The Pale Blue Eye

This grimy period piece set at West Point Academy starts strong. Character development and world-building be damned -- filmmakers get to the murder and introduce their crime-solving genius (Christian Bale and his eye mole) quickly and expertly. The first half is an exciting, fast-paced murder mystery. But as the clues unfold, it’s difficult to keep the pieces together. Not so much the weapons or the dead bodies but the MOTIVES of the anonymous killer. As a period procedural, it succeeds for the most part. But the pace slows down near the end and the film becomes less fun and more maudlin as the real killer and the real motives are revealed. Christian Bale is always top-notch, as is the rest of the cast, many of whom are British dudes who were in "Harry Potter" at one time or another. And although it’s fiction, attention to the period details feels realistic and accurate. Admittedly, the ending is a bit of a downer, but getting there had some fun sequences.