Wednesday, June 3: Entourage opens in wide release
Check local listings for showtimes/pricing
Christmas has come early this year, as all of our favorite entouragers are back for one last ride only in theaters – you got Agent Entourage, Turtleman, Johnny Acting and My Main Man all wrapped up in some crazy hijinx with enough celebrity cameos to choke a horse (or at least to make you forget how woefully boring all the leads are). Expect glitteringly shot opulence and extreme bro-isms.
Wednesday, June 3: Ziegfeld Girl
7:30 p.m. @ Charles Allis Art Museum ($7/$5/free for seniors/students/museum members)
Charles Allis’ penultimate entry in their ‘Show Girl Musicals’ programming is the star-studded musical Ziegfeld Girl. Starring Jimmy Stewart, Hedy Lamarr, Judy Garland and Lana Turner, with musical numbers choreographed by Busby Berkeley, this cavalcade of talent brings to life the story of three women who aim to become performers in the famed Ziegfeld Follies.
Friday, June 5: I’ll See You in My Dreams, Insidious: Chapter 3, Saint Laurent, Love & Mercy, Barely Lethal and Spy all open locally
Check local listings for showtimes/pricing
There are a ridiculous amount of releases dropping this week in addition to Entourage’s slightly earlier bow. First off, you get the well-received romantic dramedy I’ll See You in My Dreams starring Blythe Danner as a woman looking to reconnect with the world later in life, via her friendships (June Squibb, Rhea Perlman and Mary Kay Place) a young pool cleaner (Martin Starr) and a new love interest (Sam Elliott).
If you interests lean a little more frighteningly than that, the third entry into the Insidious series might be more your speed. This volume is a prequel that aims to further flesh out the malevolent presence that was established in the previous two films.
Saint Laurent requires something of a commitment from the audience – with a two-and-a-half hour running time and a narrative structure that bounces around freely between decades of the famed fashion designer’s life, it’s more complex than your average biopic. And while this devotion to telling the story in an unconventional fashion pays off with frequently mesmerizing sequences (including multiple night club soirees that are shot and edited to perfection); there were some moments where the expansive running time was certainly felt. However, Gaspard Ulliel is remarkable as Yves and the film’s refusal to adhere to the status quo allows for a very different feel than many films like this would capture. Foreign film fans or those looking for something a bit more visually ravishing and intellectually challenging during the summer movie season should definitely seek to check this out.
You also have the choice of another biopic, this one covering famed musician Brian Wilson, that bounces between his early days (the young version is played by Paul Dano) as his stability loosens during the making of the classic Beach Boys album Pet Sounds, and two decades later (played by John Cusack) where the reclusive genius meets and falls in love with Melinda (Elizabeth Banks). It’s received solid reviews for its ability to eschew the standard biopic pitfalls and would make a strong double feature with the aforementioned Saint Laurent.
Also dropping in a limited capacity this weekend is the teenage coming of age movie melded with action picture Barely Lethal. Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit, Pitch Perfect 2) plays a young covert field operative, who when given the chance to fake her own death in the middle of a mission takes the opportunity to enroll in a foreign exchange program and experience what it’s like to live life like a real teenage girl. She then discovers that high school is not quite like all of the movies and media she’s consumed led her to believe it would be. Sophie Turner (Game of Thrones), Samuel L. Jackson, and Jessica Alba co-star.
Finally this weekend, the latest collaboration between Melissa McCarthy and writer/director Paul Feig drops amidst rave reviews. McCarthy plays a CIA analyst who is pressed into field duty when the identity of all of her active agents is compromised. The film also stars Jude Law, Jason Statham and Rose Byrne and has been getting rave reviews. We haven’t had an abundance of good comedy cinema this year, so I fully welcome this release.
Friday, June 5 through Sunday, June 7: The Muppets Take Manhattan
10 a.m., 12:30 p.m. & 3:00 p.m. @ select local Marcus Theaters (click here to purchase tickets – $5)
Muppet Mania has now fully taken hold, so Marcus Theaters summer film series can finally end with 100 percent Muppet saturation. We wrap up with one of the classic films, in which the Muppets band together to put on a show that allows them the titular ownership of Manhattan. Not as funny as the newer pictures, and not as packed with classic songs as the original Muppet Movie, this is nonetheless peerless family entertainment that adults and kids alike can enjoy.
