Wanna settle in with a nice long movie? This week you got Seven Samurai, The Dirty Dozen, and The Sound of Music. On the opposite end of the scale, MinnAnimate is bringing four screenings of short local animated films to the Main and the Trylon this weekend.
Special Screenings
Thursday, September 11
Oldboy (2003)
Emagine Willow Creek
As grueling and gruesome as revenge films come. $11.60. 7:30 p.m. More info here.
After Hours (1985)
Grandview 1&2
Why are guys always so mean to Teri Garr? $14.14. 9:15 p.m. More info here.
MinnAnimate: Shorts Program 1
Main Cinema
An hour of short films by local animators. $15. 7 p.m. More info here.
Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (1979)
Parkway Theater
The Ramones help unruly kids take over their school. $9/$12. Music from the Silent Treatment at 7 p.m. Movie at 8 p.m. More info here.
Friday, September 12
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: Dream Master (1988)
Alamo Drafthouse
Not sure I made it this far into the series. $13.99. 9:30 p.m. More info here.
Barbie (2023)
The Commons
And with that, Minneapolis’s Movies in the Parks series is over for 2025. Free. 6 p.m. More info here.
Day of the Dead (1985)
Emagine Willow Creek
Round three of George A. Romero’s zombie franchise. $12.60. 7 & 9:40 p.m. Saturday 9:40 p.m. Sunday 1 & 7:30 p.m. More info here.
MinnAnimate: Shorts Program 2
Main Cinema
Another hour of short films by local animators. $15. 9:45 p.m. More info here.
The Last Detail (1973)
Trylon
Aw, young Randy Quaid, before he became a reactionary putz. $8. Friday-Saturday 7 & 9 p.m. Sunday 3 & 5 p.m. Sunday More info here.
The Dells (2024)
Walker Art Center
A look at the kids who come from other countries to work at Wisconsin waterparks in the summer. Also Sunday. $12/$15. 7 p.m. More info here.
Saturday, September 6
Catvideofest 2025
Riverview Theater
If it’s Saturday, it’s time for cat videos at the Riverview. $5. 9:30 a.m. More info here.
A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)
Alamo Drafthouse
Absolutely sure I never made it this far into the series. $13.99. 9:30 p.m. More info here.
Shoreline (2025)
East Side Sculpture Park
Trilingua Cinema celebrates its fifth birthday with a screening of a movie made by its Youth Film Camp along with shorts from local filmmakers. Free. 7:30 p.m. More info here.
The History of Sound (2025)
Main Cinema
Looks like Paul Mescal is gonna make you cry again. 11 a.m. Free for MSP Film Society Members. More info here.
Hump! Film Fest
Parkway
Dan Savage’s sexy film fest returns. $25. 6:30 & 9 p.m. More info here.
MinnAnimate: Kiera Faber Retrospective
Trylon
Five stop-motion shorts from the former Minnesotan animator, who will be in attendance for a Q&A. $15. 2 p.m. More info here.
MinnAnimate Shorts Program 3
Trylon
And yet another hour of short films by local animators. $15. 4:15 p.m. More info here.
Sunday, September 14
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (2010)
Alamo Drafthouse
I believe this is the one with the Deathly Hallows. One of the ones, anyway. $10.99. 12 p.m. More info here.
Inception (2010)
Emagine Willow Creek
Just realized I literally remember nothing about this movie. They ski at one point? $10.60. 3:50 & 6:15 p.m. Wednesday 6:10 p.m. More info here.
Blow Out (1981)
Grandview 1&2
One of the great Philadelphia movies. $14:44. 9:15 p.m. More info here.
Seven Samurai (1954)
Heights Theater
Now that’s the perfect amount of samurai. $13. 1 p.m. More info here.
Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)
Roxy’s Cabaret
Best movie ever adapted from a novel by a Match Game contestant. Free. 7 p.m. More info here.
The Dirty Dozen (1967)
Trylon
Get them Nazis! $8. Sunday-Tuesday 7 p.m. More info here.
Monday, September 8
Play Dirty (2025)
Alamo Drafthouse
An advance screening of the new Shane Black heist flick. $5. 8 p.m. More info here.
In the Mood for Love (2000)
Alamo Drafthouse
I absolutely love how many opportunities to see this in theaters there have been this year. $13.99. 7 p.m. More info here.
The Jester 2 (2025)
AMC Rosedale 14/AMC Southdale 16/Marcus West End
Was there even a The Jester 1? Prices, showtimes, and more info here.
Fallen Angels (1995)
Edina 4
Modern Hong Kong alienation never looked so sexy. Also Wednesday. $12.15. 7 p.m. More info here.
Cherry Falls (1999)
Emagine Willow Creek
Miss you, Brittany Murphy. $7.50. 7:30 p.m. More info here.
WTF! Watch Terrible Films Club
56 Brewing
I don’t know what they’re screening, but I know it will be terrible. Free. 7 p.m. More info here.
Rebecca (1940)
Parkway Theater
Go to Manderley again. $15. 7 p.m. More info here.
Tuesday, September 16
Ghoulies II (1987)
Alamo Drafthouse
Now expanded with more gore. $10.99. 9:30 p.m. More info here.
Wednesday, September 17
David Gilmour Live at the Circus Maximus, Rome (2025)
Emagine Willow Creek
Those Pink Floyd guys sure love concert films. $16.60. 7 p.m. More info here.
Phantom Thread (2017)
Lagoon Cinema
A truly great romance. $12.50. 7 p.m. More info here.
Rushmore (1998)
Parkway Theater
Maybe he should rush less. $9/$12. Music from Ryan Picone Quartet at 7 p.m. Movie at 8 p.m. More info here.
Alien Private Eye (1989)
Trylon
This title just make me think of that tentacled eyeball from Alien: Earth. $5. 7 p.m. More info here.
Opening This Week
Follow the links for showtimes.
The Baltimorons
A new Jay Duplass film about a guy whose need for emergency dental surgery leads to unexpected romance.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle
An “epic battle” is promised.
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale
Expropriate the damn place already.
The Long Walk
It’s walk or get shot in this dystopian Stephen King adaptation.
Mirai
A new Indian mythic heroic drama.
The Sound of Music
Will this be the week I finally see it?
Spinal Tap II: The End Continues
Fingers crossed.
Toy Story
Re-released for its 30th anniversary.
Ongoing in Local Theaters
Follow the links for showtimes.
Caught Stealing
What a slog. Austin Butler (weirdly channeling Barbarino-era Travolta at times) is Hank Thompson, a hunky bartender on the Lower East Side who coulda been a star ballplayer if he hadn’t rammed his IROC into a tree as a kid. His neighbor (Matt Smith with a mohawk that would’ve got him hooted off St. Mark’s Place in 1998, which is when this movie takes place for some reason) asks Hank to look after his cat; soon Russian mobsters start pummeling Hank, and Hasidic hitmen are on his trail too. The film veers between bloody ha-ha and bloody oh-no without settling on a style, and if you try to miss its “last good days of New York” thesis, don’t worry, Darren Aronofsky will get the Twin Towers into every shot he can. Maybe Charlie Huston’s 2005 novel of the same name works on the page, but nothing in his lackluster adapted script suggests how, and though Butler does have charisma you’d never know it from his performance here. Still, Aronofsky haters (we are legion) will be relieved that the film keeps his auteurist tics in check, so no women are tormented to the brink of insanity and beyond—which doesn’t mean no women get a bullet to the head. C
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Jaws—ends Thursday
The Naked Gun
Such is the ridiculous state of the film industry that the success of Akiva Schaffer’s spirited tribute to the laff-a-minute cop spoofs of his teenage years (and mine!) might well determine whether we get another silly comedy in theaters ever again. (Could we even get a gagfest like this if it hadn’t piggybacked off existing IP?) Liam Neeson can hardly compete with Leslie Nielsen’s granite deadpan—he’s having fun here, as is Pam Anderson, and they want us to know it. (Also, mazel tov, kids.) And we’re having fun too, so sometimes we will ourselves to laugh at bits (“Take a seat.” “No thanks, I have one at home.”) with some nostalgia for our inner tween’s sense of humor. But lighten up, tell your adult brain to STFU, and this is a fun ride. The plot is some nonsense to do with a sonic frequency that transforms people into creatures of pure id, all the better for comic fight scenes that the movie does best. Show it to a 12-year-old who doesn’t know it’s a homage and they’ll never stop quoting it. B+
The Roses
I’m not gonna pretend I remember much about Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner going at each other 36 years ago in The War of the Roses, a movie that mostly existed because people really liked them together in Romancing the Stone. But I do recall its core conceit—how quickly passion flips to hatred—which this reboot/revamp/do-over/whatever avoids with laborious determination. Tony McNamara’s screenplay, which dodges predictability so assiduously it rarely has much fun, is dedicated to the even more cynical proposition that marriage can turn even the most thoughtful humans into monsters. Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch are Ivy and Theo, married Brits bemused by life in the U.S., where friends give them guns as gifts; while his career as an architect craters, hers as a chef skyrockets. A self-aware modern liberal man, Theo consciously resists toxic resentment as he takes on childcare duties, and the duo’s shared ironic sensibility allows them to bicker cordially for most of the film. Until this all collapses into violent farce, that is, at which point it’s like Scenes from a Marriage turning into Punch and Judy. Docked a notch for letting Kate McKinnon do her “Ooh, am I sexy or creepy, who can say, ooh” shtick along the way. B-
Superman (read the full review here)
James Gunn’s flagship reboot of the DC film universe has its moments. In its best scene, a smug Clark Kent insists on a candid interview—as Superman—with co-worker/girlfriend Lois Lane, and the ace journalist he’s dating pulls no punches, getting in as many good hits as any of Lex Luthor’s henchfolk. David Corenswet’s Clark/Kal/Supes is all-too-human, with a real temper and self-regard bubbling up from beneath his Midwestern aw-shuckistude. He’s well-matched by Rachel Brosnahan, a purely 21st century Lois Lane who avoids Rosalind Russell throwback vibes as she fields modern problems like work-life balance and how to fly Mr. Terrific’s spacecraft. Yet the rest of Superman never matches the energy of that interview; in fact, Gunn foolishly splits Clark and Lois up on separate adventures. As we enter a world of intra-dimensional pocket universes and Metropolis-(Cleveland- actually) gobbling black holes, Superman gets loud and ugly and digital and, well, MCUish. And sorry, but there’s just too much Krypto. B-
The Threesome—ends Thursday
Weapons
Zach Cregger is no Oz Perkins (complimentary). Still, “17 children left their homes in the middle of the night and they never came back” is the easy part, and without giving too much away to the “I’ll wait for streaming” crowd, the explanation struck me as anticlimactic and a little goofy. As with Barbarian, Cregger works better with premises and characterization than with “what’s behind that door,” and, ugh, old ladies still creep him out. Still, Weapons as a manic meditation on grief, kind of an energy-drink-fueledThe Sweet Hereafter, with each adult is wrapped up in their own world—the kids’ teacher (Julia Garner) makes it all about herself, Josh Brolin is a dad doing his own research, and Alden Ehrenreich is a hapless cop who distracts himself by targeting a homeless swindler. So, how do you grade a film that zips from ominous to amusing to dumb to creepy-despite-itself to arrive at a truly galvanizing ending. Let’s try… B
