Instead of heading to the movies only to be disappointed by yet another so-so remake (we’re looking at you, Ben-Hur) try one of the movies below, each of which has been approved by our film critics. Whether you want a new release like War Dogs, you’re bringing the kiddos and need something family-friendly like Kubo and the Two Strings or Pete’s Dragon (an example of a successful remake), or you’re itching to see the old Clue after you heard about its impending resurrection, you’ll find choices below. For more options, as always, check out our complete movie times listings.
NEW RELEASES
1. Kubo and the Two Strings
Set in ancient Japan, the fantasy film Kubo and the Two Strings (directed by Travis Knight, who was the lead animator for Coraline) doesn’t just open on a note of despair, it lingers there. The early scenes—in which Kubo, the protagonist, takes care of his injured, confused mother, feeding her and putting her to bed—don’t serve as narrative contrast; instead, the melancholy convincingly follows him throughout the movie, and death is its central theme. JULIA RABAN
2. War Dogs
Like black licorice or the PT Cruiser, Jonah Hill is divisive. I have friends who can’t get enough of his potty-mouthed braggadocio, and others who only watch his movies on the off chance there might be a scene where he gets punched in the face. War Dogs, his latest odyssey of swearing, sex workers, and spreadsheets, probably isn’t going to change your mind either way, but it’s a damn good time if you’re picking up what Hill’s putting down. BEN COLEMAN
LIMITED RUNS
Thursday
3. Blood Simple
Catch this new restoration of Joel and Ethan Coen’s directorial debut: 1984 violent noir thriller Blood Simple.
SIFF Cinema Uptown
4. Prince vs. The Jacksons Sing Along
Sing (and dance!) along to more than 30 videos starring Prince, Michael Jackson, and Janet Jackson at this night of intense music video competition. Who will be crowned the winner?
Central Cinema
Friday
5. Clue
This 1985 film, based on the board game and not vice versa, was originally distributed with three different endings. Which one will be shown here? No idea. If you haven’t seen this film yet, catch it now before the remake comes out.
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
6. The Fierce Awakens: Barbarella
You cannot possibly consider yourself a worldly homosexual if you cannot quote at least some portion of the movie Barbarella. Now is your chance to experience Jane Fonda as the double-rated astronavigatrix at a lovely outdoor screening. Thrill as our heroine enjoys some essence of man, writhes in postcoital bliss, and gets to know an angel who does not make love but is love. For extra credit, follow up with a home viewing of Danger: Diabolik and CQ—or if you’re a true masochist, Modesty Blaise. A pre-show visit to Uncle Ike’s might not be entirely inappropriate. Just watch out for leathermen. MATT BAUME
Cal Anderson Park
Starting Friday
7. Hackers
Computers were totally not cool before Angelina Jolie and some other guy who we all forgot about double-hacked a TV station robot to play all sorts of crazy VCR tapes. This is totally possible. Really.
Central Cinema
8. Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World
The French philosopher Quentin Meillassoux once suggested that god does not exist but might exist in the future. This future god is the one legendary German director Werner Herzog looks for in his new documentary, Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World—the god whose mind seems to be emerging, flicker by flicker, in the global communication network we call the internet. What will this god do? How will we worship it? Will it make demands? And if so, will these demands harm or improve the lives of the god’s creators? CHARLES MUDEDE
SIFF Cinema Uptown
Saturday
9. Fantastic Planet
Many movies may aspire to cult status, but only a few can slither right in and stake an unquestionable claim. The 1973 French/Czechoslovakian animated film Fantastic Planet, thankfully, is absolutely one of the latter. A Grand Prix winner at Cannes (and originally brought to American theaters by legendary king of schlock Roger Corman), its combination of seriously trippy illustrations and groovy jazz-porny musical score creates a stunning, vividly potent sensation. Once it hits your brain, it’s there to stay. ANDREW WRIGHT
Grand Illusion
10. The Rocky Horror Picture Show
How does a new generation of fighters for trans rights inherit Dr. Frank N. Furter of Transsexual, Transylvania (played by Tim Curry), in this campy 1975 horror musical? Susan Sarandon costars, along with ripped fishnet stockings, corsets, and the dreams of science fiction.
SIFF Cinema Egyptian
All Weekend
11. Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie
Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie picks up where the series left off: Edina and Patsy have not matured one iota, and when the pair suddenly find themselves bankrupt (and charged with killing model Kate Moss) they dash off to the French Riviera to evade the law, find rich husbands, and ingest more drugs and bubbly. The film achieves the same high-pitched, broad humor of the series—even though at a scant 90 minutes, Ab Fab: The Movie is straining at the seams. While you may wonder, “Why was this made?” the hilarious presence of Joanna Lumley is reason enough. Her character Patsy is a stroke of comedic genius, and the world is always in dire need of that. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
SIFF Cinema Uptown
12. Don’t Think Twice
Writer-director Birbiglia plays Miles, the 36-year-old founder of the Commune, an Upright Citizens Brigade–like group, who are at risk of losing their performance space, so they have to figure out whether to relocate, break up, or look for more lucrative gigs, since they all work day jobs to make ends meet (Kate Micucci from Garfunkel and Oates, is a UCB veteran). Then Jack (Key and Peele’s Keegan-Michael Key) lands a gig with Weekend Live, which strains his relationships with the other members, particularly his girlfriend, Sam (Love’s Gillian Jacobs). KATHY FENNESSY
SIFF Cinema Uptown and Sundance Cinemas
13. Little Men
In the end, this terrific film plays like a sequel to Hal Ashby’s 1970 debut, The Landlord, in which Beau Bridges’s trust-fund kid tangled with the African American tenants of a Park Slope tenement. He assumed gentrification would be easy, but it never is—not least for the most vulnerable among us. KATHY FENNESSY
Sundance Cinemas
14. Our Little Sister
Hirokazu Kore-eda’s luminous adaptation of Akima Yoshida’s manga series Umimachi Diary is a stealth masterpiece. Like his other films, Our Little Sister never draws attention to itself (or to its maker’s understated brilliance). He simply depicts four sisters going about their lives in coastal Kamakura, where plums grow freely, mackerel is plentiful, and the air glistens with humidity. The women have their flaws, like a fondness for the wrong men, but the better you get to know them, the harder it is to let them go. In that sense, his 12th narrative feature plays more like a miniseries than a movie. KATHY FENNESSY
Seven Gables
CONTINUING RUNS
15. Anthropoid
Spy movies come preloaded with expectations, promising many scenes of shadowy people doing shadowy things. The historical thriller Anthropoid thankfully knows the trappings of its genre well, telling a compelling, unexpectedly moving story that’s rife with secret knocks, signal mirrors, and hastily decoded messages. ANDREW WRIGHT
16. Captain Fantastic
In Captain Fantastic, this alternative family has to leave their little compound to attend a funeral, and in the outside world, we get to observe their smug disconnection from society alongside their admirably thoughtful, sustainable, and creative approach to life. Any audience would have a hard time not laughing out loud at the quick, complex jokes—but liberal, thoughtful Seattleites will get an extra kick when they recognize themselves in the characters. The mood shifts constantly, so that at any given moment the family’s lifestyle seems either ideal or like a mild form of child abuse. JULIA RABAN
17. Finding Dory
I never thought a movie about animated fish would make me cry so much. But then again, not all fish are Dory, the charming protagonist of Finding Dory, Pixar’s sequel to 2003’s Finding Nemo. Although the movie is intended to be a follow-up, Finding Dory holds its own 13 years after its predecessor debuted and anchored itself in the hearts of then-10-year-olds like me. As an adult, I discovered a new appreciation for the characters of my favorite Pixar film. ANA SOFIA KNAUF
18. Ghostbusters
Because I’m so enthralled by all four lead actors, and even more enthralled by watching the world of bitter, obstructionist dorks implode with rage over their casting, I was almost ecstatic to see how well the whole thing turned out. It’s not just that it works and is hilarious and has great special effects and all the candy—It’s also a perfect commentary on gender inequality in movies. Leading by example. SEAN NELSON
19. Hell or High Water
Leave it to a Scot to deliver the next great American western. It’s possible director David Mackenzie (Starred Up) had the distance and perspective to depict Hell or High Water’s depressed West Texas towns and dust-dry plains with unvarnished truth. Maybe he recognized, from across the pond, a universal struggle in the specific plight of brothers Toby and Tanner Howard (Chris Pine and Ben Foster) as they try to hang on to their father’s ranch. Perhaps he sensed the timeliness of a story that depicts white American men running out of time, money, and land. More likely, Mackenzie had Taylor Sheridan’s (Sicario) superb script to navigate a path around the obvious men-with-guns clichés that make up Hell or High Water’s western-noir milieu. Whatever the case may be, it’s resulted in a great film. NED LANNAMANN
20. Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Sure, Hunt for the Wilderpeople’s scope is small, but it gives you everything you could want from a movie: It’s smart, emotional, and even a bit action-packed once Ricky and Hec embark on an unplanned adventure in the forest. But most of all, it’s funny. So, so funny. Wilderpeople is a hugely loveable movie that’s suitable for date night or the whole family, and I know that sounds like a hacky movie poster blurb. But when a movie’s this good, it’s tough to avoid clichés, so I’ll leave you with another: Don’t miss it. NED LANNAMANN
21. Jason Bourne
Director Paul Greengrass and his co-scriptwriter Christopher Rouse (also the movie’s editor, interestingly) focus on a coterie of supporting characters, including Alicia Vikander as a smooth-skinned computer surveillance whiz, Vincent Cassel as a deadly “asset” (translation: assassin), and Tommy Lee Jones as a melted jack-o’-lantern who’s also head of the CIA. They’re all tracking Bourne, who discovered his real identity in 2007’s The Bourne Ultimatum and feels bad about all the people he killed, so he’s taken on the life of a wandering bare-knuckle boxer, punching large men for cash throughout Eastern Europe. NED LANNAMANN
22. Pete’s Dragon
It’s a cold slap in the face when you realize your entire childhood was built on a nuclear garbage dump. So it was the day I saw the original Pete’s Dragon (1977), which ran through my young consciousness like a DNA strand (shall I sing a few bars of “Candle on the Water” for you? No? “Every Little Piece,” perhaps? Hello?), but which was, alas, as poor as Passamaquoddy. Fortunately for all, someone had the good idea to give the job of reimagining the film to the hugely imaginative indie filmmaker David Lowery (Ain’t Them Bodies Saints). The result of this seemingly unlikely collision is a really magical, surprisingly resonant work built on the essential foundation of all great stories about being a kid: Life is sadness, but sadness can be conquered. SEAN NELSON
23. Star Trek Beyond
Despite the 21st century having surpassed many of Roddenberry’s wildest technological dreams, those of us living in 2016 find ourselves struggling with some of the same social and political issues as those who were alive in the 1960s. That can make Star Trek‘s interstellar utopia seem goofy and preposterous—like it’s merely one more fantasy world for us to gaze into as we retreat from reality. But every once in a while, the future of Star Trek can feel like something more—like a melding of entertainment and ideology, of adventure and potential. Every once in a while, Star Trek feels like an actual glimpse into a future. A future where, if we wanted, we could scrape the blood off our faces and do better. ERIK HENRIKSEN
