What to watch: A literary classic just became a top-flight movie
A glorious adaptation of the Alexandre Dumas classic “Count of Monte Crisco”: hits Bay Area movie screens this week. And should you want to stay home after ringing in 2025, turn to Netflix for the gobble-it-all-down thriller series “Missing You.”
Oh, and Wallace & Gromit are back!
Here’s our roundup.
“The Count of Monte Cristo”: Alexandre Dumas’ epic classic remains one of literature’s finest revenge tales and is executed so well that it has led to numerous film versions — some good, some not. The finest is this one, which stays more aligned with the author’s 19th-century doorstop of a novel. Directors and screenwriters Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patellière are Dumas devotees (they wrote 2023’s tremendous “The Three Musketeers — Part I: D’Artagnan”) and bring to invigorating life the romance, the duplicity, the majesty, the costumes, the sets and the spectacle that the rousing story demands. Pierre Niney seems as if he’s stepped out of time to portray the vengeance-seeking Edmond Dantès (aka The Count), a good man standing unjustly accused of being a traitor who gets thrown for years into the prison Chateau d’if until he escapes. He pinpoints hidden treasure that another prisoner tells him about and then insinuates himself into the lives of those who wronged him. His elaborate retaliation plan targets those who rudely interrupted his wedding to his beloved, Mercedes (Anaïs Demoustier). To do so, he enlists the charms of an enchanting Haydée (Anamaria Vartolomei) and the volatile Benedetto (Julien de Saint Jean) whose lineage is linked to Edmond’s old friend, Fernand de Morcerf (Bastien Bouillon) who got his wish to marry Mercedes by pinning false blame on Edmond. There are many side stories, subplots and a vast cast of characters (it is, after all, a nearly 1,300-page novel) and Delaporte and de la Patellière let the epic scheming plot unfold in fine illustrative fashion with a 2 hours, 45 minutes running time. Not a second is superfluous or boring in this lavish, definitive version of a literary delight. Details: 4 stars out of 4; in theaters Jan. 3.
“Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl”: It’s always a pleasure to spend time with the kooky animated duo of inventor Wallace and his problem solver of a dog Gromit, even if the film they’re in suffers from being overly familiar. Such is the case with their latest droll and entertaining Aardman adventure, which brings back a W&G” favorite — the dastardly criminal Feathers McGraw, the devious criminal penguin, that was a breakout star in “The Wrong Trousers” — and introduces us to a new castmate, Norbot — a people-pleasing gnome Wallace cooked up that, of course, goes haywire. Trouble and nonsense ensue, not necessarily in that order, with Gromit always saving the bumbling Wallace from himself. True to form, “Vengeance Most Fowl” is stuffed with hilarious film references, sly asides and frantic chases. While it’s not in the same league as W&G’s “The Wrong Trousers” and the pair’s previous feature-length outing “The Curse of the Were-Rabbit,” directors Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham’s peppy vehicle is definitely worth the watch for the entire family. Just don’t expect it to be your favorite from their on-screen outings. Details: 3 stars; drops Jan. 3 on Netflix.
“Missing You”: Netflix continues to plunder thriller writer Harlan Coben’s voluminous workload and produces another guilty pleasure to binge watch over the weekend. The six-episode series relocates from New York to England but basically commits to the same shocking twister of a plot with police detective Kat Donovan (Rosalind Eleazar) investigating a missing person’s case that parallels the reappearance on social media of her former lover (Ashley Walters), who up and vanished years ago from her life. Those two cases intersect and open up a vault of family secrets while landing Kat into hot water with her boss (Richard Armitage) as she gets yanked off the case and then taps the skill set of a new internet whiz kid Charlie (Charlie Hamblett). The plot gets so dense you practically need a road map to follow its many paths, but that is part of the fun of a mystery-thriller that hits you with surprise after surprise. It’s simply irresistible for any amateur sleuths out there. Details: 3 stars; drops Jan. 1 on Netflix.
“The Damned”: You all but feel the onset of frostbite when watching Thordur Palsson’s moody 19th-century Icelandic blood-chiller. Palsson amplifies the creepy and rugged remoteness and the folkloric myths of its frigid location, the 1870s Westfjords. It’s there that still-grieving Eve (Odessa Young), overseer of a Spartan fishing outpost that’s depleted of fish, confronts a terrible choice: either protect the lives of her own or save stranded shipwreck survivors. Her decision leads to consequences, but are they real or a product of guilt and grief on the part of her and her crew? “The Damned” is in no rush about revealing its horrors, and that works in its favor when Palsson unleashes the madness in the third act. Young and Joe Cole — who plays the level-headed fisherman Daniel — seem as if they stepped right out of this time period. But it is Palsson who gives this tale of survival its real bite. Details: 3 stars; in theaters Jan. 3.
“Lady Like”: Fans of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and drag star/contestant Lady Camden (San Franciscan Rex Wheeler) won’t want to miss San Francisco-based filmmaker Luke Willis’s insider look behind that phenomenally popular series (16 seasons and counting.) “Lady Like” takes us into what it takes and what it’s like to be on that show and makes a series of wise choices (including some fun animation sequences). Camden/Wheeler are both engaging presences and Wheeler relates a painful childhood, a passion for ballet and a commitment to excellence when onstage. “Lady Like” and Lady Camden and Rex serve as testaments to the belief that with a lot of talent, hard work and dedication someone can defy the odds and achieve the extraordinary. “Drag Race” star Nina West narrates. Details: 3 stars; available Jan. 3 On Demand.
Contact Randy Myers at soitsrandy@gmail.com.