As is apparent from perusing Big Hollywood for any given amount of time that the current crop of Prime Time Television shows leave quite a bit to be desired. There is also nothing new under the sun, plots are rehashed, and even series’ are being recycled. Occasionally, though, an old dog can be taught new tricks. So it is with the BBC’s Sherlock.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous creation has been a regular in all known forms of media. From the Strand magazine where Holmes got his start, through radio and television and on to the big screen, the great detective has spanned the generations. He is considered the most played character in all of media, with at least 75 different actors taking on the role.

While American audiences have most recently been treated to Robert Downey Jr.’s performance on the big screen, the real gem of modern mystery is the BBC’s mini-series Sherlock. Now entering its second season, it is a luscious masterpiece.

The most fantastic part of the series is that it isn’t new. Each episode works with an existing Holmes story but takes it to another level. Each episode is more of a movie, running for ninety minutes, allowing the plot to build and the characters to gain more depth.

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“Midnight in Paris” star Rachel McAdams is a big fan of Occupy Wall Street, but she probably gets most of her news about the movement from the mainstream media.

So perhaps we should forgive her for being utterly unaware of the group’s radical roots and extremist behavior.

McAdams, currently in theaters courtesy of “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,” shared her views on OWS with Glamour magazine.

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Sensei did very well on predictions last week. He now currently holds a six-week streak calling the correct #1 film, the longest in the nation.

This week in box office business is always an interesting one. You’ll find small drops and even increases in a film’s box office compared to the previous week. Rarely do weekends like these happen during the box office year.

This weekend’s predictions and revenue results go as follows:

1. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol ($28 million) – With no new major releases this week, it all comes down to who can hold their audience the best. This one has the full inside track with its high screen count as well as high audience ratings to fuel word of mouth.

2. Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows ($19 million) – The film long thought to be dominating the box office right now will again have to settle for the runner-up position.

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Last week, “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” and the third “Chipmunks” film opened much lower than expected. Their combined result all but destroyed Sensei’s prediction calls. Not all was lost. Sensei’s streak in calling the correct top opener did extend to five straight weeks. This week, a host of newcomers hope for the top box office spot.

This weekend’s predictions and revenue results go as follows.

1. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol – ($28 million, Fri-Sun) ($42 million, Wed-Sun) – Last weekend confirmed analyst fears about the current box office outlook. Things are very weak right now. This film’s healthy opening on only 425 theaters (300 IMAX) was the only bright spot. With solid reviews and high audience ratings, the film will power ahead to beat the new “Sherlock Holmes” film.

2. Sherlock Holmes: Game Of Shadows – ($19 million, Fri-Sun) ($28 million, Wed-Sun) – After its low opening, this one will struggle to equal the gross of the first “Sherlock Holmes” ($209 million domestic). The film also loses a large portion of its target audience to “MI4’s” theater expansion this week. Still, it will pull in respectable numbers over the holiday. Whether it will be enough for a second sequel is another story. (more…)

Never mind the tweed jackets, bowler hats and turn of the century accouterments. The “Sherlock Holmes” franchise is all about the bromance between Sherlock Holmes and his faithful sidekick, Watson.

In “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,” said bromance blooms in new directions. Holmes dresses up like a lady to stay in disguise while the two pals even share a dance late in the film.

But what makes “Shadows” more than merely a “count the receipts” sequel is the addition of Moriarity, Holmes’ cerebral arch-enemy. Holmes demands an enemy equal to his intellectual gifts, and actor Jared Harris makes sure the new cinematic Moriarity more than fits that bill.

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Former MTV mainstay Kurt Loder still loves music, but these days you’re more likely to read him pontificating about “The Twilight Saga” than Lady Gaga.

Movies, says Loder, film critic for Reason.com, are “fresh material to me, in a way that music somehow isn’t. It’s tangible. It’s up on the screen.”

Loder’s movie commentaries – witty, wise and full of admiration on the rare occasions when the stars align to yield a great film – can now be held in your hand thanks to a new collection.

“The Good, the Bad and the God-Awful: 21^st Century Movie Reviews” lets Loder opine on Hollywood’s recent movie releases. Loder slams “Australia,” praises “In Bruges” and puts more journalistic muscle into his take down of Michael Moore’s “Sicko” than most of his peers.

“Some movies are so appalling you wonder what went wrong … who said, ‘this is really good, let’s put it out,’” he says.

“The Good, the Bad and the God-Awful” compiles reviews into themes – like Schlockbusters (expensive flops), The Land That Laughs Forgot (comic duds) and Funtime (hilarious romps). He even dedicates an entire chapter to Nicolas Cage (“one of the great without-a-net highfliers of our time”). Loder may be most fond of Looking for Love, the section dedicated to great films still searching for an appreciative audience – like indie darling “The Brothers Bloom.”

Loder’s prose is prickly when the situation demands it, but he’s not a curmudgeon taking undue pleasure excoriating mediocre films. He also insists he’s a movie reviewer, not a film critic.

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We movie fans love our Blu-ray and DVD collections, our shelves overflowing with the titles we love, but pretty soon they’re going to be like vinyl records, premium product for the die-hard consumer.  It’s no big statement to point out that streaming video from services like NetFlix and Amazon are the way of the future, as the media we consume more and more comes primarily from the internet.  My column, HomeVideodrome, will continue to cover the new releases coming to Blu-ray and DVD each week, however, in the interest of keeping up with the times in terms of how we imbibe our media, this feature will cover what’s new that’s available to stream out there every week.  I’ll be covering services like NetFlix and Amazon, primarily highlighting a few choice picks.  Since this is a brand-new column, if you have any ideas or suggestions on other things to include, feel free to say so in the comments section.

New on NetFlix

The Fighter: Everyone loves a good boxing picture, and this here boxing picture is Mark Wahlberg’s passion project that won Christian Bale and Melissa Leo an Oscar this past year.  I detailed in HomeVideodrome column a few months back how the film seems to have a parallel with Wahlberg’s personal life, as  he grew up in the shadow of his then more-famous brother, Donnie Wahlberg of New Kids on The Block, before breaking out and creating a big name for himself.  Now that this prestige Hollywood offering is available, all the stragglers can catch up.  It ain’t Rocky, but few movies reach that level, it’s good stuff all the same.

The Dirty Dozen: Robert Aldrich’s World War II guys-on-a-mission flick sports a dream team of actors that are of the manly-as-Hell variety that we don’t get anymore.  Observe this pedigree of awesome: Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Jim Brown, Charles Bronson, John Cassavetes, Robert Ryan, Telly Savalas, Donald Sutherland, George Kennedy, and Mike Hammer himself, Ralph Meeker.  Damn, I just got the urge to eat a steak and drink some straight whiskey while typing that out.  Imagine what happens when you watch the movie.  In the film, Marvin plays a no-nonsense Army major, who is saddled with the task of taking a group of disgraced soldiers slated for death row on a mission that spells certain death against Nazi bigwigs.  This one comes to NetFlix hot off the heels of Captain America, another World War II flick featuring a motley crew of soldiers kicking evil’s ass, so this classic serves as a delicious chaser while you’re in the mood after seeing Cap throw his shield at the bad guys.

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For those of you expecting what the trailer promised: a bloated, confusing, noisy, headache-inducing Christmas blockbuster weighed down with CGI and barely made watchable by the presence of He Who Makes Everything Better – star Robert Downey Jr. – you’re in for a surprise. Director Guy Ritchie’s “Sherlock Holmes” might be a tad bloated, somewhat hard to follow, and easily 15 minutes too long, but the director makes this umpteenth cinematic re-imagining of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s intrepid detective his own and delivers a spirited, entertaining, blissfully mindless couple of hours at the movies.

Ritchie’s slovenly Holmes is a long way from Basil Rathbone’s, the actor who played the resident of 221 B Baker Street in 14 films over half as many years starting in 1939, and he’s even further from Doyle’s. The mannered, sophisticated detective is now a borderline recluse who’s utterly dysfunctional when not preoccupied with a case, a glib ladies man and ready action hero who knows how to use his fists.  As his physician-partner in crimesolving, Jude Law grabs his best role in years as Holmes’ closest friend and mother hen.

Set in London in the late 1800s, the game afoot does not involve Holmes most famous nemesis Professor Moriarty this time, but instead Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong), a presumably hanged ritual killer and user of the dark arts who might have risen from the dead with a master plan for world domination. Through an influential Gentleman’s Club of fellow occultists, Blackwood all but controls Scotland Yard which leaves only  Holmes, Watson and Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams) — a scheming American woman from Holmes’ past with dueling loyalties and a mind just as sharp as her romantic rival’s — to stop him.   (more…)

Director Guy Ritchie’s “Sherlock Holmes” opens Christmas Day 2009.