Venom: The Last Dance

It’s actually pretty good when it’s trying to be funny. When it’s trying to be a straight action flick...it’s fairly standard action fare. Conclusion: the whole story arc probably should have leaned much more heavily on the comedy all the way through, instead of in just patches. But then again, I suppose hybridization is the point of the series. And after all, if we’re feeling generous, there is a certain amount of pathos in Eddie and Venom's putative final go-round—if it really comes to that (I have suspicions). Nevertheless, it must be said, there’s never any particular sense of stakes in this story...or anywhere in the series, if we’re being honest and looking at the big picture. And indeed, one strength here is that the picture isn’t actually that big; the running time is just around an hour and a half (brevity has been a strength of this franchise offshoot from the start). So, all in all, this movie is the usual mixed bag, as were its predecessors—no work of genius, but a perfectly serviceable piece of entertainment. It won’t actually get inside you, but at least that means it won’t eat your brain, either. You take what you can get. 

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

Except, not really...Evil, that is. Or so this movie would have you believe. In a way that makes some story sense; in the original Disney Sleeping Beauty, Ms. Horns causes all the trouble because she feels slighted. Perhaps she’s more “mistress of peevishness” than anything else. Anyway, the producer folks at the studio try to make her the hero here, or at least not the biggest problem in this outing. They had enough sense not to go overboard with it; as Old Mal, Angelina Jolie does not exactly gush or strike heroic poses—she just avoids being homicidal and sort of saves the day at the end, though not without a certain amount of destruction. The other characters—including Elle Fanning's Aurora, who is the only particular standout—do their things through various degrees of forgettable-ness, while the bulk of the story lives awash in computer generated visuals, up to and including the now typical of every fantasy movie climactic battle chaos. Really, story-wise it’s something of a muddle; perhaps that’s because I watched the sequel before ever seeing the original. (I blame the current chaotic streaming landscape.) Try this trick and you’re left wondering about the relationships between all these particularly M being A’s godmother (really, more like adoptive mother, but godmother sounds more storybook, I guess). Anyway, there are some decent scenes here, mostly involving Jolie and her work in the title character, and a few instances where the vibe of a real fairy tale does come through. I wouldn’t say this one casts any real spells, but it doesn’t curse you or put you to sleep either.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Cameos, assemble! The eyeroll quotient is extremely high here, and a lot of the interest-generation in this outing comes from seeing who shows up where. For all the wizard flash in the title and feature scenes, this flick is at least as much Elizabeth Olsen's movie, which is a good thing, especially as her appearances in the Scarlet Witch outfit (both the official uniform and the Halloween costume) were the best parts of WandaVision. As for the overall story here? The whole thing ultimately plays out like a grandiose extra, final episode of the aforementioned TV series, and barely anything more than that. More and more, I see the superhero genre approaching its end-of-shelf-life--especially if all of the upcoming works are going to hit us again and again with the same characters, struggling for the same stakes, and leaving the viewer with the same sense that we’ve been here before. At least, if you’re a subscriber, you can say you didn’t directly pay for this one. Certainly, only a fool would buy a ticket for this franchise at this point. Let’s see the Mouse wizard its way out of that scenario.

12 Years a Slave

An artfully crafted and masterfully executed film. This movie achieves exactly what you would hope and expect from a film on this subject: the viewer must watch this story and think to himself, “How would I react to being treated this way?”--precisely the kind of empathy required to prevent such madness. And ‘madness’ is the proper term; in some ways, this film serves as a meditation on how big a role insanity played in creating, justifying, and propping up slavery as an institution. (Not to mention religion, of course.) It’s worthy of its awards, and certainly worthy of your attention.

Melinda and Melinda

Two divergent and competing story lines feature smug, pretentious, rich New Yorkers vs....smug, pretentious, rich New Yorkers. Perhaps that wasn't the wisest choice. But this one has problems from the ground up. The movie presents a concept story, one that may have merit in its own right, but all concepts take place within a context, here that context really works against the tale(s). The Architectural Digest interiors, the profoundly elite lives and professions of the cast, the insular feel of the presented milieu--all are distracting and work to hamper the viewer's appreciation of the philosophical puzzle being put on display. Worse still, the stories have their own share of weaknesses: the dramatic events seems shallow and unimportant, the comedic turn comes across as bland, unfunny and lacking in true wit. Both threads suffer from weak, stilted writing, and feel artificial, flat, and too "inside" to appeal to most viewers. Top it all off with the violently unfunny Will Ferrell pretending to be Woody Allen--a tired act we've seen before, and done better by better actors--and the movie comes up short in every facet. This film would have been an inferior effort from a first timer; from writer/director Allen, it's a disaster.

Serenity

Flawed but entertaining, much like its television predecessor Firefly. The biggest flaw: sometimes the main plot feels less interesting than the secondary shenanigans--the action, the wit, the developed character interactions--but the overall story works, and is never so subordinate as to ground the whole flight. And when this ship soars, it soars. I'd be on board for more movies with this crew.

Dirty Pretty Things

A flick about illegal immigrants and black market organ transplants--hey, bring the kids! It takes a while to get going, and it's a bit of a downer, but it's ultimately intelligent, honest and effective. Plus it has Audrey Tautou--not quite as radiant as in Amélie, but still a welcome sight. And the portrait of the trials and dangers of the life of an illegal immigrant--and how they get to be that way--is worthy of attention and thought.