The Woman In The Window [2021] ★★
I really really wanted to like this Hitchcockian thriller, courtesy of director Joe Wright. Sadly, and after a solid start, the film veers towards cliche territory and never truly delivers a memorable twist. Amy Adams is good as always, playing an agoraphobic woman living alone in her New York apartment. In true Hitchcock fashion, she witnesses a murder one night, but no one seems to believe her, including the police. The best thing I can say about this thriller is that it’s wonderfully shot and directed. Wright is obviously inspired by the master of suspense, and his film is an homage to many of Hitch’s classics, including “Rear Window” (no surprises there). But unlike “Rear Window”, “The Woman in the Window” lacks suspense and fails to leave an impact. Adams is surrounded by a first rate cast that includes Gary Oldman, Julianne Moore, Jennifer Jason Jason Leigh and Anthony Mackie. Too bad they’re all wasted in a murder mystery with very little to offer.
While far from being great, there’s still something charming and irresistible about “Enola Holmes”, Netflix’s answer to the “Sherlock Holmes” franchise. It helps that it moves at a fast pace. It also helps to have Millie Bobby Brown (“Stranger Things”) as Enola, Sherlock’s younger sister who also happens to be a sleuth in the making. The film, nicely shot and directed, focuses on Enola’s quest to find her missing mother (Played by Helena Bonham Carter), who mysteriously vanished one day, leaving behind a series of clues for our young detective. This sets the tone for an entertaining adventure that doesn’t always stay on track, but still manages to deliver the necessary goods. Brown is perfectly cast, and she is surrounded by a colorful array of supporting characters, including Henry Cavill (as Sherlock), Sam Claflin (as Mycroft, her older brother), and Fiona Shaw. So if you’re looking for something diverting and fun, look no further than “Enola Holmes”. It’s not the best thing you’ll stream this month, but I’m sure you’ll have a mighty good time with it anyway.
I read somewhere that this movie was a “disappointing step back” for writer director Asghar Farhadi. But how do you top movies like “A Separation”, “The Past” and “The Salesman”? “Everybody Knows” may not be Farhadi’s best and most compelling work, but it has an intriguing story to tell and just the right actors to carry it through. Penelope Cruz plays a married woman who returns to her hometown to attend her sister’s wedding. In true Farhadi fashion, an incident happens during the wedding, which leads to a series of devastating events. Old wounds are reopened and, layer by layer, we discover secrets that many thought were dead and buried. Cruz and Javier Bardem (who plays her ex-lover) are exceptionally good, and the story keeps you invested at every turn. Criticism? I would say the film goes on a bit too long, and I wish the ending had a stronger impact on me. Still, if you appreciate Farhadi’s style, and want to see two great actors in a powerful drama, you’ll definitely appreciate “Everybody Knows”.
First off let me tell you how much I admire screenwriter Charlie Kaufman’s work. From “Being John Malkovich” to “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”, Kaufman has left his stamp on so many films that are now regarded as “essential viewings”. That being said, I didn’t fully appreciate his latest effort, which you can now stream on Netflix. Much like so many of his movies, “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” is clever and original, but I grew tired of it after a while. In telling the story of a young woman who travels with her new boyfriend to his parents’ secluded farm, Kaufman injects his script with dark humor and dream-like sequences, something you would expect from the man himself. Jessie Buckley and Jesse Plemons both wear their characters as a second skin, and the movie is truly mesmerizing and intriguing at first. But after the hour mark, I found myself drifting away from it. Instead of being constantly pulled in, I started to lose interest. It’s difficult to explain why without entering spoiler territory, but I will say that the pay-off wasn’t as rewarding as I wanted it to be. Let me put it this way: Charlie Kaufman movies tend to push me to read more about them, long after the credits start rolling. I didn’t feel that urge when “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” ended.
Netflix’s “Wounds” is 5% intrigue and 95% a waste of a talented cast. It starts out well enough then quickly degenerates into a confusing mess. Armie Hammer is good as always, but he doesn’t have much to work with. He plays a bartender who finds his life spin out of control when he finds a cell phone with disturbing messages and photos on it. This is the 5% intrigue I was referring to. And I admit: I really wanted to see where this story was going. Unfortunately, nothing makes sense here, and the movie never truly gives you the answers you’re looking for. In fact, it raises more questions than it answers, leaving you with a sense that you’ve just wasted your time on yet another terrible Netflix movie. You’ve been warned.
“Horse Girl” is yet another Netflix movie that tries to juggle a lot of themes at once, only to end up falling flat on its face. Alison Brie co-wrote the script and stars as a socially isolated woman who becomes convinced that she is the cloned version of her grandmother. A series of increasingly lucid dreams send her on a roller-coaster ride that sadly leads nowhere. Brie is good and gives it her very best, but everything else -from the dull dream-like sequences to a confusing ending- is a dud. I admire Brie and Jeff Baena’s ambitious screenplay, but I wish it were more coherent or even better: fulfilling. Movies like “Horse Girl” are supposed to leave you with a feeling that you’ve just witnessed something special. Alas, I ended up feeling like I’ve wasted my time instead.
The thing about Netflix’s “Rattlesnake” is that it has an intriguing premise (hence the extra half star): a single mother (Carmen Ejogo) seeks help from a mysterious stranger when her daughter is bitten by a rattlesnake. The price? Take another soul before sundown or her daughter dies. Like I said, this sounds like a set-up for an entertaining horror film. Oddly enough, that’s about it. From that moment on, the movie drowns in a sea of cliches and never truly recovers, stranding a decent cast. But perhaps worst of all is a lack of suspense. I don’t usually mind a silly, routine thriller, as long as it entertains me. But “Rattlesnake” has almost nothing going for it. Aside from a solid premise, it’s easily forgettable.
Movies like “Fractured” have been around since…well…forever. Want more proof? Check out Alfred Hitchcock’s 1938 superior film “The Lady Vanishes” or its 2005 rip-off “Flightplan” starring Jodie Foster as a mother whose daughter goes missing on a flight from Berlin to America. Netflix’s “Fractured” falls somewhere in between. It’s not great, not by a long shot, but it keeps you guessing for a while, even with a familiar storyline. Sam Worthington plays a family man who rushes to the hospital when his daughter fractures her arm. Then she goes missing, along with his wife. Naturally, no one in the hospital will admit that they were ever there to begin with, which forces our man to question the staff’s intentions. This entirely watchable mystery thriller benefits from a solid performance by Worthington, who is completely believable as a father who would stop at nothing to get some answers. Of course, the third act is routine stuff, but up until then, watching Worthington trying to put the pieces together is worth the price of admission alone.
Amy Ryan is sensational and the main reason to see Netflix’s crime drama “Lost Girls”, which is based on a real, unsolved case. The movie itself is intriguing and well-made, but it remains earthbound while its leading lady delivers an unforgettable performance. When her daughter disappears, Ryan’s Mari Gilbert would stop at nothing to get answers from the local police and the community where she was last seen. The plot truly thickens when her perseverance brings attention to over a dozen murdered sex workers in the same area. Director Liz Garbus takes a “matter-of-fact” approach to her material. She’s not very much interested in high drama, but her film does give you much food for thought. And at the center of it all is a resilient Amy Ryan, who allows us to experience what her character is going through at every stage of the story. But because the film is based on real-life events, don’t expect answers to all your questions, which might turn some viewers off, and understandably so. Still, “Lost Girls” has enough pedigree to justify its existence. If anything, it made me want to read more about these unsolved cases. That’s gotta be worth something.
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