Movie Nation

For much of the cinema’s history, the movies have had the good sense to keep Sherlock Holmes’ nemesis Professor Moriarty off camera, an unseen menace made all the more menacing by his absence.

But Guy Ritchie’s “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,” puts the infamous Professor M. face to face with his foe, Holmes. They quarry, trade threats and play chess. But as the evil genius is played the unimposing Jared Harris (“Mad Men,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”), you can’t help but wonder why Robert Downey Jr. doesn’t just dope-slap this shrimp and “crack on.”

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The 38 year old “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” franchise will duel “Django Unchained,” “Les Miserables” and “The Hobbit” for the top spot at the box office this weekend.

And Box Office Mojo figures the only horror movie, only NEW movie in theaters, has a shot. But that it’ll come in second. I saw “Chainsaw 3D” last night, and the theater was pretty full, even late at night. Add in 3D prices and it could do over  $15.

Box office Guru figures it’ll be “Django” and “Hobbit” and “Les Miz” locked at about $16-17.

“Promised Land” and “The Impossible” go into wider release and could reach $4-7 million this weekend as well.

There’s something gloriously twee about “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen.”

Maybe it’s the very conceit of the thing, that a mad — some would say “visionary– Anglofile sheikh could want to fling his millions at a water project in his homeland that will include a provision to transplant his favorite sport — fly fishing — from the Highlands to the High Desert.

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