Movie: Playing in the Shadows

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.

Good morning/evening ladies and gentlemen of the internet. I hope you all had an interesting weekend. I know I did. Oh TF2, you always know how to drag a boy back in. But that’s beside the point!  I went to see a movie this weekend, and IM NOT GOING TO TELL YOU WHICH ONE. Look to your left, No, MY LEFT. ON THE SCREEN. That one.   Yeah, I have to admit, this one was something I had been planning on seeing for the last few days, months, since they announced it. I’m the first to admit: I’m a very big fan of Robert Downey Jr. but, I was worried, I usually trust rotten tomatoes, and with an approval of only 60% (85% f movie goers enjoyed it) It still managed to bring in 40 million dollars, I’m personally glad to have contributed .00005375% of that. But, before I go on, I’d like to explain my grading system, going from 1-10.

1.       Not viewable, the person responsible has committed a criminal offense, and will spend 35 years in jail without any chance of parole.
2.       License to make literature/movies/songs revoked
3.       Eyes/ears bleeding
4.       Some form of a plot, it’s almost a comedy how bad the acting is
5.       Disappointing, can understand where some people could possibly like it
6.       Chuckle here and there, but overall, it’s a mess
7.       Average, nothing memorable. Nothing really bad.
8.       Interesting, okay plot/acting etc… Enjoyable
9.       Wonderful, suspenseful, believable. A piece good enough to buy.
10.   Perfect- engage fan boy mode. Impossibly good.
11.   Perfect. Absolutely nothing wrong with the piece, at the point of viewing you ascent to heaven to be with the greats such as Mark Twain, Gandhi, etc…

To give you some examples: Shawshank Redemption is a 9.75, TF2 is a 10, and the Harry Potter series is an 8.5 (both the movies and books.) With this grading system in mid, I’ll give a slight synopsis:

The movie starts with a very glorious Chinaman, who ends up being the quite enjoyable Downy Jr. who goes onto beat up a bunch of guys using is super-brain powers. Watson is getting married, and Holmes is to be the best man. But, with Europe at the brink of war, and an evil professor having a stranglehold over many industries, can Holmes stop the inevitable?

The story is set remarkably well in the past, and has a lot of charm, a grand twisting ending and the use of everything in the movie ends with an enjoyable experience. I gave it an 8.75, just not quite to 9, and not as good as I was hoping for. Although, I did enjoy it more than the original. With this in mind, I would definitely encourage viewing it, it’s a very enjoyable movie, and quite intelligent.  

--Santa