Sherlock Holmes: AWESOME

[Dan]

Dan back on Ignore User: because you're rude and because you cuntribute NOTHING absolutely nothing, never ever.

Cry Me A Fucking River,GAR.

[Seshmeister]

I've always thought Downey was a cut above other actors and I think was described perfectly as "the thinking man's actions hero" in a recent MSN review of the film.

I don't think so.

"Actions hero"?

[Nickdfresh]

Cry Me A Fucking River,GAR.

Just in case GAR misses this.

[Nickdfresh]

I don't think so.

"Actions hero"?

Hey, he's fucking busy! He's a multitasker...

[jhale667]

Take out "Dan" and substitute yourself...

Dan back on Ignore User: because you're rude and because you cuntribute NOTHING absolutely nothing, never ever.

Ironically, you just described your entire post history.

[ZahZoo]

So Who Pays For The Tickets,You Or Your BoyFriend?

Neither... he craftily snuck in through a side door in the Google movie review link...

[chefcraig]

The whole biz looks like too much CGI (and, from the commercials, pretty bad-looking CGI) to induce me...plus the over-the-top tv commercial blitz has turned me off...
Pass.

Funny you should say that. When the ads for Holmes first started showing up a while back, I drew a parallel to The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I absolutely loved Alan Moore's comics, and immediately thought "Now how badly is this going to get fouled up?" Seeing the ads for this film brought a sense of deja vu. Definitely looks like a renter or barring that, a viewing on TNT next summer or fall.

[Golden AWe]

I'm really looking forward to this film. I did enjoy the british Jeremy Brett-starring "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" the most, so far. Some action, lots of good drama and thinking, plus dark humour.

Robert Downey Jr.? My favorite appearance from him was on TROPIC THUNDER, that ended up to be a surprisingly smashing comedy thanks to his role as a stereotype black hero on a action film.

[Terry]

Funny you should say that. When the ads for Holmes first started showing up a while back, I drew a parallel to The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I absolutely loved Alan Moore's comics, and immediately thought "Now how badly is this going to get fouled up?" Seeing the ads for this film brought a sense of deja vu. Definitely looks like a renter or barring that, a viewing on TNT next summer or fall.

Agree 100%.

[Seshmeister]

I'm really looking forward to this film. I did enjoy the british Jeremy Brett-starring "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" the most, so far. Some action, lots of good drama and thinking, plus dark humour.

Yeah the Brett ones are flawless and brilliant.

There hasn't been any need to do more Holmes since these were made in the 1990s. Since there is no way to do the original stories better I think they are going for novelty stuff in this film instead.

[chefcraig]

I'm really looking forward to this film. I did enjoy the british Jeremy Brett-starring "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" the most, so far. Some action, lots of good drama and thinking, plus dark humour.

Yeah the Brett ones are flawless and brilliant.

There hasn't been any need to do more Holmes since these were made in the 1990s. Since there is no way to do the original stories better I think they are going for novelty stuff in this film instead.

Early in the 1980's, I purchased two collections of the Conan Doyle series, one in a hardbound, two volume set called The Annotated Sherlock Holmes, the second as a set of paperbacks. Having devoured this material, when a few years later PBS initially broadcasting the Brett series here in the United States, I dutifully taped each episode on VHS. I wholeheartedly agree that this was the best interpretation ever of the Holmes series. As of the past 18 months, the series has been rerun here locally on Thursday and Sunday evenings.

I am in compliance with the idea that a radically new version of the stories was the only way to go, yet am also dismayed that this may have included modernizing the characters into glib action heroes. "Sherlock Holmes, the macho, bare-knuckled brawler"? Surely a direction other than Clint Eastwood's Every Which Way But Loose could have worked. What's next, an orangutan?

The thing is, certain liberties have been taken with the character, removing some flaws while instilling new ones. For some of us purists in the crowd, it would seem that exploring the original (and untapped) conflicts of the character would have been the way to go, without need of introducing new ones.

[jhale667]

Oh, shit.

"Sherlock Holmes, the macho, bare-knuckled brawler"? Surely a direction other than Clint Eastwood's Every Which Way But Loose could have worked. What's next, an orangutan?

"I say, Clyde ol' chap - right turn, if you please...."'

[Seshmeister]

"Sherlock Holmes, the macho, bare-knuckled brawler"? Surely a direction other than Clint Eastwood's Every Which Way But Loose could have worked. What's next, an orangutan?

With Guy Ritchie directing that's very likely.

To be fair its been getting decent reviews and Downey usually lifts stuff a bit.

I never really pictured Holmes as a 5 foot tall American with a 6 pack though...

[Guitar Shark]

I am in compliance with the idea that a radically new version of the stories was the only way to go, yet am also dismayed that this may have included modernizing the characters into glib action heroes. "Sherlock Holmes, the macho, bare-knuckled brawler"? Surely a direction other than Clint Eastwood's Every Which Way But Loose could have worked. What's next, an orangutan?

Craig, you have a way with words, my man.

[Hardrock69]

I agree.

I grew up watching the Basil Rathbone versions. Strangely enough, the fact those were in black and white and made in the 30s-40s, when they were only 50 years removed from the period depicted (1880s or so), made them seem more "authentic" to me.

That said, one thing I love about the state of the picture industry today is that the film makers are no longer limited by technology. ANYTHING at all that can be imagined can be done via CGI.

The one thing I really like about that is that one can recreate authentic looking cityscapes and backgrounds depicting historical eras and locations that previously could not so easily be done. Certainly when a cast of thousands is required. Now, instead of having to hire 4,000 extras, you can hire 40 and make them look like 4,000.

A good example of the cityscape notion is the Peter Jackson remake of King Kong.
It was meant to be a tribute to the original by setting it partly in 1930 Manhattan.
So you see what New York City looked like in 1930 in full color....in a truly realistic fashion.

So I am looking forward to seeing this latest version of Sherlock Holmes not so much for any sort of "action movie" crap.....but more to see how they have depicted 19th-century London. And I am also of the opinion that Robert Downey Jr. is a superior actor, on the same level as Johnny Depp. He is of a high enough caliber he can pick and choose the roles he plays and does not appear to be the sort of cash-grab actor Nick Cage is. I mean christ, Nick Cage seems to appear in any kind of film these days where they throw a pile of money at him. I dug National Treasure, but the second one was not as good, and God help them if they do a third one.

Sorta like the Indiana Jones stuff. What in the hell can you do to top a story where you are dealing with a box that supposedly contains God?

Or in National Treasure, it is the search for the greatest treasure of all time....so what the fuck can they do to top that in sequels? Nothing.

I will go to see Sherlock Holmes later this week.