Sherlock

[Kyle76]

I've watched a couple of episodes of this modern-day Holmes series with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. I find them a tad long at 88 minutes but enjoyable nonetheless. Cumberbatch (is that a great British name or what?) is very good, with his idiosyncratic dress bridging the gap between the 19th and 21st centuries. The rapport with Freeman is, so far, very good. Any other fans here?

[Larry T]

My daughter got me started on Sherlock, can't wait for the new season! I also like Elementary, but Sherlock is my favorite of the two.

Larry

[Thalay Sagar]

I truly enjoyed the first season/series, especially the modern twist on the rapport between Holmes & Watson. I need to catch up with the second season on Netflix, though, before the third starts.

[rsp1202]

I've downloaded the series and have been meaning to watch it. I understand it's easy to get hooked.

[GA Russell]

If I may change the subject just a little bit, during the 1959-60 school year I watched every Saturday evening the 1954 English Sherlock Holmes show which starred Ronald Howard. I enjoyed it, and then forgot about it.

About five years ago, Walmart sold a number of 99 cent DVDs, including one of this show with I think three episodes on it. I picked it up on a lark, and was surprised to find that it was much better than I had recalled, or I suppose could have appreciated at that age.

Amazon now carries the complete series for $5.00. I bought one for my niece and her husband for Christmas.

http://www.amazon.com/Sherlock-Holmes-C ... ald+howard

[jww]

Funny I watched the first episode of series one Friday and quite enjoyed it for much the same reasons, freeman and cumberbatch are quite good together.
I'll give it a chance and watch some more episodes and see where that takes me.

[Squire]

Very, very good interpretation of the originals, one of my current favorites. At first I was skeptical about the Sherlock stories translating into modern settings because they were originally written with such a 19th century sensibility. They do though, at least with the creative group behind this series.

Less impressive but watchable none the less is the early 50s series starring Ronald Howard. Being half hour segments the writing is original and only the characters are based on the Doyle creations but the cast is complementary and the production qualities rather good.

It's also interesting to see Ronald Howard display some of his famous father's (Leslie Howard) mannerisms and speech patterns.

[rsp1202]

. . . It's also interesting to see Ronald Howard display some of his famous father's (Leslie Howard) mannerisms and speech patterns.

I'd seen him before but never made the connection. Duh.

[aircraft_electrician]

The wife and I watched an episode on PBS' Masterpiece Mystery last weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it, so we searched Netflix and have since watched another episode We enjoyed that as well. We will be watching the rest. I thought Cumberbatch over-acted a bit as Khan in the latest Star Trek film and while I really liked the film, I didn't really care for him in that role, but as Holmes, I've found him to be very good. He does a good job of letting the audience know Holmes was a bit insane without going completely overboard.

[ThePossum]

Gotta tell ya all, I have seen most of the various interpretations of Sherlock Holmes that have come down the pipe. Loved them all but to me the absolute best way to get into and enjoy Sherlock Holmes adventures is to find a nice warm spot in the winter or cool spot in the summer and open my volume of Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes stories. Just something about reading them rather than watching them that makes them more enjoyable. Maybe it is because I am using my own imagination about the settings etc of the story rather than watching some script writer's version.

[JRTASTER]

Bryce has it about right!
As to Cumberbatch, I still can't quite forget or forgive the silly grin he flashes at the end of
Tinker,Tailor... a pic I believe was vastly over-rated, as was the performance of Gary Oldham
(sp?) therein.
The "new" Sherlock is cute, fun, visually distracting, entertaining, and all that, but to me it
ain't Sherlock. E.g., Holmes' treatment of Watson has a bitchy and sadistic edge to it which
is annoying and his physical affection toward a couple of the female characters seems
a bit off base compared to Doyle's written Sherlock.
But it seems mine is a minority opinion, but I do still enjoy watching.

[jww]

Just finishing up episode 2 of series 1 .... it's not as good, in my mind, as episode 1, but good enough to continue to invest time watching.

[Kyle76]

I knew I recognized Cumberbatch, but I did not make the Tinker, Tailor connection. Thanks for pointing that out. He seems so much younger as Holmes than as Peter Guillam. While I don't understand some of the changes made to Guillam's character from the book, since John LeCarre' was a producer of the film, I can only assume they were made with his blessing. I'm not sure why you object to the surreptitious grin at the end of the movie. To me, it was merely a private acknowledgement of Guillam and Smiley's secret activities that led to Smiley's return to the Circus as its new leader. What did you find objectionable?

[rsp1202]

I just finished watching the first two episodes of Season 3 (?), "The Empty Hearse" and "The Sign of Three." Very entertaining, probably even more so if I could follow the fast-spoken dialogue. In fact, I haven't enjoyed a series this much since "The West Wing" (the first four seasons, at any rate).

[JRTASTER]

Guillam's smile, more of a smirk as I saw it, seemed out of his character in this version. IMO.
I think I got the private joke angle, but objected to the way he displayed as a bit over the top!
Yes, LeCarre, was involved in the production but not as the director. Somewhere I read he told the
Director NOT to put his book to the screen, which the director took to heart. Possibly LeCarre
realized the BBC version with Alec Guiness was very faithful to the book and maybe impossible to
improve upon. (I seem to remember the BBC series ran over 7 hours so there were little time constraints).
Having read my mini-critique, one can readily appreciate why my career as a movie director never
blossomed!

[Squire]

The only way I can catch all the dialog is to watch the segments over again, which is not an unpleasant task.

[jww]

What I hope happens here is that the producers close the show off at its peak, rather than flog dead horses. I remember being quite stuck on the Bruce Willis / Cybill Shepherd show Moonlighting in the mid-80s. season 1 and 2 were excellent, then it went on a tail spin in season 3.

[JRTASTER]

The only way I can catch all the dialog is to watch the segments over again, which is not an unpleasant task.

Very true.... when almost any Brit show appears on PBS we have to crank up the volume big time... and then we constantly ask each
other " what did he(she) say?"

[jww]

The only way I can catch all the dialog is to watch the segments over again, which is not an unpleasant task.

Very true.... when almost any Brit show appears on PBS we have to crank up the volume big time... and then we constantly ask each
other " what did he(she) say?"

Something to do, perhaps, with the difference between PAL and NTSC? Drives me mad ....... and even worse when you are dealing with hearing loss - with or without hearing aids.

[Ouchmychin]

Unfortunately, I don't like the way the camera contrast is manipulated to remove all color from Sherlock's face and bleach his blue eyes. And his mannerisms annoy me too. I have read that experts feel this version is the truest ever to the books. I liked Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce at the team in the movies of my day (I'm 83). Still get a kick out of the weird modern interpretation in Elementary, too.