All posts by ERTorre

E. R. Torre is a writer/artist whose first major work, the mystery graphic novel The Dark Fringe, was optioned for motion picture production by Platinum Studios (Men In Black, Cowboys vs. Aliens). At DC Comics, his work appeared in role-playing game books and the 9-11 Tribute book. This later piece was eventually displayed, along with others from the 9-11 tribute books, at The Library of Congress. More recently he released Shadows at Dawn (a collection of short stories), Haze (a murder mystery novel with supernatural elements), and Cold Hemispheres (a mystery novel set in the world of The Dark Fringe). He is currently hard at work on his latest science fiction/suspense series, Corrosive Knights, which features the novels Mechanic, The Last Flight of the Argus, and Chameleon.
General

I’ve been saying this for a while now…

Dealing with politics here -as well as stroking my ego- so…

BEWARE!!!!

Found this article written by Alexandra Rosenmann over at Salon.com…

Noam Chomsky: The Democratic Party now belongs to Moderate Republicans

Oh, I get it, when big-shot Noam Chomsky says it, people pay attention but when I say the same thing for years now, everyone ignores me.

Seriously, though, I very much believe this to be true.  The conservative movement, for ill in my opinion by the way, has moved the country so far to the right that the Democratic Party is at this point effectively a moderate Republican Party.

I noted before that Bill Clinton and (yes) commie/socialist/whateverthey’recallinghimnow Barack Obama would very comfortably fit into a moderate Republican party circa the late 1960’s or early 1970’s.

On the plus side, a prediction: Like many things, I also very much believe in the whole pendulum concept, wherein a pendulum (or popular thought) tends to have a surge (or swing), reaches its apex, and then loses its momentum and the other side surges.

Starting with Franklin D. Roosevelt and for much of the middle 20th Century, Liberalism was the popular political thought.  While it sputtered in the 1960’s it ran out of gas as a movement roughly around the time Ronald Reagan became president.  From that moment on, the conservative movement began its ascent while liberalism seemed to go into hiding.

I certainly don’t want to count chickens before they hatch, but I suspect the Donald Trump presidential bid may wind up crashing and burning the Republicans -and by extension the conservative movement- this coming electoral cycle.

The reason is simple: It’s become too much crazy for people to tolerate.

However, the future isn’t decided and things could well turn out differently.

If that should be the case, I may have to investigate returning to Canada.

General, Movies

Opinions are like…

1 Comment

Over on Facebook, director/writer James Gunn posted the following, a quote by Steven Spielberg regarding his hit film Guardians of the Galaxy:

Understandably gobsmacked by this wonderful comment by Mr. Spielberg, Mr. Gunn wrote:

Steven Spielberg just said this about Guardians of the Galaxy in Cannes. Probably the greatest compliment of my life. I learned what a director was because as a kid I loved Raiders of the Ark so much I wondered who the guy was behind it all, and I’m making movies today because of it. (Forgive some of the spelling in the translation, please).

If you were ask me who I considered the greatest living movie director, my answer might well mirror Mr. Gunn’s:  I would unhesitatingly name Steven Spielberg.  Though I don’t consider every one of his films a “classic” (indeed, there are a few I haven’t bothered seeing and a number I’ve seen once and wouldn’t see again), nonetheless Mr. Spielberg was the man who truly introduced me to both the magic of cinema and storytelling.  While it may seem an exaggeration, I believe his first big successful film was instrumental in influencing me into being the author I am today.

The film?  Duel.  It premiered in 1971 on TV and I was five years old at the time and was captivated by it…

Though it wouldn’t be until years later (remember, these were the days before the internet and instant information at your fingertips!) that I realized this film was directed by the same man who made Jaws and E.T. and Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind and, yes, Raiders of the Lost Ark, it was the smash success of Duel that proved Mr. Spielberg’s big “breakout” feature and paved the way for his future successes.  Indeed, in watching Duel you have a landlocked version of Jaws!

Duel shook my very young mind to the core.  This was the very first movie I saw from start to end and realized it told a story.  A damn good one, to boot!  There were other things that influenced who I am today but there is little doubt my watching Duel at such a young age was one of the key influences in my desire to create my own stories.

I lay out my deep respect and admiration for Mr. Spielberg and his place in my heart because I want to be very clear about where he stands in my personal estimation.

The reason being what I’m about to say: I hated Guardians of the Galaxy.

Hated, hated, hated that damn film.

I know I’m in an incredibly small minority.  The movie currently sits at a lofty 91% approval among critics and a 92% approval among audiences on rottentomatoes.com.  It made a boat-load of money in theaters and even today many point to the movie as one of the very best Marvel films ever released.

And for the life of me, I don’t get it.

I missed the film when it was in theaters but based on the positive reactions bought the BluRay when it was released.  Together with my wife and daughter we sat in the living room, fired the BluRay up, and…

About thirty or so minutes into the film my daughter bailed on us.  (She would later tell me she hated what she saw of it and had no desire to see the rest)

When the movie was over my wife turned to me and said: “You like that?!”  From the tone of her voice and subsequent conversation, it turned out she hated it, too.  The only reason she hung around and watched it was to keep me company.  She assumed I liked it and when I told her I didn’t, she shook her head and asked me why I didn’t just shut the thing off well before it ended and be done with it.

I told her I should have done just that.

Now, the point I’m making here is this: We all have opinions.

As much as I admire and love many of the works of Mr. Spielberg, I have no doubt his views on Guardians of the Galaxy are as sincere in their praise as mine are opposed.  I bought the Guardians of the Galaxy BluRay fully thinking/expecting this film to rock my world or, at the very least, entertain me.  Going into the film I had nothing against Mr. Gunn or Marvel films in general (indeed, I like almost all the ones I’ve seen).  But whether it be due to my mood or the time of day or the phase of the Moon, Guardians of the Galaxy proved a wretched experience to not only me, but my wife and daughter as well..

As I said above, we all have opinions and sometimes what works for you (indeed, for 91-92% of people) may not work for me.

Just because Mr. Spielberg likes Guardians of the Galaxy doesn’t suddenly mean I renounce the man and now hate his works and reject the impact Duel had on me.  Or Jaws.  Or Raiders of the Lost Ark.  Mr. Spielberg obviously found something he liked in this movie which totally eluded me.  And you know what?

Its fine.

So for those out there who get into such heated squabbles over what’s “good” and what “sucks”, bear this in mind: Everyone has opinions, especially about works of art and/or entertainment.

It should be obvious but it bears repeating.  Sometimes over and over again.

Comic Books/Graphic Novels, Movies

Madeleine Lebeau and Darwyn Cooke, RIP

As 2016 churns on, one thing that seems to mark this year as so very different than others is the amount of passings we’ve experienced so far.  While in any given year “big named” people pass, it seems we’ve seen more than our share of late.

As the headline indicates, two individuals have passed.  One I’m very familiar with and the other is an incredible curiosity, at least to me.

Casablanca actress Madeleine Lebeau, 92, passes away

While not the “biggest” star within what many consider one of the all-time best films ever made, Actress Madeleine Lebeau, the last surviving cast member of that famous film, nontheless made an indelible mark, particularly in this scene…

Ms. Lebeau has an interesting smaller story within the larger Casablanca plot and her tearful “Vive La France” at the end of the song was reportedly a very genuine reaction.  One who isn’t familiar with Casablanca can be forgiven for not knowing the movie was made and released in 1942 and while World War II raged.  Many of the actors who participated in this film, including Ms. Lebeau, faced harrowing experiences not unlike what was presented in the movie and therefore the lines between reality and fiction blurred for them.  In the case of Ms. Lebeau, she had already faced difficulties fleeing from war torn Europe and getting to the United States, not unlike her character in the movie who was desperate to flee the Nazi presence.

Rest in peace, Ms. Lebeau.

A couple of days ago it was announced via facebook and by his family that comic book and animation artist/writer Darwyn Cooke was receiving palliative care for his cancer.  While the term may not be familiar to many, palliative care refers to care given to those who have serious illnesses and it’s focus is to provide relief from the symptoms and stress and improve quality of life for both the patient and the family.  In most cases, palliative care is synonymous with “end of life” care.  In the case of Mr. Cooke, this was sadly the case as the day after the family announcement and on May 14th it was announced Mr. Cooke had passed away.

I really, really liked the work of Mr. Cooke.  His artwork was deceptively simple looking yet had a great 1950’s pop vibe to it.  Here are just some example of his work:

While perhaps best known for his work on the various Batman animated series and for his DC superhero work (The New Frontier in particular is quite fabulous) a few of his last projects involved graphic novel versions of Richard Stark’s “Parker” series (the last image above is from that).  In the end Mr. Cooke made four graphic novel adaptations, including The Hunter (the first Parker book which has been filmed as Point Blank with Lee Marvin, Payback with Mel Gibson, and Parker with Jason Stratham and Jennifer Lopez), The Outfit (filmed with the same name with Robert Duvall in the title role), The Score, and Slayground.

I haven’t checked out the last two graphic novels as of yet.  Looks like it’s something to add to my reading list.

Rest in Peace, Mr. Cooke.

TV

Castle done…

Call this tying some loose ends.  A while back (you can read it here) I wrote about my curiosity with the fact the next season of the TV show Castle, its 9th, would not have one of the show’s two leads, actress Stana Katic.  Here she is in a promo photo with her co-star Nathan Fillion…

Though no fan of the show, I found the news incredibly…weird.  As I mentioned in the previous blog post there was a summer I caught a block of episodes (it was on TBS or TNT and I couldn’t tell you which season they were from) and found the show a light, entertaining affair, a thematic throwback to the old Bruce Willis/Sybill Shepherd Moonlighting or the Pierce Brosnan/Stephanie Zimbalist Remington Steele shows from the 1980’s.  All these shows have the commonality of a strong female character butting heads against a dashing male co-star…and you knew romance was just around the corner along with whatever mystery they were currently facing.

Anyway, when I heard the next season of Castle would not feature Ms. Katic, I wondered just how they could continue the show without its co-lead.

Well, wonder no more:

Castle cancelled: Stana Katic pens note to fans, and other cast reactions

While it was pure speculation on my part, I nonetheless speculated Ms. Katic’s leaving the show wasn’t under the most pleasant of circumstances.  The reason for my suspicions was that the announcement of her not returning to the show seemed to come out of no where and the actress provided no information regarding this departure.  It almost seemed like the creators of the show gave up on her at the last minute, whether it be due to monetary issues (perhaps she was in a contract year and was demanding even better pay) or…something else.

My curiosity aroused, I investigating further and found there were rumors Ms. Katic didn’t get along well with the show’s staff and/or her co-star.  Frankly, I tend to discount these rumors as unfortunately they’re all too typical when it comes to the female leads in a popular show.

Yes, I’m talking sexism here.

For those too young to know, back in the days of Moonlighting there were plenty of rumors of Cybill Shepherd being a “diva”,  Even today there are similar rumors being reported concerning Jaime Alexander, the female –natch– co-star of Blindspot.

As I said above, it appears I no longer have to wonder how a Stana Katic-less Castle will play out.

The answer is: It won’t.

General

So you just finished making your very own time machine…

…the question becomes, how far back in time could you travel and still understand English?

Fascinating stuff, though I suspect if you could create a time travel machine creating some kind of device to translate all languages (even very old English) should be a cinch.

Books/Literature

Corrosive Knights, a 5/12/16 update

Corrosive Knights Book 6 drafts

The image above consists of two folders.  The lower, thicker folder is filled with all 8 drafts of Corrosive Knights Book #6, whose cover (but not title, not yet anyway!) will look like this:

Corrosive Knights Book #6

My update today is this: I’m done with draft #8, which I started on April 7, so it took me just a little over one month to read that latest draft, make revisions by pen, then transfer said revisions to the computer.

Once done this morning, I printed out the new draft, #9, and intend to start reading/revising it by either later today or tomorrow.  Draft #9 is within that smaller blue folder on top of the thicker one filled with older drafts.

So, where does book #6 stand as of today?  There’s good news to relate along with a bit of bad news.

First the good: I think I’ve nailed the book’s plot down completely.  As of this draft the book runs a very healthy 102,817 words long though it is possible/likely when I finish the revisions to come (I’ll get to that in a moment) that number will go downwards.

Again, the story is pretty much all there, which is an incredibly big step toward its completion.

Now the (somewhat) bad: I did add a bit of stuff to the book this previous go-around, especially towards the novel’s conclusion and this will need revision and its why I suspect the word count will drop.  I have a very bad habit of repeating things and have to catch myself and make sure I do this as little as possible.

The second somewhat bad thing is that I feel this novel will require two more full revisions and perhaps another couple of smaller, targeted revisions focused on those elements I added last.  If I don’t do them right, the book will fail.

So, it took me approximately one month to do this revision, a rather short period of time and I suspect subsequent revisions will take even less time, provided I’m not busy doing other things.  Unfortunately summer is just about upon us and at least two of the next three weekends will be swamped for me.

If I had to make a guess as to when the book will be done and considering my very bad previous predictions (I had hoped to finish the book in February, then May…I really should retire from the business of making predictions), it is conceivable the book will be ready around August.

But, again, this is pure guesswork on my part.

Regardless, book #6 in the Corrosive Knights series is moving along very well and I couldn’t be happier with the story told.  It will make for another great piece of the series and trust me when I say I’m incredibly eager to get it released.

Soon, my friends.

Soon.

Computers/Electronics

Ah, technology…

As I’ve stated many times before, I’m fascinated by new technologies.  Be it something as mundane as battery life or cell phones or computers or self-driving cars, among other things, I’m so there.

When Amazon announced their latest gadget, the Amazon Echo a while back, I was very intrigued…

Here is an interesting review of the device which gives you an even better idea of what it is all about:

As intriguing as the machine appears, the things it is capable of doing were things I do through other means and, while I considered buying the Echo, in the end I felt I didn’t need this device.  Still, I suspect the device will go through many iterations and become better and better as new generations of it are produced so I wouldn’t be surprised if sometime in the future I change my mind and feel it is worth purchasing.

If you do feel like you want to get this device, you may want to check out this fascinating article by Matt Novak and found on Paleofuture before doing so:

The FBI can neither confirm nor deny wiretapping your Amazon Echo

That’s right, kids, a device that listens to you 24/7 (assuming you keep it on all day and night) and is connected to the internet is also a singularly beautiful device for hackers -be they FBI agents or…others- to gain access to your home and, yes, listen in to whatever you and your family says in the privacy of your home.

Like many others, when I was young and in high school we were assigned George Orwell’s famous novel 1984.  It was frightening work that presented a society where all freedoms were stripped from its citizens.

In today’s world technology that would fit right at home in the novel 1984 comes in shiny, pretty colors and entices us to buy rather than frightens us away.  Thus, consumers voluntarily and without realizing it may place such devices in their homes without realizing they offer access to their privacy.

So, buyer beware.  As intriguing as these devices may seem, one needs to realize they are internet connected microphones which others could hack into.

You’ve been warned.

Movies

Superhero movies…

A couple of days ago I noted I’d probably pass on Captain America: Civil War during its theatrical run (not that the few bucks I would have contributed to its box office haul would be missed!).

While the reviews for this film, as opposed to Batman v. Superman, have been very good and the movie currently rests at an impressive 90% positive among critics and a near equal 92% positive among audiences, from reading the reviews I’ve found myself feeling less and less enthused about seeing the movie.

I noted some of the critiques against the film here, but should note one in particular which bugs me quite a bit: These movies are becoming part of a progressively longer chain of movies and there is no end in sight.

When the first Iron Man film appeared you had that clever “after the credits” bit which offered a fascinating, tantalizing glimpse into what future Marvel films could bring.  Over time these Marvel films have become, IMHO of course, more a “chapter” in some larger story which, frankly, doesn’t seem all that coherent in the larger sense or has any particular goal/end in mind.

While we’ve been teased the idea of Thanos being a “big bad” in the upcoming Avengers films for a while now, it too feels like just another part of a continuing story and when its done, there will be something to come after it.

Now, those who have read my current Corrosive Knights series may point their fingers at me and say: “Aren’t you essentially doing the same?”  I am, after all, writing a multi-part series and some of the novels, in particular the first three, do not appear to interconnect at all.

Thing is, by the fourth and especially fifth books they do interconnect.  Every one of them.  And by the end of the series, which will come very soon, you’ll see that the entirety of this project amounted to one very large, elaborate story.

As far as the Marvel films are concerned, other than hints of characters to come, I don’t feel many of them interconnected to form a larger story.  Note that I say “many” not “all” in that previous sentence.

And it becomes even more bothersome to have the current film, Captain America: Civil War just come out and the wheels are already in motion to hype the next film…

The Avengers Have Already Started Hyping the Crap Out of Infinity War

Now, lest you think I’m critiquing Marvel and conveniently ignoring the DC films, take heart, I’m not.

Batman v. Superman seems to be trying for the same “larger picture” story and dropped quite a number of hints regarding the two-part Justice League film(s) which follow.  The largest hint, of course, is that Darkseid will be the films’ big bad.  DC at this point only has one film as their “universe” and therefore at least as of this moment haven’t built up the same “to be continued” sense Marvel has done.

Another, larger aspect of this which bugs is the fact that Captain America: Civil War appeared to be a very close variation on the same themes of Batman v. Superman.  Many critics and fans have noted this and were not bothered in the least with the similarities.  They focus on CA and note it is a better film than BvS and I won’t argue their opinion.

What I will argue, however, is that however “bad” you may feel Batman v. Superman was, and there are plenty of people out there who did feel that way, me not included, it bothers me that with the advent of the launch of the DC “universe” films we’re already starting to find such similarities in plot between them and those coming from Marvel.

Granted the comic book version of Civil War came out before BvS started filming, but BvS was filmed -though not ready to be released, obviously- nearly a year before CA started filming.  The makers of CA noted the BvS story “inspired” them to go in other directions with their CA movie.  The other direction wound up being a thematically similar one to BvS.

And like it or not, we’re about to get more direct comparisons between these film universes. The Justice League films, a two parter whose first half will be released next year, will apparently deal with our heroes fighting Darkseid.  The image below is of Darkseid, created by comic book legend (and the man who co-created most of Marvel’s characters currently gracing the screen) Jack Kirby.

And this is Thanos, the big bad villain already shown in Guardians of the Galaxy and talked about in various Marvel films.  This will be the scheduled villain presented in the (also!) two part Avengers films, the first of which is scheduled to be released in two years:

Look familiar?  Thanos was created by comic book writer/artist Jim Starlin.  This is Mr. Starlin’s account of how the character came to be:

Kirby had done the New Gods, which I thought was terrific. He was over at DC at the time. I came up with some things that were inspired by that. You’d think that Thanos was inspired by Darkseid, but that was not the case when I showed up. In my first Thanos drawings, if he looked like anybody, it was Metron. I had all these different gods and things I wanted to do, which became Thanos and the Titans. Roy took one look at the guy in the Metron-like chair and said: “Beef him up! If you’re going to steal one of the New Gods, at least rip off Darkseid, the really good one!”

For the record, this is Metron as drawn by its creator, Jack Kirby:

I like comic book movies.  I really enjoyed Captain America: Winter Soldier because it tried -and in my mind succeeded- in doing something different with the concept of superheroes.  But one of the reasons I find it hard to get myself to the cinema to see Civil War is because somewhere deep down inside -and among other things- it bothers me to see a film come out so closely after Batman v. Superman that appears to essentially take the same concept as its own.

Again, this isn’t the only reason my desire to see the film has diminished, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t one of the more prominent ones.  The fact that the next few years will give us two movies each featuring the Justice League vs. Darkseid and the Avengers vs. Thanos also bugs me.

Its like instead of the studios trying to come up with their own unique spin on the superhero movie they’re instead competing to make the better version of the same superhero film.

Very, very weird.

Movies

15 Under-The-Radar Movies You Won’t Want to Miss this Summer

A few days back (you can read the post here) I wrote about an article noting the 13 upcoming “blockbusters” of this summer’s movie season.  Here’s a second list, also provided by Huffingtonpost.com and written by Matthew Jacobs involving…

15 Under-The-Radar Movies You Won’t Want To Miss This Summer

Clearly none of these films will earn Captain America: Civil War-type box-office, but some are indeed intriguing and could be worth your while.  For me, I’m curious about the insane sounding The Lobster, the equally insane sounding Swiss-Army Man, and the eerie looking The Neon Demon.

But there’s one film on this list that, frankly, I’m having a very hard time getting my head around.  I mean, is this film some kind of joke?  It can’t be what it purports to be, right?  There has to be more that…

But I’m getting ahead of myself.  The film in question is called Nine Lives and it features Kevin Spacey, Christopher Walken, and Jennifer Gardner and involves…seriously, words can’t describe it.  Here’s a teaser trailer:

And here’s the longer trailer which gives you more of this movie’s “plot”…

No, I will not be going to see it.  The fact that the producers of this film somehow got both Kevin Spacey AND Christopher Walken involved in this…

Seriously, words fail me.

Movies

Mr. Holmes (2015) a (mildly) belated review

It’s been said Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional detective Sherlock Holmes is, along with Tarzan, Superman, Batman, and Mickey Mouse, among the most recognizable fictional creations of all time.  The character has certainly been incredibly popular since his first appearance in 1887.  Of late, and perhaps starting with the great BBC series Sherlock featuring Benedict Cumberpatch, the character seems to be everywhere.  Along with Sherlock, you’ve also got the Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes movies (a third film which is about to be made) and Elementary, the American updating of the Sherlock Holmes concept.

Add to the list 2015’s Ian McKellen starring Mr. Holmes.

Based on a novel by Mitch Cullin, Mr. Holmes involves a 93 year old Sherlock Holmes (Ian McKellen) and his contentious relationship with his housekeeper (Laura Linney) and warmer relationship with her son (Milo Parker), all while he’s trying desperately to fight off senility via herbal remedies and tries very hard to remember what happened during his final case, a case his current melancholia convinces him was a colossal failure/disaster.

He is certain the last case was a big failure because it caused him to leave his beloved field and he lives with a constant ache regarding what may have happened.  Over the course of the movie, bits and pieces of memory coalesce and we, along with Sherlock Holmes, soon experience the details of this final, tragic case.

As described above, it sounds pretty interesting, no?

I mean, it’s not a Sherlock Holmes story without some intriguing mystery, and you certainly have some right off the bat.  Ignoring for a moment the events surrounding that last forgotten case, the viewer wonders what happened to Watson?  Mrs. Hudson?  His brother Mycroft?  All this while presenting us with one tantalizing “final” mystery.

I mean, what more could you ask?  As a viewer one should be right there, invested in the story and curious as to where its headed.

Alas…

The movie, unfortunately, starts really slowly.  It picks ups here and there but by the end I was never as engaged as I hoped I would be.  Mr. Holmes follows our title character through three different eras.  The “present” of very late 1940’s or very early 1950’s (more of less) England takes up the bulk of the story.  It is here we follow the very elderly Sherlock Holmes as he deals with his mortality, loss of memory, and desperate need to remember that last case.

There’s a first layer of flashbacks interwoven within involving Mr. Holmes’ trip to post-WWII 1947 Japan where, with the aid of a local man, he searches for an herb in the ashes of Hiroshima that will, he hopes, help with his diminishing memory.

Finally, there’s the third layer of flashbacks which follows Sherlock Holmes’ last case which occurred in and around 1920 or thereabouts and involve your more typical Holmesian elements: A frustrated husband, a wife who acts strangely, a possible psychic feeding off that woman’s misfortunes…

As intriguing as this may all sound, when all is said and done the story’s mysteries (there are one for each epoch) wind up being not all that engaging.  Despite good acting, cinematography, and direction, the story presented didn’t do it for me.  Or, to use a well-worn cliche, despite plenty of beautiful scenery and following Holmes through potentially engaging eras and settings, there isn’t all that much “there” there.

While the plot fizzles, I was particularly frustrated by the way this movie portrays diminished mental capacity.  We don’t know if Mr. Holmes is suffering from Alzheimers but indications are given that his mental faculties in the movie’s “present” are bordering on severely damaged.

In my previous life I worked at a rehab center and I’ve had plenty of first hand experience with people suffering from dementia, Alzheimer’s Disease, and head trauma.  Given these experiences, I couldn’t help but feel the way Holmes’ diminished mental capacity is presented those who wrote this story either don’t know all that much about or, worse, didn’t care to educate themselves on the issues behind the story they’re telling.

Instead, they offer a “movie friendly” version of dementia, and its so outside the realm of reality as to be insulting.  For example, it is stated that Mr. Holmes’ last case was some thirty years ago and since that time he’s been agonizing in trying to remember it.

Yet for the sake of the movie, he suddenly is able to piece it all together by…concentrating really hard?  By getting a lost item related to that last case?  Worse, his recall is incremental and (here we go with the “movie friendly” issue) CHRONOLOGICAL.

That’s right kids, the memory never comes back to him all at once but instead in convenient bits and pieces and in the proper temporal order.

Really.

Before I go, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out one of the film’s smaller mysteries, that involving the death of Mr. Holmes’ bees.

That’s right, his bees.

Not to brag, but I figured that out waaaaay before Mr. Holmes.  Then again, I’m a spry middle aged man as opposed to a 93 year old one-time genius suffering from a motion picture version of diminished mental faculties.

Let’s call it a tie.

I love ya, Ian McKellen, but I just can’t recommend Mr. Holmes.