Among this week's new releases, I'm most intrigued by Chronovisor and the reboot of Resident Evil from Weapons director Zach Cregger. Definitely gonna hit the lovely Terence Davies twofer at the Trylon and possibly Ross McElwee's groundbreaking Sherman's March at the Heights. Plus the Arab Film Festival kicks off. So much happening around here.
Special Screenings
Thursday, September 17
The Pruitt-Igoe Myth (2011)
East Side Freedom Library
A doc about the razing of a St. Louis public housing complex. Free. 7:30 p.m. More info here.
Crimes of Passion (1984)
Emagine Willow Creek
Kathleen Turner leads a sexy double life. $12. 7:30 p.m. More info here.
Come and See (1985)
Grandview 1&2
War is hell (Ivan’s version). Also Thursday. $14.14. 9:15 p.m. More info here.
The Seven-Year Itch (1955)
Heights Theater
A middle-aged married man spends his vacation perving after Marilyn Monroe. $10/$13. 7 p.m. More info here.
Friday, September 18
Batman (1989)
AMC Rosedale 14/AMC Southdale 16
From back when superhero blockbusters were still novelties. Also Saturday. $6.75. 6:30 p.m. More info here.
Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995)
Heights Theater
*Axl Rose voice* You know where you are? $13. 9:45 p.m. More info here.
Black Panther (2018)
Minnesota Humanities Center
RIP Chadwick Boseman. Free. 7:30 p.m. More info here.
Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988)
Trylon
Terrence Davies’s evocative portrait of postwar working class Liverpool. $8. 7 p.m. Saturday 5 & 9 p.m. Sunday 1 p.m. More info here.
The Long Day Closes (1992)
Trylon
The cinema becomes a sanctuary for a lonely boy. $8. 9 p.m. Saturday 7 p.m. Sunday 3 p.m. More info here.
Saturday, September 19
Basic Instinct (1992)
Alamo Drafthouse
I do not recall the Michael Douglas era fondly. $10.99. 4 p.m. More info here.
Ghost in the Shell (1995)
Alamo Drafthouse
I often sing this title to the tune of Belle & Sebastian’s “Fox in the Snow.” $10.99. 1 p.m. Monday 4 p.m. Wednesday 7:15 p.m. More info here.
Twenty Years of the Met in Cinemas
AMC Rosedale 14/AMC Southdale 16/Emagine Willow Creek/Lagoon Cinema/Marcus West End
A selection of Met performances. 1 p.m. Ticket prices and more info here.
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Extended (2002)
Emagine WIllow Creek
Never heard of it. Also Sunday & Wednesday. $11. 1:30 & 6:15 p.m. More info here.
Holes (2003)
Heights Theater
*Snickers childishly* holes. $6-$13. 11 a.m. More info here.
Sherman’s March (1985)
Heights Theater
A man’s attempt to make a Civil War documentary is sidetracked by his ruinous love life. $10/$13. 1:30 p.m. Tuesday 7 p.m. More info here.
Demonoid: Messenger of Death (1981)
Heights Theater
Oh, that demonoid. $13. 9:45 p.m. More info here.
Sunday, September 20
My Sassy Girl (2001)
Alamo Drafthouse
South Korean romcom based on a series of blog posts. $10.99. 3:15 p.m. More info here.
The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)
Alamo Drafthouse
Yes, I realize it’s a “fan screening” that comes with merch, but this price… $50. 7 p.m. More info here.
Heaven in Stone and Glass (2026)
AMC Rosedale 14/AMC Southdale 16/Marcus West End
A trip through Europe’s Gothic cathedrals. Also Thursday. 7 p.m. Ticket prices and more info here.
The Holy Mountain (1973)
Grandview 1&2
Alejandro Jodorowsky’s classic midnight movie. Also Thursday. $14.14. 9:15 p.m. More info here.
The General (1926)
Heights Theater
The Buster Keaton classic, with a live score from Dreamland Faces. $20. 7 p.m. More info here.
CatVideoFest 2026
Riverview Theater
Another weekend of cats. Also Sunday. $5. 11 a.m. More info here.
Paris, Texas (1984)
Trylon
These screenings are selling out fast. $8. 5 & 8 p.m. Monday-Wednesday 7 p.m. More info here.
Monday, September 21
Spy Kids (2001)
Alamo Drafthouse
I wish Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino were my parents. $20. 6:45 p.m. More info here.
Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me (1992)
Edina Mann
Laura Palmer—not just a dead girl. Also Wednesday. $12.12. 7 p.m. More info here.
Error_MovieTitle_Unknown (2026)
Emagine Willow Creek
A secret new movie! $7. 7 p.m. More info here.
The Loved Ones (2009)
Emagine Willow Creek
A jilted girl tortures her crush. $9. 7:30 p.m. More info here.
WTF: Watch Terrible Films Club
56 Brewing
I don't know. Free. 7 p.m. More info here.
One, Two, Three (1961)
Heights Theater
A Coke exec’s daughter gets knocked up by a communist in Cold War Berlin. $10/$13. 7 p.m. More info here.
Rebel With a Clause (2025)
Main Cinema
Doc about a grammar obsessive who travels the country offering info and discussion. $13. 7 p.m. Thursday 4 p.m. More info here.
Tuesday, September 22
Jacob’s Ladder (1990)
Alamo Drafthouse
You know you’re watching an Adrian Lyne film when it takes a woman 10 minutes to put her shirt on in the morning. $10.99. 8 p.m. More info here.
Wednesday, September 23
Trailer Trash Reborn (2026)
Emagine Willow Creek
A collection of rare trailers and other film ephemera. $12. 7 & 9:15 p.m. Thursday 7 p.m. More info here.
Withdrawal (2025)
The Heights
Two lovers are determined to kick heroin. $10/$13. 7 p.m. More info here.
Miss Congeniality (2000)
Lagoon
Sandra Bullock does not want to be in that beauty pageant. $11. 4:15 & 7 p.m. More info here.
The Stories (2025)
Main Cinema
An Egyptian man and an Austrian woman are pen pals throughout the ’70s. Part of the Twin Cities Arab Film Festival. $14. 7 p.m. More info here.
Thursday, September 24
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)
Alamo Drafthouse
Manic gangsters are no match for Forrest Whitaker's chill combat philosophy. $13.99. 7:30 p.m. More info here.
Gothic (1986)
Emagine Willow Creek
This Ken Russell film blew my sheltered little 16-year-old mind when it came out. Wonder how it holds up. $12. 7:30 p.m. More info here.
Sabrina (1954)
The Heights
Poor Audrey Hepburn could never find a man her own age. $10/$13. 7 p.m. More info here.
Edie Arnold Is a Loser (2025)
Main Cinema
Catholic schoolgirls start a band. $18. 7 p.m. More info here.
Shorts and Fragments
Main Cinema
Short films by local filmmakers. Part of the Twin Cities Arab Film Festival. $14. 5:30 p.m. More info here.
The Wicker Man (1973)
Parkway Theater
Christopher Lee loved this movie so much he did a self-funded promotional tour. $10/$15. Trivia at 7:30 p.m. Movie at 8 p.m. More info here.
Dinkytown: A Tale of a Legendary Village (2026)
Riverview Theater
Self-explanatory! $5. 7:15 p.m. More info here.
Minority Report (2002)
Trylon
An ACLU-sponsored screening. Free. 6:30 p.m. More info here.
Mystery Classic Film
Under the 3rd Avenue Bridge
An outdoor screening of a classic Arab musical—but which one? Part of the Twin Cities Arab Film Festival. Suggested donation $10. Free More info here.
Opening
Follow the links for showtimes.
Bad Apples
Saoirse Ronan is a frustrated teacher who kidnaps an unruly student.
Chronovisor
A device can capture photos from any time in history. Or can it?
Daniel and the Fiery Furnaces
Sadly, this has nothing to do with the band.
Dora and the Lost City of Gold (2019)
Remember when that girl said Dora peer-pressured her into vaping?
If I Go Will They Miss Me
A 12 year old in Watts has mysterious visions.
Queen(s)
A documentary about a young undocumented woman.
Resident Evil
These days it's more like PRESIDENT Evil, amirite?
Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom
Shaun has a Halloween-themed adventure.
Tiny Fugitives
Johnny Knoxville is a crazed camp counselor
The Transformers: The Movie (1986)
Y'all will get nostalgic for absolutely anything.
The Weight
Starring Ethan Hawke as Crazy Chester.
Ongoing in Local Theaters
Follow the links for showtimes.
American Doctor—ends September 17
Poh Si Tang’s documentary about three U.S. surgeons who travel to Gaza to perform emergency procedures on Palestinian victims of the Israeli invasion at Nasser Hospital will stir you up, especially if you’re the sort of comfortable coward like me who generally avoids visual evidence of the ongoing genocide. Seriously, I took so many deep breaths during this film, when I wasn’t outright flinching. But this doc doesn’t just worthily acknowledge an important subject; it’s a compelling study of three very different men who share the same humanitarian commitment. Blunt Jewish-American orthopedic surgeon Mark Perlmutter begins the film by demanding that Tang not blur images of dead children. Palestinian-American E.R. physician Thaer Ahmad is a family man who’s denied re-entry to Gaza. And then there’s the quietly charismatic trauma surgeon Feroze Sidhwa. The film covers both their personal lives (Ahmad’s daughters are impossibly adorable; Sidhwa shares why he’s undateable), their media appearances (Perlmutter tries to learn from the more diplomatic Sidwa), and their ethical motivations. Anyway, you wouldn’t think it would need to be said, but here goes: Don’t bomb hospitals and don’t murder children. A-
Coyote vs. Acme
When a fed-up Wile E. Coyote belatedly recognizes that defective Acme products are the source of all his woes, he seeks out Kevin Avery (Will Forte), a lawyer who specializes in settling animated clients’ product-liability cases fast and cheap. But the fired-up Coyote, along with Avery’s idealistic niece (Lana Condor), decide to stick it to The Man. Or rather, The Rooster—as Acme’s CEO, Foghorn Leghorn reveals himself as the evil bully we always knew he was, and it’s a hoot to watch him intimidate his lawyer, an obligingly game John Cena. If much of the comedy here leans on nostalgia, the old bits remain good ones. And while there’s a reason classic Looney Tunes didn’t exceed 10 minutes, Bugs and Daffy and Porky and Tweety all turn up at opportune moments. The human/toon interaction is as seamless as it should be, with Forte a serviceable enough straight man that I won’t compare him to Bob Hoskins. Though having avoided mentioning Who Framed Roger Rabbit? as long as I could, I could help but notice that this film flirts with the other’s idea of cartoons as manic chaos agents but never quite plunges in. As for the anti-corporate storyline, it could be a critique of animal testing if it wanted to. (It’s a stretch, I say, I say, a stretch to claim it’s metaphorically calling out Big Tech’s beta-testing.) What stage of capitalism have we reached when a solid piece of entertainment like this becomes a cause célèbre simply because biz pinheads nearly binned it as a tax write off? I’m just glad it gives today’s kids the opportunity to learn who Peter Lorre was the same way that I did. B+
The Dog Stars—ends September 17
Echoes in the Night: The Search for Jacob Wetterling
The End of Oak Street
Blame Spielberg, I guess. The ’80s were obsessed with the ’50s as a prelapsarian past to celebrate and/or deconstruct, so why shouldn’t the ’80s become the equivalent of the ’50s for blockbuster-minded cinephiles? Writer/director David Robert Mitchell (It Follows) gives us a seemingly happy nuclear family where All Is Not As It Seems: Mom (Anne Hathaway) is secretly writing a novel about a woman desperate to ditch her family, and Dad (Ewan McGregor, looking oddly like Jim Walsh at times and still questing for that elusive American accent) is the too-cheery husband hiding that he’s been laid-off. When a chunk of their idyllic neighborhood is wormholed into prehistory, they must overcome their differences to etc. etc. etc. The genuinely scary dinosaurs do get to do some chomping, making meals of an unexpected character or two, and I’m especially fond of the raptors that are more Harryhausen harpies than Jurassic Park escapees. If elevated horror is a thing (bracket your objections for the moment), Mitchell seems to be going for elevated popcorn movie here, but he repeatedly edges toward uncontained violence and then backs away—the all-too-adequate fingerprints of producer J.J. Abrams (the Stray Cats to Spielberg’s Elvis) are all over this product. I’m just glad the wonderful Maisy Stella, as the teen daughter, is getting work, even if she’s not given much to do besides cry, run, and flirt sapphically with the girl next door. B-
Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger
The Odyssey—read full review here
What we tend to forget about The Odyssey is that it’s maybe 10% cool mythological shit like one-eyed giant cannibals and sinister witches and gods punishing impudent mortals and like 90% about exchanging gifts with your hosts and telling very long stories to impress them. What’s remarkable about Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is that it honors this aspect of the epic while delivering the supernatural adventure film moviegoers want. Yet as always, Nolan is so transparent in his ideology you can almost believe he’s making an argument, when like any storyteller he’s just using fiction to justify his beliefs. Which, as always, is that we are always one well-told tale away from chaos. Whether the gods are real or not, warns the David Brooks of the cineplex, if we don’t honor them we will undermine the customs that hold our society together. Hey man, I just came here for the Cyclops. B+
The Passion of the Christ—ends September 17
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Look, we all know what’s wrong with the MCU. Too long, too constructed to promote future installments, just plain too familiar. But I’m not here to relitigate all that. I’m here to tell people who might be in the mood for a Spider-Man movie whether they should see this Spider-Man movie, and my answer is a resounding “Uh, sure.” It is the one currently in theaters, after all, and it’s downright sleek compared to the Spider-Man: No Way Home, which was overstuffed with Spiders-Men, supervillains, and multiverse nonsense. Peter Parker’s existence (Tom Holland) has been magicked away from everyone’s memory, and as he watches his once-gf MJ (Zendaya) and once-bff Ned (Jacob Batalon) live blissful Peter-free lives at MIT, he throws himself into his work. He debates attempting to reintroduce himself while tracking a mysterious entity that leaps from body to body in search of some government secret and dealing with some freakily increasing spidery tendencies. Along the way, he encounters Florence Pugh’s Black Widow (says “potatoes” amusingly), Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk (bigger than ever), (a little too much of) Jon Berenthal’s Punisher, and, of course, Sadie Sink, who plays Jean Grey with an intense school-shooter vibe. Because this is Spider-Man, the fights are less monotonous than the MCU norm, though I was a bit fatigued by the time we got to the climatic battle with the evil ninjas. And as for future installments, I’m sure the device Peter invents that inhibits superpowers won’t be used against the good guys in future films. B
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma
Jane Schoenbrun’s latest had me hooked before the end of the opening credits sequence, which guides us through the cultural impact of an imaginary slasher series, right down to a fake New Yorker cartoon. Trash connoisseurs tend to be polemicists for their own niche fetishes—boys with toys and a rulebook for playing with them—but Schoenbrun is more intrigued with how pop culture psychologically embeds itself within our identities. They’re also, refreshingly, less respectful of their source material, and happy to indulge in fountains of blood, incongruous needle drops, and a willingness to cringe at the film’s tendency to wink at us. Here Hannah Einbinder is Kris, an indie director fluent in gender-ese and the theoretics of desire who has a shot to resurrect the played-out Camp Miasma series, centered on the unkillable, lake-dwelling trans serial murderer Little Death (Jack Haven). During a trip to recruit the reclusive star of the original installment, Billy Pressley (Gillian Anderson), for the new film, Kris must confront her own trashy sexual fantasies, and I gotta say, it gets pretty hot. Where Shoenburn’s moody, neon-saturated I Saw the TV Glow floated the idea of pop obsession as a fraught portal to self-awareness, this gloriously garish meta-slasher more simply encourages us to learn to revel in the tawdriness of our own unchosen, mass culturally imprinted desires. The leads are perfectly chosen, with a resonance for certain audiences beyond these roles, and the supporting cast balances avatars of contemporary cool like Eva Victor and Sarah Sherman with recognizable character actors like Dylan Baker and the unmistakably Lynchian Patrick Fischler. We’re offered plenty to ponder about the gaze (and, I suppose, the gays), and Teenage Sex may wax a little too therapeutic and, well, polemical in the homestretch. But it’ll take a second viewing for me to care about all that, ‘cause I was preoccupied laughing as hard as the theater of delighted 20-somethings around me. That’s the thing: This works first as entertainment, and also as a tale of sexual bonding that doesn't quite reduce to a love story. Lowering its stakes even as it ratchets up the tension, Teenage Sex is surprisingly tender for a movie that ends with its stars bloodier than Sissy Spacek at the prom. A-
Tony
A portrait of the artist as a young fraud. Looking like all of the Strokes rolled into one, Dominic Sessa plays Anthony “Call Me Tony” Bourdain as an intense, pretentious kid who confidentially mispronounces “bildungsroman,” slouches as though he’s perpetually passing through a low door frame only he can see, and lies as reflexively as only someone who hasn’t yet figured out who he is can. When his crush (Emilia Jones) heads to Cape Cod for the summer, the tousled lad stalks after her, pretending he won a writing fellowship while washing dishes at a touristy seafood joint. Tony succeeds because it’s less a biopic than a coming-of-age story, with the young Bourdain forced to choose between the devil on one shoulder (Leo Woodall’s hard-drinkin’, tail-chasin’, smack-shootin’, bar-fightin’ Sal) and the angel on the other (the restaurant’s somber, devout, and meticulous chef, played by Antonio Banderas). It falters because the choice that kept him alive and set him on his path is, well, just less fun to watch. Sessa has the charisma to play the young Bourdain (even if he’s just a few clicks away from his turn in The Holdovers—what happens when he has to play a 21st century adult?) and I’ve come to savor Banderas’s late career, in which he underplays as dramatically as he once overheated during the peak of his Hollywood stardom. B+
