Screen

Short takes: This week’s movie listings and reviews

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Sophie and the BFG relax in the land of the giants.
Josh Bell, Mike D'Angelo, Jeffrey M. Anderson

Special screenings

Dive-In Movies

Mon, 7:30 p.m., $5, free for hotel guests. 7/4, Independence Day. Boulevard Pool at the Cosmopolitan, 702-698-7000.

Family-Friendly Summer Matinee

Wed, 11 a.m., free. 7/6, Big Hero 6. Summerlin Library, 1771 Inner Circle Drive, 702-507-3863.

Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company

7/7, performance of Romeo and Juliet recorded in London, 7:30 p.m., $13-$15. Theaters: SP, VS. Info: fathomevents.com.

Las Vegas Classic Film Theater

Classic, indie and arthouse films, times vary, $5 per screening. Baobab Stage, Town Square, 702-369-6649, baobabstage.com.

Midnight Brewvies

Mon, movie plus popcorn, midnight, free. Elixir, 2920 N. Green Valley Parkway, Henderson, 702-272-0000.

Movie Night

Thu, sundown, free. 6/30, Captain America: The Winter Soldier. 7/7, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Downtown Container Park, 707 Fremont St., downtowncontainerpark.com.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

7/2, augmented by live cast and audience participation, 10 p.m., $9. Theaters: TC. Info: rhpsvegas.com.

Sci Fi Center

Mon, Cinemondays, 8 p.m., free. 7/2, Gamera outdoor screening, 8 p.m. 5077 Arville St., 855-501-4335, thescificenter.com.

Summer Screen Series

Thu, dusk, free. 6/30, Captain America: The First Avenger. 7/7, Minions. Park Centre Drive, Downtown Summerlin, downtownsummerlin.com.

Tuesday Afternoon at the Bijou

Tue, 1 p.m., free. 7/5, Road to Singapore. Clark County Library, 1401 E. Flamingo Road, 702-507-3400.

New this week

The BFG Two and a half stars

Ruby Barnhill, Mark Rylance, Jemaine Clement. Directed by Steven Spielberg. 117 minutes. Rated PG. Oscar-winner Rylance enchants as the title character (BFG stands for Big Friendly Giant), but Spielberg’s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s beloved children’s book predictably downplays its cruelty—no kiddies get eaten onscreen here—in favor of aggressive, cumulatively exhausting whimsy and pluckiness. —MD

Theaters: AL, CAN, CH, COL, FH, GVL, ORL, PAL, RP, RR, SF, SHO, SP, SS, ST, TS, TX, VS

The Legend of Tarzan Two stars

Alexander Skarsgård, Margot Robbie, Christoph Waltz. Directed by David Yates. 109 minutes. Rated PG-13. The latest movie featuring Edgar Rice Burroughs’ English nobleman raised by African apes pits Tarzan (Skarsgård) and his wife Jane (Robbie) against a power-hungry Belgian government official (Waltz) who plans to exploit the natives of the Congo. Legend is mostly dull, with mediocre special effects, forgettable action and a slow-moving plot. —JB

Theaters: AL, BS, CAN, CH, COL, DI, FH, GVL, ORL, PAL, RP, RR, SC, SF, SHO, SP, SS, TS, TX

Our Kind of Traitor (Not reviewed)

Ewan McGregor, Stellan Skarsgård, Naomie Harris. Directed by Susanna White. 107 minutes. Rated R. A vacationing British couple find themselves caught in the middle of a showdown between the Russian mafia and British intelligence.

Theaters: COL, DTS, ST, TS, VS

The Purge: Election Year Two and a half stars

Frank Grillo, Elizabeth Mitchell, Mykelti Williamson. Directed by James DeMonaco. 105 minutes. Rated R. The third movie in the Purge series centers on an anti-Purge presidential candidate (Mitchell) who is targeted for elimination during the Purge itself. While the movie more effectively explores the world of the Purge, it still mostly features characters running through dark alleys or hiding out in dingy rooms. —JB

Theaters: AL, BS, CAN, CH, DI, FH, GVL, GVR, ORL, PAL, RP, RR, SC, SF, SHO, SP, SS, ST, TS, TX, VS

Swiss Army Man Two stars

Paul Dano, Daniel Radcliffe, Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Directed by Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. 95 minutes. Rated R. This bizarre comedy features Dano as a depressed man stranded on a deserted island and Radcliffe as a possibly supernaturally powered corpse he discovers. The eventual transition from slapstick humor to wide-eyed wonder (and back again) is clumsy, and none of the movie’s emotional epiphanies feel earned. —JB

Theaters: COL, SC, TS

Now playing

Alice Through the Looking Glass Two and a half stars

Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Sacha Baron Cohen. Directed by James Bobin. 113 minutes. Rated PG. This sequel to Tim Burton’s 2010 Alice in Wonderland has much of the same design, strange makeup effects and funny performances, but it doesn’t have Burton, and it lacks the element of surprise. The effects-driven storytelling can’t overcome a general sense that no one cares. —JMA

Theaters: RR

The Angry Birds Movie Two stars

Voices of Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Danny McBride. Directed by Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly. 97 minutes. Rated PG. The movie version of the mega-popular mobile game (about birds being flung at pigs via slingshot) attempts to create a story around a series of basic, repetitive actions. The explanations are both boring and largely nonsensical, and expanding the game into a cohesive, family-friendly movie proves too difficult a task. —JB

Theaters: COL, TC

Barbershop: The Next Cut (Not reviewed)

Ice Cube, Cedric the Entertainer, Regina Hall. Directed by Malcolm D. Lee. 112 minutes. Rated PG-13. The crew at Calvin’s Barbershop come together to help revitalize their neighborhood.

Theaters: TC

Captain America: Civil War Three stars

Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson. Directed by Joe Russo and Anthony Russo. 147 minutes. Rated PG-13. Civil War sets up a battle between factions of superheroes led by Captain America (Evans) and Iron Man (Downey), who disagree on whether the Avengers should submit to government oversight. The story’s deeper meaning takes a backseat to a cluttered narrative (overstuffed with Marvel characters) and some rousing, well-crafted action sequences. —JB

Theaters: GVR, VS

Central Intelligence Two stars

Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Amy Ryan. Directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber. 114 minutes. Rated PG-13. Hart is in familiar territory as a put-upon accountant very reluctantly recruited by his former high school classmate (Johnson) to join a CIA mission. Johnson ends up as the comedic highlight of the film, and the character work is stronger than the inconsistent jokes and especially the lackluster action sequences. —JB

Theaters: AL, CAN, CH, DI, DTS, GVL, GVR, ORL, PAL, RP, SF, SHO, SP, SS, ST, TS, TX, VS

The Conjuring 2 Two and a half stars

Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Frances O’Connor. Directed by James Wan. 134 minutes. Rated R. Once again based loosely on one of the actual cases investigated by real-life ghost hunters Ed and Lorraine Warren (Wilson and Farmiga), this sequel features a handful of effectively scary moments spread out over 134 minutes of a fairly dull haunted-house story. —JB

Theaters: AL, BS, CAN, DI, GVR, ORL, PAL, RP, RR, SF, SS, TS, TX

Dark Horse Three and a half stars

Directed by Louise Osmond. 85 minutes. Rated PG. This entertaining, rousing documentary focuses on residents from a working-class Welsh town who pooled their money to purchase a racehorse. It’s one of those remarkable underdog sports stories that sound too good to be true, and Osmond knows how to get out of the way and let the people involved tell it. —JB

Theaters: SC

Eye in the Sky Two stars

Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul, Alan Rickman. Directed by Gavin Hood. 102 minutes. Rated R. This military thriller aims to be a complex examination of the moral consequences of drone warfare, but its stakes (with a cute little girl put in the crosshairs of a British-American military operation targeting a terrorist cell) are so lopsided that it might as well be examining the moral consequences of puppy-kicking. —JB

Theaters: TC

Finding Dory Three and a half stars

Voices of Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Hayden Rolence. Directed by Andrew Stanton. 103 minutes. Rated PG. Forgetful fish Dory decides to track down her long-lost parents in this animated sequel to Pixar’s Finding Nemo. While Dory is thoroughly charming and enjoyable, with funny supporting characters and often gorgeous animation, it’s also a bit formulaic and repetitive, especially during the drawn-out third act. —JB

Theaters: AL, BS, CAN, CH, COL, DI, GVL, ORL, PAL, RP, RR, SC, SF, SHO, SP, SS, TS, TX

Free State of Jones Two and a half stars

Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mahershala Ali. Directed by Gary Ross. 139 minutes. Rated R. This historical drama tells the fascinating story of a Confederate deserter who led an uprising in Mississippi, but it expands the narrative too far, jumping forward in time and diluting the power of its unique hook. McConaughey is strong as insurgent leader Newton Knight, but the character is a one-dimensional savior. —JB

Theaters: AL, BS, CAN, CH, COL, DTS, ORL, PAL, RP, SC, SHO, SP, SS, ST, TS, TX, VS

The Huntsman: Winter’s War Two stars

Chris Hemsworth, Jessica Chastain, Emily Blunt. Directed by Cedric Nicolas-Troyan. 114 minutes. Rated PG-13. The Snow White-free sequel to Snow White and the Huntsman adds a second evil queen (Blunt) and a warrior love interest (Chastain) for the huntsman (Hemsworth), but never comes up with an interesting story. Much of Winter’s War looks garish and plastic, with its style ripped off from other, more popular fantasy franchises. —JB

Theaters: TC

Independence Day: Resurgence Two stars

Liam Hemsworth, Jeff Goldblum, Maika Monroe. Directed by Roland Emmerich. 120 minutes. Rated PG-13. Twenty years after fighting off an alien invasion in 1996’s cheesy but rousing Independence Day, Earth is attacked again, and humanity must band together to save the planet. This sequel is just another noisy, cluttered, CGI-filled monstrosity, with a convoluted plot that’s ultimately just a prelude to another movie somewhere down the road. —JB

Theaters: AL, BS, CAN, CH, DI, DTS, GVL, GVR, ORL, PAL, RP, RR, SC, SF, SHO, SP, SS, ST, TS, TX, VS

The Jungle Book Two and a half stars

Neel Sethi, Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley. Directed by Jon Favreau. 105 minutes. Rated PG. The latest Disney live-action remake of an animated classic is a fairly faithful retelling of its source material, about a young boy raised in the jungle. The tone is an awkward mix of savage jungle naturalism and cuddly animal antics, and there’s a sort of prefab blandness to the amazing photo-realistic CGI. —JB

Theaters: COL, SC

The Lobster Three and a half stars

Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, Olivia Colman. Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. 118 minutes. Rated R. The third film by Greek director Lanthimos (Dogtooth, Alps) stars Farrell as a newly single man in a dystopian world where people are given 45 days to find a new mate, and get turned into an animal of their choice if they fail. Endlessly creative, allegorically frustrating. —MD

Theaters: VS

Love & Friendship Three and a half stars

Kate Beckinsale, Xavier Samuel, Chloë Sevigny. Directed by Whit Stillman. 92 minutes. Rated PG. Stillman’s adaptation of an early Jane Austen novella stars an excellent Beckinsale as Lady Susan Vernon, a beautiful and self-absorbed high-society widow whose favorite pastime is playing with others’ affections. Lady Susan is an entertaining sociopath, and Stillman’s screenplay is full of bone-dry humor and some hilarious one-liners. —JB

Theaters: SC

Maggie’s Plan Two stars

Greta Gerwig, Ethan Hawke, Julianne Moore. Directed by Rebecca Miller. 98 minutes. Rated R. This dramedy about a love triangle among NYC academics never figures out a proper tone or narrative approach, mixing aggressively whimsical comedy with angsty relationship drama. The arch, literate tone aims to emulate Woody Allen or Noah Baumbach, but the jokes aren’t clever or incisive enough to get to that level. —JB

Theaters: ST, VS

Me Before You Two and a half stars

Emilia Clarke, Sam Claflin, Janet McTeer. Directed by Thea Sharrock. 110 minutes. Rated PG-13. Clarke tries way too hard as Louisa, a working-class young woman who falls in love with Will (Claflin), the wealthy quadriplegic and former playboy she’s hired to take care of. The romance takes far too long to get going, and Clarke’s overstated performance is more exhausting than endearing. —JB

Theaters: COL, RR, SC

Money Monster Three stars

George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Jack O’Connell. Directed by Jodie Foster. Rated R. 98 minutes. A disgruntled investor (O’Connell) takes a cable financial-advice personality (Clooney) and his crew hostage live on the air in this uneven thriller. The tense stand-off in the confined space is well-constructed, but the movie loses momentum in the third act, and the social commentary is entirely superficial. —JB

Theaters: TC

Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising One and a half stars

Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne, Zac Efron, Chloë Grace Moretz. Directed by Nicholas Stoller. 92 minutes. Rated R. After the barely passable 2014 original made an unholy amount of money, this sequel seems expelled from some collective digestive tract. Not one character is smart or even lifelike, and though it’s sometimes satisfying to see them pummeled in lifeless slapstick gags, there’s not one genuine laugh here. —JMA

Theaters: TC

The Nice Guys Three and a half stars

Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourie Rice. Directed by Shane Black. 116 minutes. Rated R. Crowe and Gosling play a pair of disreputable private investigators in 1977 LA who find themselves caught in a conspiracy as they investigate a missing young woman. Black balances the serious, sometimes violent mystery with a barrage of one-liners and physical comedy, and The Nice Guys is consistently funny from beginning to end. —JB

Theaters: TC, VS

Now You See Me 2 Two stars

Mark Ruffalo, Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Lizzy Caplan. Directed by Jon M. Chu. 115 minutes. Rated PG-13. This time around the outlaw stage magicians known as the Four Horsemen are basically just a group of thieves, hired to steal a piece of ultra-powerful tech. The plot is just as convoluted and belabored as the first time, without the added panache of the Four Horsemen’s stage productions. —JB

Theaters: AL, CH, COL, DTS, ORL, PAL, RP, SC, SF, SHO, SP, SS, ST, TS, VS

The Shallows (Not reviewed)

Blake Lively, Óscar Jaenada, Brett Cullen. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. 87 minutes. Rated PG-13. A surfer is trapped just offshore by a shark.

Theaters: AL, CAN, CH, COL, DI, ORL, PAL, RP, RR, SF, SHO, SP, SS, ST, TS, TX, VS

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows One and a half stars

Megan Fox, Stephen Amell, Tyler Perry. Directed by Dave Green. 112 minutes. Rated PG-13. The sequel to the 2014 TMNT live-action reboot vastly overcorrects for the first movie’s seriousness and intensity by turning into a grating, childish and overlong version of the old TMNT cartoon series. The plotting is ridiculous, the dialogue is terrible, and the in-your-face style is completely mind-numbing. —JB

Theaters: GVR, SP, ST, TX

Warcraft One and a half stars

Travis Fimmel, Paul Patton, Ben Foster. Directed by Duncan Jones. 123 minutes. Rated PG-13. At once ponderous and extravagantly goofy, this adaptation of the Warcraft video-game franchise, depicting a battle royale between orcs and humans, is no cynical cash grab (it was co-written and directed by Duncan Jones, who previously made Moon and Source Code), but that only makes its failure all the more painful. —MD

Theaters: ST, VS

X-Men: Apocalypse Two and a half stars

Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Oscar Isaac. Directed by Bryan Singer. 144 minutes. Rated PG-13. The latest adventure of the mutant superheroes reintroduces familiar characters in slightly new forms, and spends far too much time on set-up. World-ending villain Apocalypse (Isaac) is ridiculous and ineffective, and the overstuffed cast pushes too many new and/or reimagined characters to the margins. Even the big action climax is underwhelming. —JB

Theaters: GVR, PAL, ST, VS

Zootopia Three and a half stars

Voices of Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba. Directed by Byron Howard and Rich Moore. 108 minutes. Rated PG. Disney’s latest animated feature is a winning, gorgeously animated story about anthropomorphic animals living in relative harmony in a bustling metropolis. The team-up between a police officer rabbit and a small-time criminal fox provides a thoroughly engaging mystery with some satisfying twists and turns. —JB

Theaters: TC

JMA Jeffrey M. Anderson; JB Josh Bell; MD Mike D’Angelo

Theaters

(AL) Regal Aliante

7300 Aliante Parkway, North Las Vegas, 844-462-7342 ext. 4011

(BS) Regal Boulder Station

4111 Boulder Highway, 844-462-7342 ext. 269

(PAL) Brenden Theatres at the Palms

4321 W. Flamingo Road, 702-507-4849

(CAN) Galaxy Cannery

2121 E. Craig Road, North Las Vegas, 702-639-9779

(CH) Cinedome Henderson

851 S. Boulder Highway, Henderson, 702-566-1570

(COL) Regal Colonnade

8880 S. Eastern Ave., 844-462-7342 ext. 270

(DI) Las Vegas Drive-In

4150 W. Carey Ave., North Las Vegas, 702-646-3565

(DTS) Regal Downtown Summerlin

2070 Park Center Drive, 844-462-7342 ext. 4063

(FH) Regal Fiesta Henderson

777 W. Lake Mead Parkway, Henderson, 844-462-7342 ext. 1772

(GVR) Regal Green Valley Ranch

2300 Paseo Verde Parkway, Henderson, 844-462-7342 ext. 267

(GVL) Galaxy Green Valley Luxury+

4500 E. Sunset Road, Henderson, 702-442-0244

(ORL) Century Orleans

4500 W. Tropicana Ave., 702-889-1220

(RP) AMC Rainbow Promenade

2321 N. Rainbow Blvd., 888-262-4386

(RR) Regal Red Rock

11011 W. Charleston Blvd., 844-462-7342 ext. 1756

(ST) Century Sam’s Town

5111 Boulder Highway, 702-547-1732

(SF) Century Santa Fe Station

4949 N. Rancho Drive, 702-655-8178

(SHO) United Artists Showcase

3769 Las Vegas Blvd. S., 844-462-7342 ext. 522

(SP) Century South Point

9777 Las Vegas Blvd. S., 702-260-4061

(SC) Century Suncoast

9090 Alta Drive, 702-869-1880

(SS) Regal Sunset Station

1301-A W. Sunset Road, Henderson, 844-462-7342 ext. 268

(TX) Regal Texas Station

2101 Texas Star Lane, North Las Vegas, 844-462-7342 ext. 271

(TS) AMC Town Square

6587 Las Vegas Blvd. S., 702-362-7283

(TC) Regency Tropicana Cinemas

3330 E. Tropicana Ave., 702-438-3456

(VS) Regal Village Square

9400 W. Sahara Ave., 844-462-7342 ext. 272

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