So. I didn't finish my reviews ofThe End of Oak Street and Coyote vs. Acme before heading to the fair this morning, and now I'm too pooped to wrap them up. But I will get to them as soon as I can tomorrow morning and plop 'em in here.
Special Screenings
Thursday, August 27
Ghost: 2 Big 2 Rig (2026)
AMC Rosedale 14/AMC Southdale 16/Emagine Willow Creek/Lagoon Cinema/Marcus West End
The Swedish rockers, live in Mexico City. AMC: Also Saturday. $20. Showtimes and more info here. Emagine: $17. 6 p.m. Saturday 9 p.m. More info here. Lagoon: $15.50. 7 p.m. Saturday 4 p.m. More info here. Marcus: Also Saturday. Showtimes and more info here.
Grotesque Fest VII
Bryant Lake Bowl
The short film showcase returns. Also Saturday. $9/$13. 7 p.m. More info here.
The Sandlot (1993)
Emagine Willow Creek
A very important movie to some of you, I’m told. $8. 11 a.m. More info here.
Tommy (1975)
Emagine Willow Creek
Ken Russell does The Who. Or vice versa. $12. 7:30 p.m. More info here.
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
Grandview 1&2
Jack Nicholson is a slumming jerk. $14.14. 9:15 p.m. More info here.
Honey I Shrunk the Kids (1989)
Lynnhurst Park
Personally, I would not shrink my kids, but that’s just me. Free. 8 p.m. More info here.
Sing (2016)
Riverview Theater
Sometimes I’m glad I never had kids. $2. 10:45 a.m. More info here.
The Shining (1980)
Riverview Theater
“I was the belle of The Governor's Ball/Hiding in the bathroom like Shelley Duvall.” Through Saturday. $5/$7. 9:45 p.m. More info here.
Jawbreaker: A Film About Anti-Cimex (2025)
Trylon
Not to be confused with Anti-Cimex: A Film About Jawbreaker. $10. 7 p.m. More info here.
Friday, August 28
Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
Alamo Drafthouse
Tween-love, Wes Anderson style. $7. 12:30 p.m. More info here.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
AMC Southdale 16
The one with the prisoner of Azkaban. $7. 4 p.m. More info here.
Signs (2002)
Heights Theater
The movie that made me swear off M. Night Shamalyan for decades. $13. 9:45 p.m. More info here.
In the Heights (2021)
Lake Hiawatha Park
Note: This is not playing at The Heights. Free. 8 p.m. More info here.
Wicked (2024)
Phalen Beach Park
*extremely ’80s and/or Boston voice* Free. Dusk. More info here.
El Fantasma del Convento (1934)
Trylon
Visit a haunted Mexican monastery. $8. 7 p.m. Saturday 5 & 9 p.m. Sunday 1 p.m. More info here.
Las Mujeres Panteras (1967)
Trylon
Luchadoras protect a girl from wrestling satanists. $8. 9 p.m. Saturday 7 p.m. Sunday 3 p.m. More info here.
Saturday, August 29
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
AMC Southdale 16
The one with the Goblet of Fire. $7. 7:45 p.m. More info here.
The Goonies (1985)
Heights Theater
Great Cyndi Lauper song, I’ll give it that. $6-$13. 11 a.m. More info here.
Killer Condom (1996)
Heights Theater
A detective tracks down a violent rubber. $13. 9:45 p.m. More info here.
Stepping Into the Unknown: Films From the Bob Dylan Center
Main Cinema
A selection of short films and videos from the Dylan vaults. $25. 1 & 4 p.m. More info here.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Marcus West End
If you'd rather see it in St. Louis Park. Showtimes, prices, and more info here.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Parkway Theater
RIP Tim Curry. $10/$15. Midnight. More info here.
1985 (2016)
Play-on-Payne
Hmong kids have an adventure. Presented by TriLingua Cinema. Free. 8 p.m. More info here.
Harry Potter Marathon
Riverview Theater
“The Riverview will be donating a portion of all ticket sales to a charity that benefits trans people in our community,” and good for them. Also Sunday. $40. 10 a.m. More info here.
Sunday, August 30
Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)
Alamo Drafthouse
The big guy’s last Toho Studios film as a villain. $13.99. 12:30 p.m. Tuesday 7 p.m. More info here.
The Last Blossom (2026)
AMC Rosedale 14/AMC Southdale 16
A yakuza dying in prison recalls his life. $15. 4 p.m. More info here.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
AMC Southdale 16
The one with the Order of the Phoenix. $7. 4:15 p.m. More info here.
Easy Rider (1969)
Grandview 1&2
Sometimes I feel like the ’60s would have annoyed me. Also Thursday. $14.14. 9:15 p.m. More info here.
The Unknown (1927)
Heights Theater
Lon Chaney is a crook who disguised himself as an armless circus knife-thrower. Live music from Chicago’s Whine Cave. $20. 7p.m. More info here.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
Marcus West End
If you'd rather see it in St. Louis Park. Showtimes, prices, and more info here.
Death Becomes Her (1992)
Roxy’s Cabaret
"A highly treasured film within the gay community," says Wikipedia. Free. 7 p.m. More info here.
Ida (2013)
Trylon
A woman must travel to visit a relative before taking her vows as a nun. $8. 5 & 7 p.m. Monday-Tuesday 7 & 9 p.m. More info here.
Monday, August 31
Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
Alamo Drafthouse
Chomp. $13.99. 7:30 p.m. More info here.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (2009)
AMC Southdale 16
The once with the Half Blood Prince. $7. 7:45 p.m. More info here.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
Edina Mann
Starring Ebenezer himself, Johnny Depp. Also Wednesday. $12.12. 7 p.m. More info here.
Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988)
Emagine Willow Creek
Elvira travels to a small town to claim an inheritance. $9. 7:30 & 7:45 p.m. More info here.
Hundreds of Beavers (2022)
Heights Theater
That enough beavers for ya? $10/$13. 7 p.m. More info here.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
Main Cinema
The lady’s on fiy-err! $13. 7 p.m. More info here.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
Marcus West End
if you'd rather see it in St. Louis Park. Showtimes, prices, and more info here.
Tuesday, September 1
Shivers (1975)
Alamo Drafthouse
Cronenberg’s very first feature. Time, prices, and more info here.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (2010)
AMC Southdale 16
The first one with the Deathly Hallows. $7. 4 p.m. More info here.
Ninotchka (1939)
Heights Theater
Boy meets girl. Girl meets capitalism. Russia loses girl. $16. 7 p.m. More info here.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (2009)
Marcus West End
If you'd rather see it in St. Louis Park. Showtimes, prices, and more info here.
The Land Before Time (1988)
Riverview Theater
We only they had Newsweek back then. Through Thursday. $2. 10:45 a.m. More info here.
Wednesday, September 2
The Outsiders: The Complete Novel (1983)
Alamo Drafthouse
If there's one thing Coppola's gonna do, it's re-edit his movies. $20. 7:30 p.m. More info here.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (2011)
AMC Southdale 16
The second one with the Deathly Hallows. AMC: $7. 7:45 p.m. More info here.
The Greatest Showman (2017)
The Commons
A big singalong screening, preceded by Broadway karaoke. Free. 6 p.m. More info here.
Demolition Man (1993)
Lagoon Cinema
Takes place just six years from now. $11. 4:15 & 7 p.m. More info here.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (2010)
Marcus West End
If you'd rather see it in St. Louis Park. Showtimes, prices, and more info here.
Pretty in Pink (1986)
Parkway Theater
Better song than a movie. $10/$15. DJ Jake Rudh at 7 p.m. Movie at 8 p.m. More info here.
Tape Freaks
Trylon
They added a second screening, but they’re both sold out. $5. 7 & 9 p.m. More info here.
Thursday, September 3
The Hunger Games (2012)
AMC Rosedale 14/B&B Bloomington 13,/Emagine Willow Creek/Marcus West End
Well, I guess they've run out of Harry Potter movies. Prices, times, and more info here.
The Goonies (1985)
Boom Island Park
Look at that horrifying start time. Free. 7:50 p.m. More info here.
Lisztomania (1975)
Emagine Willow Creek
Roger Daltrey is Franz Liszt. Ringo is the Pope. Rick Wakeman is Thor. $12. 7:30 p.m. More info here.
Aladdin (1992)
Granada
Waiter, this genie is overcooked. A Taste the Movies event. $169. 6 p.m. More info here.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (2011)
Marcus West End
If you'd rather see it in St. Louis Park. Showtimes, prices, and more info here.
Psycho III (1986)
Trylon
Anthony Perkins gets to direct himself as Norman Bates in this installment. $8. 7 p.m. More info here.
Mysterious Skin (2004)
Walker Art Center
RIP Michelle Trachtenberg. $6/$8. 7 p.m. More info here.
Opening
Follow the links for showtimes.
Buddy
Keegan-Michael Key is a murderous unicorn on a children’s show.
Colony
Survivors of an epidemic face an unexpected foe.
The Dog Stars
How is this only Margaret Qualley's second movie of the year? Is she retired?
Coyote vs. Acme
The movie that was almost a tax write-off.
Echoes in the Night: The Search for Jacob Wetterling
Another documentary about the notorious Minnesota child abduction.
Finding Emily
A musician searches for his dream girl.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)
What's the occasion? Is that awful woman dead?
Idiots
Originally titled The Shitheads.
It Ends
Sorry, but I am not calling anything “an existential horror film.”
Legend of the White Dragon
Posthumous Michael Madsen.
The Marching Band
Brothers meet each other for the first time, learn they share musical gifts.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
When Arnold got too famous to play villains.
Toxic
"A fairy tale for grown-ups."
Ongoing in Local Theaters
Follow the links for showtimes.
Hadestown: The Musical
This is an impressive work. Taking a little narrative license (nobody tell Emily Wilson), Anaïs Mitchell’s Tony-gobbling musical weaves (as though Fates-like) the myths of Hades/Persephone and Orpheus/Eurydice together with a little au courant class politics, and its five leads embody striking characters. Our guide in silver, André De Shields is a dapper, precise Hermes. Amber Gray is a flask-tippling, fed-up Persephone, while wide-eyed Eva Noblezada is a delightful Eurydice. And Patrick Page plays Hades as a baritone silver fox, a mix of Leonard Cohen and Logan Roy. Only Reeve Carney as Orpheus is a bit of a chore —if I ruled Hell, I’d be like, “Take the girl and GTFOH with that corny Jeff Buckley falsetto.” And as a film, this impressively guides us around the stage and, like the production itself, acknowledges the rowdy audience. I’ll even allow the conclusion’s chin-up crimes against Aristotle (we’re not drawn to tragedy because we hope it’ll turn out differently, but because we know it won’t). But my problem is the same that I have with most contemporary stage musicals: Where da hooks at? Maybe after a few spins through the soundtrack I could hum a bar or two, but that’s not how musicals work. At least it’s not how they’re supposed to. B
Hot Spot—ends August 27
The Invite
We all know couples like Angela and Joe. As played by Olivia Wilde and Seth Rogan, they’re perpetually bickering over things you can’t believe either cares all that much about, as though following a preordained script. We’re less likely to know a couple like Hawk and Pina, embodied by two of our most ageless actors, Edward Norton and Penelope Cruz. The older couple has frequent, explosive sex upstairs, which irritates Joe, intrigues Angela, and becomes a topic of intense discussion when Hawk and Pina come downstairs one night for dinner. Over the course of one exhausting, hilarious, and loquacious evening, Joe and Angela are forced to confront some truths about their relationship. Joe falls back on wisecracks, Angela turns positively giddy at the thought of experiencing orgasms like Pina’s, and composer Devonte Hynes’s strings ratchet up the tension throughout. I can’t say I wholly agree with the film’s final assessment of their relationship—for all its pyrotechnics, the Will McCormack/Rashida Jones script doesn’t give us much beyond the surface, even when it purports to peek underneath. But what a surface it is. Norton is on a nice later career run and Cruz is just a fuckin’ movie star whatever she does. And as for Wilde the director, she makes a few awkward shot choices but the screwball-paced dialogue guides us through a (mostly) single-set film that’s rarely stagey and only as claustrophobic as it’s meant to be. I’m ready to pretend Don’t Worry Darling never happened if she is. A-
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+
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+
