Posted on

MOVIE REVIEW: Sherlock Holmes (2009)

Not suitable for children.

  • GENRE: Action
  • ACTORS: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong, Eddie Marsan, Kelly Reilly, Hans Matheson, William Hope, William Houston, Geraldine James

    • Sherlock Holmes

  • RATING: PG-13
  • PARENTAL NOTE: Not intended for younger children. There may be some profanity, but it is not prevalent. Some questionable situations and references to magic and the occult. There is almost (but not quite) brief nudity in a couple of scenes.1 Lots of violence, but not explicit nor gory. I don’t think watching this movie would harm older teenagers.
  • INTENDED AUDIENCE: This movie should have a broad appeal for viewers of an appropriate age.
  • GENERAL PLOT: (No spoilers) If you’ve read the Sherlock Holmes books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 – 1930), or seen other Sherlock Holmes movies, it’s best to pretend you haven’t. This movie is only loosely related to the book. I’ve always thought the detective, Holmes, was a more “dark” character in the books, than in earlier movies. He’s portrayed by Robert Downey Jr. as plenty “dark” in this film. Although there is reference to magic and the occult, I wouldn’t say that dark themes dominate the movie. Perhaps only dim themes, or grey themes. There are lots of twists and turns in the plot, but you never get the feeling that there is going to be any big surprise. There isn’t. After all, Sherlock Holmes always evades the criminals and solves the crime. That ingredient in books and previous movies has never changed.

    • Continue reading “MOVIE REVIEW: Sherlock Holmes (2009)”

  1. One of which is shown at the end of the video clip in the full blOg entry. ↩

Posted on

Johansson: Ingemar and Scarlett

Family resemblance or coincidence?

You may have noticed that two recent articles on this blOg mentioned the name “Johansson.” Scarlett Johansson is the actress in The Island (2005). Ingemar Johansson is the boxer to who knocked Floyd Patterson down seven times, in their championship boxing match in 1959. A reader wondered if they are related? I couldn’t find any reference connecting the two on the Internet. If they were related, I’m sure the kinship would have been reported somewhere on the world wide web.1

Anyway, for the skeptics, here is a side by side photographic comparison of Scarlett Johansson and Ingemar Johansson. Actually, I do see a bit of a resemblance. What do YOU think???

Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett Johansson. Apparently no relation to the heavyweight boxer, although they do have an uncanny resemblance

Ingemar Johansson (1932 - 2009), standing. That's Floyd Patterson, napping on the canvas. Johansson won the fight by a TKO in the 3rd round on June 26, 1959.



Vintage video clip of the 1959 fight follows… Continue reading “Johansson: Ingemar and Scarlett”

  1. This is just the sort of knowledge exchange that Al Gore had in mind when he invented the Internet ↩

Posted on

MOVIE REVIEW: The Island (2005)

The movie reviewed here is NOT for children, and also not for many other people who are not fans of this genre.

The Island
Scarlett Johansson as Jordan Two Delta
  • GENRE: Action / Science Fiction
  • ACTORS: Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Djimon Hounsou, Steve Buscemi, Sean Bean, Michael Clarke Duncan, Ethan Phillips, Brian Stepanek, Noa Tishby, Siobhan Flynn
  • RATING: PG-13
  • PARENTAL NOTE: Not suitable for children. Lots of violence. Killing and mayhem aplenty, though not really explicit “gore.” The chase scene shows a lot of “bad” guys being killed, and implies collateral deaths by bystanders.
  • INTENDED AUDIENCE: This movie is suitable for adults, though it may not be appreciated by those who are not fans of the genre.
  • GENERAL PLOT: (No spoilers) Futuristic look at a colony living underground in a contaminated world. They are waiting for a chance to win a lottery to go to “the Island”–the last unpolluted place left above ground, on Earth

    • Continue reading “MOVIE REVIEW: The Island (2005)”

image_pdfimage_print