MOVIES

14 days of film. Updated every second Thursday.

Jump to Broadway | Roxy

Compared to 2016, this year’s summer box office has been down. What happened? Well, despite some decent movies there was too much crap — lame, unnecessary sequels; bad attempts at starting a cinematic universe; and just too much of the same. Hopefully, the fall will see some good movies. /Shane Hnetka

Opening

Friday 18

THE HITMAN’S BODYGUARD Ryan Reynolds stars as a bodyguard hired to protect hit man Samuel L. Jackson from evil Gary Oldman’s assassins. It looks like a pretty generic action comedy: might be OK, might not. But these being the dog days of summer, little else is playing.

LOGAN LUCKY Director Steven Soderbergh has come out of his brief retirement to direct this heist film starring Channing Tatum and Adam Driver as two rednecks who decide to rob a NASCAR race with fellow redneck Daniel Craig. Soderbergh is usually pretty good, and early reviews have been favourable, so this might be fun. Can’t be any worse than Ocean’s Thirteen anyway.

Friday 25

ALL SAINTS With the Labour Day weekend approaching, the summer dump is upon us. I’m not positive if the next three movies are actually playing here. According to Box Office Mojo they are, starting with this faith-based drama about a pastor trying to save his church. Ugh.

BIRTH OF THE DRAGON This “bio-pic” pretends to look at the early life of Bruce Lee and a legendary fight he had with another martial arts master. But the real focus is a white American student (Billy Magnussen), his love life, and his need for the mystical Bruce Lee to stand up for him. The movie has been trashed for white-washing, and Lee’s daughter has distanced herself from it. I’m sure there are more than a few decent docs on Bruce Lee to watch instead.

LEAP! I’m almost positive this French Canadian animated movie won’t be playing. Why? Because it already had a Canadian release earlier this year under its original title Ballerina.  Harvey Weinstein acquired the film, and as per his usual modus operandi, he’s hacked and slashed it and even replaced some of the original voice cast. The movie was probably better before he got his mitts on it.

Sunday 27

CASTLE IN THE SKY Continuing Cineplex’s Studio Ghibli Anime Series is this classic animated movie from Miyazaki about sky pirates searching for a floating island called Laputa. The English dub version screens today at 12:55 p.m., and Aug. 30 at 7 p.m. it’s in Japanese with English subtitles.

Broadway Theatre

Thursday 17

7:00 NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD Legendary filmmaker George Romero passed away in July, and to honour him there’s a special double screening starting with the ground-breaking 1968 movie that turned zombies from voodoo-animated corpses into flesh-craving ghouls.

9:00 CREEPSHOW Teaming up with Stephen King, and paying homage to the old EC Comics of the 1950s, this 1982 anthology features several entertaining tales of terror.

Friday 18

7:00 MANIFESTO Cate Blanchett plays 13 different characters in this art house film by director Julian Rosefeldt which integrates artist manifestos from various movements into contemporary settings. The film premiered in art museums in Melbourne, Berlin and New York before getting a theatrical release. Additional screenings Aug. 21 and 23 at 7 p.m., Aug. 22 and 24 at 9 p.m.

9:00 THE LITTLE HOURS Loosely based on a collection of novellas by 14th-century Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio called The Decameron, this comedy stars Alison Brie, Kate Micucci and Aubrey Plaza as lustful nuns who mess around in the Middle Ages. Additional screenings Aug. 19, 22, 24, 26, 28 and 30 at 7 p.m., Aug. 21, 23, 25, 27 and 29 at 9 p.m.

Saturday 19

9:00 CAN’T BE STOPPED A documentary about a group of artists who have worked as a graffiti crew in Hollywood since the early 1980s.

Friday 25

7:00 THE LAST DALAI LAMA? A documentary about the current Dalai Lama and his work and influence since his exile from Tibet. Additional screenings Aug. 26, 28 and 30 at 9 p.m., Aug. 27 and 29 at 7 p.m.

Sunday 27

4:00 THE TERMINATOR Part of Sci-Fi Sundays, this flick features a time-travelling cyborg trying to kill the future mother of the leader of a resistance movement against Skynet.

Roxy Theatre

August 18

LANDLINE This drama, starring Jenny Slate, Edie Falco, Abby Quinn and John Turturro, follows two sisters who discover their father is having an affair.

August 22

DIRTY DANCING Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze hit the dance floor again on the 30th anniversary of this movie’s release.

August 23

RAIS FILM FESTIVAL A showcase of work from Recording Arts Institute of Saskatoon students.

August 25

BRIGSBY BEAR A man (Kyle Mooney) held captive his entire life by a couple masquerading as his parents tries to recreate the TV show they made for him. Looks and sounds weird and wonderful.