Defiant, and demonic, women in focus
‘The Nun’
You can’t keep a bad nun down, it seems.
The new horror movie “The Nun” is a prequel/ origin story of Nun Valek, the frightening nun who caused all the trouble in “The Conjuring 2.”
A priest and a novice, on the cusp of taking her vows, are sent to a cloistered abbey in Romania to investigate why a young nun killed herself. Turns out there’s some unholy orders going on there.
Taissa Farmiga plays the young nun, and Demian Bichir is the priest; Bonnie Aarons is back as the scary nun. “The Nun” is rated R for violence, gore and disturbing images. It runs for 99 minutes.
‘Peppermint’
Jennifer Garner has spent much of her time on the screen in the past decade playing wives, mothers, girlfriends — nothing like her breakout TV character, the superfighting superspy on “Alias.”
She gets to tap some of that skill set in her new movie, “Peppermint.”
She plays a woman whose husband and daughter are killed by members of a violent cartel. When the corrupt system protects instead of punishes them, she goes into training to bring the justice to them, bu any means necessary.
Directed by Pierre Morel (”District B12,” “Taken”), “Peppermint” also stars John Ortiz, John Gallagher Jr. and Juan Pablo Raba. “Peppermint” is rated R for violence and pervasive language. It runs for 95 minutes.
‘The Wife’
Behind every socalled great man is a woman who’s just about had it.
Joan (Glenn Close) has been married to Joe Castleman, a celebrated (and self-important) American novelist, for nearly 40 years. She’s been the bedrock of their relationship and his career, so when he gets the call that he’s getting the Nobel Prize for literature, it’s a victory for them both.
But it also puts her in the position of thinking about what she gave up — and what betrayals she put up with — so that he could get his moment. Comeuppance is in the air.
“The Wife,” co-starring Christian Slater and Max Irons, is getting solid
reviews, and is seen by many critics as one of Close’s best shots at winning an Oscar. “‘The Wife’ is a handsome production that delicately skewers literaryworld pretensions and Great Man mythmaking,” Washington Post critic Ann Hornaday wrote in her 31⁄2-star review. “But primarily, ‘The Wife’ offers viewers a chance to observe one of the finest — and most criminally underpraised — actresses of her generation working at the very top of her shrewd, subtle, superbly self-controlled game.” “The Wife” is rated R for language and some sexual content. It runs for 100 minutes.
‘The Bookshop’
When a widow opens a bookstore in a small village on the coast of late 1950s England, she doesn’t realize that she and her little shop — carrying books by “controversial” authors like Bradbury and Nabokov — are going to stir up some passions, from a book-loving widower to the woman who runs the town.
Based on the novel by Penelope Fitzgerald, “The Bookshop” stars Emily Mortimer as the shop owner, Bill Nighy as her soft-spoken ally and Patricia Clarkson as her nemesis.
Reviews for “The Bookshop” are mixed. “A loving, ambitious stab at a well-chosen text that it nonetheless can’t fully lift from the page, ‘The Bookshop’ perhaps makes the case for printed matter in more ways than it intends,” Variety critic Guy Lodge wrote.
“The Bookshop” is rated PG for some thematic elements, language and smoking. It runs for 113 minutes.
‘God Bless the Broken Road’
When the perfect romance ends in tragedy, how do you come back from that?
In “God Bless the Broken Road,” a young mother nearly doesn’t. Her husband dies in Afghanistan, leaving her to raise their young daughter and try to hang onto their home. Her sorrow turns to anger, some of which she aims at God for letting it all happen.
But just as her faith is tested, she finds new reasons to believe.
Inspired by the country song “Bless the Broken Road,” a Grammy winner for Rascal Flatts more than a decade ago, “God Bless the Broken Road” stars Lindsay Pulsipher, Makenzie Moss, Andrew W. Walker, Kim Delaney, Robin Givens, Jordin Sparks and LaDainian Tomlinson
“God Bless the Broken Road” is rated PG for thematic material. It runs for 111 minutes.
Milwaukee Short Film Festival
The 20th Milwaukee Short Film Festival, screening Friday and Saturday at Fox-Bay Cinema Grill, features a program of 50 short films, a number of them by local filmmakers, including Mark G.E.’s “The Phantom Limb,” the first work ever shown at the first Short Film Festival, and “Hoan Alone,” Aaron Johnson’s animated documentary about suicides on the Hoan Bridge. Eric Levin, the former owner and operator of the Times Cinema and a fixture of the Milwaukee movie scene, will receive the festival’s Pacesetter Award for his contributions to local filmmaking. Separate-ticket programs are at 6:45 and 9 p.m. Friday, and 4:30, 6:45 and 9 p.m. Saturday at the Fox-Bay, 334 E. Silver Spring Drive, Whitefish Bay. Tickets are $10 in advance at the festival’s website; a two-day pass is available for $40. Info: milwaukeeindependentfilmsociety.org.
The week’s best off-the-grid options
“Dr. Strangelove, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb”: For many, Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 black comedy about, well, the end of the world is the definitive screen depiction of military madness. Peter Sellers plays several characters, including the title mad philosopher. 6:45 p.m. Tuesday at the Oriental Theatre, 2230 N. Farwell Ave. $11, $9 for Milwaukee Film members, $8 for seniors 60 and older, $6 for kids 12 and younger. Info:
“Slice”: Chance the Rapper makes his movie-acting debut setting out with Zazie Beetz (”Deadpool 2’s” breakout star) to catch who’s behind a string of murders of pizza delivery guys in this horror-comic-goreaction movie. The movie, with a simulcast Q&A with director Austin Vesely, is having its world premiere in 20 theaters nationwide, including the Oriental Theatre, at 7 p.m. Monday. $11, $9 for Milwaukee Film members, $8 for seniors 60 and older, $6 for kids 12 and younger. Info:
“Wanda”: Actress-turned-director Barbara Loden’s 1971 drama is a stark, clear-eyed and compelling story of a woman drifting through life and what it costs her. One of the few feature films directed by women in the early 1970s, back in circulation with a new 4K restoration. 7 p.m. Saturday and 5 p.m. Sunday, UWM Union Cinema, 2200 E. Kenwood Blvd. $5, free for UWM students and Union Cinema members. Info:
“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”: Marcus Theatres is going back to the beginning, showing each of the nine movies from the “Harry Potter” universe, one weekend at a time, leading up the Nov. 16 opening of “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.” First up, natch, is the first one, which introduced viewers to Harry, Ron, Hermione, Professor Dumbledore and He Who Must Not Be Named, showing at noon Saturday and Sunday at Marcus’ Bistroplex, Hillside, Majestic, Menomonee Falls, Ridge, Saukville and South Shore. Admission to the “Potter” redux screenings is $5. Info:
“Ava”: A young woman struggles with society’s constraints in Iranian director Sadaf Foroughi’s feature-film debut, making its Milwaukee premiere at 5 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday at UWM Union Cinema. Admission is $5, free for UWM students and Union Cinema members. Info:
“That Summer”: The story of Edith and Edie Beale — the mother and daughter captured in the beloved documentary “Grey Gardens” — just keeps on giving: Broadway musical, HBO docudrama and now this new documentary about a long-lost attempt to tell their story three years before the Maysles brothers’ 1975 “Gardens.” Director Göran Olsson, whose compilationfilmmaking chops are seen in “The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975,” put this together from photographer Peter Beard’s photos, capturing the Long Island estate’s slow fade, with celebrity visits by the likes of Andy Warhol and Mick Jagger. 12:40 and 6 p.m. Friday, 1:10 and 6:20 p.m. Sunday, 4 and 8:45 p.m. Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, and 8:45 p.m. Thursday at the Oriental. $11, $9 for Milwaukee Film members, $8 for seniors 60 and older, $6 for kids 12 and younger. Info: mkefilm.org/oriental-theatre.
“Surfer: Teen Confronts Fear”: Low-budget drama getting some comparisons to “The Room” in the sobad-it’s-good-cinema department, nominally about a teenager having trouble getting back on the board after a wave wipes him out. 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Avalon Theater, 2473 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. $10.50. Info:
“Guys and Dolls”: Frank Sinatra in a musical, sure, but Marlon Brando? See for yourself in this entertainment musical adaptation of Damon Runyan’s stories of gamblers, street missionaries, dance-hall girls and the oldest established permanent floating crap game in New York. 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Avalon. $5. Info:
“The Sound of Music”: The hills are alive, again, with this Oscar-winning musical starring Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer and the Austrian Alps. 2 p.m. Sunday and 7 p.m. Wednesday at Marcus Theatres’ Majestic, Menomonee Falls, North Shore, Ridge and South Shore cinemas. $12.50. Info: marcus theatres.com.
“Last Day at Lambeau”: To get in tune for Sunday’s start of the Packers’ 2018 season, there’s this 2012 documentary about Brett Favre’s return to Green Bay — but as a Minnesota Viking. 1:10 p.m. Saturday at the Oriental. $11, $9 for Milwaukee Film members, $8 for seniors 60 and older, $6 for kids 12 and younger. Info: mkefilm.org/oriental-theatre.
“Spirited Away”: Hayao Miyazaki’s Oscar-winning animated fable about a girl who stumbles into the spirit world. 11:59 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Downer Theatre, 2589 N. Downer Ave. $8.50. Info: landmarktheatres.com/milwaukee.
“In the Body’s Tow: Kera MacKenzie and Andrew Mausert Mooney”: Chicago-based experimental filmmakers MacKenzie and Mausert mingle cinematic technique and ordinary affects in their work, showing in a program courtesy Microlights at The Open, 830 E. Chambers St., at 8 p.m. Saturday. Suggested donation is $5. Info: microlightscinema.com.
“Saving Brinton”: Documentary about one man’s obsession with another man’s obsession — the discovery in an Iowa farmhouse of a collection of movies from the late 19th and early 20th century, brought there by the man who introduced the American Midwest to cinema. 7 p.m. Thursday at UWM Union Cinema. $5, free for UWM students and Union Cinema members. Info: cinema.uwm.edu.
“Drop Dead Gorgeous”: Kirsten Dunst and Denise Richards star in this camp 1999 faux documentary about a no-holds-barred beauty contest in a small Minnesota town. 7 and 9:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Avalon. $5. Info: avalonmke.com.