Screen

Short takes: This week’s movie listings and reviews

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Hero on the lam: Captain America takes matters into his own hands in Civil War.
Josh Bell, Mike D'Angelo, Jeffrey M. Anderson

Special screenings

Art & Architecture in Cinema

5/12, Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse, 7 p.m., $13-$15. Theaters: COL, SP, ST, VS. Info: fathomevents.com.

Cinemark Classic Series

Sun, 2 p.m.; Wed, 2 & 7 p.m., $7-$10. 5/8, 5/11, Enter the Dragon. Theaters: ORL, ST, SF, SP, SC

Grateful Dead Meet-Up at the Movies

5/11, Grateful Dead concert footage plus interviews, more, 7 p.m., $10.50-$12.50. Theaters: COL, SP, ST, VS. Info: fathomevents.com.

Las Vegas Classic Film Theater

Classic, indie and arthouse films, times vary, $5 per screening. 5/5, His Girl Friday, 1 p.m.; Great Expectations (1946), 3:45 p.m. 5/6, The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery, 1 p.m.; Beat the Devil, 3:45 p.m. 5/7, The Pawnshop, noon; Snows of Kilimanjaro, 2:30 p.m. 5/8, The Duke Is Tops, noon; A Star Is Born (1954), 2:30 p.m. 5/9, Suddenly, 2:30 p.m.; The Stranger (1946), 3:45 p.m. 5/10, Detour, 3:45 p.m. 5/11, They Made Me a Criminal, 1:45 p.m.; Night of the Living Dead, 6 p.m. 5/12, Quicksand, 1:30 p.m., Dressed to Kill (1941), 3:45 p.m. Baobab Stage, Town Square, 702-369-6649, baobabstage.com.

Las Vegas Stories

5/5, documentary The Rancho High School Riots, 7 p.m., free. Clark County Library, 1401 E. Flamingo Road, 702-507-3400.

Midnight Brewvies

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

Movie Night

Thu, sundown, free. 5/5, Tangled. 5/12, Frozen. Downtown Container Park, 707 Fremont St., downtowncontainerpark.com.

Outdoor Picture Show

Sat, 7:30 p.m., free. 5/7, The Good Dinosaur. The District, 2225 Village Walk Drive, Henderson, 702-564-8595.

RiffTrax Live

5/5, Time Chasers with comedic commentary, 8 p.m., $12.50. Theaters: COL, SP, ST, VS. Info: fathomevents.com.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

5/7, augmented by live cast and audience participation, 10 p.m., $9. Theaters: TC. Info: rhpsvegas.com.

Sci Fi Center

Sun, Game of Thrones viewing party, 7:15 p.m., free. Mon, Cinemondays, 8 p.m., free. 5/7, Comix: Beyond the Comic Book Pages, 8 p.m., $5. 5077 Arville St., 855-501-4335, thescificenter.com.

Tuesday Afternoon at the Bijou

Tue, 1 p.m., free. 5/10, Anything Goes (1956). Clark County Library, 1401 E. Flamingo Road, 702-507-3400.

New this week

24 (Not reviewed)

Suriya, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Nithya Menen. Directed by Vikram Kumar. 164 minutes. Not rated. In Tamil with English subtitles. A scientist battles with his evil twin for control of a time machine.

Theaters: VS

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

Just the 3 of Us (Not reviewed)

John Lloyd Cruz, Jennylyn Mercado, Richard Yap. Directed by Cathy Garcia-Molina. Not rated. In Filipino with English subtitles. Two strangers forced to live together end up falling in love.

Theaters: ORL, VS

Phantom of the Theatre Two stars

Ruby Lin, Tony Yo-Ning Yang, Simon Yam. Directed by Wai Man Yip. 103 minutes. Not rated. In Mandarin with English subtitles. This 1930s-set Chinese drama, about a movie shoot that takes place in a supposedly haunted theater, starts out as supernatural horror before shifting gears into histrionic melodrama. The scares are minimal, the special effects are shoddy, and the plot twists are ludicrous and unconvincing. —JB

Theaters: TS

Sing Street Three and a half stars

Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Lucy Boynton, Aidan Gillen. Directed by John Carney. 106 minutes. Rated PG-13. The latest music-related film by John Carney (Once, Begin Again) tells the semi-autobiographical tale of a group of Dublin kids who form a New Wave band circa 1985. It’s no The Commitments, but the energy is infectious, and rising star Jack Reynor does tremendous work as the protagonist’s supportive older brother. —MD

Theaters: SC

Now playing

10 Cloverfield Lane Three and a half stars

Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman, John Gallagher Jr. Directed by Dan Trachtenberg. 105 minutes. Rated PG-13. A woman is held captive by a survivalist following a serious accident.

Theaters: RR, ST

The 5th Wave Three stars

Chloë Grace Moretz, Alex Roe, Nick Robinson. Directed by J Blakeson. 112 minutes. Rated PG-13. Teenager Cassie (Moretz) fights off an alien invasion and gets caught in a love triangle in the latest adaptation of a young-adult sci-fi novel series. The 5th Wave starts out as a rote survival narrative before taking a turn for the absurd with its central romance and the aliens’ nonsensical endgame. —JB

Theaters: Theaters: TC

Allegiant One and a half stars

Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Jeff Daniels. Directed by Robert Schwentke. 121 minutes. Rated PG-13. The third installment in the dystopian sci-fi Divergent series, based on Veronica Roth’s YA novels, throws in a ton of new convoluted plot elements to justify continuing the story, but it never succeeds. Woodley remains a solid actor, but she’s defeated by the incoherent script and the surprisingly terrible special effects. —JB

Theaters: COL

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

Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice Two stars

Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Jesse Eisenberg. Directed by Zack Snyder. 151 minutes. Rated PG-13. Starting with its ridiculous title, this superhero epic is bursting with overwrought self-importance, crammed with so many characters and incidents that it ends up horribly disjointed. All the empty bluster obscures how little actually happens in the power struggle among heroes Batman (Affleck) and Superman (Cavill) and villain Lex Luthor (Eisenberg). —JB

Theaters: AL, CH, COL, PAL, RR, SP, SS, ST, TS, TX, VS

The Boss Two stars

Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Bell, Peter Dinklage. Directed by Ben Falcone. 99 minutes. Rated R. A disgraced business mogul (McCarthy) has to team up with her former assistant (Bell). McCarthy nearly exhausts herself carrying the movie on her own. There are a handful of funny moments, but they’re few and far between in a movie that never quite figures out what kind of joke it’s trying to make. —JB

Theaters: AL, DTS, FH, GVR, PAL, SHO, SP, SS, ST, TS, TX, VS

The Boy (Not reviewed)

Lauren Cohan, Rupert Evans, James Russell. Directed by William Brent Bell. 98 minutes. Rated PG-13. An American nanny is disturbed by her English employers’ “son”—a life-sized doll.

Theaters: TC

Compadres (Not reviewed)

Omar Chaparro, Joey Morgan, Erick Elias. Directed by Enrique Begne. 101 minutes. Not rated. A former cop and a hacker plot revenge on a crime lord.

Theaters: BS, PAL, SC, TX

Criminal Two stars

Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman, Gal Gadot. Directed by Ariel Vromen. 113 minutes. Rated R. Thanks to an experimental (and nonsensical) procedure, the memories of a dead CIA agent are implanted into the mind of murderous psychopath Jericho Stewart (Costner). After a fairly tense opening, the movie gets bogged down in an incoherent terrorism plot, along with absurdly sappy scenes of Jericho discovering human emotions. —JB

Theaters: FH, GVR, ORL, PAL, RR, SP, ST, TS, TX, VS

Daddy’s Home Two stars

Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Linda Cardellini. Directed by Sean Anders. 96 minutes. Rated PG-13. This reunion between Ferrell and Wahlberg (The Other Guys) finds both stars on autopilot, with Ferrell as a milquetoast, eager-to-please stepdad who feels threatened when his wife’s bad-boy ex (Wahlberg) comes to town. Their subsequent feud is predictable and unfunny, combining painful slapstick with uncomfortable gross-out jokes. —JB

Theaters: TC

Deadpool Three stars

Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein. Directed by Tim Miller. 108 minutes. Rated R. The long-in-the-works movie starring sarcastic, ultraviolent Marvel Comics anti-hero Deadpool (Reynolds) is vulgar, gory and self-aware. In between his dirty jokes and self-referential insults, Deadpool participates in a fairly familiar superhero origin story. Only about half the jokes land, but the enthusiasm of the production makes up for the rest. —JB

Theaters: ST, TC, VS

Demolition Two and a half stars

Jake Gyllenhaal, Naomi Watts, Chris Cooper. Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée. 100 minutes. Rated R. This drama about a wealthy widower (Gyllenhaal) connecting with a melancholy single mother (Watts) features solid performances but is far too contrived and self-important. The movie loses sight of its characters’ unique emotions in its strained efforts to turn one man’s grief into a grand statement about human existence. —JB

Theaters: VS

Everybody Wants Some!! Four stars

Blake Jenner, Zoey Deutch, Ryan Guzman. Directed by Richard Linklater. 117 minutes. Rated R. Linklater’s “spiritual sequel” to his 1993 classic Dazed and Confused (featuring none of the same characters or actors) is set in the summer of 1980, and observes, with rich humor and keen insight, the testosterone-fueled rivalries, competitions and hazing among a college baseball team in Texas. —MD

Theaters: BS, COL, 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: BS, DTS, GVR, SC

Finding Mr. Right 2 (Not reviewed)

Tang Wei, Wu Xiubo, Zhihong Liu. Directed by Xue Xiaolu. 132 minutes. Not rated. In Mandarin with English subtitles. After falling in love in Seattle, a couple of Chinese expatriates rekindle their romance while traveling the world.

Theaters: TS

God’s Not Dead 2 (Not reviewed)

Melissa Joan Hart, Jesse Metcalfe, David A.R. White. Directed by Harold Cronk. 121 minutes. Rated PG. A high school teacher become the center of controversy after discussing Jesus in her classroom.

Theaters: BS

Green Room Four stars

Anton Yelchin, Alia Shawkat, Patrick Stewart. Directed by Jeremy Saulnier. 94 minutes. Rated R. Punk musicians have to fight off neo-Nazis after inadvertently witnessing a crime in this tense, unrelenting thriller. There are no distractions, nothing that doesn’t contribute directly to the near-constant peril, but the movie never feels generic. Every edit, camera movement and line of dialogue propels the movie toward its inevitable bloody end. —JB

Theaters: BS, RR, SC, TS, TX

Hello, My Name Is Doris Three stars

Sally Field, Max Greenfield, Tyne Daly. Directed by Michael Showalter. 94 minutes. Rated R. Although the scenario of a lonely older woman (Field) awkwardly crushing on her much younger co-worker (Greenfield) could be played for cruel laughs, the filmmakers don’t mock Doris even when she’s thoroughly embarrassing herself. The movie ends up part cringe comedy, part melancholy meditation on aging. —JB

Theaters: COL, SC

A Hologram for the King (Not reviewed)

Tom Hanks, Sarita Choudhury, Alexander Black. Directed by Tom Tykwer. 97 minutes. Rated R. A failed American businessman travels to Saudi Arabia in search of new opportunities.

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

Keanu Two and a half stars

Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Method Man. Directed by Peter Atencio. 98 minutes. Rated R. The first movie outing for sketch-comedy duo Key and Peele finds them joining a street gang in order to recover a stolen kitten. Alas, there are only so many laughs to be wrung from the spectacle of two nerds desperately, clumsily trying to be gangsta, and Keanu has little else to offer. —MD

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

Kung Fu Panda 3 Three stars

Voices of Jack Black, Bryan Cranston, J.K. Simmons. Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Alessandro Carloni. 95 minutes. Rated PG. This time around, kung fu panda Po (Black) must master the traditional Chinese concept of ch’i in order to take down a mystically powered bad guy. At this point, there’s really nothing new to discover in a KFP movie, but it’s still nice to see old friends every so often. —JB

Theaters: TC

London Has Fallen One and a half stars

Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman. Directed by Babak Najafi. 99 minutes. Rated PG-13. As the lone badass protecting the president from a massive terrorist attack, Butler isn’t funny enough to handle the screenplay’s lame quips, and isn’t relatable in any other way. Otherwise, there’s bad CGI explosions and Oscar-nominated actors with barely any dialogue, as well as Freeman as the vice president. —JMA

Theaters: SC, TC

Meet the Blacks (Not reviewed)

Mike Epps, Gary Owen, Zulay Henao. Directed by Deon Taylor. 90 minutes. Rated R. A parody of The Purge movies, with an African-American family targeted after moving to the suburbs.

Theaters: TC

Midnight Special Three and a half stars

Michael Shannon, Jaeden Lieberher, Joel Edgerton. Directed by Jeff Nichols. 112 minutes. Rated PG-13. The first half of Special, starring Shannon as a man trying to protect his mysteriously powered son, is like a Hollywood sci-fi thriller with the exposition taken out. Eventually, writer-director Nichols fills in enough details to make for a satisfying climax, while leaving things vague enough not to undermine the earlier ambiguity. —JB

Theaters: SC

Miles Ahead Two stars

Don Cheadle, Ewan McGregor, Emayatzy Corinealdi. Directed by Don Cheadle. 100 minutes. Rated R. Cheadle’s Miles Davis biopic focuses on a time late in Davis’ career when the jazz legend was effectively retired from music. Cheadle and his co-writer build an entire invented narrative around the basic facts, a silly distraction that doesn’t provide any insight about Davis as a musician or a cultural icon. —JB

Theaters: SC

Miracles From Heaven (Not reviewed)

Jennifer Garner, Martin Henderson, Kylie Rogers. Directed by Patricia Riggen. 109 minutes. Rated PG. A young girl is miraculously cured of a chronic disease following an accident.

Theaters: BS, SC, TX

Mother’s Day Two stars

Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson, Jason Sudeikis. Directed by Garry Marshall. 118 minutes. Rated PG-13. Instead of a dozen or so stories set around the central holiday, Marshall’s third holiday-themed ensemble romantic comedy features just four. Given more room, the individual stories only strain under their flimsy premises. The jokes are beyond stale, the dialogue is full of repetitive exposition, and the plot mechanics are clumsy. —JB

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

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 Two stars

Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Elena Kampouris. Directed by Kirk Jones. 94 minutes. Rated PG-13. Fourteen years after the original surprise hit, Toula (Vardalos) and her overbearing, stereotypical Greek-American family return for more cheesy, predictable sitcom-level hijinks. What once had a certain unique perspective has become just another tired brand extension with no reason to exist other than to exploit its audience’s nostalgia and goodwill. —JB

Theaters: COL, DTS, SP, ST, VS

Papa: Hemingway in Cuba (Not reviewed)

Giovanni Ribisi, Minka Kelly, Adrian Sparks. Directed by Bob Yari. 109 minutes. Rated R. A journalist travels to Havana in 1959 to meet his idol, Ernest Hemingway.

Theaters: COL, ST, VS

Purple Rain (Not reviewed)

Prince, Apollonia Kotero, Morris Day. Directed by Albert Magnoli. 111 minutes. Rated R. Re-release of the 1984 drama starring Prince as a troubled musician.

Theaters: BS

Ratchet & Clank (Not reviewed)

Voices of James Arnold Taylor, David Kaye, Jim Ward. Directed by Kevin Munroe. 94 minutes. Rated PG. This animated movie based on the popular video-game series tells the story of the first meeting between alien mechanic Ratchet and robot Clank.

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

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Three and a half stars

Tina Fey, Margot Robbie, Martin Freeman. Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa. 105 minutes. Rated R. Fey finds a perfect middle ground between sarcasm and vulnerability as war correspondent Kim Baker, reporting from Afghanistan in the early ’00s. WTF isn’t a political movie, and it smartly balances its wider concerns with Kim’s personal journey, which never comes across as phony or self-important. —JB

Theaters: TC

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: AL, CH, COL, RP, RR, SF, SP, SS, ST, TS, TX, VS

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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