Will the MCU get back on its axis with “Deadpool & Wolverine?”

We have thoughts on that as well as about some indie films you need to check out, including “The Beast Within,” “Fresh Kills” and the documentary “Eno.”

Here’s our roundup.

“Deadpool & Wolverine”: What a bummer it’s been with the Marvel Cinematic Universe spinning out of control (“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and “The Marvels” were DOA), with even diehard fans suffering from superhero burnout. The elixir to all the multiverse burnout arrives in the costumed form of this rude, raunchy and hard-R-rated Marvel resurrection of sorts. Director and co-screenwriter Shawn Levy’s MCU bad-boy matchup pits profane wisecracker Deadpool with brooding worrywart Wolverine, and resuscitates the gasping and splintered MCU. The reason it works that it has the right people attached – from stars Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman and on to Levy — who tones down the nauseating overuse of CGI that’s marred recent efforts and leans heavily into an irreverent midlife/existential crisis storyline concocted by a team of five (including Reynolds), which liberally ribs almost everything attached to it (20th Century Studios, Disney, “Gossip Girl,” Blake Lively, “Furiosa,” “The Proposal,” Jackman’s divorce and so on). The cameos — none of which should be revealed — pump things up even more so, to the approximate size of that eighth wonder of the world, Jackman’s biceps. (Impressive, Hugh. Impressive). Meanwhile, Emma Corrin gives one wicked turn as supervillain Cassandra Nova, the mind-manipulating twin sis of “X-Men’s” Charles Xavier. After Deadpool teams up with Wolverine (Why? I won’t tell you), the bickering duo are jettisoned off to the Void — a “Mad Max”-like post-apocalyptic junkyard where dead timelines waste away. Nova is the ruler there, and she loves control in every form, setting the stage for mayhem.

“Deadpool & Wolverine” throws a lot at us — including the awesome, over-the-top violent choreographed fights set to pop songs, and even the extra-juicy bit tagged on at the end  credits — and nearly all of it works. But what makes “Deadpool & Wolverine” the best Deadpool movie yet and the second best “Wolverine” film (James Mangold’s “Logan” still stands tallest) is how the union of two of the edgiest superheroes tempers the tendencies of each other, serving as a needed buffer between Deadpool’s barrage of double entendres and fourth-wall breaking asides and Wolverine’s relentless, gloomy tendency to beat himself up over and over again about past mistakes. United, they’re better and create something more sustainable and less monotonous, a game changer — if you will — that contributes in making “Deadpool & Wolverine”  one of the best, most satisfying and certainly adult roller-coaster rides of this summer. Details: 3½ stars out of 4; in theaters July 26 (with a scattering of screenings July 25).

“Fresh Kills”: Actor Jennifer Esposito hits the target with her electrifying directorial debut that reinvents and reinvigorates worn-out mobster tropes. Esposito co-stars as an ‘80s-’90s Staten Island mob wife/mom shouldering domestic duties and raising two close sisters (Emily Bader from Prime Video’s “My Lady Jane” and Odessa A’zion) while hubby profits from crime and murder. Esposito’s grasp of her multi-dimensional characters, their problems and the era in which they live, is dead-on perfect. Better yet, she gives us a rich portrait of what it’s like to be a girl and then a woman brought up in the shady, violent, macho world of Mafia madness. Sadly, after the film’s successful screening during the 2023 version of Cinequest, it never received a release in the Bay Area. Now you can rent this dynamite film. Details: 3½ stars; available on Fandango at Home, Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, Google Play and more..

“The Beast Within”: Alexander J. Farrell’s Gothic tale conjures a visually intoxicating world that’s both dark and thematically unsettling in unexpected ways. Drawing on “Beauty and the Beast,” even “Little Red Riding Hood,” this bold narrative debut takes a huge swing in its critical, closing minutes and it works — extremely well. Kit Harington of “Game of Thrones” gives a high-wire performance as Noah, a cursed dad from an indeterminate era living with a hyper-alert family deep in the U.K.’s remote woods. Noah is a gregarious, handsome guy, but on occasion needs to get chained up when a bad moon rises. His wife (Ashleigh Cummings) and her father (James Cosmo) do everything to ensure Noah will do no harm to 10-year-old Willow (Caoillinn Springall, handling a tough role with ease). “The Beast Within” is a supernaturally laced thriller, but seems as if came from a painful, dark personal place where the horrors are human and the wounds remain open forever. Details: 3 stars; in theaters July 26.

“Eno”: Often, documentaries about creative types gush about their subject. Not so, Gary Hustwit’s revolutionary mindblower about musician/producer Brian Eno and his hyperkinetic creative process. While David Byrne of the Talking Heads — a group the former Roxy Music member produced — weighs in, Hustwit’s approach avoids the use of talking heads and favors emulating the organic, free-flowing process of creating something changeable — akin to musical performances. This “generative” documentary is continually fluid and changes from one screening to the next. What could have been a confounding mess morphs into a brilliant plunge into the creative process of the tech-savvy Eno and what inspires the the influential artist (he loves nature) and how he allows the work he’s conceived grow up, move out and become its own vibrant entity. “Eno.” is intellectually stimulating, cinematically exciting and truly unique. Details: 4 stars; opens July 26 for a seven-day engagement at the Roxie, with each screening being different than the other.

“The Commandant’s Shadow”: Two families — one whose matriarch survived Auschwitz and the other that includes the elderly son of the commandant (Rodolph Hoss) that oversaw the extermination of more than a million Jews — get their stories told in Daniela Voker’s extraordinary look at the legacy of evil and how unfathomable acts continue to scar ensuing generations. Anyone who saw Jonathan Glazer’s award-winning “The Zone of Interest” will spot how that 2023 film so eerily replicated the Hoss family house featured here, which sat next door to a relentless killing machine. Voker bookends interviews with family members — some who remain in denial of who their father really was — with clips of Hoss’ trial, recollections from his autobiography and photos. Its most powerful moments occur when 87-year-old Hans Jurgen Hoss confronts the scope and scale of the extermination and realizes that his memories of how idyllic his childhood are faulty. Details: 3½ stars; available now on Max.

“Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam”: Fans of The Backstreet Boys and NSYNC will want to watch Netflix’s spill-the-tea three-part series on Lou Pearlman, and how the boy-band wiz built an empire out bad money culled from the longest running U.S. Ponzi scheme. “Dirty Pop” dusts in performance footage but it’s the voices of those who knew or worked with Pearlman (sorry, no Justin Timberlake) that fuel it. Fine tells the story well, except when he dumps in video of Pearlman and doctors it up so it appears the late businessman’s reading (a voice actor is used) excerpts from a book he co-authored. Even though “Dirty Pop” reveals upfront this is manipulated, its weirdness backfires and distracts from the story itself. Details: 2½ stars; drops July 24 on Netflix.

“The Fabulous Four”: There’s nothing wrong about wanting to make a goofy comedy about four 60ish/70ish female chums reuniting for a wedding in Key West. But there’s really not much right about “The Fabulous Four,” a predictable slog built around wah-wah jokes, lame situations and an incredibly horrendous bit of lip syncing from Michael Bolton. The cast — Bette Midler, Susan Sarandon, Megan Mullally and Sheryl Lee Ralph – deserve better, and the beginning promises there will be one doozy of a cat fight since Sarandon’s workaholic, cat-lady Dr. Lousie Zebarski and Midler’s social-media addict Marilyn have been estranged for years over a dating kerfuffle. But the tired-out screenplay from Ann Marie-Allison and Jenna Milley even botches that gimme near the end. An obligatory song-and-dance number at the end comes feels tacked on, as if someone saw “Mama Mia!” and said bingo – let’s replicate that box-office crowd pleaser. Made me want to rewatch “Grace and Frankie” instead. Details: 1½ stars; in theaters July 26.

“The Girl in the Pool”: Freddie Prinze Jr.’s growing-more-desperate performance as a cheating family man who stuffs his murdered mistress’ bloody body into a pool storage bin minutes before his surprise birthday party gets sprung keeps this dark comedic thriller afloat. What manages to sink it happens when the screenplay takes a radical tonal shift that doesn’t produce the emotional punch it thinks it’s earned. For the first two thirds, “The Girl in the Pool” leans into genre inclinations and gives us loads of suspects: a drunken, flirtatious invitee who paws at Tom’s (Prinze Jr.) and his angry wife Kirsten’s (Monica Potter) model-looking son; a suspicious father-in-law (Kevin Pollak) and so on. The red herrings don’t net much of anything, except making us realize that Prinze Jr. and Potter (seen together in the 2001 rom-com “Head Over Heels”) deserve better than this. Details: 2 stars; opens July 26 in theaters and also available to rent.

Contact Randy Myers at soitsrandy@gmail.com.

An illuminated nighttime bike ride on Friday, and possibly a record-breaking cha cha slide dance event on Saturday, is what Melanin in Motion has planned for the community this weekend.

“When we started doing this experience called a ‘Glow Roll,’ we just found that adults have an amazing time, it’s more fun to dress your bike up and ride at sunset,” says event organizer Anthony Taylor.

The free “Glow Roll” event starts at 6 p.m. Friday with a bike ride around Midtown Greenway and ends with a community meal and music by KMOJ’s Q Bear.

Saturday’s sickle cell awareness event, “Ride Roll Rumba Rahda for Sickle Cell,” begins with the riders’ choice of a 40-mile bike ride at 8 a.m. or a conversationally paced ride at 9 a.m.

Zumba, yoga, dancing and a community meal are some of the other planned activities for the day, which ends at 12:30 p.m.

“We wanted to do a variety of things so that families and young people living with sickle cell that have a limited capacity can participate as well, and also set a progression and a goal to normalize movement in those communities,” Taylor said. “That idea of not dying from sickle cell, but living with sickle cell.”

Melanin in Motion focuses on connecting the BIPOC community to the outdoors, movement and well-being. Components of the “Slow Roll” bike rides include encouraging people to learn a new name, share a meal and take breaks during rides for educational talks led by Taylor.

“What slow roll does is place people in the geography that they live in already but because they’re on a bike they really have an experience of the changing neighborhoods,” Taylor said.

Looking ahead, Taylor said he is excited about the upcoming ride partnered with the Minneapolis Institute of Art, “The Housing is a Human Right edition” on Thursday Aug. 1, which highlights housing disparities and how they affect Minnesotans.

For more information and to sign up for events visit eventbrite.com/o/the-cultural-wellness-centermelanin-in-motion-32101604185.

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Are young people losing their hair earlier than past generations?

New research shows anxiety and poor diet may be a factor in the early onset of hair loss in millennials and 20-somethings.

At the same time, men and women older than 50 are experiencing hair loss and hair thinning, either due to genetics, hormone changes or the aging process.

Together, these have triggered a skyrocketing demand for therapies and drugs to prevent and treat hair loss. So far, the FDA has approved only topical minoxidil and finasteride as pharmacological treatments. No other drug has been FDA-approved for the most common form of hair loss in almost 30 years. But that soon may change.

A least a half dozen medications and cell-based therapies are advancing in clinical trials, and Florida dermatologists see hope on the horizon.

“It’s an exciting time,” said Dr. Joshua Berlin, a Boynton Beach dermatologist who treats patients for hair loss. “We are seeing a resurgence of companies looking at solutions for this condition. Although it’s nothing life-threatening, it affects a significant part of the population, and it’s upsetting for them.”

Berlin said the increased advertising for hair loss products has created more awareness — and interest in solutions. “I am definitely seeing more people coming to my office specifically for hair loss.”

Dr. Brett King, an associate professor of dermatology at Yale School of Medicine, specializes in hair loss. He is jazzed about the advancements and attention on the most common form of hair loss called androgenetic alopecia, also known as female and male pattern hair loss. He recently discovered something for his patients that is working.

King is getting great results by prescribing oral minoxidil, a well-known hair-loss treatment drug typically applied to the scalp. Minoxidil is the active ingredient in Rogaine, a lotion or foam that is rubbed on the scalp, and is now generic. It has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for oral use for hair loss. However, a rising number of hair-loss dermatologists recently have been giving the low-dose pills to patients, and like King, they report success.

“Oral minoxidil is so much better for many reasons,” he said. “Topical only works where you put it, while oral treats all the parts of your scalp.”

Two new medications approved in the last year and a half also show results in people who have alopecia areata, an autoimmune condition that attacks hair follicles and causes hair loss. Alopecia areata is the second most common type of hair loss. The medications allow users to regrow their hair again.

“Now hair loss is something that when someone walks into a dermatology office, the doctor doesn’t just throw up their hands and say ‘I don’t know, go get Rogaine,’” King said. “Now we have new treatments for the two most common forms of hair loss.”

Those advancements are just the start, he believes.

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Some drugs in clinical trials show promise for the early stages of hair loss and hair shedding, while others exhibit the potential to stimulate existing hair folicles and create new hair growth. In addition, progress also is coming unintentionally in some cases as medications intended for other health conditions are repurposed as hair growth stimulators. Another field of research and development is cell-based therapies that stimulate hair growth by injecting stem cells into the scalp.

“I think in the next decade we will see the new development of medicines that truly grow hair … medicines that do not just do a reasonably good job, but doing a great job of treating severe hair loss at younger and younger ages,” King said.

Biotech researchers believe that people with hair loss will turn to convenient, direct-to-consumer, treatments — pills, lotions, injections — they can use in their homes.

Of course, hair transplants remain popular, too.

Berlin says the best way to know the right choice is to see a dermatologist. They can examine your scalp and order blood work to check for possible underlying causes.

If a nutrient deficiency is an issue, taking specific supplements may remedy the situation. Berlin is a fan of a biotin as well as a nutritional supplement called Nutrafol — a blend of vitamins, minerals, and botanical ingredients. One study found Nutrafol decreases hair shedding in women before during and after menopause. “They work to some degree, no question,” he said.

“Hair loss is a condition where we have had nothing new for many years and all of a sudden there are breakthroughs,” he said. “The goal is more novel threatments, and I know many people would like see that.”

Sourh Florida Sun Sentinel health reporter Cindy Goodman can be reached at cgoodman@sunsentinel.com.