Contagion (2011)

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An ensemble cast telling the story of a fictional pandemic; essentially Survivors, but in 105 minutes instead of several TV series.  The cast are all fine, but because of the way the story is told they all punch way below their weight; not as well balanced as Ocean's 11 (also Steven Soderberg) or The Avengers.  Laurence Fishburne's character was the main focus I guess, where all the rest of the cast are very much fringe players, to the extent that they could almost be cameo performances.  The likes of Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Elliott Gould, Matt Damon or Gwyneth Paltrow just don't get much to play with.

 
As a scientist I am forever picking holes in what passes for science in the movies, but generally I thought that Contagion was alright.  Though I did wonder why it was too expensive to use Matt Damon's blood to identify his immune response while millions of people were dying.  Surely nothing is too expensive in that situation. Otherwise I think that everything else seemed legitimate enough, though I'm not a virologist. 

An interesting enough story without doing anything new, which is unfortunate because with a cast like this it could have been great.  Actually I thought the best part was right at the end when we saw Day 1 and how the virus started its human infection; though the fact that it was a bat-pig virus just made me think of the a rat-monkey a little too much.

Hugo (2011)

Hugo is the story of Hugo Cabret, an orphan who lives in the clock mechanisms in Gare du Nord in 1930s Paris. He is obsessed with a toy maker who has his stall in the station, and as the film progresses it becomes clear that this toy maker is none other than Georges Méliès the famous film director (played by Ben Kingsley). The film then becomes a quest to reignite Georges passion for film-making, and as such becomes a celebration of film.

Featuring quite an impressive cast including (as well as Ben Kingsley) Christopher Lee, Jude Law, Ray Winstone, Richard Griffiths, Chloë Grace Moretz, Emily Mortimer and Sacha Baron Cohen (yup, you heard right!), Hugo really conjures up the ambience of a bygone era of classic cinema, in a similar way to Cinema Paradiso. All the cast are great (yes even Baron Cohen), though for the most part are restricted to cameo appearances as regular features of railway station life. Rather the story concentrates on Hugo (a very mature performance from Asa Butterfield), Georges Méliès, and his goddaughter Isabelle (Chloë Grace Moretz).

This is not the kind of film I would normally associate with Martin Scorsese, there is none of the hard gritty feel of many of his films, Hugo is far more fantastical and none the worse for it. Super cast, some amazing special effects, a heartwarming story transporting you to a simpler time and intelligent direction from Scorsese as ever. I’m writing this almost four months after I saw the film, and it’s making me want to see it again.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)

Holmes and Watson are trying to solve another mystery; this time investigating what appears to be a series of unconnected bombings, but which eventually put them on the trail of Holmes' nemesis: professor James Moriarty. Just like last time, Holmes uses some very unorthodox approaches to solve the case, but unlike last time the banter between Downey Jr and Jude Law just isn't the same which I think made the whole film feel a little flat. Director Guy Ritchie made an effort to make this film even funnier than the last, but I don't think I really laughed once. No, sorry, the state that Watson turns up to his wedding in made me snigger; but this isn't funny or necessary:

Despite Holmes having to try and outsmart Moriarty, I just found the story quite boring. I don't know why, because thinking back it sounds like it should be quite exciting, but it just seemed to really trundle along. Perhaps I was spoiled by having seen BBC's Sherlock (fantastic btw), which also sees Sherlock pitted against Moriarty in the climactic episode; but unlike Game of Shadows it is superbly crafted, impeccably acted, and fascinating & intriguing from start to finish. There is quite a cool action set piece about 2/3 of the way through the film, as lots of heavy artillery are used to try and destroy Sherlock and Watson as they flee through some woods; however, the sequence felt a bit shoe-horned in rather than flowing naturally.

Noomi Rapace is interesting as the gypsy Madam Simza Heron, she is probably the most developed character in the film; having said that Jared Harris' portrayal of Moriarty is also very good. Stephen Fry makes an appearance as a rather eccentric Mycroft Holmes. Again, both Downey Jr and Jude Law are good, and as before Jude Law comes across better, I think because he doesn't have to force his performance as Downey Jr does. As in the first film, Victorian England (and a lot of Europe this time) looks super, apart from one "night" shot of a train which is very badly done; clearly filmed in broad daylight but filtered to look like night; it stuck out like a sore thumb and it just looked cheap.

Overall I thought that it was a tepid, drawn out adventure, which tried too hard to be funny and exciting, and fell short on both. Guy Ritchie's usual style is clearly on show, but the film lacks the razor sharp banter of some of his earlier work and indeed the first Sherlock film; and his dramatic fight scenes look like a sub-standard imitation of Zack Snyder's quick/slow/quick techniques. I came out of Game of Shadows thinking "Meh".

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are trying to solve a case involving some gruesome murders perpetrated by Lord Blackwood - a magician performing black magic. Lord Blackwood is caught and hung near the beginning, but is magically resurrected, thus consolidating his power. Of course, using his logical powers of deduction, and helped by the eminent Dr Watson, Holmes is able to solve the case and dispatch Lord Blackwood.

Robert Downey Jr. is good as Sherlock Holmes; he imports some of the cocky arrogance from Tony Stark into his character. This works really well as Sherlock is always so sure of himself. My only problem with Downey Jr is that when he is thinking/talking quickly - using his logical powers of reasoning - he mumbles a lot. Perhaps this is just part of him trying to do a British accent; but several times we had to put the subtitles on! Because of this I actually thought that Jude Law was better. He plays Dr Watson with understated cool. Though he is smitten by the woman in his life, Watson is pretty mean in a fight too. Mark Strong is good as the evil Lord Blackwood, but he doesn’t get the same opportunity to stand out as he does in Rock n Rolla.

"How dare you say I can't do a British accent!"

Guy Ritchie’s direction is pretty good too; perhaps not the convoluted plots of some of his gangster films, but some of the fights are very Ritchie-stylish. Victorian London also never looked so good. Hans Zimmer’s score is good without being spectacular. Overall I thought this was a pretty good film; entertaining, fun, the characters are classics, and are interpreted fairly well for a more modern audience.

Elementary my dear Watson; your hat is on too tight.