Sherlock Holmes

Often film sequels are slam dunks at the box office, a seamless continuation from where a previous hit left off. But as the new installment of the 15-year-old franchise "Men in Black" proves, getting to the big screen isn't always a cakewalk. One of the most troubled productions in recent Hollywood memory, Sony Pictures' latest movie in the Will Smith-Tommy Lee Jones sci-fi-comedy franchise encountered multiple script rewrites, a discontented star and a three-month production shutdown as writers and studio executives scrambled to fix a project that nearly fell apart . By the time it was over, the studio had run up a tab of nearly $250 million - making "Men in Black 3" one of the most expensive releases of the summer.

For those in preemptive mourning for Fox's Sherlock Holmes-inspired "House,"which comes to an end later this month, a bit of comfort: Season 2 of "Sherlock,"the BBC's flirty but still faithful contemporary rendition of the unforgettable detective, begins on PBS' "Masterpiece Mystery" Sunday night. As reimagined by British TV maestro Steven Moffat ("Doctor Who," "Jekyll") and Mark Gatiss ("Doctor Who"), this Sherlock, played with aquamarine and alabaster radiance by Benedict Cumberbatch, is a London consulting detective as brilliant, icy and occasionally preening as the original.

When "House" debuted on Fox in the fall of 2004, coverage quickly evolved into two basic story lines: Sherlock Holmes and Hugh Laurie. That the character of medical detective/misanthrope Gregory House was based on the world's most famous detective was an instant source of rousing geek-joy among those who write about television because, among other things, it allowed us to establish some smarty-pants literary credibility. The same was true with Laurie, who, at the time, was known in the States mostly for playing Bertie Wooster to Stephen Fry's Jeeves in the British series "Jeeves and Wooster."

Once heralded as the greatest British actor of his generation, Nicol Williamson was also a legend for stormy onstage behavior that included calling off a performance of "Hamlet" mid-speech because he was too tired to go on. "I'll pay for the seats," he later recalled telling the audience in 1969, "but I won't shortchange you by not giving my best. " And then he walked off. He made his name as the faltering attorney in playwright John Osborne's "Inadmissible Evidence" in the mid-1960s in London, rode the role to a Tony Award nomination on Broadway and re-created the part in the 1968 film.

'Sherlock Holmes' MPAA rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some startling images and a scene of suggestive material Running time: 2 hours, 14 minutes Playing: In general release

Director Guy Ritchie's updated "Sherlock Holmes" is far more physical than past portrayals but what's really shocking is how brutal those punches look in slow motion. To capture the jaw-cracking and rippled skin of the fisticuffs, director of photography Philippe Rousselot shot the fights with a Phantom HD camera, which shoots in excess of 1,000 frames per second (as opposed to the normal 24 frames per second). The results surprised even Rousselot, who says the punches weren't enhanced at all in post.

"Sherlock Holmes," the latest incarnation of Arthur Conan Doyle's analytical, coke-loving sleuth, opens Christmas Day, starring Robert Downey Jr. as the Baker Street detective and Jude Law as Watson, his cohort in crime-solving. So it's elementary that the game is afoot to pay homage to previous cinematic Holmeses. On Monday at the Billy Wilder Theatre in Westwood, the UCLA Film and Television Archive is screening 1944's "The Scarlet Claw" and "The Spider Woman," which star the most famous celluloid Holmes and Watson: Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce.

For those in preemptive mourning for Fox's Sherlock Holmes-inspired "House,"which comes to an end later this month, a bit of comfort: Season 2 of "Sherlock,"the BBC's flirty but still faithful contemporary rendition of the unforgettable detective, begins on PBS' "Masterpiece Mystery" Sunday night. As reimagined by British TV maestro Steven Moffat ("Doctor Who," "Jekyll") and Mark Gatiss ("Doctor Who"), this Sherlock, played with aquamarine and alabaster radiance by Benedict Cumberbatch, is a London consulting detective as brilliant, icy and occasionally preening as the original.

After the soft debuts of two heavily touted sequels over the weekend, Hollywood is fearful there may not be much holiday cheer at the box office this Christmas. "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" and "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked" got off to disappointing starts, continuing the year's downward slide for the movie business. This past weekend receipts were off 12% compared with the same period in 2010. "Sherlock" and "Alvin" sold far fewer tickets than prerelease audience surveys had projected.

Death Cloud A Novel Andrew Lane Farrar, Straus & Giroux: 320 pp., $16.99 It is extremely unusual for a literary character to remain popular for more than a century. But Sherlock Holmes is no ordinary character. Ever since the eccentric, pipe-smoking detective first appeared on the page in 1887, the tweedy London logician has been revered and emulated, the subject of 200-plus films and television shows and dozens of literary spinoffs. So it's only natural that Arthur Conan Doyle fans may be curious about what may have shaped the detective in his youth.

As a certain British super-sleuth might observe, there was nothing elementary about the path that Hollywood composer Hans Zimmer took to bring Gypsy folk music into his soundtrack for "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. " Whether the score earns him an Oscar nomination or not, as the first "Sherlock Holmes" movie did two years ago, Zimmer hopes it will draw attention to the plight of one of the world's most maltreated and marginalized ethnic groups - the Roma people of Eastern Europe, more commonly (and pejoratively)

Geraldine James' face — those high cheekbones, sky-blue eyes and, what one London theater critic called her "Titian locks" — might look vaguely familiar. James is 61 now but still recognizable as Sarah Layton, the pivot point and conscience of "The Jewel in the Crown. " The 14-part "Masterpiece Theater" drama on the last days of British rule in India drew wide acclaim and a huge U.S. audience when it aired in 1984, thrusting the then-thirtysomething actress to the top rank of her profession.

David Fincher's highly anticipated take on the popular Swedish film "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," which has finally hit theaters, is already leaving its mark on moviegoers. The movie, starring Rooney Mara, opened in 2,700 theaters nationwide at 7 p.m. Tuesday and grossed a respectable $1.6 million, based on an estimate from distributor Sony Pictures. Those who saw the picture, based on the first novel in Swedish author Stieg Larsson's bestselling trilogy, loved it —giving it an average grade of A, according to market research firm CinemaScore.

After the soft debuts of two heavily touted sequels over the weekend, Hollywood is fearful there may not be much holiday cheer at the box office this Christmas. "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" and "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked" got off to disappointing starts, continuing the year's downward slide for the movie business. This past weekend receipts were off 12% compared with the same period in 2010. "Sherlock" and "Alvin" sold far fewer tickets than prerelease audience surveys had projected.

Is "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" the ultimate disguise? Have they simply reimagined the legendary sleuth as a sort of grand mash-up of Eddie Izzard and the Terminator, which not only endows him with substantial brain and brawn but some very interesting wardrobe choices? After the box-office success of 2009's "Sherlock Holmes," you knew the filmmakers would be pressed to find a way to up the ante. Nonstop action, a possible world war and cross-dressing are indeed the answer.

'Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows' MPAA rating: PG 13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and some drug material Running time: 2 hours, 9 minutes Playing: In general release

The signature action scene in the soon-to-be-released "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows," unfolds in a fusillade in a forest, as high-speed cameras zooming at 70 mph capture ammunition ripping through trees and flesh in real time. It's the type of mayhem, initially so intense that the film faced an R rating, that you would find only in a movie directed by Guy Ritchie. Until two years ago, Ritchie was known only to a select cinema buff crowd for his stylish, low-budget British gangster movies -- "Snatch," "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels," "Revolver" and "RockNRolla.

This much is clear: It's 1891, a year after their first adventure, and the great English detective and Dr. Watson are facing off with Professor Moriarty, a mysterious, peripheral character from their initial blockbuster. Ask the creative forces behind "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" for more details on the new Robert Downey Jr. movie, due in theaters Dec. 16, and you'll find tight lips. But the set here, a 40-minute train trip west from London, was rife with clues last winter.