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Tom Brady may have seven Super Bowl rings, but that’s nothing compared to the latest team against whom he’s facing off, the winningest group of legends perhaps ever assembled. Just take a look at the stats: first up, Jane Fonda, with two Oscars, seven Golden Globes and two Tony Awards under her belt. Next, Lily Tomlin, boasting six Emmys, two Tonys and a Grammy; and Sally Field, coming in hot with two Oscars, two Emmys and two Globes. Rounding out the team is the EGOT herself, Rita Moreno.
Count ’em: Oscar, Grammy, Tony, two Emmys and a Golden Globe for good luck. This fearsome foursome star in “80 for Brady,” a tale about a group of octogenarian football fans and a wild weekend at the Super Bowl. 1:38. 2 ½ stars. — Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service
‘80 FOR BRADY’:
‘ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA’: Paul Rudd is back as Scott Lang/ Ant-man, as is secondbilled Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne/ Wasp. Second-billed implies a certain portion of the action and the talking, but Lilly is practically mute in “Quantumania,” and you keep waiting for some explanation for this. A curse? A character grudge we’ll eventually find out about? Aside from the occasional boilerplate, Hope’s strictly sideline material. The plot this time sends Scott, Hope, Hope’s parents (Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael Douglas) and Scott’s enterprising and socially conscious daughter,
Cassie (Kathryn Newton), into the sub-universe of Quantumville. “Quantumania” also introduces the scowling, fearsome, highly screenworthy revolutionleading warrior, Jentorra, portrayed by Katy O’brian. She’s a beast, the best kind, and ready for anything. Even when the film itself isn’t much of anything. 2:05. 2 stars. — Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
‘CHAMPIONS’: Lots of people will find lots to like in “Champions,” a seriocomic story of how young men and one woman — Special Olympics basketball hopefuls with intellectual and developmental disabilities — turn their arrogant coach, played by Woody Harrelson, into less of a jerk. The film remakes the 2018 Spanish comedy-drama “Campeones.” Stuck in Des Moines, Iowa, after being fired from his semipro assistant coaching gig and sentenced to 90 days of community service after a DUI, Marcus (Harrelson) reluctantly takes over a ragtag community center team’s fortunes. Disarming one minute, baldly manipulative the next, “Champions” is a tricky one. At one point, Marcus compliments his players for coping with “the stuff you guys put up with from ignorant people every day,” and while that is well-meaning and rooted in bittersweet reality, the movie itself extends a hand to these characters even as it tells its preferred redemption story. 2:03. 2 stars. — Michael Phillips
‘CREED III’: For “Creed” star Michael B. Jordan, stepping behind the camera for his directorial debut in “Creed III” is following in the very famous footsteps of the original star of the franchise — Sylvester Stallone. After the critical success of “Rocky,” for which he wrote the screenplay, Stallone took over directing duties from John G. Avildsen, directing “Rocky II,” which became a box-office smash, cementing Stallone as an unlikely action-star auteur. There’s a meta element to Jordan’s move behind the camera that’s mimicked in Adonis Creed’s journey in the screenplay by Keenan Coogler and Zach Baylin. Adonis, aka Donnie (Jordan), has hung up the gloves and moved into a promoter role, supporting
the championship aspirations of Felix Chavez (played by pro boxer Jose Benavidez), and spending time with his family, wife Bianca (Tessa Thompson) and daughter Amara (Mila Davis-kent). The domestic challenges — finding his purpose outside of the ring, reckoning with the history of his relationship with his adopted mother (Phylicia Rashad) and learning to express himself with his wife — are fairly standard issue and not all that compelling beyond what the actors bring to the role. Where “Creed III” really starts to stir to life is in the introduction of Jonathan Majors as a figure from Donnie’s dark and violent childhood. 1:56. 3 stars.
— Katie Walsh
‘JESUS REVOLUTION’: “Jesus Revolution” focuses on the Jesus movement that took place in Southern California in the late ’60s and early ’70s. Jon Erwin co-directs with Brent Mccorkle, the writer of “I Can Only Imagine,” the pair working from a
script by Erwin and Jon Gunn adapted from a book by Greg Laurie and Ellen Vaughn. Laurie is, in fact, the subject of “Jesus Revolution,” played by Joel Courtney. But the film, which is part biopic, part period piece depicting a larger movement, juggles three different subjects while trying to tell the story of the Jesus movement, including Laurie, Laurie’s mentor, Chuck Smith, played by Kelsey Grammer, and hippie evangelist Lonnie Frisbee (Jonathan Roumie). Unfortunately, despite the interesting history, the film itself is a dry, scattered slog, neutered of all the thorny, contradictory details of the real story. 2:00. 1 stars.
— Katie Walsh
‘MAGIC MIKE’S LAST DANCE’:
There’s no denying that there is before “Magic Mike” and there’s after “Magic Mike.” One can even point to a specific inflection point in Steven Soderbergh’s 2012 male stripper drama that was lightly culled from star
Channing Tatum’s experiences in an “all-male revue”: the scene in which Tatum, as the aforementioned Mike, performs a solo number to Ginuwine’s “Pony” as Cody Horn’s Brooke looks on from the crowd. It’s not just the hypnotic fluidity of Tatum’s hips and torso, but the way that Soderbergh cuts back to Brooke, our gaze becoming her gaze, her frown offering dramatic irony to the visual splendor that is Tatum’s body in motion. This final installment finds Soderbergh and Tatum toying with audience expectations to disappointing results. There are a few flashes of the original magic, but it’s lacking in the energy that made the first two movies a thrill. After the cultural reset of “Magic Mike,” this last dance just doesn’t bring the heat. 1:52. 2 stars. — Katie Walsh
‘PALM TREES AND POWER LINES’:
An older man cajoles a young girl into his truck late one night. “Don’t murder me,” she scoffs, oblivious to the other, more insidious threats that he may represent. It’s a classic “stranger danger” setup presented by Jamie Dack in “Palm Trees and Power Lines,” her directorial debut, which she co-wrote with Audrey Findlay. Dack and Findlay’s screenplay, about the relationship between the young girl, 17-year-old Lea (Lily Mcinerny), and the older man, 34-year-old Tom (Jonathan Tucker), masterfully lays out the situation, with every red flag and warning sign obvious, but situates the audience within Lea’s naive subjectivity so well that when she gets in the truck, we understand why. 1:50. 3 stars. — Katie Walsh
‘SCREAM VI’: “Scream” movies are like pizza — when they’re good, they’re great, and even when they’re not as good, they’re still satisfying. Thankfully, “Scream VI” is a tasty slice. Writers James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick keep the blade sharp, while directors Matt Bettinelliolpin and Tyler Gillett bring a brawny, bruising and bloody style to this “requel sequel.” This is the second “Scream” movie not directed by Wes Craven (Bettinelli-olpin and Gillett took over with the previous “legasequel”), and the first without franchise star Neve Campbell as Sydney Prescott. There’s a new “Scream” queen in town — Melissa Barrera — and she stabs back. Last year’s “Scream” proved that this filmmaking team were worthy heirs to Craven’s iconic franchise, and while “Scream VI” underlines that point, it also illustrates that there’s still a rich vein to tap in the “Scream” franchise, using established lore to take the preeminent slasher movie franchise of 20th and 21st centuries in new and fascinating directions. 2:03. 3 stars.
Walsh
RATINGS: The movies listed are rated according to the following key: 4 stars, excellent; 3 stars, good; 2 stars, fair; 1 star, poor.