Survival is paramount in ‘Mile 22,’ ‘Alpha’
‘Mile 22’
Mark Wahlberg gets in all his action-movie moves in “Mile 22.”
Wahlberg plays the leader and loose cannon in a specialized CIA unit with top-secret status and nothing -can- stop them action. Their mission, since they’ve chosen to accept it, is to get a guy with potential devastating intel to a specific spot for safety before the bad guys can stop them.
And the bad guys are really determined to stop them.
Coming soon to Milwaukee screens
Opening Aug. 24: “A.X.L.,” “Beautifully Broken,” “The Happy time Murders,” “The Miseducation of Cameron Post,” “Papillon”
Opening Aug. 29: “Operation Finale”
Opening Aug. 31: “Juliet, Naked,” “Kin,” “The Little Stranger,” “Searching,” “Ya Veremos”
Former MMA star Ronda Rousey, Lauren Cohan, John Malkovich and Iko Uwais co-star; Peter Berg, who was behind the camera for Wahlberg’s “Lone Survivor,” “Patriots Day” and “Deepwater Horizon,” directed. “Mile 22” is rated R for violence and pervasive language. It runs for 95 minutes.
‘Alpha’
What better in the dog days of summer than a story from the Ice Age? (It sort of has a dog in it, too.)
Directed by Albert Hughes, “Alpha” tells the story of a young man (Kodi Smit-McPhee) who, on his first hunt with his tribe’s top warriors, is injured and left for dead. His survival in the wild on his own takes a different turn when he tames a lone wolf that’s been abandoned by his pack. Can the two predators become friends and get home before winter? “Alpha” is rated PG-13 for some intense scenes. It runs for 97 minutes.
‘Puzzle’
For Agnes (Kelly Macdonald), life is anything but a puzzle. She knows her role with her family and community (she’s in the background), and she knows her voice (none).
But then an actual puzzle — a birthday gift — give her something to do that’s fresh, new and, well, hers. And her knack for piecing together jigsaw puzzles brings something else into her life: a reclusive inventor (Irrfan Khan) who recognizes her talent and recruits her to be his partner in a world jigsaw tournament — an offer that turns her home and her world upside down.
Critics are mostly liking “Puzzle,” especially Macdonald’s performance. Entertainment Weekly critic Leah Greenblatt, in her B-plus review for the movie, wrote Macdonald “refuses to let Agnes be an easy avatar for midlife longing and suburban discontent. With her fierce, strange energy at the center, the film builds quietly toward its own small revelations, piece by piece.”
“Puzzle” is rated R for language. It runs for 103
minutes.
Oriental Theatre’s new Craft Cinema
With the opening of its main auditorium Friday, the Oriental Theatre, 2230 N. Farwell Ave., dives into its new Craft Cinema programming, an effort by the movie palace’s new operator, Milwaukee Film, to do what the Oriental did in its 1970s and ‘80s heyday: combine new releases with limited-run showings, classic revivals and event screenings to deliver an expanded movie experience. Here are some of this week’s offerings (details and tickets available at theatre):
“Summer of 84”: A suburban teenager become convinced his next-door neighbor —a cop — is the serial killer offing his classmates in this retro slasher comedy, making its Milwaukee debut. Co-screenwriter Stephen J. Smith, a Waukesha native and University of Wisconsin-Madison grad, will be on hand to introduce the movie and join a Q&A afterward. Showing at 9:30 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Wednesday, and 9:15 p.m. Tuesday.
“Betty White: First Lady of Television”: This documentary on one of TV’s cross-generational pioneers, by Wisconsin filmmakers Mike Trinklein and Steven J. Boettcher, has its world theatrical premiere Saturday at 6:15 p.m. Boettcher will be on hand for the screening.
“The Secret of Kells”: A gorgeous, Oscar-nominated animated fable drenched in Irish mythology. Showing at 10:50 a.m. Saturday.
“Back to Burgundy”: Three siblings go home to save their family vineyard in this French comedy-drama-travelogue directed by Cédric Klapisch (”L’Auberge Espagnole,” “When the Cat’s Away”). Showing in French with English subtitles, at 1:40 and 4:30 p.m. Friday, 10:50 a.m. Sunday, 3:50 and 6:45 p.m. Monday and Wednesday, 3:50 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday.
“Filmworker”: Documentary on the improbable life and career of Leon Vitali, a journeyman English actor who became director Stanley Kubrick’s right-hand man for three decades. Showing at 7:20 and 10 p.m. Friday; 1:40 and 4:20 p.m. Saturday; 1:40, 4:20 and 10:20 p.m. Sunday; 9:45 p.m. Monday; and 6:45 p.m. Tuesday.
“Barry Lyndon”: Stanley Kubrick’s lavish, long (184 minutes) costume drama from 1975 about a man’s evolution from naif to rogue, with Ryan O’Neal and Marisa Berenson — the first of a string of Kubrick movies Milwaukee Film plans to bring back this year. Showing in a 35-millimeter print at 6:15 p.m. Sunday.
“Bamboozled”: Spike Lee’s biting, sometimes challenging comedy about a television writer (Damon Wayans) whose career rises with his participation in a show in which black characters wear blackface. Savion Glover and Jada Pinkett Smith co-star. Showing, as a companion of sorts to Lee’s still-showing “BlacKkKlansman,” in a 35-millimeter print at 5:15 p.m. Thursday.
The week’s best off-the-grid movies
“The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers”: The extended edition (209 minutes) of the second movie in Peter Jackson’s Tolkien trilogy. Showing at noon Sunday and 7 p.m. Monday and Wednesday at Marcus Theatres’ Bistroplex Southridge, Majestic, Menomonee Falls, Ridge and South Shore cinemas. $5. Info: marcustheatres.com.
“The Blues Brothers”: Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi are still on that mission from God in this 1980 favorite, which gave Milwaukee’s Bridge to Nowhere its closeup. Showing at 11:59 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Landmark Downer Theatre, 2589 N. Downer Ave. $8.50. Info: landmarkt heatres.com/milwaukee.
“An Interview With God”: A war-weary journalist (Brenton Thwaites) has his assumptions and more tested when he sits down to interview a man who claims to be God (David Straithairn). 7 p.m. Monday through Wednesday at Marcus Theatres’ Majestic, Menomonee Falls, North Shore, Ridge and South Shore cinemas. $12.50. Info: marcustheatres.com.
“Yellow Submarine”: The 1968 animated movie featuring the psychedelic Beatles is back for a couple more 50th anniversary screenings at select Marcus Theatres, including 1:45 p.m. Sunday at Majestic Cinema and 2 p.m. Sunday at Bistroplex Southridge, and North Shore and South Shore cinemas; and 7 p.m. Aug. 30 at Bistroplex Southridge, North Shore and South Shore. $12.50. Info: marcustheatres.com.
“The Night Is Short, Walk On Girl”: Japanese animated fable of sorts about a high school senior who spends a seemingly endless, surreal night pursuing the girl of his dreams. Showing at 7 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday at Marcus Ridge Cinema, 5200 S. Moorland Road, New Berlin. $12.50. Info: marcus theatres.com.
This week’s free outdoor movies
“Mean Girls”: Before it was a hit musical, Tina Fey’s smart high school comedy-drama starred Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams and Amanda Seyfried. 7:15 p.m. Friday in the Peck Pavilion for Peck Flicks at the Marcus Center, 929 N. Water St. Info: marcuscenter.org.
“Pete Kelly’s Blues”: Jack Webb stars in and directed this 1955 musical set in the jazz scene in 1920s Kansas City. Come for the Webb-isms; stay for the great performances by Peggy Lee and Ella Fitzgerald. 8:30 p.m. Friday at Paul’s Alley Cinema, 170 S. 2nd St. Info: Paul’s Alley Cinema Facebook page.
“The Lion King”: Simba can’t wait to be king, again, in Disney’s beloved animated classic. Dusk Saturday in Veterans Park, 1010 N. Lincoln Memorial Drive.
“Beauty and the Beast”: Disney’s live-action fable starring Emma Watson is part of the joint Hartland/ Delafield Family Movie Series. 7:45 p.m. Friday in Nixon Park, 175 E. Park Ave., Hartland. Info: villageof hartland.com.
“Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit”: More nuns singing, more Whoopi Goldberg — what’s not to like? 8 p.m. Friday, courtesy the Milwaukee Bike-In Movie Series, at Swing Park, 1737 N. Water St. Info: Milwaukee Bike-In Movie Series Facebook page.
“Paddington 2”: The other English-born, silly old bear is back onscreen. 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, in the Summer Family Movie Series at The Corners of Brookfield, 20111 W. Blue Mound Road, Brookfield. Info: thecorners ofbrookfield.com.
“Coco”: Last year’s Oscar winner for best animated feature has a trifecta of free screenings this week: 8 p.m. Friday in Sussex Civic Center Plaza, N64-W23760 Main St. (Sussex’s Outdoor Movie Night, village
sussex.org); dusk Saturday in the Amphitheater in Konkel Park, 5151 W. Layton Ave., Greenfield (Greenfield’s Movies in the Park, ci.greenfield.wi.us); and 7:45 p.m. Thursday in Cushing Park, 116 Hickory Court, Delafield (Hartland/Delafield’s Family Movie Series, villageofhartland.com).
“Ferdinand”: John Cena’s the voice of the beloved bull in last year’s animated-feature Oscar nominee, showing courtesy the Jackson Park Community Association’s Movie in the Park series. 8 p.m. Saturday in Manitoba Park, 2941 S. 49th St. Info: jacksonpark.us.
“The Lego Ninjago Movie”: A better-than-you’dthink animated Lego spinoff, in which a young ninja must take on a supervillain, who’s also his father. (And it has a great Jackie Chan cameo.) The finale in New Berlin’s Movies in the Park series, at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Malone Park, 16400 W. Al Stigler Parkway. (The series is asking moviegoers bring one nonperishable food item per person.) Info: newberlin.org.