Cast and Crew - Russian adaptation of Sherlock Holmes

This is my second post about the Russian adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, directed by Igor Maslennikov and starring Vasily Livanov and Vitaly Solomin as “Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson”.

Please click here to read my earlier post.

Rina Zelyonaya brings out the motherly and patient nature of the long-suffering landlady of the Bohemian detective. A nice touch is that Mrs Hudson is much smarter than the canonical one and is able to make a few deductions of her own.

Boris Klyuev makes a truly classy Mycroft, whose skills of observation and deduction exceed those of even Sherlock. He is bit on the leaner side, but nonetheless cuts a very commanding figure.

Boris Klyuev as Mycroft Holmes

 

Borislav Brondukov brings down the house with his portrayal of Inspector Lestrade. He is probably the best Lestrade ever in terms of physical appearance: small, rat-faced and sly. Where Borislav excels is the spirit and cheer that he imbues in his depiction of the famous Scotland Yard detective.

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Igor Maslennikov, the director of this TV series, has done a stupendous job. He completed his education in Journalism from Leningrad University in 1954. He has worked as editor, script writer, cameraman and director in a career spanning more than 30 years.

Igor Maselnnikov, the director

Maslennikov's work on this adaptation of Sherlock Holmes brought him well-deserved recognition and success. Maslennikov's passion and reverence for Sir Doyle's works are evident in the aesthetically done opening credits as well as the costumes, sets and the casting choices. It would have taken considerable efforts from the director and his crew to recreate Victorian England in Russia. Hats off to the entire team and especially Maslennikov for helming such a wonderful and elegant adaptation of Sherlock Holmes.

He is ably assisted by Vladimir Dashkevich, whose music takes the series to a whole new level. His music is an instant classic, in every sense of the word.

Vladimir Dashkevich, the music composer

The Russian adaptation of Sherlock Holmes is a perfect marriage of great ensemble acting, a classic soundtrack and impeccable direction.

Click here to read all my posts about the Russian adaptation of Sherlock Holmes.

Image Source: Lenfilm Film Studio

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Hellboy (2019) Trailer - Review/Reaction

The long awaited trailer for the Neil Marshall directed Hellboy movie was released recently. This is a reboot with David Harbour taking over the mantle of the titular superhero from Ron Perlman.

Joining David Harbour are Ian Shane (replacing John Hurt) as Professor Broom, Sasha Lane, Milla Jovovich and Daniel Dae Kim.

Check out the trailer:

This trailer proved to be underwhelming. The movie tries to ape the MCU movie style of humor that so many recent movies have tried desperately and failed.

This is an important point as Mike Mignola (creator of Hellboy) himself gave his stamp of approval for the reboot and claimed that is much closer to his vision for the character.

It is possible that Mignola and Marshall tried to bring the superhero back to his horror roots and stay away from the particular sense of humor that del Toro and Ron Perlman brought so successfully to the movies. Guillermo's sense of humor was enjoyable and meshed well with the flow of movie.

But here it is a different situation. Perhaps the studio forced the director to include the comedic tone to the movie. The trailer itself starts with a scene that is intended to showcase the comedic nature of the movie, but then the trailer switches gears and becomes a “save-the-world” movie with our hero being the only guy capable of stopping the apocalypse.

The humor looks forced and either comes off as childish or falls flat most of the time. One of the lines (“Hey, I am on your side”) is directly lifted from the first Guillermo del Toro movie:

Similarly, Hellboy's fight against a bigger opponent reminds one of the encounter between Hellboy and Wink in the fantastic Troll Market sequence of Hellboy II: The Golden Army.

Considering that Mike Mignola clearly wanted this movie not to take the del Toro route, the trailer is just surprising to say the least.

Not only the CGI but even the production values look below average. There is a generic blockbuster feel to the whole movie that clearly misses the unique horror/comic book roots of the character that Mike Mignola repeatedly claimed that this movie would have.

The actors appear uninterested with Ian Shane looking positively bored as Professor Broom. Ditto for Sasha Lane and Daniel Dae Kim. Milla Jovovich seems to be in just for the paycheck.

David Harbour's take on the character might be lost in the obvious (but failed) attempts at humor. Fingers crossed on this.

I was looking forward to this movie primarily for two reasons: the director and for featuring one of my favorite superheroes.

Neil Marshall has directed one of my favorite werewolf movies: Dog Soldiers. That movie was made on a much lower budget than this one and had a great screenplay, acting and action sequences. I also liked Centurion starring Michael Fassbender and Olga Kurylenko.

I can only assume that studio interference has played a significant factor in the dumbing down of his latest effort.

This trailer confirms that it would have been a better idea for Universal Pictures and Mignola to have let Guillermo del Toro make the series finale. He clearly had great ideas for the third chapter that would have completed the story arc for Anung Un Rama and Liz Sherman.

Well, Ron Perlman looks set to be the definitive version of Hellboy and the del Toro movies would remain classics - a recognition very well deserved.

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Image Sources: Nu Boyana FX, Campbell Grobman Films, Dark Horse Entertainment, Lawrence Gordon Productions, Millennium Films 

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Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) Trailer - Review/Reaction

The second trailer for the latest movie in Legendary's MonsterVerse has been released. The first two entries in the series (Godzilla and Kong: Skull Island) were both critically and commercially acclaimed.

Directed by Michael Dougherty (Trick 'r Treat), the upcoming movie stars Vera Farmiga, Kyle Chandler, Sally Hawkins, Charles Dance, Ziyi Zhang, Ken Watanabe and others.

Check out the trailer:

The movie promises an epic scope and the monster vs monster action sequences look appropriately larger than life.

I liked the first movie, even though I felt some of the fight sequences were shot a bit too dark for my tastes. Otherwise, Godzilla himself was brought to life beautifully.

The sequel promises to up the ante by adding not one but three fellow Titans. Yes, the Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism (MUTOs) are now referred to as Titans. Speaking of the Titans, we have King Ghidorah, Rodan and Mothra. But honestly speaking, I expect Mothra to be an ally rather than an foe.

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Michael Dougherty seems to have nailed the money shots really well. There are some delightfully choreographed action sequences that have piqued my interest.

Vera Farmiga is her usual self. Just as Sally Hawkins seems to have stepped right out of The Shape of Water set. I am interested to see what Ziyi Zhang does with her role. While she does give a great reaction shot (like the rest of the cast), hopefully she will bring something else to the table.

All in all, this looks to be a movie made specifically for fans of Godzilla and Kaiju monsters.
  
Click here to read all my posts about movies.

Image Sources: Legendary Entertainment, Wanda Qingdao Studios, Warner Bros.

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Thor: Ragnarok Trailer - Review and Reaction

We have our latest trailer of the next Marvel Cinematic Universe offering - Thor: Ragnarok.

Taika Waititi (Boy, Hunt for the Wilderpeople) takes the directorial duties for the first time in MCU and looks to have done a great job. In addition to the  regulars (Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Jaimie Alexander, Idris Elba, Ray Stevenson), we have a few newcomers: Cate Blanchett as Hela, Karl Urban  as Skurge and Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie.

Check out the trailer below:

The trailer succeeded in selling the movie as a colorful and fun joyride with characters we are familiar with. The color palette looks very similar to Guardians of the Galaxy. This is a movie I would spend money to watch in the theaters.

There is no grim mood or overly serious faced actors populating the screen. Plus the movie is shot in glorious colors that prevents the movie from being an eyesore. In short, this is NOT a DC Films movie.

Speaking of colors, the movie sports a strong hue of green. Hulk is not getting his standalone movie - Mark Ruffalo confirmed this recently. So Marvel Studios decided to make what should have been a solo Thor adventure into a Thor/Hulk buddy movie. Marvel Comics fan would be able to identify the “Planet Hulk” storyline. 

An animated movie of the same name was also released in 2010. That movie was fantastic and if this movie is even half as entertaining as the animated version, then Marvel has a huge winner on their hands.

Chris Hemsworth is his usual self as the never-too-serious but noble God of Thunder. Towards the end of the trailer, Thor looks like Raiden (with his white eyes) from the Mortal Kombat game. Raiden himself is based on Raijin, the Japanese God of Thunder.

Cate Blanchett seems to be having fun as the villain. And she has the reliable Karl Urban in sidekick mode. If this is not enough, Loki is back and this time Loki has not only applied his usual hair gel but also some kind of facial lotion that make his face look weird.

The movie introduces another character: Valkyrie, played by Tessa Thompson. Tessa shot to prominence after her performance in Creed. No doubt, Valkyrie will play an important part as the events unfold in the movie.




Yet another character of note is Dr Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch). Though not featured in the trailer, I am sure he will make an appearance since his magical powers will fit in nicely within this universe of Gods and Monsters.

The special effects are done well. In a nutshell, this is the typical Marvel movie that respects the source material and gets the much deserved love from fans and critic alike.

Click here to read all my posts related to Marvel Comics.

Image Sources: Marvel Entertainment, Marvel Studios, Walt Disney Pictures 

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Justice League Comic Con Trailer - Review/Reaction

Warner Bros. has released a sneak peek of the upcoming movie that unites the DC Comics superheroes.

Directed by Zack Snyder (Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice), the movie stars Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Gal Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa as  Arthur Curry/Aquaman, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Ezra Miller as Barry Allen/The Flash and Ray Fisher as Victor Stone/Cyborg.

Newcomers include Amber Heard as Mera, J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon and Kiersey Clemons as Iris West.

Check out the trailer below:

This trailer is not much of an improvement over the previous trailer that debuted a few months ago. Since then, we have had rumors about Ben Affleck wanting to leave the franchise completely. He has officially stepped down as the director and Matt Reeves (War for the Planet of the Apes) has taken over the duties. Zack Snyder lost his daughter and has moved away from the production.

Joss Whedon (Avengers: Age of Ultron, The Avengers) is currently overseeing the post production work and has also reportedly done extensive reshoots. Joss was originally hired by the studio to write, direct and produce Batgirl.

Snyder had already completed shooting by the time Whedon took over. We all know Snyder's capacity to deliver a good superhero movie based on his previous two attempts. Snyder's movies boast of great visuals (specifically 300) but severely lack good character development, plot and dialogues. This movie also looks to suffer from the same drawbacks.

The actors strike all types of action figure poses and give reaction shots. The comedy looks forced, which is a surprise given Whedon's natural talent for writing witty dialogues/quips in his movies especially The Avengers. But Even Whedon can only do so much with this sub-standard material that has been forced on him. 




The special effects in this trailer look better than what we saw in the earlier one. Still some do look like taken straight out of a video game. No wonder the movie characters are also two dimensional.

Perhaps, the future of DC Films lies in female superhero led movies. Wonder Woman has been a hit both critically and commercially. Provided the studio does not interfere too much, Whedon will knock it out of the park with Batgirl.

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Image Sources: DC Comics, DC Entertainment, Dune Entertainment (as RatPac-Dune Entertainment LLC), Lensbern Productions, Warner Bros.

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The Mummy (2017) - Review

The movie starts with a prologue set in England in 1127 A.D. -  A body is buried in a coffin along with a red gem/ruby/some sort of movie guffin.

To present day in England, these coffins have been discovered. Dr Henry Jekyll (Russell Crowe) gives us a quick rundown about Princess Ahmanat (Sofia Boutella), who is ruthless and beautiful. Ahmanat's dreams of succeeding her father on the throne are dashed when her mother gives birth to a boy. Ahmanat strikes a deal with Set, the God of Death. She kills her family members and is about to transfer Set's spirit into a human body when the process is interrupted. Ahmanat is mummified and then buried in then Mesopotamia (today known as Iraq).

We are then introduced to Nick Morton (Tom Cruise) and his friend/sidekick, Chris Vail (Jake Johnson). Nick and Chris specialize in stealing rare artifacts and selling them in the black market. But this time things take a bad turn and Nick and Chris are in mortal danger. Chris calls in an airstrike (much against Nick's wishes) and unwittingly sets in motion the chain of events that will change both of their lives forever.

The airstrike unearths the aforementioned tomb of Ahmanat. Turns out that Nick had stolen a map from Jenny Halsey (Annabelle Wallis), an archaeologist with whom he had an one night stand. Jenny is furious at the deception and further warns Nick to leave Ahmanat's coffin alone.

Like any self-respecting and self-assured blockbuster movie male lead, Nick proceeds to ignore her and does the exact opposite. The next is the plane sequence featured in the trailer. Chris is bitten by a spider. If this had been a superhero movie, he would have become Spider-Man. But since this is a horror movie, he becomes the undead and is forcibly shot dead by Nick.

The plane crashes and Nick is killed. He wakes up in the mortuary and is surprised to see Chris walking around advising him. If this reminds you of the Max Landis werewolf classic (An American Werewolf in London), then you are a certifiable horror movie geek.

 

Jenny deduces that Ahmanat has chosen Nick for some specific purpose. Ahmanat is sucking the life force out of people and creating her own army of zombies. She also has mind control over Nick and almost captures him after an inane action sequence.

This is where we meet Dr Jekyll makes his re-entrance in the movie. His team rescues Nick and Jenny and captures Ahmanat. This is when the movie starts losing momentum. Crowe's Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde brings the whole movie down. Crowe looks bored in the role and Hyde's “transformation” is so inane that it has to be seen to be believed.

Universal Studios makes no pretensions about it's plans for a new movie franchise to rival that of Warner Bros. and Disney. But this would-be franchise starter is even worse than Man of Steel let alone be half as good as Iron Man. RDJ is perfect casting for Tony Stark and his alter ego. Henry Cavill is a bland Superman and an OK Clark Kent. But Cruise is thoroughly miscast in the role. He looks lost for the most part and his attempts at comedy fall flat.

Plus he looks too old to play the leading man. The makeup applied to make him look younger often distracts us from everything else on the screen. At 54, he is more than twice the age of his co-star Jake Johnson who plays his buddy character. Annabelle Wallis is 22 years younger than Cruise!

The movie is confused as to whether it is a Tom Cruise vehicle or is it a part of horror movie franchise. Director Alex Kurtzman seems to be part of the problem as Cruise seems to have had a free hand in the production. If this were Mission Impossible 6 or the next Jack Reacher movie, that would not be a problem. But a Mummy movie needs to be focussed on the Mummy. Brendan Fraser was able to do this successfully - he was a strong lead but at the same time did not hog all the limelight like Cruise does here.

The movie does not have fun factor of the Stephen Sommers/Brendan Fraser 1999 movie. Director Sommers made an enjoyable popcorn movie which I can rewatch any number of times. Unfortunately, sitting through this movie even once is a chore.

Rachel Weisz gave us one of the most memorable female leads in the form of Evelyn Carnahan. She also had a good chemistry with Fraser's Rick O'Connell. In this movie, Annabelle Wallis' character has no chemistry whatsoever with Cruise's Nick.

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Sofia does her best with a role that despite being titular is forced to play second fiddle to Tom Cruise.

Brian Tyler's score makes no impression at all. The action sequences are boring. We have seen similar scenes executed much better in other Tom Cruise movies.

Coming back to the plot of the movie, Cruise acquires superpowers of Set, destroys Ahmanat and rides into the desert with Chris. No one expects Cruise to leave this franchise anytime soon.

Only time will tell if the next movie will be a Wonder Woman and save this Dark Universe or will it be like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and sink the ship further.

Click here to read all my movie reviews.

Image Sources: Universal Pictures, Dark Universe, Dentsu, Perfect World Pictures,  Sean Daniel Company, Secret Hideout

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Supergirl Season 2 Episode 18 "Ace Reporter" - Recap and Review

Jack Spheer (Rahul Kohli), an old flame of Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath) arrives in National City. His company is launching a nanotechnology based solution that can cure any known human afflictions.

Lena attends the launch function with Kara Danvers (Melissa Benoist). Kara tries to grill Jack on the safety standards of the product.

After the function is over, Kara is approached by Joe (Andrew McNee). Joe is a whistle-blower and tries to warn her about the lack of records about the human trials that were supposed to have been completed before releasing the product. Even as he is providing her with the details in his car, a swarm of nanobots attack the two and the car goes up in flames and Joe is killed.

Kara realizes that something is seriously amiss with the way Jack has developed the product. Snapper Carr (Ian Gomez) meets Derrick Simmons (Johnny Ghorbani) who had volunteered for the human trials but was never actually tested. Once again a swarm of nanobots attack them but Supergirl saves Snapper but Derrick is gone.

Driven by guilt over her failure to save two lives, Kara desperately tries to warn Lena about Jack and gatecrash Lena's dinner with Jack. Mon-El steals Jack's security badge and subsequently he and Kara obtain data from Jack's laptop at his office.

The video shows Jack performing the tests on himself. This explains the lack of records in the company archives regarding test trials. Kara shows the video to Lena and pleads with her to stay away from Jack.

But Lena being a Luthor does exactly that and confronts Jack. Turns out that it is Beth Breen (Claudia Doumit), the company's CFO, who has got total control over Jack after his body has transformed after the tests. She made him commit the murders.

Beth once again takes control of Jack and forces him to kill Lena. Supergirl arrives in time to save her but is overpowered by Jack. Lena has no choice but to shut down Jack permanently.

A subplot involved the tension between James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks) and Winn Schott (Jeremy Jordan) over the unnecessarily brutal tactics adopted by Lyra Strayd (Tamzin Merchant) when she roughs up a kid while helping James in his vigilante work as Guardian. Finally, things are patched up between James and Lyra after she agrees to his rules.

This was a good episode. Most of the focus was on the friendship between Kara and Lena. Katie McGrath is good as Lena and shows spunk. Katie and Melissa share an excellent chemistry.

Melissa seems to have regained some of her enthusiasm for the role. She also showed good chemistry with Chris Wood and Ian Gomez as Mon-El and Snapper respectively.

Speaking of Snapper, his comments about the new generation of reporters using social media really tickled the funny bones. Ian Gomez brings some much needed humor to the show. Hopefully we will see more and more of him in the future episodes.

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Hank Henshaw (David Harewood) and Alex Danvers (Chyler Leigh) were absent for most of the episode. With Cat Grant (Calista Flockhart) also gone, this episode showcased the new set of actors delivering some solid work. Let us see if the show can maintain this tempo.

And the excellent Teri Hatcher makes a brief cameo in the closing scenes to make an offer to Lena. In an earlier scene, Lena confesses to Kara about her fears of going bad like her more famous brother: Lex Luthor. Lena's character arc shows a lot of promise.

Recommended watch to fans of DC Comics.

Click here to read all my posts related to DC Comics.

Image Sources: Berlanti Productions, DC Comics, Warner Bros. Television, The CW Television Network (The CW)

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