Wednesday,
May 28: This Above All
7:30 p.m. @ Charles Allis Art
Museum ($7/$5/free for seniors/students/museum members)
The Tyrone Power centennial celebration continues this week
at the Charles Allis Art Museum with this unique melodrama from the actor alongside
Joan Fontaine. In it he plays
conscientious objector Clive Biggs, who in World War II finds love and the will
to fight from women’s air corps member, Prudence Cathaway (Fontaine). Though not the type of role Power became accustomed to playing later in his career,
the film was nominated for several Oscars and even won Best Black & White Interior
Decoration. It’s long been considered one of the actor’s finest performances.
Friday,
May 30: Maleficent and A Million Ways to Die in the West open in wide release
Check local theater listings
for showtimes and pricing.
With the approaching summer, the simple respite that
two-and-a-half hours of air conditioning makes taking in any movie an appealing option. This weekend’s two big releases might
not offer much more than those hours of temperature-controlled bliss, but both hold
the possibility of being pleasantly surprising. Maleficent follows in the
footsteps of last year’s Oz the Great and Powerful, and while
that picture had Sam Raimi’s directing chops to carry us past the fact that we
really had no need of seeing the story of how the wonderful wizard came to
power, this look at the story behind Sleeping Beauty’s villainess has a
first-time director at the helm—and only Angelina Jolie’s cheekbones propping
it up. That said, Jolie does look fabulous, and special effects designers have
made a smooth transition into filmmaking before (not to mention: Sharlto Copley
doing wacky accents!) so there is a chance this fantasy epic may prove worth
watching.
Ted is the
highest-grossing original R-rated comedy of all time– as unbelievable as it may
seem. The world we now live in is one in which creator
Seth MacFarlane has infinite creative capital. Unfortunately he is choosing to
spend that savings on a starring vehicle for himself, and the trailer only
makes stark how amateurish a performer MacFarlane is when surrounded by such
varied talent as he is here (Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson, Neil Patrick Harris
and Sarah Silverman all appear to be on their game). So even though we may
spend the entirety of this film wishing that the director/writer had enough
sense to cast a charismatic performer in the lead, hopefully there will be
enough in the way of peripheral amusement (thanks to the supporting cast and
MacFarlane’s own ability to craft a decent narrative) to power us past his own
miscasting.
***CRITIC’S CHOICE***
Saturday,
May 31: Planes
8:30 p.m. @ Gift of Wings in
Veterans Park — 1010 N. Lincoln Memorial Drive (FREE!)
If you can make it past the existential horrors at the heart
of the universe Disney has created here, this Saturday’s free outdoor screening (the first of the Summer
Nights screening series) of the latest film from the Disney’s Cars
universe, Planes, should be a welcome experience for families in search
of cost-effective entertainment. While spun off from the Pixar series, this
air-bound expansion of the universe is from the direct-to-video DisneyToons
offshoot, so don’t expect the narrative and comedic sophistication that has
allowed Pixar to entertain young and old alike for so many years. Do expect
diverting entertainment for children, especially those with a keen interest in
taking to the sky.
