Director: André Øvredal
It was Halloween 1968, in Mill Valley, Pennsylvania, three friends Stella (Zoe Colletti) and her friends visited an old haunted house and found a book of scary stories written by one Sarah Bellows. Stella was surprised to see that the book was writing a new story on one of the empty pages about a certain character named after one of her friends, and she realized it meant that that friend was facing serious danger.
Like "Goosebumps" and other juvenile horror films, this one is also based on a children's book series (written by Alvin Schwartz). The name of Guillermo del Toro was prominently billed as the producer and the story concept. So it was not a surprise to see his trademark scary monsters in this film. We see monsters like Harold the Scarecrow, the Toe Monster, the Pale Lady and the Jangly Man, delivering all their rated-PG scares, with the vision of Norwegian director André Øvredal. 6/10.
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Director: Simon Curtis
An old Golden Retriever Enzo (voiced by Kevin Costner) narrated his life with his master and friend -- race car driver Denny (Milo Ventimiglia) -- how Denny married Eve (Amanda Seyfried) and had a daughter Zoe, and how Denny dealt with serious medical issues and messy legal adversities threatening his family's integrity along his journey to becoming an F1 racer.
This year 2019 already had two dog movies in the first half of the year: "A Dog's Journey" and "A Dog's Way Home." Both of these were similar-themed, tear-jerking films about a loyal dog and his kinship with his master. Despite the absence of the word "dog" in the title, "The Art of Racing in the Rain" followed the same winsome formula that made the other two films so endearing to dog-lovers. Kevin Costner's grizzled voice gave Enzo so much heart, we can't help but be riveted by his story, even if it seems all too familiar. 6/10.
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Director: Bart Freundlich
Isabel (Michelle Williams) managed an orphanage in Kolkata, India which was facing financial constraint. She received information that New York millionaire Theresa Young (Julianne Moore) would like to meet her in person and then give her orphanage a major donation. After their first meeting, Theresa invited Isabel to the wedding of her daughter Grace (Abby Quinn). At the wedding, Isabel realized that Theresa's husband was Oscar (Billy Crudup), a man she once knew but had not seen in 20 years.
This family drama was actually based on acclaimed Danish director Susanne Bier's similarly-titled film in 2006 which was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film category that Oscars season. For this remake, it decided to switch the gender of the protagonists from male to female while retaining the pertinent plot points. While Moore and Williams are competent actresses and the story was good on unfolding surprises, the direction of Bart Freundlich tended to be too slow at the start and too melodramatic at the end. 6/10.
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