Xmas Movies, Things to do, more Imperatives (!), Part One

Alright, with no term papers and finals to worry about, grades in, presents bought and opened, families reunited, and the true Meaning-O'-Christmas realized, I can finally get back to writing. Liberation never tasted so sweet. Lots of stuff to discuss (more on that later - part of my blog is considering secession).

Here are the movies I've seen in the last seven days or so, in no particular order:

Sherlock Holmes. This movie exactly (almost eerily) lived up to my expectations. You (and by you, I pretentiously mean "I") came in looking for Robert Downey Jr. to make some clever deductions, verbally spar with Watson, and smack a few bad guys upside the head. The film delivers with class, and even throws in a couple brilliant exchanges between Holmes and Watson worth the price of admission on their own ("You're aware that what you're drinking is used for eye surgery?"). RDJ is perfectly cast - throw this man a Golden Globe - and while Russell Crowe might have lent Watson's role a bit more star power, Jude Law gives a suitably sharp performance.

Poor Rachel McAdams has been taking a fair amount of criticism for her performance as Irene Adler. IMHO, most of it is a bit unfounded - with such limited source material (remember, Adler was only featured in "A Scandal in Bohemia"), most of her character is left for definition, and the American femme fatale seems like the ideal niche. The only complaint I've taken seriously is that she seems a bit out of place in Victorian England - but it's steampunk, already intentionally anachronistic for effect, so I'll cut her some due slack and recognize the immense difficulty of sticking to a handful of character traits (while also avoiding getting overshadowed by RDJ and Law).

My one major complaint is that the film series (and I say series because Moriarty's absence is screamed at us in the final frame, no spoiler) has blown its load a bit early in terms of scale. An underground secret society (again, no spoiler here) is an integral part of the first film, leaving little room for expansion. Where does Ritchie go from here, the Cthulu mythos?

If you came in looking for Hound of the Baskervilles or A Study in Scarlet, you were disappointed, and I'm not terribly sorry for you. Take your snuff-box, pince-nez, and pocketwatch and go back to the 20th century!

(Yes, folks, we're a decade in by now, we can say that stuff).

Rating: Three and a Half Seven-Per-Cent-Solutions out of four.

Something, Something, Something Dark Side: As far as his profession goes, I trust Seth McFarlane to the ends of the earth (not unlike my trust in Bill Belichick or Quentin Tarantino). If something (something, something) is up in the air, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt - he's earned it. So when Fox decided to fork over Sunday evening, I wasn't opposed (and the Cleveland Show turned out to be less shitty than predicted, so hey, credit's due).

But his ventures into Robot Chicken/Mel Brooks territory have been...well, I can't call them failures, but when everything you do is genre-defining, mortal adequacy rings a bit hollow. There's no doubt SSSDS suffers from occasional delusions of grandeur, though (poking fun at Seth Green near the end of the show only makes the unfavorable comparison more painfully stark).

That said...I enjoyed it tremendously. McFarlane goes to absurd lengths to connect with fellow supergeeks (and those with photographic memories), shot-by-shot renderings exactly matching with the parodied film. It almost hinders his work when you start wondering about his priorities. Spaceballs gets credit for its irreverance, Robot Chicken for its transgressiveness (also Admiral Ackbar Cereal); SSSDS lacks both and worships its subject a bit much, but makes up for it with mixes of Family Guy-tinged character humor. Plus, Star Wars deserves some occasional fucking reverence to remind this generation that a world before Jar Jar Binks existed...and it was beautiful.

Rating: Three Giggitywatts out of four.

In Bruges. Not quite a recent film, so I'll cut down on this one. Colin Farrel gives an astoundingly-not-horrible effort as a troubled Irish hitman. Brandon Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes tear it up as, respectively, his partner and boss. Top-notch dialogue, intriguing twist (don't want to give this one away, it's worth a watch), and a central cast turning in some of their best performances ever. The script nearly took Best Original Screenplay away from Milk.

Rating: Three and a half "YOU'RE an inanimate fucking object!"s out of four.

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Coming up on Fifteen Charisma...
-Recent book purchases
-D&D R&D with B&B

--kd