Elementary

Can Robert Downey, Jr. save a tedious Holmes from its goofy plot? Read on!

(Jan. 7, 2010) Previews

Opening Friday, Jan. 8, is the sci-fi/vampire film Daybreakers, starring Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe and Sam Neill. It seems that 10 years hence a virus has made most of the people on earth into vampires. But the newly dominant species is running out of actual human blood. What’s a blood sucker to do? Rated R for strong bloody violence, language and brief nudity. 98m. At the Broadway, the Minor and Mill Creek.

Sherlock Holmes.

GALLERY >

Based on the novel by C.D. Payne, Youth in Revolt stars Michael Cera as a self-absorbed and, of course, alienated teen who finds his heartthrob in the beautiful, posh Sheeni (Portia Doubleday). To what lengths will he go to interest the uninterested Sheeni? Pretty far, as it turns out. With Steve Buscemi and Ray Liotta. Looks promising. Rated R for sexual content, language and drug use. 90m. At the Broadway and Mill Creek.

Leap Year is 2010’s first romantic comedy. The always sparkling Amy Adams stars as Anna, who travels to Dublin to propose to boyfriend Jeremy (Adam Scott) on Feb. 29 because an Irish custom says the guy has to say yes. Trouble is, a storm diverts her to Cardiff, where she is in turn diverted by Irish innkeeper Declan (Matthew Goode). With a grandson named Declan, there’s no mystery about which guy I’m rooting for. Rated PG for sensuality and language. 110m. At the Broadway, Fortuna and Mill Creek.

On Thursday, Jan. 7, Ocean Night at the Arcata Theatre Lounge will feature The Cove, a documentary about the annual slaughter of dolphins in Tajii, Wakayama in Japan. The brutal methods by which the dolphins are killed was filmed by Louie Psihoyos by means worthy of a spy novel, including the use of underwater equipment and cameras disguised as rocks. The film won the Audience Award at the 2009 Sundance Festival. Rated PG-13 for disturbing content. 92m. 7 p.m.

The Eureka Library film series features comedy this month. The first film was Dr. Strangelove on Jan. 5. The series continues each Tuesday night beginning with the 1934 screwball comedy It Happened One Night (Gable & Colbert) on Jan. 12, hosted by Charlie Myers; Arsenic and Old Lace (1944 with Cary Grant) on Jan. 19, hosted by Philip Wright; and Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949 with Alex Guinness) on Jan. 26, hosted by Bob Doran. All programs begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Main Branch.

Review

SHERLOCK HOLMES: First introduced by Arthur Conan Doyle in 1887 with A Study in Scarlet, Sherlock Holmes has proved to be a lasting, iconic character in both film and literature. The classic if somewhat quaint Sherlock Holmes movies of the 1930s and ’40s featuring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce are likely the best-known adaptations, but Sherlock has been reinterpreted in any number of subsequent film and TV versions. Novelists have also weighed in, the most persistent of whom may be Laurie R. King, who began her ongoing series featuring Holmes and Mary Russell with The Beekeeper’s Apprentice in 1994.

1 2 3 NEXT PAGE >SHARE