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Rating:
Sherlock Holmes @ IMDB

Synopsis:
The world’s greatest detective, Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey, Jr.), is asked to aide in the investigation of several grisly murders throughout London. With a little help from his trusty sidekick, Dr. John Watson (Jude Law), the ruthless Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong) is brought to justice, tried, and hung. But what was supposed to be their last case together, turns in to the mystery of a lifetime when Blackwood rises from the dead and sets out to reshape the modern world. Can Holmes solve this great caper on his own or are there sinister powers that even he can’t overcome?

Review:
I must say that I was thrilled when I first saw the trailer for this movie. It looked like the type of facelift that Sherlock Holmes needed. I’ve seen several old films with the great detective in them. Each of them was full of detail and the slow methodical resolution of the mystery at the heart of the story. That’s not to say that there was anything wrong with these old films. Most were great from what I remember. The problem is that they’re from a different time. They wouldn’t stand a chance in today’s box office, and they would never succeed in bring such a great character to the modern audience. Here’s my take on the film that will hopefully breath a little life in to a classic character.

Plot: My greatest complaint about the film was the plot. It wasn’t the story that bothered me so much as the pacing. The writers came up with a great story that fits right in with the type of mysteries I would expect from Sir Aurther Conan Doyle. The movie clocked in at roughly 2:15 which is on the long side by most standards. Its not that I felt bored. I simple wish that they went farther with that time rather than being more explicit. In other words, I wish that they had tightened up the exposition to show us a longer story rather than a more detailed story. Now, Holmes stories by nature are detailed, but that’s when it comes to print. Film is a different media and so what we expect is totally different. This might sound like I’m nitpicking, but this was an aspect that I found surprisingly disappointing.

Acting: The acting was solid in this film. RDJ and Jude Law played their characters well and the witty banter between the two is enjoyable. I’m afraid some of the better interchanges are in the trailer, but there is still a lot of quips and jabs to enjoy. RDJ is definitely having a good run, because this is another one in the bank. I have to admit that Rachel McAdams was good too. She plays Irene Addler, a former flame of Holmes and a criminal. Its not that I think she’s bad (I liked her in Red Eye and others), she just rarely stands out. To be honest, she still sits in the shadow of RDJ and Jude Law for this film.

Overall: As a whole, this was a good movie and I highly recommend you catch it at the theaters if you can. Its definitely worth the price of entry. Though I had trouble with the pacing/length of the plot, I didn’t really feel the 2:15 so I was pretty entertained. Since he’s been making some great ones, RDJ as Holmes is also a great reason to watch this film. Finally, it won’t be hard to catch the subplot that will surely lead to sequels, so I would catch this one in some form, even if it becomes a rental. All-in-all, this one is fuzz-worthy.

So before you get too far in to this post, I should warn you that this is not a post of philosophical musings about happened in the past year. It is about vision, quite literally. So I wear glasses. I have for a very long time. There are even some pictures of me with glasses that belong on an 80 year old man! It’s not so bad, and to be honest I’m just used to them now so it’s rare that I notice them.

When I got married earlier this year, I added vision insurance to my policies for 2009. The really reason was that my wife can’t see anything farther than 8 ft in front of her so we needed to get her some specs! In April, we got eye exams at the Hour Eyes a few miles down the road. My wife got some new glasses from them, but since my prescription didn’t change (yay, for my eyes!!!) I didn’t bother. Simple enough.

Faster forward to December 29th. That’s when I realized that I had paid for insurance for 9 months and that I hadn’t fully used it by getting glasses. Off to Hour Eyes we went, since they already had my prescription and took the insurance. After a little while, we found a set of frames that I liked. Next we getting in to a holding pattern for an associate. After a quick game of musical chairs we find ourselves discussing the finer points of optical accessorizing. Now the fun begins.

So I wanted a pair of backup glasses, since my current pair are perfectly fine. First we get the pitch for anti-glare coating on my lenses. Sounds great but it will cost me $45 after the insurance deduction. Reminding myself that I won’t use these everyday, I said pass. Being the ambitious sales person that this lady was, we being a battle of wills that I thankfully won. Now on to the lenses. I did decide to go with polycarbonate lenses. They cost more, but if you’ve ever worn real glass on your face, you’d cough up the money too. So after a few minutes on the computer, out comes my grand total of $115. I guess that’s not too bad, but curiosity proved to be friend. I enquired about the lenses. Sure enough, they were polycarbonate, but not just any polycarbonate, super-flat polycarbonate at a $50 premium!!!!!!! Had I not asked, this saleswoman would not have told me that she had made a choice for me. So re-thinking my choice and the choice made for me, I opt for regular polycarbonate lenses with an anti-glare coating. So lets do the math together: $115 – $50 + $45 = $110. That makes sense right? Well, my new total: $72. HUH?! Ok, so I whip out credit card, sign on the dotted line and out the door I run, thinking I saved a bunch. As I’m heading out the door, the saleswoman hands me a bag with lens-cleaner and tells me it comes complimentary with my anti-glare coating. Great, who cares, I’m going home!

As I sit here stewing over the fuzzy math, thinking about the decisions that were made without my explicit consent, and looking over my receipt, I realized a few things and I’m getting steadily more disappointed with what I consider a dishonest way of doing business. First, my free lens-cleaner actually cost $7, that bites, but not as bad as the rest. Second, my insurance deduction isn’t itemized, it’s just one lump-sum discount, very informative. Lastly, when the saleswoman told  me about the premium for the super-poly lenses, it was actually $50 per lens! I’m guess she was intentionally vague, because $50 is easier to sell than $100. Redoing the math, things are starting to make sense: $115 – $50 – $50 + $45 + $7 + tax & rounding = $72

To wrap-up this little rant…I went to a store, told a salesperson I wanted something, and they intentionally gave me a more expensive option without disclosing that there was a choice involved. Sure, she could argue that I asked for poly lenses and she gave me poly lenses. But I would argue that an honest salesperson would have presented the choice to me and let me make the decision for myself, not try to slip it under my nose. I hate being cynical and skeptical about people. (In fact I was lecturing my brothers about being a little more trusting.) I guess in the end, you still have look out for yourself, because there are still plenty of people looking to dupe you. Not such a great thought, but I’m going to try to hang on to my optimism. Makes me wonder if we got hoodwinked when we bought my wife glasses in April. Oh well, I guess this is the last time Hour Eyes will get my business.

So while I was home for Christmas, my little brother was showing off his new Motorola Droid from Verizon. Initially, it was just a cool new gadget to me. A friend of mine had told me that the Droid was chunky, and he was definitely right. I personally preferred the form factor of my sister-in-law’s Droid Eris (minus the trackball.)

What was impressive about the Droid, and is now causing me a considerable amount of gadget envy, was the OS. The Droid runs Android OS 2.0. Now, visually speaking, it’s not as sleek as iPhone OS (even vs. iPhone 1.0). But when it comes to functionality, customizability, and expandability, iPhone 3.1 doesn’t seem like the clear winner it once was. I’ve tried other smartphones (played with BBs, WM Treo, and a Palm Treo, and had a Centro a for a while) and what I’ve always loved about the iPhone is the user experience. I know that sounds like an Apple sales pitch, but it’s true. It was the best mobile web browsing experience out there, until I saw Android.

Android works great for browsing the web, it only lacks multi-touch (which is very nice, but you can live without.) However, there is more to a smartphone than just web browsing. No one wants to be limited to just the basics of phone, MMS, email and web anymore. We want a computer that fits in our pocket. The iPhone has the App store and that’s great. There’s an app for that! But Android and Google is willing to do what Apple is not, give away the keys to the OS kingdom. Android is open-source and anyone can distribute applications for the phone from anywhere! How cool is that? For a developer like me, it means I could make all the apps I want on my phone and not have to pay anybody to use my own products. It also means that Android is a free world to play in and the sky is the limit for creativity (not an Apple imposed ceiling.)

This might sound like I’m an Apple-hater. To be honest, I’m a Mac-fanboy and I love(d) my iPhone 3g. I’m planning to buy the Mac tablet when its released and I’m actually writing on my MacBook Air. So what is it I envy? The openness of it all. I started learning how to program for the iPhone. I became proficient enough to write a simple app for version 2.0. See the post here. The problem was that to justify spending more time, I had to be willing to pay $1oo to join the Apple Developers program. More than that, I needed to keep slogging through Objective-C, which is a rather complex (and a tad outdated) language. It became too much of a hurdle to build the types of simple productivity apps I would want. Apparently, Android apps are written in Java and can be pushed to a phone using completely free software. Sweet!

So what it comes down to is that I want an Android phone. But what about the inevitable iPhone 2010? A huge unknown for me. I love(d) my 3G, but unless that next gen iPhone has something radically new, I think I wouldn’t miss it. And what are the offerings on AT&T, my current carrier? Sadly, nothing. Rumors are flying that a Motorola Android phone for AT&T will be announced at CES 2010 next week. It doesn’t sound like a bleeding edge device, but it would give me a taste for Android. Maybe I should just jump ship now and get a Droid, but then I might regret my choice in June.

SO, what is a tech junkie supposed to do? Apparently, suffer a little envy and bide his time…..

Its interesting…..I haven’t posted anything to this site in over 8 months. My last post was April 13th to be exact. I go home to spend time with my family, I get reminded that I have a website, and I get a short burst of enthusiasm to fill the web with my thoughts. I’m opinionated and I like to write. So that would mean that this should be easy and I should be posting all the time right? Well, clearly not so much.

I guess that if I’m honest with myself, I’m a tad fickle. I cave to the flavor of the month, get caught up in hype, and get distracted. Does this make me a member of the great unwashed? I can think of at least one person who might think so. Personally, I’m not so sure. There are definitely some benefits. I can’t say that I’m particularly bored, but at the same time, I have too many unfinished projects. There is a rational excuse for each of them of course. Come on, you do it too.

So what’s a fickle fiend to do? Fight temptation and demonstrate dedication? Put on blinders and charge down the course to the finish line? Maybe, but there is a cool phrase I didn’t say that might be worth considering:

Sometimes the journey is more important than the destination.

Its true that my career as a movie critic has had more starts and stops than a tired old ‘84 Chevy Nova, and my great novel is nothing more than a few notes on this laptop, but they’re still things I’ve explored. I’ve learned a bit from everything I’ve tried and I know myself a little better. Cheesy? Definitely. Wise? Beyond my ears (no, that’s not a typo). So I’m fickle, there are worse things to be. Who knows, maybe I’ll find a true passion some day. I’ve already found one, and I married her (ladies, if there are any out there reading this, feel free to sigh. And if you’re feeling generous, throw in an awwwww. Guys, just stand clear of your screen when you hurl.)

Oh well, who knows what will come up next. I have some ideas, but do I have the attention span to post it? Find out next time…..whenever that is!

Rating:
Bolt @ IMDB.com

Synopsis:
Bolt (John Travolta) is a super-powered dog who can run faster than a train, jump higher than a helicopter, shoot laser beams from his eyes, and use a devastating bark. He is a canine with only one mission, to use his powers to protect his lovable owner, Penny (Miley Cyrus). There’s only one problem, he’s actually an ordinary dog in a tv show, he just doesn’t know it. When he accidentally gets shipped to New York, Bolt must learn that he may be ordinary, but he doesn’t need superpowers be a hero. With the help of some new friends, Mittens (Suzie Essman) and Rhino (Mark Walton), Bolt must make it across the country to find his way home.

Review:
I never actually saw this movie at the theaters, but I found a brand new blu-ray at the local used-cd store at a great price, so I bought it just because. A friend had seen the movie and said it was worth the watch, and I figured it would make a great blu-ray. I was not disappointed. This is a fun family movie and it makes a beautiful hd movie.

Plot: The story is predictable in its exposition. Most people who watch it won’t be surprised by the plot, but they will be surprised at how much they enjoy it. Its a nice mix of touching, exciting and hilarious. Though I couldn’t name an example, I feel like all of the characters have met before in another movie. A misguided and under-powered hero makes an enemy-to-become-friend and a hapless sidekick achieve success. Been there done that, but for some reason, still enjoying it.

Voices: I don’t like Miley Cyrus and John Travolta didn’t have to do much. Suzie Essman is not so memorable either. Mark Walton, on the other hand, makes the movie (at least for me.) Rhino is awesome and he really does steal the show. He’s a little hamster in a plastic ball that has a really big personality.

Media: The blu-ray is a nice presentation of the film and has some nice extras. I particularly enjoyed the Rhino short. I also got a good laugh watching John Travolta sing with Miley Cyrus. It was disturbing yet fascinating. The picture is great and this is definitely worthy of being called high definition.

Overall: The movie is fun, entertaining, and great for families. It is just funny enough to be worth it even if you don’t have kids and just enjoy animated movies (like me.) I will say one thing, the box claimed it was the best Disney movie since The Incredibles, and that’s just not true (have you heard of Wall-E?) Anyway, when it comes down to it, Bolt is definitely fuzzworthy. Its just not fuzzy enough to beat some of the more memorable Pixar films.