Added my notes on Sherlock Holmes (2009) over at Alex on Film. It’s a beautiful movie to look at, but all these CGI epics seem the same to me. Holmes here is just another Marvel superhero. The comic book aesthetic has taken over to the point where even movies that aren’t based on comic books are being re-imagined this way. I’m not purist about these things, but something is wrong when everything is re-interpreted through the same creative matrix.

You’d recognize them anywhere.

Added my notes on Murder by Decree (1979) over at Alex on Film. Each generation gets the Holmes they deserve, and this film was very much a product of the ’70s. Most of it holds up pretty well though.

Oh you sly dog, Moriarty.

You’re probably wondering what the secret weapon is in Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1943). Well, I won’t keep you in suspense. It’s a bombsight. Why they misspelled Moriarty’s name in the credits is a bigger mystery. Perhaps they just didn’t know any better.

Next line: “I admire it. I admire it so much I’d like to present it pickled in alcohol to the London Medical Society. “

I’m kicking off a couple of weeks of Sherlock Holmes coverage over at Alex on Film with The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939). This is a good one, but ends up feeling like less than the sum of its parts.

Added my notes on The Passion of the Christ (2004) over at Alex on Film. A huge success and the center of a storm of controversy ten years ago, how does it play today?

Go on, take the money and run.

Added my notes on The Amazing Transparent Man (1960) over at Alex on Film. Atomic-age nonsense with a rather unlikeable cast from low-budget auteur Edgar G. Ulmer. At times it stumbles into humour, but it’s not quite bad enough to be good.