Netflix And Chill: Enola Holmes (2020)

AKA The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Sister. Okay, maybe not quite. But that's what they're going for sometimes.

Millie Bobby Brown plays the titular character, younger sister of Sherlock and Mycroft, in this adventure mystery based on a book by Nancy Springer. There's the obvious source material from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to be acknowledged, but writer Jack Thorne delivers a screenplay that keeps the focus on the spirit of sleuthing and being curious, instead of staying far too beholden to the many exploits of Sherlock himself.

Things really get going when Enola's mother (Eudoria Holmes, played by Helena Bonham Carter) goes missing. Once her brothers have returned home and made little effort to solve what appears to be a great mystery, Enola decides to set off and find her AWOL parent. That's how she ends up encountering a young man named Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge), which brings her to the attention of some dastardly villains, particularly the murderous Linthorn (Burn Gorman).

Director Harry Bradbeer works well enough with easygoing escapism that relies on the star power of Brown, as well as the familiar faces in supporting roles (Henry Cavill is a considerate Sherlock, while Sam Claflin plays the more abrupt Mycroft). The runtime is predictably nudging right against the two hour mark, but it has just the right levels of energy and fun to make everything pass by briskly enough. 

And a large part of that energy and fun comes from Brown herself. I am not always a big fan of her work, and think she got lucky to land her Stranger Things role that fast-tracked her to stardom, but she’s very good here as a young woman with the brains and strength to make things very complicated for the many men who would rather she just stayed quiet and stayed out of their way. Partridge is a good pairing for Brown, the two work well enough in the scenes that they share, and Gorman makes a reasonably fun baddie. While Cavill is a bit too caring and considerate for a typical portrayal of Sherlock, he does well enough to make his casting work, and Claflin is enjoyably aloof as Mycroft. Carter is enjoyable in her relatively short amount of screentime, and you have support from the likes of Frances de la Tour, Susan Wokoma, Claire Rushbrook, and Adeel Akhtar (playing the familiar character of Lestrade).

I had fun with this while it was on, but it doesn’t quite do everything it sets out to do. The puzzles are a bit too easy to figure out, the action is never as thrilling as it could be, and viewers have to accept the fact that the main character often breaks the fourth wall to deliver extra details and exposition. I doubt I will rewatch it any time, but I am definitely happy enough to watch the sequels.

6/10

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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

Although I wasn't sure of what to really expect with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, I was comforted by the fact that a number of key players were returning. Tim Burton was in the director's chair, and the central cast was anchored by the essential trio of Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O'Hara. It's a shame that they weren't given something a bit better to work with after such a long wait.

The story may seem complicated, but it's all ultimately just an excuse for various scenes that feel disconnected from one another. Lydia Deetz (Ryder) is now a TV/internet personality, hosting a show in which she investigates hauntings. She is also in a relationship with her manager, Rory (Justin Theroux). Things have to be put on hold, however, when her mother (Delia, played by O'Hara) gives her news about the death of her father. The ladies then travel to pass the message along to Lydia's daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega), before heading back to the family home. Things get even messier as a funeral provides the setting for a marriage proposal, Astrid grows close to a young man named Jeremy (Arthur Conti), and Beetlejuice (Keaton) becomes the target of a vengeful ex (Delores, played by Monica Bellucci). 

It's hard to put a finger on what feels so wrong in this sequel. It just feels a bit overstuffed and disjointed, and there's an unfocused randomness to the different plot strands. The original also had some of that going on, but that somehow felt fun and anarchic, whereas this feels more slapdash and tiresome.

There are definite highlights though. Keaton is fantastic in his role, reprising an iconic character with an ease that belies his age, and the many decades since he last played him. Ryder and O'Hara are also both wonderful together, although there's an attempt to slightly rewrite their past that the film only gets away with because of how easy it is to believe that O'Hara's character would reframe their lives together. Ortega is a good addition to the core group, there are a number of scenes outright stolen by a character named Bob, and the finale has some choreographed insanity set to a brilliantly bonkers song that I've always had a soft spot for. 

There is, as expected, some lovely production design, it's impressive for the continuity of the visual style between the two films, and it's nice to hear Danny Elfman's score running through everything. The practical effects are also very enjoyable.

That's about it though. The script, written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar (who have worked together for decades, and most notably, for this part of their career journey, played pivotal roles in the new Wednesday series) is a mess. Some of the dialogue works, but it's often more to do with the delivery than the words, while the messy plot keeps being tangled around too many characters and too many moments that many viewers probably won't care about, including Charles Deetz, who is initially used in a fun way that allows him to be there without re-using disgraced actor Jeffrey Jones, but then keeps popping up throughout the film in a way that feels egregiously unnecessary.

Aside from those already praised above, Theroux is a lot of fun as the poseur of the film this time around, Bellucci does well with her limited screentime, and Willem Dafoe is enjoyable as a deceased actor who played a cop so often that he basically believes that he is one nowadays. Conti is okay, and Burn Gorman is the local priest presiding over things, but they end up, much like Dafoe, being completely superfluous. The same can be said of Santiago Cabrera, who plays someone supposedly important to our leading ladies, until his scenes are finished with and he seems to be easily forgotten about. 

Did I hate this? No. It was very close though. The good aspects of it often come close to being great, but the negatives just keep dragging it down. Considering how great they are when onscreen together, Keaton, Ryder, and O'Hara deserved something a bit better. On the plus side, there has been a load of new Beetlejuice merchandise released lately that has allowed me to add some more movie-related items to my wardrobe. And I would still give everyone a chance to entertain me again if they make a third one.

4/10

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Watcher (2022)

It can sometimes be hard to tell when art is deliberately commenting on a major issue in our society, or when that commentary might just be coincidental, especially when it comes to movies within the thriller and horror genres. Take Watcher, for example, which is a thriller about a young woman in Bucharest who starts to think that she is being watched by a potentially deadly stranger. On the surface, what you have here is a standard, and solid, thriller. Yet it also feels like a film about the feeling that women often experience many times in a single day, especially when they try to explain to others who may dismiss their worries as paranoia.

Maika Monroe is the lead here, playing Julia, and she has moved with her partner, Francis (Karl Glusman), to a country she is completely unfamiliar with. She hasn't even had time to learn much, if any, of the language, so it's understandable that she feels more alone than ever while Francis gets busy with his new job. Unfortunately, Julia then starts to suspect that someone is watching her from a building across the street from them, and that someone may also be trying to follow her when she is out and about in Bucharest. Julia befriends a neighbour, Irina (Madalina Anea), but her moments of relaxation in friendly company are always offset by the tension she feels when she may be being watched again. It certainly doesn't help that the news is busy reporting about a serial killer who beheads his female victims.

Written and directed by Chloe Okuno, from a screenplay by Zack Ford, this is an impressive debut directorial feature from someone who has been honing their craft with a number of shorts over the past decade. Her 2014 short, Slut, has an interesting premise, meaning I really want to see it ASAP now, and I enjoyed her segment, "Storm Drain", in V/H/S/94. Equally comfortable with creepy moments and sudden shocks, Okuno is happy to keep building the sense of dread and discomfort on the way to a finale that delivers what you hope, but in a slightly unexpected way.

Monroe is great in the main role (but fans of her work will expect her to be great in everything anyway), and Anea is a welcome and warm presence in the film. Glusman has to be the busy, and sadly dismissive, husband, but he's not turned into an outright villain. The fact that he doesn't take his wife's concerns as seriously as she wants him to is typical of how many men can be when women voice any opinion about the world seeming a much more dangerous place from their perspective. Last, but not least, is Burn Gorman, as the neighbour who may or may not be a creepy voyeur.

A lot of Watcher plays out as you think it will, but that's not a criticism. This is solid and chilling stuff, helped enormously by having Monroe at the centre of it. It doesn't ever feel like essential viewing though, sadly, although I have seen many other people rate this as one of the best films of last year. I thought it was good, boosted by that inevitable commentary underpinning everything, but I wouldn't rush to rewatch it.

7/10

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Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018)

Following the sequel template, Pacific Rim: Uprising stars some lesser-known actors, compared to the first film, and isn't quite as good. Thankfully, it's still a lot of fun for those who enjoyed the world that the first film dropped us into.

John Boyega is Jake Pentecost (son of Stacker Pentecost, played by Idris Elba in the first film). Cailee Spaeny is a young girl named Amara Namani, a talented mechanic who keeps working to improve her single-pilot Jaeger (Jaeger = large, fighting robot for those who are playing catch up). Last, and least, is Scott Eastwood as Nate Lambert, a Jaeger pilot who has a past with Jake. All three come together, as well as some other, sadly forgettable, supporting players , when it looks as if there's a new threat from the monsters that had previously been thought dealt with. That's all you need to know.

As technically proficient as the first film, Pacific Rim: Uprising both benefits and suffers from the need to avoid just repeating the exact same set-pieces as the ones we already saw. The plot this time deals with upgrades and hybrids, which is fine, but also reduces the tension quite early on. Viewers can see that the new enemy is even stronger, and a lot tougher to beat, so the finale is very predictable from the first act. Director Steven S. DeKnight helps to offset this with some impressive, and impressively clear, visuals throughout. He knows that this is a huge helping of cheese (because who wouldn't know it?) and he at least makes the payoff worthwhile, keeping the Jaegers front and centre during the set-pieces that are interspersed throughout. Do you want quotable dialogue and thought-provoking explorations of responsibility and mortality or do you want to see a giant robot produce a giant pair of swords and use them against another giant robot? You can't have both, but the latter is a hell of a lot of fun to watch.

As much as I enjoyed Pacific Rim, the script was not it's strong point, and it's the same here. Without Travis Beacham or Guillermo del Toro taking care of things, it's left to Emily Carmichael, T. S. Nowlin, Kira Snyder, and DeKnight. They do what needs to be done in order to connect events and allow this to feel like a proper next chapter in the story, which it does, but they saddle the cast with a lot of lame lines in between the action beats.

That could have been easier to overlook if the cast were on good form with the material but, sadly, most of them aren't. Boyega is very good in the lead role, and both Charlie Day and Burn Gorman have fun reprising their scientist roles, but nobody else makes much of an impression. Spaeny and Eastwood don't have the charisma required to make this, at the very least, a decent three-hander, and the other supporting players fade into the background almost as quickly as they appear. At least Spaeny might do better in other roles, Eastwood is already making bland his standard acting style for every role (he may have the name of his father, but he didn't inherit his talent).

If you want to get your fix of giant robots fighting one another then this is much better than the majority of the Transformers series. It's not as good as the first, and it's no Real Steel, but it's a fun idea that is well-realised on the screen. And the bigger the screen you can watch it on, the better it will seem.

You can buy Pacific Rim: Uprising here.
Americans can pick it up here.