Elementary: The Marchioness Review

ELEMENTARY: THE MARCHIONESS

This is a Work of Mycroft...

There is a lot to be said about Rhys Ifans' return as Sherlock Holmes' older brother Mycroft.  It shows Ifans to be a.) a strong actor (though I might never forgive him for that 'Shakespeare was a fake' movie), and b.) he brings more levity to the proceedings.  This Mycroft also appears to be determined to mend fences with his little brother Sherlock, but again, appearances are deceiving.  The Marchioness, the first of two stories with Ifans' guest character, does a good job on the character-building Elementary is strong at, but stumbles in terms of the actual case, and the fact that it draws from Canon shows that The Marchioness was in some respects, a wasted opportunity. 

Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) is at a sobriety meeting and shares rather intimate feelings, so having his brother Mycroft pop up infuriates him.  Apparently Sherlock's maid (how I hope it was Ms. Hudson, who sadly doesn't appear) told Mycroft where his brother was.  Mycroft has come to New York to ask Sherlock's help in a case.  This case involves Nigella Mason, Marchioness of Suffolk (Olivia D'Abo).  This is the same Nigella Mason who had been engaged to Mycroft until Sherlock slept with her to prove she was a golddigger.  Sherlock is convinced the Marchioness (who held on to her noble title after divorcing the Marquis), is up to no good.

The Marchioness had a retired racing horse, Silver Blaze, who she puts out to stud.  At the stables where Silver Blaze is housed, her boyfriend Dalton has been murdered.  At the crime scene Sherlock finds fingerprints on a tree and deduces that they belong to the killer, and that he is missing a finger on his left hand.  The fingerprints have been traced to unsolved crimes believed to be committed by a notorious hitman named El Mecanico (The Mechanic), who works for a drug cartel.  El Mecanico now has targeted the Marchioness for extermination.

The investigation turns its sights on Aguilar, a racing enthusiast who recently had a colt sired by Silver Blaze.  Watson and the Holmes Brothers go see Nutmeg, the new colt birthed by Twice for No, but despite having a colt bred from a champion Aguilar sold Nutmeg rather quickly.  Sherlock now puts the final piece together and confronts the marchioness.  He exposes her as a fraud, she had sold the breeding services not of Silver Blaze himself (who had died) but of Silver Blaze's brother, holding on to Silver Blaze's hair and blood samples to provide DNA proof. 

That still doesn't give us the killer El Mecanico.  Reviewing video tapes of one of El Mecanico's crimes, among the witnesses is a man with a missing finger.  The witness, Keith Newell (Andrew Samonsky) looks good, but the fingerprints don't match.  Sherlock, however, won't give up on the witness/killer.  As it stood, Sherlock finds a case where fingerprints were lifted that do match.  It involves a missing homeless man and a park built up thanks to stimulus money.  The case and El Mecanico are caught.  While Nigella, Marchioness of Suffolk's role in all this is kept out of the newspapers, the Holmes Brothers let her know she has to leave the horse-breeding business.  With that, Mycroft and Sherlock Holmes are left together, attempting to start a working relationship.

Oh yes, there is that little matter of Joan and Mycroft's tryst when they were in London. 



Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

The mention of Silver Blaze is a good nod to the original Canon, and on the whole I thought it worked.  It isn't to say it couldn't have been better, for the actual story Silver Blaze is better, but then again Elementary has a habit of taking elements from Canon and using them as springboards for its one stories.  Christopher Hollier and Craig Sweeny's screenplay also does well in showing the parallel stories of brothers (Silver Blaze and the Holmes Brothers).  When Nigella says that Silver Blaze's brother 'didn't amount to much', she might just as well have been speaking in regards of how Sherlock and Mycroft see each other.  It might not have been as well explored as perhaps it could have been, but at least it is there, so it is a sign of how good Elementary has become. 

In regards to the actual mystery, I think that it was a bit too convoluted with all this fingerprint business.  However, in this case I really think the actual mystery was not as important as the interplay between Joan, Sherlock, Mycroft, and Nigella.  Each performance is top-notch.  Seeing Sherlock in a vulnerable position when he talks about how perhaps he should have been born in another time (technically, he was) was so well-done.  Ifans' Mycroft has that wonderful British understatement (he describes his illness, of which Sherlock knew nothing about until that point) as having 'a spot of leukemia'.  D'Abo makes Marchioness Suffolk both a terrible snob (Best line: Of course I don't know anyone in the Robles Cartel.  I'm in the peerage) and a rather dim-witted woman.  Liu does equally well in keeping Watson as a sensible person, with perhaps one curious decision.

It is revealed that Joan and Mycroft did indeed have sex in the events of Step Nine.  At first, I thought this was all in Sherlock's imagination but find that indeed it is true.  Is this a good thing?  Well, I know some people who are highly angered by this, others who think its a great thing.  I think it is out-of-character for Joan to just leap into bed with someone like Mycroft, so I think this really is just a way to give Joan some kind of action.  We are however, left to wonder what Mycroft's motivation is for sleeping with Joan.  Joan is too smart a woman to be so easily misled, so my thinking is that she was just a woman who succumbed to loneliness.  Still, the actual performances in all three of the characters in the tense dinner scene worked well.

On the whole the actual case brings down The Marchioness, but the performances from Miller, Liu, D'Abo and Ifans lift the story and make it worth watching.  It could have been better, but the acting and the exploration of the characters' lives do it justice.

 

6/10

Next Episode: Blood Is Thicker

86th Academy Awards: My Nominees

In about an hour or so, the 86th Annual Academy Award nominees will be announced.

This ain't a list of predictions.  Far from it.  I won't venture a guess as to Best Art Direction (though expect The Great Gatsby to be one of the nominees).   Instead, what I have hear are MY picks in a variety of categories.  These are the films I would nominate for particular categories if I had that power.  That being the case, I don't offer predictions for the actual nominees. 

I do hope to give my views on the actual nominees once they're announced later today.  As for now, here I present MY nominees for the Best of 2013.  Please keep in mind that this list is based on films that I have seen, so there may be worthy films that are left out.  However, I cannot nominate something I haven't seen. 


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Ender's Game (Gavin Hood, based on the novel by Orson Scott Card)

Quartet (Ronald Harwood, based on the play by Ronald Harwood)

The Spectacular Now (Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, based on the novel by Tim Tharp)

Warm Bodies (Jonathan Levine, based on the novel by Isaac Marion)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

American Hustle (Eric Singer and David O. Russell)

Frozen (Jennifer Lee)

Gravity (Alfonso Cuaron and Jonas Cuaron)

In A World... (Lake Bell)

Saving Mr. Banks (Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith)

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

American Hustle

The Great Gatsby

Oz the Great and Powerful

Romeo & Juliet

Anna Karenina:
Best Costume Design 2012

BEST ART DIRECTION

American Hustle

Ender's Game

Gravity

The Great Gatsby

Oz the Great and Powerful

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Ender's Game

Gravity

The Great Gatsby

Pacific Rim

The Spectacular Now

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Frozen (Christophe Beck)

Gravity (Steven Price)

Saving Mr. Banks (Thomas Newman)

Trance (Rick Smith)

Mychael Danna for Life of Pi:
Best Original Score 2012

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Ender's Game

Gravity

Oz the Great and Powerful

Pacific Rim

Star Trek Into Darkness

BEST EDITING

American Hustle

Gravity

Saving Mr. Banks

The Spectacular Now

BEST DIRECTOR

David O. Russell (American Hustle)

Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee (Frozen)

Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity)

Lake Bell (In A World...)

James Ponsoldt (The Spectacular Now)

Ang Lee for Life of Pi:
Best Director 2012

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Elizabeth Debicki (The Great Gatsby)

Naomie Harris (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom)

Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle)

Leslie Manville (Rome & Juliet)

Sharon Stone (Lovelace)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Kyle Chandler (The Spectacular Now)

Bradley Cooper (American Hustle)

Joel Edgerton (The Great Gatsby)

Harrison Ford (42)

Josh Gad (Jobs)

BEST ACTRESS

Amy Adams (American Hustle)

Lake Bell (In A World...)

Sandra Bullock (Gravity)

Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks)

Shailene Woodley (The Spectacular Now)

Jennifer Lawrence for Silver Linings Playbook:
Best Actress of 2012

BEST ACTOR

Christian Bale (American Hustle)

Chadwick Boseman (42)

Idris Elba (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom)

Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis)

Miles Teller (The Spectacular Now)

BEST PICTURE

American Hustle

Frozen

Gravity

In A World...

The Spectacular Now

If it were up to me, we'd see
Denzel Washington, Naomi Watts,
Amy Adams, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

On March 1, the day before the Academy Awards are handed out, I shall announce my winners.  Sadly, the voting is closed for both nominees and winners.  That being the case, I wish the best of luck to all my choices and those who receive nominations. 
 

Elementary: An Unnatural Arrangement Review

ELEMENTARY: AN UNNATURAL ARRANGEMENT

This Case Hits Too Close To Holmes...

An Unnatural Arrangement has an interesting case within it, but on the whole it is more a character study.  However, that character in this Elementary episode is NOT either Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) or Dr. Joan Watson (Lucy Liu).  It is instead Captain Gregson (Aidan Quinn), as well as an exploration of the concept of 'partnership'.

There is a home invasion.  A masked man is waiting for a woman, demanding to know where her husband is.  This woman, however, is no victim.  She packs heat and knows how to use it.  She immediately calls the police after shooting the intruder, and it is clear that Mrs. Cheryl Gregson (Talia Balsam) can take care of herself.  Captain Tobias/Thomas Gregson rushes to the home, where Sherlock, Joan, and Detective Marcus Bell (Jon Michael Hill) make the unfortunate discovery that the Captain and his wife have been separated for a month. 

There is a witness to the assailant running off into the dark.  That is James Monroe (Ted King), like the President (5th, in case you were curious), the neighbor and former Marine.  A suspect emerges: Dustin Bishop, someone who has become obsessed with Captain Gregson.  However, this is not the actual attacker, since his blood does not match the one from the Gregson home.  This is confirmed when another man is found dead with the same weapon that was used against Mrs. Gregson.

The victim, Sam Clennon, had a stab wound unrelated to his murder.  There is a new suspect, Jacob Esparza (Armando Riesco).  Clennon's mother confirms that her son had served with Esparza and another man, one Lieutenant James Monroe, the Gregson's next-door neighbor.  Instantly everyone recognizes that the home invasion of the Gregson home was due to mistaken identity.  In short, the killer went to the wrong house.  However, by this time the killer realized that and they find Monroe dead.


Knowing that Esparza, Monroe, and Clennon all served together in Afghanistan, what else connects them?  Esparza is exonerated because he has no bullet wounds, so we turn to Elizabeth Roney.  Esparza believed he was targeted by Monroe and Clennon because Sam Clennon had an affair with Roney when serving as security detail for her archaeological expedition in Afghanistan, but she denies they were ever lovers.  More to the point, she and her husband Cameron were going through a divorce when she was with Sam and James when they (not including Jacob) were guarding her. 

However, there are a couple of questions.  One involves the Buddhist temple of Mezainak, the archaeological site being excavated.  It seems that here all sorts of ancient artifacts were discovered, and in each section a rare bowl was unearthed, except in the last dig, the one where Sam, James, and Elizabeth were all working together.  Curious that.  Then there is 'the curious incident of the dog barking at night'.  Elizabeth's dog, who barks at all men, didn't bark in the night. 

That, as they say, is the curious incident.

While in the end the killer is unmasked, and we find that antiquities smuggling is not only the stuff for The Blind Banker, we also find that Sherlock Holmes, while still being opposed to marriage (particularly for detectives, especially good ones like Gregson and Bell), does believe in partnership.  With this, we see that Captain Toby/Tommy Gregson and Cheryl will try to make it work.  They've had 28 years together, and some things one just shouldn't throw away.


I call three major flaws in An Unnatural Arrangement, and they are pretty big.  The first is the whole 'Captain Gregson stalker' business.  It isn't that I object to having a red herring in a mystery.  It's that I object to having a red herring that not only is deliberately misleading but that is forgotten as soon as we are pointed in the right direction.  This Dustin Bishop character has pictures of Gregson in his house, along with clippings of articles on him.  We should know he isn't the guy because he is found far too early in the episode, but once he's caught I don't think we ever learn a.) why he was so fixated on him, and b.) whatever happened to him. I was just not pleased at how this storyline in Cathryn Humphris' screenplay was put in then all but tossed out.



Baskin-Robbers

The second is what could have been a potentially good subplot involving Joan and Detective Craig Baskin (Peter Hermann).  Detective Baskin asks Joan for help in solving a case of a string of robberies on falafel stands (New York really is cosmopolitan, ain't it?), but Joan alone, not Sherlock.  She agrees (and whether it involves a potential relationship for Joan is up to the viewer).  However, Joan is angered when Sherlock tells her he already solved the case for Baskin. 

It was amusing to see how Holmes blocks out everyone except those in his circle.  "What's a Baskin?" he asks when Joan confronts him on the matter.  Upon getting an explanation, he dismisses it all with the retort that as far as he's concerned, Sherlock knows the other detectives as "Not Bell".  Granted, it is amusing to see that Sherlock a.) seems uninterested in other police officers and b.) he appears to hold Detective Bell to a higher standard than everyone else save Joan and Gregson, but it would have been nice for Joan to venture on her own on this case (no matter how trivial).  This is the second case in as many weeks where Joan starts an investigation only to have Sherlock solve it rather quickly (though in fairness, HE was the culprit in the first one, so he had inside information).  I'll grant that it gives insight into their relationship and how Sherlock sees the world, but I wish Elementary would let Joan break out on her own a bit more.

The third is my biggest objection: a name change.  At Elementary's premiere, we saw quite clearly that Captain Gregson was going to stay within Canon as Tobias or Toby Gregson.  However, by now it looks like Tobias was such a strange name for Americans that it has been changed to Thomas or Tommie Gregson.  I call MAJOR FOUL on this.  You can't expect a loyal viewer of Elementary (and a Holmesian) to not notice this.  I am extremely disappointed that Captain Gregson has gone through a subtle name change (would that the baseball team in my hometown, the El Paso Chihuahuas, undergo that transition).

Honestly, what was wrong with TOBY?

Despite these flaws (although they are rather unfortunate), An Unnatural Arrangement is set up more to showcase Captain Gregson (whatever his first name actually is).  Quinn sometimes gets lost in all the goings-on, but here he does a wonderful job of showing the interior side of the police captain.  His scenes with Balsam are so well-acted on both sides, and it is nice to see the private lives of the characters.  Instead of just focusing on the cases themselves, we see how the job affects those around the characters.

It's an interesting parallel between Toby/Tommy-Cheryl and Sherlock-Joan.  Both partners feel betrayed by the other in that they let work trump what should be a solid relationship.  Let me be clear: I'm not speaking romantic on both sides.  However, the concept of partnership, the equality between both sides, is something that should be important to all sides.  Toby/Tommy has sometimes let his work dominate his private life, and Sherlock has no problem not taking Joan's feelings into account.  She is his protégé, but he is also unaware that she might want to try her hand at things.  Eventually, both sides will have to work together but also recognize they need to do things their own way.

In regards to the crime, again I thought it took the long way round, and was disappointed that 'the curious incident of the dog barking at night' was not actually mentioned (though it's a nice, subtle nod to Canon).  However, in this instance I don't think the actual crime was the central focus of An Unnatural Arrangement.  Rather, it is a springboard for the relationships between Joan, Sherlock, Toby/Tommy, and Cheryl.  In that regard, things went well and I think An Unnatural Arrangement did a good job.  Mind you, not a great job, but a good one.   

7/10

Next Episode: The Marchioness

Elementary: Ancient History Review

ELEMENTARY: ANCIENT HISTORY

No Bodies At Holmes...

Ancient History has some good twists and turns within it, and a subplot that allows for more odd comedy to seep through.  I don't mean offbeat, I mean odd.  While the actual case ends up a bit of a letdown for me, the subplot has in it more recognition that the two main characters can have some fun at each other's expenses.

A man is found dead on the side of the road, victim of a motorcycle accident.  For once, this was the actual cause of death, but Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) suspects that the victim had done a little murder prior to his unfortunate end. 

This case of trying to find who the dead man killed is to Sherlock more important than the case poor Joan Watson (Lucy Liu) takes up.  Her friend Jennifer (Danielle Nicolet) asks Joan to help her find this guy with whom she had a one-night stand.  His name is Tony, a photojournalist with whom she shared an incredible night of sex and whom Jennifer would like to meet again.  Holmes is pretty dismissive of Joan's case, but she presses on while helping with Holmes' search for whomever the dead man killed.

It turns out that this Leo Banin was a pseudonym, and that he was really a Polish hitman recently retired after running from the Russian Mafia and encouraged by his wife Lara (Mia Barron) to turn to the Catholic faith for absolution and a new start (since they're Polish, I'm making the conclusion they are Catholic, but have no firm proof of that, but it is a more religious-centered home to be sure).  Lara knows of his past, but she is convinced they were making a new start, putting up their life savings to start a senior health care center.  One of the people whom Leo was working with, Travis Hardwick (Wass Stevens) curiously did not either send flowers or attend the funeral, so ergo we have a potential victim.

Pity that when Holmes and Watson go to the construction site, they find a sleazy motel where Travis is very much alive, with hookers and coke to boot.  So since he's not the victim, we are forced to move on...after Holmes takes the money Travis had taken from Leo. 

There is the loan shark that Leo got the money from to build the senior care center.  Moving on from Travis, we find Russell Gertz (Mike Starr), equally alive.  Holmes is very frustrated by all the living people popping up all over, but this visit is not in vain: we find that the Russian Mob is back.  The Mob's hitman appears to be a strong suspect for forcing Leo to swerve (what caused the accident, which also killed another driver), but as it turns out, THIS guy is the one who's dead.

The dead man (finally), Grigori, was seeing a psychiatrist.  While that therapist, Dr. Glassman (Tibor Feldman) is equally very much alive, he does provide a clue: the name Marko Zukov kept coming up. At last, we find Marko Zukov...alive.  Worse, he's got a great alibi: he was stabbed in the leg during a mugging, and this is verified by the police.  However, Sherlock notices something curious about the bandaging Marko's leg got the night of the stabbing.  With that, he finds who made Leo swerve and crash when the perpetrator shot at him.  This person was not a sharp-shooter, but in order to keep secret an adult film past which shocked Leo, the killer decided he had to die.

As for the Tony case, well, Sherlock admits that HE was Tony.  Early during her days as a sober companion, Sherlock had followed Joan to a bar and hooked up with Jennifer.  Making matters worse, when Joan meets with Jennifer again, she tells Joan that Sherlock had come over to apologize.  Joan is not fooled: she immediately realizes they had sex again!  When Joan comes back to the brownstone, she tells Sherlock she isn't upset.  Far from it, she is thankful that he is helping Jennifer out in her efforts to get pregnant.  For a moment, Sherlock Holmes is left stunned and silent, until he finds Joan is just playing him.  "I almost had you," Joan says, to which he agrees.

It's good to see Elementary taking more risks and grow in confidence with this tale that starts with a body but where murder wasn't the actual cause of death.  Moreover, there is a more humorous subplot that doesn't overwhelm the main story and allows for the interplay between Holmes and Watson to be on more friendly terms.  In fact, the Tony storyline was in many ways reflective of Ancient History, where the tone was lighter apart from Leo's death.

There was the aforementioned search for Tony, where Joan is the one doing most of the investigating until Sherlock pulls the rug from under her.  If it hadn't been for this twist, it would have been nice to see Joan handle a case completely on her own without Sherlock's help.  For most of Ancient History, I thought it was nice to see them split cases, and despite the revelation of Tony's true identity this storyline on the whole allows for that lightness to appear.  There is also Holmes' real frustration that no matter where he turns, everyone he expects to be dead is alive and vice-versa.

Miller handles that aspect of Sherlock quite well, where his unflappability regarding corpses keeps getting frustrated.  At the conclusion of the episode, where he looks genuinely taken aback at the prospect that he may actually be a father, Miller has a great moment where he is clearly able to be, even for a moment, the brunt of a joke.  Liu matches him in this scene, where she says this rather outrageous thing with such a straight face that it shows she has learned a few tricks from her partner. 

As for the cases themselves, it is an interesting take on the investigations to see that it isn't strictly murder that was the primary case, though the resolution does seem a little disappointing.  Not terrible, just not overwhelming (the divorce angle didn't quite make sense for me given that this was all in the past: I'd put being a hitman as worse than being in pornographic films in my morality scale).  Still, seeing a rarity like a generally nice loan shark (Russell lent Leo the money in gratitude for his care of his ill mother some time earlier).

The guest stars did well.  Of particular note was Starr as Russell, who looked both insecure and genuinely pleasant.  Also, Barron captured a convincing Polish accent and while everyone apparently pinned her right away, I was taken in by her kind demeanor.  They do say it's the quiet ones you should watch out for.

On the whole, Ancient History was a pleasant romp where there was more lightness than grittiness.  It wasn't a flat-out comedy, but there was a wry humor to most of the proceedings that I enjoyed.

7/10

Next Episode: An Unnatural Arrangement

Elementary: Poison Pen Review

ELEMENTARY: POISON PEN

Holmes Correspondence Course...

Sherlock Holmes is not seen as a man with much warmth or 'the personal touch'.  Poison Pen continues what seems to be the theme of Elementary Season Two: a personal exploration of the main character, one who finds that not only does he need people in his life but that his actions affect others in emotional ways and not just intellectually.  Poison Pen has moments of humor, but on the whole it is built around the idea that the past truly is prologue.

Titus Delancey has been found murdered, wearing latex and found by a dominatrix, Mistress (Keesha Sharp).  It is discovered that this was really a long ruse to humiliate the late Delancey by his enemy, Burt Jeffries (Paul Fitzgerald).  He just happened to find the body and don the S&M outfit on him to cause the late Delancey to lose benefits for violating of a morals clause.

Well, that was a false lead, so Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) and Joan Watson (Lucy Liu) turn to the Delancey family.  There's his widow Perry (Noelle Beck) and the nanny, Anne Barker.  However, Holmes recognizes Anne as Abigail Spencer (Laura Benanti).  Abigail, back in 1991, was accused of murdering her father, creating a media frenzy.  During and after the trial, a 15-year-old Sherlock under the name Sean Holmes contacted Abigail and they began a correspondence.  He suspected Abigail, and wanted to probe her mind.  However, they had another connection: Sherlock was himself bullied at his boarding school.

As the case starts expanding, we get a few good twists.  One is that just about everyone wanted to kill Titus.  His widow's alibi was that she couldn't have killed him because she was off buying the medicine she planned to use to kill said husband.  Perry had put a detective on "Anne", suspecting her and Titus of having an affair.  When she discovered Anne's real identity, she plotted to use it to her advantage. 

Two is that Abigail's identity has both been exposed and she discovers who Sean really is.  Three is that Abigail is now a strong suspect, thanks to older son Graham (Samuel H. Levine), who caught an argument between Abigail and Titus on his phone.  Four is that Titus kept his own rather sick secrets involving his sons, and worse, those secrets were recorded on an tablet.  Titus' killer is exposed, but we see that Abigail steps up to the plate.  She confesses to the murder rather than a.) allow the real killer's life to be more ruined that it already was, and b.) she had indeed murdered her father all those years ago.  Sherlock, with a mixture of anger and regret, contacts the real killer and tells him two things.  Sherlock will be watching him closely to make sure he does not strike again, and that should he need to talk to someone, he's available.  Poison Pen ends basically where it begins: Sherlock at the gym, but this time as he punches a bag rather than a sparring partner, we see Sherlock silently releasing his anger and daresay pain, with every punch.

Poison Pen has much going for him, primarily in terms of character development.  Liz Freidman's screenplay allows for great character development without using dialogue.  We see this in Liu and Miller's performances.  Liu's Watson is allowed to do some investigating on her own, and she comes up to being a strong and competent detective on her own.  She is the one who notices Sherlock knows more about Anne than he at first lets on.  She is also the one who finds that the tablet has a secret hiding place.  In fact, her methods are so similar to Holmes' that Detective Bell (Jon Michael Hill) cracks that she's beginning to sound like Holmes.

Miller is equally adept at how he communicates a lot without saying much.  He's still the wiry Sherlock of the past, determined to solve this puzzle for himself.  However, in his scenes with Benanti, he shows vulnerability and hesitancy, as if approaching her means approaching the difficult past he'd rather not revisit.  Further, we see at the end of Poison Pen how much Holmes has evolved in the two years he's been in New York and in recovery.  The anger he has towards the murderer (probably because it meant a person innocent of this crime is taking the fall) is mixed with a sense of compassion towards the physical and emotional pain the killer endured.  All these conflicting emotions, and the fact that he has emotions in the first place, gives Miller a chance to act just with his face, and in those few moments he says so much. 


The guest performances were equally great. Benanti is torn and conflicted as Anne/Abigail.  Whether you want to see it as a mirror of the Adler/Moriarty situation where a person Holmes cares about/piqued his intellect is also a murderer I don't think was the intent.  She was excellent whenever she had to show the conflict within Abigail, defending herself against charges old and new.  A particular highlight was Samuel H. Levine as Graham Delancey, Titus' elder son.  He went from angry witness to hurt victim to future potential returning guest star so well.  His final scene with Miller showcased two great performances that were believable and genuine, as if one really were catching Graham and Sherlock in the middle of a conversation.  This is early in his career, but with Poison Pen as a calling card he may have a bright future.

If I were to have something to criticize in Poison Pen it would be the first act with the S&M bondage gear.  Not only was this thrown in to make the case appear more sordid than it really was, but it also led to a totally false clue, one that just put in nothing to the story.  It wasn't only that the S&M business really had no business being there, it makes it more illogical.  There really was no reason for Jeffries to slip on the gear, and there really is very little motive for any of this.  This subplot seemed there only to stretch the story and to throw everyone off the track.

Still, while this S&M business makes the episode weaker than it should have been, the performances and the twists that did make sense (not the S&M one), made Poison Pen into another strong episode in Elementary's second season, showing that there will be a small chance for a sophomore slump. 

8/10

Next Episode: Ancient History

Ben-Hur Retrospective: The Conclusions

Well, now we come to a point in our program where we do those comparisons.  For Your Consideration, the three versions of General Lew Wallace's epic novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ.

The contestants are:

The 1925 silent film version.
The 1959 remake.
The 2010 television miniseries. 

We have a lot of ground to cover, so let us start.

BEST JUDAH BEN-HUR

Ramon Novarro
Charlton Heston
Joseph Morgan

You just can't keep a good Jew down...even if he is the in the form of a WASP like Chuck Heston.  It is a sign of the power of Heston in the role that no one else comes to mind as Judah Ben-Hur.  Curiously, Charlton Heston was not among the first choices, or even a major contender for the part.  Paul Newman was offered the role, but after his disastrous debut in The Silver Chalice, he declared he would never act again in "a cocktail dress".  Marlon Brando, Burt Lancaster, Rock Hudson, and Leslie Nielsen were all either offered the role or tested for it (Nielsen's screen-test as Messala is available as part of the Ben-Hur special features). Kirk Douglas wanted the part, and would have been good in it.  However, he was I believed turned down in favor of Charlton Heston, known for his larger-than-life persona and resonant voice.  Douglas in turn turned down the role of Messala when he was not given the lead.

Despite Charlton Heston not being highly considered for Judah, now we simply can't see anyone else as the noble Jewish Prince.

I know many people dismiss Heston as an actor, but I think he was magnificent as Judah.  He dominates the screen both in the epic scenes (the chariot race) and in the more introspective moments (such as when he sees his mother and sister in the Valley of the Lepers).  Navarro today suffers from the typical broadness of silent film acting, and poor Morgan: he scowls his way through the television adaptation, looking as though he thinks he's in Gladiator. 

BEST MESSALA

Francis X. Bushman
Stephen Boyd
Steven Campbell Moore

Only, my choice of Boyd was not a slam-dunk.  I thought well of Moore's take on Messala, erstwhile Roman friend of the Jewish Judah.  He had a strong motivating factor throughout the television Ben-Hur, and he was a rare bright spot in the Spartacus-fication of the General Wallace novel.

However, Boyd also had a motivation to destroy his friend, and it was how he was corrupted by Rome and Roman power than a desire to strike at his father.  I really think that all of them, even the relatively forgotten Bushman, gave strong performances as Messala.  However, when we see how well Boyd matches Heston, he wins by the thinnest of margins.

Pity about the race, though...

BEST SHEIK ILDERIM

Mitchell Lewis
Hugh Griffith
Art Malik

Here's an unexpected surprise.  In fairness to Mitchell Lewis, I don't think he is remembered even by those who watched the silent Ben-Hur.  Yes, Hugh Griffith won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for the role, but while I don't think it was terrible I also never have been able to shake the idea that Griffith's make-up belabored the idea that this was a non-Arab playing Arab.  Sometimes that kind of casting works, but here it was too distracting for me.  Also, while perhaps it was intended to be a more comic role, I was not wild about it.  Don't get me wrong: I don't hate Griffith as Ilderim, but am not crazy about him either.

I guess because Malik is Pakistani, it lends his performance at least a certain credibility.  Though not strictly Arab, it is closer than the Welsh Griffith. 

BEST QUINTUS ARRIUS

Frank Currier
Jack Hawkins
Ray Winstone

Again, I don't recall Currier at all.  That knocks him out altogether.  That brings the contest down to two strong actors.  I think Winstone was miscast as the noble Roman in the television Ben-Hur.  Complicating things was the fact that the script gave Winstone virtually nothing to work with.  He was so remarkably passive, not the arrogant consul who grew to see Judah as the son he had lost.  Hawkins did get that, and made the transition work beautifully.  His scenes with Heston, while short, are so memorable, especially when he formally adopts Judah as the son he lost and found again.

BEST ESTHER

May McAvoy
Haya Harareet
Emily Van Camp

I quickly dismiss McAvoy, who came across as a pretty but vapid little girl.  She suffered from the 1920s view of woman as the sweet child rather than a woman who was caught in slavery and a terrible oppressive world of Roman domination.  I think Van Camp did what she could, and she actually wasn't all that bad as Esther.  However, for me Harareet is the best Esther.  She is beautiful, strong, and a woman strong enough for both Charlton Heston and for Judah Ben-Hur, one who loves him but also can stand up to him.

It also helps that Harareet, still currently with us, is Israeli, making her the only actor in any of the versions who has any ties to the Holy Land. 

BEST CHARIOT RACE

1925
1959
2010

One thing is for certain: the 2010 Ben-Hur television miniseries has a literal race if by race you mean going from Point A to Point B.  It is not that it is so very dull (which it is), but that it looks so cheap.  It isn't exciting, it isn't a true challenge of rivals between Messala and Judah. 

As for the other two, I find it so hard to choose.  On the one hand, the 1959 version has a simply thrilling chariot race, one that overwhelms you and even its detractors (and yes, I know a few who think the Charlton Heston version is a lumbering bore) admit it is one of the greatest action sequences in film history.  However, when you think that in 1925 you had this equally massive spectacle, one that did something the 1959 version didn't (having shots where they are literally underneath the chariots).  It is especially astounding that in that there was no reliance on special effects but the ones that were used were incredibly convincing. 

Ultimately, I think both film versions have created extraordinary chariot scenes, so while I would call it a tie, I give the slight edge to the William Wyler version.

BEST ADAPTATION

1925
1959
2010

It is not the fact that Ben-Hur has won the most Academy Awards in history (tied with Titanic at eleven Oscars).  It is not the fact that Ben-Hur is a sprawling epic that runs three-and-a-half hours (though it goes by so quickly one never feels overwhelmed, a credit to William Wyler's direction). It is not the fact that Charlton Heston has become an icon to where when we think 'epic film', it is his face we see. 

Well, it is all that I grant you.  However, it is because within Ben-Hur there is not just spectacle, but an intelligence that makes Ben-Hur the 'thinking man's epic'.  There are ideas within Ben-Hur that make the viewer think.  The struggle between being true to your people and collaborating for security.  The cost of loyalty to one's ideals.  The fight against oppression.  The freedom and peace found in faith.  The need to take pride in one's history.  Judah Ben-Hur could have continued as Young Arrius, son of the Roman consul, found a wife and become Romanized.  Instead, he made himself clear: his name is Judah Ben-Hur, and he will stay true to his heritage.

Moreover, the Christian subtext is brilliantly handled.  At the end of the chariot race, Pontius Pilate awards Judah a crown of laurels, declaring him the people's 'one true God'.  Anyone with a cursory knowledge of Scripture knows that Pontius Pilate will be responsible for bringing another type of crown upon another Judean who is the people's 'one true God'.  The Christianity is not as overt as the 1925 version but not as absent as the 2010 version, and moreover Wyler and the screenwriters did not dilute the religious aspect of Ben-Hur (though they didn't beat you over the head with it). 

I also would be remiss if I didn't mention Miklos Rozsa's score for the 1959 version.  From the opening theme to the love theme and The Parade of the Charioteers, the score is both grand and sublime, capturing the gigantic emotions within the story.

Ben-Hur is a film that all three monotheistic faiths can embrace.  Judah Ben-Hur remains a faithful Jew (before the final race, Judah observes Jewish tradition of covering his head before prayer, and note the Star of David is prominently displayed).  Moslems, though not strictly represented as Islam did not come into existence until long after Rome's fall, have a positive figure in the Arab Ilderim, who gives the Star to Judah (while the Sheik is more comic, he is also in his way wise).  Christians embrace the transformative power of Christ as He fills the story.

It is true: it took a Jew (William Wyler) to make a good movie about Jesus.

Large in scale but intimate in story, the 1959 Ben-Hur remains among the greatest films ever made, one that will be watched and enjoyed by people of all backgrounds.  Cineastes will enjoy the 1925 version and find good things in it.  The 2010 version will be forgotten.

Thus I end my Ben-Hur Retrospective.  I found the 1925 version to be brilliant and which still holds up.  The 1959 version is one for the ages, and is assured a place in the ranking of Great Films.  The 2010 version is a mockery of the source material.

Turbo: A Review

TURBO

It may be that Turbo and Planes seem to have a similar theme: the main character who is naturally slow who yearns to be fast and ends up being just that.  I found Turbo pretty, harmless, I'm sure appealing to little, little, ones.  I can't say I was overwhelmed or offended by Turbo, at least much either way, though there are things to object to.  However, I don't think I will remember the movie nor have particularly fond memories long afterward watching.

Theo, who prefers Turbo (Ryan Reynolds) is a garden snail who is mad about auto racing.  He imagines himself a great racer, and his hero is Guy Gagne (Bill Hader), 5-time Indy 500 champion.  "No dream is too big, and no dreamer too small," Guy tells us.  Turbo pushes himself to be the fastest snail in the world, going for a personal best of seventeen minutes in a race against himself.  Still, despite his great dreams, they are deferred while he works at The Plant (a literal plant, in a vegetable garden).  His brother Chet (Paul Giamatti) does his best to steer him right, reminding Theo he is a snail, not geared towards speed.  Theo, or Turbo as he prefers, will not be dissuaded, and he wanders off towards the freeway.  Here, looking at all the speeding cars, he wishes to be fast.

Wish granted.  Through a series of tumbles he lands in front of a racing car, then is sucked into the engine where, Spider-Man style, he is transformed into the fastest snail in the world.  Turbo eagerly races back to the Plant, but his actions cause so much chaos that Theo and Chet are exiled.  Chet is taken by a crow and certain death, but Turbo saves him.  This attracts the attention of Tito (Michael Pena), who hosts snail races in the depressed Van Nuys shopping strip he and his brother Angelo (Luis Guzman) anchor in their Dos Bros Taco Stand.  In this strip mall there is a manicurist, Kim Ly (Ken Jeong), mechanic Paz (Michelle Rodriguez), and Bobby (Richard Jenkins), a toy shop owner.  Turbo's speed astonishes not just the humans, but the other snail racers: the leader Whiplash (Samuel L. Jackson), and his crew, Smooth Move (Snoop Dogg), Burn (Maya Rudolph), Skidmark (Ben Schwartz), and White Shadow (Michael Patrick Bell). 

Tito gets the incredible idea of using Turbo as a draw to the Dos Bros, which appalls Angelo.  Even more horrifying, Tito (with Turbo's subtle suggestion) gets the idea of entering Turbo in the Indianapolis 500!  Somehow, Tito gets Bobby, Paz, and Kim Ly to go along with this and put up the entry fee, while a frustrated Angelo is left waiting for his brother and the taco truck.  After some opposition, Indy 500 officials, with Guy's help, get Turbo entered.  Of course, we find that Guy is not worthy of Turbo's hero worship, and with Chet looking on, the race between the snail and the Frog goes down to the wire.

Who will win?

Turbo wants nothing more than to please, and I suppose if I were not too demanding, it does.  It is very pretty-looking.  In particular there is the opening sequence when Turbo dreams of racing, and when he looks down on the Interstate.  Visually Turbo has a lot of pretty colors which I found entertaining. 

In terms of story Darren Lemke, Robert D. Siegel, and director David Soren made some questionable choices.  One thing that did bother me was the stereotypes we were treated to.  In particular there was Jeong's 'little old Korean manicurist lady', complete with thick accent.  While the Dos Bros didn't go into stereotyping Hispanics, the idea of the Mexicans selling tacos and being in a slum part of California didn't sit too well with me.  It wasn't terrible or insulting, so that's a plus.  However, the duality of the Tito/Angelo and Turbo/Chet storyline wasn't as fully explored as perhaps it could have been.

I also thought that the story had some good ideas (I chuckled at 'the Plant' and with the tea kettle serving as the work whistle) and some bad ideas (having Guy turn out to be less than heroic is clichéd).  It also is a bit curious that the conversion of Theo into Turbo is deliberately reminiscent of Spider-Man, or at least it works out to evoke it so much that it must have been deliberate.   

In terms of performances, I like Reynolds as Turbo.  He was appropriately cute and eager as the snail who dreams of being more than he (and the other snails) think he should be.  Giamatti plays his typical nervous man but does it well.  I enjoy Hader and think he's extremely talented, but I don't think Turbo challenged him that well.  However, it is nice to a.) see Jackson come close to spoofing his persona, particularly in a family film (as does Rodriguez), and b.) see Snoop Dogg show a lighter side, showing he is in on the joke.   

Turbo is not taxing, and kids will enjoy the colors and the positive message to pursue your dreams regardless of obstacles.  It's a pretty, cute film, and those with kids will be pleased with it.  It isn't terribly original, or terribly deep, but for a pleasant afternoon and a way to keep kids entertained, Turbo is a winner.

DECISION: C+