Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is neither very mad nor very multiversal, but it’s likely the most the Marvel Cinematic Universe has ever allowed a filmmaker to reach out from its steel cage house style. Despite its bloat, inelegance, and sheer refusal to do anything interesting with the multiverse concept, this is as close as the MCU is going to get to pure horror and an auteur’s vision. Sam Raimi’s influence is invigorating and his winking verve is a balm: Multiverse of Madness brings the splatstick terror and a surprising brutality to its unwieldy superhero story. Minor spoilers ahead…

The eagerly-anticipated Spider-Man: No Way Home, Tom Holland’s third solo outing as the web-slinging superhero, is the shaggiest and certainly the most stylistically inert of the MCU Spideys. Overstuffed and frenetic, the film cracks open the Marvel Multiverse with sledgehammer pandering. It’s anything but artful, but there’s no denying the power of its crossover charms; even more impressively, No Way Home tackles heroic compassion in a way that finally strikes true to the heart of Spider-Man. Minor spoilers ahead…