Sherlock Holmes/Avatar Review

Throughout the past month, I've watched a couple of movies, and I wanted to share what I thought about them, just as a heads-up just in case you want to watch one of them.

Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is an action-thriller movie, with a touch of the detective genre. It is based on the famous literary character of the same name, created by Sir Conan Doyle. The movie, though set in Victorian England, was sort of attuned to modern tastes. I would give the story a 3 out of 5, and the graphics a 4 out of 5. I thought the movie was ok in general, but was very fast-paced, jumping scenes so fast you don't even get what's going on. Whenever Holmes (Robert Downey, Jr.) was about to fight someone, first his planned moves were shown, then he actually executed his plan, so that the person who is watching has to see the same thing twice. It's actually quite annoying. The movie doesn't concentrate as much on Holmes's legendary skills of perception but on the crazy, dangerous situations he gets into. There are only a couple inappropriate scenes, so it would be good for around ages 11 and up. It was an okay movie, all in all.

Avatar
Avatar is quite a good movie by the people's standards: The highest in the box office, 2nd only to Titanic. The flick's message is about corporate greed and the destruction of nature. It is a sci-fi movie, set in the far future where America has a base on the moon of Pandora. Pandora has a rich ecosystem, with many different types of organisms, along with a Native American-like species of blue-skinned humanoids. Though the movie was quite long, there was never really a section that you got bored, what with the brand-new animation technology. The humanoid characters were not purely animated; people actually acted out the scenes with motion sensing instruments, which were then used to create the graphics. I would give the story a 4.5/5 and the graphics a 6/5 :) . It was also quite Matrix-like, with every single organism on the moon being interconnected with electromagnetic waves; almost like one, giant living thing. The plot is about the leaders of the base mining for the valuable "unobtainium" on the moon which is disrupting the ecosystem on Pandora. Eventually, when the leaders decide to destroy the humanoids' home, The scientists on the base try and stop them. Another plot element is the fact that the main character is crippled, and whenever he is out in the forest, he is actually still in the base.