.MOVIE LISTINGS | MOVIE REVIEW ARCHIVE | THEATER INFO

 

OPENING:

Aliens in the Attic: A gaggle of kids on vacation (with their parents, who are oblivious) gotta fight off the alien critters that — shocker! — want to take over the world. PG. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Bank Dick, The: This 1940 W.C. Fields flick about an unhappy fellow who becomes an accidental hero — for a while — shows for Beer and Old Movie Night, 9 pm Thursday, July 30, Wandering Goat. 21+. Free.

Casablanca: If you haven’t seen it, just go. If you haven’t seen it for some time, you should probably still go. The classic Humphrey Bogart/Ingrid Bergman WWII film-slash-lost-love-story is too packed with things to praise for any brief summary to do it justice. David Minor Theater.

Collector, The: An ex-con hopes to pay off a debt by robbing his employer’s home — but something else has gotten there first. A nasty maze (“the Spanish Inquisition as imagined by Rube Goldberg,” says press material) stands between him and freedom, and the family whose house it is. R. VRC Stadium 15.

Cut and Run: Experimental film tour promises “Something to offend everyone!” among the included works by 20 filmmakers; works range from 1933 to 2009. 8 pm Wednesday, Aug. 5, Ditch Projects, 303 S. 5th #190, Springfield. cutandruntour.wordpress.com

Funny People: Judd Apatow’s latest stars Adam Sandler as a comedian who’s received a dispiriting diagnosis: he’s dying. Enter Seth Rogen as a younger funny guy Sandler’s character takes under his crumped wing as part protégé, part employee. With Leslie Mann, Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman and Erica Bana. R. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Summer Hours: Olivier Assayas’ latest film looks gently at three siblings’ perspectives on whether or not to sell their mother’s home and things, with all their stories and meanings. Apart from a rare heavy-handed moment, Assayas’ musings on family, art, history, globalization and memory combine for a film that feels slight at first but has remarkable staying power. 102 min. Bijou. See review this issue. 

Taking of Pelham 123, The: Denzel Washington is a New York subway dispatcher whose day gets a little weird when John Travolta hijacks a train and threatens to kill passengers if he doesn’t get a hefty sum. R. Movies 12.

Terminator: Salvation: Christian Bale takes on the role of John Connor, the hopeful savior of humankind. Sam Worthington is Marcus Wright, whose memories don’t match up with his body; Bryce Dallas Howard and Star Trek’s Anton Yelchin also costar. PG13. 115 min. Movies 12. No stars (5/28)

Films open the Friday following EW publication date unless otherwise noted.

 

CONTINUING:

Angels and Demons: It’s a big Ron Howard-directed, Tom Hanks-starring movie based on a book by the Da Vinci Code guy. Am I wrong in thinking you’re already going, or you probably don’t care? PG13. Movies 12.

Brüno: Sacha Baron Cohen follows up Borat with this tale of an Austrian model in America. “Baron Cohen is a geniune comic guerilla, charging right to the front lines of the war against prejudice and sanctimony,” says New York magazine. R. Movies 12. (7/16)

Coraline: Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas) adapts Neil Gaiman’s creepy, fantastic story into a creepy, fantastic movie about a girl who finds, behind a door in the wall, a fantatic parallel world — complete with her Other Mother, who has buttons for eyes. PG. David Minor Theater.

Every Little Step: I’m not a big musicals person, and I was absolutely invested in Every Little Step, which follows the casting process for the 2006 revival of A Chorus Line while also revisiting the show’s mid-1970s creation. Dancers compete and commisserate, casting staff discuss, dismiss and direct, and lives are changed by the results. It’s not a competition for fame; it’s a competition for a paycheck that’s undeniably entwined with the chance to keep dancing. It’s good stuff. 93 min. Bijou. (7/23)

Food, Inc.: Even if you’re tired of the glut of information — which seemingly goes ignored by so many — about the problems with our food industry, this new documentary about the flaws in the system, which pulls together all the big guns (Michael Pollan, Joel Salatin), is worth your time. Bijou. (7/23)

G-Force: Talking guinea pigs save the world! Or whatever. Is this just an entire film capitalizing on the animation used to create that creepy-eyed creature in the godawful Bedtime Stories? PG. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past: Bit odd to use the Christmas Carol gimmick in the middle of spring, but anyway: At his brother’s wedding, perpetual bachelor Connor (Matthew McConaughey) finds himself visited by the ghost of his uncle (Michael Douglas), who sends the ghosts of the title to keep Connor from screwing up with his childhood love (Jennifer Garner). PG13. Movies 12.

Hangover, The: This summer’s dirty-fun buzz movie stars Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifinakis and Ed Helms as three guys who have no idea what happened at the bachelor party last night. Where’d that guy’s tooth go? Where’d the baby come from? It’s a really good time finding out. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15. (6/11)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Opens Wednesday, July 15. The penultimate Potter tale is a touch complicated: Voldemort is at work in the wizarding and Muggle worlds. Dumbledore needs Harry’s help in many things, including recruiting a new professor to Hogwarts. Students are being attacked, and an old book is full of unexpected information. I so hope this is better than the last one. PG. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15. (7/16)

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs: The scrappy critters from Ice Age return: two are having a baby, one might be losing his edge and another needs to be rescued. And then there’s that troubling flying squirrel from the preview… PG13. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Imagine That: Eddie Murphy is a businessman who has no time for his daughter until her imaginary world starts turning out the solutions to his work crisis. Can we use that imaginary world to create some more interesting movie plots? PG. Movies 12.

Land of the Lost: This adaptation of the odd ’70s TV series stars Will Ferrell as an oft-mocked scientist who, with his assistant (Anna Friel) and a survivalist (Danny McBride) gets transported to a strange, strange land. Movies 12.

Monsters Vs. Aliens: When aliens attack, an unlikely gaggle of monsters — a blob (Seth Rogen), a giant woman (Reese Witherspoon), a genius cockroach (Hugh Laurie) and “The Missing Link” (Will Arnett) — have to save the world. In 3D. PG. 94 min. Movies 12. (4/2)

Moon: Duncan Jones’ feature film debut stars Sam Rockwell as the lone worker on a lunar mining outpost. As his three-year contract draws to a close, things start to get very strange. Intimate in scope but with larger themes under the surface, Moon is a science fiction film that’s not been crossbred with the horror or action genres; it’s a modest delight, but absolutely worth seeing. Bijou. (7/9)

Night at the Museum 2: Battle for the Smithsonian: Ben Stiller returns to the museum in which everything — Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams), tiny statues, Lincoln — comes alive at night. PG13. Movies 12.

Orphan: Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard star as parents devastated by the loss of an unborn child. The kid they take in doesn’t exactly make things better. R. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Proposal, The: “High-powered” publishing exec Sandra Bullock makes her put-upon assistant (Ryan Reynolds) get engaged to her so she can stay in the U.S. As much as I’m starting to like Reynolds, this is too much ick — and contrived nonsense — for one film. PG13. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Public Enemies: In the new film from Michael Mann (Heat, The Insider), Johnny Depp and Christian Bale face off as (respectively) gangster John Dillinger and the CIA agent on his case. With the wonderful Marion Cotillard. R. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen: A selection of comments: Roger Ebert: “a horrible experience of unbearable length, briefly punctuated by three or four amusing moments.” Detroit News: “A great grinding garbage disposal of a movie.” Dark Horizons: “The male teenage cinematic equivalent of snorting cocaine off a hooker’s ass.” Chicago Tribune: “like listening to rocks in a clothes dryer for 2 1/2 hours.” I think you get the point. PG13. 149 min. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Ugly Truth, The: Any theories about why Katherine Heigl is once again playing a TV show employee? This charmer pairs her with Gerard Butler as a bad-boy TV personality who thinks he knows everything about the difference between men and woman. You got that “charmer” was being used sarcastically, right? R. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Watchmen: Zack Snyder (300)’s adaptation of what the commercials trumpet as the most acclaimed graphic novel, like, EVER, is pretty good ­ and pretty faithful to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ book, in which costumed heroes try to solve the murder of one of their own. Among other problems. But Snyder is too busy recreating select moments from the book to bring a vision of his own — beyond highlighting his fascination with violence. R. David Minor Theater (both the theatrical and director’s cuts are showing). (3/12)

X-Men Origins: Wolverine: My efforts to will this movie into not sucking proved mostly fruitless. Sure, Jackman is fine, Schreiber makes a good Sabretooth (if one utterly unlike the one in earlier films), and for about 10 minutes, Ryan Reynolds is a fantastic Deadpool, but the poor effects, silly plot and shallow writing don’t give me much else to care about. PG13. 107 min. Movies 12.

Year One: Michael Cera and Jack Black are a couple of hunter-gatherers who go on an epic (totally, man) journey that involves (based on the preview) women, stonings, swords and cameos from David Cross and Paul Rudd. PG13. Movies 12.

 

 

 

MOVIE THEATERS
Use the links provided below for specific show times.

Bijou Art Cinemas
Bijou Theater 686-2458 | 492 E. 13th

David Minor Theater
David Minor Theater and Pub 762-1700 | 180 E. 5th

Regal Cinemas
VRC Stadium 15 342-6536 | Valley River Center

Cinemark Theaters
Movies 12 741-1231 | Gateway Mall
Cinemark 17 741-1231 | Gateway Mall