Current attractions
“The BFG”: Steven Spielberg teamed up with Disney for this pretty but lethargic movie adaptation of the Roald Dahl children’s classic. For all its technical marvels, this bedtime story may be lovely to look at, but it’s far too sluggish to keep viewers from nodding off.
½ (Karen D’Souza, Staff) PG, 1:55
“Captain Fantastic: Viggo Mortensen leads a terrific ensemble of young actors in this film about a family of off-the-gridders. Ben along with his wife, Leslie (Trin Miller), have been rusticating in the dripping woods with their six kids since the birth of their now-teenage son. A family crisis sends the whole clan on an antic bus trip punctuated by visits with relatives, where they soon realize just how alienated they’ve become. (Ann Hornaday, Washington Post) R 1:58 “Central Intelligence’’: Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart play high school acquaintances getting together again 20 years later. Johnson’s character, an obese wallflower then, has bulked up to intimidating size but remains a pussycat at heart. Former king of the campus Hart has become an office drone. National security agents appear, shots are fired, the duo goes on the run. (Colin Covert, Star Tribune) PG-13, 1:54
“The Conjuring 2”: This sequel has Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga returning as paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. The church is eager for them to verify or disprove claims that a vicious spirit has possessed young Janet Hodgson (Madison Wolfe). Though often we discover scary things hiding in plain sight, director James Wan also makes us fear what lies just outside the frame.
½ (Katie Walsh) R, 2:13
“Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words”:
The fiercely idiosyncratic musician and composer (who died of prostate cancer in 1993 at age 52) hated being interviewed. But director Thorsten Schütte managed to track down all manner of filmed material to create an absorbing documentary. There is a lot of music as well as some surprises. (Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times) Unrated, 1:30
“Finding Dory”: Pixar’s sequel to “Finding Nemo” follows Dory, as she remembers, and tries to find, her family. The formula is the same as the original, which doesn’t stop “Dory” from being a charming film that resonates with warm emotion. Eleen DeGeneres returns as the lovable, and forgetful, fish, as does Albert Brooks as her friend Marlin. Ed’O Neil, Eugene Levy and Diane Keaton provide the voices for new, fresh characters. ½ (Tony Hicks, Staff) PG, 1:40 “The Free State of
Jones”: In this Civil Warera biography, Matthew McConaughey deftly plays Newton Knight, a pro-Union Mississippi native who marshaled a guerrilla war against his own side, the Confederacy. McConaughey looks just right in this drama, which is just interesting enough to make you wish it were a lot grittier and better. The film’s flash-forwards to 1948 are meant to illuminate how things have changed, and how they haven’t, but the interpolations feel uncertain.
½ (Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune) R, 2:19
“Ghostbusters’: The four very funny stars (Melissa McCarthy, KristenWiig, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon) have the comic chops to carry a reboot of this beloved comedy driven by male actors. Unfortunately, they got slimed by bad writing and a recycled concept. An encounter with a ghost who likes to vomit slime on humans brings the women enough Internet notoriety to get them canned from their jobs, so they go into business as paranormal exterminators.
Tony Hicks, Staff) PG-13, “Hunt For the
Wilderpeople”: This wacky story of the unlikely alliance between an overweight reprobate teenager (Julian Dennison) and a surly, wilderness-loving loner (Sam Neill) has a sweet and subversive sensibility that mixes adventure and comedy in surprising ways. Child Welfare wants Ricky back after his foster mother dies, but Ricky wants to stay with “Uncle” Hec. Complications ensue, and the two head into the bush.
½ (Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times) PG-13, 1:41 “Independence Day:
Resurgence”: From the metallic shell of the 1996 smash “Independence Day,” director Roland Emmerich has pulled a seriously lousy sequel, dripping with alien goo and incoherence. The cast includes Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, SelaWard, Judd Hirsch and a fleet of calculatedly diverse 25(ish) hotshots. Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune) PG13, 2:09
“The Infiltrator”: Bryan Cranston stars in this truecrime story of an undercover narcotics specialist who masqueraded as “Bob Musella,” money launderer and party host to stars of the Medellin cartel. In an elaborate sting operation, Mazur weaseled his way into the good graces of the bad guys, right up to the rarefied, lethal realm of Pablo Escobar. Michael Phillips/Chicago Tribune) R, 2:07
“The Innocents: Set in 1945, six months after the end of the European war, in a Poland occupied by Russian troops, this film begins quietly in a Benedictine convent where a French Red Cross doctor (Lou de Laage) is called upon. There she meets the French-speaking Sister Maria (Agata Buzek) and the convent’s iron-willed Mother Abbess (Agata Kulesza) and hears a horrifying story.
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times) Unrated, 1:55 “The Legend of Tarzan”: Another attempt to bring Edgar Rice Burroughs’ characters to the big screen has so-so results. This version finds John Clayton/Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgard) in London, years after leaving the jungle. A government task sends him back to the Congo, where a ruthless foreign official plans his demise. The computer graphics are impressive, as is the scenery.
½ (Tony Hicks, Staff) PG-13, 1:49
“The Lobster”: In this dystopian parable, society is divided between romantic haves and have-nots, and those who fail to land a spouse will be transformed into animals. We meet David (Colin Farrell) just as his wife is leaving him for another man. It’s a wondrously silly premise, and one that director Yorgos Lanthimos executes with rigorous illogic and immaculate formal control.
½ (Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times) R, 1:58
“Love & Friendship:” Kate Beckinsale is a divine choice for the Lady Susan of the Jane Austen novella, a cunning widow hard as a diamond and equally as glittering. An intelligent actress too often wasted in mind-numbing action movies, Beckinsale is endlessly captivating as a formidable woman low on funds but high on manipulative genius. ½ (Karen D’Souza, Staff) PG, 1:34
“Me Before You”: Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin star in the film adaptation of the Jo Jo Moyes novel about a working class English girl who becomes the caretaker for a recently-paralyzed English heir and falls in love with him. ½ (Tony Hicks, Staff), PG-13, 1:50 “Mike and Dave Need
Wedding Dates”: Two brothers (Adam Devine and Zac Efron) are the life of the party— but also the death of it, as they don’t know when to stop. When their sister is about to get hitched in Hawaii, the family stages an intervention. They determine female companions will keep the guys from their usual attention-seeking antics. But their Craigslist dates are not what they seemed in this flamboyantly raunchy comedy.
½ (Stephanie Merry, Washington Post) R, 1:38
“The Nice Guys”: This bloody, hilarious, convoluted mystery is as funny as it is dark. Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling star in this yarn, which unspools in 1977 Los Angeles.
½ (Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service) R, 1:56 “Now You See Me 2”: FBI agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) helps the rogue group of magicians regroup in this sequel to the 2013 action comedy. Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco and Lizzy Caplan star as the magicians. . Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service) PG-13, 2:09
“Our Kind of Traitor”: In this John le Carré adaptation, Naomie Harris plays Gail, a London barrister married to Perry (Ewan McGregor), a literature instructor. While vacationing in Marrakesh, they meet Dima (Stellan Skarsgard), a gregarious but lethal money-launderer for the Russian mafia who seeks Perry’s help in sneaking incriminating information through customs and to British intelligence. ½ (Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune) R 1:47 “Our Little Sister”: Filmmaker Hirokazu Koreeda focuses initially on three sisters in their 20s who live together in a ramshackle house in a seaside town south of Tokyo. But the plot kicks in when the sisters receive the news that their estranged father has died. At the funeral, they meet Suzu, the shy half-sister they didn’t know they had. She’s the daughter of their father and the woman, also now dead, who broke up his marriage to their mother. Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times) PG, 2:06 “The Secret Life of Pets”: A playful premise, endearing performances (featuring the voices of Louis C.K., Kevin Hart, Jenny Slate and Albert Brooks) and outstanding score make “Pets” fun family fare. Two would-be rivals fighting for the love of their owner are forced to unite for a common cause when they get separated from their dog walker and captured by animal control. This is the start of an adventure in the animal underworld. (Sandy Cohen, Associated Press) PG, 1:31
“The Shallows”: In this perfect summer thriller, director Jaume Collet-Serra pits surfer against shark. Med school dropout Nance Adams (Blake Lively) visits a secluded Mexican beach and learns why it’s never a good idea to surf alone — or to paddle near a bloody whale carcass. But she keeps her wits about her and uses every last bit of energy to outwit the crazed shark that keeps stalking her. ½ (Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service) PG-13, 1:27