I’m sure the average person is totally confused by Steve McQueen’s “Small Axe” series on Amazon Prime. It consists of five films made for British television. So it was sold to the US the same way. If only the first film, “Mangrove,” had been released as a standalone to theaters for the Oscars, it would have cleaned up.

The whole thing is a marketing nightmare. “Mangrove” could have gone to theaters, then released with the others for a mini series event. Instead, Amazon Prime is sending it all the Emmy Awards which is disappointing and kind of ridiculous. It minimizes the impact of “Mangrove,” which is sort of like a British counterpart to the current Netflix film, “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” which is headed to the Oscars.

All five films in the “Small Axe” series address life in Britain for transplanted West Indians in the 1960s. So you love “The Crown,” right? I do. But watching that series you’d never know there were people of color in the UK, or London, while the royal family was wringing its hands at Buckingham Palace. What a juxtaposition! McQueen is giving us the history of the people, just as August Wilson did with his play cycle. Extraordinary.

The Mangrove was a restaurant in Notting Hill (later the posh setting of the Hugh Grant-Julia Roberts movie, talk about gentrification). It was to a mecca in 1968 for West Indians, only the British police acted toward the owner, Frank Crichlow, and his community as if they were Russian soldiers on an endless pogrom. They continually broke down the doors, smashed the place up, intimidated the patrons. It was pure racism.

Crichlow and co. finally responded by staging a march, a protest, that ended in arrests and an eleven week trial. McQueen delivers us into this West Indian world of black owned businesses struggling to survive against the racism of the Notting Hill neighborhood around them and the local police with aplomb.

If this had been a movie released on its own, we’d have been talking about the three principal actors — Letitia Wright, Shaun Parkes, and Malachi Kirby, and Alex Jennings — the judge here, abdicated Uncle Dickie on “The Crown — are exceptional.

Steve McQueen– if you look at the films in the “Small Axe” series, he’s a director with an exquisite eye and a sense of purpose. Episode 3 in the series, “Red, White, and Blue” — stars John Boyega and Steve Toussaint as son and father challenging the institutional racism of the police. At 80 minutes, it’s very much a full length film, far superior than anything on television although I see why this one should go for Emmy Awards and win. Boyega and Toussaint, the whole cast, are as good as it gets.

It’s confusing but “Small Axe” — five films — are on Amazon Prime. You could do worse than watch the series this weekend.

You’re guilty until proven innocent and your life is over. That’s the signal sent to Shia LaBeouf since his ex-girlfriend, FKA Twigs, filed a harassment and abuse lawsuit against him. (Her real name is Tahliah Debrett Barnett.)

LaBeouf was dumped from a movie he was supposed to film. But more urgently, he’s been erased by Netflix from all promotional materials for “Pieces of a Woman,” in which he co-stars with Vanessa Kirby and Ellen Burstyn. If there hadn’t been a scandal, LaBeouf would have been promoted for awards season. But that’s all gone. And even in the general advertising, he’s gone.

Vanessa Kirby and Ellen Burstyn star in PIECES OF A WOMAN, a story about a mother’s love and loss. On Netflix January 7. pic.twitter.com/3p8m76jnz6

— NetflixFilm (@NetflixFilm) December 22, 2020

LaBeouf has also been wiped from the Netflix For Your Consideration campaign for all awards. He’s the only actor in the movie not mentioned at all in any capacity on the page.

“Pieces of a Woman” is not a great movie, and only Burstyn really has a shot at an Oscar nomination. But still, no one really knows the details of what went on between LaBeouf and Barnett. And there’s no way to erase him from the movie completely — although I’m sure the day is coming when that will be possible. It’s a tragic situation for everyone involved.

A few animated films I thought could get Best Picture nods– “Wall E,” “Inside Out,” now “Soul.”

Playing now on the Disney Plus channel, I missed some press stuff for “Soul” for personal reasons and I’m glad I did. I wasn’t ready for it. But tonight I watched Pete Docter’s creation, and it’s quite brilliant. It’s one of those few contemporary movies that make you feel it was all worth it.

I wrote– erroneously– some months ago that “Soul” wouldn’t have “soul music.” It’s true, it has jazz, beautiful jazz written and performed by Jon Batiste, the great talent from the Stephen Colbert show. There are two scores, really. One is by Batiste, and the other is by the Nine Inch Nails guys, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. The whole thing is screwed up Academy-wise and I don’t know the answer. I do know they made the mistake of putting Curtis Mayfield’s “It’s All Right,” performed by Batiste, over the end credits, thus disqualifying themselves for Best Song. But…it’s the right song. So, who knows?

“Soul” is all about who you are, what you wanted to be, fulfilling your life’s dream. Don’t see it stoned, or your mind will be blown. But it’s not a lot of navel gazing or very preachy. Jamie Foxx is Joe, a jazz pianist who’s teaching middle school band. Just as he gets a chance to play with a jazz legend (Angela Bassett), he has an accident and falls into a pre-death world of gloriously inventive animation. He meets “22,” voiced with great wit and verve by Tina Fey. “22” has never found a purpose, a reason to stay on Earth, so avoids it. Joe, meantime, won’t accept death, so he and “22” find a way to sneak back to Earth, where his loved ones– including his mother (the great Phylicia Rashad)– are waiting to hear his star turn.

I’m not an animation expert, but this production sort of combines the best of Pixar and Disney. My favorite parts were heavenly characters drawn in a kind of neon with Picasso-like figures that were so fluid, I hope they’re in heaven if I ever get there.

Just as he did with “Up” and “Inside Out,” Pete Docter hits all the right notes. Adding Kemp Powers makes perfect sense. The two of them found a rare harmony. They made a classic film that will outlast all of us.

The specter of Brett Kavanaugh’s unmanly past at a frat party hangs over Emerald Fennell’s revenge fantasy, “Promising Young Woman,” as do the million microaggressions endured by girls/women finding their place in the world.

The always stunning Carey Mulligan portrays Cassie, a medical school dropout, prowling in bars at night, picking up men who see her, drunk, out of it, equating with easy prey, easy lay. Legs astride, makeup dripping, her look signals anything but control, but she’s got a trick waiting. As they undress her, she bolts up, confronts their predations and takes off, a quiet act of revolt.

And that’s just the first scene. At times “Promising Young Woman” seems dark rom com, as Cassie dates Ryan (Bo Burnham), a guy from the past her parents, the wonderful Jennifer Coolidge and Clancy Brown are relieved to see, even though she’s still spending a night or two settling scores with various men, and even women, such as a former classmate (Alison Brie) who witnessed the gang rape of Cassie’s best friend, the catalyst for Cassie’s madness.

Everyone, including a female dean, wants Cassie to get over her obsession, give in to the tired bromide, “Boys will be boys.” At an online post screening panel, Mulligan — who may very well score an Oscar nomination here — said she herself wished that things could lighten up for Cassie, that she’d end up avenged, and better off for her efforts. But, a realist, Mulligan knows: things have to go extreme for voices to matter. The film’s final scene suggests a start: Time for all the Kavanaughs of the world to man up, and apologize.