A.J. Maguire

Tag: BBC

  • A Discussion on Sherlock Holmes …

     

    So I’m sick this weekend, which is good timing since school starts on Monday so if I’m going to be sick, it might as well be now.  I’m hoping to be 90% better and climbing by Sunday night.  But that means I get to do lazy-fun things like watch movies.

    I bought Sherlock Holmes Game of Shadows for Christmas and hadn’t gotten around to watching it until last night.  I enjoyed Robert Downy Jr. and Jude Law in the first Sherlock Holmes movie they put out, so I was confident I would like this movie as well.  And I did.  Those movies have a distinctly steampunk flavor to them, though that might just be the era they are written in.

    However, I have to admit that the BBC’s Sherlock — which I watched several months ago on Netflix — has forever altered the way I look at Sherlock Holmes.  They are, in a word, brilliant.

    So when I sat down to watch Downy Jr. and Jude Law go gallivanting through London I had to make a conscious effort to ignore the Sherlock and Watson duo that Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman had portrayed.

    Granted, the BBC version is really an updated Holmes, putting him into our century with Blogs and things, so it is distinctly different from the period setting that we find in the movies.  But I promise you, if you watch the BBC version of Sherlock you will have the same problem as me.

    So!

    The verdict is that Game of Shadows was really quite good — even if it did rely on the shadow camera a bit more than the first movie — and the Downy Jr. – Jude Law duo is funny in an action-packed sort of way.    However, if you’ve read the books then you know how much dramatic license was taken with stuff there.  It’s a fun romp through Europe, but slightly less Holmes-ish due to all the action.

    Watch it and enjoy it, and -then- you should go watch the BBC’s Sherlock.  That way you’re not spoiled by the Freeman-Cumberbatch performances like I was.  (Because seriously … they’re brilliant.)

  • Dr. Who & The Sonic Screwdriver

    So I finally got Netflix and I was watching Star Trek Voyager when I realized that … Holy Cow!  I could be watching Dr. Who!  So I started watching it with my son, who actually seems to enjoy it.  In fact, he picked up a laser pointer that we use to play with the cat and proclaimed that it was his sonic screwdriver.  He now “unlocks” all of our doors with it.

    I’ve managed to get through the first two seasons and half of the third.  (These being the set that started back in 2005.  I might try the older generation later, but right now I’m too busy trying to catch up.)  And I have to admit that I am still a Chris Eccleston fan.  He played the Ninth Doctor and while I like David Tennant, the character sort of lost something in the transfer.  Eccleston had more gravity to him.  He felt a little more dangerous.

    But, well, we’ll see how I feel after I’ve finally caught up on all the seasons.  (I do have a loooong way to go yet.)  I did cry at the end of Season 2, which startled my son enough that he gave me the pouty lip.  I had to spend the rest of the night laughing and giggling with him about how Mommy got all emotional over a silly TV show.  (He was properly assuaged via Oreo cookies, so I’m fairly certain he hasn’t been emotionally scarred.)

    That said, I’m pretty much addicted to the show now.  Thank you BBC, you give me all the fun stuff to love.