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Here's a look at the new movies I saw this week.

Brexit
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch and Rory Kinnear
Synopsis: This is the first of the new HBO films this year, this one centering on the campaign that led to the English vote to leave the European Union. Cumberbatch is the most famous actor in the piece, and he plays the lead strategist behind the leave movement. It shows how he got to the voters and got them to vote for his cause through a campaign of misinformation and rhetoric. It also shows that he feels conflicted about the results and what it exposed about the country. For a biopic, and a political one about events not in this country at that, this film moves along well. It's not overly long and it helps frame the story by focusing on a couple key characters. The performances are solid, too, as you'd expect. And by the end it becomes clear that, though focusing on England, it's meant to be a reflection of the issues that were exposed in the election of 2016 in this country as well, something that's referenced in the film. While it's interesting and thought-provoking on that level, the people the film is probably trying to reach likely won't have seen it. Still, as a piece of entertainment it works pretty well.
Rating: TV-14
Verdict: Three stars out of four.

Glass
Starring: James McAvoy, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Anya Taylor-Joy, Sarah Paulson, and Spencer Treat Clark
Synopsis: Nineteen years ago M. Night Shyamalan launched a cinematic world, we just didn't realize it. "Unbreakable," which featured Willis as David Dunn and Jackson as Elijah Price, was his second feature. And it was well received generally. I liked it OK, but it wasn't totally taken with it as it felt like all first act, building to something that we were never going to see. Then I forgot about it. That is until I went to watch "Split," Shyamalan's fantastic film about a man (McAvoy) plagued by multiple personalities, one of which seemed to be superhuman. At the tale end of that film came a shot of Willis as Dunn, and the realization the films were part of a larger connected universe. That led to buzz about what would come next. Fast forward a few years and we get "Glass," a re-visiting of this superhero world, bringing all the leads together for the first time. It was a hotly anticipated film for me and many others, and I was excited to see what Shyamalan would do being able to get to this point. The film debut Friday and it was undewhelming. There's still potential here, and I enjoy the performances. But this final installment felt a bit like a lot of build up and not much payoff. The third act was what really frustrated me as a viewer, and as this has been called the conclusion to this cinematic world, it sort of makes little sense to me. What am I to take from the ending, which feels like it opens the door to a wider world that we're not likely to explore? I still enjoyed the performances, and Shyamalan is still a decent storyteller. But after a couple nice returns to form, this feels a bit more like the soft middle of his career when the twist ending coming feels inevitable, and ultimately unsatisfying. At least we'll always have "Split."
Rating: PG-13 for violence including some bloody images, thematic elements, and language.
Verdict: Two stars out of four.

Upcoming Releases:
Friday, January 25: "Serenity," "The Kid Who Would Be King," "Stan and Ollie"