Freeze Frame: “Till” (PG-13), “The Good Nurse” (R), “Wendell & Wild” (PG-13)

An important story respectfully told. That’s the bottom line for the heartbreaking historical drama “Till.” Danielle Deadwyler gives a riveting performance as the mother of Emmit Till, the black teen murdered by white racists in Mississippi in 1955, the event that ignited the Civil Rights movement. You can count on seeing Deadwyler’s name bandied about a lot during movie awards season. While the dramatic pacing is conventional to a fault, “Till” is a wrenching portrait of grief as well as a sobering history lesson.

Oscar winners Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne star in the Netflix true crime drama, “The Good Nurse.” It’s a portrait of the man who may well be America’s most prolific serial killer and the woman who ultimately uncovered the truth. Charles Cullen, played by Redmayne, was a nurse who worked at a number of hospitals and tainted the IV drips of his patients. He is believed to have murdered as many as 400 people before his deeds were uncovered. The real hero is a nurse named Amy Loughren, played by Chastain, who suffered from a life-threatening heart condition and who risked all to expose Cullen. “The Good Nurse” should have been a much more compelling film, but it’s hampered by a very deliberate pace and low-key approach. However, the leads are just what the doctor ordered.

Spectacular stop motion animation is the main draw of “Wendell & Wild,” a creepy Netflix horror comedy featuring the voices of Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele. They play conniving demons summoned to Earth by a troubled 13-year-old girl.

The rich and vivid graphics add to the eerie atmosphere, “Wendell & Wild” a twisted Halloween opus with a story that doesn’t quite measure up to its visual allure.

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