Elementary, Dear Enola

Goodness, doesn’t this look fun. I’ve never read “The Enola Holmes Mysteries,” but if they’re anything like this trailer I really should have. The new Netflix film based on the young adult book series has an impressive roster of stars (“Stranger Things” Millie Bobby Brown, Superman/perpetually square jawed Henry Cavill, “Hunger Games” survivor Sam Claflin, forever goth queen Helena Bonham Carter and out queer actress Fiona Shaw, to name a few) and a fun premise. My only gripe, they took a book series by a female author about a spunky and norm-defying female heroine and gave it to a male screenwriter and male director to adapt. But, in better news, Millie and her older sister Paige Brown are listed as producers. So, ladies, tell the stories you want to tell and be in charge of those stories. And if those stories involve imaginary sisters to imaginary famous detectives who have imaginary adventures where they dress in-and-out of drag and fight people while solving mysteries in unconventional ways, all the better.

Monster Mash

Can I share a little secret? I love big, outrageous disaster and monster movies. What can I say, I have a soft spot for the end of the world. The only problem, of course, is with monster movies I tend to root for the monster instead of the humans. Puny humans. Mind you, not all of the monsters, just the ones who are just tragically misunderstood à la King Kong. So I’m not going to lie I’m weirdly excited about this new Godzilla movie, “Godzilla: King of the Monsters.” Not only because of the big monsters and apocalypse thing, but also Millie Bobby Brown (a.k.a. Eleven), Vera Farmiga (a.k.a. the reason I watched “Bates Motel” longer than I should have), Sally Hawkins (a.k.a. the actress who is best know for falling in love with a fish, but lesbians already knew and loved for playing a gay lady in not one but two Sarah Waters adaptations), and Zhang Ziyi (a.k.a. a reminder that Hollywood films have been terrible at hiring and spotlighting Asian actresses). So, anyway, if we make it to 2019 (I mean, at this rate it’s not a given, folks) I am very much looking to eating a whole bunch of popcorn and watching monsters take over the Earth.