Special screenings
Art & Architecture in Cinema
7/14, St. Peter's and the Papal Basilicas of Rome, 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. 7/17, 7/20, Fight Club. Theaters: ORL, ST, SF, SP, SC
Dive-In Movies
Mon, 7:30 p.m., $5, free for hotel guests. 7/18, Rocky. Boulevard Pool at the Cosmopolitan, 702-698-7000.
Family-Friendly Summer Matinee
Wed, 11 a.m., free. 7/20, The Lego Movie. Summerlin Library, 1771 Inner Circle Drive, 702-507-3863.
Las Vegas Classic Movies Theater
Classic, indie and arthouse films, Thu-Fri 8 p.m., Sat-Sun 6 & 8 p.m., $5 per screening. 7/14, The Blue Angel. 7/15, Meet John Doe. 7/16, The Pace That Thrills (1952), Teenage Devil Dolls. 7/17, The General, The Outlaw. The Corner Gallery, 107 E. Charleston Blvd., 702-501-9219, lasvegascornergallery.com.
The Metropolitan Opera HD Live
7/20, Mozart's Così Fan Tutte encore, 7 p.m., $12.50. Theaters: VS. Info: fathomevents.com.
Movie Night
Thu, sundown, free. 7/14, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 7/21, Guardians of the Galaxy. Downtown Container Park, 707 Fremont St., downtowncontainerpark.com.
National Theatre Live
7/19, encore broadcast of The Audience starring Helen Mirren, 7 p.m., $18. Theaters: COL, ST, VS. Info: fathomevents.com.
Sci Fi Center
Mon, Cinemondays, 8 p.m., free. 7/16, The Devil’s Carnival with live shadow cast, 8 & 10 p.m., $10. 5077 Arville St., 855-501-4335, thescificenter.com.
Summer Movie Series
Fri, 6:45 p.m., free with museum admission. 7/15, The Untouchables. Mob Museum, 300 Stewart Ave., 702-229-2734.
Summer Screen Series
Thu, dusk, free. 7/14, Kung Fu Panda 3. 7/21, Cinderella (2015). Park Centre Drive, Downtown Summerlin, downtownsummerlin.com.
Tuesday Afternoon at the Bijou
Tue, 1 p.m., free. 7/19, Road to Morocco. Clark County Library, 1401 E. Flamingo Road, 702-507-3400.
New this week
Ghostbusters 
Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones. Directed by Paul Feig. 116 minutes. Rated PG-13. This remake of the 1984 movie about a group of misfits fighting a supernatural infestation in New York City features strong comedy with an impressively talented cast, but eventually ends up overwhelmed by the demands of its large-scale action storyline. —JB
Theaters: AL, BS, CAN, CH, DI, DTS, FH, GVL, GVR, ORL, PAL, RP, RR, SC, SF, SHO, SP, SS, TS, TX
Julian Dennison, Sam Neill, Rachel House. Directed by Taika Waititi. 101 minutes. Rated PG-13. A sullen (but secretly lovable) 13-year-old orphan (Dennison) and his gruff, taciturn foster father (Neill) end up on the run in this warm-hearted, funny, well-crafted coming-of-age story. Wilderpeople is at times a bit overly sentimental, but writer-director Waititi nearly always undercuts the potential for sappiness with a bit of deadpan humor. —JB
Theaters: TS
Bryan Cranston, John Leguizamo, Diane Kruger. Directed by Brad Furman. 127 minutes. Rated R. The story of a U.S. Customs agent (Cranston) going undercover as a money launderer in order to bring down associates of notorious drug kingpin Pablo Escobar in the mid-1980s may be inspired by true events, but it’s still a generic crime drama, with bland, expository dialogue and stock underworld figures. —JB
Theaters: AL, COL, FH, PAL, RP, RR, SC, SHO, SP, TS, TX
The Music of Strangers (Not reviewed)
Directed by Morgan Neville. 96 minutes. Rated PG-13. Documentary following the Silk Road Ensemble, led by musician Yo-Yo Ma.
Theaters: TS
Chad Michael Murray, Francesca Eastwood, Luke Wilson. Directed by JT Mollner. 119 minutes. Rated R. A band of outlaws holds a frontier family hostage in Mollner’s nasty, nihilistic Western. The movie comes across as unpleasant, excessively wallowing in its brutal violence and sexuality, and no amount of style can compensate for the aimless ugliness of the story. —JB
Theaters: TS
So Young 2: Never Gone (Not reviewed)
Kris Wu, Liu Yifei, Qiao Ren Liang. Directed by Zhou Tuo Ru. 99 minutes. Not rated. In Mandarin with English subtitles. A wealthy young man and a middle-class young woman fall in love and deal with various struggles.
Theaters: TS
Three Wise Cousins (Not reviewed)
Neil Amituanai, Gloria Ofa Blake, Fesuiai Viliamu. Directed by Stallone Vaiaoga-Ioasa. 89 minutes. Rated PG-13. A New Zealand-born Samoan man asks his island-based cousins to help him impress a Samoan woman.
Theaters: COL, TX
Now playing
The Achy Breaky Hearts (Not reviewed)
Jodi Sta. Maria, Ian Veneracion, Richard Yap. Directed by Antoinette Jadaone. 115 minutes. Not rated. In Filipino with English subtitles. A single woman is torn between two men.
Theaters: ORL
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: TC
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, PAL, RP, RR, SF, SP, SS, ST, TS, TX, VS
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: COL, VS
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, FH, GVR, ORL, PAL, RP, SF, SHO, SP, SS, ST, TS, TX, VS
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: BS, GVR, RR
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, FH, GVL, ORL, PAL, RP, RR, SC, SP, SS, TS, TX
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: COL, DTS, SC, VS
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
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, GVR, ORL, PAL, RR, SC, SHO, SP, SS, ST, TS, TX, VS
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: TC
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
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
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, SC
Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates 
Zac Efron, Adam DeVine, Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Plaza. Directed by Jake Szymanski. 98 minutes. Rated R. Rowdy brothers Mike (DeVine) and Dave (Efron) are told to bring dates to their sister’s wedding, and end up with a pair of degenerates (Kendrick, Plaza) pretending to be nice girls. What ensues is a mix of tiresome gross-out jokes and slapstick and some surprisingly sensitive character development. —JB
Theaters: AL, BS, CAN, CH, DI, DTS, FH, GVL, GVR, ORL, PAL, RP, SC, SF, SHO, SP, SS, ST, TS, TX, VS
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
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
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: SC, SP, ST
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: ST, VS
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, SHO, SP, SS, ST, TS, TX, VS
Voices of Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet, Jenny Slate. Directed by Chris Renaud. 90 minutes. Rated PG. The hyperactive animated story, with loyal dog Max (C.K.) and his dog frenemy Duke (Stonestreet) lost in New York City, isn’t nearly as sophisticated as something from Pixar or even DreamWorks Animation, but it’s good for a few laughs and is entirely kid-friendly, with plenty of cute characters and madcap set pieces. —JB
Theaters: AL, BS, CAN, CH, COL, DI, FH, GVL, ORL, PAL, RP, RR, SC, SF, SHO, SP, SS, ST, TS, TX, 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, COL, DI, FH, PAL, RR, SP, SS, ST, TS, TX, VS
Sultan (Not reviewed)
Salman Khan, Anushka Sharma, Randeep Hooda. Directed by Ali Abbas Zafar. 170 minutes. Not rated. In Hindi with English subtitles. An Indian wrestler achieves international success.
Theaters: ST, VS
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
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows 
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: ST
Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe (Not reviewed)
Directed by Andrew Wakefield. 91 minutes. Not rated. Documentary alleging a cover-up of the link between vaccines and autism.
Theaters: TC
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
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, ST, VS
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
