“Cloud Atlas” plays not so much like a layered work of art, but a cleverly stitched collage of typical multiplex fare. It’s the most crowd-pleasing unfilmable novel ever made.

Mayor-For-Life Marion Barry continues to amaze us. Not only is he utterly untouchable by the long hand of the law, but he is an amazing politician; he just keeps getting elected to practically anything for which he’s run. Now, he’s even won a race he wasn’t actively campaigning for: Barry (or his likeness, rather) was selected to fill the last slot at the forthcoming Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum in Penn Quarter. The museum, which will…