornish tells one one of his young actors in the blu-ray extras "Rap the Block" that he was inspired to make Attack the Block by the kids fighting off the aliens on their farm in M. Night Shyamalan's Signs (2002). He wanted to transplant that story into the inner city block of Heygate Estate of Southwark London that he grew up in, because he thought that the kids of the block would present a much more difficult problem to invading aliens. The aliens in Attack the Block never had a chance!
The story begins with a young woman heading home at night from work when she is surrounded by a gang of teenagers from the block, who threaten her with a knife and and demand her valuables. The mugging is interrupted by a ball of fire that falls from the sky, smashing into a near-by car. The kids investigate and find an alien creature, which the leader Moses kills defending himself. They take the corpse of the alien back to their block, thinking that it may be worth something. They store the body in the weed room of their friend Nick's top-floor block apartment and return outside to do battle with more of the invading aliens that are raining down on their block.
What separates Attack the Block from the more recent alien invasion movies is that the main characters are all young kids. More importantly, these young teenagers are street toughs who must overcome their own inner block conflicts in order to defend their turf. You grow to like, or at least understand each one of these kids; particularly the quiet leader Moses.
The action in Attack the Block is almost non-stop, yet the characters and the story are still well defined. While the aliens are basically black furry men-in-suits, they are complimented with glowing teeth, which is all that you can see of them in the dark. For fans of pre-CGI monsters, the aliens of Attack the Block are a blast!
Give Attack the Block a rent and see if you like its unique take on the alien invasion genre. I know I look forward to returning to Attack the Block again.
Underworld: Awakening is being released this Friday on January 20, 2012 and I will be the first in line! Okay. Maybe the first in line for the Saturday afternoon show, but still... FIRST IN LINE! Enjoy the latest trailer!
Let me start out by saying that I was a fan of the original
Spy Kids trilogy: Spy Kids (2001), Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams (2002) and
Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003). While the first film was clearly the freshest
and most original, the two sequels still were entertaining.
Now, ten years after the first Spy Kids hit the theaters,
Robert Rodriguez has written and directed a new beginning to his Spy Kids
franchise. Having been forewarned about the abundance of – for lack of a better
word – potty humor in this latest Spy Kid flick, I passed (gas?) on seeing this
one at the theater and watched from the relative safety of my own home theater.
Marissa Cortez Wilson (Jessica Alba), a retired spy with a
year-old baby, has managed to fool her husband Wilbur Wilson (Joel McHale) into
believing she is an interior decorator and stay at home mom. Marissa is doing
her best to win the affection of her twin step kids, but Rebecca (Rowan
Blanchard) and Cecil (Mason Cook) are still not accepting her as a replacement
for their real mom. Just as TV producer and star Wilbur’s new reality spy-hunting
show is taking off, a real villainous spy known only as The Timekeeper (Jeremy
Piven) is threatening to end the world by terminating time itself. Marissa is
called back into the spy biz to hunt down The Timekeeper. Marissa’s kids are attacked
by the Timekeeper’s henchmen, so she leaves her kids at OSS headquarters for
safekeeping. There, Rebecca and Cecil meet former Spy Kid division head Carmen
Cortez (Alexa Vega). With a little help from her brother Juni Cortez (Daryl
Sabara), the kids join in the fight against the Timekeeper and bring back The
Spy Kids!
This silly and childish plot is very appropriate, as it is
aimed at children after all. Like the three other Spy Kids films, once the
action commences, the kids are at the forefront of the story, pushing the
adults to the side. Robert Rodriguez really takes full advantage of the freedom
he’s allowed to do almost anything with the CGI technology and some of the
chase scenes are genuinely exciting. The kids are both naturally energetic, if
not great actors, but they play off each other particularly well. I did enjoy
the robot dog Argonaut (voiced in a silly English accent by Ricky Gervais), although
there was almost too much of him by film’s end.
My only real complaint with the film is the constant use of flatulence
humor throughout the movie! Every time Spy Baby is on screen, she lets out vast
gaseous clouds, which I’m assuming had the children in the theaters rolling in
the aisles, but just left this former kid feeling… old. There is also one particularly
nasty use of throw-up during a chase scene that made me feel a bit queasy. Mr.
Rodriguez has kids of his own, so I’ll assume he knew that the children
watching this film would love the “potty humor”, but I certainly could have
done without it. Thank goodness I didn't see this in the theater in 4-D! I can only imagine how 3-D and "aroma-scope" would have added to these scenes!
If you have children, I’d recommend watching with them. I’m usually
able to enjoy kid flicks, but as a middle-aged adult, I must honestly say that I
was only mildly entertained.
Child of Fire is an Urban Fantasy novel that has been “on my
radar” for some time now.“Excellent
reading…delicious tension and suspense”, Jim Butcher author of the Dresden
Files Novels is prominently featured on the cover, and even though this is my
current favorite author and series, I still did not purchase Child of Fire.
What was my hesitation to read Child of Fire? The main protagonist Ray Lilly was
clearly a former criminal and from my minimal research, did not seem like a
particularly likeable character. I’m not a fan of the anti-hero; and yet Child
of Fire still intrigued me.
Finally, after more than two years from its original
publication date, I bought and read Child of Fire by Harry Connolly. I was
right that Ray Lilly, Child of Fire’s main character was not your standard “hero”,
but it turns out that he is fairly likeable.
The novel starts with Ray driving his “boss” Annalise
Powliss on a mission to find the cause of children missing from the small town
of Hammer Bay, Washington. Ray is a “wooden man” assigned to Annalise , who is
an agent of the Twenty Palace Society – a group of sorcerers that hunt down and
kill other users of magic. Ray, a former car thief, is released from prison by
the Twenty Palace Society for the sole purpose of acting as a sort of body
guard and servant to Annalise.When they
arrive at Hammer Bay, no one in town remembers the missing children and it
quickly becomes apparent that magic is the key to their disappearance.
The tone of Child of Fire is very “noir”, but the action and
mystery elements keep the story from bogging down and becoming too morbid –
despite the many deaths of both the innocent and guilty. The magic in Child of
Fire is very different from most other Urban Fantasy novels, in that it involves
the use of written spells, as opposed to the usual verbal ones. Not much time
is spent on either explaining the magical rules or the origins of the Twenty
Palace Society that Ray and Annalise work for. This causes a bit more work for
the reader than I’m used to, but it works for Child of Fire in that it forces
you to focus on the plot at hand and work out the magical rules for yourself.
The sequel to Child of Fire, Game of Cages was published
last year, and I’ve already bought this – with plans to read it in the coming months.
If I like that as much – and hopefully more – than the first novel, then I will
more than likely buy and read the third novel, Circle of Enemies – published in
August of 2011 – as well.
TECHNICAL: Plot – 9 Characters
- 8 Style - 9 World building – 9 Big Finish - 9
On the right column of this page, you will see at the top of
the column a new poll that I’ve posted. This first poll includes the titles and
release dates of all of the SF, Fantasy or Horror films that are being
distributed to movie theaters between the months of January and February of
2012. I’d like anyone who reads GUARDIANS OF THE GENRE! to place a vote for any
of these films that you plan on seeing at the theater.
Beside the fact that I’m genuinely interested in finding out
which of these films you are planning on seeing, if enough people are showing
interest in a specific film, it may be enough to inspire me to see films that I
might not have been interested in seeing already. Unlike last year, I will be
reviewing every film I see at the theater, whether I loved it or hated it, so
this is your opportunity to influence my decision making process.
In the current poll, the only film I currently plan on
seeing is Underworld: Awakening. I’ve seen the other three films at the theater
and own all three Underworld films on DVD/Blu-ray, so seeing this latest for me
is a no-brainer.
VOTE EARLY AND OFTEN! OKAY, JUST VOTE ONCE, BUT PLEASE DO VOTE.
I’m not a fan of the post-apocalyptic sub-genre of science
fiction. Even when they are combined with action (e.g.: Mad Max or Book of Eli)
I usually find them too downbeat and depressing. When they are done as straight
drama (e.g.: On the Beach or The Road) I find them so depressing as to be
unwatchable.
The latest post-apocalyptic film being released is The
Divide. If the plot description provided by Anchor Bay is any indication, there
is a definite horror slant to the story, which seems to concentrate on the psychological
terror of being trapped and dying in a post-nuclear world. Here is the official
description:
In this graphic and violent, post-apocalyptic thriller, nine
strangers-all tenants of a New York high rise apartment-escape a nuclear attack
by hiding out in the building's bunker-like basement. Trapped for days
underground with no hope for rescue, and only unspeakable horrors awaiting them
on the other side of the bunker door, the group begins to descend into madness,
each turning on one another with physical and psycho-sexual torment. As
supplies dwindle, and tensions flare, and they grow increasingly unhinged by
their close quarters and hopelessness, each act against one another becomes
more depraved than the next. While everyone in the bunker allows themselves to
be overcome by desperation and lose their humanity, one survivor holds onto a
thin chance for escape even with no promise of salvation on the outside.
This is only the third feature film by director Xavier Gens,
who previously gave us the crime-drama Frontier(s) and the action-crime film
The Hitman, which were both released in 2007. These films were visually
stunning, but because of their subject matter, not really of interest to me.
The Divide has one major attraction going for it for genre fans and that is Michael
Biehn, who plays Mickey the paranoid superintendent of the apartment building
that the group of survivors is hiding in. Biehn has been featured in several
genre films; most notably The Terminator, Aliens and The Abyss. So for his presence
alone, The Divide may be worth at least a rental.
The Divide is being released to theaters January 13, 2012. Check out the trailer and see if The Divide is a film worth
a trip to the theater for you.
"If you are like me and were a fan of Sherlock Holmes, then I recommend that you see Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows before it leaves the theaters!"
Mystery, Suspense, Action, Adventure and Fantasy
Starring - Robert Downey Jr./Sherlock Holmes, Jude Law/Dr. John Watson, Noomi Rapace/Madam Simza Heron, Rachel McAdams/Irene Adler, Jared Harris/Professor James Moriarty, Stephen Fry/Mycroft Holmes & Kelly Reilly/Mrs. Mary Watson
Director - Guy Ritchie
Writers - Michele Mulroney & Kieran Mulroney
PG-13 - for intense sequences of violence and action, and
some drug material.
2hr., 8 min.
When I went to see Guy Ritchie’s first Sherlock Holmes
film in 2009, I was as skeptical as any fan of the original Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle stories, as to whether Ritchie’s “modern” approach to Holmes and his
Victorian era London would work. However, when I left the theater, I was a
convert and was as reenergized in my love for the iconic detective as much as I
was upon my first viewing of Jeremy Brett’s first portrayal of Holmes in the
1984 British Granada Television’s adaptation of "A Scandal in
Bohemia".
Two years later, Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes: A Game of
Shadows has upped the ante of the first film, by pitting Holmes against his
greatest foe, Professor James Moriarty! Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is
about two things: The end of Holmes and Watson’s partnership and the beginning
of Holmes and Moriarty’s moral antithesis and commensurate rivalry.
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is based in part on
"The Final Problem". That
story introduced Professor James Moriarty and also ended in Switzerland and the Reichenbach
Falls. However, the film defers from the plot of the short story in many ways;
adding many a complex plot thread that only adds to the fun and sophistication
of the final problem.
Watson’s honeymoon to his new bride is interrupted by
dozens of assassins, but a disguised Holmes is there to help save Mrs. Watson
and dispatch the villains. Holmes informs Watson that Moriarty is threatening him
and his wife, because Holmes has refused to cease his investigations into the plot
of Moriarty to instigate war between France and Germany, by assassinating a key
figure of the upcoming European Peace Conference. Holmes and Watson join forces
one last time and head to France where Holmes believes the brother of a gypsy
woman, Madam Simza Heron, has been coerced into Moriarty’s plot.
Guy Ritchie has taken a complex plot and integrated it
with enough big action sequences and broad humor to keep the film steamrolling
at an unrelenting pace! Yet, when the final scene occurs, it is Holmes’s trust
in Watson and Holmes ability to outwit Moriarty that makes the finish of Game
of Shadows so satisfying. If you were not a fan of the first film, than nothing
I can say will convince you that Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is worth
your time. However, if you are like me and were a fan of Sherlock Holmes, then
I recommend that you see Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows before it leaves
the theaters.
My rating for Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is 93
out of 100.
How I arrived at this grade is through a simple formula
of criteria that I consider to be the basis of what is needed to evaluate a
film. Every category is graded on a 5 to 10 scale, with 10 obviously being the
highest and 5 the lowest. At some point in the future, I may go into detail on
my system, but for now just know that the highest score I could give a film
would be a 100 and the lowest being a 50.
Many people go out on New Year’s Eve, to go dancing,
drinking and generally make public spectacles of themselves. While in my youth,
I may have indulged in such frivolities, I now spend New Year’s Eve at home
with family and friends. Nearly every year since 1985, our local UHF TV channel
38 has run a Three Stooges Marathon. I have decorated my home in a Three
Stooges motif and watched the classic shorts with family and friends, while
enjoying good food, drink and company. This year was no exception! Not only
were we able to watch channel 38’s “Best Stooges Episodes” marathon, but we also
watched many of the Stooges shorts on IFC as well. Whatever your New Year’s Eve
traditions are, I hope you all celebrated it with your closest family and
friends!
This will be my third year posting on GUARDIANS OF THE
GENRE! and I think the new year is a good time to start fresh with some new
ideas. While I have spent most of my time for the past two years on this blog
reviewing movies, TV programs, books and comics in my three favorite genres, I
have also shared some of my other guilty pleasures as well; such as horror
hosts, podcasts and filking. I have also continued to post videos of mine and
other genre guardians’ Television appearances and related hosting gigs, which I’ve
dug out of my personal video tape archives. While I plan on continuing to post
entries on all these things, I will be trying to expand on the amount and
variety of material that I’m interested in.
Because I have full-time employment that takes up the
majority of my time during the weekdays, I usually only have time for short
posts during that time and save my more detailed posts for weekends or holidays
and vacations. I’d like to increase my output, but because my other genre
guardians are not nearly as prolific as myself (yes, I’m referring you to
Phileas, Maniac and even you Bones) I’ve decided to use a grading system on all
my reviews from now on and not go into too much detail on them, other than to
give my opinion of them. I also will be breaking with my standard of not
reviewing anything that I didn’t like or enjoy. While I still prefer to write
and read positive reviews of things, I do think constructively written critical
reviews serve a purpose as well. So starting in 2012 I will be writing about
the good, the mediocre and the bad in my three favorite genres. I hope that by
doing this, I will be able to share with you even more of the things that I
love about Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror.
I’m looking forward to a new and wicked cool year of
GUARDIANS OF THE GENRE! and I hope you are too!
