DVD Review – Sherlock Holmes

I avoided Sherlock Holmes at the cinema.  Partly because there were films I wanted to see more that were showing at the same time, but mostly because it looked a bit too much like a Wild Wild West/Shanghai Knights style telling of a Holmes story and I’m really not a fan of either of those.  Presented with the opportunity to review the DVD however, I thought I’d give it a chance.

The movie has a strong footing to start from.  It’s directed by Guy Ritchie, stars an interesting pairing of Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law as Holmes and Watson, has the rather sinister-looking Mark Strong as the main villain, and drops the lovely Rachel McAdams in as Holmes’ female associate and master criminal.

Holmes starts on a high by incarcerating the infamous black magician, Lord Blackwood, keeping London safe once more.  He descends into a dull and unsatisfying existence with no cases to solve until it appears that Blackwood has risen from the grave to complete his true plan.  The hunt starts once more for Holmes and this time he has to contend with a loved-up Watson, whose fiancée he rubs up the wrong way, and his own former love, Irene Adler

Throw away any ideas that Sherlock is a tweed-wearing, pipe-smoking, upper-class, clue-pondering toff.  Instead consider that he is tweed-wearing, pipe-smoking, thrill-seeking, bare-knuckle boxing, incredibly observant genius, who appears to both love and hate the fact he knows everything.  The idea of which I detested at first thought but having seen Holmes in action I’ve certainly become a fan of his style.

The scenes in which the audience is treated to a moment of Holmes clarity, when his senses allow him to see exactly what he needs to do in a given situation is pure brilliance.  Holmes plans every one of his next moves knowing the consequences of each action before he acts and then treats us to a flurry of orchestrated movement resulting in exactly what he intended as an outcome.  They are fantastic scenes and credit to Guy Ritchie for using them as a way of depicting Holmes’ observation skills.

Robert Downey Jr is his usual, charismatic, very cool self and he injects his style into the Holmes character, giving the world famous detective an edge that he shouldn’t have in the traditional sense but he does and it works.  As much as I loved watching Downey Jr as Holmes, I had a real issue with the Holmes dialogue.  The speech was very fast and very English, too English, I just couldn’t understand a thing he said half the time.

It’s a unique view on the Sherlock Holmes stories and not at all like my original fears of another Wild Wild West.  It is full of olde English action and mystery, and gives us the starting point for what could well be a franchise.  It is one of those films that you can just play, sit back and enjoy.  There’s no need to over-exert your thinking muscles and equally you won’t get bored.  It has some fantastic visuals and in parts is actually pretty funny.  Sherlock Holmes gets 3 bowler hats out of 5.

Review – Iron Man 2

Where do I start with a review of the sequel to one of the best super hero movies ever?  In my opinion the origin story is generally always the better movie when compared to the sequels.  I put this down to time.  Time is afforded in huge amounts to very small details of an origin story, whereas the sequels always jump straight in from where we left our hero.  They quickly introduce the new characters and head straight to the action, skipping the minute details so that we can just get on with seeing how things pan out.  Is there any other way of doing it?  Do I factor this in when reviewing Iron Man 2?  Do I allow for the fact that it is accepted it will be inferior to Iron Man 1 and bump up the score accordingly? 

Fortunately for Iron Man 2, it doesn’t need me to apply any such handicap to my score.  The story picks up right where it left off.  Tony Stark has just announced to the world that he IS Iron Man and he has spent some time making public appearances and battling with the government over who should possess the suit.  In the meantime, a Russian physicist has designed a suit for himself that gives him hugely powerful whips as extensions to his arms, which as will be clearly demonstrated, can cut straight through a car.  With an informative yet fearsome title, “Whiplash” plans to topple Stark Industries by going straight for Tony Stark/Iron Man.

On top of that Tony Stark is having to deal with Justin Hammer, his closest but very distant rival in the weapons arena, a rather annoyed Nick Fury, a somewhat disappointed Pepper Potts, and a strikingly beautiful new assistant, Natalia Romanova, who could prove deadly.

Did I mention War Machine?

As would be expected from the sequel in any series, the level of action has been ramped up a notch, and as I mentioned above, less time is afforded to the little things.  There is no need to explain the workshop of Tony’s home, or his relationship with Pepper, or his cavalier attitude to most subjects, or even the Arc Reactors or his good friend James “Rhodey” Rhodes.  This leaves Jon Favreau plenty of time to show us some fantastic action sequences.  Whiplash at Monaco is a sight to behold as is a fight between Iron Man and a rather evenly matched opponent.  They certainly drew some rather impressed noises from me, like I was watching a fireworks display. 

In terms of the new characters, Mickey Rourke is just fantastic as Whiplash and whilst present quite frequently throughout the film, I could have done with a bit more destruction on his part.  Just a few more things cut in half with his whips would have satisfied me but other than that he plays the angry Russian muscle-bound physicist with an agenda very well.

Sam Rockwell is yet again perfectly cast as the charismatic, but knowingly inferior weapons manufacturer, Justin Hammer.  Hammer is tormented by the success of Stark and sees himself in Tony’s shadow but will never admit it and it will never stop him striving to eliminate the competition despite knowing it is unlikely he’d be able to do so.  Rockwell conveys this inner thought process brilliantly in every facial expression. 

As for Scarlett Johansson as Natalia Romanova AKA “Black Widow”, well she’s pretty much a non-entity.  I didn’t think much of her apart from her outfit towards the end of the movie.  Whilst she has an important part to play, I wasn’t very impressed by the character and overall I thought she was quite dull. Also, her fight scenes were possibly the clumsiest choreographed fights I have ever seen.  I don’t know whether Favreau did it deliberately or not but I didn’t like them or her.

Whilst not a new character, James “Rhodey” Rhodes has been recast and is now played by Don Cheadle, who actually makes a very smooth transition and I forgot it wasn’t Cheadle in Iron Man 1 to be honest.  My positive view of Cheadle is somewhat assisted I fear by the fact that he plays War Machine, who I feel was awesome but under-used.  Though technically this movie, whilst a sequel to Iron Man, is in fact the origin story of War Machine so the next movie should be packed full with a grey-coloured Iron Man covered in weaponry shooting the hell out of everything, and this time with more effective weaponry!

The movie doesn’t deviate from my expectations that it would be a bigger, more expensive version of Iron Man 1 with less time afforded to the little things, but that’s not a bad thing.  It means we get extra doses of destruction and mayhem and modifications to existing elements that we already know and love.  You like his armour?  How about if it took the shape of a briefcase?!  Also, how could any relationships develop if we had to reiterate their dynamics or how they started?

I loved Iron Man 2, not as much as number one, but it was still brilliant and once released will be joining my Blu-Ray collection.  It gets 4 Arc Reactors our of 5 from me.

I’m back, but an alien’s inner jaw is missing

Well after a prolonged break due to volcanic ash and a break to recover from that, I’m back! 

To welcome my return, here’s an appeal for information from the London Film Museum who have misplaced the inner haw of the Alien Queen!

The London Film Museum is sad to announce that someone has taken part of its Alien Queen!

The incident occurred last Wednesday when at the end of the day a member of staff noticed that the inner jaw was missing from the 30 foot piece.

The inner jaw is famous from the films as the part that pushes forward as the Alien creatures widen their jaws, usually in a scream. The production model housed in the museum belongs to the museums owner, Jonathan Sands and has been in his personal collection since 1990.

“The Alien Queen sits in the largest section of the museum surrounded and guarding her batch of eggs.” Jonathan said today. “It saddens me that someone felt the urge to lean over the barrier and take the inner jaw section, therefore making the piece incomplete. Whoever has taken the jaw is probably looking to sell it on so we are monitoring auction websites for any items that appear, and we are reviewing security footage of the museum and will hopefully be able to find the culprit soon.”

“We are not looking to press charges, only to reclaim the jaw and make the Queen complete again. The piece has little commercial value in isolation, but has huge sentimental value for us here at the museum. We would like the person who took the jaw to feel that they can return it to us without any consequences.”

If anyone has information as the whereabouts the of the Alien Queens inner jaw then they should contact the museum on 020 7202 7040 or email info@londonfilmmuseum.com.

Check out the image above and below to see what the Queen looks like without her inner jaw.

Latest Movie News (28/04/2010)

Finally, here I am with the latest news to offer for upcoming movies.

Straight in with news that some of you will have no doubt been waiting for:

Digital Spy reports that Bill Condon has been hired to direct The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn.  Condon previously directed The Dreamgirls.

Eclipse, the next episode in the series, is due to hit UK cinemas on 30th June.  Here is another chance to see the trailer which should tide you over ‘til then!

 

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Staying on the theme of Vampiric movies, Digital Spy also reports today that Platinum Studios is planning a cinematic adaptation of its vampire comic Blood Nation.  Emjag Productions' Alexandra Milchan says that "Blood Nation is a world war movie set in the future where the humans and the vampires have divided up the planet but not yet made peace with each other".

A director for the project is currently being sought.  Sounds like it could be promising.

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The CEO of DreamWorks Animation has said that there will be a sequel to their recent hit film, How to train your dragon.  Jeffrey Katzenberg gave the news when he released the firm’s official financial statement in the USA and puts responsibility for their recent success firmly in the hands paws of the dragon.  The sequel should be released sometime in 2013.  In the meantime, we have Shrek Forever After and Kung Fu Panda 2 to keep us going!

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The biggest news for this week is that finally Iron Man 2 has arrived.  Cinemas around the UK are running the preview screenings tomorrow night and the movie goes on general release on Friday 30th April!

That gives me an excuse to repost this picture:

And also to give you a chance to watch the fantastic trailer again, posted here by Hexed.

 

That’s all for today, more tomorrow!

Images: Movieweb

Site News

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick message to you all to let you know of some decreased activity over the next few weeks, which has already started as you may have noticed.  I’ve spent the last week or so preparing for a trip, which starts next week.  I’ll be without a computer or internet access for the next two weeks roughly so I won’t be able to make any updates myself, however the site is being left in the very capable hands of Curious Cat who will be providing some news updates while I am away.

It’s certainly been nice to see a lot more activity on the site since I was joined by Curious Cat.  Our readers have been slowly increasing, as have our Facebook friends, which is brilliant.

As soon as I’m back from my trip, things will revert to normal.

Thanks all

HeXeD (Nick)

Chihuanhas needs your help!

You might remember a while ago I posted about an awesome horror movie concept called Chihuanhuas.  You can find the original post here

In Chihuanhas, when a curio-collecting Professor returns from South America with a mysterious Piranha idol, it casts an ominous curse on his innocent Chihuahua “Lulu Bell”, and impregnates her with a litter of amphibious, mutant Chihuahua-Piranhas. Horrified, the Professor disposes of the idol and pups in a nearby mountain lake, but Lulu’s monstrous spawn soon return to repay the gesture...

Following the Professor’s demise, the ravenous critters seek out a pair of fatty-campers, their obsessive guide, a reclusive WWII veteran and a trio of vacationing porn stars. Led by the lake's ranger and her inept assistant, the eccentric team unites to survive and destroy the vicious rat-pack with available fire power, their bare hands and the most lethal of all processed cheese products!

Well, I and others have had an email from Jim Clark, the Director of the movie, and here is what he has to say:

Hi Nick,

Whether you know it or not, you guys have given a great boost to our film franchise "CHIHUANHAS", so thanks a ton! The film concept recently went viral and it's already been written-up in 25+ countries, on thousands of film fan sites, with over 130,000 google search results, so there's no doubt that we've found a worldwide audience. We explored the studio route, but decided to jump on a novel new way to finance the film with kickstarter.com. Now we want our fans to participate and help us get this film made!

If we reach our lofty target, we'll make film history and produce CHIHUANHAS with 100% audience financing, without the fat. The money we raise will employ more than 70 talented cast, crew and post production artists.

To the best of our knowledge, CHIHUANHAS would be KickStarter's highest funded project to date. This is a huge, important opportunity that will allow us to produce our first feature and distribute it directly to our audience, so we're going big!!!

Every dollar has to be committed before the money is released, and micro financing the project will require a lot of people, so your support is key to our success. It really takes a village!

To read our funding pitch and learn more about kickstarter, please visit the link below:

http://kck.st/9Uu7oR

Thank you in advance for getting the word out! Your support is greatly appreciated.

Jim Clark
Director
HIVE-FX

Fans have the chance to fund Chihuanhas and ensure that what could be the year’s best B-Movie appears on the big screen.  Take a look at the link Jim provides as it tells you exactly how you will be credited for your donation from $5 to $5,000.  They need a total of $750,000 and they have already raised a shade under $1,500, which has come from just 13 people.  There are 78 days to go to reach this total.

Now’s your chance to get your name in the credits and I’m sure Jim would be forever grateful if we can get his baby to the big screen.

Check out the widget at the bottom of the page if you want to check up on the progress or visit the site directly here.

Review – Kick-Ass

Kick-Ass, based on the comic book series by Mark Millar and directed by the brilliant Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake, Stardust), hit cinemas on Friday 26th March across the UK.

It tells the story of Dave Lizewski, an average uninteresting high school student, who is invisible to girls and spends his free time either with his friends in their local comic book store or at home pleasuring himself.

With no reasons other than “Why not?” and “Someone should do it”, Dave decides to become Kick-Ass, the world’s first superhero.  Armed with two batons and no powers, Dave soon becomes an internet sensation when his “heroic” acts are published online causing him to catch the attention of the real superheroes in his hometown and of course, the villains.

As a person that doesn’t read comic books or graphic novels, I was concerned that I might get a little lost with Kick-Ass, much like Watchmen, which left me wondering just what the hell I was watching.  Fortunately, you don’t need to have even heard of Kick-Ass before buying your ticket in order to love this film.  It is an absolute blast! A simple, brilliant story filled with colourful and bizarre characters that I couldn’t help but love.  What is there not to love about an 11 year old girl, with an affinity for butterfly knives, who can beat the crap out of a corridor full of armed men?  There’s no heat vision in this, no flight, no super strength, no shape-shifting, just raw unadulterated violence.

The great thing about Kick-Ass is that I had no idea what it was really about until I watched it.  Trailers are sometimes known to blindside you, and these ones really did.  I was expecting a movie about a have-a-go vigilante and his escapades and personal hurdles, but without ruining the movie for you, Kick-Ass himself is one very small part of a much greater story.  The movie literally switches from one story to a completely different one yet it works, and it works very well.

The humour of Kick-Ass is just fantastic.  A dry, British approach to the laughs stops the movie from getting anywhere near the realms of a superhero spoof and had me laughing out loud in the cinema.  There is one particular scene when one of Kick-Ass’ friends first sees Hit Girl that I am still laughing about now, it’s just brilliant.  It’s great to see Nicolas Cage doing something other than crap action movies, or ridiculous apocalypse films.  He takes to his role as Big Daddy very well and provides a lot of the laughs.  I’m hoping he sees where his skills lie and he becomes a bit more selective over his scripts.  As for Christopher Mintz-Plasse, he has really changed since Mclovin in Superbad.  Again, he is very very funny, but more notably he plays a role I certainly did not expect him to and I think it suits him.  I don’t want to say too much as It is much better to go and see the film without knowing the finer details, you’ll enjoy it so much more.  Sufficed to say, everyone in Kick-Ass is brilliant.

Matthew Vaughn, who should have another “a” in his name in my opinion, is a skilled story teller.  Having previously adapted a Neil Gaiman book to the big screen in the form of “Stardust”, Kick-Ass is yet another hit to add to his portfolio.  He clearly has a love of stories of intertwining journeys and incredible characters and it shines through in quality of this movie.  Whether intentional or not I don’t know but there are some huge moments of similarity between Kick-Ass and the inspirational styles of other movies.  It is very easy to compare parts of the movie to Spiderman, and surprisingly Kill Bill as well, which works in it’s favour, it really does.

Before the release, issues were raised about how appropriate it is to have an 11 year old girl using quite obscene language in Kick-Ass.  I wouldn’t worry about it.  Yes, Hit Girl swears and yes, it could be considered obscene, but it’s really nothing.  It isn’t all the time and it has more comedy value than shock.  I just loved the whole thing and everything about it.  I’m struggling to criticise any of it, perhaps it could be more funny that it already is?  This one gets 5 green wetsuits out of 5 from me!