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It's two weeks until Halloween, and Hollywood is serving up two early trick-or-treat options.
For the grown-ups, we have "Crimson Peak," director Guillermo Del Toro's atmospheric homage to Gothic thrillers. A young writer, Edith (Mia Wasikowska) falls for and marries Thomas (Tom Hiddleston), an English nobleman, in turn-of-the-last-century Buffalo. They go back to his ancestral home in England, cared for by Thomas' uncomfortably close sister Lucille (Jessica Chastain) — and populated by ghosts who warn Edith of a dark secret. Del Toro's skill as a visual craftsman are on display yet again, with touches of Edgar Allan Poe, '60s Hammer horror films and Dario Argento movies. The story's a little light, but the spooky vibe is fascinating.
For the kids, there's "Goosebumps," a funny thrill ride based on R.L. Stine's series of children's monster stories. The movie is a mash-up of many of Stine's classic characters — with the conceit that Stine (played by Jack Black) keeps his manuscripts locked up, for fear the monsters will escape the pages and enter the real world. Of course, this happens, and it's up to Stine and three teens (Dylan Minnette, Odeya Rush and Ryan Lee) to save the town. The movie balances good humor with child-friendly shocks. (Read The Cricket's interview with the "Goosebumps" cast.)
The best movie this week is "Bridge of Spies," which reunites the "Saving Private Ryan" team of director Steven Spielberg and actor Tom Hanks. Hanks plays James Donovan, a Brooklyn insurance lawyer in the late 1950s, at the height of Cold War paranoia. Donovan reluctantly defends an accused Soviet spy, Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance), and later is pressed into service by the CIA to trade Abel for an American pilot, Frances Gary Powers (Austin Stowell), shot down in a U-2 spy plane. Spielberg builds a tense atmosphere of shadows and suspicion, especially in the scenes where Donovan must venture into Soviet-controlled East Berlin. Hanks follows Spielberg's low-key lead, quietly capturing the humanity of the one honest man in a nest of double-dealing and lies.
Another true-life story gets a more cliched treatment in "Freeheld." This melodrama tells the real story of Laurel Hester (Julianne Moore), a dedicated New Jersey cop who was diagnosed with lung cancer and asked that her survivor's benefits go to her girlfriend, Stacie Andree (Ellen Page). Her county freeholders refused her request, setting up what became a landmark legal battle that was a precursor to the campaign for same-sex marriage rights. Moore and Page give solid performances, but Ron Nyswaner's script is overstuffed with cardboard characters and phony nobility.
The Chinese drama "Coming Home" also features a collaborative reunion, that of director Zhang Yimou and his onetime muse and paramour Gong Li. The movie is set during China's Cultural Revolution, and follows a political prisoner, Lu (Chen Daoming), who escapes a labor camp and tries to reunite with his wife Yu (played by Gong). Lu is captured, and Yu is so traumatized that a decade later, when Lu is finally released, she doesn't recognize him. Zhang creates a tender melodrama, showing Lu's patient efforts to reconnect with his troubled wife.
Lastly, there's the Christian-themed "Woodlawn," based on the true story of racial tensions in a desegregated Alabama high-school football team. It was not screened for critics.