due south rec

dining out by kalena; nc-17, f/k. ray decides to teach fraser how to go about seducing a woman.

sherlock holmes: the resident patient (review, recap, and screencaps)

a shortish story with an interesting ending in book canon becomes a really pretty interesting piece. holmes interacts with inspector lestrade, who we recognize though he is not named, in a fascinating way. there are extra helpings of his sniffing and crawling around a room for evidence, and a really nice recreation scene where he pulls together what happened at the scene of a crime from some ash and hair he finds on the chair and on the carpet.

high point:the opening scene takes place in a barbershop and features holmes's highly amusing fidgeting. watson lays out an elaborate string of deduction. holmes compliments his method, but says he was wrong in every particular--he was not annoyed at being thrust out of the apartment for spring cleaning. he explains himself at length, then looks slyly sideways at watson. 'at the same time, watson,' he says, 'there is some element of truth in what you say.' they both burst out laughing.

( don't stop. more cuteness to come. )

low points: the introductory scene which is from the pov of the less important of the two guest stars--the patient himself. and it's apparently a fantasy or dream or symbolic sequence because it clearly doesn't actually happen. really stupid. is the guy on drugs or what?
other slashy bits:

1. second scene, described in the cut tag.
2. holmes storms out on the title r.p. at a consultation; watson waylays him on their return to offer a theory. they lean together from opposite sides on the same stair bannister post and tip their heads together charmingly.
3. it should not be romantic how very much holmes takes watson for granted, but when they're searching for newspaper clippings, it sort of is (at least if you wear slash goggles). mostly i like that scene because holmes's absent-mindedness is cute, though.

( sixteen screencaps. wait for them to load. )

pirates of the caribbean rec

dreamiflame is unfortunately the only reliable source of jack/will/elizabeth i can find--i say unfortunately not because her stories aren't excellent, but because she's only one woman and doesn't produce as many as i'd like to read. maybe some day i'll get off my ass and write one. dreaming is pg and warm-fuzzyish.

oh noooooooooooooooo.

fuckit. i accidentally posted the second-to-last draft of my slashababy story. ::facepalm:: will upload correction tomorrow. d'oh. auuuugh.

::whimper::

why oh why can't there be any NEW good holmes/watson for me to read?

i do believe i'm going to have to write it myself.

i hate becoming infatuated with obscure fandoms. that's what i always end up feeling driven to do....

sherlock holmes: the red-headed league

the red-headed league is one of my dad's very favorite holmes stories. it's not extremely emotional, but it's a wonderful mystery--the whole red-headed league swindle is fabulous. there is an excellent action scene, w. following h. to the 'enemy territory' and skulking behind a wall with him the way the neighbor children used to do with me when we got out my walkie-talkies to play spies.

high points:

+the dramatization of the client's story. the line of red-haired applicants--the near-empty office--the encyclopedia copying...
+watson can't stop laughing at the guy when he's talking about copying the encyclopedias and then when he finishes the story. holmes starts by gesturing him silent but finally can't help it and breaks down laughing himself.
+the police officer they work with saying holmes has 'the making of a detective in him'
+the arrest of the criminal, who gets quite haughty when the policeman reaches for his cuffs. 'well then would you please come upstairs, your highness, so that we may call a cab to take you to jail?'

other of interest: h. takes w. to see a solo violinist, and he's sitting with his head back and this orgasmic expression. w. has a voiceover about how he thinks something bad is coming for the criminals, but it's brilliant the way he's staring at h with a sort of one-raised-eyebrow look.
low points: apprehension of the second criminal in wilson's shop. the scene seems unnecessary.

( eight caps )

sherlock holmes: the final problem (25 caps!)

'the final problem' is a tense and exciting story, but the screen increases that exponentially. it's the best i've seen, really exciting, action-packed, cinematographically pretty, excellently cut. (obviously, there will be spoilers here, along with fairly detailed descriptions and a lot of raving--i LOVE this episode!) ( the final problem )

high points: the scene with holmes and the professional painting copyist in france. 'and if the mona lisa is not in the louvre?' says h. the copyist says, 'but m'sieur, you are joking.' h. just chuckles dryly, tilts his head sideways and swings his cane as the scene fades out. also the confrontation with moriarty and watson's race to the train.
low points: none.
slashy points: ahahah. everywhere.

i went mad making caps of this episode. i'm must say i'm very proud of all ( twenty-five. )

sherlock holmes: the hound of the baskervilles

the hound of the baskervilles is a very gothic tale and a really enjoyable read, imo. i liked the novel for itself but i also adored the slashiness which manifests a couple of times. now, this movie version uses not david burke but his replacement edward hardwicke as doctor watson, which was an affront i couldn't get over through the whole thing. hardwicke simply doesn't have burke's chemistry with brett. my mother scoffs that i'm saying i don't like it because it's not as slashy, but that's not true. i mean, holmes and watson's chemistry is undeniable, though it's widely considered to be merely the chemistry of close friends. 'intimate friends,' as holmes would say. well, this watson does not seem to be particularly intimate with holmes.

that said, it's an excellent movie. it follows watson's point of view, but it's not at all boring; the scenery is beautiful, the mysteriousness very well done, all the casting brilliant except hardwicke's, and i found myself, by the end, liking him despite my prejudice (and i still don't think he looks like watson).

my favorite scene in the novel has nearly all the onscreen tension i could wish, but not quite. like many f/s scenes in rotk, it made me happy, but not happy enough.

high points: the glimpses of holmes in hiding, which tend to show only black leather gloves (RAR) and his boots. also the cuteness of sir henry baskerville and of dr. mortimer. many plot points which belong to the story itself--the entymologist, the wacky baskerville butler, the pathologically litigious neighbor, the fallen woman in the next town over. the scene on the moor where holmes and watson are reunited.
low points: the scene on the moor where holmes and watson are reunited.
other: dr. mortimer's dog! AW. SOCUTE.

( 8 caps )

sherlock holmes: the last vampyre

recall these are the jeremy brett productions.

this one is awful. i took no screencaps. ( i think i have only rarely seen a movie this bad in my life. )

holmes/watson stuff

god knows a week or so ago i was desperately angsting for a source of caps. maybe i should make an index for the reviews i've been doing, upload it to my website, and post the link somewhere... the hwslash list, perhaps.

tonight we're celebrating the last three nights of channukah in one because tomorrow lillian and i are flying to kansas to be candle-lighter and bridesmaid respectively. so we're also going to open christmas presents tonight, i think. my mother and father have been getting austen films and sherlock holmes films respectively; i've gotten mainly wodehouse books, which is what i asked for. also some rainbow sharpie markers. but i've got a stack of three jeeves and wooster books to dive into next. mmmm.

logan/rogue rec

perfume by leyenn. pg, i think.

hey, there's a 2 hour smallville event tonight at seven. someone tell me if it was any good, hm? there was clark whispering 'leeex' just now in the trailer and it was hot.

dombilly rec

touching base by novanumbernine. r, maybe? contemplative, a little mournful, dark.

(no subject)

daddy says pandemoniumfromamerica was sold out when he tried to order it.

i hope it isn't still when i get home from kansas.

christmas

i've now got a livejournal tshirt. (black, long-sleeved.)

and daddy gave me two copies of one of the jeeves books (one in an omnibus), but i'm not going to mention that to him. (he's also given me two copies of samuel delany's empire star another year.)

it's odd, but usually i don't feel like eating chocolate right after christmas, which is always the time of year when i have absolutely the most chocolate. i ate one ferrero rocher out of a big box; i haven't touched my chocolate orange.

and it turned out that the gryffindor scarf lillian was knitting was for me! so i now have a gryffindor scarf--only it's only barely long enough to go around my neck, like three feet, because it took longer than she thought. and i think we're going to have to figure out the tassels together. XD