Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows Movie Story Available Must Read It

It’s been two years since Guy Ritchie, Robert Downey Jr., and Jude Law teamed up to create a new vision of Sherlock Holmes. Stripped of his polish and refinement, Ritchie’s vision brought a new direction for the master detective, complete with a complicated bromance (a word I suspect Holmes would detest as much as I do) between Holmes and Watson. The real shame of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows Movie is that now, two years later, I couldn’t really remember my take on the film. I thought I liked it, but had to go back and read my own review as a reminder as to how I responded to the film – a picture I haven’t revisited since its 2009 release. Even the thought of a sequel didn’t compel me to revisit the original, just my own review.

While it may be a shame that I didn’t feel compelled to revisit the first picture, maybe that’s for the best. Ritchie’s sequel is a much stronger picture, building on the foundation of the original movie where Holmes’ eccentric behavior was established and taking that behavior a step further as Holmes (Downey Jr.) becomes obsessed with chasing down his nemesis, Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris). That obsession brings Holmes back into conflict with his buddy, as Moriarty sees Watson (Law) and his new bride as easy targets for retribution in the game between the criminal mastermind and the world’s leading detective.

Much like the 2009 picture, Ritchie brings an interesting visual style to the world of Sherlock Holmes. The style of the first picture was one of the things I really liked, giving a feeling of squalor in the streets of London at the same time as bringing the excitement of the upcoming Industrial age – an era Holmes certainly was willing to embrace. That design continues here with great effect. Even as Game of Shadows moves into the countryside and spends time among French gypsies instead of London commoners, the grungy, pulpy feeling pervades, making the visuals feel like they could easily have been ripped from a novel.

The rapport between Downey Jr. and Jude Law is once again at the center of the story, although Watson is a lot more supportive this time around and Holmes is a bit crazier, if such a thing were possible. Downey Jr.’s approach to Holmes feels like it’s cut from the same mad, pure energy that gave birth to Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow. Both characters are heroic, devoted to their individual pursuits, and carry an intellect that could be considered quite mad. Much like Depp’s Sparrow works for his franchise, Downey grounds the character enough that it fits into Ritchie’s dirty reality, although some of that comes from his relationship with Law’s Watson.

Poor Rachel McAdams doesn’t quite make the cut for Game of Shadows – a bizarre twist considering I felt like the primary purpose her character served was to set up a potential sequel. The actress is kind enough to appear in the first ten to fifteen minutes of this picture, giving her character’s story a sense of closure before the leading lady baton is tossed to Noomi Rapace, a gypsy fortune teller who is unintentionally included in both Moriarty’s plot and Holmes’s plan to expose the criminal. She isn’t a romantic interest for Holmes, which I think I like better; the character feels more complete without a romantic pursuit, and Rapace is a good match for her character – not as good a match as Stephen Fry, who puts in time as Holmes’s equally eccentric brother, Mycroft, and completely steals at least one of the scenes he is in.

Ultimately, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows Movie comes down to two pivotal relationships: Holmes and Watson, which was built excellently in the first movie and carries on well enough here, and Holmes and Moriarty, a brilliant symbiotic relationship between master criminal and master hunter. Every time Downey and Harris share the screen, the tension between their two characters becomes almost tangible. Unfortunately, that time on screen isn’t long enough, with the two characters kept separate by the plot for most of the story. Harris carries that tension with him whenever you see him – the frustration and excitement of being pursued by London’s best – but the same can’t quite be said of Downey, who has to spread his attention and energy to other matters and interactions over the course of the story. Still, it’s a stronger antagonistic relationship than Sherlock Holmes carried, and I almost wish they had brought Moriarty in sooner, or at least given the audience a more concrete feel for the character as played by Harris working behind the scenes there. What we get here is just too brief a treat.

There are still things about Ritchie’s portrayal of the leading detective that I don’t care for – the frenetic filming of some of the action, for example, but I think Game of Shadows is a much stronger film than its predecessor. Can Holmes and Watson endure another chapter? I hope so, but only if Moriarty or an equally compelling villain can play opposite Downey’s Holmes.

Story Of Arthur Christmas Movie Available

Arthur Christmas revolves around the current Santa Claus, his wife, his two sons Arthur and Steve, and their grandfather,Grand-Santa. Set on Christmas Eve night, the film opens with a set of elves sitting behind their computers in the command center of Santa's mile-wide[6], ultra-high-tech sleigh titled the S-1. While Santa and the elves deliver presents to children using fancy advanced equipment and military precision, Santa's oldest son Steve manages the operation at mission control, alongside his obsequious assistant Peter. However, his clumsy younger brother Arthur, who is assigned to handling childrens' letters in the maildepartment, inadvertently disrupts operations when he enters mission control to place some correspondence and a present falls out of the system as a result.

With the seventieth annual delivery mission under his official command completed, Santa, being far past his prime and whose role in field operations now is largely symbolic, returns to give a congratulatory speech to the elves. Much to Steve's frustration, who has long anticipated succeeding his father, Santa announces he intends to continue for the foreseeable future.

During their family Christmas dinner, Arthur's suggestion for the family to play a board game degenerates into a petty quarrel with Santa and Steve arguing about their right to be Santa while Grand-Santa, who is bored by retirement, resentfully criticizes his successors' modernization of their calling. Distraught, the various family members leave the dinner table, though Arthur stops Steve with a small gesture to reassure him that he will be a great Santa Claus. However, Steve rejects Arthur's overture, while at the same time their father shares his doubts with his wife about his self-identity if he retires.

In its espionage and secret-mission trappings, "Arthur Christmas" occasionally brings back memories of "Cars 2," which are not warm memories. But only occasionally. There's a wonderful supporting character along for Arthur's magic dust-fueled ride, a "wrapping operative" with an eyebrow piercing named Bryony (Ashley Jensen). This elf lives to gift-wrap, and the way she takes care of present-packaging and taping duties under extreme duress and time constraints becomes a lesson in sustaining a one-joke character.

Even when its storyline focuses on sibling rivalry or competing methods of yuletide maintenance, "Arthur Christmas" has the class not to devolve into constant bickering. Who knows? Perhaps the target audience will pick up a subliminal lesson or two in civility and kindness while trying to keep up with the onslaught of visual and verbal details.

Story Of Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked Movie Available

There is chipmunk gambling. There is seductive dancing by Chipettes wearing only towels. There is a musical gag involving the lyric “whip my tail back and forth.” How “Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked” ended up with only a G rating is a mystery.

Alvin, Theodore, Simon and the gal pals they picked up earlier in the franchise are back, and their human minder, Dave (Jason Lee), comes up with the not-very-bright idea of taking them on a cruise. (The Carnival line gets perhaps the largest product placement in film history.)

The whole gang ends up shipwrecked on a tropical island, along with the nefarious Ian (David Cross, who near the end delivers the film’s funniest speech) and lots of references to the Tom Hanks movie “Cast Away” that will elude the 5-year-olds in the audience.

The Chipmunks' pop song covers are meticulously arranged. Their fur is animated with care. Then Alvin makes a tween-baiting ''honey badger'' reference or slips into an ill-advised impersonation of a Latino thug (no, really), and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked reverts to nothing more than a cynical stab at grabbing kids' attention—and, more importantly, their parents' cash.

Also on the island is Jenny Slate (playing a character named Zoe), who may have been exiled there after using the worst possible swear word in her first show as a member of the “Saturday Night Live” cast in 2009. No swear words here; just harmless fun. A particularly nice touch: Some of the ’munks change personalities as a result of a spider bite. Alvin the Responsible? Believe it.

Noteworthy names provide some of the animated voices — Justin Long, Christina Applegate, Amy Poehler — though that money might have been better spent elsewhere. Once they’re run through the chip-erator, these familiar voices are of course unrecognizable.

At rare moments, you get the impression that some of the people involved in the movie actually put thought into their work. The Chipmunks' pop song covers are meticulously arranged. Their fur is animated with care.

In their third big-screen adventure, the gang -- which now includes three harmonizing chipmunks, three dance-happy Chipettes, and their harried father figure (Jason Lee) -- tries for a relaxing cruise and ends up scavenging for mangoes alongside a brain-fried castaway ("SNL" vet Jenny Slate).

Story Of The Muppets Movie Available

The Muppets Movie: The Original Soundtrack was released, and it's filled with songs from the movie, The Muppets! If you're wondering, yes, Jason Segel and Amy Adams did sing some of the songs with the Muppets of course! Overall, the soundtrack's genre leans towards show tunes and Glee-type songs. There are some songs within the album that make it so much more than that.

In addition to songs, there are tracks titled, "Muppet Studios, I Can't Believe It," "I Haven't Seen the Old Gang," "We Drive," "That Spells Reno," "Welcome Back," "Party of One," and "We Humbly Ask," that are sound bites from the movie itself. They were placed in between the songs and it seemed to fit well in that sense.

Drum roll... Jason Segel's 'debut' song, "Life's A Happy Song," is a very upbeat and happy track that will get children and adults both skipping around due to the bounci-ness and the lightheartedness of the song. Segel is joined by co-stars Amy Adams, Mickey Rooney, Walter, and Feist in the performance and recording of the track.

Most of the core plot is a direct rehash of "It's a Very Merry Muppet Movie", a film that is to "The Muppets" what Michael Mann's TV movie "L.A. Takedown" is to his feature crime epic "Heat". In both films, the Muppet Theater is in danger of being demolished when a ruthless business tycoon (a hilarious Joan Cusack in the former, a rappin' Chris Cooper now) ends up owning the place. The Muppets must rally together, clearing away the cobwebs of the past, and do a big show to save it. "Muppet Christmas" deviates heavily by focusing on Kermit's crisis of confidence via a prolonged "It's A Wonderful Life" segment - a portion of that otherwise overly cornball film that actually elevates it, even if it is a familiar retread of Frank Capra. "The Muppets", whether intentionally or not, is a familiar retread of the rest of "A Very Muppet Christmas" - right down to guest appearances by Whoopi Goldberg (a human Muppet if there ever was one).

Like "Scream 4" earlier this year, "The Muppets", unable to decide if it's a sequel or a reboot, ends up being a precarious version of both. The agreeably fun (and somewhat meta) story of Kermit, Fozzie, Miss Piggy and company returning from obscurity for a new shot at the big time keeps getting stopped in favor of more time spent with Segel (in wide-eyed doughboy mode all the way) and Walter (who logically should've been the central character in the story instead of Segel, but instead his part is yet more regrettable deadweight). Including Amy Adams as a star of a Muppet movie is a perfect no-brainer; too bad she doesn't get to do anything in this one. While Adams' presence is wasted, Segel's utter lack of dancing ability is painfully obvious in the big musical numbers he's placed himself at the center of. Disney, taking no chances with "The Muppets", and unable to ever decline a chance at crass cross-promotion, trots out Disney Channel stars for cameos, and dresses numerous background signage with distracting "Cars 2" and "Winnie the Pooh" imagery. (Hey everyone, guess what's new on Disney DVD??)

All that said and endured, you will still love "The Muppets". Heck, not all the new music is forgettable - Kermit's new tune "Pictures In My Head" tugs the heartstrings just as it should. Sharp-eyed fans will notice a lot of obscure Muppets we haven't seen in a long time. Do go see this film - you'll be voting at the box office for more Muppet movies. And who knows, maybe those will be better. As they say, someday they'll find it. The old gang is a little worn here, and Disney's choice of celebrity mending may not be the best, but it's still great to see the classic Muppets movin' right along again.

Read The Story Of Hugo Movie Available

Three cheers for Martin Scorsese, who has not only made Hugo Movie one of the most lovingly fanciful and heartfelt films of the year -- he has also pulled off the subversive trick of introducing a new generation of kids to the magic of silent movies.

And, to boot, he's implanted potentially millions of little minds with the seeds of consciousness about film preservation, one of his pet causes. Yet he does it all within the context of a family-oriented movie for kids -- in 3D, no less.

Having never read Brian Selznick's children's book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, I had a hard time imagining why Scorsese -- whose list of potential future projects would take him three lifetimes to complete -- would take the time, energy and imagination necessary to make a movie for kids. And in 3D, no less. But Hugo eventually reveals itself as an obvious choice for this ultimate film lover/historian.

The title character is Hugo Movie Cabret (Asa Butterfield), a pale-eyed kid who lives in an apartment secreted in the walls of the depot, circa 1931. His job is to keep all of the various clocks in the station wound and keeping accurate time. But he must maintain a secret existence from the officious and silly station inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen), who tosses unclaimed children into the local orphanage. Hugo's daily quarry is the small toy shop in the corridors of the train station, full of small wind-up toys and overseen by an elderly (and cranky) old guy (Ben Kingsley), referred to as Papa Georges by his goddaughter, Isabelle (Chloe Moretz), who lives with him and picks him up each day.

One day Papa Georges catches Hugo picking up a toy that has fallen on the floor and accuses him of being a thief. Hugo protests, emptying his pockets to prove his innocence and to avoid a threatened encounter with the station inspector. The old man finds a small notebook full of drawings and notations that ring a bell; when Hugo won't tell him where the notebook came from, Papa George confiscates it, to Hugo's horror.

Hugo follows him home, encountering Isabelle instead and making her promise to keep Papa George from burning it, as he's threatened. The notebook, it turns out, was left to him by his late father (Jude Law), a clockmaker who has left him, among other things, a silvery automaton. Hugo has been laboring to find gears and cogs to match his father's drawings in hopes of repairing the automaton and getting it to work.

Eventually Scorsese works his way to the world of silent films -- from the extraterrestrial fantasies of pioneering French filmmaker George Melies to the stunning visual imagination of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd. There are recreations of Melies' studio and clips from his earliest work, as well as moments that pay homage to Lloyd, Keaton and the famous photograph of an 1895 train crash.

The story here is about the timelessness of art and the carelessness of popular culture. Scorsese has the perfect vehicle to look at the notion of a contemporary society that tosses out the old to make way for the new, instead of venerating what has come before and recognizing that all art is, in effect, recycling and repurposing.

Visually, Scorsese is operating on all cylinders, aided in no small part by cinematographer Robert Richardson. Richardson's camera swoops and glides, starting with an astonishing shot that begins in the skies of Paris, soars down into the Paris train station, along the train platform, through the terminal, ending in a close-up of Hugo, peering out through a small window in a giant clock overlooking the main terminal below. It's the first of many amazing bits of camera trickery and innovation that blend actual images with computer-altered ones.

Scorsese is also one of the few directors who makes good use of 3D, the year's worst trend. His images of the Paris skyline make it look like an elaborate pop-up book -- and he also utilizes 3D in dialogue scenes to give his image a depth of field that would make Orson Welles drool with envy.

Hugo isn't perfect; in attempting to create a nearly wordless world of regulars who inhabit the train station, writer John Logan comes up with a weak romantic dalliance beween an elderly merchant (Richard Griffiths) and his age-appropriate counterpart, who runs a station eatery (Frances de la Tour). Too much of the Sacha Baron Cohen material is slapsticky in unimaginative ways, though Baron Cohen finds laughs even where few exist.

Butterfield is a likably vulnerable kid, a youthful hero not presented as being all-knowing or all-capable. He's physically bold but emotionally open, as is Moretz, as his eventual female sidekick. Kingsley is appropriately imperious, yet shows the cracks in this man's crusty exterior.

Hugo is transporting, a smart and imaginative treat that would make a great double-feature with Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist. Put it on your holiday movie list.

Watch Read Review Of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 Movie

We can talk about plot structure and narrative convention and whatnot in "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 movie," but let's cut to what fans of the franchise really want to know: Taylor Lautner takes his shirt off in the first five seconds of the movie.That's got to be some kind of record. And for the junior-high crowd, the ticket line forms over to the left.

THE Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 movie is the penultimate entry in the popular movie franchise based on Stephenie Meyer’s books.

Forget that the film is too long and not very exciting, that the dialogue is still as deadly as a vampire bite (sorry -- the lame writing must be contagious) and that some of it is SPOKEN BY WOLVES. Well, werewolves, but still. What makes these movies popular are the stars -- Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Lautner - portraying a sort of supernatural high-school fantasy romance, with fangs and claws. All are in evidence here.

"Breaking Dawn," like the rest of the series, is based on a Stephenie Meyer novel. But like the last "Harry Potter" installment, the "Twilight" literary swan song has been split into two films. With "Potter," it was probably justified in the end. With "Twilight," one movie would have been more than enough. Even director Bill Condon, who has made films like "Gods and Monsters," can't do much with it.

As the film begins, it's the day before the wedding for Bella Swan (Stewart) and Edward Cullen (Pattinson). Everything seems nice enough, though it's a little odd since the family of the groom is a bunch of vampires and all. And Bella is nervous, as one might expect an 18-year-old bride to be; a nightmare prevents her from getting the beauty sleep wedding planner Alice (Ashley Greene) insists upon.

But the big day goes off nicely. The wedding is beautiful, the setting - the Cullen's property -- gorgeous. Jacob (Lautner) shows up as a friendly gesture, to bid Bella farewell on her last night as a human, before Edward turns her into a vampire.

But wait -- that's not the kind of honeymoon Bella has planned. Instead, she wants the normal human kind, which Jacob warns will kill her. (Some assumed knowledge about vampire sex is evidently useful here; I'm in the dark.) But soon enough Edward and Bella are on a beach in Brazil, where headboards are shattered, that sort of thing. Edward is afraid he'll hurt Bella, but she'll have none of that hesitation.

And then, evidently against all odds, Bella gets pregnant. The baby - half-vampire, half-human - grows quickly inside her, draining her of nutrients; she begins wasting away. A debate about whether to have the baby never really rises above the "It's a fetus!" "It's a baby!" level, but Bella's stance is clear: She will have the baby, even if it kills her (and it seems certain it will).

For some reason a half-vampire, half-human baby threatens the werewolves (of which Jacob is one, on the off chance you're not on board with the story). So they have a heated argument while in wolf form about what to do, which ranks as the most ridiculous thing in the movie - at least until the fight scene later on.

This takes a long time to unfold. Mostly we watch Bella sit around feeling terrible. Edward comes up with a novel remedy, but it has drawbacks. Can Bella survive the birth? And isn't survival a relative term in this context?

After showing a little spark in "Eclipse," the previous film in the series, Stewart is back in mope mode. Pattinson again stands around looking pale and soulful, while Lautner gets to act more, which is maybe not such a good thing.

It all builds to a final scene that is actually somewhat powerful, particularly considering what's come before. But overall the film is goofy, slight, without a truly deep thought in its pretty little head. And for a movie with vampires and werewolves, the only scary thing is in the title - "Part 1," which means "Part 2" is on its way. Shudder.

Read Review Of The Muppets Movie Available..

The Muppets Movie: The Original Soundtrack was released, and it's filled with songs from the movie, The Muppets! If you're wondering, yes, Jason Segel and Amy Adams did sing some of the songs with the Muppets of course! Overall, the soundtrack's genre leans towards show tunes and Glee-type songs. There are some songs within the album that make it so much more than that.

In addition to songs, there are tracks titled, "Muppet Studios, I Can't Believe It," "I Haven't Seen the Old Gang," "We Drive," "That Spells Reno," "Welcome Back," "Party of One," and "We Humbly Ask," that are sound bites from the movie itself. They were placed in between the songs and it seemed to fit well in that sense.

Drum roll... Jason Segel's 'debut' song, "Life's A Happy Song," is a very upbeat and happy track that will get children and adults both skipping around due to the bounci-ness and the lightheartedness of the song. Segel is joined by co-stars Amy Adams, Mickey Rooney, Walter, and Feist in the performance and recording of the track.

Most of the core plot is a direct rehash of "It's a Very Merry Muppet Movie", a film that is to "The Muppets" what Michael Mann's TV movie "L.A. Takedown" is to his feature crime epic "Heat". In both films, the Muppet Theater is in danger of being demolished when a ruthless business tycoon (a hilarious Joan Cusack in the former, a rappin' Chris Cooper now) ends up owning the place. The Muppets must rally together, clearing away the cobwebs of the past, and do a big show to save it. "Muppet Christmas" deviates heavily by focusing on Kermit's crisis of confidence via a prolonged "It's A Wonderful Life" segment - a portion of that otherwise overly cornball film that actually elevates it, even if it is a familiar retread of Frank Capra. "The Muppets", whether intentionally or not, is a familiar retread of the rest of "A Very Muppet Christmas" - right down to guest appearances by Whoopi Goldberg (a human Muppet if there ever was one).

Like "Scream 4" earlier this year, "The Muppets", unable to decide if it's a sequel or a reboot, ends up being a precarious version of both. The agreeably fun (and somewhat meta) story of Kermit, Fozzie, Miss Piggy and company returning from obscurity for a new shot at the big time keeps getting stopped in favor of more time spent with Segel (in wide-eyed doughboy mode all the way) and Walter (who logically should've been the central character in the story instead of Segel, but instead his part is yet more regrettable deadweight). Including Amy Adams as a star of a Muppet movie is a perfect no-brainer; too bad she doesn't get to do anything in this one. While Adams' presence is wasted, Segel's utter lack of dancing ability is painfully obvious in the big musical numbers he's placed himself at the center of. Disney, taking no chances with "The Muppets", and unable to ever decline a chance at crass cross-promotion, trots out Disney Channel stars for cameos, and dresses numerous background signage with distracting "Cars 2" and "Winnie the Pooh" imagery. (Hey everyone, guess what's new on Disney DVD??)

All that said and endured, you will still love "The Muppets". Heck, not all the new music is forgettable - Kermit's new tune "Pictures In My Head" tugs the heartstrings just as it should. Sharp-eyed fans will notice a lot of obscure Muppets we haven't seen in a long time. Do go see this film - you'll be voting at the box office for more Muppet movies. And who knows, maybe those will be better. As they say, someday they'll find it. The old gang is a little worn here, and Disney's choice of celebrity mending may not be the best, but it's still great to see the classic Muppets movin' right along again.