EDITOR’S NOTE: We missed last week’s edition and wide releases are out early for the holiday, so What’s Playing? comes a day ahead of schedule.
Wednesday
Magic Mike XXL (Sundance, AMC Star, Point)
Steven Soderbergh, who’s (so far) stood by his pledge to retire from directing theatrical features, stays behind the camera for this one and gives the reins to long-time associate Gregory Jacobs. Alex Pettyfer may be gone, but the rest of the guys are back and this time it’s adapt or die as the guys strap up and strip down for a competition in Myrtle Beach. Except they’re not strippers. They’re like, healers or something.
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (Sundance, AMC Star, Point)
Before Cap Times’ Rob Thomas or The Dissolve got to see this saccharine dramedy about a teen diagnosed with cancer (Olivia Cooke) and the cinephile loner (Thomas Mann) who’s forced to keep her company, it drew a ton of praise out of Sundance for its encyclopedic references to Criterion Classics — and for having the balls to lie to its audience and admit it in the same breath. Whether you find disease-addled YA stories manipulative or endearing, there’s a charming “sweded” quality to the Z-grade parodies Mann and best bud (RJ Cyler) scrape together, and that’s strong enough to wipe away any crocodile tears.
Terminator: Genisys (Sundance, AMC Star, Point)
After three sequels — two of which might be filed under “noble failure” — the Terminator franchise ignores a bunch of stuff to get back to that first story of Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke), her son John Connor (Jason Clarke), and time-traveling soldier Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney). Yes, it’s 1984 again, and Sarah Connor’s already hanging out with Arnold’s T-800. The convoluted chrono-mythology still might not make sense, but it sure feels good to have Arnold back on the big screen.
Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (10:00a — Point)
$3.
Still Alice (6:30p — Pinney Library)
Julianne Moore’s Columbia professor has her personal and professional life slowly wither away after being diagnosed with early Alzheimer’s Disease. A devastating one-woman show, Julianne Moore has always been this good; it’s just taken a while for everyone else to catch up. FREE.
Port of Shadows (7:00p — 4070 Vilas Hall)
A deserter meets a 17 year-old girl in the port city of Le Havre. What follows is a story of blackmail, one of the earliest examples of film noir, and according to Jake Smith, “one of the most masterful examples of the poetic realist movement in French cinema of the 1930’s.” That sounds pretty good, I guess. FREE.
Thursday
Do the Right Thing (6:30p — Central Library, Rm 302)
Laying claim to one of the greatest title sequences and one of the greatest montages, Do the Right Thing is a masterpiece. Props to “Cinesthesia” for programming Spike Lee’s energizing, unnerving screed on hatred and baggage. Left-hand Admiration KO’ed by Relevance. FREE.
The Third Man (7:00p — 4070 Vilas Hall)
Joseph Cotten wastes his vacation in Vienna investigating the strange circumstances surrounding the death of an old friend (Orson Welles). If you ask me, a mysterious death might not be such a bad way to go if one got a song half as awesome as Anton Karas’ “Harry Lime Theme.” Cinematheque presents this FREE, which is a heck of a lot cheaper than bidding on one of those out of print Criterion DVDs.
All freakin’ weekend
Papanasam (AMC Star)
“A man uses desperate measures to save his family from the dark side of the law, after they commit an unexpected crime.” How desperate we talkin’, Fandango?
Fifty Shades of Grey (AMC Star)
Fri-Sun at 12:00p and Mon-Thurs at 12:00p and 10:00p. $5.
Friday
Miami Blues (7:00p — 4070 Vilas Hall)
Hot off of a brand new Blu-ray release from Shout! Factory, George Armitage’s adaptation of Charles Willeford’s eponymous crime novel stars Alec Baldwin as an impulsive, delusional ex-convict whose crime spree starts in Florida and ends when he steals detective Hoke Moseley’s (Fred Ward) badge. FREE.
Sunday
How to Train Your Dragon 2Â (10:00a — Point)
$3.
Monday
How to Train Your Dragon 2Â (10:00a — Point)
$3.
Up (9:00p — Memorial Union Terrace)
FREE.
Wednesday
How to Train Your Dragon 2Â (10:00a — Point)
$3.
Hiroshima mon amour (7:00p — 4070 Vilas Hall)
Emanuelle Riva and Eiji Okada fall briefly, intensely in love in Alain Resnais’s French New Wave masterwork about the fleeting subjectivity of memory. FREE.