McKellen Shines As Old Sherlock
Based on the reading of a handful of reviews filed from the Berlin Film Festival, I’m eager to see “Mr. Holmes.” THR: ‘Seventeen years after the movie that put him on the directing map and won him a screenwriting Oscar, “Gods and Monsters,” Bill Condon is reunited with that film’s redoubtable star, Ian McKellen, in a pleasing variation on shared themes of aging and mortality. The 1998 bio-drama of James Whale, the cinematic father of “Frankenstein,” dealt with an elderly man reconciling with the shadows of desire and creativity near the end of his life. “Mr. Holmes” centers on another sacred monster deep into his twilight, the fictional sleuth of Baker Street, as he wrestles with the retreat of his most precious gift, his mental faculties.
