Sherlock Holmes (2009)

Tags

Action, Drama, Eddie Marsan, Jude Law, Kelly Reilly, Mark Strong, Movie, Rachel McAdams, Robert Downey Jr., Sherlock Holmes, Suspense

wait...where are your hats!? why am I always the only one to remember to wear a hat!?

PG-13

Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong, Eddie Marsan, Kelly Reilly

Watson: You do realize what you’re drinking is for eye surgery…?

Sherlock Holmes (Downey Jr.) attempts to catch a murderous man with seemingly magical powers.

A quick summary would be – entertaining at times, but ultimately somewhat confusing, flat, and overlong.

Robert Downey Jr. is pretty much always going to be good for some entertainment value, and that’s certainly the case here.  This is not a stuffy, methodical Sherlock Holmes that Downey is playing.  He’s an expert at hand to hand combat, using smaller, but damaging, hits to disorient his opponent before striking a finishing blow.  I like that aspect of the movie.  Carrying his calculating mind over to all sorts of areas makes sense.

Jude Law is alright as Watson, but that character seemed fairly one dimensional to me.  Actually, everybody in the movie, besides Holmes, seemed a little one dimensional.  Holmes’ former love, and nemesis, Irene (McAdams), could have been a very interesting character, but she seemed underwritten as well.  I’m a Rachel McAdams fan, but she just doesn’t have much to do for most of the movie.

There are some nice sets and fairly well staged action sequences, but none of it ever really connected with me for some reason.  Doesn’t seem like it was as fun as it should have been.  It definitely has its moments, but overall it seemed like a confusing collection of scenes that has already started to fade from my memory.

A good, solid slap to the ear can disorient your opponent long enough for you to land a more damaging punch to the neck or face.

10 – 2 because it just seemed sort of jumbled and overlong – 1.5 for most of the characters being too one dimensional = 6.5

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The Lucky Ones (2008)

Tags

Comedy, Drama, Michael Pena, Movie, Rachel McAdams, The Lucky Ones, Tim Robbins

must've taken a wrong turn at Tikrit...

R

Tim Robbins, Rachel McAdams, Michael Pena

Cheaver: Hey, here it is, Sgt. Fred Cheaver, 648th reserves.  Hello, it’s right there!
Army guy: That’s how you spell it?
Cheaver: …with a C-H?  How else would you spell Cheaver??
Army guy: Probably lots of ways.
Cheaver: Not in English…

Three soldiers returning home (2 on 30 days leave and 1 for good) rent a car together and drive cross country after they discover their flights have been canceled.

This is a reasonably good, but overlong, little movie, featuring some good performances from the 3 leads but too many convoluted plot developments.  There’s even a rather unconvincing tornado that shows up to help steer the plot at one point.

I think what I liked most about the stories of these 3 people is that they rarely go exactly where you’d expect them to.  A little ways in, I thought I had things figured out, but then it starts throwing a few curve balls at the viewer.  I’m not talking about major shocking developments or anything like that, just little complications that take the story in another direction.

Robbins and Pena are both good, but I guess I’m just a sucker for Rachel McAdams.  Her southern accent might be a little forced at times, but it doesn’t distract too much from her charming performance.

Happily, the movie doesn’t get bogged down in a lot of political discussion and instead focuses on some comedic situations, the complications that can arise when someone is away for so long and the difficulties they might have being assimilated back into the general public.  In one scene, Colee (McAdams) is looked at with derision, and made fun of, by a group of pop culture junkies in a bar when she reveals she’s never seen the latest America’s Got Talent type show.  She, Cheaver (Robbins), and T.K. (Pena) see those kinds of extremes, but also experience extremes in kindness, as various people they meet extend a hand to help soldiers in any way they can.

It’s not a movie that’s going for any type of big, powerful message (like a certain Oscar winner), but it does seem to want to shine a light on the smaller, often unconsidered difficulties soldiers face upon returning home.  It’s overlong and a little over-plotted, but it’s an easy watch.  Plus, there’s only one explosion in the entire movie!

Don’t make fun of soldiers, even if they are cute little Rachel McAdamses, because they will knock you out.

10 – 2 for being overlong and over-plotted – .9 for a couple scenes that seemed phony and just there to make a point = 7.1

The Time Traveler’s Wife (2009)

Tags

Arliss Howard, Drama, Eric Bana, Hailey McCann, Movie, Rachel McAdams, Romance, Ron Livingston, Science Fiction, The Time Traveler's Wife

I can't believe they named the movie after her...I'm the one doing all the time traveling here...

PG-13

Eric Bana, Rachel McAdams, Ron Livingston, Arliss Howard, Hailey McCann

Clare: Seems that you go back to the same places a lot.
Henry: It’s like gravity…big events pull you in.
Clare: I was a big event.
Henry: So it would seem.

Henry (Bana) is born with a strange genetic condition that causes him to jump around in time without any control over where or when he goes.  Clare is the girl who he has been visiting since she was little.

This is a weepy, sappy, saccharine sort of movie, but I must admit that I kind of liked it.  Both McAdams and Bana (though he’s a little dull) are likable actors playing likable characters.  They have a charming little romance going on, and it was good to see that it didn’t just disintegrate into a bunch of anger and arguing.  There’s some of that, but just a realistic amount, not the over-dramatic movie amount that we would usually get.

The problem with the movie is that every moment has too much emotion and importance placed on it.  There’s almost constant music playing with the intention of creating heavy drama.  When every scene is played like this, it starts to just feel all washed out.  It reminded me of how in the Bourne Identity movies there’s so much action that it all starts to cancel itself out.  Even the internet research scenes in those movies are filmed with shaky cameras and feature intense music.  We need some calm, normal moments so that the action, or in this case, dramatic moments really stand out more.

There are a few confusing moments as far as the time line goes, but that’s true of any movie that delves into the time travel genre.  It’s just unavoidable.

Those issues aside, I found it to be a fairly interesting and enjoyable tale.  It’s sort of a more realistic view of what it would be like to be an X-Man.  Instead a genetic mutation giving you the power to warp through walls or turn invisible, you get stuck jumping through time uncontrollably, with no clothes, wishing you could just stay home with your wife and daughter.

Oh, and why is Arliss Howard playing Eric Bana’s father?  That just didn’t work…

Genetic mutations do not always result in awesome superpowers.

10 – 2.5 for being overly dramatic, sappy, earnest – .5 for the confusing, possibly faulty time line issues = 7.0

Married Life (2007)

Tags

Chris Cooper, Drama, Married Life, Movie, Patricia Clarkson, Pierce Brosnan, Rachel McAdams, Suspense

yes, I know who you are...but my answer is still Sean Connery...

PG-13

Chris Cooper, Pierce Brosnan, Rachel McAdams, Patricia Clarkson

Kay: I only had him for about 3 years, but I really don’t regret a moment.
Richard: You’re lucky.
Kay: Why?  Do you regret anything?
Richard: Lots…and much more to come…

Harry (Cooper) is a middle aged, married man who has fallen in love with a younger woman, Kay (McAdams).  Harry introduces Kay to his best friend, Richard (Brosnan), who is also instantly interested in Kay.  While Richard plots to steal Kay away from his friend, Harry decides that the only way to leave his wife without leaving her devastated emotionally is to kill her.

As any loyal reader of mine knows, I’m a fan of Alfred Hitchcock, and always enjoy seeing his influence in a movie, or even just a movie that has that Hitchcock feel.  This movie has that, and even contains some references to ol’ Alfred as well.  The phrase “the trouble with Harry” is uttered at one point, which is the title of a Hitchcock film.  Then there’s another scene where Harry is walking up some stairs, bringing a tray of food to his wife that is taken straight out of the movie Suspicion.  There were probably other references, but I didn’t catch them.

Director Ira Sachs also pulls off another Hitchcock-like trick, and that is to make the viewer say “oh no!” when they think Harry might be caught trying to poison his wife.  That is until you realize, oh yeah, I should be rooting against the guy trying to kill his perfectly nice wife.  Though, I shouldn’t say perfectly nice because his wife, Pat (Clarkson), has some secrets of her own.

It’s a credit to the actors that the characters all come off as likable, even though they’re all up to some truly deceitful and cruel activity.  McAdams and Cooper are particularly good, though Brosnan, while likable, seems oddly non-energetic.  He narrates the movie and is a key player, but when he disappears for about 10 to 15 minutes at one point, I barely noticed he was gone.

This was not a great movie (a good one, for sure), but it’s kind of a throwback to those good old days of movies that relied on dialogue, emotions, and character development to build tension and suspense, rather than violence and an over-stylistic approach.  Being set in 1949 probably helped that a bit too, but it just as easily could have been set in modern day.  My only real problem with it is that it seemed to pull its punch at the end.  I won’t say much more about the ending, other than it seemed like all the tension that was built up just petered out rather than really hitting the viewer hard.  It wasn’t a bad ending, but it felt like it let some of the characters off the hook in a way.

Still, I enjoyed it, and would recommend it to anyone who doesn’t mind a character driven suspense movie that relies more on dialogue than shock value.

Don’t trust your best friend around your girlfriend…especially if he looks just like James Bond.

10 – 1.4 for a few dull/repetitive moments – 1.2 for an ending that didn’t seem to entirely fit with the rest of the movie + .3 for some good performances = 7.7