Scary stuff on screen, from serial killers to ... calculus ‘Hal’
“Smallfoot” is rated PG for rude humor and thematic elements. It runs for 98 minutes.
‘Night School’
Kevin Hart has squared off against Ice Cube (the “Ride Along” movies) and Dwayne (yes, The Rock) Johnson (”Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” “Central Intelligence). But is he ready for the force of nature that is Tiffany Haddish?
We’ll see in “Night School,” the new comedy from “Girls Trip” director Malcolm D. Lee.
Haddish (in the first of several comedies this fall) plays an adult-education instructor whose latest class of students includes former hotshot salesman Hart, who needs to get his GED to get his job and girlfriend back. And there isn’t a curve low enough to make this an easy A for him.
Taran Killam, Rob Riggle, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Romany Malco, Al Madrigal and Joseph Cartegna (a.k.a. rapper Fat Joe) co-star.
“Night School” is rated PG-13 for pervasive crude and sexual content, language, some drug references and violence. It runs for 111 minutes.
‘Smallfoot’
The new animated comedy “Smallfoot” turns the whole Abominable Snowman thing inside out.
A young Yeti (voiced by Channing Tatum) finds a footprint of a strangely smaller creature (spoiler: it’s a human, voiced by James Corden) and sets out to find him — and, by the way, get the rest of his Yeti clan to believe that humans actually exist.
The early reviews are mixed-positive. Hollywood Reporter reviewer Michael Rechtshaffen wrote that “Smallfoot” “carries sufficient charm and a bit of unexpected depth to justify its breezy existence.”
The 1970s were, in the minds of many, Hollywood’s modern golden age, when directors such as Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, William Friedkin, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas redefined the voice of American film.
Hal Ashby deserves to be mentioned among them. The new documentary “Hal” does its bit to right that wrong.
If Ashby’s all but forgotten today, his movies from the 1970s aren’t, included among them “Harold and Maude,” “Shampoo,” “Coming Home” and “Being There” — all among the 1970s’ best, and all possessing his fiercely independent and humanist spirit.
Filmmaker Amy Scott explores Ashby’s career and life — which ended with his death, from cancer, at 59 in 1988 — through clips from his movies and interviews with many of his co-conspirators as well as those his work influenced.
“Scott packs a lot into 90 minutes with this insightful and warm look at an artist whose best work always revealed a heightened social conscience,” Variety critic Todd McCarthy wrote.
“Hal” is showing at the Oriental Theatre, 2230 N. Farwell Ave. (check showtimes; after the weekend, it’s showing only at 3:45 p.m. Monday through Thursday). The Oriental is also sneaking in three of Ashby’s best movies during “Hal’s” brief run:
“Harold and Maude” (1971), the May-way-past-December romance with Bud Cort and Ruth Gordon, at 3:15 p.m. Saturday (showing in a 35-millimeter print);
“Being There” (1979), the brilliant still-waters satire starring Peter Sellers, at 3:15 p.m. Sunday (showing in a 35millimeter print);
And “Shampoo” (1975), with Warren Beatty as a seducer/hairdresser whose relationships are more tangled than his customers’ hair, 6 p.m. Tuesday.
“Hal” is not rated, but has language and mature content. It runs for 90 minutes. ‘The Third Murder’
Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda’s movies have long been celebrated for their poetic, often sweet narratives and still-waters style. His most recent,
“Shoplifters,” won the top prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Likely, Milwaukee will get “Shoplifters” sometime next year. But thanks to the Oriental Theatre, 2230 N. Farwell Ave., we’re getting his previous movie — which is something very different.
“The Third Murder” centers on a murder suspect whose attorney becomes convinced he’s innocent — even though the man, who served time for a murder 30 years before, freely confessed, and faces the death penalty.
“This tale, unexpectedly emerging as a story of fathers and daughters, is as riveting as any of his softer films, and its photography is a pleasure,” Seattle Times critic Moira Macdonald wrote in her 31⁄2-star review.
“The Third Murder” is not rated, but has mature content. It’s in Japanese with English subtitles, and runs for 124 minutes. ‘Hell Fest’
Old friends get together to check out a horrorthemed amusement park, which is turning into something much worse thanks to a serial killer.
The park, and the movie, are called “Hell Fest.” The wrinkle is, when people starting getting butchered, some of the partygoers are convinced it’s just part of the show. Oh, no, it’s not.
“Hell Fest” is rated R for violence, gore and language. It runs for 120 minutes.
‘Little Women’
The movie industry’s been abuzz this summer about a splashy new telling of “Little Women,” Louisa May Alcott’s beloved story of sisters and the power of family. The buzz isn’t surprising: It’s being directed by Greta Gerwig (”Ladybird”) and is set to star Saoirse Ronan as Jo March, Emma Watson as Meg, Timothée Chalamet as Laurie Laurence, and Meryl Streep as Aunt March.
It’s due out in 2019. Till then, there’s a different, but still new, “Little Women” opening in theaters this week. It’s a modern-day take with Lucas Grabeel as Laurie and Lea Thompson as Marmee, but still hewing to the story of sisters sticking together and doing it for themselves, whatever obstacles get thrown in their way.
“Little Women” is rated PG-13 for some thematic elements. It runs for 112 minutes.
“One Sings, the Other Doesn’t”: French film master’s Agnès Varda’s 1977 drama of empowerment chronicling the lives of two women in France in the 1970s, showing in a new 4K restoration. In French with English subtitles. 7 p.m. Friday and 5 p.m. Saturday at UWM Union Cinema, 2200 E. Kenwood Blvd. $5, free for UWM students and members of Union Cinema. Info: cinema.uwm.edu.
“Killer’s Kiss”: Before he made big, ambitious, world-creating mind-benders, Stanley Kubrick crafted this brisk 1955 noir drama about a boxer who puts his life on the line when he protects a dancer from her mob boss. 6 p.m. Monday 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: mkefilm.org/oriental-theatre.
“The Tale”: Laura Dern drew raves for her performance in this first-shown-on-HBO drama about a woman making a documentary on childhood rape victims who starts rethinking events from her own past. With Elizabeth Debicki, Ellen Burstyn, Common. 9:30 p.m. Friday and 7:30 p.m. Saturday at UWM Union Cinema. $5, free for UWM students and members of Union Cinema. Info: cinema.uwm.edu.
“Upstream Color”: An elliptical sci-fi romance involving a man, a woman and “an ageless organism,” written and directed by and starring Shane Carruth, the writer-director-star of the terrific, low-low-budget, big-buzz sci-fi thriller “Primer.” 6 p.m. Wednesday 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.
“The Green Fog”: Experimental film master Guy Maddin crafted this reinterpretation of Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller “Vertigo” by piecing together footage from other movies shot in the same city as that movie, San Francisco. 7 p.m. Tuesday at UWM Union Cinema. $5, free for UWM students and members of Union Cinema. Info: cinema.uwm.edu.
“Beetlejuice”: Say his name three times, and Michael Keaton’s undead standup comic returns in Tim Burton’s 1988 horror comedy. 4 p.m. Sunday and 7 p.m. Monday at Marcus Theatres’ Bistroplex Southridge and Menomonee Falls, Ridge and South Shore cinemas. $5. Info: marcustheatres.com.
“My Neighbor Totoro”: Hayao Miyazaki’s beloved animated fable about a girl who moves to the countryside and finds an unusual friend gets a 30th anniversary showing at Marcus Theatres’ Hillside, Majestic, Menomonee Falls, North Shore, Ridge and South Shore cinemas, with a dubbed version showing at 12:55 p.m. Sunday and 7 p.m. Wednesday, and one with subtitles at 7 p.m. Monday. $12.50. Info: marcustheatres.com.
“The Shining”: Marcus Theatres’ October “Fright Nights” series starts with Stanley Kubrick’s cautionary tale from 1980 about the dangers of writer’s block, at Marcus’ Bistroplex Southridge and Majestic, Menomonee Falls, Ridge and South Shore cinemas. 10 p.m. Thursday (with repeat showings at 10 p.m. Oct. 5 and 6). $5. Info: marcustheatres.com.
“Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution”: Documentary on queercore, the movement that began as an offshoot of punk rejecting the subculture’s machismo/ misogyny while embracing LGBTQ communities. 7 p.m. Wednesday at UWM Union Cinema.$5, free for UWM students and members of Union Cinema. Info: