One thing about being ill: you get lots of thinking time, between thoughts of “I wish my nose would stop being a faucet.” And, in my case, time for watching things. At this rate I’ll have more than 102 new movies by the end of the year! At this point, it’s either watch movies, sleep all day, or build a “murder house” in The Sims 2.
#5 – Sherlock, Season 2, Episode 03 – “The Reichenbach Fall” (2012)
Dir. Toby Haynes
Written by Steve Thompson
Stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Andrew Scott
The Reichenbach Fall is inspired by Arthur Conan Doyle’s original story, “The Final Problem,” in which Conan Doyle attempted to kill off Sherlock Holmes so that he wouldn’t have to write the detective’s adventures anymore. (His publishers, and swarms of letters from fans, changed his mind.) It’s eluded to in-episode, as Moriarty describes ‘our final problem,’ but I’ll try not to spoil too much (being that American broad audiences won’t see the episode for quite a while).
The episode has a distinctly different feel from the other episodes–which isn’t surprising, as it has both a different director and a different writer–but it still manages to keep hold of that distinctly Sherlock feel. The Reichenbach Fall is an emotional and tumultuous thing to watch, full of ups and downs, filled with great performances by all of the principle actors. Andrew Scott does an especially great turn as Moriarty in this one.
All that’s left is to beg Gatiss and Moffat to get started on the third season.
Rating: 5/5
#6 – Wild Target (2010)
Dir. Jonathan Lynn
Written by Lucinda Coxon
Stars Bill Nighy, Emily Blunt, Rupert Grint
Wild Target has a fairly simple premise. A hitman is ordered to take out a thief, but ends up falling in love with her instead. It’s based on a French film called Cible Emouvante, a fact I didn’t know before–but in hindsight, it makes a lot of sense. The film has a zany, quick, very French feel. Instead of being filled with existential French humor, however, it’s full of very dry and English tongue-in-cheek humor, an odd juxtaposition that takes a few minutes of watching the film to get used to.
Though it’s not exactly deep, Wild Target is both entertaining and cohesive–you never feel lost in the plot. The performances of the main cast are adequate. On the other hand, because it lacks anything beyond face value, I can’t see myself watching it again. But I didn’t regret seeing it the once, and that’s something.
Rating: 3/5
#7 – Earth (2007)
Dir. Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield
Narrated by James Earl Jones
A companion piece to the television series Planet Earth, Earth follows–among others–three families across the globe, through the change of seasons. Polar bears, elephants and humpback whales take the front seats, but many others are also featured. It’s full of the breathtaking photography that made Planet Earth such a success, and has the distinction of being the second-highest grossing nature documentary of all time. James Earl Jones’ warm narration propels you through the stories that make up the rest of life on this little blue planet.
In fact, by the end, I could really only level one complaint: tone. Earth starts off sweet and, though not optimistic, pleasant. But by the middle, the documentary swerves off into “everything is terrible forever” territory and then, by the end, tries to pick up back to its original sweet tone and doesn’t quite make it. Also, if you’ve seen or own Planet Earth, there’s no reason to really watch Earth, since most of it is featured with better focus in the series.
Rating: 4/5
