Sherlock Holmes (2009)

Now, Sherlock Holmes was a sweet movie. Guy Ritchie's film has a great cast, a solid story and an utterly fantastic setting I seriously cannot emphasize that enough. If I could travel back in time and slightly to the left to live in this grungily-elegant London, I would probably vacation there at least. To say nothing else, this is a polished and attractive movie. Don't worry though, I've got a lot more to say. Look down a bit. See? There it is!

Turning Holmes and Watson comic book action heroes is a move that mirrors the badassening of Star Trek and Batman, but it is also a return to badassery for a pair of classic badasses that have long been ninny-fied by stuffy slope-nosed men in tweed suits. True, Holmes taking on a fight with three men, armed only with a electric cattle prod is a bit over the top. After all, Arthur Conan Doyle's original version of the detective, was only an expert of singlestick, pistolry and "baritsu." And yes, Holmes' film love interest Irene Adler only shows up in one of the original stories. The liberties taken only take the movie into the realm of action-greats like Raiders of the Lost Ark (while actually staying closer to reality in some respects).

Cost/benefit analysis: I think I paid matinee for this one, but I would totally see it again and pay full price. If you want to be entertained, see this movie. Just don't think that they're not setting up a sequel. That would be immensely silly of you.

Avatar

Avatar is interesting because of all of hype surrounding it and the ten years it spent in development hell while James Cameron waited for technology to catch up with his vision. It's hard to talk about this movie without getting into crazy 3D technology or the motion capture technology that turned a Sigorney Weaver into a crazy blue alien, so I'm not going to.

In some ways the movie feels like a demonstration of Cameron's mo-cap and 3D technology. There are rumors that the movie's original script was more complicated with heavier Sci Fi concepts that were scaled back to turn it into a more accessible action flick. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, it seems like they over-did it. The story is almost exactly the same as Pocahontas or Dances with Wolves with black and white morality that makes all blue people good and all white people outside of the hero group bad. Other than that, it's a slick action flick some some exciting moments and cool stuff to ooh and ahh at; exactly what one expects from the director of The Terminator.

The supposedly ground-breaking 3D didn't really do much for me other than put an ache in my bad eye, but I'll admit that I saw it on a standard-size screen and sat to the far left of the screen. From my experience there wasn't much that the 3D made better, but the computer animation and motion capture was impressive. There were times when I forgot that I was watching computer creatures all together, something that I never got over with Gollum.

Cost/Benefit analysis: I was lucky to have a coupon that brought my movie ticket down to 3 bucks from 13. The 3 dollar "3D handling fee" the theaters throw on is stupid. Now that I've seen a 3D movie, I never want to pay it again. That said, if I could go back in time and see the movie again for the first time, I would go all out and pay 15 at a true Imax theater. I wonder how much my experience would have been different, but I'll never know.

An Education (2009)

I think that a movie's quality is like a bridge supported by three pillars: cast, direction and script. When one of the pillars is weaker than the others, the bridge stands if they others are strong enough. When all of the pillars are weak, the bridge is washed away and no one misses it.

An Education is very nearly washed away; the plot is unsurprising and direction is unnoticeable. However, the cast is so strong that it turns An Education into a bridge that is so strong that you can jump up and down on it and yell to your friends, "HEY! THIS IS AN AWESOME BRIDGE, COME AND SEE IT FOR YOURSELVES!"

While old standbys like Alfred Molina and Emma Thompson are excellent in their roles as an upwardly ambitious father and an uptight schoolmaster, the movie belongs to Peter Sarsgaard and especially Carey Mulligan. As a bright young student, groomed for success at Oxford, she feels incredibly authentic in a way that characters in coming-of-age stories rarely do. As the English gentleman that seduces Mulligan and her family, Peter Sarsgaard turns the charm up so high that the audience, like the characters in play, can ignore the fact that hey, he's a total creep.

Cost/Benefit Analysis: I payed a full $10 for this one and regret nothing. It is definitely worth a rent at least.