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Reviews
Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Bad adaptation, bad movie
Yes, sure, the Holmes character in Doyle's original was a skilled fighter, enjoyed opium, and could be quite prickly. I don't think that justifies this treatment of him as a scruffy, debauched, out-of-control lout, constantly in and out of brawls and prison. The angry, irritable Watson character here has little in common with the sycophantic Watson of the books and stories, who devoted his life to chronicling Holmes' remarkable mind. This is 21st century version of Holmes owes more to Bruce Willis and Mel Gibson movies than to Conan Doyle.
There are far too many fights and chase scenes here, far too little ratiocination. The plot of this story is also unworthy of Doyle -- an attempt to turn the murders and intrigues of the original stories into a vast, dark Da Vinci Code conspiracy.
It's as though they cobbled this together using focus groups and formulas. Take one part National Treasure, one part Bond movie, combine with Lethal Weapon, insert special effect etc.
Despite all the noise and action, I was constantly bored. I turned the movie off several times, had a hard time seeing it through to the end. (Another annoying thing: Though Downey does a creditable British accent, he mumbles constantly. You will need a good sound system to make out his words. And no, the problem is not the authenticity of his accent. Jude Law is quite easy to understand.)
Somewhere in between the starchy Holmes character played by Jeremy Brett and the dumb buddy-cop version here lies the true character.
I would not recommend this movie to anyone of any age at any time.
The Proposition (2005)
Bleak, pretentious, heavy handed
I'm not surprised that Nick Cave wrote this violent, meaningless film or that, according to the Trivia section, it only took him three weeks. Are any questions answered by the development of the plot? Do we learn anything about the characters that we don't know in the first 10-15 minutes? Is anything in the dialogue memorable (other than an Australian settler weirdly quoting Dorothy Parker's line "What fresh hell is this?", in reality spoken half a century later)? I found it an ordeal to sit through this till the end and did not feel enlightened or enriched in any way. (Comparisons to No Country for Old Men are an insult to that movie.) Nick Cave's songs always feature his lugubrious drone, polysyllabic lyrics and obliviousness to their own sophomoric, pseudo-intellectual ridiculousness. You'll hear them on the soundtrack and they go nicely with this movie. Enjoy.
Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People (2006)
Hollywood is gentle - imagine if they showed sharia law in practice
Hollywood's treatment of Arabs on screen is actually often gentle and politically-correct, thanks to fear of protests like Mr. Shaheens.
If the depiction of Arab terrorists seems over-the-top in a dumb action-adventure, try looking at pictures of Islamic men about to decapitate a hostage or the carnage after a suicide bombing. Or listen to a Bin Laden video urging Americans to join his efforts to establish a new caliphate. And does Shaheen really want Hollywood to show daily life in Iran, where women have to make sure they are not seen in public with nail polish on their fingers lest they be sent home or even beaten by religious enforcers who roam the streets and shopping centers? How about the stoning of adulterers, or punishment of rape victims, or limb-amputation of petty thieves? Until Islam itself confronts and truly tries to stop the use of random violence against civilians and the application of medieval laws to modern citizens, it's going to have a problem getting good press.