New movies showing in Minneapolis
By Wendy Schadewald (Rating system: 4=Don’t miss, 3=Good, 2=Worth a look, 1=Forget it)
“Anthropoid” (R) (3.5)
[Violence and some disturbing images.] — Difficult to understand Slavic accents mar this otherwise gut-wrenching, tension-wielding, well-acted, factually based, 2-hour film based on the Operation Anthropoid story that follows two London-based, exiled Czechoslovakian soldiers Josef Gabčík (Cillian Murphy) and Jan Kubis (James Dornan) who parachuted into Prague in 1941 with the mission to assassinate Nazi General Reinhard Heydrich (Detlef Bothe), who was Hitler’s third in command in the Third Reich and was known as the “Butcher of Prague,” with the help of other Czech soldiers (Karel Hermánek Jr., Harry Lloyd, Václav Neuzil, et al.) and underground resistance fighters (Toby Jones, Charlotte Le Boon, Anna Geislerová, Alena Mihulová, Sean Mahon, Pavel Reznícek, Marcin Dorocinski, Jan Hájek, Bill Milner, et al.).
“Equity” (R) (3)
[Language throughout.] — A powerful, poignant, engaging, well-acted, realistic, thought-provoking, 100-minute financial thriller that focuses on the cutthroat world of Wall Street in which an ambitious, money-loving senior investment banker (Anna Gunn), who is unknowingly sleeping with a duplicitous rival (James Purefoy), and her equally ambitious, frustrated, pregnant assistant (Sarah Megan Thomas) try to gain “points in the men’s club” and to improve their reputations from previous mistakes by working with a high-powered media company CEO (Samuel Roukin), who prides himself on running a firm that has impenetrable security software, to announce a highly anticipated IPO while a gay U.S. attorney (Alysia Reiner) investigates any criminal shenanigans or corruption that may be unfolding.
“Florence Foster Jenkins” (PG-13) (3)
[Brief suggestive material.] — A delightful, charming, funny, well-acted, factually based, 110-minute comedic drama in which syphilis-afflicted, New York City heiress and music aficionado Florence Foster Jenkins (Meryl Streep), whose love of opera singing was greater than her talent, was supported by her endearing British husband St. Clair Bayfield (Hugh Grant), who had a longtime girlfriend (Rebecca Ferguson), and gets her dream to sing at Carnegie Hall in 1944 accompanied by talented, skeptical pianist Cosmé McMoon (Simon Helberg).
“Ghost Team” (PG-13) (2.5)
[Language, including some sexual references, and drug material.] — When a bored, ghost-obsessed copy center owner (Jon Hader) forms a team of inept, amateur paranormal-investigators, including his jilted and depressed best friend (David Krumholtz), a comely customer (Melonie Diaz), his tech savvy nephew (Paul W. Downs), a hyped-up mall security guard (Justin Long), and a telephone/cable psychic (Amy Sedaris), and they set out on a ghost hunting expedition in this wacky, enjoyable, unpredictable, 84-minute horror comedy, they find more than they bargained for.
“Nine Lives” (PG) (2.5)
[Thematic elements, language, and some rude humor.] — When a workaholic, wealthy, cat-detesting businessman (Kevin Spacey) is turned into a feline in New York City by an eccentric, cat-whisperer pet shop owner (Christopher Walken) who wants to teach him a life lesson about consistently neglecting his devoted wife (Jennifer Garner), his cat-loving,11-year-old daughter (Malina Weissman), and his adult, overlooked over son (Robbie Amell) with his former wife (Cheryl Hines) in this family-friendly, entertaining, funny, 87-minute comedy with a high cute quotient, an ambitious, greedy company executive (Mark Conseulos) tries to sell the firm from under him while he is in a coma.
“Pete’s Dragon” (PG) (3.5)
[Action, peril, and brief language.] — After an orphaned boy (Oakes Fegley/Levi Alexander), who has been living with a friendly, gigantic, fire-breathing, lonely, furry, flying green dragon in the Pacific Northwest woods for an incredible six years, ends up being befriended by a local forest ranger (Bryce Dallas Howard), her logging fiancé (West Bentley), his daughter (Oona Laurence), and her widowed father (Robert Redford) in this family-oriented, homespun, heartwarming, 3D, 102-minute remake of the 1977 film, a greedy logger (Karl Urban) and frightened townsfolk (Isiah Whitlock Jr., Jim McLarty, Steve Barr, et al.) threaten the life of the magical, gentle dragon.
On DVD
“Bratz” (PG) (2.5)
[Thematic elements.] [DVD only] — A predictable, lightweight, 110-minute, 2007 comedy, which is based on the bestselling dolls and geared for pre-teenage girls, about the obnoxious, spoiled, and egotistical daughter (Chelsea Staub) of a high school principal (Jon Voight) who tries to break up the friendship of four best friends, including a fashion-loving brainiac (Janel Parrish), a poor soccer player (Skyler Shaye), a cheerleader (Logan Browning), and a stage-fight-prone singer (Nathalia Ramos), when they do not fit into one of the school’s many cliques and undermine her bought popularity.
“Come Early Morning” (R) (2)
[Language and some sexual situations.] [DVD only] — A somber and lackluster, 97-minute 2006 film about an Arkansas construction worker (Ashley Judd) who spends her days building foundations and her nights slugging beers and bedding strangers, but when she meets a decent man (Jeffrey Donovan) for whom she has feelings, she ends up sabotaging the relationship.
“Daddy Day Camp” (PG) (2)
[Mild bodily humor and language.] [DVD only] — An optimistic day care center owner (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) and his partner (Paul Rae) have their hands full in this silly, slapstick, family-friendly, 93-minute, 2007 comedy when they buy a rundown summer camp to prevent the arrogant owner (Lochlyn Munro) of the posh camp next door from seizing the property and a former army colonel (Richard Gant) and a greenhorn aide (Josh McLerran) help take charge of the rambunctious kids (Spencir Bridges, et al.).
“Idiocracy” (R) (2)
[Language and sex-related humor.] [DVD only] — When an Army secretary (Luke Wilson) and a prostitute (Maya Rudolph) with extremely average intelligence are frozen by the military in 2005 as part of a top-secret hibernation project for the Pentagon, and they wake up in 2505 in this over-the-top, sporadically funny, satirical, moronic, 84-minute, 2006 comedy, the president of the United States (Terry Alan Crews) eventually recruits them to run the country when intelligence tests prove that they are by far the smartest people on Earth.
“The Invasion” (PG-13) (2.5)
[Language.] [DVD only] — When microscopic alien lifeforms begin to infect their victims with a flu-like virus and turn people (Jeremy Northam, Roger Rees, et al.) worldwide into emotionless zombies during REM sleep in this creepy, tension-filled, 99-minute, 2006 thriller based on “The Body Snatchers,” a Washington, D.C. psychiatrist (Nicole Kidman) tries to protect her young son (Jason Bond) while two medical colleagues (Daniel Craig and Jeffrey Wright) try to find a cure for the pandemic.
“Molière” (PG-13) (3.5)
[Subtitled] [DVD only] — Womanizing, passionate French actor/playwright Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, also known as Molière (Romain Duris), ends up falling in love with his benefactor’s beautiful wife (Laura Morante) while posing as a priest in this colorful and entertaining, 2-hour, 2007 French farce filled with gorgeous costumes and sets when a lovestruck, wealthy merchant (Fabrice Luchini) hires the thespian to help him woo and impressive a snobbish, redheaded widow (Ludivine Sagnier) despite his greedy, duplicitous best friend (Edouard Baer) sabotaging his efforts.
“Rush Hour 3” (PG-13) (2.5)
[Sequences of action violence, sexual content, nudity, and language.] [DVD only] — When an assassin (Hiroyuki Sanada) shoots the Chinese ambassador (Tzi Ma) who is committed to taking down the infamous Triad society in front of the chairman (Max von Sydow) and delegates at the world criminal court in this quip-filled, action-packed, stunt-laden, 91-minute, 2007, comedic sequel, a Chinese inspector (Jackie Chan) and a L.A. detective (Chris Tucker), who has been demoted to a traffic cop, head to Paris to honor a promise made to the ambassador’s daughter (Jingchu Zhang) and with the help of an American-hating French cab driver (Yvan Attal), they search for a secret list that identifies the thirteen heads of the Chinese Triad.
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©1986 through 2016 by Wendy Schadewald. The preceding films were reviewed by Wendy Schadewald, who has been a Twin Cities film critic since 1986. To see more of her film reviews, log on to 60-Second Film Reviews.
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