I have no television in my flat which means that I cannot watch television shows live, I need to wait until they appear on iPlayer, so I usually wait until the next day. So last night while almost everyone I know was watching Sherlock, instead I was lying in bed feeling jealous. Even my noisy neighbours were watching it at a deafening volume - I actually had to put my headphones on to avoid any spoilers transmitted through the ceiling. To keep myself occupied I read all of The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle. It is not my favourite of the Holmes books, but it is still a good little novel, and it was a great choice for distracting myself. Now I just need to avoid the internet all day until I can watch Sherlock after my class this afternoon!
Following on from my post earlier this morning when I has just finished reading The Hound of the Baskervilles, I decided that there would be no better way to follow that up than by watching the television version starring Jeremy Brett. I have all of the Granada Sherlock Holmesseries starring Jeremy Brett on DVD and I love them dearly, although it has been far too long since I last watched any of them. It is an excellent series, and their version of HOUN is superb. For me, Jeremy Brett will always be the definitive version of Sherlock Holmes.
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle was one of the first Sherlock Holmes books I read; I have a very strong memory of skiving off a school sports day when I was about nine or ten, sitting at the edge of the playing fields and reading a really old copy of this book that had belonged to my Mum when she was a younger. I’ve read it and all the Holmes books quite a few times since then, and I’m always amazed by how fresh it is and how much I still love it like it was the first time I was reading it. I wasn’t actually planning to read it, until last night when I was halfway through a book I wasn’t enjoying at all, and decided that I just wanted to read something different, something I knew I would enjoy. I then further realised that this would be an excellent choice, in preparation for the next episode of Sherlock! Fortunately I had this lovely copy on hand, part of this collection which I bought myself a few years ago to replace my various mismatched copies. I read the first half of it last night and then finished it off this morning , because I really couldn’t put it down. 110 years since it was published, 15 years since I first read it, and it is still a completely brilliant book.
So, series two of Sherlock has started. I’m not going to post any spoilers as I know a few people who haven’t seen it yet. In fact I’m not going to write much about it at all, I’ll probably type up a full review when all three episodes have aired. I’ll just say that I am very glad that it is back.
I rather reluctantly went to the cinema to see Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, the second film starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law as Holmes and Watson. I say reluctantly because I was not impressed with the first movie. But my sister wanted to see it so I went along with her. I am somewhat conflicted about the film. As a Victorian action-adventure movie it ticks all the right boxes and on that level it was a fun, entertaining film that I would have been happy to see. My problem is that they are calling it a Sherlock Holmes film, but it bears no relation to what I know of Sherlock Holmes. It is disappointing because it twists something that I love and at the same time that kind of ruins something which would otherwise have been enjoyable. I don’t think all Holmes adaptations have to be to-the-letter: see Sherlock for an excellent version of Holmes which changes a lot but manages to remain true to the characters and the spirit of the books. But this one is just so far from the originals that I think they’d have made much better films if they’d just used different characters, because otherwise the film is actually good. But when I was able to get over my Holmes nerd rage, I did enjoy it, much more so that the first one (or at least what I can remember of it) and I was glad it saw it.
The opening paragraph of the short story ‘A Case of Identity’ from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle. I remember what a profound effect those words had on me and my way of thinking back when I first read them as a child. I love reading the Holmes stories, they really never grow stale.
Recently the BBC were repeating Sherlock and I was very tempted to watch it when I saw it on iPlayer, even though I own it on DVD and had seen it twice already. Instead I decided that I would wait and watch it again closer to when they would be showing the second series, which for some reason I thought would be later this year. However then the BBC announced that it would not be airing series two until 2012. So I decided that I would just go ahead and watch the DVD now! I’ve written about it twice before (see here and here) so I won’t go into much detail here, I still stand by everything I wrote previously. This time around I watched the audio commentaries as well (I watched all three episodes, then the first and last ones again with the commentary on) and I enjoyed that too, there were some interesting observations from the cast and crew. If anything I am now even more excited to see the next series, which is more frustrating than I had intended it to be!
I loved Sherlock when I first saw it earlier in the year (see my first review for more detail) and I rewatched it again this weekend as I received the DVD for Christmas. I think I liked it even more the second time around, and even though I knew all the plot twists it still stood up well to a repeat viewing. I even spotted a few references to the book canon that I must have missed the first time around. (I considered watching the unaired pilot which was included but I opted not to, as this review satisfied my curiosity on that front. I may listen to the commentary though, as I am prepared to be that much of a nerd about it!) In my mind you can’t beat the Jeremy Brett series for proper Sherlock Holmes, but because this show takes a different approach it manages to produce something almost as good, and creates a new and exciting take on an old favourite. It really is an excellent adaptation. My only complaint - damn that cliffhanger ending!
I finally got around to watching Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes film. I’d been dreading seeing this film since it was announced, yet in such a way that made it inevitable that I’d nonetheless see it. Because basically, I’m a complete nerd when it comes to Holmes, and so I had to watch it even though I knew it’d be bad in terms of sticking to Holmes canon. But when the first trailers were shown, I was pretty conflicted, as I’m also a big fan of the Victoriana genre in general, and the film also looked like the kind of fun action-adventure story that I’d really enjoy in general. Ultimately, my expectations proved, more-or-less, to be true. It’s a pretty decent film in terms of being a general Victorian adventure, but in terms of being a Holmes film, it’s awful. As much as I like Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law in other roles (and they really are both excellent actors) I just don’t buy their characterisations of Holmes and Watson, it’s just completely off. I’ve also never been a big fan of Ritchie as a director and that hasn’t changed here. In short, there is a basis for a good film here, but it’s ruined by Ritchie’s direction and by making it a Holmes story when it so clearly isn’t.
I was a bit apprehensive about Sherlock, the BBC modern day adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. A large part of my concern about it was due to the fact that I’m a bit of an obsessive Holmes fan, and I can be too serious about it at times. That’s the reason I still haven’t seen the recent Guy Ritchie Holmes film yet, because I’m certain that it’ll not conform to my view of Holmes and the Holmes canon. Apart from the books, which I’ve read countless times since I was a kid, the only screen adaptation that I really consider to be the ultimate version of Holmes is the 1980s Granada television series starring Jeremy Brett as Holmes. But, despite all that, I was willing to give this new show a chance, because a) it’s made by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, both of whom have proved themselves to be excellent writers and producers; and b) it’s a modern day adaptation, which is something I have a weak spot for, and also because it allows a greater flexibility with canon. Despite my misgivings about this though, it proved to be an excellent show and I really ended up loving it, which was a bit surprising. The show manages to stick to the books in terms of the initial meeting between Holmes and Watson, while updating the mystery and the setting appropriately for the 21st century. I liked all the little nods thrown in for those familiar with the books, such as the Rache/Rachel plot point, and the nature of Watson’s wound (leg or shoulder). They show also did a pretty neat thing with the on-screen text, which is something I hadn’t seen before and I thought it worked really well, both for phone messages and for showing Holmes’ thought process at the crime scene. I thought that both Benedict Cumberbatch (who has a charmingly ridiculous name) and Martin Freeman did a great job as Holmes and Watson (sorry, Sherlock and John), and the characterisation was pretty good, though I’m still interested in seeing how it’ll be developed further. Overall, I really loved it, which was surprising on one hand, but probably utterly predictable on the other, and my only disappointment is that there are only three episodes so far. I’m looking forward to the next episode…
