Month: May 2022

After their parents divorce, twin brothers Freddie Highmore move with their mother Mary-Louise Parker and sister Sarah Bolger to an abandoned estate their mother inherited from her uncle David Strathairn. One of the brothers quickly discovers a field guide their uncle had written about the fairies that inhabited the woods near the estate. I was happy to see that even though it was combined into one film, it is a rather faithful retelling of the book series with solid performances and a good use of CGI to convey the various creatures. I enjoy a good dual performance and even at his young age, Highmore adeptly the two separate personalities of the boys.   

Dale Midkiff moves with his family to the country home of their dreams. Unfortunately it is located near a very busy highway and a cursed burial ground. These two features together bring the potential for disaster. The acting by Midkiff and wife Denise Crosby is a somewhat stilted, the effects can be a bit dated and silly, and a side story involving Crosby’s childhood is ineffectual and campy. Luckily the undeniable presence of Fred Gwynne as a knowing neighbor and the chilling strength of Stephen King’s story still make it work somehow.      

Mystery writer Agnes Moorehead has rented a home for the summer in a town currently being menaced by a murderer known as The Bat. During the same time period, local bank president Harvey Stevens confesses to his physician Vincent Price that he has stolen over 1 million dollars from his bank. I’m not shy about my love for Vincent Price films and he’s good here, but it’s really Moorehead’s film. As The Bat terrorizes her household, she must suss out their identity and it’s easy to see her performing such acts in a serial a la Murder She Wrote.    

Unethical, but talented young lawyer Keanu Reeves is tempted by a devilish Al Pacino into joining his New York law firm. The role doesn’t play to Reeves’s best attributes; he and wife Charlize Theron have some of the silliest, most inconsistent Southern accents on film. Luckily the film doesn’t need them to do much beyond looking dumb and pretty. It is instead all in Pacino’s command and he relishes the role. The film is quite a mess, but it’s still an entertaining, Biblical-themed thriller.    

When her drummer aunt was diagnosed with terminal cancer, artist Salli Richardson-Whitfield quit her job to care for her. With her aunt passed on, Salli is spending her last day in the home they shared, dealing with a cast of revolving characters who come to the house while also working through her fresh grief. Ava DuVernay’s first full-length feature film, it’s obviously a bit low budget, but that doesn’t detract from its exploration of grief and also a celebration of the two women’s creative lives.

Disgraced ex-cop John Hawkes spends most of his days in a bottle, but finds new energy when he’s hired as a private investigator by Robert Loggia to investigate the killing of Loggia’s granddaughter. I’ve been checking out Hawkes’s work since enjoying his performance in Deadwood, but rarely do the films actually provide substance worthy of his skill. It’s a gritty crime flick that, while not overly unique in story, manages a smooth blend of comedy and drama that really showcases Hawkes’s best qualities while also not giving short shrift to supporting players, Loggia, Octavia Spencer, Anthony Anderson, and Clifton Collins, Jr.    

Overwhelmed by her husband’s long absences, Riley Keough embarks on an impromptu road trip with her young daughter and her close friend Jena Malone. Though the two women haven’t seen each other in a long time, their love for each other never strayed and they reconnect as if it hasn’t been more than a day. Everything about this film is too subtle while trying to push big messages about love for me to fully enjoy it, but the lead performances and their chemistry remains touching to witness. The second half of the story features one of my newer movie pet peeves where a life event is simultaneously treated as both a huge planned occasion and a spur of the moment winging it. Here it’s a large semi-destination wedding where somehow the wedding dress hasn’t even been chosen yet.