THE BATTLE OF THE SEXES

AMERICAN ASSASSIN

H1/2 R, 111 minutes. Through tonight only at Lisbon. What role does emotion play in violence? This is the rather high-minded philosophical question at the core of the rather schlocky spy picture “American Assassin,” though the film itself doesn’t offer any clear answers on that. It’s difficult to puzzle out any morals about what motivates violence and how trauma manifests when the film just leans into more and more numbingly graphic images of human destruction. — Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service

AMERICAN MADE

1/2 R, 115 min. Through tonight only at Waterford. Still playing at Stonington, Westbrook and Lisbon. As soon as the Universal logo flickers and switches to its retro 1970s look and the disco music starts to play, jazzing up Jimmy Carter speeches and old news footage, we know what we’re in for with the cocaine-smuggling adventure “American Made.” This is a romp and a half. Maybe even three. Director Doug Liman has never been a minimalist filmmaker, and “American Made” just might be his most maximalist film yet. There’s a breezy sunniness to this film, which looks like a faded snapshot reclaimed from a 1980s photo album. VHS lines and time stamps crackle effervescently. “American Made” casts a nostalgic golden filter on what was a rather dark and dramatic period in U.S. history. Drug cartel-related violence plagued the Southeast while the first lady urged everyone to “just say no.” Meanwhile the American government was essentially allowing the illegal import of cocaine while providing guns to the rebels fighting the Communist Sandinista army PG-13, 121 minutes. Through tonight only at Niantic, Madison Art Cinemas, Stonington and Westbrook. Still playing at Mystic Luxury Cinemas. “Battle of the Sexes” shares its title with a headline-grabbing 1973 tennis match between 29-year-old women’s champion Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) and 55-year-old former star Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell). It’s an excellent example of hyperbolic branding that reinforced men’s fears of emasculation at the hands of some imagined bogeywoman — when really, as Stone’s King tells a smug tennis official (Bill Pullman), “We just want a little bit of what you’ve got. That’s what you can’t stand.” “Battle of the Sexes,” directed by spouses Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton (“Little Miss Sunshine”), feels like the right movie at the right time: an upbeat, great-looking and beautifully acted piece of entertainment that also works as a simple request for respect and equal treatment in American society. It makes its case without too much preaching or demonizing (though there is a bit of gloating), and it never forgets that what we’re really here to see is a sports movie, with all the drama and suspense that entails. On all counts, “Battle of the Sexes” delivers. — Rafer Guzman, Newsday

BLADE RUNNER 2049

1/2 R, 163 minutes. Niantic, Mystic Luxury Cinemas, Waterford, Stonington, Lisbon, Westbrook. Filmmaker Denis Villeneuve has taken on the herculean task of directing the sequel to Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi classic “Blade Runner,” a feat that seems nearly impossible to pull off, considering the reverence with which fans hold the original, one of the most unique and influential pieces of sci-fi cinema. Villeneuve’s film, “Blade Runner 2049,” is a remarkable achievement, a film that feels distinctly auteurist, yet also cut from the very same cloth as Scott’s film. This epic riff on the styles, themes and characters of “Blade Runner” expand the scope and story of this world. Written by original screenwriter Hampton Fancher and Michael Green, “2049” is a meditative and moving film, sumptuously photographed by legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins. To belabor story details is to miss the bigger picture of “Blade Runner 2049.” The style is rich, the

themes are complex, but the story is a simple, classically cinematic tale. A man is faced with an existential quandary through which he reckons with his own soul and identity in the face of incredible dehumanization. As LAPD officer K, searching out illegal replicants, Ryan Gosling is perfectly cast as a successor to Deckard (Harrison Ford). His nonchalance reflects the uneasy, distrustful daily existence in this dystopian, isolated future. He is riveting when K’s spirit tries to break through the studiously placid surface. — Katie Walsh, Tribune Content Agency

FLATLINERS

PG-13, 108 minutes. Through tonight only at Stonington, Westbrook, Lisbon. This is a remake of the 1990 movie written by Mystic native Peter Filardi about medical students who decide to stop their hearts for short periods to experience the afterlife — and then be brought back to the living. This version features a screenplay by Ben Ripley based on Filardi’s story, and it stars Ellen Page, Diego Luna and Nina Dobrev.

THE FOREIGNER

R, 114 minutes. Waterford, Stonington, Westbrook, Lisbon. Legendary action star and martial arts maestro Jackie Chan gets his “Taken” moment with the terrorism thriller “The Foreigner,” written by David Marconi, directed by frequent Bond director Martin Campbell. Chan co-stars as a man seeking vengeance for the death of his daughter in a bloody London bombing. His counterpart is a grizzled former 007 himself, Pierce Brosnan, growling his way into a meaty and morally ambiguous role as former IRA member and Irish Deputy Minister Liam Hennessy, attempting to politick his way around the aftermath of the bombing, which is claimed by a rouge IRA cell. Adapted from Stephen Leather’s novel “The Chinaman,” “The Foreigner” is only so-titled because the alternative would have caused an outcry. Chan’s character Quan Ngoc Minh is mostly referred to as “the Chinaman” throughout, even though he’s ethnically Vietnamese. Despite its literary origins, the film feels a bit like a writer tossed a few darts at a board labeled with aging action stars and various terrorist groups and just decided to make it work. Jackie Chan vs. the Irish Republican Army? That could work. What’s next: Bruce Willis vs. ETA? JeanClaude Van Damme takes on Aum Shinrikyo? Chan’s role is brooding, serious and simple. He wants names. Names of those responsible for his daughter’s death. Rebuffed by the police and government, he relies on his old bag of tricks, developed in the jungles of Vietnam, honed by U.S. Special Forces. Chan, now in his 60s, isn’t the energetic tornado of whirling kicks and punches he once was, but he’s still got it. His fighting style in the film is brutish, resourceful and extremely effective. Brosnan is the talker, deploying his suaveness, talking out of both sides of his mouth to British politicians and his cabal of former (or are they?) IRA militants. — Katie Walsh, Tribune Content Agency

HAPPY DEATH DAY

PG-13, 96 minutes. Waterford, Stonington, Westbrook, Lisbon. “Happy Death Day,” the story of a woman who’s caught in an endless loop of her own death, follows in the footsteps of “Get Out” by taking familiar elements from the horror genre but delivering the scares with more wit, wisdom and wonder. It starts with Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe), a sorority sister in desperate need of some sensitivity training, waking up in a strange college dorm room. Her meeting with the dorm’s occupant, the sweet and naïve Carter Davis (Israel Broussard), is the start of a string of humiliating moments magnified by it being Tree’s birthday. Her suffering comes to an end when a man dressed in all black wearing a baby face mask attacks and kills her. Tree wakes the next morning (that’s really the same morning) with a major sense of déjà vu and, ultimately, a murderous end to her day. It only takes Tree three or four times of being killed before she realizes that until she figures out the identity of her killer, the day will continue to repeat. But each time Tree awakens, she’s a bit weaker. The real killer here (figuratively speaking) is that the suspect list is massively long because of Tree’s lack of caring for anyone but herself. This is where “Happy Death Day” takes a different approach to the genre. Scott Lobdell’s script features many tropes from the horror film world. It starts with the central figure of Tree, a beautiful blonde who always seems to be wearing the wrong shoes to run away from her killer. But in a twist, she ends up being both the victim and savior in this story. — Rick Bentley, Tribune Content Agency

IT

R, 135 minutes. Waterford, Stonington, Westbrook, Lisbon. Here’s the good news: Pennywise is as creepy as ever in the new “It.” Thanks to a bigger budget and some improved special effects some 27 years later he really gets the chance to spook the kids of Derry, Maine. Bill Skarsgard (son of Stellan, brother of Alexander) has infused Stephen King’s killer clown with a pathological menace that’s more reminiscent of Heath Ledger’s Joker than Tim Curry’s goofily sadistic take on the character in the 1990s miniseries adaptation. It helps that he’s gotten an upgraded makeup job and a more antiquated (and scarier) costume of 17th century ruffs and muted whites. His teeth are bigger, his hair is less cartoonish, his eyes are more yellow and his mobility has become terrifyingly kinetic. Indeed, the new “It” goes all-out with the horror in Part One of the story, which is focused on the plight of a group of children in the 1980s who are haunted and hunted by a clown only they can see. Things that the miniseries only alluded to are depicted with merciless glee. Did you want to see a gang of bullies cutting a kid’s stomach? “It” has that. Or witness a father looking lustily at his pre-teen daughter? “It” has that too. The bad news is that “It” still doesn’t add up to much. — Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press

KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE

R, 141 minutes. Waterford, Stonington, Westbrook, Lisbon. “Kingsman: The Secret Service” caught many by surprise when it was released in 2014. On the surface, it’s an updated, cheekier riff on Bond — the British gentleman spy gets an upgrade when a lower-class Cockney lad gets recruited into their ranks, utilizing his street smarts and brute force. It was shockingly violent, soundtracked to classic pop hits, and the one-two punch of director Matthew Vaughn’s dizzying camera work and star Taron Egerton’s crinkly-eyed charm

1/2 PG, 101 minutes. Stonington, Westbrook, Lisbon. With the wild success of both “The Lego Movie” and “The Lego Batman Movie,” released just earlier this year, it stands to reason that Warner Bros. would strike while the iron is hot and churn out more Lego-themed movies, like “The Lego Ninjago Movie,” which sadly proves that when it comes to the super fun Lego movies, there can be diminishing returns. — Katie Walsh, Tribune Content Agency

MARK FELT

1/2 PG-13, 103 minutes. Niantic. As a lifetime Federal Bureau of Investigation agent and No. 2 to J. Edgar Hoover, Mark Felt was not exactly an ordinary man, but he was, it seems, a highly unlikely candidate to topple a presidency. Felt was the man behind Deep Throat, the Watergate whistleblower who led Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein to the explosive truth behind that break-in. He lived only as a shadowy mystery in the popular imagination until he gave up