“American Movie” (7 p.m. Friday, Union South Marquee) — What could have been a sneering look at Mark Borchardt, a suburban Milwaukee man trying to make what will assuredly be a terrible horror movie, instead becomes wildly funny, oddly poignant, and in the end kind of inspiring. That Borchardt refuses to give up on his dream despite his dire circumstances underscores that, as the old man says, “It’s all right, it’s okay, there’s something to live for!” FREE!
“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” (all week, Point, Eastgate, Star Cinema , Sundance) — In the subgenre of “reboots that are better than they have any reason to be,” the last two “Apes” movies stand alongside the “jump Street” movies. The word on this sequel, set 10 years after the events in “Rise” after a simian virus has decimated the human population, apes and humans find themselves in an uneasy and easily breakable truce.
“Godzilla: The Original Japanese Version” (Friday, July 4, 7 p.m., Union South Marquee) — There’s something a little . . . perverse . . . about showing the original 1950 Japanese “Godzilla” on Independence Day, given that the big green lizard’s swath of destruction is a metaphor for the devastation Japan suffered five years early at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And, well, that was us. If you’ve only seen the campy color sequels on Saturday afternoon TV or “Mystery Science Theater 3000,” you should check out this haunting version. FREE!
“Breaking Away” (Thursday, July 3, 7 p.m, Chazen Museum of Art) — I just read in the New Yorker that “Breaking Away” was one of Darren Aronofsky’s favorite films growing up, which is something of a surprise given the dark places that the “Black Swan” and “Requiem for a Dream” director goes. But “Breaking Away” is a lot of people’s favorite films, in part because it mixes a redemptive sports story with a naturalistic look at working-class teens living in a college town. FREE!
“The Rover” (all week, Point, Star Cinema, Sundance) — 2010’s “Animal Kingdom,” a brutal Australian gangster movie that makes “Goodfellas” seem sentimental, knocked the wind out of me when I first saw it. Writer-director David Michod returns with this post-collapse Western, as outlaws dominate a lawless and impoverished Australian outback. Guy Pearce plays a desperate man who has his car stolen by bandits, and enlists one of the bandits’ young brother (a decidedly unglamorous Robert Pattinson) to help him seek vengeance.
“They Live” (7 p.m., Thursday, Chazen Museum of Art) — “I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass, and I’m all out of bubblegum.” As John Moe pointed out on Twitter, why would anyone need to go to a special place to chew bubblegum? And, having gone there, why would they forget to stock up on gum? It just seems like poor planning. That detail aside, John Carpenter’s 1988 cult classic is both a kick-ass sci-fi action movie (including a hilariously long Keith David-Roddy Piper fight scene) and a sly political satire, where the aliens enslave us not with laser guns, but by taking over as the one-percenters. It’s a highly entertaining film, maybe Carpenter’s last great film, and a fitting kickoff to the summer Cinematheque series, which will run Thursday through Saturdays this summer at the Chazen and Union South Marquee. FREE; see the full schedule at cinema.wisc.edu. Continue reading
“The Immigrant” (all week, Point Cinemas) — Harvey Weinstein still insists that there was no tension in the editing room between himself and “Immigrant” director James Gray. But the quiet rollout of the film (a press screening was scheduled in Milwaukee at the last minute, then cancelled without explanation at the laster minute) suggests that all is not well in Harveyland. The thought that the film is being woefully mistreated has rallied a lot of critics to its defense, but the proof is in the movie itself, a lush and grim 1920s drama about a Polish immigrant (Marion Cotillard) manipulated by men (Joaquin Phoenix and Jeremy Renner) after she arrives in New York. Guessing this won’t stick around long, so it’s a must see.
“Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1:30 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. Wednesday, Sundance Cinemas) — Even though Steven Spielberg doesn’t even have a new movie this summer, it just wouldn’t be summer without him. And so, by sheer coincidence, three different venues are showing three different Spielberg classics in the same week. First off is Indiana Jones’ first and indisputably greatest outing, which I saw at Sundance last summer with a sold-out crowd and was a total blast (33 years later, the bit with the swordsman still draws a laugh.)
1. “Chef” (Point, Sundance) — Before he became Mr. Blockbuster with the first two Iron Man movies (and less so, much less so, with “Cowboys and Aliens”), Jon Favreau made small comedies like “Made.” He gets back to those indie roots with his new film, in which he plays an arrogant chef who learns a little humility when he loses his job and starts running a food truck. I hear it’s really good, and that the food in the film is so mouth-watering that if you don’t have a meal beforehand, you’ll start gnawing on the arm of your seatmate.
“Godzilla” (Point, Eastgate, Star Cinema, Sundance) — After the 1998 Roland Emmerich debacle, it’s understandable to have cringed at the thought of Hollywood taking another crack at everybody’s favorite radioactive lizard. But early reviews suggest this latest incarnation comes the closest to the somber chills of the allegorical 1950 Japanese original. (Love the idea that the A-bomb tests in the Pacific didn’t create Godz, but were part of an attack to try and stop him.) Gareth Edwards of the cult hit “Monsters’ directs.
Madison Movie 