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.

The Shape of Water

Charming in many ways. Beautiful looking for sure, given its strong art direction and masterful cinematography. That's a bit ironic given the picture's overall theme, but I guess it's a movie so at least some parts of the work must be good-looking. That doesn't necessarily come from the cast, all of whom are unconventional (though hardly monsters); the movie and its makers deserve credit for confounding the usual cinematic expectations in that way. It helps that every performance is spot on, and in a few instances downright powerful. I can't quite say for sure that this rises to the level of Best Picture, but the film is surely worth your time. Go ahead and dive right in.

Seven Psychopaths

So here’s a film about filmmaking. Makes sense; that’s been going around a lot lately (see “last two Best Picture winners”). Actually, if you want to get technical, this is more of a film about script writing, but let’s not quibble. And it wants to satirize all of the the cliches of violent, shoot ‘em up movies...mostly by wallowing in those cliches. And it really really really thinks of itself as clever. Unfortunately, that’s not what the audience thinks, and it’s the audience that counts. There are good moments and some quite likeable actors here--if not likeable characters--that keep the thing moving and hold the viewer’s attention through most of the running time. But this film just isn’t what it cracks itself up to be.

A Serious Man

I watched this movie on DVD, though I'm guessing if the Coen brothers could have distributed it on bagels they would have. Let's just say, if Ahmadinejad is ever convicted of anything at The Hague, his punishment will probably involve watching this movie on a continuous loop. This film won't be everyone's cup of Manischewitz, and it's not an especially great movie in general terms, but it's not a waste of time by any means. There are good moments, occasional funny moments (if not barrel rolls of laughter), and enough effective storytelling that, by the end, you do care about what happens to the protagonist. Worth a look on a rainy day.