Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Beautiful Homes

My mother really likes Sherlock Holmes. And I'm not sure she's been to a movie in almost two years - with my dad being ill and then you know, dying.

Actually, possibly one of the last movies my parents saw was Guy Richie's version of Holmes with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. How horrible for my parents. I'm 99% sure it didn't resemble anything Holmes-y.

So on Sunday, 710 and myself took my mom to see Mr. Holmes.

We had seen previews a month or so ago and I wanted to go anyways, but with it being 90F out, I thought it might be a break from the heat and her normal cooking for the family - as 710 and I also took her out afterwards for dinner.

True to form - an opening weekend with a Sir Ian McKellen (or any art house film) - the blue-haired crowd was out in droves. For the longest time I was the youngest person in the theater - and one of the few without a 'wrap', in case one caught a chill - until a group of three teens walked in. We assumed a grandparent dragged them there.

In this version, Holmes deals with an aging self, now in his 90s. Still with three somewhat interwoven storylines, one going back 30 years, Bill Condon, the director, weaves them back and forth quite nicely. The interspersed stories will eventually tie into the others - all being "mysteries" of some sort.

McKellen does a nice enough job. He is well-paced and mindful in terms of his detective work, his home and his hobbies. His kinship with his housekeeper's son seems natural and not forced in the slightest.

Laura Linney, always does a fine job, though save for a scene or two, she is very very understated (both McKellen and Linney have been in Condon films before - Gods and Monsters and Kinsey, respectively). For most of this movie, she's almost too reserved, but she has her moments.

I enjoyed the performance of the boy who played Linney's son. I thought he did quite well.

The only other known actor (to me) was France de la Tour (Harry Potter, Hugo, Into the Woods and start in the tv show Vicious with McKellen). She was fine and I kind of laughed at her fourth billing when she's in the film for maybe a total of 120 seconds.

Still Condon did a nice visual shoot with the film - as he usually does. The film was low-key, which you'd sort of expect, but had some very nice moments.

Most of all, my mother seemingly enjoyed it, though I think she just liked getting out and doing something different - and then getting margaritas with us afterwards. That was unexpected. A Bloody Mary or Vodka tonic maybe. Tequila? That was something I'd never seen my mother do.

I'm not sure this will win any awards, but I'd give Mr. Holmes a solid B+



2015 Movie Count / Goal:  9 of 12


Song by: Chris Isaak

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