Sherlock Holmes: Holmes Sweet Holmes. ***

I remember very clearly seeing the first preview for Sherlock Holmes at the beginning of the year; it was an amazing trailer and the fact that Guy Ritchie and Robert Downey Jr. were working together made me very excited. Ritchie's last two entries weren't his strongest but as this film panned out, he's returned to better form with his latest enstallment, Sherlock Holmes.

This film begins with such a stunning energy and this doesn't surprise me because Ritchie's caper films (Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch) boast some very high energy antics and the director has revived Mr. Holmes with this energy. This high energy makes this a very fast moving film and at times this is hard to follow. The dialogue is full of wit and fun but sometimes the audience really has to sit and listen to know what exactly is going on and why; Ritchie has a hard time controlling this energy in this movie so some things may be lost in translation. There is good that comes out of this though; this makes this detective story fun and fast, with plenty of action to spare, and many more laughs along the way and the two leads are something to marvel at.

Robert Downey Jr. has a brilliant turn as Mr. Holmes in this film; he has such an uncanny wit and nailed down the whole antisocial attitude that Sherlock has always possessed, plus he's a blast to watch. His humour is fully utilized here and Jude Law only compliments this as Sherlock's counterpart, Watson. These two are so much fun together and both actors have brought new life into the franchise. Rachel Mcadams is always a treat and she does a good enough supporting role in this film even though her character gets stuffed under the shadow of the two leads almost every time she's in the movie. Downey Jr. has also brought a rough and toughness to Holmes as he's featured fighting in the film many times and when there's fighting it's very cool in this movie. Ritchie utilizes high speed camera many times in this film to catch the slow mo punches and excitement; this makes for gritty and exciting entertainment. Mark Strong as Lord Blackwood was decent enough; I felt that the director could've gone a little more into this awesome Holmes villian but he seemed like a mere puppet in this movie but he was done well enough to make a decent villian.

Overall this movie is a fun, upbeat, high energy, and also very dark turn by Guy Ritchie. Finally Sherlock Holmes isn't a fun kids story but it's a dark and mysterious franchise that has been breathed new life into. Downey Jr's. character was stellar and fun to watch and Jude Law did a fantastic job as well bringing two of the most beloved characters back to life. Lord Blackwood could've been more thought out and Ritchie could've layed the story out a bit clearer but what we get is a fun, cool, classy, mystery story made for pure entertainment and yes it was entertaining, but if you're looking for something a little more than fluff and fun then you might be disappointed. All I can say is, Holmes sweet Holmes, it's good to have him back.

Avatar: A beautiful Vision ****

This year was pretty decent for movies, once again we've had some masterpieces and we've had some heaps of crap but James Cameron wanted to end the year off with a massive entry into the film industry. It took him fifteen years to make this movie, as he had to invent the technology possible to make a movie like this and he'd promised some big things in the last couple of months. Now this film was hyped up pretty good and Cameron is good at hyping things up and he was just coming off of the biggest film ever made (Titanic) so how did this one measure up? Well let me say this film is something different and is a new kind of film that took me by surprise.

Avatar has a simple core story that is easy to follow, the story is the most lacking part of this film, it's so simple but at the same time Cameron manages to involve us emotionally so that we care what happens. He is a master of emotion and bringing emotion out of his characters and actors and here he does just that; this movie is filled with life and emotion, there are times where it's heartbreaking and gut wrenching but then there are times where you want to stand up and fight with these aliens because it's so epic in scale. Cameron approaches storytelling in a totally different way here though, he doesn't use dialogue to drive the story, but he uses his effects and the world he's created to tell the story and the 3-D element helps drive the story too. We have a classic story of humans expanding and endangering the Navi, and we have a classic villian who's just always badass, and we have a conflict that builds and builds until the exciting conclusion.

This movie is absolutly stunning; I've never seen special effects like this, the 3-D just immerses the viewer into this world, you feel apart of this world as you watch it, and this movie is pure imagination. Watching this film is like watching a moving piece of artwork, it's such a beautiful motion picture, frankly this movie could've had no story at all and crappy actors and I still would've watched it just because of it's beautiful colors, creatures, and environments. There are so many colors to wonder at, so many creatures to marvel at and the landscapes are truly breathtaking, there were times when my jaw hit the floor just because what I was watching was marvelous. The last 40 minutes features a massive fight between the humans and the Navi and this fight was amazing, breathtaking, and thrilling cinema, Cameron has delivered on multiple scales.

The acting was great, Sam Worthington was an excellent lead and the supporting actors were awesome as well, sci-fi great Sigourney Weaver was in this as well as some others and they all complimented each other greatly. Cameron used video logs to drive Worthington's character and I thought this trick worked great, it's something new, and it did drive the movie very nicely, the plot was predictable and the character's could've been a bit more dynamic, but they were easy to get attached to emotionally which is one of Cameron's big successes as a director. This movie had stellar action as well, the special effects are the best I've ever seen, and the fights were just huge, epic and breathtaking, everything you could ask for in a movie.

Overall this movie is extraordinary; it's huge and scale and exactly what we were waiting for and expecting from James Cameron. Sure the plot could be a bit better and the characters could be a bit better but this movie is a masterpiece in terms of technicality. The special effects were jaw dropping, the characters were beautiful, the environments were breathtaking, and the action was just awesome. Finally, Cameron has used his full imagination and we get to see it in action and it's beautiful, this movie is so captivating and fun to watch, this movie is a piece of art and a truly realized vision, it's a beautiful vision. What a great way to end the year.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon : Yawn...**

The Twilight Saga: New Moon has reached new popularity and has broken box office records (well the unimportant ones anyways) and has taken it's young stars to new levels but it comes in a package that is an improvement on the first movie but it still gets bogged down with it's major flaws which makes it a totally unmemorable movie.

Director Chris Weitz came on board the twilight train after the horrendous first movie was a sham in the view of the studios but people still loved it. The studio fired the first filmaker and hired a new one that has a great history in film; he's directed some classics like About a boy, The Golden Compass, just to name a couple, so I actually had high hopes for this one. The story with this film was way better than the first one; we have a firey love triangle and and emotional Bella as she contemplates losing her life because her beloved Edward left her and we also get to meet some nasty vampires (finally). It also takes us to new locations other than dumpy Forks, we go to Italy and see the lovely sun, and even spend a little time cliff jumping too. This movie was obviously visually more appealing than the first outing.

The special effects were one of the biggest improvements in this movie. The First Twilight the special effects were horrendous and laughable; it was like watching a really bad soap opera, that's how horrible the action and effects were but what we get here is much different. New Moon boasts some slick directing and awesome action and the special effects are beautiful, I could watch Jacob transform into a werewolf all day, it is noticable that the special effects were apart of the directors mind this time around. There wasn't enough action though, there is a sequence where Jacob is fighting his brother werewolfs and it begins but Bella runs off and we follow Bella and never see the end of the fight. I thought this was a little stupid but it's a very minor complaint. Overall this movie boasts some impressive effects and action.

The direction and plot of this film were very good, well as good as you can do with a story like Twilight, it was noticable that there actually was a skilled director behind the camera, the action was slick and thrilling, the vampires were a little darker and scarier, and some of the scenic shots in this film are beautiful. One of my favourite parts was a time lapse shot of Bella sitting in her room, as she sat the camera panned around her and when it reached the window there was a different season everytime, stuff like this really surprised me but the direction was a little sloppy in areas, there was stuff happening that I didn't know about and it just felt like a mess, I guess I have to read the book.

One thing that didn't improve and that killed this movie was the acting; it was horrible, Robert Pattinson had the weirdest expressions and was stumbling over his lines everytime, I couldn't even hear him sometimes, it was horrible. Kristen Stewart was actually worse than him though, she looked constipated throughout the film, she was mumbling her lines, she had no reaction to anything what-so-ever and I just didn't care about her mopy annoying character or lack of character. She was brutal. These two cannot lead a film, I'm sorry, but this film died and lost steam everytime these two shared the screen, there were times when they were having dialogue and I tuned out because I was embarrassed for them and I just didn't care about either of them because these two were brutal. Once again, no chemistry at all, this is not a romantic film at all and it feels like I'm watching an arranged marriage. The supporting roles were a nice surprise though, Taylor Lautner was a nice surprise, he played a dumb character but he had the fire and ferocity of it and he can actually act, there could be a nice future for him in film. Dakota Fanning was an awesome vampire (probably the best in the film), she was so creepy and awesome, and Michael Sheen as the head vampire was awesome, these people were a nice surprise in this film.

Overall, this movie wasn't horrible, the directing was decent, the action was thrilling, the special effects were awesome, but the acting just killed this movie for me and there were times when the direction was sloppy and things seemed everywhere, and for a romance this movie sucked simply because there wasn't any chemistry between the leads simply because they cannot act if their life depended on it. This movie just proves that if you're good looking people don't care how quality you are or if you're good at what you're supposed to be at, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart are nice looking therefore the world sees them as good actors. They aren't and it's a shame that they play these roles because without them, The Twilight Saga could've been a lot better. Oh well. I won't see this one again. Next...