Millennials Talk Cinema: ‘Enola Holmes,’ ‘Vampires vs. The Bronx’

Two new Netflix films, that each take familiar genres and turn them upside down, are the movies that capture the attention of our local reviewers this week. One, “Enola Holmes,” blends Victorian mystery with YA inventiveness, while the other, “Vampires vs. The Bronx,” pits plucky teens against an urban invasion of gentrifying bloodsuckers. Here’s what our critics have to say about these two entertainingly unexpected films.

‘ENOLA HOLMES’

Netflix

Amber-Rose Reed

“Enola Holmes” is many things you’d expect from a new piece of Sherlockiana. It’s clever and mysterious, with irregulars throughout, even though Baker Street doesn’t ever make an appearance. The film also has a thread of progressivism that I found welcome, but which Arthur Conan Doyle might not have.

The central, plot-driving question that runs through the movie is what happened to the Holmes’ suffragist mother, who recently disappeared leaving few clues for her famous deductionist son Sherlock or her precocious daughter Enola to follow. Enola’s antics are deplored by the eldest child, Mycroft, who has his Tory ambitions to think of, and who has no time for his wild, “unbroken” sister.

The dynamic of this trio is the most compelling part of the movie for me. Mycroft’s resolve in the face of his confused, distressed little sister was honestly horrible. There is a scene between the two of them that I found heartbreaking. Interesting also was Sherlock’s role in this. His familial and political disinterest is rightly called out as the entitlement it is. After all, one can only be unconcerned about the system if one is not being targeted by it. What responsibilities to our families or our countries does each of us have?

Do we ever have the right to be neutral?

More than anything else, though, “Enola Holmes” is fun to watch. Millie Bobby Brown (“Stranger Things”), my fellow Liverpool FC fan, is a delight. She has a strong, bright personality and a ton of charisma, and her narration works well to draw the viewer into the movie. There are some great sets and set pieces, a little scattershot though its framing devices might be.

The supporting cast is mostly strong as well. Sam Claflin is wonderfully dislikable as Mycroft, though Henry Cavill’s Sherlock was mostly the exact opposite — rather blandly affable, if super handsome. Claflin looks younger than Cavill (and indeed is), which proves a bit distracting whenever the viewer is reminded that Mycroft is, in fact, the older brother.

Oh, well. Helena Bonham Carter is barely old enough to be their mother anyway.

After watching the movie, I spent a lot of time wondering what exactly I think about “Enola Holmes” as it connects to the world of Sherlock Holmes.

As a movie, I liked it a lot.

As part of the huge tapestry of Sherlockiana? I am torn between wanting it to be more connected to the Holmes canon and wanting it to be less, though I admit I love a pro-suffrage message being delivered in a universe created by a man who was solidly against giving women the vote.

[Suggested emojis: Thumbs Up, Happy Flower]

‘VAMPIRES vs. THE BRONX’

Netflix

Katie Wigglesworth

October is upon us!

I devour horror all year round, but there’s a specific kind of scary movie I crave at Halloween — fun, high-spirited and borderline silly tales from that no-man’s-land between family-friendly frights (“Hocus Pocus,” “Scooby Doo and the Witch’s Ghost,” “The Worst Witch”) and campy PG-13 to R-rated terrors (“The Lost Boys,” “The Babysitter,” “Scream”).

Sadly, there aren’t many horror movies being made for this hybrid, tween-aged realm of haunt-loving movie goers. I had high hopes for 2019’s “The Rim of the World” (also a Netflix original), but sadly it failed to be fun, clever or good — instead proving to be shallow, gross, and dumb.

Thankfully, “Vampires vs the Bronx” is great — truly, engagingly great.

The premise is fantastic. Three New York tweens catch on that a coven of pasty, predatory vampires are making moves to devour their borough. When no one else seems to see the dangers leeching up property and people, they have to take on the blood-suckers themselves.

It’s bright, witty, and passionate. You can tell it’s a labor of love from writer-director Osmany Rodriguez, who cut his teeth as a segment director for “Saturday Night Live.” Together, he and his trio of lead actors (Jaden Michael, Gerald Jones III and Gregory Diaz IV) deliver a phenomenal movie packed with satire, scares, and some seriously good performances.

“Vampires vs. the Bronx” feels like “In the Heights” and “Stranger Things” got together and said, “Hey, I bet we could make something freaking awesome.”

This is a delightful vampire flick, a clever commentary on gentrification, a moving tale of kids desperately wanting to save the world as they watch it fall apart, and is overall a dang good time. I’m recommending it to all of my movie-night groups, my parents, my coworkers, my cat ... okay not that last one.

She probably wouldn’t like that in this film, there’s a bodega cat that gets evicted due to a sanitation compliance.

[Suggested Emojis: Thumbs Up, Happy Vampire Heart]