Moviegoers

Tuesday, July 22 and Thursday, July 24: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial 1:30 p.m. @ The Times Cinema ($2!) The Times ‘Summer Throwback’ series is kicking into full gear this month, and what better film to start it off with than Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece E.T.? One of the few movies that can lay claim to breaking me down to tears with every viewing no matter what, this tale of alienation and friendship is full of indelible imagery and is a career landmark for a director who pretty much only deals in them to begin with. See it on the big screen and…

  There’s a conceivable reality in which Sex Tape really works. Director Jake Kasdan has handled material that alternates between the emotionally real and comedic before during his time on Freaks and Geeks, and Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller (co-writers on this film alongside Kate Angelo) have proven adept at keeping those plates spinning themselves with their work on Forgetting Sarah Marshall. And the idea of examining marriage/family and the toll it can take on the sex lives of those entangled in it is certainly fruitful ground on which farcical comedy could be based. Unfortunately, we’re getting the dismal Bad…

***CRITIC’S CHOICE*** MONDAY, JULY 14 through THURSDAY, JULY 17: SNOWPIERCER @ AMC Mayfair 18 Click here for showtimes and pricing. Thanks to audiences showing up in solid numbers, Snowpiercer was surprisingly held at AMC Mayfair over the weekend and will continue screening until Thursday. With the number of major releases hitting the big screen this Friday, this is likely your last chance to see this sci-fi masterpiece on the big screen before it leaves town for good. I adored this movie, and I think that you will too.   MONDAY, JULY 14: THE PRESTIGE Dusk @ Brocach Irish (Free!) Pub…

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) was the very definition of a pleasant surprise – a franchise made moribund by the terrible remake a decade earlier, there was little clamor for a return to that narrative well, especially in the service of the rarely justifiable prequel format. Director Rupert Wyatt took material that could’ve proven laughable in other hands and melded his story of scientific hubris alongside a prison break-style narrative with the titular apes into a well-crafted bit of summer entertainment. Now burdened by expectation, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes had that much higher of…

***CRITIC’S CHOICE*** MONDAY, JULY 7 through THURSDAY, JULY 10: SNOWPIERCER @ AMC Mayfair 18 Without any fanfare, the AMC Mayfair brought Snowpiercer to our city last Wednesday (I had no idea, which is why it wasn’t also my Critic’s Choice for last week as well). I’ll let my review speak for itself.  This is the best movie of the year so far, and you’ll find no better film in local theaters right now. MONDAY, JULY 7: WALL*E Dusk @ Brocach Irish Pub (Call 414-431-9009 to make reservations. Free!) Brocach’s Monday evening patio screenings continue with a return to an era…

It’s no secret that Bong Joon-Ho is one of our most talented living filmmakers. Between Memories of Murder (Zodiac before Zodiac), The Host (an awesome amalgamation that plays like Little Miss Sunshine meets Jaws) and his first feature Barking Dogs Never Bite, he’s proven himself quite a storyteller. His films are thrilling, heartbreaking, hilarious and profound – often ricocheting between tones to achieve these ends without ever striking a false note. But as a litany of foreign-born directors making the transition to their first English picture can attest, their most laudable qualities don’t always make the trip alongside them. Not…

THE TWO ESCOBARS (2010, directors Jeff & Michael Zimbalist) Available on Netflix, Amazon Prime This Friday, Colombia plays host country Brazil in the knockout round of the World Cup, marking the first time in 16 years that the country qualified for the tournament and nearly a quarter-century since the last time they had made the round of 16. Whether you’re tired of The World Cup or ecstatic that America is interested in the sport again, The Two Escobars is a fascinating documentary look at the rise and fall of Colombia’s national soccer team as it relates to Team Captain Andres…

It’s a week of slim pickings, with the world’s biggest music festival understandably holding a monopoly on the local events calendar, but there are a handful of wide releases to speak of. Let’s get to it! ***CRITIC’S CHOICE*** MONDAY, JUNE 30: THE WOLF OF WALL STREET Dusk @ Brocach Irish Pub, 1850 N. Water St. (FREE!) Call to make reservations: 414-431-9009 I have recommended screenings of The Wolf of Wall Street as part of On the Marquee as many times as I’ve done for Frozen screenings, so I guess scientifically speaking The Wolf of Wall Street is the adult equivalent…

The exhilarating feeling one gets when watching Obvious Child leads one to wonder why cinema so rarely creates multi-faceted characters for women to play, only to realize that roles this juicy don’t generally exist regardless of gender. Sexy and scared, hilarious and vulnerable, Jenny Slate’s star-making performance as Donna Stern is the engine that makes Obvious Child hum and is the driving force behind what makes Gillian Robespierre’s adaptation of her 2009 short film so resonant when compared to the paucity of substance offered by most romantic comedies. The fact that it tackles needlessly controversial subjects matter-of-factly and without apology…

Monday, June 23: Point Break Dusk @ Brocach Irish Pub, 1850 N. Water St. (FREE!) Call 414-431-9009 to make reservations. If you’ve never fired your gun up in the air and went “AHHHH” then Brocach Irish Pub has you covered tonight with their patio screening of Oscar-award winning director Kathryn Bigelow’s Point Break. This story of an undercover FBI agent infiltrating a bank-robbing surfer gang is the protozoa from which other “mystic bro” films (like the Fast & Furious series) evolved from. Bigelow is a wildly accomplished filmmaker, and the kinetic action she manages here helps elevate what in other…