Stan Lee is dead. The man who made Marvel comics and the films that followed a part of the international culture was 95.

Stan died after a year from hell following the death of his wife Joan. Friends, associates and family– all greedy– conspired to drive him crazy and ultimately caused his death.

Last March during Oscar week I got an earful about how badly Stan was being treated by his daughter and others who just wanted his money. With Joan gone, Stan was confused and lonely. Everyone preyed on him.

What happened next were lawsuits, accusations, restraining orders that included sales of his blood as souvenirs, Stan losing good friends, and so on.

Now all of those people have had their way. Stan is dead. You can say 95 is “a good life” but what was done to him once his wife died is merciless. Now he’s at peace.

Spider Man, X Men, the Fantastic Four, Wolverine, Avengers, Iron Man, et al– we owe all of it to Stan. In each movie he made an infamous appearance– his “Hitchcock” moment as it were– and audiences always applauded when they caught him sneaking by. I’d guess that he’s in the last “Avengers” movie coming soon. And that better be the end of it. Stan Lee was exploited enough in life.

The “Roma” Oscar campaign came to New York last night with a screening and reception that included Michael Moore, Julian Schnabel, Gay Talese, Nick Pileggi and many others, at the Whitby Hotel. Director Alfonso Cuaron–  already winner of an Oscar for directing “Gravity” (and issuing in an era of Mexican directing winners)–brought his star Yalitza Aparicio and Gabriela Rodriguez.

“Roma” is a masterpiece in a season of foreign language films that are all exceptional (Capernaum, Cold War, Never Look Away).  On critics’ minds, will its nominations be for Best Foreign Language Film or a straight Best Picture?  But that’s not what’s on this director’s mind. Cuaron has turned his talents to a black & white, acutely detailed, Spanish and indigenous language realization of a key figure in his childhood, a maid he renamed Clio who came to live with his family in the Roma neighborhood of Mexico City. A mother figure to him, from a disadvantaged class, he asks himself, what does she represent in the world of now?

“Roma,” says Cuaron, honors a sense of memory to form a narrative that builds upon narrative. He wrote his script hoping a narrative would build. Thinking more practically, the producer Gabriela Rodriguez told a post-screening crowd that included they had to borrow furniture from family members to honor Alfonso’s memory, to get the apartment just right, and recreate Mexico City in 1970, which they could do from photos; many iconic places had been damaged by a 1985 earthquake. And the cars! In one hilarious recurring image the family Galaxy fits into its spot like a hand in a tight glove. No one can steer it straight into the narrow parking space, laden with dog shit.

Clio was cast after the film team had met 3,000 women from the far reaches of Mexico. From a town 4 hours away from the nearest city, Yalitza Aparicio had never heard of Alfonso Cuaron and at first refused to audition fearing this was a scam for human trafficking. When finally she was persuaded, she never saw a script but was told her lines each day before shooting. In a scene when she tells her lover that she is pregnant, she had no idea what he would answer back. And the crew was clueless too. Only Cuaron who did his own camera work, knew what would happen. After this role, Yalitza Aparicio has traveled far.

Cuaron has, too. “Roma” shimmers in a way most American movies this year just aspire to. And it has lots of in jokes, too– look for a nod to “Gravity” that almost no one is mentioning. Cuaron has two feet on Earth but always an eye to the skies!

It’s not like they aren’t good movies. (Well, one really wasn’t in a big way.) But Amazon Studios has released five movies in 2018, and they have all been financial disasters.

The latest is “Beautiful Boy,” starring Timothee Chalamet as a drug addicted college student, Steve Carell as the father who dives in to save him. “Beautiful Boy” is based on two memoirs, by fahther and son David and Nick Sheff.

When I first saw the trailer, I put it up on this site and declared that I was sure it would be a big hit on the level of “Ordinary People.” It sure seemed like a tearjerker that would hit home with families going through similar traumas.

But “Beautiful Boy” seems to be a bust. In almost five weeks it’s earned just $5.2 million. This weekend it made $1.4 million playing in 776 theaters. By comparison, “Can You Really Forgive Me”– playing in 391 theaters– earned $70,000 more. The latter film is on the way up. The former is not taking off.

Even awards and nominations may not help “Beautiful Boy.” In four weeks, when the Golden Globes and critics groups in other cities announce their winners, “Beautiful Boy” won’t be in too many theaters if any. It will have run its course and moved over to Amazon Prime, where it may be confused with another movie with the same title from 2011 which was about a teenager who shot up his school and how his parents grappled with the outcome.

All together, Amazon Studios’ five films released since January 1st have made a total of $15 million. Two of them starred Joaquin Phoenix (“Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot” and “You Were Never Really Here”). One of them was from the maker of the TV hit “This is Us” (“Life Itself”). One of them was from the director of last year’s critical hit “Call me By Your Name” (Luca Guadagnino’s remake of “Suspiria”). And then there’s “Beautiful Boy.”

Amazon has played its Oscar cards. The only one they have left is a Polish film called “Cold War” directed by Pawel Pawlikowski. It will undoubtedly be nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, but it faces steep competition from films like “Roma,” “Capernaum,” and “Never Look Away.” It’s also in black and white and an economic 90 minutes. Right now, “Roma” — from Amazon’s rival Netflix– has the PR lead, but that could change.

Amazon, which had a major success two seasons ago with “Manchester by the Sea,” is struggling. Last year they struck out completely with three films by auteurs– Woody Allen, Todd Haynes, and Richard Linklater. They swung at the fences but it didn’t work out.

The critics tried to kill it. But it’s time to break out the Moet Chandon.

“Bohemian Rhapsody” crosses the $100 million line today. The Queen-Freddie Mercury biopic made it there in just 10 days.

At the same time, the original soundtrack is in the top 10. Queen’s Greatest Hits 1 &11 Platinum Edition is number 3 on iTunes, and the regular Greatest Hits is number 5. Two more albums are in the top 10.

Queen also occupies 14– fourteen– slots on the iTunes Top 100 songs. That’s pretty amazing. “Radio Gaga” is doing better than Lady Gaga!

If the Academy ignores “BR” it will be a gigantic mistake. Rami Malek should be in the Best Actor category with Viggo, Willem, Bradley, and Ryan.

And no, “BR” has no director really although it does have Dexter Fletcher, who finished the film when Bryan Singer was fired. Critics are angry at the movie because of Singer, but that’s ridiculous. Just enjoy. We’re not Under Pressure.