NOW IN THEATERS
ACTION POINT
Johnny Knoxville calls on his experience with Jackass and Bad
Grandpa to tell this story about D.C., an old-timer (Knoxville) who reminisces about his days owning and operating a smalltime theme park. Most of the film is shown in flashback to the 1980s, taking cues from raunchy summer camp-themed comedies of the era and showing a younger D.C. as he realizes that in order to compete with the big theme parks, he must
make his park lawless and his rides fast, chaotic, and unsafe. From there, he and his reckless and often drunk crew test the rides themselves, causing what for non-jackasses would be devastating bodily harm. Incredibly, this film is loosely based on a real-life park in New Jersey that operated from 1978 to 1996. Rated R. 85 minutes. Regal Stadium 14. (Not reviewed)
ADRIFT
Richard Sharp (Sam Claflin) and Tami Oldham (Shailene Woodley) set out to sail from Tahiti to San Diego in this disaster film based on a true story. Their relationship is put to the test when they sail directly into a hurricane in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. With the ship in shambles, the duo lost, and Richard physically unable to sail, Tami must take control of the vessel and trust his guidance — which only strengthens their love. Rated PG-13. 120 minutes. Regal Stadium 14; Violet Crown. (Not reviewed)
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR
If you’ve been following the Marvel movies since Iron Man debuted in 2008, then this is the moment you’ve been waiting for — when all of your favorites come together. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) join the more recent additions to the universe such as Spider-Man (Tom Holland), Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), and the Guardians of the Galaxy. They’re teaming up to fight a new villain, Thanos (Josh Brolin), who aims to kill off half the life forms in the universe. The weapons he needs, the Infinity Stones, are scattered among the Marvel heroes, who mix and match in different combinations — often with delightful results — to prevent him from acquiring them. The film nicely balances a wide array of storylines, mixing humor and pathos and taking viewers to some far-out locales worthy of the psychedelic comics upon which these worlds are based. This movie will deliver everything fans hoped for. If you haven’t seen many Marvel movies, however, Infinity War will scarcely seem like a film at all to you — just a series of chaotic events without a beginning or end, with random payoffs to character arcs that were set up six movies ago. Rated PG-13. 149 minutes. Screens in 2D only at Regal Stadium 14; Violet Crown. (Robert Ker)
BOOK CLUB
The all-star quartet of Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, and Mary Steenburgen play a group of friends who are well-off, if a bit bored. They don’t realize how listless their sex lives have become until they read Fifty Shades of Grey in their book club. The saucy novel about sadomasochism inspires the four women to spice things up in their own bedrooms, and in some cases, to find new partners. Andy Garcia, Craig T. Nelson, Richard Dreyfuss, and Don Johnson play the objects of their advances. Rated PG. 104 minutes. Regal Stadium 14; Violet Crown. (Not reviewed)
BREAKING IN
Gabrielle Union plays Shaun Russell, a mother who brings her children to her recently deceased father’s house in the country. She is surprised to find he had equipped his home with an advanced security system complete with fortress-like barriers and an array of surveillance cameras. Her suspicions about her father having a secret life are confirmed when a gang of violent crooks enter the house looking for a hidden prize, locking themselves in with her kids. They soon find out they have messed with the wrong mother. Rated PG-13. 88 minutes. Regal Stadium 14. (Not reviewed)
DEADPOOL 2
Hot Topic shoppers, rejoice! The fourth-wall-breaking, wiseacre mercenary Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) is back for another round of ultraviolent, crotch-kicking superhero action. This time, his cast is expanded when he teams up with the scene-stealing Domino (Zazie Beetz) to prevent a military bruiser named Cable (Josh Brolin) from killing a kid (Julian Dennison) who, in the future, is destined to murder Cable’s family. The madcap pursuit is usually well-staged, but the film is a comedy first, and admirably persistent in its irreverence. Nary 30 seconds go by without a joke of some kind, be it sharp-witted or (mostly) juvenile, and just by playing the numbers game, the cast and filmmakers scrape together their share of laughs. The offbeat romance at the core of the first film is missed, however, and the concept, characters, and tone ultimately wear out their welcome. After the last bullet is fired and the last butt is bared, make sure to stay for the scene in the middle of the credits, which is the best bit in the whole film. Rated R. 119 minutes. Regal Stadium 14; Violet Crown. (Robert Ker)
ISLE OF DOGS
There are plenty of dogs and one hell of an island in this splendid Wes Anderson animated adventure. Trash Island is a garbage dump off the coast of a Japanese city ruled by dastardly Mayor Kobayashi (Kunichi Nomura), where all the dogs of the city are exiled on account of a mysterious illness. But when the mayor’s orphaned nephew Atari (Koyu Rankin) crash-lands his plane on the island to rescue his canine best friend Spots (Liev Schreiber), the game’s afoot! The pack of dogs that join Atari in his quest includes Rex (Edward Norton), the leader; King (Bob Balaban), a former TV spokesdog; Boss (Bill Murray), a baseball team mascot; and Duke (Jeff Goldblum), a rumormongrel. And then there’s Chief (Bryan Cranston), a stray who’s never submitted to human ownership. The human dialogue is delivered mostly in untranslated Japanese. The language barrier emphasizes the gap between humans and dogs — barks are rendered in English. It’s all smart, funny, and full of character, and the plot, while convoluted, never ceases to engage. The visuals are extraordinary, there’s excitement, suspense, and tugs at the heartstrings, and plenty of topical relevance. Rated PG-13. 101 minutes. In English and Japanese with occasional subtitles. Violet Crown. (Jonathan Richards)
LET THE SUNSHINE IN
In this film from veteran director Claire Denis
(Chocolat), Juliette Binoche plays a divorced artist who’s looking for love in all the wrong places. She bounces from lover to lover, and her choices — a brutish married banker, a solipsistic actor, her ex-husband — are far from perfect. Each man is either a cad or unavailable — sometimes both — and none of them deserves her. The oddly translated English title
Let the Sunshine In might bring to mind the loud, colorful rock musical Hair, but it couldn’t be further from it. The cast is small, the plot deceptively simple, and the questions it tackles — How do we find love? What will we put ourselves through to find it? — are profound and practically universal. It’s a sad, disquieting, very French film that may linger with you for days. Not rated. 96 minutes. Center for Contemporary Arts. (Laurel Gladden)
LIFE OF THE PARTY
Melissa McCarthy’s latest comedy finds her embodying a role similar to Rodney Dangerfield’s in Back to School — that of a middle-aged wisecracker who finds herself back in the partyhardy campus life. She plays Deanna, a woman who decides to complete her degree after her husband (Matt Walsh) leaves her. She joins her daughter (Molly Gordon) at college, and discovers fun and frat parties as well as her untapped potential, fresh romance, and a new lease on life. Rated PG-13. 105 minutes. Regal Stadium 14. (Not reviewed) OVERBOARD It’s hard to discern who was clamoring for a remake of the popular 1987 Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell comedy, but this update flips the genders of the two lead parts to keep things fresh. Anna Faris, a comic actress worthy of stepping into
Hawn’s shoes, plays a housecleaner who is treated poorly by her billionaire boss (played by Eugenio Derbez, who is a major star in Mexico). When he falls off his yacht and suffers amnesia, the maid tricks him into thinking he’s her husband and teaches him how to perform manual labor and treat people with respect. Rated PG-13. 112 minutes. Screens in English and Spanish with subtitles at Regal Stadium 14. (Not reviewed)
RBG
This affectionate, deeply moving documentary traces the ascent of Ruth Bader Ginsburg from her childhood in Brooklyn, through her years as a standout in law school, to a career as a litigator, federal judge, and finally Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. The film focuses on her as a champion of equal rights and underscores her increasing willingness to express dissent on a court whose complexion has veered to the right during her quarter-century tenure. Serious and sometimes stern, she has become an unlikely pop icon, but this film clarifies why her partisans are passionate. Santa Fe makes some cameo appearances. Rated PG. 98 minutes. Center for Contemporary Arts; Violet Crown. (James M. Keller)
THE RIDER
A young bucking bronc rider from the Pine Ridge Reservation suffers a near-fatal injury that curtails his rodeo career, forcing him to accept new limitations — some of which challenge his deepest notions of manhood. The sophomore film by writer-director Chloé Zhao is one of the year’s most bravura features, delivering a stunning and radiant lyricism out of the most hardscrabble and realistic background. The actors are all non-professionals, making this accomplishment all the more heartfelt and honest. Starring the Jandreau family — son Brady, tough-minded father Tim, and spirited autistic sister Lilly. Rated R. 104 minutes. Center for Contemporary Arts. (Jon Bowman)
SHOW DOGS
Will Arnett and Christopher “Ludacris” Bridges play an unlikely duo in this buddy-cop movie — with Bridges voicing a wisecracking Rottweiler. In this world, humans and canines can communicate, and these two cops must work undercover to break up an animal smuggling ring that operates under the guise of a Las Vegas dog show. Alan Cumming, Stanley Tucci, Gabriel Iglesias, and Shaquille O’Neal also lend their voices to pooches, and Natasha Lyonne plays another human. Director Raja Gosnell also helmed Beverly Hills Chihuahua and Scooby-Doo, so he has taken the talking-dog genre for a walk around the block before. Rated PG. 92 minutes. Regal Stadium 14. (Not reviewed)
SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY
In the latest side-serving of the Star Wars saga (meaning there is no episode number in the title), Disney takes you back before A New Hope to tell a Western-like story about a young Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) who is just trying to make his way in the universe. He meets a dubious mentor (Woody Harrelson) and embarks on a massive heist to earn enough money to reunite with his girlfriend (Emilia Clarke). In the tradition of movie prequels, Solo goes to great lengths to explain what was once left mysterious: You’ll learn how he gets the Millennium Falcon, how he meets Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian (a note-perfect Donald Glover), and even how he gets the name “Solo.” The plot only barely hangs together (director Ron Howard joined in mid-production, and it shows), the look is murky, and the action just so-so, but the smirking, swashbuckling tone and fine acting — while Ehrenreich isn’t able to summon Harrison Ford’s singular charisma, he grows on you — goes a long way. Clearly, audiences know that nothing bad will happen to Han, Chewy, or Lando, and this sense of the inevitable is freeing, allowing the film to feel nimble compared to the heavy emotional weight of recent Star Wars entries. Like all of the Disney-era films, however, it’s far too self-referential and reliant on nostalgia. Hopefully, at some point, the franchise will again begin breaking new ground rather than inspecting its own navel. Rated PG-13. 135 minutes. Screens in 2D and 3D at Regal Stadium 14. Screens in 2D only at Violet Crown. (Robert Ker)
UPGRADE
Logan Marshall-Green plays Grey Trace, a man in the near-future who is mugged in a violent attack that leaves him paralyzed and his wife dead. While in the hospital, he is visited by a stranger (Harrison Gilbertson) who offers to implant a chip in his spine that will restore his full use of his body. Grey discovers that the chip has a voice (performed by Simon Maiden) that only he can hear, and that voice is soon sending him on a revenge mission and taking control of his body. Rated R. 95 minutes. Regal Stadium 14. (Not reviewed)