Category: News

The Better Call Saul Lie Detector Test is a weekly recap of the major events of the final season, separated out by their apparent truthfulness at the time. This is not one of those recaps that gets into granular detail about things. It will miss the occasional callback or foreshadowing. But it will be fun. Sometimes, that’s what’s important.

Season 6, Episode 4: “Hit and Run”

Kim Wexler is doing great

This was supposed to be fun. Kim Wexler thought she was having fun. She’s not naive, and never was, but that still doesn’t mean she’s not entitled to get a little antsy when things start getting a little too real. Even a mischievous rascal — one who likes it a little more than others when the heat on the burner goes up and the oil in the pan starts popping — gets to freak out a bit when she suspects, correctly, that she’s being surveilled by weird dudes who work for either the government or a cartel. The episode ended with her very literally looking over her shoulder. With good reason. It’s one thing when you’re framing your doofy old boss for prostitute-related shenanigans. It’s another thing when you’re smack in the middle of a violent underground power struggle. That second one is less enjoyable.

It was also interesting that all of this real cartel business happened in an episode where she kind of remembered the thing about the law that she enjoyed. The hijinks were bred from disillusionment, mostly, probably, from being a little fed up with pulling that ponytail tight and following the rules and watching old Jimmy Shenanigans skirt the consequences over and over. There was a little bit of, “Well, if this is how it’s gonna be, then fine” to it all, I imagine. But then she pitched the legal aid thing to Cliff while she was setting Howard up for the hooker flim-flam, and Cliff was buying it for real, at least in its early stages, and she got a little excited. Which is fair, really.

But then there were the guys following her. And Mike explaining the situation to her after getting the drop on her in a public setting. And her realizing that maybe Lalo isn’t dead and maybe her ties with Jimmy have them both in danger and maybe all that talk the other week about Jimmy actually being Saul and not being a rat was a little further out ahead of things than she’s really comfortable with. Maybe not. Maybe I’m reading too much into things. But maybe Kim is not doing too great right now and might not be ever again. This is getting real for you and me, too, in that way.

The main thing I take away from all of this is that Kim Wexler is the main character of the show now. Jimmy was the main character for a while, to see how he became the Saul we saw in Breaking Bad. We see that now. He’s almost there. And that means he’s sliding, at least partially, back into his old role of being comic relief while other people deal with the consequences of the actions he takes. None of this is a complaint. It was always headed this way. We’re just there now. It’s going to be really stressful.

Rhea Seehorn is not talented

In addition to starring in the pivotal scenes in this episode and carrying the first steps of the drama that will carry us until the show merges into the Breaking Bad timeline, Rhea Seehorn also directed it. That’s… cool. It’s just really cool. I’m always kind of blown away when people direct things they also act in. That seems impossible to me, to dive into your own performance — again, in important moments! — while also having the director part of your brain humming to be sure everything else is clicking together like it should. The other actors, the camera, the lighting. It’s a lot. I heard a song I liked the other day and missed the street I was supposed to turn on. By like three or four streets. I was fully somewhere else, literally and figuratively. This type of situational awareness is like a superpower to me.

The coolest thing about it all was that this was just, like, another great episode of the show. The tone and style and everything were exactly the same as always, with the vague intro that pays off later and the cool shots of nothing that kind of mean everything. That’s a director’s job sometimes, especially in television, to just do things so well that the work becomes a little invisible, at least to the degree that none of it distracts from the story. This might sound like damning with faint praise, and I hope it doesn’t, because pulling that off is not easy at all. Real big week for this lady, in front of and behind the camera. Very cool.

Howard Hamlin has great taste in music

I stand by the thing a few inches up the page where I called Howard a doof. He would listen to elevator music while he drives around. He would. And he does. It almost makes the bad stuff that’s happening to him worth it.

In a related matter, please do not steal my car and judge the music I have been listening to. That’s different. “I Think We’re Alone Now” by Tiffany is a great song. Shut up. Leave me alone.

Having dinner with Mike would be fun

We find ourselves in one of those classic Two Things Can Be True situations…

ON ONE HAND: Mike is cool and it would be fun to just watch and observe him while he does anything at all, up to and including ordering dinner from a waiter he has probably terrified. What do you think Mike orders? He strikes me as a burger or pork chop guy, which he chases down with black coffee, even if he’s at a fancy Italian restaurant. He fascinates me deeply. I want to know everything about him. I feel like he could teach me so much. I also feel like he would hate me. I would ask for like spaghetti with two-thirds meatballs and one-third sausage and he would groan with enough force to make the entire table rattle.

ON THE OTHER HAND: Mike is very scary and serious and if he ever tried to deliver a message to any of us like the one he delivered to Kim we would probably crumble into a powder that someone mistakes for a pile of Parmesan cheese. I’m sorry I keep talking about Italian food. I should really not be writing these while I’m hungry. But here we both are, I guess.

It is good to be subtle

Here’s the other thing about the directing of this episode: There were at least two moments that were dead on the nose, about as subtle as a marching band getting hit by a runaway ice cream truck. One was the thing in the screencap way up at the beginning of this post where the episode ended with Kim literally looking back over her shoulder. The other was the thing where a smiling Gus walked into his house and switched his entire demeanor before donning all/mostly-black and disappearing into the secret tunnel that popped up into his secret crimes house. It was kind of a reverse Batman situation, in that he came up from underground to become a villain instead of going into a cave to become a hero. Again, not extremely subtle.

But also, like, who cares? It was awesome. I love that Gus has a villainous lair hidden as a normal house in an upper-middle-class suburban neighborhood. That’s hilarious. And so perfectly on-brand. He did another thing that was perfectly on-brand during all of this business, but I’ll get to that later. It deserves its own section.

Lalo is having a blast right now

We did not see Lalo at all in this episode, which was a bummer, because I love Lalo. I’m strangely more curious about what happens to him than I am about what happens to Kim, mostly because Lalo seems so invincible. We’ve seen him charm and we’ve seen him kill and he’s been incredibly proficient at both. It doesn’t make sense to me that someone will — or even can — outfox him. He is heartless and cruel and almost definitely a sociopath but I love him very much. I am not entirely at peace with this.

Anyway, until we see him on our screens and have something resembling confirmation in the alternative, I am going to assume Lalo is just chilling at a resort in Cancun with an umbrella drink. You cannot take this away from me.

Jimmy is going full Saul

Important developments:

• Officially doing business as Saul and answering the phone with “speedy justice for you”
• Getting a massive influx of clients as a result of him being “Salamanca’s guy,” which is notable for a lot of reasons but mostly because it is yet another example of his bad behavior only having negative consequences for the people around him, like he’s surrounded by a little spray tan forcefield
• Got his new office as a result of getting kicked out of the nail salon due to the massive client influx

We will continue to monitor this situation. Even though we know exactly where it ends up. Prequels are strange like that.

Better Call Saul is, occasionally, the funniest show on television

One of the many things I love so much about this show is the range it is capable of displaying. The last time it was on our televisions, it was killing off its most sympathetic villain in heartbreaking fashion, complete with a gut-wrenching phone call with his father, whose protection was ensured by the aforementioned death. This week, we opened with an extended hooker scheme that featured Jimmy, in disguise as Howard, ripping signs out of a parking lot in a frantic rush as the real Howard walked toward them. I mean, look at Bob Odenkirk — a comedy legend now in his fourth decade of doing it — make a meal out of this bit. This is a show that uses all of the tools in its toolbox.

It is also a show that is not afraid to resort to childish jokes for a cheap laugh. Meet my new favorite character on this or any show.

I am so proud of everyone involved in all of this. Good for them. Good for us. Good for Spooge.

Gus Fring is paranoid but not wrong

Back to the bullet points for three notes on Gustavo Fring:

• He doesn’t believe Lalo is dead despite plenty of evidence to the contrary, which would be a troubling/annoying personality trait if he weren’t also objectively correct
• Again, the surveillance, both in the house and on Kim, who is a lawyer in good standing with the New Mexico bar association and not, generally, the type of person one would try to intimidate or harm just based on the potential blowback
• The thing in the screencap up there where he wants Mike to find guys that are good at subterfuge but also “up to Pollo standards” as short-order cooks, which is a suuuuuuch a Gus thing and also really funny

Sometimes things are two things. That’s a good thing to remember.

The Linda Lindas—who just released their album Growing Up—are really growing up fast. The teenagers have made their third late-night television appearance, this time on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon performing their fiery anthem “Oh!” Under disorienting strobe lights, the band engages the crowd with hypnotic gang vocals and a surging punk sound with a pop bounce. The lyrics, like in most rock songs, are about feeling like a screw-up: “When I say something / I wish I had shut up.” But their energy is infectious and inspiring.

About punk music, guitarist Lucia de la Garza said told Uproxx: “It’s been making a comeback, partly because of a lot of civil rights movements, a lot of political stuff and because people are saying, ‘We need to say something because it’s been going on for too long.’ Punk is amplifying your own voice when no one else will. I think that’s a really cool part of punk. Making zines is totally telling your story when no one else will tell it. Or writing music like, ‘Racist, Sexist, Boy,’ it’s telling [Mila’s] story when no one else was talking about it.”

Watch their striking performance of “Oh!” on The Tonight Show above.

Phoebe Bridgers‘ signee Charlie Hickey has released the latest from his upcoming album, Nervous At Night. On “Gold Line,” Hickey sings of living with anxiety and OCD, both reeling over and embracing the fact that these feelings are beyond his control.

Accompanied by a bass guitar that creates a sound similar to that of an anxious heartbeat, along with drums and a chilling synth, Hickey sings “I think I’m in a bad spot / I think feeling things is too hard / I’ve got this feeling I’m not going to get what I want.”

Of the song, Hickey said in a statement, “This is a song about being overtaken by a feeling that you know is bigger than you. It’s scary, but also really exciting and joyous.”

In the song’s video, directed by Vanessa Haddad, Hickey combats his anxiety by performing to a (very) small crowd, strolling through town, and imitating the motions of an inflatable tube man.

Back in March, Hickey performed at SXSW as part of Saddest Factory’s “Corporate Retreat” set, alongside labelmates Bridgers, Muna, and more. The signees performed a cover of My Chemical Romance’s “Welcome To The Black Parade.”

Check out “Gold Line” above and the cover art and tracklist for Nervous At Night below.

1. “Dandelions”
2. “Gold Line”
3. “Mid Air”
4. “Thirteen”
5. “Missing Years”
6. “Every Time I Think”
7. “Nervous At Night”
8. “Springbreaker”
9. “Choir Song (I Feel Dumb)”
10. “Month of September”
11. “Planet With Water”

Nervous At Night is out 5/20 via Saddest Factory. Pre-save it here.

After skipping last year’s Met Gala due to its COVID-19 vaccine protocols, Nicki Minaj made her return to the charity event last night. According to Mediaite, the “We Go Up” rapper wore an all-black gown designed by Burberry chief creative officer Riccardo Tisci with a leather baseball cap. However, despite the triumph of her return, it wasn’t without drama, as Nicki encountered and confronted a reporter who had apparently leaked what was supposed to have been a surprise for her fans.

Stopping halfway up the steps to the Metropolitan Museum Of Art, Nicki pointed out the offending journalist, saying, “Hey, you. Are you the man that leaked that I was gonna be here?” After confirming that he was the culprit, she growled, “About to come up to you and slap the sh*t out of you. Come here.” While she (apparently) didn’t follow through, the message came through loud and clear.

Nicki doesn’t play around with her planned surprises. When Coi Leray’s dad Benzino leaked that Nicki would appear on the younger rapper’s new single “Blick Blick,” she nearly pulled the plug on the whole collaboration, only relenting later. Given her playful rapport with her loyal fans, the Barbz, she doesn’t seem to want to deprive them of the full experience — surprises and all (she must hate Marvel spoilers!).

As for why she missed last year’s Met Gala, it’s probably better not to rehash that potentially embarrassing chapter. You never know, I might run into Nicki and be the next writer she threatens to beat up.

In early April, New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a motion to hold Donald Trump in contempt of court for failing to turn over relevant documents in her civil investigation. James also requested a fine of $10,000 for every day that Trump failed to deliver the necessary materials, which a judge approved last week. The former president, as you can imagine (and please do take a second to imagine it in detail), is not loving it. On the heels of his legal team filing a motion to stop the fines, Trump ranted to Bloomberg about how he’s being treated so unfairly. No one has ever been treated this unfair before. It’s very, very mean.

“We have a judge that frankly has been unbelievably unfair,” Trump said on the phone Monday, one week after state court Judge Arthur Engoron ruled the former president violated a court order by missing a March 31 deadline to respond to the state’s demand for records.

“We’ve given millions and millions of pages and he says give more, give more, always give more,” Trump said.

As for Trump’s lawyers, they’re calling the fines “patently improper and impermissible by law” while also arguing that he doesn’t even have the personal records the state is looking for. According to his legal team’s filing to halt the fines, the former president “performed a diligent, thorough and comprehensive search for all of the documents and items called for in the subpoena and provided complete and accurate responses,” which totally sounds like Trump. “Diligent, thorough, and comprehensive” is practically his middle name.

(Via Bloomberg)

From Joyce Manor’s seminal 2011 self-titled debut to their last 2018 album Million Dollars To Kill Me, the California now-trio have been balancing their heavy, sharp-edged side with their more pop, buoyant side. Their genre is always up for debate; fans argue about whether the band fits into the emo or pop-punk, or just indie rock. They announced a new album 40 Oz. To Fresno last month and released the crashing “Gotta Let It Go,” which only furthered this confusion about their sound.

“Don’t Try,” their blazing new single out today, is a refreshing burst of off-kilter rock—whether it’s emo, pop-punk, or indie rock. It’s just an undeniable jam. The riffs are eerie and enticing; Barry Johnson’s vocals are used more as an instrument than ever before. It helps that the band recruited Tony Thaxton of Motion City Soundtrack for drums on this album, giving the songs an even harder kick. The track is shorter than two minutes, from an album that’s shorter than 18 minutes. As per usual, in a Guided By Voices kind of way, they don’t take up too much time or space.

Listen to Joyce Manor’s “Don’t Try” above.

40 Oz. To Fresno is out 6/10 via Epitaph Records. Pre-order it here.

Before he was an internationally famous rap star, Drake got his foot in the door of the entertainment industry as an actor. Well, it’s been a while since he’s pulled those skills out of his bag of tricks with his last non-music video credit coming in 2012 (a cameo in Anchorman 2 as “Soul Brother”). However, fans apparently nearly got to see him on the big screen as a superhero, if character designer Jared Krichevsky is to be believed.

Over the weekend, Krichevsky posted a mock-up of Drake as Justice League character Cyborg, which he says was a concept for a TV series about the half-man-half-machine former football star turned superhero. “They wanted to cast Drake at one point,” he explained.

It isn’t terribly surprising that the series concept fell through. After all, hundreds of shows are conceived and pitched without even making it to a pilot, let alone actually onto TV, and setting sights on such a big name to lead the show likely brought up all kinds of issues with budget and schedule. Again, Drake’s a huge music star who would have wanted to be properly compensated and most networks just aren’t shelling out that kind of dough for new shows — even ones with recognizable faces like his.

Besides, what with Drake recording new albums and feature verses for friends like Future, showing up at NBA Playoff games to heckle players, and participating in his own homegrown hoop league (not to mention touring), Drake doesn’t exactly have time for much world-saving. Still, somewhere out there in the multiverse, there’s a version of Drake blasting aliens with his sonic cannon alongside a Black Lightning played by Future and that’s a world I wouldn’t mind seeing.

If we could all open our Rock Band 101 textbooks to page 233, we will proceed with recounting the three steps to mounting a comeback for an embattled superstar act.

Step 1: Play a “secret,” “intimate” club show. This will make you look humble and “hungry again.” It will also compel the journalists in attendance write and/or tweet praise about how you have “reconnected with a lost sense of self.”

Step 2: Go on a media “forgiveness” tour. Implicitly acknowledge that your previous album wasn’t very good, an act of self-deprecation that will disarm the critics and make them open to the idea of loving you again. (You can also do this explicitly, but only if you have a sense of humor about it.)

Step 3: Give the people what they want. Put out an album that sounds like your older albums. Deflect accusations of pandering by insisting that “looking back is sometimes the only way forward” or “nostalgia is the newest form of innovation.” (It’s better if you put this sentiment in your words.)

In recent weeks, Arcade Fire have been following these steps with careful compliance. They performed a buzzy concert at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City. They were profiled by the New York Times under the Affleck-referencing headline, “How Arcade Fire Found The Way Back.” And on Friday they will release their sixth album, We, a severe course-correction from 2017’s pranksterish dance-rock misfire Everything Now that genuflects reverently in the direction of their first three (and most beloved) records. If you bailed on this band once they started aping ABBA while complaining about how these damn Gen-Yers won’t get off Instagram already, Arcade Fire wants you to know that your old fave has returned to their gloriously anthemic aughts-era prime.

When they previewed the album back in March with the lead single “The Lightning I,II,” the hype was awfully seductive. The most famous Arcade Fire songs unfold as a series of gear shifts, in which the instrumentation, choral voices, and sense of momentum are gradually amped up over the course of several minutes. (Or it can happen in just the opening 25 seconds of “Wake Up,” in which a droning guitar riff is soon accompanied by “We Will Rock You” drums, and then elevated by those stadium-cheer vocals.) When these gear shifts are done right, a Pavlovian feeling of exhilaration is impossible to avoid for the listener, like sitting in a car that goes from zero to 90 in 10 seconds before careening off of a bridge. “The Lightning I,II” suggested that Arcade Fire might still be masters of this primitive form of body-chemistry manipulation. In the song, a stately fanfare played on piano and acoustic guitar is lifted by a fluttery synth line. A mid-tempo drum part soon enters to add muscle. And then Win Butler says “one, two, three, four!” and suddenly the rhythm goes faster and faster and FASTER! When Butler sings “we can make it baby, if you don’t quit on me,” it’s as if he is singing to us (or We, in the parlance of our times), signaling a subliminal apology to prodigal fans.

We begins with Arcade Fire returning to this same bag of tricks. “Age Of Anxiety I” also opens with a stately fanfare that is lifted by a fluttery synth line. Somewhere in the middle, the rhythm starts to go faster and faster and FASTER! You know what Arcade Fire is doing to you, but your heart is beating faster anyway. It is thrilling, sure, but it’s also reflexive, the musical equivalent of a doctor tapping your knee to watch your leg move. It sets the tone for an album in which even the best moments are performed by rote and, therefore, feel kind of empty.

I was no fan of Everything Now, but I never doubted that Arcade Fire was following their muse down whatever daffy corridor it recklessly drifted. I could even admire Win Butler’s initial insistence on defending the record against its many critics. At the very least, nobody could accuse him of making a predictable Arcade Fire record. We, in comparison, sounds like a transparent bid to keep them from slipping irrevocably from arena-rock status. Which, perhaps, wouldn’t be a problem if they still had a tight grasp on how to write “classic” Arcade Fire songs. But while “The Lightning I,II” can pass as a suitable “Beautiful Day”-style reboot, the cloying “Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)” evokes the dozens of forgettable semi-indie also-rans who scrambled to imitate the big twinkle of Funeral in the 2000s, only now Arcade Fire has Phillip Phillips’ed themselves.

The most confounding aspect of We is that, despite clocking in at a seemingly svelte seven songs and 40 minutes, it manages to be just as bloated as their other recent albums. This is not a leaner Arcade Fire record, it’s a smaller one, a snack-size bag of potato chips with the same fixed percentage of stale air. After the promising start of “Age Of Anxiety I” and the similarly surging “Age Of Anxiety II (Rabbit Hole),” the record grinds to a halt with the interminable nine-minute dirge “End Of The Empire I-IV.” On this song the gears fail to move one iota, settling instead on an endless piano ballad about the collapse of the modern world that sounds like the product of mixing way too much weed with way too many listens of Norman Fucking Rockwell and Pure Comedy. (Father John Misty was enlisted as a consultant during the making of We.) Though no lyric manages to be as cringe-y as the part in “Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)” when Butler sings, “Some people want the rock without the roll / but we all know there’s no God without soul.” Actually, scratch that: The most wince-inducing moment has to be from “Unconditional II (Race And Religion),” when Regine Chassagne trills the chorus contained within that parenthetical over a musical retread of “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)”

As was the case with Everything Now, the worst parts of We will make you question whether Funeral, Neon Bible or The Suburbs really are as good as you remember. And yet, at the same time, I find myself weirdly appreciating the overreaches more than the songs that squarely push my buttons. After all, overreaching isn’t a bug with Arcade Fire, it’s a feature. Unapologetic earnestness is their brand, and fearlessly ignoring the possibility of embarrassment has resulted in most (if not all) of their best music. There’s no shame in failure when you’re in pursuit of greatness.

What I find less charming is how resigned to replicating faded glories the rest of We is. That triumphant joie de vivre in which The Killers reveled on their 2020 comeback Imploding The Mirage is conspicuously absent here. Instead, the vibe is “a lesser retread of our greatest hits.” Is it coincidence that Will Butler, once the most energetic member of Arcade Fire on stage, departed shortly after this album was announced? Was it already apparent that the pursuit of greatness has been replaced by competent fan service? Yes, Arcade Fire finally gave us what we want. But at what cost?

Phoebe Bridgers reportedly had a major life change recently, as there are rumors floating around that she and actor Paul Mescal are engaged. On top of that, for at least a little while, some Bridgers were convinced she debuted another big adjustment at the Met Gala yesterday: a shaved head.

Early in the evening, before professional red carpet photos started showing up online, some lower-resolution snaps of Bridgers (screenshots from a live video, it appears) made it look like her hair was substantially shorter than fans are used to. The most-cited example seems to be a photo shared by journalist Ilana Kaplan. This led to some conversation on Twitter, with a number of fans convinced of, or at least wondering about, Bridgers’ apparent shaved head.

However, the speculation was short-lived, as other photos and videos from the event (including the Vogue interview below) show clearly that Bridgers just had her hair tightly pulled back into a small bun. In that Vogue video, Bridgers speaks about how she was managing to not freak out at her first Met Gala, noting, “I’ve reached an adrenaline threshold.”

Meanwhile, some good news to emerge from the gala is that while Bridgers and Mescal didn’t walk the red carpet together, they met up later and saw a dog.

The first reviews for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness are rolling in, and there’s definitely a consistent theme coming through: Sam Raimi was the right man for the job. The famed Spider-Man director took over after the first Doctor Strange director, Scott Derrickson, exited the project. As several of the reviews have noted, Raimi has basically grafted together a multiverse-spanning adventure with the Evil Dead II, and it surprisingly works well.

While the there are some quibbles over the overwhelming Marvel-ness of it all, Multiverse of Madness is being roundly praised for finally pushing the MCU into new directions after the first few entries have barely hinted at a plan for Phase 4. You can check out what the critics are saying below:

Mike Ryan, Uproxx:

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is the closest the MCU has ever come to a straight-up horror movie. And not in a scary way, but in a Sam Raimi hyper-visual style that mixes gore with comedy. Honestly, it’s kind of remarkable what Marvel let Raimi get away with.

Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly:

The director’s take on Doctor Strange (in theaters May 6) feels like many disparate and often deeply confusing things — comedy, camp horror, maternal drama, sustained fireball — but it is also not like any other Marvel movie that came before it. And 23 films into the franchise, that’s a wildly refreshing thing, even as the story careens off in more directions than the Kaiju-sized octo-beast who storms into an early scene.

Brian Truitt, USA Today:

While the Marvel-ness of “Madness” will make your head spin, Raimi’s signature style, penchant for the macabre and sense of humor oddly ground the film. Scenes that feel akin to his Tobey Maguire Spider-films of the early 2000s – and the zombies, demons, monsters and schlocky weirdness reminiscent of “Evil Dead” and “Drag Me to Hell” – almost seem nostalgic.

Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times:

Raimi’s sheer passion for his material can sometimes overwhelm the coherence of his storytelling, and his unfashionable sincerity doesn’t always mesh with the breezy quip-a-minute tone that is the Marvel enterprise’s preferred comic idiom. I mean those both as compliments. Some overly busy cross-cutting and a few flubbed punchlines are a small price to pay for a filmmaker with enough of a vision to make you briefly forget that you’re watching another assembly-line product.

Susana Polo, Polygon:

The real hero in Multiverse of Madness isn’t a person; it’s the visuals — particularly the way Raimi and his team depict mind-rending magical abilities, ones that obey no wands or Harry Potter-like pig-Latin incantations. Director Scott Derrickson leaned on shifting kaleidoscope worlds and Inception-esque landscapes for the original Doctor Strange. But once a single sequence nodding at that film’s fractal magic visuals is out of the way, Multiverse of Madness completes a full transformation into Sam Raimi’s House of Magical Spooks and Monsters.

Owen Gleiberman, Variety:

It’s a movie set in several universes at once, and it keeps shooting off into ever more insane dimensions of alternate reality. Its story doesn’t develop so much as it multiplies. In theory, this should multiply the fun, though that’s not necessarily the way it works out. “Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness” is a ride, a head trip, a CGI horror jam, a what-is-reality Marvel brainteaser and, at moments, a bit of an ordeal.

David Ehrlich, IndieWire:

A violent, wacky, drag-me-to-several-different-hells at once funhouse of a film that makes good on the reckoning Chiwetel Ejiofor promised at the end of the original by cutting away the safety net that previous installments of the MCU have tried to pretend wasn’t there.

Charles Pulliam-Moore, The Verge:

Watching Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, you do get the distinct sense that you’re seeing the beginning of a new chapter for Stephen Strange and his associates, which is interesting given how listless the MCU has sometimes felt following the Infinity Saga. Clearly, Marvel’s already planning for a future that’s filled with even more of Strange’s brand of magic and far-flung characters you wouldn’t have dreamed of seeing in the MCU just a few years back.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness opens in theaters May 6.