Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, is very much a film of two halves. The initial hour is filled with gunfights, explosions, and bullet time fist fights. Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey, Jr.) and Dr. Watson (Jude Law) unravel the sinister plans of Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris) and proceed to deal with it in the idiom of Frank Martin, as director Guy Ritchie's pulls every visual trick he knows out of the bag. The pace is fast yet a fairly strong script and superb chemistry between central characters, makes this a cut above the usual PG-13 rated action fodder served to the masses at present. It is beneficial that the bulk of the original cast and crew returned for this sequel as it maintains a strong sense of continuity with it predecessor.
Classic Movie Themes: Starcrash
Starcrash is a shameless Italian Star Wars knock off from 1979. The movie is regarded by some critics as a campy B film with cheap special effects that falls into the “so bad its good” category. Directed by exploitation cinema veteran Luigi Cozzi, Starcrash stars ex-Bond girl Caroline Munro (The Spy Who Loved Me) as Stella Star. She spends most of the film wearing very little as she cavorts around the galaxy with her trusty sidekick, Akton (Marjoe Gortner). The plot is derivative even by genre standards and boasts some staggering inane dialogue. For example, "You know, my son, I wouldn't be Emperor of the Galaxy if I didn't have a few powers at my disposal. Imperial Battleship, halt the flow of time!" and then there’s "Look, Amazon women on horseback. I hope they're friendly".