I have seen a few movies in the last few weeks worth mentioning during my travels:
1) "Big Eyes" -- Somehow I missed this Tim Burton film from 2014 and happened upon it while sitting in an Air BnB late one night. This film was rather delightful. The premise was simple: An artist woman's slimy husband in the 1950s insisted she allow him to sign his name on her paintings so she could sell them, for in that era women were "laughed at" as artists. Whether true or not I am not sure. Regardless, I enjoyed this film a fair bit. *** out of **** stars.
2) "Enola Holmes" -- I watched this one with the wife and daughter and not far in I became aware this must have come from literary origins--and it had. The first two thirds were pretty fun and engaging while the ending felt a little weak. Regardless, not a bad family film and no, this was not a feminist attempt at re-branding Sherlock Holmes as a woman. The protagonist was his younger sister! Sherlock made some appearances as well by none other than "The Witcher's" Henry Cavill, whom I had a hard time separating from Geralt throughout the picture. Charming movie, nonetheless. *** out of **** stars.
3) "I Am Mother" -- I am constantly fearing I will someday run out of good science fiction films to watch, being my favorite genre along with horror. Often I will save pictures for a rainy day when I have given up hope that there's anything worth watching. This one I had stowed away in my list a few years ago and happened upon again while sitting with the family and given the picture was rated PG we gave it a go. This was true sci-fi in that there weren't the typical action gimmicks but instead we're treated with slow burn worldbuilding in this mysterious setting. Quite good and enough to have my wife now repeating some of the phrases which says a lot, seeing how she's not really a sci-fi fan nor is my daughter(but I am working on this). The ending was rather ambiguous and left room for thought, as the best sci fi films do. My daughter was confused in how it didn't directly spell things out as was my wife--but I explained to them that this is precisely why I love to sit through the ending credits and think about what I just watched. Sci-fi is to be contemplated upon and this film was no exception. *** 1/4 out of **** stars.
