Primetime
Aledo Opera House, Aledo IL
Blue Grass Drive-in, Blue Grass IA
Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, Davenport IA
FilmScene, Iowa City IA
The Last Picture House, Davenport IA
Marcus Sycamore Cinema, Iowa City IA
Putnam Museum & Science Center, Davenport IA
VIP Cinemas, Moline IL
Voy 61 Drive In Theatre, Delmar IA
(Hyperlinked titles take you to Reader reviews; IMDb hyperlinks take you to the films’ Internet Movie Database pages or other sites with film information.)
***
American Doctor (not rated; FilmScene at the Chauncey) - IMDb listing.
Avengers: Endgame (PG-13; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, VIP Cinemas, Voy 61 Drive In Theatre, Blue Grass Drive-in, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - Directors Joe and Anthony Russo delivered a clever, funny, baffling, touching, blissfully fan-centric concluding chapter to the (at the time) 22-movie Marvel Cinematic Universe. IMDb listing.
Back from the Brink: Saved from Extinction (not rated; Putnam Museum & Science Center) - This edu-doc would be recommended solely for the chance, for 40 minutes, to actually feel momentarily great about the state of the human race. IMDb listing.
Bridget Jones's Diary (R; FilmScene on the Ped Mall Rooftop: Sunday, September 27, 7:30 p.m.) - TThe movie has its share of bum scenes and a built-in predictability, but it's a very funny character-driven comedy with truly entertaining characters. IMDb listing.
Buddy (R; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, VIP Cinemas, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - Rasting roughly nine times as long as Too Many Cooks, Casper Kelly's first big-screen release delivers a solid concept, sometimes ideally presented, that wildly overstays its welcome. IMDb listing.
Bugs! (not rated; Putnam Museum & Science Center) - The effects make the film's creepy-crawly world pop in enjoyable fashion, and the bugs' life-and-death struggle makes for endlessly intriguing viewing IMDb listing.
By Any Means (R; VIP Cinemas) -A few hours after this period thriller mercifully ended, it finally dawned on me who Mark Wahlberg was reminding me of: Alley Oop. That incongruously bulky comic-strip caveman whose jokes are funny only to him. IMDb listing.
Cars: 20th Anniversary (G, VIP Cinemas) - Pixar's smash has its share of awesome animated sights, but the film has almost no personality - like its central character, it's a shiny, lifeless thing. IMDb listing.
Coyote vs. Acme (PG; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, VIP Cinemas, Voy 61 Drive In Theatre, Blue Grass Drive-in, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - Astonishingly, especially for a movie that runs roughly 35 times longer than any Looney Tunes classic ever did, this comedy doesn't run out of invention, and might even necessitate a second viewing just to notch all the gags. IMDb listing.
Daniel & the Fiery Furnace (PG-13; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, VIP Cinemas, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - IMDb listing.
Dirty Dancing (PG-13; The Last Picture House Rooftop: Friday, September 25, and Saturday, September 26, 7 p.m.) - IMDb listing.
Elephants: Giants of the Desert (not rated; Putnam Museum & Science Center) - IMDb listing.
The End of Oak Street (PG-13; VIP Cinemas) - David Robert Mitchell's dinosaurs-in-suburbia thriller is an absolute blast. I sensed that it was also a blast to make. IMDb listing.
Flight of the Butterflies (not rated; Putnam Museum & Science Center) - A bit pokey, but the slow, unspeakably beautiful explosion that is the butterflies' mass exodus is enough to make you believe in God - or, at the very least, in the gods of nature docs. IMDb listing.
Footloose (PG; Aledo Opera House) - From the opening credits' cascade of happy feet to Kevin Bacon, at the finale, jumping into an explosion of glitter and shouting “Let's da-a-a-ance!!!”, Herbert Ross' 1984 hit may not be a great movie, but it's definitely a great time. IMDb listing.
Forgotten Island (PG; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, VIP Cinemas, FilmScene at the Chauncey, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - IMDb listing.
Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! (R; VIP Cinemas) - IMDb listing.
Heart of the Beast (PG-13; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, VIP Cinemas, Blue Grass Drive-in, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - IMDb listing.
Insidious: Out of the Further (PG-13; VIP Cinemas) Standard “Boo!” effects amid endless narrative repetition, and an underwhelming new villain, Sam Spruell's Cyrus Lam, who's like the love child of Marilyn Manson and Keith Richards, except he doesn't rock.- IMDb listing.
The Lego Batman Movie (PG; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX: Saturday, September 19, 1 p.m.) - A lot of fun, but for too much of its length, this parody of comic-book blockbusters proves inseparable from the genuine article, with the action set pieces, even the satiric ones, as boring as they generally are in any number of Marvel and DC efforts. IMDb listing.
Linkin Park: Unshatter (not rated; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX: Wednesday, September 30, 6:30 p.m.) - IMDb listing.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (PG-13; VIP Cinemas) - Setting aside the movie's nearly hallucinogenic visual rapture and miraculous production design, what you'll forever remember from Peter Jackson's third and final installment is the grand, completely unabashed emotionalism of the work. IMDb listing.
Minions & Monsters (PG; VIP Cinemas) - It's hard to think of a more ticklish recent ode to cinema than thios animated sequel, which would've been just about perfect if its monsters were ditched entirely. IMDb listing.
Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs (not rated; Putnam Museum & Science Center) - This edu-doc tries to do too much in too little a time, but it's never less than interesting, and those mega-screen vistas of Egypt are truly stunning. IMDb listing.
National Parks Adventure (not rated; Putnam Museum & Science Center) - This expectedly gorgeous endeavor is also unexpectedly, even thrillingly, varied in presentation: sensationally informative, joyfully inspiring, and even laugh-out-loud funny. IMDb listing.
No Limbs, No Limits: The NickV Story (not rated; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, VIP Cinemas, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - IMDb listing.
Oceans (G; Putnam Museum & Science Center) - The movie's 85 minutes occasionally crawl by as deliberately as its sea-floor denizens, yet it's hard to be too disappointed by a film that provides so many extraordinary sights. IMDb listing.
The Odyssey (R; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX) - A Homer adaptation of staggering grandeur and (for Nolan) considerable emotional power, and more sheer fun than anything Christopher Nolan has delivered since The Dark Knight. IMDb listing.
The Paradise (not rated; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX) - IMDb listing.
Penguin Island 3D (not rated; Putnam Museum & Science Center) - Putnam.org.
The Piano Teacher (R; FilmScene at the Chauncey: Saturday, September 26, 3:30 p.m., and Wednesday, September 30, 7 p.m.) - IMDb listing.
Practical Magic 2 (PG-13; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, VIP Cinemas, The Last Picture House, Voy 61 Drive In Theatre, Blue Grass Drive-in, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - Director Susanne Bier's sequel is at least significantly stronger than its forebear, though it's a measure of just how drippy PM1 is that the new outing is still only not-bad, at best. IMDb listing.
Primetime (R; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, VIP Cinemas, The Last Picture House, Blue Grass Drive-in, FilmScene at the Chauncey, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - IMDb listing.
Princess Mononoke (PG-13; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, VIP Cinemas, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - IMDb listing.
Remember the Titans (PG; Aledo Opera House) - While I wasn't cheering for Our Team to win The Big Game at the end, I found myself moved and cheered that a lot of performers really took this material to heart, and I left with a smile on my face. IMDb listing.
Resident Evil (R; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, VIP Cinemas, The Last Picture House, Blue Grass Drive-in, FilmScene on the Ped Mall, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - This horror comedy may not boast the “WTF?!” thrill that accompanied 2022's Barbarian, and it's certainly less sprawling and ambitious than last summer's Weapons, but it's still my favorite Zach Cregger to date. IMDb listing.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (R; The Last Picture House Rooftop: Thursday, October 1, 7 p.m.) - IMDb listing.
The Room That Leaves the House: 16 MM Films with Christian Flemm (not rated; FilmScene at the Chauncey: Tuesday, September 29, 7 p.m.) - ICFilmScene.org.
Runner (PG-13; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, VIP Cinemas, Blue Grass Drive-in) - Ask Claude to compose a “Midnight Run with a refrigerated organ” screenplay and I'm pretty sure it would spit out Runner. IMDb listing.
Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom (PG; VIP Cinemas, FilmScene on the Ped Mall) - Aardman's latest stop-motion-animated comedy is a gloriously eccentric, visually riotous family film that almost held my interest all the way through. IMDb listing.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day (PG-13; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, VIP Cinemas, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - Its moderate merits are ultimately undone by the element that's been imposing itself on Marvel Studios releases for ages: a feature-length game of connect the dots. IMDb listing.
Spirited Away: Live on Stage (not rated; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, Marcus Sycamore Cinema: Thursday, October 1, 6:45 p.m.) - IMDb listing.
The Stunt Driver (R; Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - IMDb listing.
Superpower Dogs (not rated; Putnam Museum & Science Center) - Daniel Ferguson provides enough globe-trotting action for a James Bond flick, treating us to first-rate training footage and re-created missions in locales ranging from the Canadian Rockies to the Italian coast to a debris-strewn site near New York's Ground Zero. IMDb listing.
Teorema (not rated; FilmScene at the Chauncey: Saturday, September 26, 10 p.m.) - IMDb listing.
Tiny Giants (not rated; Putnam Museum & Science Center) - All told, it would be nearly impossible not to have a great time at this thing. IMDb listing.
Titans of the Ice Age (not rated; Putnam Museum & Science Center) - Gorgeously photographed and boasting perhaps the finest CGI I've ever seen in a National Geographic doc, the film is both informative and a heck of a lot of fun. IMDb listing.
Torture Garden (not rated; FilmScene at the Chauncey: Wednesday, September 30, 10 p.m.) - IMDb listing.
Toy Story 5 (PG; VIP Cinemas) - To not have fun at this movie, I think you'd have to actively try to have a bad time – which isn't to say that we didn't deserve a better one. IMDb listing.
The Transformers Movie: 40th Anniversary (PG; VIP Cinemas) - IMDb listing.
Verity: Early-Access Screening (R; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, VIP Cinemas, Marcus Sycamore Cinema: Wednesday, September 30, 7 p.m.) - IMDb listing.
Volcanoes: The Fires of Creation (not rated; Putnam Museum & Science Center) - I might've left this edu-doc just as satisfied if it were a silent film, or at least one wholly free of words, given that the sights on display left me less fascinated than thunderstruck. IMDb listing.
The Weight (R; VIP Cinemas, FilmScene at the Chauncey) - Among Depression-era tales, Padraic McKinley's thriller is just slightly less harrowing than Paper Moon. IMDb listing.
Wild Africa (not rated; Putnam Museum & Science Center) - IMDb listing.
