47 Meters Down
While vacationing in Mexico, a pair of sisters (Mandy Moore, Claire Holt) try to chase away their romantic blues by climbing inside a rickety cage and getting up close and personal with some boxcar-sized Great Whites. What could go wrong? Oh, many, many things. 47 Meters Down is basically fetish porn for Shark Week junkies, and wastes little time delivering an impressively tense mixture of well-timed shocks, closeups of steadily diminishing air gauges, and moments of no-choice heroism divvied up between the extremely game leads. Unfortunately, the narrative may be a bit too clever for its own good, derailing the movieâs relentless momentum. Still, even if it falls short of the B-movie ingenuity of The Shallows, there are plenty of effective, primal screamy moments here. ANDREW WRIGHT Various Theaters.
Alien: Covenant
A bloody, squealing, somewhat satisfying rehash. Covenantâs victory is minorâafter 25 years, the Alien series has finally managed to make a movie that, however slightly, is better than 1992âs Alien3. The question is whether the beast will uncoil and move forward, or remain content to suck on itself like a pacifier. BOBBY ROBERTS Various Theaters.
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Baby Driver
Edgar Wrightâs latest is wall-to-wall music, and it might take you a track or two to fall into the stylized rhythm that marks his workâfrom Shaun of the Dead to Hot Fuzz to Scott Pilgrim vs. the Worldâand drop-kicks naturalism to the curb. But once its tires grip pavement, Baby Driver becomes a full-throttle ballet of motion, color, and sound. The tunes are great, the getaway chases will leave you breathless, and the motley team of robbersâwhich includes Kevin Spacey, Eiza GonzĂĄlez, and an excellent Jamie Foxxâcomes from the kind of screenplay you wish Tarantino still wrote. NED LANNAMANN Various Theaters.
Beatriz at Dinner
Finally, the championship face-off youâve been waiting for: Beatriz at Dinner pits the doe-eyed, incalculable sadness of immigrant Beatriz (Salma Hayek) against the luminous forehead and righteous privilege of Doug Strutt (John Lithgow) via a hyper-uncomfortable script by Mike White. (White previously partnered with Beatriz director Miguel Arteta on Chuck & Buck, and we all remember how much fun that was!) I wanted Beatriz at Dinner to employ a righteous Hayek-eagle descending on a Lithgow-beastâtalons sharp!âbut instead we drink in her fatigue as she beats her wings against an impossible adversary. SUZETTE SMITH Cinema 21.
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The Beguiled
Sofia Coppola has crafted an enchanting, dark, sometimes funny Civil War-era battle of the sexes thatâs one of the more smartly provocative movies of the summer. Whichever characters you end up thinking the title applies to, itâs just as likely to refer to viewers. MARC MOHAN Various Theaters.
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The Big Sick
The Big Sick doesnât sound like anything extraordinary. But thatâs what makes it so enjoyableâthis is the type of sweetly told, small-scale story that has all but evaporated from movie screens, and wouldnât work as a TV show. Itâs also got one or two things to say about being a Muslim in America, so itâs not only different from the usual white-bread romantic comedies, itâs very much connected to this political moment, too. Maybe this is putting too much significance onto a story this small. But I think The Big Sick is up for it. NED LANNAMANN Various Theaters.
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Chasing Coral
See review, this issue. Netflix.
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Classic French Cinema
The NW Film Centerâs series of French cinema arrives with the dog days of summer, meaning that between now and the end of August, there are some excellent alternatives to the late-summer multiplex doldrums. The series appears to be curated around French director Bertrand Tavernierâs new three-hour documentary My Journey Through French Cinema, a far from comprehensive but enjoyably heartfelt survey of his countryâs film history. That means the series eschews obvious touchstones like Truffaut, Godard, Malle, and Chabrol. Rather, the maverick Jean-Pierre Melville is represented by two of his greatest films (1967âs grimly meditative, hugely influential Le SamouraĂŻ and 1969âs bleak French Resistance thriller Army of Shadows), as is poetic realist Marcel CarnĂŠ, whose sweepingly tragic work, such as 1939âs Le jour se lève and 1945âs two-part epic Children of Paradise (both screening), was considered laughably outdated when the French New Wave rolled around. The Melville films, especially Le SamouraĂŻ, are must-sees for contemporary audiences, as is the tense, paranoid Classe tous risques, a 1960 thriller from director Claude Sautet that juxtaposes film-noir and gangster-film tropes onto a heartbreaking domestic story. NED LANNAMANN NW Film Centerâs Whitsell Auditorium.
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David Lynch: A Retrospective
A friend once told me he imagined David Lynch as a nice dad whoâd serve you quinoa while discussing the benefits of transcendental meditation. Maybe thatâs a weird way to describe the filmmaker behind such horrors as Mulholland Drive and Blue Velvet, but I get it. Lynchâs movies arenât comfortable, but the strong emotional engagement they elicit feels like a gift, and so does NW Film Centerâs Lynch retrospective. More at nwfilm.org. MEGAN BURBANK NW Film Centerâs Whitsell Auditorium.
The Goonies
Samwise Gamgee and Doc Block ask Short Round, a chubby exhibitionist, and a bad Michael Jackson impersonator to join them on a treasure hunt on the Oregon coast, where Joey Pants and the FBI dickhead from Die Hard are illegally detaining an ex-football player with encephalitis. Will this motley gang of misfits find Captain Dick Jokeâs secret stash of gold coins before theyâre brutally murdered by an English bulldog in a dress? Will everyone speak solely in perforated shrieks and yelps? Will you start to wish you were just playing the old NES game again instead of sitting through your 50th viewing of this tired nostalgia exercise that constitutes roughly 17 percent of Astoriaâs economy? Hah! Câmon. Goonies never say die, right? Itâs our time down here! BOBBY ROBERTS Academy Theater.
Grindhouse Film Festival: Mighty Peking Man
The Shaw Brothers Studioâs King Kong knockoff came out in 1977âa year after Dino De Laurentiisâ King Kong remake. Hey, War for the Planet of the Apes is out this week too! MONKEYS EVERYWHERE! Anyway, this is screening in 35mm and will feature live monkeys in attendance! Hollywood Theatre.
The Hero
The latest entry into the illustrious genre of Indie Movies About Sad Old Men, The Hero follows Lee Hayden (Sam Elliott), a 71-year-old movie star whoâs keenly aware that heâs about 40 years past his prime. If youâre guessing what Lee needs is a visit from a manic pixie dream girl, well, hey, look who it is: thirtysomething stand-up comedian Charlotte (Laura Prepon), whoâs got a thing for older dudes and a ready supply of molly. Thereâs a fair amount of meta-ness going on in The Heroâcharacters keep telling Lee how much they like his mustache and his old movies where he played a cowboyâand Elliott remains as gruff, likeable, and watchable as ever. That real-life baggage goes both ways, though; no matter how seriously writer/director Brett Haley takes all this, itâs never not going to be weird to watch Donna from That â70s Show making out with The Stranger from The Big Lebowski. ERIK HENRIKSEN Various Theaters.
The House
Will Ferrellâs latest unasked-for comedy, this time costarring Amy Poehler. Not screened for critics. Hell, they didnât even tell critics about it. The studio pretended like this shit doesnât even exist. Various Theaters.
Letters from Baghdad: The True Story of Gertrude Bell and Iraq
An experimental documentary about Gertrude Bell, directed by Sabine KrayenbĂźhl and Zeva Oelbaum and featuring actors portraying Bellâs contemporaries. Not screened for critics. Cinema 21.
The Little Hours
Though nuns are often portrayed as beacons of purity, theyâre anything but in The Little Hours, Jeff Baenaâs film set at a convent in medieval Italy. These sisters unleash torrents of profanity, violently lash out at men, chug sacramental wine, and explore their sexuality with wild abandon. The Little Hours finds comedy in mundanity; its jokes, thankfully, make up for its unoriginality. Actor Fred Armisen in attendance for a Q&A at the 7 pm show on Friday, July 14. CIARA DOLAN Cinema 21.
Maudie
Folk-art buffs and extremely patriotic Canadians may already know the story of Maud Lewis, an arthritic Nova Scotian who sold her simple but charming paintings out of the tiny house she shared with her fishmonger husband in the middle decades of the 20th century. For the rest of us thereâs Maudie, a gentle biopic starring the great Sally Hawkins as Maud, with Ethan Hawke as her gruff, unlettered husband, Everett. Director Aisling Walsh and screenwriter Sherry White present it as a love story of sorts, with Everettâs initial indifference toward Maud (whoâs his housemaid at first) evolving into affection as heâs won over by her goodness. Hawke plays Everettâs subtle tenderness effectively, but itâs Hawkinsâ Maudâguileless and smiling even as she becomes more stooped and witheredâthat carries the day. Though perhaps a bit lacking in substance, itâs a nice, unassuming movie, such as one might take oneâs mother to. ERIC D. SNIDER Various Theaters.
Mixed Match
A partially animated documentary about an issue facing multiracial families: âmedical issues relating to complex genes and donor matches in blood cancer patients.â Director in attendance. NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium.
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Rebel Without a Cause
Nicholas Rayâs 1955 classic starring James Dean and a leather jacket. Fifth Avenue Cinema.
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Spider-Man: Homecoming
I will not start off this review by saying all previous Spider-Man movies were garbageâbecause they werenât. Some were mediocre, and the rest were garbage. So letâs never speak of them again, because Spider-Man: Homecoming isnât only the best Spider-Man film ever madeâit might just be the current reigning champion in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY Various Theaters.
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Spielberg on Film
The Hollywood Theatre's âSpielberg on Filmâ series is going strong, presenting some of the director's greatest moviesâall on 35mm or 16mm. And this weekend's lineup is all Indy, all the time, with the goddamn perfect adventure classic Raiders of the Lost Ark, its dark, weird sequel Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and the crowd-pleasing Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade screening on 35mm! Seeing Indy chase relics, smooch ladies, and defy death on the big screen is about as good as moviegoing gets, and BONUS: So many Nazis get punched! ERIK HENRIKSEN See âThe Hollywood Theatre Celebrates Spielbergâin 35 and 16mm,â Film, June 28 Hollywood Theatre.
Transformers: The Last Knight
You donât have to do this to yourself. You really donât. Look at all these other movies! Look at all the choices! You can do anything. Anything but sit down and let... this happen to you. For your sake, and the sake of those who care for youâplease donât do this. Starring Stanley Tucci as Merlin. Various Theaters.
Vampireâs Kiss
The Nicolas Cage vampire comedy from 1988, back when Nicolas Cage only kinda looked like a vampire. Laurelhurst Theater.
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War for the Planet of the Apes
War for the Planet of the Apes may not be a full-blown argument for the end of the human race, but the film does make the case that if a natural or unnatural calamity befalls our species in the near-to-middle-distant future, no one will be able to say we didnât ask for it. SEAN NELSON Various Theaters.
Wish Upon
âA teenage girl discovers a box that carries magic powers and a deadly price for using them.â Directed by John R. Leonetti, the auteur behind Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, The Butterfly Effect 2, and Annabelle. Various Theaters.
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Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is exciting and funâeven though it devolves into typical blockbuster spectacle near its end, Iâd recommend it to anyone who loves action films, and thereâs also just enough subtext to feed a philosophical mind. How much harm does Wonder Woman do when she strides boldly into war? Is this what power looks like? Is it cool just because sheâs a woman? Hopefully these questions will be answered in future films. For now, Wonder Woman is a thrilling start. SUZETTE SMITH Various Theaters.
Wyrd War Presents: Wizards
Animator Ralph Bakshiâs 1977 post-apocalyptic fantasy. Get high and go! Whatâs the worst that could happen? Hollywood Theatre.
Your Name
The highest-grossing anime in box-office history, Your Name has many hailing the filmâs director, Makoto Shinkai, as the new Hayao Miyazaki. Shinkai has been working towards this for a while, and boasts a nice assortment of creative sci-fi dramas on his resume, all with emo band titles like The Place Promised in Our Early Days and 5 Centimeters Per Second (thatâs the speed at which cherry blossoms fall). For its first half, Your Name functions like Freaky Friday (teenagers swapping bodies while they sleep?! zoinks!!), but midway through, it ramps up its narrative by like 1,000 percent. Do yourself a favor and donât read anything else about it before you see it! Shinkai has a ways to go before heâs ready to pick up Miyazakiâs torch, but Your Nameâs twist is worth waiting for. SUZETTE SMITH Laurelhurst Theater.
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Zerzura
See review, this issue. Director in attendance.
MEANS WE RECOMMEND IT. Theater locations are accurate Friday, July 14-Thursday, July 20, unless otherwise noted. Movie times are updated daily and are available here.