Four stars: superior. Three stars: good. Two stars: average. One star: poor. D (drug use), L (language), N (nudity), S (sexual situations, references), V (violence). Ratings by Dann Gire, Daily Herald Film Critic, unless otherwise noted.
Picks
“Finding Dory”— Pixar’s fun, animated comic adventure, but lacking the imagination and creativity of “Finding Nemo” from 13 years ago. Dory the fish (Ellen DeGeneres) searches for her missing parents with help from an octopus (Ed O’Neill), Nemo (Aurora resident Hayden Rolence) and Marlin (Albert Brooks). Really, a car chase in an ocean movie? (PG) 100 minutes.???
“Gleason”— Clay Tweel’s sobering doc about Steve Gleason, former New Orleans Saints safety who at 34 was diagnosed with ALS and given two to five years to live. Reviewed by Pat Padua, Washington Post. At the River East and Century Centre in Chicago, plus the Evanston Century 18. (R) L. 110 minutes.???
“The Infiltrator”— Bryan Cranston’s excellent, immersive performance highlights this flawed, fact-based crime tale about the undercover drug agent who toppled a worldwide money laundering operation for Pablo Escobar. With John Leguizamo and Diane Kruger. (R) D, L, S. 100 minutes.?? ?
“The Legend of Tarzan”— An updated take on the King of the Jungle character now played by Alexander Skarsgard as a British lord summoned back to the Congo where a villainous envoy (Christoph Waltz) plots to turn him over to an old enemy. With Margot Robbie as an Americanized Jane. (PG-13) L, V. 109 minutes.???½
“Lights Out”— Tidy little supernatural thriller about an at-risk family menaced by a malevolent entity named Diana, who only exists in the dark. Clever innovations mash with genre conventions in David Sandberg’s spook fest. (PG-13) D, V. 81 minutes.?? ?
“Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates”— Episodic, gross and periodically hilarious comedy based on the true story of two brothers (here Zac Efron and Adam Devine) who advertise on Craigslist for dates for their sister’s Hawaiian wedding. Two opportunistic women (Anna Kendrick and Aubrey Plaza) get the jobs. Breakout performance by Canadian performer Sugar Lyn Beard as the sister. (R) D, L, N, S. 98 minutes.???
Passables
“The BFG”— Steven Spielberg directs a tepid but serviceable kid’s fantasy about a young London girl kidnapped by a Big Friendly Giant (Mark Rylance) and whisked off to Giant Country. A slight disappointment based on the book by Roald Dahl. (PG) 117 minutes.??½
“Bad Moms”— Three stressed-out mothers (Mila Kunis, Kathryn Hahn and Kristen Bell) fold under their daily pressures and go crazy by breaking all the routine mom rules. With Christina Applegate and Jada Pinkett Smith. Reviewed by Stephanie Merry, Washington Post. (R) D, L, N, S. 101 minutes.??½
“Cafe Society”— Honeyed, hyper-ethnic nostalgia from Woody Allen, who directs, writes and narrates a bittersweet romantic triangle between a New York transplant (Jesse Eisenberg), his Hollywood agent uncle (Steve Carell) and his idealistic young secretary (Kristen Stewart). Superb lensing by Vittorio Storaro paired with Allen for the first time. Reviewed by Ann Hornaday, Washington Post. (PG-13) D, S, V. 96 minutes.??
“Captain Fantastic”— A nonconformist dad (Viggo Mortensen) raises his six kids in the wilderness, training them to be physically and intellectually at their full potential in Matt Ross’ intriguing but distanced domestic drama. At the Evanston Century 12, the River East 21 and ArcLight in Chicago. (R) L, N. 119 minutes.??½
“Central Intelligence”— Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart share comic chemistry in this wild buddy action comedy about two mismatched high school grads who save the U.S. the day of their 20th class reunion. All because of a single act of kindness. (PG-13) L, N, S, V. 114 minutes.??½
“Ghostbusters”— Plainfield’s Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon take over the job of saving New York City from supernatural entities in Paul Feig’s bold but noisy, unscary, witless remake of Ivan Reitman’s comedy. But hey, it has its funny moments and original cast cameos to keep us amused. (PG-13) supernatural action, crude humor. 105 minutes.??
“Indignation”— A garden-variety coming-of-age story becomes a poetic, even prayerful, meditation on the pitiless vagaries of character and regret in James Schamus’ adaptation of the 2008 novel by Philip Roth. Logan Lerman plays the son of a kosher butcher in Newark who flees to an Ohio college where he meets an unapologetic sinner named Olivia (Sarah Gadon). Reviewed by Ann Hornaday, Washington Post. (R) L, S. 110 minutes.??½
“Love & Friendship”— Whit Stillman directs a romance adapted from Jane Austen’s unfinished novella “Lady Susan.” It’s a talky tale centered on the manipulative ways of an attractive young widow played by Kate Beckinsale. Chloë Sevigny and Tom Bennett star. Reviewed by Sandy Cohen, Associated Press. (PG) 93 minutes.??½
“Nerve”— Just in time to provide a dark commentary on “Pokemon Go.” A shy teen (Emma Roberts) becomes swept up in a smartphone contest for popularity and money if she accomplishes increasingly dangerous assignments. A disastrous ending destroys what would have been a provocative, paranoid thriller. With fidgety Dave Franco as her date for the night. (PG-13) D, L, N, S. 96 minutes.??½
“Star Trek Beyond”— More mano-a-alieno fights than an intergalactic WWE match, an interracial bromance, plus a swarm of nasty mechanical space bees highlight this visually engaging third chapter in the sci-fi reboot, which looks great, but doesn’t feel 100 percent Trek. Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana return. (PG-13) V. 122 minutes.??½
Pits
“Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party”— After giving us the 2014 hit “Obama’s America,” Dinesh D’Souza delves into the unsavory history of the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton’s political mechanizations in a journalistically unsound doc undermined by cheesy dramatic re-creations of historical events. (PG-13) V. 105 minutes.One-half star.
“Ice Age: Collision Course”— Lazy, scattershot and excruciatingly unfunny fifth installment in the prehistoric animated comedy series. This one has an asteroid on a collision course with Earth. Kids might come away with the impression that movies don’t get any better than this. With Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Jennifer Lopez. Reviewed by Stephanie Merry, Washington Post. (PG) 100 minutes.?
“Jason Bourne”— Frenetic, noisy, blurry action footage suffocates story and character as Matt Damon’s amnesiac CIA assassin discovers the truth about his father and settles a score with a ruthless new CIA director (Tommy Lee Jones). Perfunctory screenplay sets a record for utterances of “Copy that!” With Alicia Vikander and Julia Stiles. (PG-13) L, V. 123 minutes.?½
“The Mind’s Eye”— Horrifying acting drags down this low-budget throwback to 1980s vintage scary movies. Telekinetics Zack (Graham Skipper) and Rachel (Lauren Ashley Carter) are hunted down by an insane doctor who wants their powers for himself. At Schaumburg’s Streets of Woodfield. (NR) D, L, V. 87 minutes.?
“The Secret Life of Pets”— Engaging animated comedy about what pets do all day while their owners are out working. If it didn’t condone bullying and violence as effective and efficient ways to solve problems, it would be a much better kids movie. Two canine rivals (Louis C.K. and Eric Stonestreet) must depend on each other to survive New York’s mean streets and animal control officers. Voices by Kevin Hart, Albert Brooks, Dana Carvey. (PG) 90 minutes.?½
“Suicide Squad”— The most anticipated summer movie turns out to be a dud, a muddled variation of “The Dirty Dozen” with thinly drawn supervillains recruited by a ruthless bureaucrat (Viola Davis) to stop an ancient warlock from stealing the ending to “Ghostbusters.” Only Margot Robbie’s sleazy Harley Quinn knows how to spin writer/director David Ayer’s material, extremely disturbing stuff blunted by a restrictive PG-13 rating. L, S, V. 123 minutes.?½
Unpreviewed
“The Brooklyn Banker”— Troy Garity and Paul Sorvino star in a crime drama about a banker with a super memory for numbers and a mobster using it to his advantage. (R) L, V. 98 minutes.
“Dishoom”— Two cops must locate and rescue a kidnapped Indian cricket player within 36 hours, or lose the big game against Pakistan. In Hindi with subtitles. (NR) 120 minutes.
“Five Nights in Maine”— After his wife dies, a man (David Oyelowo) goes to work out emotions and other issues with his terminally ill mother-in-law (Dianne Wiest) in Maine. (NR) 82 minutes.
“Nine Lives”— Following a terrible accident, an aloof, caustically unempathetic billionaire businessman (Kevin Spacey) wakes up in the body of his little daughter’s new cat. Can he learn to be a purrfect dad before it’s too late? With Jennifer Garner and Christopher Walken. (PG) 87 minutes. Caveat emptor. Not screened for critics.
“Remains”— If you buy an old Victorian house, don’t open that chest in the attic unless you want to deal with evil spirits bent on kidnapping your kids. Just sayin.’ (NR) 93 minutes.
