Film Listings 5/17/18 – 5/24/18 

[{
    "name": "Ad - Medium Rectangle CC01 - 300x250",
    "id": "AdMediumRectangleCC01300x250",
    "class": "inlineCenter",
    "insertPoint": "8",
    "component": "2963441",
    "requiredCountToDisplay": "12"
    },{
    "name": "Ad - Medium Rectangle LC01 - 300x250",
    "id": "AdMediumRectangleCC01300x250",
    "class": "inlineCenter",
    "insertPoint": "18",
    "component": "2963441",
    "requiredCountToDisplay": "22"
    },{
    "name": "Ad - Medium Rectangle LC09 - 300x250",
    "id": "AdMediumRectangleLC09300x250",
    "class": "inlineCenter",
    "insertPoint": "28",
    "component": "3252660",
    "requiredCountToDisplay": "32"
    }]

AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR

What's it rated? PG-13

What's it worth Matinee

Where's it showing? Downtown Centre, Stadium 10, Park, Galaxy

Pick

Anthony and Joe Russo (Captain America: Civil War and Captain America: The Winter Soldier) direct this new Avengers installment, with a screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. The whole freaking universe is at stake, people, so every single character from the Marvel pantheon must join forces to fight the evil Thanos (Josh Brolin) before he wipes out half of everything.

Of course, including every single character can get pretty chaotic and leave for a lot of abbreviated storylines, and then there's the matter of excessiveness. Even comic book action adventure stories offer moments of rest and respite, but they come few and far between in this bombastic and overblown tale. It's everything you want in a comic book movie, but turned up to 11. Some will like that, others won't.

The film opens with Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) overcome by Thanos, then it hands off to Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), who enlists Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland) to save the universe. Banner has to round up Steve Rogers/Capt. America (Chris Evans). When they're attacked by Thanos' minions, Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) has to show up and rescue them. Meanwhile the Guardians of the Galaxy (Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, and Chris Pratt) have to rescue Thor from outer space death. Various superheroes are trying to protect various "infinity stones" that Thanos is trying to acquire so he can kill off half the universe with a literal snap of his fingers. And soon James "Rhodey" Rhodes/War Machine (Don Cheadle), Vision (Paul Bettany), Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthony Mackie), and Bucky Barnes/White Wolf (Sebastian Stan) all convene at T'Challa/Black Panther's (Chadwick Boseman) hidden kingdom of Wakanda for a final showdown with Thanos. It's exhausting! It's also pretty exhilarating! Its ending, however, is bullshit!

I suspect everyone who's a Marvel fan has already added to the film's $250 million opening weekend, but if you haven't and you plan on going, stop reading here because I'm going to spoil the ending right now: Thanos wins. That's right. He snaps his fingers and half the population of the universe dies, disintegrating into piles dust. Not just a bunch of randos, but our heroes too! Peter Parker, dead! Dr. Strange, dead! Most of the Guardians of the Galaxy, dead! Even Black Panther, dead! That's not how superhero movies are supposed to end, right?

This ending is lame. Most of these actors have multi-film contracts. Are we to assume, for instance, that the upcoming Guardians and Black Panther films—already in the works—are all going to be prequels? Plus there's an Avengers: Infinity War—Part II listed as in "post-production" on imdb.com with the killed-off characters listed in the cast. No, there's going to be some dumb trick that will somehow resurrect these characters, and that pisses me off, which is why I won't give this film full price. Don't play with me, Marvel! I'm not your toy! (149 min.)

—Glen Starkey

BOOK CLUB

What's it rated? PG-13

Where's it showing? Downtown Centre, Stadium 10, Fair Oaks, Park, Galaxy

New

Diane (Diane Keaton) is recently widowed after 40 years of marriage. Vivian (Jane Fonda) enjoys her men with no strings attached. Sharon (Candice Bergen) is still working through a decades-old divorce. Carol's (Mary Steenburgen) marriage is in a slump after 35 years. Four lifelong friends' lives are turned upside down to hilarious ends when their book club tackles the infamous Fifty Shades of Grey. From discovering new romance to rekindling old flames, they inspire each other to make their next chapter the best chapter. (104 min.)

—Paramount Pictures

BREAKING IN

What's it rated? PG-13

Where's it showing? Downtown Centre, Stadium 10, Galaxy, Park

Gabrielle Union stars as a woman who will stop at nothing to rescue her two children being held hostage in a house designed with impenetrable security. No trap, no trick, and especially no man inside can match a mother with a mission when she is determined on Breaking In. (88 min.)

—Universal Pictures

DEADPOOL 2

What's it rated? R

Where's it showing? Downtown Centre, Sunset Drive-In, Stadium 10, Park, Galaxy

New

Wisecracking mercenary Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) joins forces with three mutants—Bedlam (Terry Crews), Shatterstar (Lewis Tan), and Domino (Zazie Beets)—to protect a boy from the all-powerful Cable (Josh Brolin). (103 min.)

—20th Century Fox

I FEEL PRETTY

What's it rated? PG-13

What's it worth? Matinee

Where's it showing? Stadium 10

Pick

Co-writers-directors Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein helm this story about insecure Renee Bennett (Amy Schumer), who after suffering a fall awakes to believe she's the world's most beautiful and capable woman.

Funny lady Schumer (Trainwreck, Snatched) is back doing what she does best—bringing laughs through self-deprecating humor and physical comedy. While I Feel Pretty has a surprisingly dismal metascore on both IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes, I for one was laughing from beginning to end, and my fellow audience members seemed to feel the same.

Renee (Schumer) is a sad sack of a woman whose utter lack of self confidence keeps her from going after the things she really wants ... that is until a Soulcycle class gone wrong, resulting in a head injury that brings brimming self-confidence. When Renee looks in the mirror, she sees utter perfection looking back. Her new lease on life leads to a new dream job, a romantic prospect, and an "in" with her boss, a mouse voiced Avery LeClaire (Michelle Williams) who uses Renee's "every woman" appeal to launch a line of cosmetics to run in stores like Target and Kohl's, not their usual high-end markets.

Of course not everything in Renee's life is smooth sailing because of her new confidence. Her tried-and-true gal pals (Aidy Bryant and Busy Phillips) soon grow sick of her strive for stature and exclusivity, and Renee soon learns that even "pretty people" have problems.

While it's a bit ridiculous to say that Schumer is anything short of pretty—she is, in fact, a working Hollywood actress—she does fall outside of the typical starlet aesthetic and is a vocal advocate for inclusion and acceptance. She also isn't afraid to put it all out there for the sake of comedy, and she brings some seriously funny stuff to her character.

Soon after meeting Ethan (Rory Scovel), they venture into a bar with a bikini contest going on, and Renee jumps right in. She ties up her shirt, rolls up her shorts, and hops onstage with the group of toned and tiny contestants. It's hilarious, and Ethan is soon smitten with this bold and brazen chick.

The message being sold is that confidence is sexy, and I agree. While she still may not be perfect, confident Renee makes things happen, takes risks, and owns herself. Once she learns to love herself, head injury side effects or not, she can spend her time living a truly fulfilling life and give up on trying to attain perfection. (110 min.)

—Anna Starkey

ISLE OF DOGS

What's it rated? PG

What's it worth? Full Price

Where's it showing? The Palm

Pick

Wes Anderson (Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise Kingdom) directs this stop-motion animated tale about Atari Kobayashi (Koyu Rankin), a young boy living in near-future dystopian Japan, who goes in search of his dog, Spots (Live Schreiber), which has been banished—as have all dogs—to Trash Island because of a dog flu outbreak.

Along the way, Atari receives help from other banished dogs, including Rex (Edward Norton), King (Bob Balaban), Duke (Jeff Goldblum), Boss (Bill Murray), and Chief (Bryan Cranston).

Meanwhile back in Megasaki City, dog-banisher and Mayor Kobayashi (Kunichi Nomura)—Atari's guardian—works to thwart Professor Watanabe (Akira Ito), who's developing a cure for the dog flu, so the Mayor can carry out his evil plan to exterminate all dogs.

Talking dogs feels completely natural in Isle of Dogs, which explores the unique relationships between humans and dogs from the dogs' perspective. Chief, for instance, is a stray, and his pack members subtly and silently judge him for it. Nutmeg is a former show dog used to regular grooming and being fawned over, but like all the other dogs banished to Trash Island, she lost her elevated position and deals with it with a level of class that's hard not to admire.

This sort of anthropomorphization is human nature—we love to imagine our pets have an inner dialogue and love us the same way we love them. Anderson has a lot of fun exploring how dogs think of humans and each other.

Ultimately, this is a film about relationships, loyalty, honor, and ethics, which are pretty heavy topics, but first and foremost, this is a wonderful looking film. I absolutely loved it!

It helps that there's a great cast doing great voice work with some fun surprises. Courtney B. Vance's smooth voice as The Narrator provides necessary context, John Lennon's former wife Yoko Ono makes a vocal appearance as Assistant-Scientist Yoko Ono, and long-time Anderson collaborator Anjelica Huston is credited as voicing a character named Mute Poodle, meaning she has no lines. Greta Gerwig is terrific as earnest and idealistic exchange student Tracy Walker.

Even though the story centers on Atari and his search for Spots, this is really Chief's story. He's the character with the biggest arc, the one who has to learn about the sacred relationship between man and dog, who also has to learn he's good enough to deserve a mate like Nutmeg. The dogs are actually a lot more complex than most of the human characters, and it's Chief we're rooting for more than Atari. (101 min.)

—Glen Starkey

OVERBOARD

What's it rated? PG-13

What's it worth? Rental

Where's it showing? Stadium 10, Galaxy, Park

Director Rob Greenberg, best known for his television work (How I Met Your Mother, Scrubs), steers this role reversing remake/re-imagining of 1987's Overboard. After falling off his luxury yacht while partying too hard, wealthy playboy Leonardo (Eugenio Derbez, How to Be a Latin Lover) wakes up on the Oregon coast with amnesia. Upon recognizing his face on the news, Kate (Anna Faris, Mom), a single mother and carpet cleaner who was mistreated and unjustly fired by Leo, hatches a scheme—convince the amnesiac he's her husband.

Luckily for Kate, the only person searching for the missing heir is his sister, Magdalena (Cecilia Suarez). But she devises a plan of her own after finding him at the hospital. "Is this your brother?" One of the doctors asks her. "No, I've never seen this man before in my life." She replies and quickly leaves without Leo seeing her. With her brother out of the way, Magdalena is next in line to inherit their deathbed-ridden father's company.

With the rest of his family under the assumption he was eaten by sharks (yep), Leo is free for Kate to take. And she does. Leo knows right off the bat, as Goldie Hawn's character did in the original, that something isn't right. But without a single memory to turn to, Leo is stuck believing Kate's lie, which is backed up by fake documents and her knowledge of a Speedy Gonzales tattoo on his butt.

It took me a little while to get on board (get it?) with this Overboard. I know you're supposed to hate Leo in the beginning, but I found his obnoxiousness overbearing at times (he's a womanizing drunkard as opposed to Hawn's snobby socialite). But once that finally settles down, and Leo becomes more "accustomed" to his new, humble surroundings, the film gets funnier.

The hardest thing for Leo to believe at first, besides having to work for a living, is that he's a father. While the predictable, budding romance between Leo and Kate is fun, the real heart of this story lies with the kids. No matter how ludicrous the circumstances are, he slowly becomes the closest thing to a father figure Kate's three daughters have ever known. And as sappy and improbable as it is, the bond he forms with them won me over. There's one scene near the end that involves a bicycle (that's all I'll say) where I was close to crying. I kid you not; this moment has just as much, if not more, weight to it than anything in Avengers: Infinity War. Then again, the last five minutes of that are funnier than this entire film, so it's all relative. (112 min.)

—Caleb Wiseblood

POPE FRANCIS: A MAN OF HIS WORD

What's it rated?PG

Where's it showing? The Palm

New

Wim Wenders' new documentary, Pope Francis: A Man of His Word, is intended to be a personal journey with Pope Francis, rather than a biographical documentary about him. The pope's ideas and his message are central to this documentary, which sets out to present his work of reform and his answers to today's global questions. From his deep concern for the poor and wealth inequality, to his involvement in environmental issues and social justice, Pope Francis engages the audience face-to-face and calls for peace. (96 min.)

—Focus Features

A QUIET PLACE

What's it rated? PG-13

What's it worth? Full Price

Where's it showing? Downtown Centre, Stadium 10, Park

Pick

Director and co-writer John Krasinski (Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, Promised Land, The Hollars) helms and stars in this horror story, co-written by Bryan Woods and Scott Beck, about the Abbott family—father Lee (Krasinski), pregnant mother Evelyn (Emily Blunt), and kids Beau (Cade Woodward), Marcus (Noah Jupe), and deaf daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds)—who must live in utter silence to protect themselves from deadly creatures that hunt by sound.

While the synopsis may sound like standard-issue sci-fi horror, A Quiet Place is instead throat-clenchingly tense and a thoroughly thoughtful meditation on parenthood, family, and guilt.

Most recent horror movies have bored me due to a lack of scares, flat characters, or hackneyed writing and direction. A Quiet Place falls prey to none of that, and it offers a badass but open ending, which I found hopeful though my wife didn't—that's deft filmmaking in my book. (90 min.)

—Glen Starkey

RBG

What's it rated? PG

Where's it showing? The Palm

New

At the age of 84, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has developed a breathtaking legal legacy while becoming an unexpected pop culture icon. But without a definitive Ginsburg biography, the unique personal journey of this diminutive, quiet warrior's rise to the nation's highest court has been largely unknown, even to some of her biggest fans—until now. RBG is a revelatory documentary exploring Ginsburg's exceptional life and career from Betsy West and Julie Cohen, and co-produced by Storyville Films and CNN Films. (96 min.)

—Magnolia Pictures

SHOW DOGS

What's it rated?PG

Where's it showing? Stadium 10, Park, Galaxy

New

Show Dogs is a family comedy about the unlikely pairing of a human detective (Will Arnett) and his canine partner (voice of Chris "Ludacris" Bridges), who has to go undercover at the world's most exclusive dog show to solve his biggest case yet. (92 min.)

—Global Road Entertainment

SUPER TROOPERS 2

What's it rated?R

What's it worth? Rental

Where's it showing? Park, Galaxy

Co-writer and director Jay Chandrasekhar helms this sequel to the 2001 comedy classic from the Broken Lizard comedy crew. This time around the Vermont State Troopers are tasked with establishing a Highway Patrol station in a disputed area between the U.S. and Canadian border.

Arcot 'Thorny' Ramathorn (Jay Chandrasekhar), MacIntyre 'Mac' Womack (Steve Lemme), Robert 'Rabbit' Roto (Erik Stolhanske), Carl Foster (Paul Soter), Rodney Farva (Kevin Heffernan), and their Capt. O'Hagan (Brian Cox) return, joined by Gov. Jessman (Lynda Carter), ex hockey star Guy Le Franc (Rob Lowe), French-Canadian cultural attaché Genevieve Aubois (Emmanuelle Chriqui), and Fred Savage starring as himself.

The Godfather II this ain't. Instead, it predictably suffers from sequel disease: more of the same turned up to 11, but devoid of the surprise of the first film.

What follows is a lot of shenanigans between the troopers and their Mountie counterparts, as well as a search to discover the smugglers. Overall, it's pretty funny, though not quite as funny as the first and certainly not as original. Stay through the credits. The best bit happens at the very end.

If you love this sort of thing, go to the late show high on weed. If you like this sort of thing, try a matinee. Personally, I would have been happy renting this from Redbox in three months. (100 min.)

—Glen Starkey

TULLY

What's it rated? R

What's it worth? Full Price

Where's it showing? The Palm, Bay

Pick

Director Jason Reitman and screenwriter Diablo Cody (Juno, Young Adult) reteam for the third time with this story about Marlo (Charlize Theron), an overburdened mother whose difficult life is turned around with the arrival of night nanny Tully (Mackenzie Davis), a gift from Marlo's rich brother, Craig (Mark Duplass).

Reitman and Cody make good team. Juno remains one of my favorite films, and though I didn't think Young Adult was in the same league as the pair's first go-around, it was a remarkably frank look at stunted growth and narcissism. Tully takes a crack at motherhood, exploring the exhaustion is causes and the endless patience it requires.

Marlo herself questions her choices and yearns for her carefree youth, living in Brooklyn with what may have been an early lesbian love affair. That's the heart of this story: How does she reconcile her choices, get over her regrets, and learn to love her life? Tully is there to not only help her with her kids, but to help her with herself. It's a remarkably warm and poignant film. (99 min.) Δ

—Glen Starkey

New Times movie reviews were compiled by Arts Editor Ryah Cooley and others. You can contact her at [email protected].