MOVIES X 2

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Had not seen the first Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes take but after seeing this 10,000 frames per second entertaining mug shattering extravaganza from the SloMo Guys, who plugged the slow motion in the new Holmes, I was on my way to the cinema.  And good decision.  Really excellent use of slow motion to add textures to the fight scenes and layers to characters and interactions.  The whole endeavor was much more of a fun romp than I expected.  I was reminded that I enjoyed Snatch, another of Ritchie’s directing efforts.  We bumped the first Holmes to the top of the Netqueue and it awaits us after any New Year’s Eve festivities that might occur.

Also saw Mission Impossible:  Ghost Protocol.  Not as much fun, but I did enjoy seeing Paula Patton in an action role after the romance of Jumping The Broom.  Put her in more movies, people.  Pegg always entertaining, I liked Jeremy Renner’s character by the end, Cruise does fine but is a bit too much of a peacock for me.   I think Brad Bird might be too used to cartoons because some of the physics didn’t strike true.  The sound effects subbing for readable fight scenes were aggressively used though.

Part of the reason the new Holmes + slow motion intrigued me is because Ghost Protocol had pushed me further into the superfast action doesn’t really work for me as an audience member camp.  I had a fight coordinator in a staging Shakespeare seminar once tell us (and I tell my actors because it makes a lot of sense), that action needs to be slowed down to a level where the audience can get involved.  And I’m finding that more and more movies do the opposite, everything is blindingly fast but lacking a sense of mastery.  There’s no time to be impressed; the frames, actors and wrecked cars/robots/buildings/planets just fly by.

So the addition of slow motion into the Holmes action mix made for a enjoyable + exciting moviegoing experience. It also made my rewatch to see how things were done list so it will be an educational experience as well.

The GI Joe trailer did look fun and I am glad to have been introduced to Red Tails, a World War II Tuskagee Airmen story that’s made my see it on opening weekend list.

Enjoy your New Year’s Eve and best wishes for 2012.  Don’t drink + drive and don’t get in a car with anyone who does.  The American Automobile Association (AAA) and other organizations are sponsoring free rides in many locations.  Find out your options.   And go see a fun movie.