Movies: Sherlock Holmes 2 & MI4 Reviews

Christmas-slash-New-Year holidays are always the best time for movies as it is almost one of the cheapest entertainments which occupies hours of your time and creates bunch of excitements for your post-viewing sharing and discussions, let alone the benefits of learning English words.

Image from filmofilia.com

But for me, my way of watching movies has evolved or even upped a new level! And that is, while searching for clues and predicting the plot of the upcoming scenes, I also search for flaws and inconsistencies  appeared in the movies. If the movie is set in a modern time like Mission Impossible 4 or the earlier Transformers 3, then I also paid attention to the product placements.

Wait, was there any product placements in Transformers 3? Well, yeah! And from China too!

Milk from Yili
Image from maydaily.com

Lenovo Desktop
Image from Google

Xie Wei at Meters/bonwe Tee shirt
Image from brandchannel.com

And from non-China we have ...

Mercedes SLS AMG
Image from brandchannel.com

The white iPad 2!!!

Canon printers and many many more! Some subtle, some apparently named like the Yili milk! For pride or exposure or both, this has become an extra fun for me!

In Mission Impossible, I saw a lot of Apple, Samsung and LG as well!

And of course, BMW!

Alright! Looks like I have sidetracked quite a bit so let's get back to the movies.

I watched MI4 after I have watched Sherlock Holmes and I think it was the right order to do so. That's because Sherlock Holmes -- A Game of Shadows has fewer product placements and I can focus more on the clues of the story.

Image from Teaser-Trailer.com

I must say that the sequel really hasn't disappointment me with the tight action-packed plot and twists. I particularly like to see Moriarty and Holmes' battle of wits, how Holmes predicted the place, time and style of  Moriarty's assassination attempt of Watson and his wife on the train, how Holmes cleverly calculated every step of the rescue and the slow-motion real-time forest escape scene shot by the Phantom high-speed cameras.

The ending was particularly funny and the Holmes in disguise was definitely not expected! Then again, Moriarty wasn't said to be dead while Holmes had an official funeral which made everybody thought he was dead, as supported by the actual fiction that Holmes had a three-year "death" [1], so in Sherlock Holmes 3, Holmes will be able to continue his fight against Professor Moriarty and more thrilling plots await us.

It was a pity that Irene Adler was killed (?) by a poisonous drink spiked by Moriarty.

All-in-all, a brilliant movie with lots of cunning plans! Must watch indeed!

Image from Counting Down The Hours

As for Mission Impossible -- Ghost Protocol, I am still surprised that some of my closest friends DO NOT intend to watch! It is such a brilliant movie and my friends just don't see it! Their argument is, they can't believe that Tom Cruise can still live up to the fame of the first Mission Impossible movie! Well, if they have watched it, they will know they are SO SO wrong! because yes, Tom Cruise still does live up to, or should I say, higher than that standard! I'm no big fan of the Mission Impossible series but I have watched every single one, and despite the change of directors in every single MI movie, this one is THE best among all four!

Burj Khalifa
Image from burj-khalifa.eu

Action-wise, you still get that just-3-inches-off-the-floor jump! Plus, you get Tom Cruise doing those amazing stunts on the glass walls of Burj Khalifa -- the highest building in the world with a height of 829.84m, twice the height of IFC 2 (46.8m)!

Image from Wikipedia

Let's not forget about the eye candy of the movie!

Smart ladies, what is the product placement here?
Image from media.theiapolis.com

Léa Seydoux the assassin
Image from media.theiapolis.com

What could be the reason for this? Could it be the director Brad Bird? He is the director of The Incredibles, The Simpsons, and Ratatouille! Creativity explodes when it comes to cartoons and animations, and MI4 does seem much less cruel than MI3 and funnier than all its prequels! Yet it doesn't compromise the thrill and the unexpectedness!

So while it is still on cinema, catch the movie ASAP in IMAX!!! Worth every penny of yours!


Don't foreget to "Like" this article and the English Playground! Your "Like" tells me which types of article you like more!


Vocabulary:
evolve  [I or T] to develop gradually, or to cause something or someone to develop gradually
up -- (vb) [T] (-pp-) to increase something such as a price
flaw -- (n) [C] a fault, mistake or weakness, especially one that happens while something is being planned or made, or which causes something not to be perfect
inconsistency -- (n) If a reason, idea, opinion, etc. is inconsistent, different parts of it do not agree, or it does not agree with something else
product placement / embedded marketing (n)[C] -- a form of advertisement, where branded goods or services are placed in a context usually devoid of ads, such as movies, music videos, the story line of television shows, or news programs.
sequel -- (n)[C] a book, film or play which continues the story of a previous book, etc.
twist -- (n) [C] [C] a complicated situation or plan of action
assassination -- (n) [C or U] the murder of someone famous or important
attempt -- (n)[C] when you try to do something, especially something difficult
spike -- (vb) [T] to make a drink stronger by adding alcohol, or to add flavour or interest to something
stunt -- (n)[C] an exciting action, usually in a film, that is dangerous or appears dangerous and usually needs to be done by someone skilled
prequel -- (n) [C usually singular] a film, book or play which develops the story of an earlier film, etc. by telling you what happened before the events in the first film, etc
compromise -- (vb) [T] disapproving to allow your principles to be less strong or your standards or morals to be lower
eye candy -- (n) [U] informal someone or something that is attractive but not very interesting or useful


Resources:
News, Movie & Idiom: Megan VS Rosie X Water Under the Bridge @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2011/07/news-idiom-megan-vs-rosie-x-water-under.html

Movies: Must-watch & Can-Watch Movies 2011/12 @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2011/12/movie-must-watch-can-watch-movies.html

Mission Impossible 4 -- The Ghost Protocol @ IMDb
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1229238/

Chinese Tee: Mainland Brands Test Product Placement in Transformers 3 @ Brandchannel
http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2011/07/20/Transformers-3-Chinese-Brands.aspx

Transformers 3 Movie Clip "The Duchess" Official (HD) @ YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr_N9lnH8pw&feature=player_embedded

Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol - BMW "Mission To Drive" BMW Vision (Promotional Partner Ad) @ YouTube
http://youtu.be/32Bfm2jRv_E

[1] Irene Adler @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irene_Adler

Burj Khalifa @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burj_Khalifa

IFC 2 @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IFC2

Brad Bird @ IMDb
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0083348/

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/evolve?q=evolve
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/up_32?q=upped#up_32__3
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/flaw_1?q=flaw
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/inconsistent_1?q=inconsistency+
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_placement
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/sequel?q=sequel+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/twist_4
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/assassination?q=assassination+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/attempt_2
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/spike_3
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/stunt_1?q=stunt
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/prequel?q=prequels#prequel__3
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/compromise_3
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/eye-candy?q=eye+candy