Superhero

Actor and director Nelson follows City of Blows with another cutting satire of contemporary Hollywood, this time about a disgraced movie star who lands a redemptive role in a Marvel-like franchise. Peter Compton is clean and sober after spending three years in prison for a series of drug offenses, and once again at the top of his game. He arrives in Atlanta to play the popular Major Machina comic book character, a combination of man and machine. An exacting Peter clashes with the film’s young director, Joel Slavkin, who sometimes wishes he had followed the same route as his best friend, an indie filmmaker. Joel’s job is further complicated after Peter forms a “cabal” with the film’s temperamental cinematographer, Javier Benavidez, and the two routinely overrule his choices. During the shoot, studio executives enter crisis mode after a video of Peter berating an intimacy coordinator goes viral. Peter then disappears, and the execs consider using AI to complete the film without him. Nelson thoroughly skewers Hollywood’s outsize egos, artistic compromises, and takeover by superhero franchises, even while paying tribute to the characters’ sincere creative ambition. The result is vivid and entertaining. (Dec.)