Vampires have been popular since Bram Stoker and Sheridan Le Fanu started writing about them nearly 200 years ago, but vampires have been around much longer than that. That seems to be how the story goes. That's part of the problem. In Only Lovers Left Alive, it's difficult for a vampire to overcome  his boredom and disappointment with “zombies”, as he calls the human mortals. These vampires try to subsist on blood banks. Not only is it more humane, but that way they know the blood is tested. They don't like blood-borne pathogens. Jim Jarmusch makes his own kinds of movies that no one else makes. He is one of the last directors working in Hollywood who hasn't sold out, partly because he never has worked in Hollywood. He's too cool to sell out. That's why he's made a vampire movie no one else could have made. It has a great cast because all the cool actors would love to be in a Jim Jarmusch film. Tilda Swinton played the angel Gabriel in Constantine. Tom Hiddleston is Loki in the Marvel universe in movies like Thor I, Thor II and The Avengers. Anton Yelchin is Chekov in Star Trek and was fighting vampires recently in Fright Night. Mia Wasikowska was Alice in Wonderland, and that movie literally and truthfully made over a billion dollars. Jeffery Wright and John Hurt are two of best actors alive, so look that up. Bill Murray and Johnny Depp have starred in Jim Jarmusch movies for no other reason than that he asked them. If you haven't seen a Jim Jarmusch film by now, you're probably not ready to see one. Go spend a few years in the East Village to prepare yourself.

All that said, Only Lovers Left Alive is a luxurious and enjoyable experience. Our main vampire, Adam (Hiddleston) is a reclusive rock star who lives in a ramshackle mansion in a deserted Detroit neighborhood. He rarely leaves the house, and his needs are mostly tended to by a spacy groupie, Ian (Yelchin). He labors over music with equipment he has cobbled together over the years. His electricity is furnished by generators based on the principles of Nikola Tesla. He gave away some music to Hayden many, many, many years ago. He shows up at a hospital blood bank unannounced to buy from Dr. Watson (Wright). That is basically his life. He recently got Ian to procure a bullet made out of one of the densest woods imaginable. Just one bullet.

Chef has a fantastic cast having fun, being sexy and making us happy. It must have been a blast for everyone involved. Everyone is probably involved because they love writer/director/star, Jon Favreau. Favreau's directorial efforts are varied and include Iron Man I, Iron Man II, Cowboys and Aliens, Zathura, Elf and Made. He made an early impact in 1996 by writing and starring in Swingers. He is also familiar to audiences as Happy Hogan, Robert Downey Jr.'s security chief, in the Iron Man series.

Now Favreau is back to running the show with a personal Indie project.

There is a famous painting from 1779 of Dido Elizabeth Belle with her cousin Lady Elizabeth Murray which is owned by the present Earl of Mansfield and rests in Perth Palace. It is the inspiration for the movie Belle. The history of events that swirled around Belle are pertinent to this day. The film doesn't always hold to historical accuracy, but mostly in matters that do not aid the excellent story being told. The historical inaccuracies are minor and mostly irrelevant. Here is what is true. Belle is the daughter of Admiral Sir John Lindsay and an enslaved African, Maria Belle. Lindsay had his uncle, William Murray, take care of her at his estate. Murray was the first earl of Mansfield and chief magistrate of England. He also took in Lady Elizabeth Murray, another niece, when her mother died. Mansfield may have been the most powerful man in England at the time and presided over many monumental decisions of British law. The decision that this film deals with is based on the Zong massacre and its ramifications. A slave ship threw its slaves overboard chained together to claim the insurance. The thing that is remarkable about the film is that it navigates all these issues with intelligence and clarity. The historical inaccuracy I mentioned that was wisely circumvented was to make Belle the epitome of a Jane Austin heroine. Belle, in this movie, is sheer perfection and a joy. It isn't possible that the real Belle could have been so wonderful.

The cast is superb led by Tom Wilkinson, Emily Watson, Miranda Richardson, Penelope Wilton, Tom Felton and Matthew Goode. Belle is played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who has been around for a while in things like Larry Crowne and British television but is holding center stage here. She is the picture of aristocracy and intelligence and sensitivity and grace. She weathers the small and big slights that her unique situation delivers to her. Lord Mansfield (Wilkinson) comes to love her as if she was his daughter, but he also must navigate through mores of English society. The story plays out like an Austin novel with courting and marriage as a goal and full of complexities in execution. That is when the Zong case starts to figure more prominently in the story. The son of a minister, John Davinier (Sam Reid) is given the opportunity to clerk for Lord Mansfield. He demonstrates strong feelings about the morality of this case. He also encounters the fiercely intelligent Belle who looks down on him in her early meetings. Belle, despite being a mulatto, is part of the aristocracy. When her father dies, she is left a fortune, which entices a member of a good family to court her.