Sherlock Holmes

First Hit: Although the film was filled with action, it lacked any deductive mystery which is what Holmes was all about – solving mysteries by logical deduction.

I don’t mind good action films, however this film is about Sherlock Holmes one of the best investigated story lines of our time.

Therefore the action in this film seemed to be in search of a mystery or story and none was found. Generally, I would say this film lacked a good script, story line, and intention. There was nothing really compelling about this version of Sherlock Holmes.

Granted Robert Downey Jr. was a great casting choice for this role but how the incompetent Guy Ritchie (director) showed Holmes’ deductive powers was nothing less than a cop out.

In essence, Richie showed Holmes’ deductive abilities by showing the audience an upcoming scene in slow motion with an occasional voice over by Downey indicating what he was thinking, and then you watched the scenes in normal speed.

This might work for MTV music videos but does nothing but point to the audience and say “I can’t create mystery and deductive scenes, so I’ll show you the results, and then show them to you again in case you missed it the first time”.

The other way he tried to show Holmes’ power of deductive reasoning is that he would revisit scenes while Holmes explained what he saw and figured out when he first visited the scene.

Other issues with the film were the numerous times I saw an obvious matte background on which the scene was shot.

One bright spot in the film was Jude Law’s very adequate version of Dr. Watson, Holmes counterpart and partner in their crime solving business.

Ritchie needs to quit trying to direct full length big time films. My basis for this statement is to watch an Eastwood film then watch a Richie film – no contest. One knows what they are doing and has clear intention and the other throws a lot on the screen in some semblance of order and hopes the audience thinks it’s good. Downey, on the other hand, puts all his energy into making the character work. This is something he does all the time and here he is totally involved and it shows. Law is good as a counterpoint to Holmes and their interactions are strikingly good.

Overall: I was bored and simply waited (hoped) for something interesting to come along and it rarely did.

Armored

First Hit: This story is almost unwatchable and you know the end before 10 minutes has gone by.

Matt Dillon plays Mike the self appointed ring leader of a group of armored truck security guards. Some of the crew are Jean Reno playing "Quinn" and Laurence Fishburne playing "Baines".

Mike is the godfather to Ty (played by Columbus Short) who has just joined the crew. He has a younger brother named Jimmy (played by Andre Kinney) and they are struggling.

Ty is a Iraq Vet who is viewed as a hero but he doesn't see it that way, their parents have recently died, and the house they are living in is about to be taken back by the bank. Mike primes Ty with stories about a successful armored truck robbery and then springs on him that he and the crew are about to rob one of their trucks. Ty reluctantly goes along with the promise from Mike, “no one gets hurt”.

Well we know what happens and Ty has to make a choice.

Dillion isn’t old enough looking in the film to be Ty’s godfather. Reno and Fishburne play heavys which they can easily do and appear to be doing this film for the paychecks. The plot is well worn and the ending telegraphed.

Overall: Definitely don’t spend money to watch this film as there is really nothing to watch.

2012

First Hit: Visual effects are the real story here which provide an interesting view of what might happen during a cataclysmic world event.

There are lots of things that get mixed up and are inaccurate in this film, like cell phones still working in India and the US when half the world is underwater, but for the most part the film is a fun ride of close calls.

John Cusack plays Jackson Curtis a writer, father and divorced limo driver who inadvertently comes across the US Government testing for the problems in the Earth’s core and crust while camping with his kids in Yosemite National Park.

While in Yosemite, he runs across a roving and raging independent radio broadcast reporter named Charlie Frost (played wonderfully by Woody Harrelson) who begins to convince him that there is a huge problem with the Earth and that the government is hiding it from everyone.

Another of the film’s stories is of a Geologist Adrian Helmsley (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor) who is working with a scientist in India who discovered that the core is heating up so fast that the world will end in a short period of time.

Helmsley speaks with the President who speaks with the other leaders of the world and they decide to create “Arks” to save a part of the human race along with its animals. Of course they don’t tell the populous, but offer up openings on the Arks to those who have the most money.

Meanwhile Jackson figures out that Frost’s ravings are correct that decides to save his children, divorced wife and her current husband. This begins the effects part of the film where there are more buildings falling, waves crashing, and cracks opening up in the Earth than one can ever imagine.

From this point on, the film is a roller coaster ride and it is fun to watch.

Roland Emmerich does a good job of giving us all sorts of fun effects; although some of them not very realistic, like driving through a falling building or flying between the minimal spaces between two buildings falling into each other. However, if one lets go of the accuracies and probabilities, then it is a fun rollick of a movie. Cusack mugs his way through being distraught and brave. I loved the kids Noah and Lily (played by Liam James and Morgan Lily respectively) doing their part to create a glue between the divorced parents in this traumatic situation. Ejiofor was solid as the Geologist as was Danny Glover as the President and Thandie Newton as the President’s daughter.

Overall: Not a great film for dialogue or content but fun to watch for the visual effects.

Surrogates

First Hit: There is a hint of an interesting story in this film/script and it didn’t make it on to the screen.

If you want to see Bruce Willis as he might have looked 25 years ago with a really dated hair style see the beginning of this film. If you want to see Bruce as he actually looks today (before the beatings he takes to add scratches and blood stains to his face) watch the last 2/3 of the film.

The premise of this film is that with surrogates we all can live our fantasy life by sitting in a specially designed chair with a headset allowing us to control and experience what our mechanical surrogate is experiencing for us.

Our surrogates can look like anything we want and they can do anything we want them to do and aren't willing to do with our real bodies. There is a fail safe system which keeps the controllers from dying if the surrogate gets waxed while doing something dangerous. However, something happens to the son of the inventor of the surrogates after his surrogate is found electronically fried up and the son, himself, is found with liquefied brains. 

The FBI is called in and Willis, as Tom Greer, gets the call. Then more people die the same way and the intensity goes up a notch. The counter to this surrogate culture is a group of humans who believe that having surrogates is harmful to the human race and therefore the government has given them their own economic zones (much like the American Indians).

Tom Greer begins to see their point of view after his surrogate is destroyed and he is forced to live without a surrogate because the FBI suspects him of something wrong. He discovers that there is a plan to use this new weapon which liquifies the brains of the human controllers against the entire human race of surrogate users.

But in a twist of fate, Greer figures out how to do a mass killing of the surrogates but not their human controllers. Yea! Bruce saves the world again.

In both his surrogate form and human form, Willis is the big bad brave savior of the world he always is. If one thinks about the premise there are some interesting ideas that can come out of it. But this film isn’t really one of them. What would happen if we really lived only through surrogates? Would the world look like it does today but our interaction with each other be different? Would anyone get married? Would anyone create meaningful relationships? Would there be government control of how surrogates were made and how they acted? What would life really be like through surrogates? Would anyone not want to have a surrogate?

Overall: Conceptually there are some intriguing ideas available in this film, but they aren’t explored or engaged. This is a DVD rental on some lazy Sunday evening where walking away without hitting the pause button wouldn’t hurt.

Inglourious Basterds

First Hit: Well filmed, acted and directed and despite the graphic violence it was very entertaining.

Pulp Fiction was good, and Inglorious Basterds is better, a lot better because it's cohesive and flows very well.

Brad Pitt stars in this untrue story about WWII where, in one night, the Allies win the war. Pitt plays Lt. Aldo Raine a hillbilly kind of guy that has one thing on his mind, killing Nazis.

Raine is part Indian which sets up the reason his team scalps the Germans he kills. He puts together a group of Jewish soldiers and their goal is simply to kill as many Nazis as they can and they do this with gusto.

Killing with this fervor and style, endows this group with the name of Inglourious Basterds (and we're never in control of what others call us, are we).

Although Pitt is the marquee star in this film he is not the central story. The central story is about Shosanna Dreyfus (played by Melanie Laurent) a Jewish woman who, as a young girl, escaped the clutches of Nazi Col. Hans Landa (played by Christoph Waltz) chief Jew hunter and executioner in France.

This is a story about her having the opportunity to plot a revenge on the Nazi commanders. The story is played out in chapters which are titled and provide an easy context to the next set of scenes in the story.

Often, obvious chapter headings such as these can detract from a film, but here, just like the three languages spoken with subtitles, all of this adds to the feeling of the movie.

As the film plays out it becomes apparent that stereotypes are played to the hilt which add depth to the characters because most of the actors mine these stereotypes finding their origination in a truth of sorts. Watch Waltz as Landa to see the best example of this.

Lastly the scenes are beautifully decorated and highlighted in a meticulous fashion which, along with the music, kept this film smoking through its 2 hours and 32 minute running time.

Pitt’s performance was good and entertaining but didn’t match the level and depth of others such as Waltz. Waltz’s performance was incredible. He pushed the SS stereo type all the way and added enormous depth and intelligence. The very first scene sets him up as a major player in this film. Laurent was very effective as a woman with a false identity and never forgetting about what was done to her family. Her revenge is wonderfully orchestrated. Quentin Tarantino’s direction was extraordinary as he orchestrated his own script by pulling powerful performances out of the entire cast. One of the things I noted was how some scenes were left to expand and evolve while others were quick and to the point - beautiful.

Overall: The best Tarantino film yet and if you can get through the graphic violence, I say go see it.