December 2009 Geek Movie Review
I was going to have this first blog of the New Year be a review of the Sherlock Holmes film that came out Christmas Day, but after seeing two other very notable geek films in December, I have decided to also include them.
Here’s to a great way to end 2009, a praising look at The Princess and the Frog, Avatar, and Sherlock Holmes.
THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG
Yes, I can include this as a geek film, because besides being fantasy, love for Disney films as an adult, while warranted, is a slightly geeky trait, especially when I do not have children that I can pretend were the real reason I wanted to go see this movie.
The classic Disney movies all the way up until The Emperor’s New Groove were spectacular musical animated productions that even spurned several Broadway adaptations.
I missed that after the golden age of my generations Disney with examples like The Lion King and Mulan and all that glorious singing that just made you want to sing along too. Later films seemed to lose that element, and just weren’t as memorable.
The Princess and the Frog bought all of that back again.
I went in with low expectations, for my own sanity’s sake, as I am too often disappointed in movies these days, but I was blown away. My husband and I laughed consistently throughout the film, mostly at the frog prince who very much stole the show. And the songs! Oh, to have new Disney songs to get stuck in your head and randomly come spouting out of you while walking down the street.
The story was an inventive reimagining of a beloved fairytale—you know this one, about the princess who kisses a frog that turns out to be a prince in disguise under a curse or spell. This film also introduced the first African American princess.
I adored the Jazz-age era New Orleans setting with a Vodou and Hodou practicing villain, voiced by the amazing Keith David who once voiced Goliath on the Gargoyles cartoon, among many other claims to fame.
Okay, so our main girl, Tiana, had no father instead of no mother this time (what is it with Disney and not allowing both parents to live through the story, other than say…Mulan?) but that could hardly detract from the overall awesome of this film.
If you have not yet channeled your inner child or taken your own rugrats and gone to see this new animated masterpiece, I highly recommend it.
AVATAR
Now, I am going to try and keep my extolling of Avatar’s virtues down a notch, as I have been avidly telling everyone I know to see it since I watched it on opening night in celebration of a friend’s birthday, but it is really difficult NOT to praise this movie.
There was a lot of hype surrounding Avatar prior to its release, how much was spent making it, how it would be the next Matrix and change how we look at cinema forever. Well, it has lived up to everything anyone could have possibly said about it.
The visuals were stunning, at one point showing one of the human actors touching one of the computer generator characters and looking as if there was no discernible difference between flesh and art. But visuals aside, this film also had an engaging story that keeps you pinned to your seat for the full near three hours you are sitting there.
Some people have been claiming that the story is taken right from FernGully. While that thought makes me laugh hysterically, especially since the stories are very similar, Avatar is just one more example of a classic tale of man assimilating to another culture to better understand and learn from them.
Anyone who says it is too leftist, anti-war, anti-colonialism, or anti-government, is missing the point, and missing out on a great story.
I connect to this tale mostly because who among us can say they have never desired to become something different, something better than themselves, free from our normal ideas of what society and culture need to be? By the end of Avatar I was wishing I could plug into a ‘blue cat person’ version of myself too.
Okay, so the ending was a little predictable, especially after a particular event in the film, you pretty much know how it is going to end, but it was the right ending, the only ending I would have accepted.
Even my parents emailed me after that opening weekend to see if I had seen the film yet, because they had gone and absolutely loved it. This is a film that can appeal to everyone, and that is a rare thing these days. Forget the hype, forget any preconceptions, and just go see it if you haven’t already. I paid full price opening night, which is just disgusting to me most of the time, but it was worth every cent.
SHERLOCK HOLMES
This film was utterly satisfying. I admit I did something I usually never do before seeing any movie: I read a review. And it was not the most kind review either.
So I went in to see this adaptation of a literary classic with my expectations lowered, expecting fighting sequences that were apparently unnecessary, Watson being in most cases barely even needed as backup for Holmes, and that the female lead, Adler, was really only thrown in for Holmes to have some sort of love interest besides, well, Watson. None of that was the case.
The action sequences were entertaining and very in the vein of Guy Richie that I adore, director supreme for this film, and who you may also remember as director of other great films such as Snatch. The fight sequences also carried with them a further supplement to showing off Holmes’ intelligence.
Holmes could mentally distinguish and calculate all of the correct moves to subdue his opponent with quick finesse, plan it out seconds beforehand, and then enact things exactly as he had imagined them.
As for Watson, without the good doctor’s aide, Holmes would have been in dire straights several times, and vice versa. In fact, the duo is the crux of the film, the way the actors play off one another, building a pseudo married relationship that speaks volumes of both characters and how they are necessary together to solve each case. The dialogue was also superbly done. Witty to the nth degree.
I even surprised myself but liking the Adler character, who served an important purpose throughout and created a nice balance to Holmes’ character without taking away from his reclusive nature.
I also appreciated the introduction of a possible sequel, and with a very notable villain who seems to have his hand in the plot even throughout this initial film. I do hope there is another.
However, I admit one tiny flaw. Often I find myself wishing a film ended on a slightly different beat, or maybe just had one more beat to truly finish things off. I wouldn’t say this was quite the case with Holmes, but I do feel as though there is this nagging feeling that something, something very minuscule, was missing from the very end.
I have still not put my finger on what it was, but believe me, it has not made me feel like the overall film was any less spectacular.
CONCLUSION
One of my first blog posts, if you recall, was after a summer of almost-perfect movies, Star Trek being the only one I feel really set the bar and was actually perfect from beginning to end. Our winter movies have done a much better job of maintaining perfect for the geeks in all of us.
So after this wonderful holiday break, I have returned to you with three recommendations. See them as matinées if you wish to save on the cash, but see them. All of them. It is worth it for the sheer joy of fulfillment in seeing something truly well done.
~G³
I am very exciting about the next blog as it will be the first of hopefully many paired with a video blog created by a good friend and posted on The Geek Girl Gamut YouTube page. I will provide a link on posting and encourage you all to read as well as watch “The Zombie Plan”, a blog on the dos and donts of surviving the Zombie Apocalypse.
Thanks for tuning in.
Images taken from:
http://www.filmofilia.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Sherlock-Holmes-Poster.jpg
http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/images/princessandthefrogconcept1-580×322.jpg
http://brotherpeacemaker.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/drfacilier.jpg
http://www.crazythemes.com/images/Avatar-Movie-Wallpapers.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_sfaYrWgZQ48/SUPVEZ3npNI/AAAAAAAAABM/PzZKzloZHpg/s1600-h/sherlockholmesmovie-downey-and-law.jpg
http://steynian.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/tba-zombie-apocalypse-20090402095732084_640w.jpg
Dude, even though I have only seen 1 of these films (which was totally and unbelievably awesome, GO AVATAR!!), I always enjoy hearing your reviews because they seem so much more unbiased and tend to take a look at the film as a whole instead of focusing on the really good or really bad parts. I do have yet to see Sherlock Holmes and The Princess and The Frog (both of which may have to wait until Netflix), but I’m saving up for a few more movies that shall be coming out within the next month or two (Legion!).
I can’t wait for you treatise on the Zombie Apocalypse. If all else fails: 1) Wear something comfortable that you can really move ass in. 2) Grab a weapon (any weapon, even a rolling pin) until you can be properly armed. 3) Head to the nearest sporting goods store (Cabela’s) to outfit yourself properly. After that, it’s just based on luck and how fast you can run/hot-wire a car.
I hope I haven’t spoiled anything with my zealous overture to your blog. We need to get together for some girl time – I totally need to vent and am yet unable to leave the house for long periods of time… >-( …meh.
@Megali: You must get out and see those other two films as well, but if they must wait until Netflix, they will be worthwhile rentals as well. I know you will like them. And thank you very much for the kind words, I like to think I am mostly impartial and give a fair review without spoiling events for people who have not seen the films yet.
You got a few of those important points for the Zombie Plan, but oh how there is more. Of course I hope there never comes a day when we actually need to use our vast geek knowledge for that reason.
Don’t lie. If there’s a zombie apocalypse, it’ll take at least 5 minutes for the squeals to die down among the geeks who are prepared, and you know it.
@Blaise: So this is how awesome the people I work with are. My supervisors come walking back in after a break and without any prompting they say “So we’ve decided that our department would have the best chance of surviving the Zombie Apocalypse.”
And the best part is, I know it’s true!
All three are great movies, either Hollywood is doing everything right now or I’m good at avoiding the crappy movies.
@Janskoller: Sadly, the second one. Though they are getting better, I think, that wiley Hollywood.
The only one of these I’ve seen so far is Sherlock Holmes, and I regret to say that I didn’t like it as much as you seem to have. It had some good parts to it, really good parts, but like 300 before it, it suffered because of its silliness that my mind gradually picked apart as soon as the credits rolled. The villain was silly; he sometimes made me laugh out loud with his efforts to sound all dark and forboding and just coming off as cheesy, and he seemed very gestapo for this time period. The villains plan was very silly; I can’t really get into why without spoilers, and it wasn’t the how of it I objected to, but his plan was just full of assumptions and stupidity and holes you could drive a tank through. And I know this is gonna get me in trouble here, but Irene Adler was silly too.
I just couldn’t get behind this iteration of her, and I admit that that’s because I like the books so much. They’re built up to have this steamy history together, when in the books they met all of twice, one meeting being a witness to her marriage to another man. See, the thing about Irene Adler is, she completely turns everything Holmes has come to understand and dislike about women on its head. He first met her when a King of some small foreign country came to Sherlock with a case: Irene was engaged to be married to the king, he dumps her for a blueblood, she has a picture of them together, King hires sherlock to get it back. Holmes disguises himself to get close to her, but she recognizes him anyway, and (here’s the kicker) disguises herself and find out who HE is IN THE EXACT SAME WAY. She grabs her new fiancee and gets the hell outta dodge, and when holmes comes to find the picture the following day, he instead finds a note explaining how she twigged that something was up, how she was able to find out weho he was, that she only took the picture so that the King’s house wouldn’t try to move against her, and that that since she ‘loves and is loved by a far better man,’ she has no intention of ruining the king’s new engagement. Holmes apologizes to the King for his failure, but the prince exclaims that Irene is ‘always as good as her word,’ and this is the best possible resolution. People think that Irene is the only woman holmes admires because she was clever enough to see through him both times, but that isn’t really right. It was that despite her shady past, she was kind enough to keep on being nice to holmes even after the jig was up, and honorable enough to explain in a letter what he did wrong, and virtouous enough to explain her actions and the reasons behind them. She was a straight shooter, what is referred to in this day and age as a bro. And then the movie came along and made her Catwoman, just another femme fatale who may or may not be on the heroes side. Worse, they made her a damsel, and don’t give her enough chances to be very clever at all , and don’t actually give her a reason for her to be there either. So I didn’t like her.
Tell you what I did like though: the atmosphere. Some critics gave the movie flack because Ritchie grittied up the movie, removing it from the spirit of the stories, going far beyond what any of them have done. Well, duh; this isn’t victorian england guys, some allowances had to be made. Sure, Watson having a gambling habit and Holmes boxing with his shirt off to Rocky Road to Dublin made me raise my eyebrows a bit, but they’re supposed to be adventure stories, and to have the same effect on modern movie audiences that they had on Victorian readers, you need to build them up, and add some action moves and fight scenes in there (frantic chases may have been enough in the 1880s and even enough for PBS, but for the American movie-goer?). The Sherlock Holmes series is about a nutzo genius, his combat vet of a friend, and the wild and horrific crimes they solve together. That’s what the movie shows.
And lets talk about that nutzo genius and his army buddy. I thought Robert Downey Jr’s holmes was fascinating and adorable; In the stories, Holmes had eccentricities, butr was also something of a jerk and one got the feeling that he only did certain things to annoy people. Here, though, his eccentricities are a way to keep him from going mad, and he takes absolute pleasure using them and defying convention to solve a case and increase the knowledge of mankind. And it’s not that I object to him fighting, in the stories, he’s supposed to be really strong and know all these crazy kung fu stuff, so I gave that one a pass. And I love the little nods they make to the stories, like holmes using a revolver to shoot a “patriotic VR” (you know, Victoria Regina?) into the wall. And Jude law was just as good. See, a lot of people interpret Watson as bumbling and bewildered because he’s not as smart as holmes and was the straight man to holmes’ mad genius, whereas the only traights the stories put to him was that he was a bit stuffy and excitable. But the stories also said he was ex military (I remember him serving in india, but wikipedia says afghanistan), was a bit of a player, and was a doctor, THE go to profession of that time for brainey guys. Jude Law portrays all of that, painting watson as not some sidekick and chronicler of adventures, but as the long suffering partner who shares Holmes’ love of adventure and mystery while suppressing the urge to lamp him one (yeah, not very well, but sherlock kind of had that one coming).
I also totally agree with you about the ending. Finish the story before you start the next one, guys, Geez.
@Sean R.: So John and I discussed your response to this, and we know exactly what the main problem is: You’re a fan of the already existing written work. Whereas I have never read a Sherlock Holmes novel, and neither has John, so for me some of the truly ridiculous things were what I enjoyed the most, because I didn’t want this to be too serious, and I didn’t have any other basis to compare it to and then maybe overshadow my experience.
Not that I am saying that your are at a disadvantage for having read the works, far from it, but I think having a background in the books will definitely affect how you look at the movie.
Now, after hearing about the original Adler character, I wish they had kept her more like how you described, because that would have been much more interesting. Yet another example of Hollywood having to throw in a love interest, even if it doesn’t stick. I am glad at least that you agree that the actors chosen for Holmes and Watson and how they portrayed those characters was well done, as well as Guy Richie’s direction. Yes, the villain was a little lack-luster for me too, but I was so pleased with how Holmes had figured everything out at the end, that the villain seemed less important than the resolving of the case.
But I again second that groan of disappointment over the end. I still feel somewhat cheated, though not as “What the Hell?!” as I did at the end of Transformers 2.
Today we head out to see “Daybreakers”. Let’s see how this portrayal of vampires works out.
…And?
@Sean R.: We both really liked it. It was entertaining and a refreshing story, something different, which we hadn’t had in a while regarding vampires. And then it ended, and it did the same thing that has bothered John and I about most movies for so long, it ended suddenly without giving any true closure. Sigh.
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