***CRITIC’S CHOICE***
Monday, Dec. 15 through Thursday, Dec. 18: Bay View’s Avalon Theater re-opens
Check website for specific showtimes and pricing.
It’s with arms wide open that we welcome the Avalon Theater back into the local movie-going fold, with special soft-opening screenings running Monday through Wednesday with their big Grand Opening set for this Thursday with screenings of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies and Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb. I can’t wait to step foot inside the Avalon and see what they’ve accomplished through the remodel, and I am very excited to see how the theater develops over the weeks, months and years ahead. I’m particularly excited to see what kind of programming transpires in the smaller side theater meant for independent cinema. It could be a means for Milwaukee theatergoers to catch movies that would otherwise go forgotten in an intimate setting. Stay tuned!
Monday, Dec. 15 through Sunday, Dec. 22: The Rivoli’s Christmas Film Festival runs daily
Check website for showtimes ($3.50)
Just take a look at this schedule:
Monday: Holiday Inn (7 p.m.)
Tuesday: A Christmas Story (7 p.m.)
Wednesday: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (7 p.m.)
Thursday: The Holiday (7 p.m.)
Friday: White Christmas (7 p.m.)
Saturday: Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1 p.m.), Holiday Affair (3:30 p.m.) & Elf (7 p.m.)
Sunday: Prancer (1 p.m.), The Polar Express (3:30 p.m.) & It’s a Wonderful Life (7 p.m.)
That’s a pretty solid bit of programming, mixing young and old together in a way that has the power to bridge generations of movie experiences when families attend. I’m particularly excited for the screenings of Holiday Affair and Prancer, two solid movies that don’t get much play every holiday season. So go finish your holiday shopping in Cedarburg and stop off to catch a classic Christmas film at the same time in a very charming theater (if you haven’t been, the Rivoli is worth checking out!).
Wednesday, Dec. 18: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Check local listings for showtimes and pricing.
When I say that this is easily the best of The Hobbit films, some will feel that it is as faint a praise as one could be damned with, but seeing as though I’ve been a fan of the previous two entries to varying degrees, it should be taken as a full-on compliment. I’ll save specifics for my review, but Jackson’s ability to tell a story in the body of an endless action sequence is on full display here and Martin Freeman’s great performance as Bilbo continues despite his fluctuating screen time in a story named after him. It’s wildly entertaining, and I will be seeing it again.
Friday, Dec. 19: Annie, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb and Foxcatcher all open locally
Check local listings for showtimes and pricing.
We’re blessed with three major releases locally this week. So start off with the Annie remake, segue into the historical hijinx of the Night at the Museum series, and then cap it off with a festive retelling of the DuPont and Schulz family odyssey, a story wrought with wrestling, paranoid schizophrenia and murder. I can’t say I’m particularly excited for this Annie remake, but I’m more than willing to give it a chance to win me over! The cast is strong (for the most part, I can’t handle Cameron Diaz these days) and the source material is solid so there’s every chance it will be a fun time at the movies. I am equally unexcited for another Night at the Museum film. I had no particular affinity for the original, which led me to pass on the sequel. Now that the Battle for the Smithsonian is complete and the funeral pyres have been lit for those who bravely gave their life in it, we move onto whatever secrets are contained in whichever tomb the movie is referring to. The trailer doesn’t make it much clearer (They’re in London? To save something? Before all of the museum characters die?), but if your kids are deadset on seeing it, there are plenty of comedic ringers populated throughout to help guide you through.
If you couldn’t tell, Foxcatcher is definitely not for the whole family (see below). And while Steve Carrell is front and center in the ad campaigns with his nose prosthesis and makeup, the movie is really powered by the performances of Mark Ruffalo and Channing Tatum as the Olympic champion brothers. Both performers give career-defining performances that help give emotional heft to a story that is a bit cold and distant. This film will certainly be in the Oscar hunt, and director Bennett Miller does a fine job with this reserved story that feels like it encapsulates our country’s very existence at many points, even if I find fault with minor portions of the telling.
Saturday, Dec. 20: It’s a Wonderful Life
10 a.m. @ The Times Cinema ($5!)
Treat yourself to a Saturday morning delight with The Times’ special screening of It’s a Wonderful Life. Not particularly embraced by audiences or critics upon its initial release (it did win a special Oscar for the development of a new form of snow to be used on sets), Frank Capra’s timeless holiday classic is probably darker than you remember it and most likely far better as well. And while Pottersville does seem like a slightly awesome place if you’re of a certain temperament, I think what many have deemed “Capracorn” is well-earned here (and to be honest, in almost all of his movies) and the moralizing is fully sold by Jimmy Stewart’s awesome lead performance.
Saturday, Dec. 20: A Christmas Story
10 a.m. @ The Rosebud Cinema ($5!)
Meanwhile, at the Hall of Justice, The Rosebud Cinema will also be playing a holiday staple that only found its niche after an initial lack of financial success. This isn’t my favorite Bob Clark holiday film (Black Christmas, guys, watch it), but it is certainly not without its charms. And seeing it this way is far preferable to the commercial-laden Christmas day marathon screenings of the movie on cable TV.
