What to watch: Del Toro’s ‘Pinocchio’ is a gem; Mendes’ ‘Empire’ is a dud

This week finds two of our best living filmmakers — Guillermo del Toro and Sam Mendes — with new movies out. One’s a mess, the other a gem — with one caveat.

Here’s our roundup.

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”: The Oscar-winning filmmaker’s stop-motion take on Italian author Carlo Collodi’s iconic work doesn’t stick devoutly to what’s on the page and that’s OK. Everyone has brought their own ideas to Collodi’s dark children’s tale, from that starry-eyed 1940 Disney classic to the dreadful Disney+ redo starring Tom Hanks earlier this year. The changes envisioned by del Toro, co-screenwriter Patrick McHale and co-director Mark Gustafson create a Brothers Grimm-like tale about how crippling and isolating life can become when you have to carry on in the aftermath of a death. Narrated with whimsy and a touch of sorrow by Ewan McGregor as Cricket, this “Pinocchio” fleshes out the backstory behind Geppetto (voice of David Bradley) and his rash act of hacking down a tree and creating a boy-puppet (Gregory Mann) so he can fill the void left by his dead son.

That move provides del Toro an ideal vehicle to explore his favorite topics: how historical events shape and distort us and how innocence gets corrupted by adults. This focus, combined with Pinocchio’s surreal look (award-winning artist Gris Grimly’s illustrations inspired his more tree-like appearance) as well as his brushes with his own death and even his own revival make this Netflix effort better suited for the YA and adult crowd; it might be too intense for the wee ones. With its captivating stop-motion animation and well-chosen voice cast, “Pinocchio” casts an enchanting spell. The only bummer is the soundtrack. They songs aren’t bad, per se, but they don’t approach the unforgettable Disney tunes that came before. Regardless, this one deserves to be placed on the same stop-motion animation pedestal as Henry Selick’s “Coraline.” Details: 3½ stars out of 4; available Dec. 9 on Netflix.

“Empire of Light”: There’s a very good film dying to get airlifted out of talented filmmaker Sam Mendes’ latest effort, but you’d have to look awfully hard to find it. The movie that lands in theaters this weekend is a cinematic car wreck that’s not only miscalculated and misconceived but misplayed. Yes, we witness gusts of creative greatness, such as when a movie projectionist (Toby Jones) at a gorgeous ’80s old-school English movie palace shows his co-worker Stephen (Michael Ward) the ropes. But those magical moments are brief and barely get a chance to breathe since Mendes decided to cram too much into his story: racism, sexism, mental illness, the movies and so on. It becomes a terrible burden for his characters (and the actors portraying them) to shoulder. Primarily this is a rather disingenuous tale of a May-December relationship between two movie theater employees, the emotionally brittle Hilary (Oliva Colman) and the hunky new usher Stephen (Micheal Ward), who is Black. She’s older, but the two discover a connection, one that the screenplay doesn’t entirely develop. Mendes has the best intentions and his abilities can’t be overlooked. It’s just that the screenplay needed to be more focused and not sprint off in so many directions. Of the actors, Ward gives the best performance, rising above the material he’s given. Colman, however, gives an awkward performance and never looks like she really knows Hilary. This lack of definition makes us emotionally disconnect from what we see on screen. It’s a shame since this film wants to celebrate the power of cinema. Details: 1½ stars; in theaters Dec. 9.

“Darby and the Dead”: High school life isn’t so sweet for Darby (Riele Downs). She’s not only unpopular with the in-crowd but possesses a big/little secret — one that resulted from a traumatic event when she was a kid. She can now communicate with the dead hanging out in that in-between place before they land in their final destination. The latest apparition to give her fits is her snotty social-influencing onetime rival Capri (Auli’i Cravalho), who demands that Darby carry on with Capri’s obscenely extravagant birthday party that she was orchestrating before she went kaput. The setup provides the impressive leads, along with screenwriter Becca Greene and director Silas Howard, a ripe chance to tap into today’s tricky high school culture and remind us about not being too judgmental. “Darby and the Dead” is no game-changer but it is thoroughly enjoyable and energetic. Details: 3 stars; now available on Hulu.

“Four Samosas”: Writer/director Ravi Kapoor’s shot-on-a-shoestring budget debut reveals its rough edges throughout and features some amateurish acting, but is nonetheless an endearing and disarming comedy that points to better things ahead for its filmmaker. The comedic heist flick’s lean 80-minute running time works in its favor as does its puppy-dog-like insistence to win over our affection. Fledgling rapper Vinny (Venk Potula) corrals a not-ready-for-prime-time team to snatch a bunch of diamonds earmarked for the wedding of his ex, Rina — whom Vinny still adores. The clueless crooks bungle along as they target a popular grocery store in L.A.’s Little India where Rina’s dad keeps the gems in a safe. “Four Samosas” stuffs in a Bollywood number and comic chase sequences, and owes more than a little to early Wes Anderson. Details:  2½ stars; now available on multiple streaming platforms.

“Leonor Will Never Die”: Once a popular director in the Filipino film world, Leonor Reyes (Sheila Francisco) finds herself in a rut, holed up in a messy home with her son and facing another injustice — the electricity getting cut off for an overdue payment. In Martika Ramirez Escobar’s trippy homage to cinema and telling stories, an unfortunate accident sends Leonor into a coma, a development that allows Escobar to flip back and forth from the hospital to Leonor’s vision of being a part of the crime-themed screenplay that she was trying to finish. Playful yet philosophical, Escobar’s clever and touching feature sneaks up on you, revealing far deeper, more complex intentions than you’d suspect from its kooky first 20 minutes. Details: 3 stars; in select theaters Dec. 9.

“Lamborghini: The Man Behind Legend”: This unfocused snoozer could well serve as a textbook example of how not to make a biopic. Told in three chapters, director and writer Bobby Moresco’s emotionally inert overview doesn’t seem to have a clue about what it’s trying to say about the life and career of Ferruccio Lamborghini, played by Romano Reggiani in his younger days and Frank Grillo later in life. At least Moresco, who co-wrote Oscar-winner “Crash,” keeps it brief, but his film squanders a decent cast by presenting them with rote dialogue and dubious scenarios that fail to add context or depth. The period details are above par and Grillo is up for the challenge, but “Lamborghini” comes out as perfunctory and unenlightening as a school report from a bored teen. Details: 1 star; available for rental.

“Nanny”: The supernatural announces its ominous presence early but stays mostly in the background in director Nikyatu Jusu’s atmospherically shot feature debut, a thought-provoking domestic chiller. Everything that holds back its complex Senegalese protagonist Aisha (Anna Diop, in a career-making performance) can be tied to Americans’ callous attitude toward immigrants. As the wealthy, dysfunctional parents of a girl that Aisha cares for, Michelle Monaghan and Morgan Spencer excel at reflecting a self-absorption that threatens to swallow anyone in their path. The biggest quibble is that the supernatural elements here could have been fleshed out better. Details: 3 stars; now in theaters, available Dec. 16 on Amazon Prime.

Contact Randy Myers at [email protected].