It's a rough week for new releases, with the arrival of the umpteenth Final Destination movie and a "musical psychological thriller" that's supposed to make The Weeknd a movie star.
But the wonderful music doc Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted is opening at the Main, and there are plenty of older movies in theaters this week, as tributes to Val Kilmer, Judy Holliday, and Peter Boyle continue at Emagine, the Heights, and the Trylon, respectively.
Special Screenings
Thursday, May 15
Batman Forever (1995)
Emagine Willow Creek
RIP to one of the ’90s’ several Batmen. $11.60. 7:30 p.m. More info here.
True Romance (1993)
Grandview 1&2
Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette are on the run! $14.44. 9:15 p.m. More info here.
It Should Happen to You (1954)
The Heights
Judy Holliday buys a billboard to make herself famous. $16. 7:30 p.m. More info here.
Show Me Your Glory (2025)
Marcus West End
A documentary about how miracles are real. (They are not.) $13.40. 7 p.m. More info here.
Bone Saw Is Ready (2025)
Trylon
A documentary about the effort to make cycling more inclusive. Sold out. 7 p.m. More info here.
Friday, May 16
Tall Tales (2025)
Main Cinema
The animated accompaniment to Thom Yorke's latest album. $11. Friday-Saturday 9:40 p.m. Wednesday 7:10 p.m. More info here.
Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai (1999)
Trylon
Everything you would want about a Jim Jarmusch movie about Forrest Whitaker as a hitman samurai. Great soundtrack too. $8. Friday-Saturday 7 & 9:30 p.m. Sunday 3 & 5:30 p.m. More info here.
Bitterroot (2024)
Walker Art Center
A family drama set amid Missoula’s Hmong community. Also Saturday. $12/$15. 7 p.m. More info here.
Saturday, May 17
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Alamo Drafthouse
Al Pacino said trans rights. $11.91. 12 p.m. Tuesday 2:30 p.m. More info here.
Live at the Met: Salome
AMC Rosedale 14/AMC Southdale 16/Emagine Willow Creek/Marcus West End
Featuring “The Dance of the Seven Veils.” $28.70 12 p.m. Wednesday 1 & 6:30 p.m. More info here.
Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)
AMC Rosedale 14/AMC Southdale 16/Emagine Willow Creek/Marcus West End
A witch needs confidence! Through Wednesday. Showtimes, ticket info, and more here.
Labyrinth (1986)
Emagine Willow Creek
David Bowie was also an actor. Also Sunday & Wednesday. $10.60. 3:15 & 6 p.m. More info here.
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Parkway Theater
All I can think of when this movie comes up is “adult Yoda is fucking busted.” $5/$7. 1 p.m. More info here.
Sunday, May 18
Cooley High (1975)
Alamo Drafthouse
The rare ’70s coming-of-age movie about Black teens. $11.91. 12 p.m. Wednesday 4 p.m. More info here.
The Apartment (1960)
Grandview 1&2
Shirley MacLaine was so cute. $14.44. 9:15 p.m. More info here.
The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)
Trylon
Robert Mitchum tries to stay out of jail. $8. 8 p.m. 7 & 9:15 p.m. More info here.
Monday, May 19
Mermaids (1990)
Alamo Drafthouse
Warning: Contains no actual mermaids. $15.18. 6 p.m. More info here.
Talk to Me (2023)
Alamo Drafthouse
Because the directors have a new movie. $15.18. 7:15 p.m. More info here.
Alone in the Dark (1982)
Emagine Willow Creek
Not to be confused with the video game. $7.60. 7:30 p.m. More info here.
Anchors Aweigh (1945)
The Heights
Gene Kelly dances with Jerry, as in Tom &. $13. 7:30 p.m. More info here.
$5 Secret Movie
Lagoon Cinema
What could it be? $10. Just kidding. $5 of course. 7 p.m. More info here.
Tuesday, May 20
Constantine (2005)
Alamo Drafthouse
Undead Keanu battles demons. $11.91. 8 p.m. More info here.
Wednesday, May 21
Crossroads (2002)
Alamo Drafthouse
Britney Spears is also an actress. 7 p.m. $18.50. More info here.
28 Days Later (2002)
Alamo Drafthouse/Emagine Willow Creek
The movie that invented zombies being fast. Alamo: $15.18. 7:30 p.m. More info here. Emagine: $12.60. 7 p.m. More info here.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2024)
Edina 4
Sorry, I remain now and forever a hater. $12.15. 7 p.m. More info here.
Joe List: Small Ball (2025)
Emagine Willow Creek
Stand-up! $12.60. 7 p.m. More info here.
Fresa y chocolate (Strawberry and Chocolate) (1993)
Main Cinema
The first Cuban film nominated for an Oscar. Part of the Minnesota Cuban Film Festival. $12. 7 p.m. More info here.
Moonstruck (1987)
Parkway Theater
The moon is hurtling toward Earth and only Cher can save us. $9/$12. Trivia at 7:30 p.m. Movie at 8 p.m. More info here.
The Unborn II (1994)
Trylon
Now even more unborn! $5. 7 p.m. More info here.
Opening
Follow the links for showtimes.
Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train
Anime!
Final Destination: Bloodlines
Death comes for a family in new and inventive ways.
Hurry Up Tomorrow
Jenna Ortega, what are you doing?
Jaar
A Nepalese woman has an affair in the 19th century.
Lilly
Patricia Clarkson is Lilly Ledbetter.
The Ruse
A woman is assigned to care for an old lady in a seaside home. But something is not right!
Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted
No, that is not a euphemism. Soul eccentric Jerry Williams (aka Swamp Dogg), the author of songs you may know like “Don’t Take Her (She’s All I Got)” and songs you should know like “I’ve Never Been to Africa (And It’s Your Fault)” has been a cult legend since Total Destruction to Your Mind dropped in 1970 (and he was a music industry pro for a decade before that). He deserves a documentary as idiosyncratic as his genius, and directors (and musicians) Isaac Gale and Ryan Olson deliver. This is music doc as hangout movie—we’re not barraged by talking head testimony to the 81-year-old singer’s legacy, but instead we get to lounge out in the California sun with Swamp and his bandmates and roommates as they reminisce about the past. And though Swamp lives out in L.A., there’s plenty of Minnesota local color: singer Dizzy Fae appears in one segment and rapper Greg Grease narrates. This one’s a pure delight. A-
Things Like This
Two men with the same name fall in love.
23 (Iravai Moodu)
An Indian film that “delves into the dark underbelly of societal violence.”
Ongoing in Local Theaters
Follow the links for showtimes.
Misericordia—ends Thursday
You may know French filmmaker Alain Guiraudie from his 2013 breakthrough Stranger by the Lake, about the murderous and erotic goings on at a gay nude beach. But I think he’s topped himself, if you’ll pardon the phrase, with this nasty and often quite funny little thriller, in which a young man’s return to a village after the death of his mentor raises multiple questions. Were they doin' it? Why does the deceased’s son want him to scram? Why does the deceased’s wife want him to stay? And why does that priest keep hanging around? These queries get only more pressing after, yes, a murder. And while it’s darkly enjoyable to watch the killer squirm as he evades suspicion, what’s most wickedly fun about Misericordia is that you never quite know who wants to fuck who until their pants come off. A-
Sinners
Ryan Coogler’s Jim Crow vampire flick is a truly rare thing: a wholly self-assured mess. Technically and narratively, Coogler knows exactly what he wants to do, whether or not you can keep up, and each of the performers are just as committed. You get Michael B. Jordan distinguishing the murderous twins Smoke and Stack without resorting to caricature, Delroy Lindo as an aged bluesman. Hailee Steinfeld as a seductive quadroon, Jack O'Connell as an undead banjoist, Wunmi Mosaku as a wise hoodoo woman, Saul Williams as a preacher with a new wave hairdo, and I could just keep going. They all populate a vividly simulated Clarksdale, Mississippi to which Jordan’s gangsters have returned to open a juke joint soon targeted by bloodsuckers—you could call this August Wilson’s From Dusk to Dawn. There are visual moments that split the diff between cornball and visionary (I truly did not know Autumn Durald Arkapaw had this in her) and more ideas—about Black spirituality and its vexed relationship to Christianity, about the social role of music, about integration as a deal with the devil—than your average multiplex sees in a whole summer. And if Coogler never slows down to develop those ideas, they still pack a conceptual wallop that complements the film's lived-in texture. This world is so engrossing that by the time the vamps come calling, I almost wished Coogler would just let his people have their one night undisturbed. But America’s not really like that, is it? A-
The Wedding Banquet
What all but tanks Andrew Ahn’s remake of Ang Lee’s 1993 international breakthrough is that in out ‘n’ proud 2025 everyone involved seems a little embarrassed by its wacky, recycled premise (gay man has to trick his traditional family into believing that a green card marriage is real). The film's attempts at a serious relationship drama are undercut by its screwball obligations. There are cute moments and a few laughs—especially from Joan Chen as a mother belatedly overcompensating for neglecting her daughter by going gangbusters with PFLAG—but it's a bummer to watch a terrific cast try to shoehorn themselves into an unnecessary remake instead of telling an original story about queer 21st century people of color. B-
