I never had any interest in any of these comic book films. It's too bad they've conquered the world.

Someone needs to see a Chloe Zhao film and report back. The Rider is supposed to be quite good.

Ianucci has done it again. Creator of "Veep" and Alan Partridge, director of the wickedly funny The Death of Stalin, and In the Loop, and now a delightful reinvention of Dickens that seems faithful to the spirit of the original classic. Fine performances from an ensemble that includes Ben Whishaw (as the humble and oily Uriah Heep), Hugh Laurie (he IS Mr Dick) , Tilda Swinton, Peter Capaldi, and Dev Patel.

An odd experience attending a theatrical showing. We were the only audience at a late afternoon showing on a Tuesday, and other rooms I peeked in (to see a baffling three minutes of "Tenet" among others) were similarly sparse. Signs instructed us to remain masked during the film, unless we were consuming refreshments. Given the empty seats around me, I decided to define air as a refreshment and happily slurped it up throughout the show.

"The Rider" is a superb movie.

DO NOT READ the NYTimes review of The Gift before you see it, which you should do. The review (by Stephen Holden, who should be fired for the shoddy job) is egregiously stuffed with spoilers, and the movie is legitimately surprising. Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall are stunning in the leads and Joel Edgerton, as main support, writer, and director, iis a genuine triple-threat. The movie is not perfect, but it's a thriller of consequence, which is a rare bird indeed.

Cronenberg isn’t just looking to provoke with blood and guts—like all good dystopian fiction, Possessor offers disturbing and timely observations about the world we already live in. The crucial opening sequence sees Tasya hack into the mind of Holly (Gabrielle Graham), a Black woman, to carry out a murder in public, but then struggle to make her kill herself—Tasya’s usual exit strategy. A trio of cops that come upon the scene do Tasya’s job for her, shooting Holly to death without warning. The painful and resonant scene, which the film implies would’ve unfolded differently had Tasya’s victim been white, works because of Graham. Her excellent performance helps ground the viewer in the societal cruelty that Tasya is counting on to do her job.