3) Mr. Holmes (opens July 17, limited)
All Sherlocked out, are you? Try this deer-stalker on for size – Sir Ian McKellen takes on the role of Baker Street’s most legendary detective, who is facing the end of days after a lengthy career of solving mysteries the world over. With his mental functions slowly but surely leaving him, Holmes revisits the one case he could never solve, in hopes of laying one demon to rest before he passes on, only to find himself grappling with much larger questions of love and life.
This is a far cry from the heartthrob Holmeses that Robert Downey Jr. and Benedict Cumberbatch brought to life in recent years, but Mr. Holmes looks like a classy, clever addition to the literary icon’s filmography. It’s certainly not a blockbuster and, sandwiched in between Jurassic World and Inside Out, it may not find a big audience – but something tells me that the film is going to be well-worth the price of admission.