Melancholia - Coming Soon

Director - Lars von Trier

Main Characters
Justine - Kirsten Dunst
Claire - Charlotte Gainsbourg
John - Keifer Sutherland
Michael - Alexander Skarsgard

When I first saw the title for this movie, I thought we were in for an emotionally charged drama, which I still think we are, but this movie also falls under the category of science fiction.

Justine (Kirsten Dunst) is getting married to Michael (Alexander Skarsgard) at the home of her sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and brother-in-law John (Keifer Sutherland). Meanwhile, a planet that's been hiding behind the sun becomes visible. The planet is called Melancholia, and its heading straight for earth. As it gets closer, it sets off a destructive chain of physical and psychological events.

I think this is a terribly refreshing take on the end of the world story line. I mean, why do end of the world movies always have to have aliens, or huge explosions?

As for performances, Charlotte Gainsbourg is a favourite actress of mine since her portrayal of Jane in the 1996 production of Jane Eyre and I'm very much looking forward to seeing her in action again.

Kirsten Dunst has always been kind of a hit and miss actress for me. I loved her in Marie Antoinette and Mona Lisa Smile but simply could not stand her in the Spiderman franchise. Melancholia however, looks to me like its going to be a hit.

I'm very interested to see this movie. The trailer is very engaging, and I can only expect that the movie will live up to that. Although  there is no North American release date for Melancholia as of yet Magnolia Pictures has picked up the movie for release in Canada and the US. I'll post an update as soon as we get a release date confirmed.

Love Wedding Marriage - Coming June 3, 2011

                                                        

Director - Dermot Mulroney

Main Characters

Eva - Mandy Moore

Charlie - Kellan Lutz

Eva's Mom - Jane Seymour

Eva's Dad - James Brolin

Mandy Moore is one of my top 5 favourite romantic comedy actresses, and stars in some of my very favourite movies like Because I Said So, A Walk to Remember and License to Wed. I'm positive that Love Wedding Marriage will be another enjoyable romantic comedy for Moore.

Eva (Mandy Moore) is living the life that most young women dream of. She's got a great career, parents still together, and a fairy tale wedding. But as these movies always go, things start to go wrong. As a marriage counselor, Eva focuses on helping other people, probably with a view to helping them attain what she thinks she has, but no relationship is easy. As Eva's parents (James Brolin & Jane Seymour) prove when they announce that they're getting a divorce. Well, if the trailer is any indication, Eva's mother wants a divorce. Her father seems far from on board with the idea.

While Eva uses her expertise to try and save her parents' marriage, she begins neglecting things with her new husband Charlie (Kellan Lutz) and just like that, two relationships hang in the balance.

Jane Seymour's foray into romantic comedy scene in Wedding Crashers a few years ago was thoroughly amusing, and I expect her performance here to follow suit. I'm not familiar with much of James Brolin's work, but it looks like hes going to be comfortable fit in the cast.

Kellan Lutz is a name I heard for the first time when preparing for this post, apparently another young star I missed because of my lack of interest in the Twilight series. I can't really speculate on what I think his performance will be like, but I can't say I have any real concerns. Even if the performance is terrible, we do get to see some great shirtless shots of him.

Looks like another solid romantic comedy, if completely cookie cutter.

Love Wedding Marriage will be Dermot Mulroeny's first directing gig. You'll recognize his from performances in My Best Friend's Wedding and Friends. I've always liked Mulroney as an actor, and if his directing instincts are as good as his acting instincts, its another mark in favour of this movie.

Larry Crowne - Coming July 1, 2011

Director - Tom Hanks

Main Characters
Larry Crowne - Tom Hanks
Mercedes Tainot - Julia Roberts

Although Tom Hanks' directing credits include some movies that I've really enjoyed and have done very well like Band of Brothers, That Thing You Do and A League of Their Own, I'm far from being sold on this movie.

I mean, the plot obviously is something that a lot of people will be able to relate too. Its no secret that many people who have been downsized, as Tom Hanks' character Larry Crowne has been in this movie have decided to go back to school to try and jump start their lives. Also, Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks have always been favourite actors of mine. That being said, I'm just not sure that this movie is going to be something I'm going to enjoy. The trailer leaves me with a feeling of, 'I'm gonna wish it was better.' Anyways, back to the plot, Roberts plays Mercedes Tainot, a teacher in one of Larry's classes, who he develops a crush on, and the romance and comedy flows from there, I guess.

Then again, I really feel like I'm not in the demographic of people that this movie was produced for. Lets face it, Hanks and Roberts aren't young anymore, and that's obviously going to reflect in the roles they take on going forward.

I think people that are in a similar situation to the characters in this movie will find it enjoyable because of the relate-ability factor, but for the rest of us? I just dunno if its going to fly. Its already clear that the all important opening weekend at the box office is not going to do any favours for this movie, as it opens the same day as Michael Bay's much anticipated Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the third installment of the Transformers franchise. I think the only hope for this movie to do well over-all will be strong word of mouth from people who do see it, and hopefully solid DVD sales later on.

X-Men: First Class - Coming June 3, 2011

Director - Matthew Vaughn

Main Characters
Professor Charles Xavier - James McAvoy
Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto - Michael Fassbender

Of course there are a lot of other characters in the upcoming X-Men: First Class that would certainly be considered 'main', however, the heart of this story is the loss of friendship over differing opinions between Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr.

In this prequel, we will finally get to learn the story, much alluded to in he other X-Men movies of the falling out of Xavier and Lehnsherr, who were once best friends. The movie is set in 1963 when Charles (James McAvoy) starts up the famous school for 'Gifted Youngsters' that we've become so familiar with. Of course, we know that the ultimate argument between Charles and Erik (Michael Fassbender) is whether mutants should try to combat the ignorance that causes normal people to fear them, or if they should use their special abilities in combat.

Along with some new characters, there are a couple of familiar characters appearing in X-Men: First Class, such as Mystique and Beast.

I've no doubt that this will be another action packed X-Men story, like those we've come to expect and love.

Big Names Protest VOD Deal With Studios

A few months back, I was asked to take a survey online about a 'company' that was in the process of rolling out a Video On Demand system that allowed you to rent movies while they were still in the theatre, but that's the last I heard about it, until now.

According to insiders, Warner Bros., Fox, Sony and Universal are all on board with DirectTV to roll out this service by late next month, with Comcast and VUDU following close behind. The movies will be available for $29.99, 60 days after the theatre release date. The current standard is twice that.

Theatre owners are concerned that this availability will hurt their bottom line. On Wednesday, the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) released an open letter criticizing this deal. Some of the big names that have signed this letter are, Michael Bay, James Cameron, Guillermo del Torro and Peter Jackson.

Personally, I'm all for the VOD options, especially being a movie blogger. There are just too many movies to see, way too many, and the cost to see a movie in the theatre is crazy! The article that I'm getting my information from says that the average cost of a movie ticket is $8.00?!?! I'd sincerely like to know where whoever wrote that article is going to see their movies. Where I live, there is one theatre where you can see a movie for $8.00. It only has 4 screens, drastically cutting down on the variety of movies they are able to show at any given time. Besides that, the concessions are very very limited, and the chairs are extremely uncomfortable.

My boyfriend and I prefer to go to our local AMC theatre when we want to go see a movie. The tickets cost $13.00 each, and another $5.00 each if we want to see something in 3D or IMAX. On top of that, my boyfriend CANNOT go to a movie without getting popcorn and a drink. That's another $8.00 or so. Plus, we don't drive, therefore we're looking at a $20.00 cab ride, each way. So we're looking at easily $70 to $80 for one movie for us. So the $29.99 price tag for VOD movies is looking pretty nice to me. If we were to see 3 movies on demand rather than going to the theatre, we've saved $120.00. That's enough to see 4 more movies on demand, but would only cover 1 more trip to the theatre.

The Studios are definitely looking at their bottom line, and I personally think they're on to something. For me, what inevitably ends up happening, is we see 'the epics', as I like to call them in the theatre. Clash of the Titans, Avatar, Fast and Furious, Inception and Alice in Wonderland to name a few. But the dramas, romances and romantic comedies get left out, partially because when we go out to the movies as a couple, we try to see something we're both going to enjoy for the money we spend. That automatically rules out a lot for my man. Also, because there are so many movies released each year our theatre going decisions are based on whether a movie has enough special effects to be worth seeing on the big screen. So in the end, most of the movies that I as a woman, and a hopeless romantic, am interested in seeing end up being put on the back burner, waiting until they come out on DVD or sometimes even waiting til they air on television. This leads to me missing a lot of movies that I wanted to see altogether.

This is how I see this going for my household when and if this service becomes available where I live. Movies franchises like, Batman, Superman, Transformers, Star Trek, Pirates of the Caribbean, etc. will always be theatre going experiences for us. There's just no way to get the same experience from watching it at home. But upcoming movies that I'm looking forward to seeing like, The Help, The Tree of Life, and Crazy Stupid Love will be every bit as enjoyable to watch from the comfort of my own couch on our 42" flat-screen TV.

Apparently, Theatre owners are planning to retaliate by limiting their movie's trailers and in-building signage. Um, have you guys heard of imdb.com and youtube.com? I really don't think that's going to have the impact they're looking for. The way see it, the studios have gone to a lot of legal trouble to get as far as they have with this plan, and the theatre owners are just mad that they succeeded.

What do you think about this deal? Do you think there's room for negotiation between the studios and theatre companies? Will you pay $29.99 to watch a movie at home 60 days after the theatre release?

Jane Eyre

Director - Cary Fukunaga

Main Characters
Jane Eyre - Mia Waikowska
Edward Fairfax Rochester - Michael Fassbender
Mrs. Fairfax - Judi Dench
St. John Rivers - Jamie Bell

Jane Eyre has been one of my favourite books since I was a teenager, and I've read it more than a few times. I've also seen several of the dozens of productions of this title.

For me, the only thing that could have really ruined this movie, was failure to embody the atmosphere of the novel. When I saw BBC in the opening credits, my mind was put at ease.

Mia Waikowska gave, in my opinion a perfect performance of the Jane Eyre that I've rooted for every time I've read Charlotte Brontë's classic novel. She was sufficiently unassuming, but still had that subtle strength of character that Jane is supposed to possess. Sure, she may have been inexperienced with men, but that didn't mean she was going to cower before them, or let them push her around.

Edward Rochester was played by Michael Fassbender, a name previously unknown to me, as most of the well known movies he's appeared in have not had enough interest for me to see, or have simply been entirely out of my taste range. I definitely will not hold this against him. I thought his performance as Edward Rochester was flawless, adding a little more youth than Timothy Dalton's portrayal, and a little less abruptness than William Hurt's. I enjoyed getting to see a little more of a sense of humour apparent in this version of Mr. Rochester. Obviously a tortured soul, it was easier to see that in spite of his bitterness with his lot in life, that he was still yearning for love and real compantionship. Fassbender has four more movies scheduled to be released this year and two next, including X-Men: First Class where he will be taking on the role of Erik Lehnsherr aka Magneto.

Even before this remake of Jane Eyre I always kind of pictured Judi Dench as Mrs. Fairfax. Apparently someone agreed with me. Her portrayal of the house keeper was the words of the novel personified. Kindly, talkative when she felt she was with her equal, but with the appropriate amount of gravity, obviously knowing somewhere in the back of her mind that something in Mr. Rochester's household was not quite what it should be.

This version of Jane Eyre is now tied for my favourite with the 1996 version starring William Hurt as Mr. Rochester and Charlotte Gainsbourg as Jane. This version left out a couple of scenes that to me were key to the story. One being during her stay at Lowood, the other while Rochester was entertaining the party at Thornfield Hall. But to be honest by the end of the movie, I didn't care at all.

One omission that is bothering me, even still is the glaring absence of a character named Miss Temple. In the book, Miss Temple was a teacher at Lowood for Jane's entire stay. This character was the only kind adult figure at the school, for the girls in general, but was even more special to young Jane. Miss Temple was Jane's first experience of kindness from an adult in her young life, and I've always thought that she was very important in Jane's developing into the young woman that left Lowood years later.

That being said, to me, one measure of a great movie and great performances is if you feel along with the characters, especially if you know exactly what's going to happen and how the story is going to end even before the opening credits role, and that I undoubtedly did. I smiled, I got misty eyed, my heart ached and soared, in spite of the fact that I knew what was coming all the way through. I'm so glad this movie was re-made......again. It is after all hard to go wrong with the classics. I look forward very much to adding this movie to my DVD collection.

The Help - Coming August 12, 2011 (US)

Director - Tate Taylor

Eugenia 'Skeeter' Phelan - Emma Stone
Aibileen Clark - Viola Davis
Minny Jackson - Minny Jackson

The Help is based on a best selling novel by Katheryn Stockett of the same name, and if you watch carefully when you go to see it, you can see her in the audience of what I'm guessing is Church.

Its no secret that there were many many injustices suffered by people of colour in the United States even 100 years after the end of the Civil War in 1865. The Help, set in the 1960s explores some of the injustices that were still rampant. To quote Eugenia 'Skeeter' Phelan, played by Emma Stone, who is quickly becoming one of my favourite young actresses in Hollywood: "These women raise white children. We love them and they love us but they can't even use the toilets in our houses." That was a harsh reality in many places in the south, like Jackson Mississippi where The Help is set.

Eugenia is a young woman who lands a job writing for The Jackson Journal and decides she wants to write an article from the viewpoint of 'The Help'. Of course, the people that fall under the category of 'The Help' are reluctant to open up at first. The opinions these women had about the people they worked for was, for obvious reason, kept between themselves. The term 'smile and nod' was very apt. But eventually, Aibileene Clark (Viloa Davis) and Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer) start the ball rolling, and soon 'Skeeter' has enough material to write a book. A book which causes quite the stir in her home of Jackson.

This looks like it will be a thoroughly enjoyable movie, one that will make people think and hopefully remember.

A Quote from Katie Couric's notebook on April 12;
"In a new poll, 48 percent of American's said the Civil War was mainly about states' rights, and just 38 percent said it was about slavery. Time clearly works like a Mederma for the mind...fading an ugly scar of truth."

I don't think that these scars should fade, for 'those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.'

I think movies like The Help are as important to the human condition as movies like Fast Five are to the bottom line, and I hope very much that people like Katheryn Stockett will continue to write books like this, directors like Tate Taylor will continue to work on projects like this, and actors like Emma Stone will continue to see how important it is to tell these stories, even 150 years after the start of the US Civil War, and 50 years after the time when stories, like that told in The Help were everyday life for many.

Of course, you can expect that this story will have a happy ending, and I would assume, that although The Help is a work of fiction, there were probably many stories of courageous people who were willing to stand up and share the truth. We have come a long way as far as civil rights here in the western world since the 1960s, and how could that have happened without people willing to speak up and dispel the ignorance that many seemed so content to live in?

This movie is very high on my 'to see' list.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - Coming May 20

Director - Rob Marshall

Main Characters
Jack Sparrow - Johnny Depp
Angelica - Penélope Cruz
Barbossa - Geoffry Rush
Blackbeard - Ian McShane

I'm really looking forward to this fourth installment of the Pirates franchise. In Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, we catch up with Jack (Johnny Depp) in search of the fabled Fountain Of Youth. Oh Jack, does your ambition have no limits?

There has been some speculation as to how successful this movie will be, since Keira Knightly and Orlando Bloom will not appear this time. Here's how I see it. Bono IS U2, Phil Colins WAS Genesis and Sting WAS  The Police. Jack Sparrow IS Pirates of the Caribbean. As far as I'm concerned, as long as Jack Sparrow can find some new mayhem, you've got yourself a movie.

Rejoining the cast of this installment of Pirates of the Caribbean are Geoffry Rush as Captain Barbossa and Keith Richards as Captain Teague, also incidentally Jack's father.

Joining the cast are Ian McShane and Penélope Cruz, playing Blackbeard and his daughter Angelica, Jack's competition in the race to find the fountain of youth. Oh, and did we mention that Angelica is also an old flame of Jack's? That should make for some witty banter, don't you think?

My most recent exposure to Ian McShane was in the made-for-TV mini-series The Pillars of the Earth where he played the ambitious and devious Bishop Waleran. Besides having the perfect dark looks to play a character like Blackbeard, seeing his performance as the Bishop leaves me with little doubt that his performance will more than live up to the legendary tales of the fearsome Blackbeard.

Penélope Cruz as daughter to Blackbeard and maybe, maybe not love interest to Jack seems like a pretty safe choice. I think its going to be pretty hard to go wrong there.

Rob Marshall is the director of On Stranger Tides. As director of such titles as Memoirs of a Geisha, Chicago and Nine, for me its seems like a bit of a departure from his previous work, however that in no way causes me any concern as to whether this movie will be a huge blockbuster. That's because there is another name attached to this movie, as he has been to the previous three Pirates movies. Someone who I consider to be the King Midas of show business. I've yet to see a movie or TV show that had Jerry Bruckheimer's golden touch that I didn't thoroughly enjoy and wasn't more than comfortably successful. Even if I'm not sold on the story line, if I learn that Bruckheimer is involved, my mind is pretty much changed.

Abduction - Coming September 23, 2011

Director - John Singleton

Main Characters
Nathan - Taylor Lautner
Karen - Lily Collins
Mara - Mario Bello
Dr. Bennett - Sigourney Weaver
Frank Burton - Alfred Molina

In the upcoming movie Abduction we see another star risen out of The Twilight Saga, Taylor Lautner taking steps past his first major role.

When I first read the short synopsis for this movie on imdb.com it reminded me very much of a book that I loved reading when I was around 13 or 14 called The Face on the Milk Carton. It tells the story of a high-school girl, who after stealing a carton of milk from a friend in the cafeteria, sees her own baby picture on the missing person's side of the carton. From there begins her journey to finding out that the people who she had been calling mom and dad were in fact her grandparents who were raising their daughter's little girl. Then she finds out that her 'parents' were not even her grandparents, as they believed, but that their troubled daughter had kidnapped a child from a shopping mall over a decade ago, and told her parents the baby girl was her own.

But on further exploration, and viewing the trailer, I've discovered that the Lautner movie, although starting with a similar story line, branches off very quickly into something more sinister and action packed. After a classmate finds Nathan's picture on a missing person's website, (how far we've come from milk carton pictures) the story quickly accelerates. His so called parents are obviously working for some secret agency, Maria Bello playing Mara, Nathan's mother, shows some considerable butt kicking abilities in the trailer when the police show up at the 'family' home to ask about her son.

From there, its apparent that nothing is as it seems, as Nathan goes on the run from Frank Burton, played by Alfred Molina, while trying to piece together the real picture of his now shattered life. Dr. Bennett shows up somewhere along the way played by Sigourney Weaver, claiming she was a friend of Nathan's father, his real father.

Burton, the man that seems solely responsible for tracking down Nathan even calls him 'an asset' at one point. My guess is some kind of genetic engineering as a baby? It would explain how a person that seemed to be nothing more than a normal teenager, if feeling some what awkward and out of place in his life, so yeah, a normal teenager, suddenly sheds all the confusion of finding out nothing in his life is real and turns in to the kicking, fighting, fast driving action hero of his own life.

I guess we'll see how it goes. The story line seems solid, with enough mystery to draw one in, and with several other well respected, if more mature names in the cast, I'm not especially concerned that the acting will be lacking. I'm going to have to go into this movie at a completely neutral position and decide how I feel after I see it.

Midnight In Paris - Coming June 3, 2011

Director - Woody Allen
Main Characters
Inez - Rachel McAdams
Gil - Owen Wilson
Muse - Marion Cotillard
Paul - Michael Sheen

There's not a lot I can say about the plot of this movie beyond what you see in the trailer. I'm not jumping out of my seat to go see this one, even in spite of my love for romantic comedies and Rachel McAdams. It just feels like its going to be one of those movies where you hear the story line, and see the cast and think, well this should be good, but still walk away disappointed, but not exactly sure why.........

Also appearing in the film are Kathy Bates and Adrien Brody.

Although Woody Allen is a very well known name in the industry, in looking through his list of Directing credits, I saw a whole lot of movies that I haven't seen, and a few that I had seen but didn't really like. Maybe he's just not my kind of director.

The Tree of Life - Coming May 27, 2011

Director - Terrence Malick
Main Characters
Jack - Sean Penn
Mr. O'Brien - Brad Pitt
Mrs. O'Brien - Jessica Chastain

In looking at the poster and trailer for The Tree of Life its pretty easy to see that this film is intended to take the viewer on a very real journey, and its a journey that I personally am very interested to go on.

Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain play Mr. and Mrs. O'Brien, parents to a boy named Jack. At first, everything seems marvelous to the young Midwestern boy, but isn't that supposed to be the way of childhood? As Jack grows, The O'Brien's very different outlooks on life and how things work come to the fore, and in trying to instill their values in their son, they end up contending with each other for the boy's allegiance. Jack's mother represents the way of love and mercy, while his father tries to teach him that in the world at large, the way to go is to put yourself first. Jack is left to try and reconcile the opposing claims of each of his parents. While still a child, Jack experiences the loss of innocence.

From here we follow Jack as a man played by Sean Penn. Jack is 'a lost soul in a modern world' and as the movie progresses toward the end, we get to follow the journey that will lead him to the rest of his life.

I have a little doubt that this is going to be a visually, and emotionally stimulating movie, obviously meant to touch a special place in the heart of the watcher.

The Rise of the Planet of the Apes - Coming August 5, 2011 (US)

Director - Rupert Wyatt
Main Characters
Will Rodman - James Franco
Caroline - Freida Pinto
Caesar - Andy Serkis

After seeing the 2001 version of Planet of the Apes, I've wondered, for 10 long years I've wondered if there would be a sequel. When I heard about Rise of the Planet of the Apes, I thought my questions had been answered, only to find that Rise is not a sequel at all.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes will follow the mythology of the original story, adding some updates. There will be adjustments to fix weaknesses in the original 1970s series. Besides that, the fact that we have come so far in our knowledge of apes, and grown leaps and bounds in the area of special effects, even since the 2001 version, Rise promises to be the best of what we already know of the Planet of the Apes movies, and better.

James Franco plays Will Rodman, a man who is experimenting with genetic engineering in hopes of finding a cure to Alzheimer's. These experiments obviously lead to extraordinary intelligence in the apes, causing an all out war for supremacy.

The passionate, but misguided guy trying to do something great is not a new role for Franco. In fact, for me, it strongly resembles his role in Spiderman 2. Although previously, I had considered Franco to be a decent actor, if falling short of great, performances in the past year have made me wonder if maybe I wasn't giving quite as much credit as he truly deserved. With an Oscar nod last year for his role in 127 Hours I guess maybe I'll have to adjust my view of him. I only hope his performance in Rise will live up to my altered expectations.

Freida Pinto, best known for Slumdog Millionaire plays Caroline, possibly Rodman's love interest in the movie? The trailer doesn't reveal a lot about this character, but it seems pretty obvious to me that she tries to act as some kind of moral compass for Rodman, as she sees the possibility that things could go way out of control.

Andy Serkis, undoubtedly best known for his role as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, as well as the upcoming production of The Hobbit will be playing Caesar the ape who changes the course of history, for humankind and his kind alike. After playing a character like Gollum, I'm pretty sure being believable as an ape will be absolutely no problem for Serkis. Of course, there's also the fact that he is credited with the role of Kong in the 2005 remake of King Kong. This role however will surely be more difficult than his previous foray into the actions of an ape, due to the fact that there is supposed to be a lot more intelligence behind the character of Caesar than that of Kong.

Finally, the special effects. WETA, the special effects house responsible for Avatar is handling the effects for Rise of the Planet of the Apes. (Am I the only one finding the full name of this movie annoying to type, think and say?) Even in the 2001 version, the special effects left quite a bit to be desired, but if the trailers are any indication, this won't be a problem this time around. It'll be nice to be able to really get into the story with out the distraction of awareness of how fake the apes look.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows - Coming December 16, 2011 (Canada)

Director - Guy Ritchie
Main Characters
Sherlock Holmes - Robert Downey Jr.
Dr. Watson - Jude Law
Irene Adler - Rachel McAdams
Professor Moriarty - Jared Harris

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find a REAL official trailer for this movie, although quite a few uploads to youtube are claimig to be just that. I'll post one a little later once it comes out.

I was really pumped when I heard they were making Sherlock Holmes into a big budget motion picture in 2009, and even more so when I heard who was cast. My only reservation was whether the movie would be true to the atmosphere, and reality of the classic novels. I'm referring to the fact that although there always seemed to be something going on that defied reality, and spoke to the uneducated of being supernatural, Holmes and Watson were always able to prove, beyond any doubt that everything that had happened could be explained. I was worried that to try and ensure a good profit for the movie, they would add in some elements of the paranormal or supernatural. I was extatic that my concerns were unfounded. The first movie was awesome for me, I especially enjoyed the way Guy Ritchie filmed the sequences where you get a peek inside the mind of Holmes as he's working something out.

I have just as high hopes for the upcoming Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. With Downey Jr., Law and McAdams all reprising their roles from the first movie, there is no concern about the performances. With the addition of Holmes' arch nemesis Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris), the story line promises to be at least as strong as the first installment. Also joining the characters is Holmes' brother Mycroft Holmes played by Stephen Fry who voiced The Cheshire Cat in 2010's Alice in Wonderland.

Although A Game of Shadows isn't based on any one particular Holmes story, and will follow an original story line, it is said that the script was inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's, The Final Problem which is the first time Professor Moriarty was featured in a Holmes novel.