Cinema Toast: New Michael Moore doc both hopeful and depressing

Fahrenheit 11/9 (R)

Starring: Michael Moore, Donald Trump, Barack Obama, David Hogg, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Directed by: Michael Moore

Michael Moore - the master of the “watch me” school of documentary filmmaking - looks at the collateral damage caused by the 2016 Presidential election. His thesis is that Trump ran to convince NBC they should pay him more for “The Apprentice” reality TV show. Moore then returns to his Flint, Michigan hometown, and uses it as a litmus test of how both Obama and Trump’s policies impact ordinary citizens. At which point, the director ponderously shifts our mood by highlighting the inspiring election victories earned by grass-roots activists like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It’s like Moore wants to have us leave the theater feeling good instead of remaining depressed as Hell.

2 pieces of ‘Michael Moore in more Michael Moore’ toast

The House with a Clock in Its Walls (PG)

Starring: Owen Vacarro, Jack Black, Cate Blanchett, Kyle MacLachlan, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Sunny Suljic

Directed by: Eli Roth

Intent on living on crumbs left over from the “Harry Potter” franchise, a brand new warlock (male witch) named Lewis Barnavelt moves into his uncle’s creaky and quirky old house, in a place called New Zebedee, Michigan. Uncle Jonathan’s next door neighbor, Mrs. Zimmerman clutches an umbrella to her side instead of a broomstick, but there is little doubt that she dabbles in the witch’s arts. Although many cool pieces are here (atmospheric steam punk settings, 1955 clothing, artifacts and attitudes, an instantly identifiable boy with powers beyond his understanding, and avuncular adults of both the “good witch” and “bad witch” variety), some basic pieces (like how Lewis learns to master his magical powers) are missing, and the whole thing becomes generic instead of something you will rave about to friends and family.

2 pieces of ‘A 500 piece puzzle with 50 pieces missing’ toast

Life Itself (R)

Starring: Olivia Wilde, Oscar Isaac, Antonio Banderas, Mandy Patinkin, Jean Smart, Laia Costa, Segio Peris-Mencheta

Directed by: Dan Fogelman

In real life, parents die. And in Dan Fogelman’s “Life Itself”, the methods involved include busses, cars, cancer and suicide. You might suppose this means the film is something like the multiple deaths that occur in each episode of TV’s “Midsummer Murders,” but it’s not. I blame director Fogelman. The fine cast acts their socks off, the photography is lush and filled with sunshine, and the narration is by Samuel L. Jackson, but the confusing, flashback loaded storyline, the director’s conceited, overly flashy, heavy handed exposition, and the weeping and wailing histrionics featuring actors screaming “What could I have done?” sinks this movie with all hands on board.

1/2 piece of ‘Psychological chaos theory’ toast

(To view trailers of the above films, visit Petaluma360, click on “A&E,” and located “Cinema Toast.” Comments? E-mail gilmansergh@comcast.net).