#whatshouldwecallJaneAusten

That first half of the movie where Jane Austen's heroine becomes enamored with the asshat before she realizes how awesome the Actual Hero is...

The whole time, I'm just like: 

Sherlock Holmes / Stevie Miller, Guest Writer

The Snarky Victorian is happy to have Stevie Miller guest reviewing a steampunk-influenced Victorian flick this week: "Sherlock Holmes," starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. Enjoy!

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Sherlock Homes: The Case of the Steampunk Film Review

Entertaining and exciting, Sherlock Holmes (2009) offers Holmes as an action hero and not just an intellectual. Robert Downey Jr. gives a superb performance in the title role, showing us a Holmes who is brilliant, obsessively observant, a bit mad, and an all-around badass.

What are you in for when you see this film? Expect top-notch scenery, costuming, props, and music—and enough good things cannot be said about the music. Hans Zimmer’s score combines a distinctly British cultural flavor with a dark undercurrent appropriate for London’s back-alleys, then weaves it all together with Holmes’ trademark violin. A few clever transitions are used between Holmes plucking at his violin strings and the music in the score to draw this connection without slowing down the plot to make the audience sit through a recital.

What’s really going to polish your goggles in this movie, though, is the amazing banter between Holmes and Watson. This Watson, affectionately referred to as “Hotson” by the crew, is an updated version of Holmes’ sidekick, played by Jude Law. This Watson is no portly or slow old fellow who plods along cheering for Holmes’ every deduction. He’s a witty, sharp-dressed, former military man who won’t take any crap from his longtime friend. The lines Downey Jr. and Law toss effortlessly to one another are sharp, subtle, and brilliantly timed. You’ll spend half the movie laughing—if you’re clever enough to keep up with those two.

With all the good, there must be a bit of bad. That unfortunately comes in the form of Irene Adler, played by Rachel McAdams, Holmes’ former lover and ongoing obsession. Where Holmes and Watson are throwing witty barbs by the dozens, something just doesn’t quite work between Adler and Holmes. The first time they meet in the film, McAdams seems a bit off, even shy, next to Downey Jr., and there’s a distinct lack of chemistry between the two.

Things pick up a bit in the next scene, as Holmes follows Adler through the back alleys of London, and says to himself “There’s the Irene I remember,” as she shows a bit of spunk. The problem is the actual interaction between Adler and Holmes. Is this really the only woman to be Holmes’ intellectual equal? She just can’t seem to hold her own with him. Compare this to the restaurant scene with Holmes, Watson, and Mary, Watson’s girlfriend (played by Kelly Reilly), where she proves herself more than able to handle what the detective dishes out.

What does this film have to offer Steampunks? There’s a lot of delicious Victorian aesthetic to be had in the setting, costuming, language, and mannerisms. You’ll have a jolly good romp through a very realistic old London, along with a smattering of “SCIENCE!” in the form of a couple laboratories and some early versions of biological weapons.

On the flip side, this film doesn’t have some elements that would traditionally classify it as Steampunk. Arthur Conan-Doyle isn’t typically grouped with the “founding fathers” of Victorian science fiction that comprise Steampunk’s forebears. Realistic and rational like its hero, this movie doesn’t contain any outright magic, fantasy, or overly-stretched science—at least, not any that isn’t revealed by our favorite detective by the end.

That said, this film does a great job of getting into Holmes’ head and showing us—not telling us—how he thinks. You’ll see his hyper-awareness, peculiar mood-swings, and what he gets up to in his off-hours. While not all of these elements are necessarily part of the original Holmes fiction, they do provide a very interesting individual to get to know and follow around. The bottom line? You will have a jolly good time watching this movie. Smashing!

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Stevie Miller is a writer, artist, gardener, and Steampunk enthusiast who has an inexplicable affection for cephalopods. You can find her serialized Steampunk adventure, Society for the Promotion of Tentaclebeasts.

#whatshouldwecallfinals

During finals

I'm like:

After finals

I'm like:

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My last final is tomorrow! To celebrate that, I have a cheerful video for you.

#whatshouldwecallessaywriting

When I first start my essay on Postcolonialism in 19th century literature...

I'm like:

Two hours later...


I'm like:

#whatshouldwecalldarcy

When I've been using Pride and Prejudice as background noise, and Darcy's proposal scene comes on.

I'm like:

Hey folks! Finals are coming to an end in a couple of weeks, and that means freedom & more movie reviews. Stay tuned. 

Agatha Christie's Poirot (1989)

          

            My brother and sister-in-law are both fans of PBS's Poirot, and since I spent the weekend in New Hampshire with them this spring break, we watched several episodes starring Agatha Christie's mustached Belgian detective.

            The charming Mr. David Suchet plays Hercule Poirot who, judging from his accent, I thought was from French from France rather than French from Belgium. French-Belgian Google promptly corrected me.

        So, yes, Poirot is Belgian, but the actor playing him is from London. And although the French will follow you around from France to Canada (my favorite neighbor) and everywhere else, Suchet is English. Not French-English.

            For the sake of this review, I've watched the first episode of the entire series on my own. This one is called the Adventures of Clapham Cook, and Christie wrote it somewhere between 1923 and 1935. The story is actually from a series called Poirot's Early Cases, and

And now, for the List of Five...

1. Life Partners

            Just as Sherlock has Holmes, Poirot has Captain Hastings. I'm not even sure this counts as a bromance as much as a partnership, and I certainly wouldn't ship them like I do the loverboys in Sherlock. This is almost solely because Poirot and Hastings are not eye-candy. In fact, at their age, they have probably already developed a homonormative relationship.

2. Likeability

            Poirot is the clever man with a mustache and accent who makes deductions and explains important case points to Hastings, the Audience Substitute. Poirot is charming, eccentric, exotically foreign, intelligent, opinionated, and funny, while Hastings is an enjoyable representative of the "average English bloke." In this case, that means reasonable, pleasant, and interested. Bottom line: I'd hire Poirot and his sidekick to solve MY mystery, but literally.

            On Hastings v. Poirot

            A jerky train station employee: "I'm talking to the engineer, not the oil rag."

            But we would never say that about Hastings, because we <3 him.

3. Back to the Belgium v. French Issue

            The episode establishes that Poirot is Belgian.

            Policeman: Who are you?

            Poirot: I am Hercule Poirot. Who are you?

            Policeman: Sod (Sergeant? Mr. Sod?), there's some French gent at the door.

            Poirot: No, no, no, no, no, I am not some French gent. I am some Belgian gent.

            He and French-Belgian Google share an attitude problem regarding this. As if we can all tell exactly where your French accent comes from. *sigh*

4. Time Period

            As I wrote before, Christie wrote this story somewhere between 1923 and 1935, but descriptions of the TV show say 1930s. I actually found it difficult to grab screencaps because of the difference in video quality (I'm so used to high quality now that I don't know when the "best" shot is to show off the costumes. It all looked fuzzy to me.)

 

5. My Overall Impression

            I've never been a big lover of mysteries, although I do consume the popular products of this genre (the recent Sherlock Holmes craze in movies and TV, a Miss Marble novel here and there, etc.) As far as mysteries go, Agatha Christie's Poirot is pretty good. It's dated with regards to filming quality (simply because of advances in technology,) but the fashion and makeup are 1930s-based. It's unlike many other films or TV shows where you can usually tell when a film was made solely from the makeup and hair (1940s faux-historical costumes, 1960s makeup, 1980s shoulder pads on dresses that did not have them.) 

           I enjoyed it, and although I'm not likely to watch it very often, it's definitely a safe bet with family members. My brother, sister-in-law, and my mother all love Poirot, and it won't make an evening at home uncomfortable with any slippage of anything we don't want to see with family members present.

** If you would like to see me review anything in particular, please leave the title and year below in the comments.

Hello Once Again (Or Once Upon a Time)

 

Hello Victorian and movie / TV history lovers!

I'm going to start this blog up for the semester, and I'd like to switch from movies to TV for a second in order to target discuss Once Upon a Time. Or, Once Upon A Cliched and Yet Addicting TV Show That Totally Doesn't Belong Here Because The Historical Context is Completely Bastardized (AKA, Not Really Meant to Be Historical.) If you've never seen it before, it's about a town of misplaced fairy tale characters trapped in our dimension due to a book-related spell of some sort, and the show splits its time between showing the characters in the "Real World" and the Fairy Tale World.

I have tried and tried again to figure out why I enjoy this show so much, despite its predictable plot and cliched script (Not to spoil a scene for anyone, but I know a typewriter box when I see it) and I have my narrowed down irrational fondness into a list.

1. I love fairy tales. Especially when we get to see their stars in faux-historical outfits. I will apparently watch a whole show just because of this.

"Even my eyebrows are awesome. Look at them."

2. *sparkle* Robert Carlyle *sparkle* is acting Gold to me (and he plays Mr. Gold / Rumplestiltskin in Once Upon a Time.) If you've read my review of Plunkett & Macleane, that mashup of 1999 and the 1700s, you know that I give him major props for his acting skills (and for existing in a cloud of Baddassness.) Similar to the fairy tale theme, I will watch him in anything.

3. I am a fan of Elvira, Buffy, Xena, and Showgirls, so I like movies or tv shows with a B movie feel, whether it was on purpose or not. So, do your thing, Rumplestiltskin! Rock those red contacts and that reptilian skin!

You can watch the first season on Hulu: http://www.hulu.com/once-upon-a-time

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