Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Movie Monday - well, TV Monday - Modern Day Sherlock Holmes
If I were teaching logic, teaching how to discern truth amid the lies, I might start with movie rumors. It was recently reported in the UK Guardian that Martin Freeman had turned down the role of Bilbo Bagins in the upcoming movie, The Hobbit, in order to continue to play Dr. Watson in the BBC modern day Sherlock Holmes. series Wow! Playing one of the most coveted roles of the decade or playing the second banana to Sherlock Holmes? What a dilemma! Maybe we should dig deeper folks. After all, The Hobbit has had a very fitful start. Is it really going to ever get made? Is it even going to pull in a fraction of the audience of LOTR? Good questions; maybe Freeman liked steady work.
Digging deeper is what Sherlock Holmes does. From the minute we are introduced to this pompous consulting detective in A Study in Scarlet, we are dazzled by his powers of deduction:
"How are you?" he (Holmes) said cordially, gripping my hand with a strength for which I should hardly have given him credit. "You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive."
"How on earth did you know that?" I (Watson) asked in astonishment.
We are supposed to be dazzled by them. Doyle created Holmes this way and every actor, starting well before the iconic Basil Rathbone, has portrayed him as such: a brilliant, smooth "horse's ass."
Benedict Cumberbatch in the modern day verison of Holmes doesn't change this portrayal and it was knowing this fact that kept me at arm's length from the first PBS Holmes episode this season: A Study in Pink.......the title alone....give me a break.
Who wanted to see a modern day Sherlock Holmes? The only modern day portrayal I can remember is George C. Scott in There Might Be Giants with Joanne Woodward as his Watson. But this Holmes was a nut case and Woodward was his MD. There were villains for even a paranoiac has enemies, but it was all pretty silly.
So I was not planning to view a second try at Sherlock Holmes in the 21st century. And, then I tuned in and discovered that I had been the horse's ass.
Wow! Holmes is just as deductive and just as annoying. However, Watson is not the bumbling Nigel Bruce and he blogs. Lestrade looks and acts like he could pass the police exam. All the characters and plots have been transported into modern times with thoughtful and plausible tweaking so that even in this day of CSI-type shows you can thoroughly commit to this stereotyped-to-death, armchair detective from a long past era and a long past writing style.
From what I understand, there are only three episodes in the 2010 PBS Sherlock Holmes series. The final episode was shown last night. As one commenter said, he wants the series to come back next year (it will) but he can't imagine how they can top that 3rd episode's cliff hanger ending.
In that ending, all the Holmesian elements are there: Holmes, Watson, Moriarty, ultimate danger. This all occurs after the writers/actors/director have taken you on a heart-stopping suspense ride for over an hour. What more can they do, you ask?
Wait. Not only do they bring in a brilliant denouncement, they play with their audience: Who really is the bad guy? OK, whew, the danger is over......Wait, it's back.....
That final fade-to-black: Holmes with a gun, the glance to Watson, a different choice of target.....and then. Well, we are all going to be waiting until 2011 for that answer.
I have been purposely oblique with this review. There is too much I can give away so you're going to have to trust me when I say that whether you know Holmes or not, if you love good mysteries and good acting and are willing to suspend your modern-day sensibilities to embrace Holmes' genius, you will not be disappointed.
Don't be a horse's ass like I almost was.
Digging deeper is what Sherlock Holmes does. From the minute we are introduced to this pompous consulting detective in A Study in Scarlet, we are dazzled by his powers of deduction:
"How are you?" he (Holmes) said cordially, gripping my hand with a strength for which I should hardly have given him credit. "You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive."
"How on earth did you know that?" I (Watson) asked in astonishment.
We are supposed to be dazzled by them. Doyle created Holmes this way and every actor, starting well before the iconic Basil Rathbone, has portrayed him as such: a brilliant, smooth "horse's ass."
Benedict Cumberbatch in the modern day verison of Holmes doesn't change this portrayal and it was knowing this fact that kept me at arm's length from the first PBS Holmes episode this season: A Study in Pink.......the title alone....give me a break.
Who wanted to see a modern day Sherlock Holmes? The only modern day portrayal I can remember is George C. Scott in There Might Be Giants with Joanne Woodward as his Watson. But this Holmes was a nut case and Woodward was his MD. There were villains for even a paranoiac has enemies, but it was all pretty silly.
So I was not planning to view a second try at Sherlock Holmes in the 21st century. And, then I tuned in and discovered that I had been the horse's ass.
Wow! Holmes is just as deductive and just as annoying. However, Watson is not the bumbling Nigel Bruce and he blogs. Lestrade looks and acts like he could pass the police exam. All the characters and plots have been transported into modern times with thoughtful and plausible tweaking so that even in this day of CSI-type shows you can thoroughly commit to this stereotyped-to-death, armchair detective from a long past era and a long past writing style.
From what I understand, there are only three episodes in the 2010 PBS Sherlock Holmes series. The final episode was shown last night. As one commenter said, he wants the series to come back next year (it will) but he can't imagine how they can top that 3rd episode's cliff hanger ending.
In that ending, all the Holmesian elements are there: Holmes, Watson, Moriarty, ultimate danger. This all occurs after the writers/actors/director have taken you on a heart-stopping suspense ride for over an hour. What more can they do, you ask?
Wait. Not only do they bring in a brilliant denouncement, they play with their audience: Who really is the bad guy? OK, whew, the danger is over......Wait, it's back.....
That final fade-to-black: Holmes with a gun, the glance to Watson, a different choice of target.....and then. Well, we are all going to be waiting until 2011 for that answer.
I have been purposely oblique with this review. There is too much I can give away so you're going to have to trust me when I say that whether you know Holmes or not, if you love good mysteries and good acting and are willing to suspend your modern-day sensibilities to embrace Holmes' genius, you will not be disappointed.
Don't be a horse's ass like I almost was.
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