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Short Takes: Movie listings and reviews for August 3

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Detroit
Josh Bell, Mike D'Angelo, Jeffrey M. Anderson

Special screenings

Cult Classic Happy Hour

8/9, Spaceballs, 5:30 p.m., free. Millennium Fandom Bar, 900 Las Vegas Blvd. S., 702-405-0816.

Daywalker: Blade Origins

8/10, locally produced fan film, 12:30 & 12:45 p.m., $8. Theaters: ET

Dixie Chicks MMXVI: In Concert

8/7, concert film from Dixie Chicks 2016 tour, 7 p.m., $13-$15. Theaters: ORL, SF, SP, ST. Info: fathomevents.com.

Drum Corps International: Big, Loud & Live 14

8/10, broadcast of DCI world championship preliminary competition, 3:30 p.m., $16-$18. Theaters: COL, ORL, SF, SP, VS. Info: fathomevents.com.

Family Movie Night

Thu, sundown, free. 8/3, Sing. 8/10, The Lego Batman Movie. Downtown Container Park, 707 Fremont St., downtowncontainerpark.com.

Newsies: The Broadway Musical

8/5, 8/9, stage production recorded in 2016, Sat 12:55 p.m., Wed 7 p.m., $16-$18. Theaters: COL, ORL, RR, SF, SS, TS, VS. Info: fathomevents.com.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

8/5, movie plus live cast and audience participation, 10 p.m., $10. Theaters: TC. Info: rhpsvegas.com.

Sci Fi Center

Mon, Cinemondays, 8 p.m., free. Sun, Game of Thrones viewing party, 7 p.m., free. 8/3, Nosferatu (1922) with score by local musician Steven Goldfinger, 7 p.m., $10. 8/8, The Ancient Magus’ Bride, 6 & 8 p.m., $12. 5077 Arville St., 855-501-4335, thescificenter.com.

Summer Movie Series

Wed, 11:30 a.m., free. 8/9, A Dog’s Purpose. Fashion Show Mall, 3200 Las Vegas Blvd S., 702-369-8382.

Tuesday Afternoon at the Bijou

Tue, 1 p.m., free. 8/8, Jaws. Clark County Library, 1401 E. Flamingo Road, 702-507-3400.

New this week

The Battleship Island (Not reviewed)

Hwang Jung-min, So Ji-sub, Song Joong-ki. Directed by Ryoo Seung-wan. 132 minutes. Not rated. In Korean with English subtitles. During the Japanese occupation of Korea, 400 inmates attempt to break out of a forced labor camp.

Theaters: VS

The Dark Tower (Not reviewed)

Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Taylor. Directed by Nikolaj Arcel. 95 minutes. Rated PG-13. A warrior from a fantasy world tracks a villain threatening to destroy the universe.

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

Detroit Three stars

John Boyega, Will Poulter, Algee Smith. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow. 143 minutes. Rated R. Set mostly during the 1967 Detroit riots, the movie aims to put viewers alongside the black residents of the city as they rebel. It gets bogged down in depicting a particularly notorious incident that takes up most of the movie, with a cartoonish cop villain, but it still has powerful moments throughout. —JB

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

Finally Found Someone (Not reviewed)

John Lloyd Cruz, Sarah Geronimo, Joey Marquez. Directed by Theodore Boborol. 118 minutes. Not rated. In Filipino with English subtitles. A woman who was left at the altar tries to get her love life back on track.

Theaters: ORL, VS

An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power Two stars

Directed by Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk. 98 minutes. Rated PG. Al Gore returns, 11 years after An Inconvenient Truth, with an update on the devastating consequences if we don’t step up our efforts to combat climate change. There’s more emphasis on Gore the man than on facts and figures this time, and the film’s message is basically “I told you so.” —MD

Theaters: DTS, GVL, GVR, TS

Jab Harry Met Sejal (Not reviewed)

Shah Rukh Khan, Anushka Sharma, Evelyn Sharma. Directed by Imtiaz Ali. 143 minutes. In Hindi with English subtitles. Two strangers fall in love while traveling across Europe searching for a missing engagement ring.

Theaters: VS

Kidnap Two stars

Halle Berry, Sage Correa, Chris McGinn. Directed by Luis Prieto. 94 minutes. Rated R. Berry plays a waitress chasing after the kidnappers of her young son in this empty, predictable, cheap-looking thriller. More than half the movie is a repetitive, drawn-out car chase, and despite a running time that barely hits 80 minutes, Kidnap is still padded and plodding. —JB

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

Lady Macbeth Three and a half stars

Florence Pugh, Cosmo Jarvis, Naomi Ackie. Directed by William Oldroyd. 89 minutes. Rated R. Pugh gives a fearsome performance as Katherine Lester, a young upper-class wife in 19th-century England who rebels against her stable but oppressive life via adultery and murder. Oldroyd captures the bleak emptiness of Katherine’s surroundings, as she embraces her darkest, most twisted nature. —JB

Theaters: GVR, VS

Landline Three and a half stars

Jenny Slate, Abby Quinn, Edie Falco. Directed by Gillian Robespierre. 93 minutes. Rated R. Set, delightfully but for no apparent reason, in 1995, Landline is a laid-back comedy about an upper-middle-class NYC family in slow-motion distress. Even if it’s not as bracing as Robespierre and Slate’s Obvious Child, it’s still warm and funny and heartfelt, with great affection for both its characters and its era. —JB

Theaters: VS

Now playing

47 Meters Down Three and a half stars

Mandy Moore, Claire Holt, Matthew Modine. Directed by Johannes Roberts. 89 minutes. Rated PG-13. A pair of sisters end up trapped in a rickety cage at the bottom of the ocean, surrounded by deadly sharks, in this lean, suspenseful survival thriller. Occasional plot contrivances aside, most of the movie is tense and well-crafted, making great use of the murky depths surrounding the characters. —JB

Theaters: CH, SC, SP, ST, TX

Alien: Covenant Three and a half stars

Katherine Waterston, Michael Fassbender, Billy Crudup. Directed by Ridley Scott. 122 minutes. Rated R. Like its predecessor Prometheus and Scott’s 1979 classic Alien, Covenant finds the crew of a deep-space vessel investigating a mysterious planet and discovering horrific monsters lurking there. Fassbender is fantastic as two unsettling androids, and while the movie focuses more on scares than on Prometheus’ philosophical questions, those scares are pretty effective. —JB

Theaters: TC

All Eyez on Me Two stars

Demetrius Shipp Jr., Danai Gurira, Kat Graham. Directed by Benny Boom. 140 minutes. Rated R. Star Shipp’s resemblance to late hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur is not enough to build a biopic around, and director Boom doesn’t have much else to offer, throwing together a Behind the Music-style series of events from Shakur’s life that provides little insight into him as a person or narrative shape to his career. —JB

Theaters: TC

Atomic Blonde Three and a half stars

Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, Sofia Boutella. Directed by David Leitch. 115 minutes. Rated R. Theron plays a British MI6 agent in 1989 Berlin in this stylish if confusingly plotted spy thriller. Theron is fantastically cool, the supporting performances are entertaining, the set and costume design are sophisticated, and the jaw-dropping action sequences are both brutal and beautiful. —JB

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

Baby Driver Three and a half stars

Ansel Elgort, Lily James, Kevin Spacey. Directed by Edgar Wright. 113 minutes. Rated R. The plot of Baby Driver, about a getaway driver looking to leave behind his life of crime, is nothing new, but the way that writer-director Wright tells that story is playful and virtuosic, making the movie into one long visual mixtape. It’s like a mediocre crime thriller crossed with several very good music videos. —JB

Theaters: AL, CH, COL, ORL, RR, SF, SP, ST, TS, TX, VS

The Big Sick Three and a half stars

Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Ray Romano. Directed by Michael Showalter. 119 minutes. Rated R. The broad narrative arc of The Big Sick is not that different from the average Hollywood romantic comedy; the movie succeeds in the personal specificity of the story, written by comedian Kumail Nanjiani and his wife, based on their real-life romance. It delivers a real love story with real humor from real people. —JB

Theaters: DTS, GVR, SC

The Book of Henry Two stars

Naomi Watts, Jacob Tremblay, Jaeden Lieberher. Directed by Colin Trevorrow. 105 minutes. Rated PG-13. Watts plays the single mother of two boys, one of whom (Liebeher) is an 11-year-old prodigy who writes a singular “book” that’s really a set of instructions. Revealing much more than that would ruin this ludicrous movie’s sole pleasure, which is the sheer brazen nuttiness of its screenplay. —MD

Theaters: TC

The Boss Baby Two stars

Voices of Miles Bakshi, Alec Baldwin, Lisa Kudrow. Directed by Tom McGrath. 97 minutes. Rated PG. This is a baffling, bizarrely misconceived animated movie about a baby dressed in a business suit and spouting corporate speak in the voice of Alec Baldwin. Some visuals are well-designed, and Baldwin gets in a few funny lines, but the plot is so weirdly off the mark that everything else is just background noise. —JB

Theaters: TC

Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie Three and a half stars

Voices of Kevin Hart, Thomas Middleditch, Ed Helms. Directed by David Soren. 84 minutes. Rated PG. This computer-animated movie, about two best friends (voiced by Hart and Middleditch) whose superhero creation comes to life, contains hand-drawn sequences and even a sock-puppet sequence. Rambunctious, but cheerfully clever—or at least cheerful—it contains fart jokes, but also a built-in critique and aesthetic appreciation of fart jokes. —JMA

Theaters: TC

Cars 3 Two and a half stars

Voices of Owen Wilson, Cristela Alonzo, Armie Hammer. Directed by Brian Fee. 109 minutes. Rated G. The third movie in Pixar’s most blatantly commercial animated franchise finds race car Lightning McQueen (Wilson) losing ground to younger models. The world of anthropomorphic vehicles is still colorful and lovingly detailed, but the plot is slow-moving and dull, rehashing elements of the first movie. —JB

Theaters: COL, FH

Despicable Me 3 Two stars

Voices of Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Trey Parker. Directed by Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda. 90 minutes. Rated PG. There’s a sense of tired obligation to the third movie in the animated series about reformed supervillain Gru (Carell), which runs barely 90 minutes and throws together a handful of haphazard storylines. Nothing in the plot carries much of an impact, despite the series of apparently momentous developments. —JB

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

Dunkirk Four stars

Fionn Whitehead, Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance. Directed by Christopher Nolan. 106 minutes. Rated PG-13. Nolan’s docudrama about the evacuation of Dunkirk early in World War II is perhaps the boldest gamble yet made by this ambitious director, injecting a potentially alienating degree of abstraction into the sheer intensity of pitched battle. Once again, he somehow makes it work. —MD

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

The Emoji Movie One star

Voices of T.J. Miller, James Corden, Anna Faris. Directed by Tony Leondis. 86 minutes. Rated PG. The epitome of a cynical Hollywood brand extension, this animated movie based on smartphone icons borrows elements from superior movies like Inside Out and The Lego Movie, lazily going through the motions of an animated family adventure, with maximum product placement along the way. —JB

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

Everything, Everything Two and a half stars

Amandla Stenberg, Nick Robinson, Anika Noni Rose. Directed by Stella Meghie. 96 minutes. Rated PG-13. Teenage Maddy (Stenberg) has an autoimmune disease that keeps her confined to her house, but she longs for more after meeting her hunky, sensitive neighbor Olly (Robinson). The central romance straddles the line between sweet and cloying, but the goodwill is shattered by a cheap third-act twist. —JB

Theaters: TC

A Ghost Story Four stars

Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara. Directed by David Lowery. 92 minutes. Rated R. Writer-director Lowery delivers a layered and moving meditation on grief and the passage of time, even with his lead actor (Affleck, as a troubled musician killed in a car accident) covered entirely by a sheet for nearly the entire running time. He haunts the home he lived in, unable to move on. —JB

Theaters: COL, SC

Girls Trip (Not reviewed)

Queen Latifah, Regina Hall, Jada Pinkett Smith. Directed by Malcolm D. Lee. 122 minutes. Rated R. A group of lifelong friends cut loose on a trip to New Orleans.

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

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Three stars

Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista. Directed by James Gunn. 136 minutes. Rated PG-13. After teaming up to save the galaxy in the surprise-hit previous movie, Marvel’s intergalactic superheroes are split up and set on various courses until they come together for the action-packed finale. If you liked the first movie, well, here’s more of it, only not as refreshing or original. —JB

Theaters: TC

The House Two stars

Will Ferrell, Amy Poehler, Jason Mantzoukas. Directed by Andrew Jay Cohen. 88 minutes. Rated R. Ferrell and Poehler star as a middle-class couple who start an underground casino in their neighbor’s basement when they unexpectedly lose the money for their daughter’s college tuition. Like most comedies starring SNL alumni, it’s long on semi-improvised goofiness and short on actual jokes. —MD

Theaters: COL

Maudie Three stars

Sally Hawkins, Ethan Hawke, Kari Matchett. Directed by Aisling Walsh. 115 minutes. Rated PG-13. This biopic of Canadian folk artist Maud Lewis (Hawkins) focuses on her tumultuous relationship with her husband (Hawke), sometimes at the expense of details about her work. It can be an affecting look at a dysfunctional marriage, although it suffers from familiar biopic issues, including unclear progression of time and thin supporting characters. —JB

Theaters: COL, SC

The Mummy Two stars

Tom Cruise, Annabelle Wallis, Sofia Boutella. Directed by Alex Kurtzman. 107 minutes. Rated PG-13. The attempted launchpad for a cinematic universe based on Universal’s classic monster characters gets things off to a poor start, ineptly mixing action, horror, humor and world-building. Cruise is out of place as a roguish American soldier cursed by an evil ancient Egyptian princess, and the title character isn’t much of a threat. —JB

Theaters: TC

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Two stars

Johnny Depp, Brenton Thwaites, Kaya Scodelario. Directed by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg. 129 minutes. Rated PG-13. The fifth movie in the series initially based on a Disney theme-park ride features legendary pirate Jack Sparrow (Depp) on a quest for Poseidon’s trident. The plot is convoluted and interminable, and Depp stumbles and mumbles his way through another performance as Jack, who’s lost all of his irreverent charm. —JB

Theaters: COL

Spider-Man: Homecoming Three and a half stars

Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Jacob Batalon. Directed by Jon Watts. 133 minutes. Rated PG-13. Bringing popular teen superhero Spider-Man (Holland) into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Homecoming is a feat of corporate deal-making as much as an artistic endeavor. There are a few impressive set pieces (most notably one set at the Washington Monument), some seeds planted for future movies and some entertaining bits of humor. —JB

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

Transformers: The Last Knight One and a half stars

Mark Wahlberg, Anthony Hopkins, Laura Haddock. Directed by Michael Bay. 148 minutes. Rated PG-13. Just getting through Bay’s fifth Transformers movie makes for an exhausting endeavor. Once again, the plot is byzantine and inane, the characters are superfluous and barely one-dimensional, the comic relief is painful and the acting is almost entirely perfunctory. The fate of the world is at stake (again), but none of it means anything. —JB

Theaters: COL, ORL, ST, TX

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets Two and a half stars

Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne, Clive Owen. Directed by Luc Besson. 137 minutes. Rated PG-13. The convoluted plot of Besson’s adaptation of a long-running French comic book (starring the miscast DeHaan and Delevingne as intergalactic secret agents) takes too long to get moving and then is sidelined for long stretches. The movie is a colorful and baffling experience that is sometimes charming but more often just exhausting. —JB

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

War for the Planet of the Apes Three stars

Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson, Steve Zahn. Directed by Matt Reeves. 140 minutes. Rated PG-13. Part three of the rebooted Planet of the Apes franchise boldly asks viewers to reject our own kind and root wholeheartedly for simian victory. Serkis remains a marvel as Caesar; shame the film stacks the deck by making its handful of humans cartoonishly evil, complexity be damned. —MD

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

Wish Upon Two stars

Joey King, Ki Hong Lee, Ryan Phillippe. Directed by John R. Leonetti. 90 minutes. Rated PG-13. Teenager Clare (King) makes every dumb horror-movie decision possible after she discovers a Chinese music box that promises to grant seven wishes. The (fairly bloodless, PG-13-friendly) death scenes rip off the Final Destination movies, and every plot development is dopey and predictable, with a complete lack of scares. —JB

Theaters: DI, ST

Wolf Warrior 2 One and a half stars

Wu Jing, Frank Grillo, Celina Jade. Directed by Wu Jing. 121 minutes. Not rated. In Mandarin with English subtitles. Chinese action star Wu co-wrote and directed this sequel featuring his disgraced Chinese Special Forces operative caught up in a civil war in an unnamed African country. It’s the Chinese equivalent of a bad ’80s Chuck Norris movie, with a hokey plot full of inconsistencies, blatant flag-waving nationalism, terrible special effects and clumsy performances. —JB

Theaters: TS

Wonder Woman Three and a half stars

Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Connie Nielsen. Directed by Patty Jenkins. 133 minutes. Rated PG-13. Set during WWI, this solo adventure for the iconic DC superhero is a step forward for DC’s movie universe. Gadot plays Wonder Woman with an appealing sense of integrity and compassion. The movie never reinvents the superhero origin story, but it hits all the familiar beats with enthusiasm and style. —JB

Theaters: AL, COL, FH, RR, SP, SS, ST, 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

(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

(ET) Eclipse Theaters

814 S. Third St., 702-816-4300

(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

(PAL) Brenden Theatres at the Palms

4321 W. Flamingo Road, 702-507-4849

(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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