First, some venue news. The Alamo has reopened out in Woodbury. Also, I have not yet visited the new Marcus Theater in St. Louis Park but they're offering $3 hot dogs this weekend.
I plan to hit John Cassavetes's Opening Night at the Trylon and, among the new releases, Good One. I'd also recommend A Night of Knowing Nothing for the braver among you, along with some more familiar goodies below.
Scroll down for reviews of Between the Temples, Blink Twice, and Strange Darling. But first, guess which of the three I liked.
Special Screenings
Thursday, August 29
Days of Thunder (1990)
Grandview 1&2
His name is Cole Trickle lol. Also Saturday. $12. 9:15 p.m. More info here.
It Happened One Night (1934)
The Heights
Young people in love are very seldom hun-gree! $15. 7:30 p.m. More info here.
The Little Mermaid (2023)
North Mississippi Regional Park
Ugh, look at that start time. Free. 7:50 p.m. More info here.
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Parkway Theater
What a messed up family! $9/$12. Music from Ryan Picone Quartet at 7 p.m. Movie at 8 p.m. More info here.
Hotel Transylvania (2012)
Riverview Theater
Sounds spooky. I wouldn't stay there! Also Wednesday. $1. 11 a.m. More info here.
Alien Rubicon (2024)
Trylon
Not to be confused with Alien: Romulus. The folks at Asylum who made this movie would hate for you to do that. $8. 5 p.m. More info here.
A Night of Knowing Nothing (2021)
Trylon
Payal Kapadia mixes student video and archival footage to tell the story of protests against nationalism on Indian university campuses. Presented by Archives on Screen. Free. 7 p.m. More info here.
Friday, August 30
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
AMC Southdale 16
Pretty sure this is the one with the half-blood prince. Through Wednesday. Times, prices, and more info here.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
AMC Rosedale 14/AMC Southdale 16
And this is the one with the prisoner of Azkaban? Through Wednesday. Times, prices, and more info here.
Sight & Sound Presents: Daniel Live
AMC Rosedale 14/AMC Southdale 16/Emagine Willow Creek
A staged adaptation of that biblical guy. $16.35. 6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday 2 p.m. Monday 7 p.m. More info here.
Under the Boardwalk (2023)
Keewaydin Park
Something about different kinds of crabs learning to live together or something. Free. 7:50 p.m. More info here.
Top Gun (1986)
Marcus West End Cinema
$6. Friday, Monday-Tuesday 12:30 & 6:30 p.m. Saturday-Sunday 3:30 & 9:30 p.m. Wednesday 3 & 9 p.m. More info here.
The Goonies (1985)
Marcus West End Cinema
Your childhood was a lie. $6. Friday, Monday-Tuesday 3:30 & 9:30 p.m. Saturday-Sunday 12:30 & 6:30 p.m. Wednesday 6 p.m. More info here.
Revenge (1964)
Trylon
It's samurai time! $8. Friday-Saturday 7 & 9:15 p.m. Sunday 3 & 5:15 p.m. More info here.
Saturday, August 31
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)
Bryant Square Park
Uh oh, Mothra's here. Free. 7:50 p.m. More info here.
Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring—Extended (2001)
Emagine Willow Creek
Get rid of that ring! Also Sunday & Wednesday. $9. 12:40 & 5:30 p.m. More info here.
Up (2009)
Parkway Theater
Love watching that old guy's house float around in the air. $5-$10. 1 p.m. More info here.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Parkway Theater
Will you people keep it down? I’m trying to watch the movie! With live shadow cast performance by Transvestite Soup. $10/$15. Midnight. More info here.
Catvideofest 2024
Riverview Theater
Yet another encore of this year's feline vids. Also Sunday. $5. 1:15 p.m. More info here.
Sunday, September 1
Opening Night (1977)
Trylon
RIP Gena Rowlands. $8. 7:30 p.m. Monday-Tuesday 7 p.m. More info here.
Monday, September 2
Don't Go in the Woods... Alone! (1981)
Emagine Willow Creek
That's just good... advice! $10. 7:30 p.m. More info here.
Wednesday, September 4
Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice (2024)
Alamo Drafthouse/Marcus West End Cinema
An advance peek at the sequel. Alamo: $7. 7 p.m. More info here. Marcus: $10.25. 7 & 9:45 p.m. More info here.
The Reports on Sarah and Saleem (2018)
Bryant-Lake Bowl
An Israeli woman and Palestinian man begin a dangerous love affair. $5-$15. 7 p.m. More info here.
A League of Their Own (1992)
North Loop Green
That Tom Hanks is so gruff. Free. 7:30 p.m. More info here.
Tape Freaks September
Trylon
Sold out already! And so is next month's! $5. 7 p.m. More info here.
Opening This Week
Follow the links for showtimes.
Afraid
The friendly AI that runs a family's home turns out to be evil. Who coulda seen that coming?
City of Dreams
A Mexican farmer is sold in California as slave labor.
God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust
"What would happen if all Christians unite & vote for someone who holds their beliefs high?" Yeah, we tried that.
Good One
Egos clash when a teen goes backpacking with her dad and his friend.
1992
The story of two families living through the L.A. riots.
Reagan
Dennis Quaid as the Gipper! Scott Stapp as Sinatra! The dad from The Wonder Years as Tip O'Neill! I'm gonna have to see this trainwreck, huh?
Saripodhaa Sanivaaram
An Indian vigilante flick.
Shaun of the Dead
Back for its 20th anniversary. Wait, that can't be right.
Slingshot
The trailer made this look like Solaris for dummies.
War Game
In this doc, former government officials play out a hypothetical coup.
You Gotta Believe
Luke Wilson coaches some misfits all the way to the Little League World Series.
Ongoing in Local Theaters
Follow the links for showtimes.
Between the Temples
The setup is a little too much like a movie pitch: Jason Schwartzman is a cantor unable to get over his wife’s death; Carol Kane is his old music teacher, who demands that he prep her for a late-life bat mitzvah. But though these two characters do indeed, you know, “learn a little about each other—and themselves—along the way,” Nathan Silver’s understated little comedy (co-written with C. Mason Wells) is unconventional in a lived, everyday sort of way rather than willfully quirky. (It’s also a welcome peek into a middle-class community of Jews who for once aren’t depicted as screaming neurotics.) Great cast, for sure: Cantor Ben’s two moms are noodgy Dolly de Leon (even better here than in Ghostlight) and matronly Caroline Aaron (you’ll recognize that gravelly voice), while Robert Smigel is an easygoing rabbi and Madeline Weinstein is his daughter, who everyone wants Ben to marry. But it’s Schwartzman and Kane, both wizards of cadence, who carry the film, their relationship developing along a comic, conversational rhythm that’s complemented by MVP Sean Price Williams’s trademark handheld verite style. I wasn’t convinced the conclusion was true to the film’s non-confrontational spirit, but I was willing to be persuaded. A-
Blink Twice
There’s probably no way to discuss Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut, which she also co-wrote, without spilling the beans, so the spoiler-averse might just wanna clamp those eyes tight. In this Cinderella story turned nightmare, Channing Tatum is a tech titan who, following an undisclosed scandal and an apology tour, professes that therapy has made him a new man. He invites caterer Naomi Ackie and her more skeptical buddy Alia Shawkat (along with some other ladies and assorted hangers on) to his private island. Here the guests lounge around during the day and, by night, indulge in hallucinogenic larks that are quick-edited to conceal any details from us. As you’ve maybe heard, Blink Twice begins with a trigger warning regarding “depictions of violence—including sexual violence,” but the rape here is more implied than shown, unlike the orgy of vengeance it leads to. Kravitz’s glib one-liners and cartoonish characterizations are a mismatch for her big ideas about repressed trauma and gaslighting and abuse. The audience I saw kept laughing even when shit got grim—I don’t know if that’s what Kravitz wanted, but she certainly provided the opportunity. Loved the Yoko needle drop though. C
Cuckoo
You can only go so wrong with Hunter Schafer as a moody teen (who plays bass in a band that sounds like the Raveonettes?) and Dan Stevens in his latest weird manifestation as a creepy German toodling on a little wooden recorder. (Every time Stevens says “Gretchen” you’ll be glad you showed up.) Throw in a red-eyed, time-loop-inducing baddie that the credits accurately call “The Hooded Lady” and an creepily atmospheric Bavarian lodge and you’ve got the makings of... well, of something a little more haunting than what writer/director Tilman Singer concocts here. As with so much post-Dobbs horror, there’s a struggle for the womb here, but for all its inspired nastiness, Cuckoo is a little scattershot, and not in a “hold on to your seats” way—Singer doesn’t seem to have a firm grip on the reins, and the more info that’s divulged, the more questions you’ll have about what’s going on. Sometimes in horror, as in politics, if you’re explaining, you’re losing. B
Dìdi
The semi-nostalgic coming-of-age comedies aren’t creeping closer to the present, you’re just getting older. Sean Wang’s directorial debut is calibrated to trigger feelings of sheepish relatability in any late millennial who ever had second thoughts about the instant message they almost sent or creeped on a crush’s Facebook page so they could lie about their favorite movie. But Dìdi stands apart in one significant way: its teen hero Chris (Izaac Wang) is a first generation Taiwanese-American, his adolescent awkwardness compounded by the culture gap with his well-meaning mom (Joan Chen). As Chris navigates the limbo that is the summer between middle and high school, he splits away from his old pals and starts shooting video for some older skaters while flirting with a girl who finds him “cute for an Asian.” A justifiable crowd-pleaser, with moments of secondhand embarrassment and uncomfortable laughter—you’ve seen a lot of this before. But you’ve never seen it quite like this. Generic it ain’t. B+
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Prequels, to use a technical cinematic term, suck. But if Origins of Furiosa is the movie George Miller has to make in order to shred more dudes underneath the wheels of a giant truck in a desert, who's gonna complain? Anya Taylor-Joy is winningly stoic as the title character, Alyla Browne even better as her even younger self, and Tom Burke (the posh junkie from Joanna Hogg's The Souvenir) is gallant as somebody named Praetorian Jack. As for Chris Hemsworth, still making good use of his freakishly enhanced Asgardian physique, he gets a few too many bits of scenery caught in his teeth as he chomps his way through the wasteland, but that's part of the fun. Worth it alone for the War Rig battle, the kind of sequence literally no other director would even think to film even if they knew how. A-
Inside Out 2
Inside Out’s model of the human psyche was something only Pixar could have dreamt up (derogatory): Your brain is an office staffed with project managers jockeying for control of your emotional responses. Despite the corporatized determinism at its core, the 2015 movie worked dramatically because its story of a Minnesota girl named Riley played off adult sympathies for distressed children in the sort of pitiless, heart-wrenching way that only Pixar can (complimentary, I think?). In this noisy, chaotic follow up, Riley enters adolescence and a new emotion, Anxiety, shows up to the job. The upstart feeling stages a coup, literally bottles up Joy and other inconvenient emotions, and constructs Riley’s sense of self based wholly on the perception of others. There’s so much focus on the internal conflict here that Riley becomes a puppet yanked too and fro, and the emotional dynamics make no sense even on their own terms. C+
Longlegs
There’s good dread (the kind you feel about what might happen next during an effective atmospheric build up) and then there’s bad dread (the kind that makes you feel that things are just going to keep getting sillier after someone mentions Satan for the first time). The two duke it out to a draw in writer/director Osgood Perkins’s debut, which—hype and box office and Nicolas Cage aside—cries out not for hyperbole but for weak critical fudge words like “ambitious” and “uneven.” Performances are solid all around, from Elevated Scream Queen Meika Monroe as an intuitive and emotionally reserved FBI agent to Blair Underwood making a welcome return as her boss to Alicia Witt doing what she can as a harbinger of the silliness to come. As for Cage, he’s (for the most part) genuinely creepy rather than merely Cagey. But echoes of thrillers past (notably The Silence of the Lambs) do not prove flattering. Me, I left deflated rather than spooked. B-
Sing Sing
From trailers (I know!) I mistook this worthy project for pure Colman Domingo Oscar-bait (which wouldn’t exactly make it unworthy). In fact, Domingo’s production company centers this film on the Sing Sing Correctional Facility’s real-life Rehabilitation Through the Arts theater program, and most of the cast are formerly incarcerated RTA alums. Domingo is Divine G, a stalwart of the RTA’s productions who’s certain he’ll be sprung after his next parole board hearing. His clashes with a tough newcomer to the program (an incredibly charismatic Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin) to form the dramatic backbone here. Even if you’re a bit leery of art as therapy, watching these men learn to communicate emotionally with one another is moving, and their faces are made for the screen. (Will we ever have enough decent film dramas for all the great unsung Black actors out there?) But Domingo hits some off notes. He remains too commanding a presence (the bass notes in his voice make me want to watch his films in Dolby) to blend in with the ensemble, and while I wouldn’t say he turns in a bad performance, his moments do feel the least authentic. Almost like he’s angling for an Oscar. B
Strange Darling
I’m resistant to the mystique of serial killers, but I’ll say this for writer/director JT Mollner’s much-praised, supposedly script-flipping new feature—it annoyed me in new and wholly unexpected ways. The film centers on a battle of wits (and eventually weapons) between Willa Fitzgerald (ID’d solely as “The Lady”) and Kyle Gallner (aka “The Demon”) as a one night stand turns into a life-or-death chase. Both leads give strong physical performances while doing what they can with Mollner’s dialogue, and there’s a fun interlude with Ed Begley Jr. and Barbara Hershey as “old hippies” living an idyllic life in the mountains. But Strange Darling’s non-linear storytelling ostentatiously hides its secrets from us; rather than intriguing and surprising us through creative misdirection, Mollner is just evasive. As for first-time cinematographer Giovanni Ribisi, he’s got some style. But the opening onscreen boast about being shot on 35mm is a perfect introduction to a movie that’s so overly impressed with itself. C
Thelma
A nonegenarian (June Squibb) gets scammed online and then tracks down the evildoers to get her money back—it’s kinda like The Beekeeper if Phylicia Rashad hadn’t needed Statham to avenge her. Squibb is generally wonderful as the plucky old gal, but despite some cute moments the whole shebang still felt a little too “hooray for the aged” overall. For me, that is. Everyone seems to love this movie. Maybe my experience was flavored by an excessively enthusiastic MSPIFF crowd? Or maybe I really do expect too much from movies? B-
Twisters
Twister may not be quite the summer classic that anyone who wasn’t old enough to vote in 1996 thinks it is, but it knew what it was and what it was supposed to do. This not-really-a-sequel (unless every movie about a shark is a Jaws sequel) is a bigger mess than a small Oklahoma town after an EF5. It can't really be about climate change because blockbusters have to be carefully nonpartisan, but it can’t not be about climate change because why else (as everyone in this movie is constantly saying) are there more tornadoes than ever. The goofiest part is that the chasers keep abandoning storms to instead rush into threatened towns to "help," i.e. telling everyone to get away from windows and get into the basement, which, sorry, but if you live in tornado alley and don't already know that you deserve to get swooped up into the sky. As Normal People and Hit Man showed, both Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell are better actors than they are movie stars. He needs to find another auteur to cast him against type instead of passing off his permasquint and smackably handsome grin as charisma; she needs to star in a Jane Austen adaptation or a Paddington sequel or something because I don’t believe she could find Oklahoma on a map. This will make enough money that neither of those things will ever happen, and I bet director Lee Isaac Chung never makes another Minari either. Meanwhile we’ll probably lose the National Weather Service. C+
