Film Shorts: Valley Cinemas, Streaming, the Worx, and Beyond

The new “fall” season of television is already a washout. On the four main networks, ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC, there is a deadening similarity to most of the shows, which fall into four categories: sitcoms about big families; sitcoms about loser singles on the make; police-courtroom procedurals; and conspiracy tales that develop over a season. Fortunately, the second season of Fargo, returns on Monday, Oct. 12, with a prequel of sorts to incidents in the first season. Minority Report and Limitless are adapted from movies and end up being two more boring cop shows. Blindspot is a wearying conspiracy tale that looks exhausting over the long haul. Scream Queens narrowcasts without much wit or fright to a camp sensibility. Heroes Reborn is premature. Of the new shows sampled, only Quantico shows some drive to do something new and movie-like rather than TV somnolent. It’s about the search for an undercover terrorist among a group of FBI students, and made its debut on ABC last Sunday night, Sept. 27. The unpredictable Jane the Virgin airs on the CW Mondays at 9 p.m. And for news with a bent, there is Real Time Friday nights on HBO, and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on Sunday nights. And as mentioned before, the second season of Fargo, returns Oct. 12.

Valley Cinemas is offering two films this week, as always.

Like all animated films, Hotel Transylvania 2 is yet another “journey” tale as Dracula copes with a human son and human guests in his establishment. If you could stand the first one, the second may only tax your patience.

Based on a surprise hit self-published novel, The Martian is a fun, suspenseful tale of a man left behind on Mars after the rest of his team jump ship. Will he survive on his own? Can he get back? The questions have predictable answers but the presentation is spotless.

The Worx, at 700 1/2 1st Ave N (406-228-4474), will have the witty if hard to follow Avengers: Age of Ultron this Friday. If you like this sort of thing, you’ll like this one too. In any case, rent local.

At Netflix this week is Moonrise Kingdom, a charming tale about precocious kids, made with the distinct look of director Wes Anderson, and Lawrence of Arabia, which might not flourish under the small screen of an iPhone, but at a larger size is still a great film.

HBO Now is adding the computer love story Her, while Hulu is adding the first season of the hip-hop soap opera Empire, and the next-to-last season of the grossly funny The League.

Amazon Prime is adding the headache inducing but historically interesting The Blair Witch Project and one of Woody Allen’s more successful looks at the living room problems of rich white Manhattanites.

And don’t forget YouTube: for your free viewing pleasure is the hard-to-find Horrors of the Black Museum, a sort of House of Wax knockoff made in 1959, with Michael Gough, a familiar face, as a collector of unique death instruments. The film can be slow going, but it was groundbreaking in its extreme horror.