Sherlock

Finally started watching and finished off this great new series. Ok, so it's from 2010. That might make it less new but not less great. In a nutshell, the series is a series of hour and a half episodes, three in total, that feature a modern take on Sherlock Holmes. Benedict Cumberbatch plays the titular role while Martin Freeman plays John Watson, his companion. The stories for each episode are inspired in part by the original Sherlock Holmes mysteries, or at least contain nods to them, and are their own tales, so you won't feel like you're watching the same story for the umpteenth time like you would get for some of the movies.

The cast works well together. There's a great chemistry between the two leads. There's also a fun running gag about the two being a couple. Cumberbatch plays a suitably alien Sherlock, a man who observes every little detail about the world and the crimes in it but doesn't relate well with people, often times being completely oblivious to how he should treat people. Freeman is the grounding influence for his compatriot, giving an everyman point of view on the cases and teaching him on occasion how to act like a person. Still, despite the grief he gets from Holmes, Watson sticks along for the thrill of the hunt and also the money they get for solving these crimes.

Season 2 is on now, so I can finally start watching them. I'm quite looking forward to it. Check it out.

Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil on Netflix

If you haven't had a chance to see this wildly funny and smart horror comedy, maybe because you don't want to shell out the bucks or your Blockbuster closed, have no fear. You can now watch it on Netflix, for, well, whatever you pay a month to watch Netflix Instant. Not a bad deal. Check it out. You'll be thanking me later after you get out of your awesome induced coma.

Also, did Netflix for Xbox change how they stream? I used to get a solid connection where after a hiccup, it leveled out so it was good the whole way through. Now it seems to vary depending on my connection speed, going from beautiful HD to blocky at times. Maybe due to peak usage on the service? I dunno. Seems good now but it was pissing me off earlier.

Anyhow, don't let that discourage you from checking out Tucker and Dale vs. Evil. It's awesomeness cannot be contained by bandwidth.

New Year's Eve 2011

Sitting here watching Bubble Guppies with less than 12 to go to the new year. Just want my daughter to feel better. She has pneumonia. Hospitalized her on Tuesday. She came home yesterday. She seems to be doing better, but we probably have a long way to go on it, what with the nebulizer and trying to get her to actually drink some water and juice so she doesn't get dehydrated. She's still getting a fever about every twelve hours, which sucks but is better than every 5 or so that it had been before we took her into the ER to get some fluids. Who knew being a parent was so rough? We haven't even done Christmas yet. Here's hoping for a healthy start to the year.

Merry Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas! Can't say it's a good one for me this year as my daughter is fighting a virus and has been for the past four or five days. By the way, viruses suck. Nothing like something that you can't get rid of outside of just resting and fighting the fever. Yay for that. I don't even know when you start counting when it starts. Is it with the cough or with the fever? That could make a difference as Cassie started coughing on Monday or Tuesday. That would mean she only has a few days left. The fever, however, started on Thursday morning, maybe late Wednesday. We only know she woke up with it. That would mean she has a lot more left if we count from there. Ugh.

Fright Night (2011)

Remakes are always a tricky breed. Most of the time they don't need to be done at all. It just seems like the producers behind them think viewers can't enjoy films from a different era/language/etc. That or they find some cult IP that they want to exploit and reimagine in some "cutting edge" way. I was afraid that Fright Night would fall prey to the latter. Like kids today can't appreciate Chris Sarandon in a sweat suit.

Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised. While my main motivation was to watch David Tennant, I found the whole cast enjoyable. Colin Farrell was a delight as Jerry, the vampire next door, turning the role from one of seduction to an absolute predator. The script was solid and I didn't find many things to gripe about. Even the update of the Peter Vincent character from a horror host to a magician makes sense, considering they're in Las Vegas and also that most people today won't remember horror hosts like Zacherley or Elvira.

There were some clever scenes I liked. There's an escape scene that has a particularly great payoff, that without spoiling it, I didn't see coming but fits with the way bites work. I also like that the Ed and Charlie roles were switched in terms of believing in vampires, with Ed as the one who suspects Jerry at first. Any complaints I might have actually relate to this, as it almost feels like we're brought into the story midway, with Ed having done a bit of research into killings that we don't quite get the feeling are truly an epidemic. Still, it's a minor quibble. I wish that I got a chance to see it in 3d though, as it looks like they had some cool effects for it. As it stands, the movie looks good and is thoroughly enjoyable regardless of the dimension you see it in.

It, like a lot of good remakes, pay a bit of homage to the originals without sounding like they're pandering. You even get a Chris Sarandon cameo. Nothing wrong with that, as he is quite awesome.

All in all, it's a fun film and worthy of the name, Fright Night. Check it out.

Super (thanks for asking)

Finally got around to seeing this little gem from writer/director James Gunn. It's about a man whose wife leaves him for Kevin Bacon and drugs, so he decides to save her and fight crime in the city along the way. Of course, there is a learning curve for this sort of thing and he has quite a few mishaps along the way. Fortunately, he has Nathan Fillion as a Bibleman-ish character on tv to guide him and a teenage girl in the form of Ellen Page who wants to be his sidekick.

And he fights crime with a pipe wrench and the battle cry of "Shut up, evil!"

It's pretty hysterical and dark, which is good for a dark comedy. It brings to mind some of Gunn's previous films like Slither and the also superhero related The Specials. Rainn Wilson is a delight as the lead and Kevin Bacon works well as his foil. Liv Tyler is radiant as usual in the role of his wayward wife and Ellen Page is a fucking psychopath. Seriously. I like her but she seems to play the same role in my mind in every movie I see her in. It was a nice surprise to see her cut loose and not just be the wiseass hipster which Juno has forever cast her in to me.

The movie is a fun take on how crime fighting might go in the real world and Rainn does a great job in bringing us along for the ride. Definitely worth checking out if you don't mind some bloodshed with your humor, because honestly, (spoilers) the last act is a bloodbath. But awesome.

Check it out.

Thanksgiving Weekend 2011

I had a nice four days off. Played with my daughter. Played a lot of Skyward Sword. Raked leaves and put up Christmas lights and now I'm sore and watching Walking Dead and knowing that I'm going to be hella sore tomorrow after a good night of sleep. Hope ya'll had a good weekend too. Hopefully I'll get some more movie reviews up soon.