The film went on general release in the United States on December 25, 2009, and on December 26, 2009, in the UK, Ireland, and the Pacific.

In 1891 London, Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey, Jr.) and Dr. John Watson (Jude Law) race to prevent the ritual murder of a girl by Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong). They arrive just in time to stop him, Inspector Lestrade (Eddie Marsan) and the police arriving just after to arrest Blackwood.

Three months later, Holmes is without a new case and has become bored. Watson prepares to leave 221B Baker Street to establish his own business, and intends to marry Mary Morstan (Kelly Reilly). It is the day of Blackwood’s execution and he requests Holmes’ presence. He warns Holmes that three more deaths will occur after his execution that will change the very nature of their world. Blackwood is executed by hanging, and declared dead by Dr. Watson.

Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams) then appears on the scene — a master criminal who has twice outsmarted Holmes, and who, as the result, is the only one he has ever cared for. She asks Holmes to pursue a case of a missing red-haired midget by the name of Reordan, at the same time also letting Holmes know she has divorced her latest husband and inviting him to resume their old love affair. After her departure, Holmes disguises himself and follows, in order to discover the identity of her employer. The man is concealed by shadow and Holmes can only surmise that he is a professor from traces of chalk on his jacket.

Three days after Blackwood’s execution, his tomb is found shattered from the inside out, and an eyewitness reports seeing Blackwood walking away. Holmes, Watson, and Inspector Lestrade find Blackwood’s coffin contains the body of the red-haired midget. Holmes following clues from a pocket watch on the body, travels to the home of Reordan. There, they discover several experiments implying an attempt to merge science with magic. They fight three thugs: two arsonists sent to destroy the evidence, and the giant, French-speaking Dredger (Robert Maillet). After being chased into a shipyard, Dredger escapes, nearly killing Holmes in the process and sinking a ship under construction. This lands Holmes and Watson in jail for property damage.

Watson is soon released on bail by Miss Morstan. Holmes is left in jail, until he is later taken to the Temple of the Four Orders, an occult-dabbling secret society. The leaders, Sir Thomas (James Fox) and Lord Coward (Hans Matheson), reveal Blackwood was a former member and plead for Holmes to help stop him. Holmes declines their generous offers of reward but continues to pursue the case on his own terms. Holmes deduces that Blackwood is the son of Sir Thomas, a secret which Sir Thomas confirms.

Two senior members of the order, Sir Thomas and Ambassador Standish, are killed by Blackwood, through apparently magical means, allowing Blackwood to assume control of the order. He plans to use the Order’s power to push for Britain to retake the United States, weakened by civil war. Lord Coward has been in league with Blackwood all along, Blackwood orders him to issue a warrant for Holmes’ arrest.

Holmes and Watson follow clues to an industrial slaughterhouse, where they are taunted by Blackwood and forced to rescue Adler from a deadly conveyor belt trap. Watson chases after Blackwood but is caught by a tripwire, setting off an explosion; Watson warns them but is badly injured himself. Holmes learns he is wanted by the police and goes into hiding. He realizes that Blackwood is conducting a ritual based on the sphinx, with the three murdered men tied to three of the mythical creature’s animal constituents: man, ox, and eagle. Holmes deduces the fourth symbol the lion, represents the British Parliament. Holmes allows Lestrade to capture and bring him to the Home Secretary. Overconfident, Lord Coward reveals Blackwood’s plan for to wipe out House of Lords. Holmes escapes, diving out the window into the river Thames, and is rescued by Watson and Adler in a boat.

The three enter the sewers beneath Parliament and discover a complex machine, based on the midget’s experiments, with a radio-controller trigger to release a cyanide derivative into the Parliament chambers. They fight off Blackwood’s men, and dislodge the cyanide cylinders from the machine. Adler grabs the cylinders and races away, followed by Holmes.

Blackwood and Coward realize their plan has failed and attempt to escape. Blackwood manages to get away but Coward is unable to leave. Holmes confronts Adler on top of Tower Bridge, still under construction, she has nowhere to run. Blackwood arrives, knocking Adler to a lower platform, where she lies unconscious. Holmes tricks Blackwood into becoming entangled in the ropes and chains, and Blackwood is left hanging precariously over the Thames while Holmes recounts that all of Blackwood’s “mystical” acts were simply applications of science and trickery. Holmes intends for Blackwood to stand trial and be appropriately executed but a loose beam falls off the rafter supports, causing Blackwood to plummet off the bridge and be hanged by the chains.

Holmes helps Adler recover, though he handcuffs her. She explains that her employer is “Professor Moriarty”, warning Holmes that Moriarty “is just as brilliant as he is, and infinitely more devious”. Holmes replies, “We’ll see about that.” Holmes drops the key to the cuffs in Adler’s shirt and leaves her, returning to Watson. The police arrive to report a dead officer found near Blackwood’s device, and Holmes deduces that chasing Adler and fighting Blackwood was a diversion by Moriarty, who used the distraction to take a key component of Blackwood’s remote control device from the machine. Holmes accepts the case.
(www.wikipedia.org)

The Internet Movie Database

Greetings again from the darkness. Great literature seldom makes for great cinema. The mediums are vastly different. However great literature, in the right hands, can make for very entertaining cinema. Such is the case with Guy Ritchie’s interpretation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s greatest character.

Mr. Ritchie provides us with quite a departure from the Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce “Holmes and Watson”. Here we get dazzling special effects and near super-human feats and stunts. Another twist is that this Holmes here is no meticulous, fastidious bore in real life. In fact, he lives more like a frat boy or rock star – replete with trashed room and bouts of isolation.

What is not missing is Holmes’ world class attention to detail. The story here is multi-layered and actually very interesting, if not a bit high-minded and high-concept. The still-under-construction Tower Bridge plays a role in the film and the bleakness and gray of London is captured perfectly.

Of course, I won’t reveal any details of the story other than to say the “good” guys are out to get a real bad guy here … wonderfully played by the always solid Mark Strong, who may or may not be dead. That always makes for an interesting case! Support from Rachel McAdams and Eddie Marsan are fine, but Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law are the real stars as Holmes and Watson. As odd as it seems, they really do have a buddy factor that works well on screen. Downey’s physicality has always set him apart from many contemporary actors … he moves like a dancer and fights like a champion. Jude Law is often too pretty-boy for me, but he really does a nice job of capturing the reluctant sidekick with complimentary skills.

This is a BIG movie! It is made to be a rollicking good time with tons of popcorn munched. Smaller kids will not be able to follow the story, but anyone who has read a Holmes story (and isn’t against a little artistic license) should see the film. It is extremely entertaining and fun to watch.
David Ferguson

Opening on Christmas Day, Sherlock Holmes showed itself to be worthy as a blockbuster hit. To be frank, I came with an expectation that the movie would be terrible. But I was proved wrong.

Sherlock Holmes seems to be like the new James Bond: gritty, hardcore, and always ready for a good fight. He is not only intellectually sophisticated but also quite a brawler. Watson his side kick who is his loyal friend is always there to save his dear partner from harm’s way. Irene plays the notorious thief and lover of Mr. Holmes. She is a wily character who keeps the reader guessing her motives.

The cinematography of the movie was special because it showed parts of the film as Holmes’ future logical deductions. The movie also used the tradition method of explaining the Sherlock Holmes deductions after given the facts and clues.

Sherlock Holmes’ evil nemesis play his part well. There were many humorous antics and displays of ingenious traps. The other minor characters also added to the crude humor and laughter.

Overall, this movie deserves to be watched. It comes with sparkles of spontaneity and fun. And it may even leave you wanting a sequel! Give it a try!
OnFireJC

NY Times

Early in “Sherlock Holmes” — and also again, later on — the famous sleuth demonstrates his ratiocinative powers in a way undreamed of by his creator, Arthur Conan Doyle. Observing a thug standing guard over a horrible crime in a dimly lighted church, Holmes calculates just how to surprise the man, disarm him and beat him senseless. The audience follows his thought process through slow-motion pre-enactment, observing how the laws of anatomy and physics will be used to snap bones, gouge organs and turn flesh into pulp. Then, having seen it diagramed once on screen, we see it all again, with more noise, in real time. Elementary!

Doyle’s Holmes, who arrived in Victorian pop culture in 1887 (with the publication of “A Study in Scarlet”), has adapted since then to changes in taste and entertainment technology. He was a proto-superhero, amenable to all kinds of elaboration and variation, and even a measure of mockery, as long as the basics of the brand were respected. For most of his existence he has lived at 221B Baker Street, smoking a pipe, playing the violin and sticking faithfully to bachelorhood and his belief in the functional elegance of the deerstalker hat.

But Holmes has never been much for physical violence, and the chief innovation of this new, franchise-ready incarnation, directed by Guy Ritchie and played by Robert Downey Jr., is that he is, in addition to everything else, a brawling, head-butting, fist-in-the-gut, knee-in-the-groin action hero.
full review

Rotten Tomatoes
Give 68% for tomatometer

This Sherlock Holmes refuses to take himself seriously. Brilliant, because it allows to RDJ and Ritchie to let rip with their non-traditionalist revamp. Not so great because super-sleuthing loses out to bone-crunching. Either way, the brio is infectious. Matt Mueller, Total Film

The views of Victorian London are just as seductive as Downey Jr, who exudes an aura of troubled genius, though that’s all the information you’re likely to retain, as there’s rarely a moment to think between all the fights and explosions. Stella Papamichael, Radio Times

For the most part, quirky British filmmaker Guy Ritchie has managed to take the character out of mothballs without desecrating Conan Doyle’s original vision. Dan Lybarger, eFilmCritic.com

Amazon.com

Guy Ritchie (Snatch, RocknRolla) attempts to reinvent one of the world’s most iconic literary figures as an action hero in this brawny, visually arresting period adventure. Robert Downey Jr. is an intriguing choice for the Great Detective, and if he occasionally murmurs his lines a pitch or two out of hearing range, his trademark bristling energy and off-kilter humor do much to sell Ritchie’s notion of Holmes. Jude Law is equally well-equipped as a more active Dr. Watson–he’s closer to Robert Duvall’s vigorous portrayal in The Seven Per-Cent Solution than to Nigel Bruce–and together, they make for an engaging team. Too bad the plot they’re thrust into is such a mess–a bustling and disorganized flurry of martial arts, black magic, and overwhelming set pieces centered around Mark Strong’s Crowley-esque cult leader (no Professor Moriarty, he), who returns from the grave to exact revenge. Downey and Law’s amped-up Holmes and Watson are built for the challenge of riding this roller coaster with the audience; however, Rachel McAdams as Holmes’s love interest, Irene Adler (here a markedly different character than the one in Arthur Conan Doyle’s “A Scandal in Bohemia”), and Kelly Reilly as Mary Morstan, the future Mrs. Watson, are cast to the wind in the wake of Ritchie’s hurricane pace. One can imagine this not sitting well with ardent Sherlockians; all others may find this Sherlock Holmes marvelous if calorie-free popcorn entertainment, with the CGI rendering of Victorian-era London particularly appealing eye candy. –Paul Gaita

Buy Sherlock Holmes [Blu-ray]

The film was in development since 1990 at Universal Studios, 20th Century Fox, and New Line Cinema, before Marvel Studios reacquired the rights in 2006. Marvel put the project in production as its first self-financed film. Favreau signed on as director, aiming for a naturalistic feel, and he chose to shoot the film primarily in California, rejecting the East Coast setting of the comics to differentiate the film from numerous superhero films set in New York City-esque environments. During filming, the actors were free to create their own dialogue because pre-production was focused on the story and action. Rubber and metal versions of the armors, created by Stan Winston’s company, were mixed with computer-generated imagery to create the title character.

Marvel Studios and Paramount Pictures, the distributor, planned a $50 million marketing campaign for the film, which was modeled on Paramount’s successful promotion of Transformers; Hasbro and Sega sold merchandise, and product placement deals were made with Audi, Burger King, LG and 7-Eleven. Reviews were very positive, particularly praising Downey’s performance. Downey, Favreau and Paltrow will return in the sequel Iron Man 2, scheduled for release on May 7, 2010. Downey also made a cameo appearance as Stark in The Incredible Hulk.

Tony Stark gambles at a Las Vegas casino, leaving his deceased father’s friend and business partner, Obadiah Stane, to accept a prestigious award for him. Tony Stark is the head of Stark Industries, a major military contracting company which he inherited when his parents died in a traffic accident. Tony himself is an engineering genius, having earned multiple degrees and awards for his company’s advanced technological products, many of which he has invented. However, Stark is also a heavy-drinking, womanizing playboy. As Stark leaves the casino with his entourage, he is approached by reporter Christine Everhart, whom he charms into a one-night stand at his Malibu house. When she awakens the next morning, Stark is gone, and she is coldly greeted and helped out by Pepper Potts, his personal assistant.

Stark flies off to war-torn Afghanistan with his friend and company military liaison, Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes, for a demonstration of Stark Industries’ new weapon, the “Jericho” cluster missile. On the way back, however, his military convoy is attacked. His escort is wiped out and Stark is critically wounded by one of his own company’s bombs.

Waking up in an Afghan cave, he discovers an electromagnet embedded in his chest, placed there by fellow captive Dr. Yinsen. Powered by a car battery, it keeps shrapnel from working its way to his heart and killing him. Stark has been captured by a terrorist group known as the Ten Rings, whose leader, Raza, orders Stark to build a Jericho missile for him.

Instead, during his three months of captivity, he and Yinsen begin secretly building a crude suit of armor, powered by a miniature “arc reactor” which also runs the electromagnet in his chest. Finally, the terrorists grow impatient and give Stark 24 hours to finish. Unfortunately, the terrorists become suspicious before the suit is fully activated, so Yinsen makes a suicidal attack in a desperate bid to buy time. Once the armor is ready, Stark charges through the caves. Near the entrance, a dying Yinsen tells him not to waste his life. Forever grateful to Yinsen, Stark burns all the munitions the terrorists have accumulated and then flies away, only to crash in the desert; Stark survives, but his suit is destroyed. After being rescued by Rhodes, Stark announces at a press conference that his company will no longer manufacture weapons. Stane tells him shortly thereafter that his decision is being blocked by the board of directors of Stark Industries.

Stark focuses his energies on building a better version of his power suit, while making an improved arc reactor for his chest. Once the new reactor replaces the old one, Stark realizes Potts is his only friend, and Potts gives Stark a gift: his first miniature reactor, encased in glass and bearing the inscription “Proof that Tony Stark has a heart”. After much trial and error, Stark develops first a “Mark II” armor suit, then an improved red and gold “Mark III”.

During Stark’s first public appearance after his return, he spots Potts wearing a backless blue dress – her delegated choice of birthday present from him, and recognizes his romantic feelings for his assistant. As they are about to share a kiss, Potts interrupts by asking for a martini. While ordering the drinks, Stark is accosted by Everhart, who shows him pictures of Stark Industries weapons, including Jericho missiles, recently delivered to insurgents. He realizes that Stane has been supplying both the Americans and their enemies, and attempting to remove Stark from power. Enraged, Stark dons the power suit, flies to Afghanistan and rescues Gulmira, Yinsen’s village, from the Ten Rings. As he is flying away, Stark is detected by the United States Air Force, which dispatches two F-22 Raptors to try to identify the mysterious flying object. The fighters are ordered to destroy the target. During the resulting dogfight, Stark has time to reveal to Rhodes, called in as a consultant, that he is the unidentified target. One of the planes is accidentally destroyed when it collides with Stark. The pilot ejects, but his parachute does not deploy, so Stark rescues him before escaping.

Stark sends Potts to hack into the company computer system. She discovers that Stane hired the Ten Rings to kill Stark. The group reneged on the deal upon discovering who the target was, which ultimately seals their fate when Stane has them eliminated later. She also learns Stane has recovered the pieces of the original power suit and reverse-engineered his own version, one much larger, more powerful, and less “conservative” than Stark’s. As she leaves Stane’s office, she meets with Agent Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D., a newly-established counter-terrorism government agency, who has been accosting her and Stark about an interview concerning Stark’s escape from the Ten Rings.

After she leaves, Stane discovers what she has done. He goes to his scientists and is angered when they admit that they cannot duplicate the arc reactor technology that Stark created. Later that evening, Stane ambushes Stark in his house, using a Stark Industries device to paralyze him. While revealing his plan to take over Stark Industries, Stane removes the arc reactor from Stark’s chest and leaves him to die. However, with assistance of his workshop robots, Stark gets to Potts’ gift and re-installs his original reactor. Meanwhile, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, guided by Potts, break into Stark Industries to arrest Stane, only to be attacked by Stane in the now functional Iron Monger suit.

Although his original reactor is underpowered for his latest armor, Stark races to the rescue. Stane’s armor suit is bigger and has more weapons than Stark’s, though not quite as sophisticated (it never fixed the icing problem that the old Mark II had). Ultimately finding himself outmatched, Stark lures Stane atop the Stark Industries building. With no power left, Stark instructs Potts to overload the full-sized reactor in the building. This unleashes a massive electrical surge that knocks Stane unconscious and sends him falling through the ceiling into the reactor itself, apparently incinerating him.

The next day, it is revealed that the press has dubbed Stark’s alter ego “Iron Man”. Rhodes gives reporters a false explanation of what happened. Before speaking, Stark briefly makes an attempt to establish a romantic relationship with Potts, but is put on hold considering she has not forgiven him for leaving her at the party without explanation when he decided to help Gulmira. During the press conference, Stark starts to tell the cover story given to him by S.H.I.E.L.D., but then instead announces openly that he is Iron Man.

In a post-credits scene, Stark is visited by S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury who notes that Stark is not “the only superhero in the world” and states he wants to discuss the “Avenger Initiative”.
(www.wikipedia.org)

The Internet Movie Database

Tony Stark is the complete playboy who also happens to be an engineering genius. While in Afghanistan demonstrating a new missile he’s captured and wounded. His captors want him to assemble a missile for them but instead he creates an armored suit and a means to prevent his death from the shrapnel left in his chest by the attack. He uses the armored suit to escape. Back in the U.S. he announces his company will cease making weapons and he begins work on an updated armored suit only to find that Obadiah Stane, his second in command at Stark industries has been selling Stark weapons to the insurgents. He uses his new suit to return to Afghanistan to destroy the arms and then to stop Stane from misusing his research. Written by John Vogel {jlvogel@comcast.net}

The playboy wolf and genius Tony Stark is the successful CIO of the Stark Industries, a weapon company founded by his father. His second in command is Obadiah Stane, who worked with his father, and his loyal and professional secretary is Pepper Potts, who has a crush on Tony. While in Afghanistan to demonstrate the ultimate Jericho missile developed by his company, his military convoy is attacked and Tony is seriously wounded on his chest and kidnapped by a group of rebels that wants him to assemble a missile for their use. Tony stays with his abductors for three months and develops a powerful metallic armor to escape from the cave where he is arrested. He decides to stop manufacturing weapons in his company under the protest of Obadiah, and dedicates his time to improve the armor, manufacturing it with gold and titanium and installing a propulsion system to fly. However, Pepper discovers that Tony was betrayed by Obadiah, who is using Tony’s data to build prototype armor for him, transforming it in the ultimate weapon. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

NY Times

The world at the moment does not suffer from a shortage of superheroes. And yet in some ways the glut of anti-evil crusaders with cool costumes and troubled souls takes the pressure off of “Iron Man,” which clanks into theaters today ahead of Hellboy, Batman and the Incredible Hulk. This summer those guys are all in sequels or redos, so Iron Man (a Marvel property not to be confused with the Man of Steel, who belongs to DC and who’s taking a break this year) has the advantage of novelty in addition to a seasonal head start.

And “Iron Man,” directed by Jon Favreau (“Elf,” “Zathura”), has the advantage of being an unusually good superhero picture. Or at least — since it certainly has its problems — a superhero movie that’s good in unusual ways. The film benefits from a script (credited to Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway) that generally chooses clever dialogue over manufactured catchphrases and lumbering exposition, and also from a crackerjack cast that accepts the filmmakers’ invitation to do some real acting rather than just flex and glower and shriek for a paycheck.
full review

Rotten Tomatoes
Give 98% for tomatometer

Downey is at his charismatic best, rendering believable Stark’s transformation from self-indulgent jerk to socially conscious crusader. Calvin Wilson. St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Iron Man is the best superhero film to come along since Batman Begins, and is one hell of a way to start off summer of 2008. JoBlo. JoBlo’s Movie Emporium

One of the strongest entries into the superhero movie canon of recent years. While featuring a few flaws, this is one of the most entertaining comic book adaptations in last few years. Wesley Lovell. Oscar Guy

Amazon.com
You know you’re going to get a different kind of superhero when you cast Robert Downey Jr. in the lead role. And Iron Man is different, in welcome ways. Cleverly updated from Marvel Comics’ longstanding series, Iron Man puts billionaire industrialist Tony Stark (that’s Downey) in the path of some Middle Eastern terrorists; in a brilliantly paced section, Stark invents an indestructible suit that allows him to escape. If the rest of the movie never quit hits that precise rhythm again, it nevertheless offers plenty of pleasure, as the renewed Stark swears off his past as a weapons manufacturer, develops his new Iron Man suit, and puzzles both his business partner (Jeff Bridges in great form) and executive assistant (Gwyneth Paltrow). Director Jon Favreau geeks out in fun ways with the hardware, but never lets it overpower the movie, and there’s always a goofy one-liner or a slapstick pratfall around to break the tension. As for Downey, he doesn’t get to jitterbug around too much in his improv way, but he brings enough of his unpredictable personality to keep the thing fresh. And listen up, hardcore Marvel mavens: even if you know the Stan Lee cameo is coming, you won’t be able to guess it until it’s on the screen. It all builds to a splendid final scene, with a concluding line delivery by Downey that just feels absolutely right. –Robert Horton

Buy Iron Man (Ultimate Two-Disc Edition + BD Live) [Blu-ray] from amazon.com

Soundtrack

1. Back In Black. AC/DC
2. Damn Kid. DJ Boborobo
3. Iron Man (Theme from the Animated Series). John O’Brien and Rick Boston
4. Institutionalized. Suicidal Tendencies
5. Slept on Tony with Dirt. Ghostface Killah
6. Concerto In Do Maggiore Per Pianoforte Ed Orchestra: Larghetto. Ramin Djawadi
7. Groovetronic. Terry Devine-King
8. Kool Katz. Chucho Merchan
9. Licorice. Emanuel Kallins and Steve Skinner
10. Iron Man. Black Sabbath

Producer Michael G. Wilson developed the film’s plot while Casino Royale was being shot. Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Paul Haggis, and Joshua Zetumer contributed to the script. The title was chosen from a 1960 short story in Ian Fleming’s For Your Eyes Only, though the film does not contain any elements of the original story. Location filming took place in Panama, Chile, Italy, and Austria while interior sets were built and watched at Pinewood Studios. Forster aimed to make a modern film that also featured classic cinema motifs: a vintage aeroplane was used for a dogfight sequence, and Dennis Gassner’s set designs are reminiscent of Ken Adam’s work on several early Bond films. Taking a course away from the usual Bond villains, Forster rejected any grotesque appearance for the character Dominic Greene to emphasise the hidden and secret nature of the film’s contemporary villains.

The film premiered at the Odeon Leicester Square on 29 October 2008, gathering mixed reviews which mainly praised Craig’s gritty performance and the film’s action sequences while feeling that Quantum of Solace was not as impressive as the predecessor Casino Royale. It is also the second highest grossing James Bond film, without adjusting for inflation, making $586,090,727 worldwide, while becoming the higher grossing Bond film domestically.

The film continues immediately after the events of Casino Royale with Bond driving from Lake Como to Siena, Italy. With the captured Mr. White in the luggage compartment of his car, Bond is attacked by chasing henchmen. After evading his pursuers, Bond and M interrogate White regarding his organisation, Quantum. M’s bodyguard, Mitchell, is revealed as a double agent and a traitor, attacking M and allowing White to escape; Bond chases Mitchell across Siena and kills him. Following a forensic investigation into Mitchell’s apartment back in London, Bond heads to Haiti to track down and kill Mitchell’s contact, Edmund Slate. In carrying out his objective, Bond learns that Slate was sent to kill Camille Montes at the behest of her lover, Dominic Greene, the chairman of an ecological organization called Greene Planet. While observing her meeting with Greene, Bond learns that Greene is helping the Bolivian general Medrano – who murdered Camille’s family – overthrow his government in exchange for a seemingly barren piece of desert.

Greene has Camille escorted away on Medrano’s boat to “sweeten” their deal, but Bond rescues her. Bond then follows Greene to a private jet, which flies him to a performance of Tosca at Lake Constance in Bregenz, Austria. Bond infiltrates Quantum’s meeting at the opera, and a gunfight ensues in a restaurant. A bodyguard of Guy Haines, an advisor to the British Prime Minister, is killed, and M, assuming Bond is the killer, has his passports and credit cards revoked. Bond travels to Talamone, a small Italian town in Maremma, to reunite with his old ally René Mathis. Though less than happy to see Bond, Mathis is convinced to accompany him to La Paz. They are greeted by Strawberry Fields, an MI6 field operative from the British Consulate, who demands that Bond return to the UK on the next available flight. Bond disobeys and seduces her in their hotel suite.

Bond meets Camille again at a fund-raiser being held by Greene, and they leave hastily together, but are pulled over by the Bolivian police. Not knowing that their chief was working with Medrano, the policemen had beaten Mathis and put him in the trunk of Bond’s car. The police order Bond to open the luggage compartment of his vehicle, revealing a bloodied Mathis. As Bond lifts Mathis out of the vehicle, the policemen open fire and fatally wound Mathis, who dies in Bond’s arms. After Bond subdues the police he deposits Mathis’s body in a waste container, and takes money from his wallet stating that Mathis wouldn’t care. Bond and Camille drive to Greene’s intended land acquisition and survey the area in a Douglas DC-3 plane. They are intercepted and shot down by an Aermacchi SF.260 fighter and a Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopter. They escape from the crippled plane by parachuting, landing in a sinkhole. While escaping the cave, Bond and Camille discover Quantum is blockading Bolivia’s supply of fresh water, normally flowing in subterranean rivers, by damming it to double the price of water. The duo return to La Paz, where Bond meets M and learns Quantum murdered Fields by drowning her in crude oil. Believing that Bond has become a threat to both friend and foe, M orders him to disarm and end his activities in Bolivia, but he defies her and escapes.

Bond meets CIA agent Felix Leiter at a local bar, who discloses Greene and Medrano will meet at an eco-hotel in the Bolivian desert. Tipped off by Leiter, Bond evades American special forces attempting to kill him. Bond then sets out to the hotel where Greene and Medrano make the change in the Bolivian leadership. Bond executes the departing Colonel of Police for betraying Mathis, and sets off a chain of explosions in the hotel when a hydrogen fuel tank is hit by an out of control vehicle. Camille kills Medrano, and Bond captures Greene. After interrogating him, he leaves Greene stranded in the middle of the desert with only a can of motor oil. Bond drives Camille to a train station, where they kiss before she departs.

Bond goes to Kazan, Russia, where he confronts Vesper Lynd’s former lover, Yusef Kabira. Yusef is a member of Quantum who seduces high-ranking women with valuable connections, getting them to give up government assets as ransom for himself in fake kidnappings where he is supposedly held hostage. He is attempting to do the same with Canadian agent Corinne Veneau, even giving her the same kind of necklace he gave Vesper. Surprising them at Yusef’s apartment, Bond tells Corinne about Vesper and advises her to alert the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. As Bond is leaving Yusef’s apartment he is confronted by M, who is surprised that Bond did not kill Yusef, but rather left him alive for questioning. M reveals that Leiter has been promoted by the CIA, replacing Beam, and that Greene was found in the desert, dead with two bullets in the back of his skull and with motor oil in his stomach. Bond doesn’t volunteer any information on Greene, but tells M that she was right about Vesper. M then tells Bond that MI6 needs him back and fully reinstates him as an agent. Bond walks off into the night telling M that he never left. As he leaves, he drops Vesper’s necklace in the snow.
(www.wikipedia.org)

NY Times
A reviewer may come to a new James Bond movie — “Quantum of Solace,” directed by Marc Forster and opening Friday, is the 22nd official installment of the series in 46 years — with a nifty theory or an elaborate sociocultural hermeneutic agenda, but the most important thing to have on hand is a checklist. It’s all well and good to reflect upon the ways 007, the Harry Potter of British intelligence, has evolved over time through changes in casting, geopolitics, sexual mores and styles of dress.

But the first order of business must always be to run through the basic specs of this classic entertainment machine’s latest model and see how it measures up.

So before we proceed to any consideration of the deeper meanings of “Quantum of Solace” (or for that matter the plain meaning of its enigmatic title), we need to assess the action, the villain, the gadgets, the babes and the other standard features.
full review

Rotten Tomatoes
Give 64% for tomatometers

Will have viewers looking for the next Bond adventure in a couple of years. Michael Dequina

Because the much more serious tone was so different than previous installments of Ian Fleming’s legendary series, Daniel Craig’s debut felt refreshingly updated despite the film’s flaws. Bruce Bennett

A solid sequel for the reinvented franchise. Vicky Roach

Amazon.com
Daniel Craig hasn’t lost a step since Casino Royale–this James Bond remains dangerous, a man who could earn that license to kill in brutal hand-to-hand combat… but still look sharp in a tailored suit. And Quantum of Solance itself carries on from the previous film like no other 007 movie, with Bond nursing his anger from the Casino Royale storyline and vowing blood revenge on those responsible. For the new plot, we have villain Mathieu Amalric (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), intent on controlling the water rights in impoverished Third World nations and happy to overthrow a dictator or two to get his way. Olga Kurylenko is very much in the “Bond girl” tradition, but in the Ursula Andress way, not the Denise Richards way. And Judi Dench, Jeffrey Wright, and Giancarlo Giannini are welcome holdovers. If director Marc Forster and the longtime Bond production team seem a little too eager to embrace the continuity-shredding style of the Bourne pictures (especially in a nearly incomprehensible opening car chase), they nevertheless quiet down and get into a dark, concentrated groove soon enough. And the theme song, “Another Way to Die,” penned by Jack White and performed by him and Alicia Keys, is actually good (at times Keys seems to be channeling Shirley Bassey–nice). Of course it all comes down to Craig. And he kills. –Robert Horton

Buy Quantum of Solace [Blu-ray]

Soundtrack

1. Time To Get Out
2. The Palio
3. Inside Man
4. Bond In Haiti
5. Somebody Wants To Kill You
6. Greene & Camille
7. Pursuit At Port Au Prince
8. No Interest In Dominic Greene
9. Night At The Opera
10. Restrict Bond’s Movements
11. Talamone
12. What’s Keeping You Awake
13. Bolivian Taxi Ride
14. Field Trip
15. Forgive Yourself
16. DC3
17. Target Terminated
18. Camille’s Story
19. Oil Fields
20. Have You Ever Killed Someone?
21. Perla De Las Dunas
22. The Dead Don’t Care About Vengeance
23. I Never Left
24. Another Way To Die

Up is director Pete Docter’s second feature-length film after Monsters, Inc., and features the voices of Edward Asner, Christopher Plummer, Bob Peterson, and Jordan Nagai. It is Pixar’s tenth feature film and the studio’s first to be presented in Disney Digital 3-D, and is accompanied in theaters by the short film Partly Cloudy. The film was also shown in Dolby 3D in selected theaters.

The film centers around a grumpy old man named Carl Fredricksen and an overeager Wilderness Explorer named Russell who fly to South America in a floating house suspended from helium balloons. The film has received overwhelmingly positive reviews with a rating of 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. A video game of the same name, based on the film, was released on May 26, 2009.
(www.wikipedia.org)

The Internet Movie Database
A young Carl Fredrickson meets a young adventure spirited girl named Ellie. They both dream of going to a Lost Land in South America. 70 years later, Ellie has died. Carl remembers the promise he made to her. Then, when he inadvertently hits a construction worker, he is forced to go to a retirement home. But before they can take him, he and his house fly away. However he has a stowaway aboard. An 8 year old boy named Russell, whose trying to get an assisting the elderly badge. Together, they embark in an adventure, where they encounter talking dogs, an evil villain and a rare bird named Kevin. Written by Garfield2710

Carl Fredrickson, a little boy and a dreamer who idolizes the adventurer Charles Munts. When he meets Ellie, who also worships Munts, they become close friends. However Charles Munts falls into disgrace, accused of forging the skeleton of the monster of Paradise Falls. He travels in his blimp to South America to bring the monster back alive but is never seen again. Eventually he Carl grows up and marries Ellie. They promise each other that they would travel together to Paradise Falls and build a house there. Many years later, Ellie dies and Carl, who’s lonely, refuses to move from their house despite the offers of the owner of a construction company. When Carl accidentally hits a worker that damaged his mailbox, he is sentenced to move to a retirement home. However, he uses many balloons to float his house in order to travel to Paradise Falls. Adventure ensues. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

NY Times
In its opening stretch the new Pixar movie “Up” flies high, borne aloft by a sense of creative flight and a flawlessly realized love story. Its on-screen and unlikely escape artist is Carl Fredricksen, a widower and former balloon salesman with a square head and a round nose that looks ready for honking. Voiced with appreciable impatience by Ed Asner, Carl isn’t your typical American animated hero. He’s 78, for starters, and the years have taken their toll on his lugubrious body and spirit, both of which seem solidly tethered to the ground. Even the two corners of his mouth point straight down. It’s as if he were sagging into the earth.
full review

Rotten Tomatoes
Give 98% for tomatometer

Do you like hearing kids screaming and parents rushing their children out of the theater never to return? Me too. Adam Lippe

Pixar’s tenth film is one of the most uplifting ever made. It’s an instant classic and one of those rare movies which will appeal to all ages and intellects. It has heart and intelligence, beauty and excitement, plus loads and loads of imagination. Christopher Tookey

So expertly put together, so beautifully written and filled with such brilliant and believable characters, it’s no exaggeration to say we’re in the throes of a golden age of animation not seen since Disney’s heyday from the 1930s to the 1950s. David Edwards

Amazon
At a time when too many animated films consist of anthropomorphized animals cracking sitcom one-liners and flatulence jokes, the warmth, originality, humor, and unflagging imagination of Up feel as welcome as rain in a desert. Carl Fredericksen (voice by Ed Asner) ranks among the most unlikely heroes in recent animation history. A 78- year-old curmudgeon, he enjoyed his modest life as a balloon seller because he shared it with his adventurous wife Ellie (Ellie Docter). But she died, leaving him with memories and the awareness that they never made their dream journey to Paradise Falls in South America. When well-meaning officials consign Carl to Shady Oaks Retirement Home, he rigs thousands of helium balloons to his house and floats to South America. The journey’s scarcely begun when he discovers a stowaway: Russell (Jordan Nagai), a chubby, maladroit Wilderness Explorer Scout who’s out to earn his Elderly Assistance Badge. In the tropical jungle, Carl and Russell find more than they bargained for: Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer), a crazed explorer whose newsreels once inspired Carl and Ellie; Kevin, an exotic bird with a weakness for chocolate; and Dug (Bob Peterson), an endearingly dim golden retriever fitted with a voice box. More importantly, the travelers discover they need each other: Russell needs a (grand)father figure; Carl needs someone to enliven his life without Ellie. Together, they learn that sharing ice-cream cones and counting the passing cars can be more meaningful than feats of daring-do and distant horizons. Pete Docter (Monsters, Inc. ) and Bob Peterson direct the film with consummate skill and taste, allowing the poignant moments to unfold without dialogue to Michael Giacchnio’s vibrant score. Building on their work in The Incredibles and Ratatouille, the Pixar crew offers nuanced animation of the stylized characters. Even by Pixar’s elevated standards, Up is an exceptional film that will appeal of audiences of all ages. Rated PG for some peril and action. –Charles Solomon

Buy Up (4 Disc Combo Pack with Digital Copy and DVD) [Blu-ray] from Amazon.com

Soundtrack

1. Up With Titles
2. We’re In The Club Now
3. Married Life
4. Carl Goes Up
5. 52 Chachki Pickup
6. Paradise Found
7. Walkin’ The House
8. Three Dog Dash
9. Kevin Beak’n
10. Canine Conundrum
11. The Nickel Tour
12. The Explorer Motel
13. Escape From Muntz Mountain
14. Giving Muntz The Bird
15. Stuff We Did
16. Memories Can Weigh You Down
17. The Small Mailman Returns
18. He’s Got The Bird
19. Seizing The Spirit Of Adventure
20. It’s Just A House
21. The Ellie Badge
22. Up With End Credits
23. The Spirit Of Adventure

Up Soundtrack Full Album

The Federation starship USS Kelvin is investigating a massive lightning storm in space, when a Romulan ship, the Narada, emerges from within the storm, overpowers them, and demands their captain, Robau, transport to their ship. When questioned by the Romulan captain Nero, Robau professes no knowledge of the Vulcan Ambassador Spock, and that the year is 2233, prompting the Romulans to realize that they have somehow traveled back in time. Nero kills Robau and orders the Kelvin’s destruction. Acting Captain George Samuel Kirk, Sr. orders the evacuation of the ship onto shuttlecrafts, including his pregnant wife Wynona, who was entering labor. While he sacrifices his life to steer the Kelvin into the Narada, he leaves open a communications channel and hears his wife give birth. He then names his new son James before the collision, which destroys the Kelvin but only damages the Narada while the shuttlecraft escape.

Several years later, a young Vulcan named Spock grows up on planet Vulcan and eventually joins Starfleet. On Earth, James Tiberius Kirk has a run-in at a local bar where Captain Christopher Pike challenges him to emulate his father’s heroism, inviting him to join Starfleet, which he accepts. Three years later, Kirk draws the ire of Spock by cheating during the unbeatable Kobayashi Maru test the Vulcan had created. During Kirk’s suspension hearing, Starfleet receives a distress signal from Vulcan and with the primary fleet away, the cadets are mobilized to help crew the ships in orbit. Leonard McCoy smuggles Kirk aboard the USS Enterprise. Onboard, Kirk warns Pike that the fleet is heading into a trap. The Enterprise arrives at Vulcan to find the fleet destroyed and the Narada drilling into the planet’s core. The Narada attacks the Enterprise and Nero orders Pike to surrender himself. Pike agrees, promoting Spock to captain and Kirk to first officer. En route to the Narada, Kirk and Hikaru Sulu perform an orbital skydive onto the drilling platform and destroy it. Nero launches red matter into the planet’s core, creating a black hole within it, destroying it. Spock rescues some of the planet’s elders, but his mother dies along with the majority of the planet’s population. Nero sets a course for Earth.

After a heated argument with Spock, Kirk is marooned on Delta Vega for mutiny. On the planet, Kirk encounters Ambassador Spock, who tells Kirk he is from the future and to save time, relays his story through a mind meld. The Ambassador explains that, in the year 2387, he was on a mission to stop a supernova from destroying the galaxy by using the red matter to create a black hole to consume it. Before he could enact his plan, the supernova had destroyed the planet Romulus. Nero, one of the few surviving Romulans, plotted his revenge on Spock. During Nero’s attack on Spock, both were caught in the event horizon of the black hole, sending them back in time; the Narada had arrived first, and when Spock eventually appeared, they captured his ship, and stranded him on Delta Vega to watch Vulcan’s destruction.

Ambassador Spock insists that Kirk must become captain of the Enterprise and the two travel to a nearby Starfleet outpost. There, they meet Montgomery Scott who beams onto the Enterprise with Kirk. Once aboard, Kirk deliberately enrages Commander Spock to force him to acknowledge that he is emotionally compromised, thereby forfeiting command to Kirk. The crew devises a plan to ambush the Narada by hiding behind Saturn’s moon, Titan, and once there, Kirk and Spock beam aboard the Narada. Kirk rescues Pike while Spock retakes Ambassador Spock’s ship, destroys the drill, and lures the Narada away from Earth before piloting a collision course. The Enterprise arrives and beams Kirk, Pike, and Spock away. Spock’s ship and the Narada collide, which ignites the remaining red matter destroying both ships and creating a black hole. The Enterprise escapes by ejecting and then igniting the ship’s warp core, with the resulting explosion pushing them clear of the black hole.

Back on Earth, Kirk is promoted to captain of the Enterprise and Captain Pike to Admiral. Soon after, Spock encounters his older self in a hangar. Ambassador Spock is departing to help establish a new colony with the remaining Vulcans. The younger Spock informs his older self of his wishes to leave Starfleet to aid his people. Ambassador Spock tells his younger self that he and Kirk need each other and that he should do what feels right. Taking his advice, Spock remains in Starfleet, becoming first officer under Kirk’s command.
(www.wikipedia.org)

NY Times Review
A bright, shiny blast from a newly imagined past, “Star Trek,” the latest spinoff from the influential television show, isn’t just a pleasurable rethink of your geek uncle’s favorite science-fiction series. It’s also a testament to television’s power as mythmaker, as a source for some of the fundamental stories we tell about ourselves, who we are and where we came from. The famous captain (William Shatner, bless his loony lights) and creator (Gene Roddenberry, rest in peace) may no longer be on board, but the spirit of adventure and embrace of rationality that define the show are in full swing, as are the chicks in minis and kicky boots.
full review

Rotten Tomatoes
Give 95% for tomatometer

Director J J Abrams has made summer 2009 an event. Emily Blunt

Six-and-a-half years after Hollywood left the Enterprise crew for dead, … Kirk is back, baby, and he’s better than ever. Mike Scott

J.J. Abrams proves his masterpiece can translate into great work on the big screen that all Trekkies will love. Jolene Mendez

Amazon
J.J. Abrams’ 2009 feature film was billed as “not your father’s Star Trek,” but your father will probably love it anyway. And what’s not to love? It has enough action, emotional impact, humor, and sheer fun for any moviegoer, and Trekkers will enjoy plenty of insider references and a cast that seems ideally suited to portray the characters we know they’ll become later. Both a prequel and a reboot, Star Trek introduces us to James T. Kirk (Chris Pine of The Princess Diaries 2), a sharp but aimless young man who’s prodded by a Starfleet captain, Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood), to enlist and make a difference. At the Academy, Kirk runs afoul of a Vulcan commander named Spock (Zachary Quinto of Heroes), but their conflict has to take a back seat when Starfleet, including its new ship, the Enterprise, has to answer an emergency call from Vulcan. What follows is a stirring tale of genocide and revenge launched by a Romulan (Eric Bana) with a particular interest in Spock, and we get to see the familiar crew come together, including McCoy (Karl Urban), Uhura (Zoe Saldana), Sulu (John Cho), Chekhov (Anton Yelchin), and Scottie (Simon Pegg).

The action and visuals make for a spectacular Big-Screen Movie, though the plot by Abrams and his writers, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (who worked together on Transformers and with Abrams on Alias and Mission Impossible III), and his producers (fellow Losties Damon Lindeloff and Bryan Burk) can be a bit of a mind-bender (no surprise there for Lost fans). Hardcore fans with a bone to pick may find faults, but resistance is futile when you can watch Kirk take on the Kobayashi Maru scenario or hear McCoy bark, “Damnit, man, I’m a doctor, not a physicist!” An appearance by Leonard Nimoy and hearing the late Majel Barrett Roddenberry as the voice of the computer simply sweeten the pot. Now comes the hard part: waiting for some sequels to this terrific prequel. –David Horiuchi

click this picture to buy Star Trek (Three-Disc +Digital Copy) [Blu-ray] (2009) from amazon.com