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Mr. Holmes (2015)
Mr. Holmes (2015)
2015 | International, Drama, Mystery
8
7.0 (8 Ratings)
Movie Rating
The new Roadside Attractions film Mr. Holmes is a new twist on an age-old story.
We first see Sherlock Holmes (Ian McKellan) in a train voyage with a package, and we don’t know to or from where he’s going or why.
The entire movie is full of flash backs and multiple time frames of the same mans life, as he tries to piece together memories that seem to lie just beyond his ability to recollect
Holmes has retired from his detective business and is cared for by widowed housekeeper Mrs. Munro (Laura Linney) and her young son Roger (Milo Parker).
Roger is quick witted and interested in anything Holmes might be able to teach him, and throughout the movie their relationship moves from one of strained and grumpy acceptance (on the part of Holmes) to one of grandfatherly love. It is a beautiful relationship that develops between the two, and makes the near -disaster that occurs at the end of the film even more heart wrenching.
It is of utmost importance to Holmes that he remember the details of his last case, 30 years prior, that apparently caused him to close up shop as a detective and retire to the coast. The trip we see him on in the opening scene turns out to be a trip to Japan to meet with Mr. Umezaki (Hiroyuki Sanada) who helped him search for, and ultimately find, a plant (prickly ash) said to have curative powers for memory problems.
Holmes plays both the role of his younger self and as the 93 year old man with advancing Alzheimer’s very very well. I believed the character as a 60 year old and just as much as a 93 year old.
The film felt a little bit long, and there were a few slow spots but overall it flowed very well despite all the jumping around in time & place, and it wove together the stories past & present to tell a cohesive and interesting tale. It built relationships between the main characters and I could see the bond between Holmes and Roger, and even the somewhat prickly Mrs. Munro growing throughout the film.
I would give this film 4 out of 5 stars.
  
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Awix (3310 KP) rated Holmes and Watson (2018) in Movies

Jan 3, 2019 (Updated Jan 3, 2019)  
Holmes and Watson (2018)
Holmes and Watson (2018)
2018 | Adventure, Comedy, Mystery
Almost incomprehensibly bad comic spoof of Sherlock Holmes that - despite the presence of many talented and genuinely funny performers - still manages to be totally lacking in laughs, wit, or anything much in the way of entertainment value. Serious adaptations of the original stories - hell, the original stories themselves - all managed to be much funnier than this.

General tone of self-satisfied knowing stupidity; lazy jokes about Donald Trump, selfies, people texting dick pics, etc; much-too-late-to-the-party spoofing of the Guy Ritchie Holmes films from nearly ten years ago. I'll go and see just about anything but it took a sustained effort of will not to walk out of this film. 2018 may have departed but this film lingers on in its wake like the stench from rotting carrion. For pity's sake, avoid.
  
A Sherlock Holmes Devotional: Uncovering the Mysteries of God
2
6.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Every once in a while I read a book that is just trying way too hard to be cool. Sadly, this is one of those books.

Sherlock Holmes was an amazing detective. The Bible is an amazing book. So why not make a Sherlock Holmes devotional? The answer is because the two are about totally different things, and when you try to make a secular thing spiritual, you end up with poison.

I requested this book with suspicion (the same publisher had a bunch of other awesome-looking books, and this was the only one I was iffy about), but I hoped it would surprise and maybe impress me. Sadly, it’s actually worse than I imagined.

For example: The first devotional is about the Case of the Cardboard Box, where a woman has a package delivered to her with two severed ears. The devotional goes on to praise Sherlock for solving the crime, and then diverts to “We can hear the voice of God. Sherlock said the ear is amazing. See how these two are connected?” And yes obviously that’s a paraphrase. But it was the point of the devotional.

In staying in this same idea, let me tell you a story and give you a practical on how it made me feel.

Did you know in the Appalachian mountains, some people put Mountain Dew in their babies bottles? It’s cheaper than milk and the kids get addicted to it young. Obviously it causes major health issues like diabetes and sever obesity, the kids end up loosing their teeth before they even break skin, and (though I haven’t researched it, I’m sure) that some have died.

In the same way, the Bible tells us that newer Christians thrive on smaller amounts of doctrine, simple statements of truth. In the new testament, a Christian not moving past that stage is considered an adult still drinking baby milk. But the milk isn’t enough, and eventually, their faith will die if they don’t move forward. So Mountain Dew is like Baby Milk. See how the two are connected?

Sorry, but this book isn’t baby food. It’s poison. I love Sherlock and I love Jesus. But I find this book offensive
  
Enola Holmes (2020)
Enola Holmes (2020)
2020 | Adventure, Crime, Drama
Lavish slab of Holmesian schlock, which managed to get Netflix sued by the Conan Doyle estate on the grounds that it depicts Sherlock Holmes having emotions: frankly, this is the least of the film's divergences from the canon. The great detective's slightly manic younger sister is home-schooled by her mother, and then goes off to London when said matriarch vanishes on her sixteenth birthday.

Doesn't really bear much resemblance to the original canon, nor to the realities of Victorian London or much else, really: there isn't a great deal of detecting going on, but there is a lot of earnest messaging about finding your own path and giving the patriarchy a good kicking. Has clearly had some money spent on it; Brown has a certain presence and Cavill, while arguably miscast, is less problematic than you might expect. For a film which appears to be aimed at a fairly young audience there are some moments of surprisingly nasty violence, but on the whole it's fairly inoffensive. I imagine members of the target audience will probably enjoy it a lot more than me; I think I'll be sticking with Young Sherlock Holmes when I'm in the mood for this sort of thing.