The Fantastic Four: First Steps
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.)
***
28 Years Later (R; VIP Cinemas) - Here's hoping that Danny Boyle's and Alex Garland's weirdly static, deeply disappointing freakout may merely wind up a partial bummer – the two unsatisfying hours we have to endure before getting to four superior ones. IMDb listing.
Astral Plane Drifter (not rated; FilmScene at the Chauncey: Tuesday, July 29, 10 p.m.) - IMDb listing.
The Blues Brothers (R; The Last Picture House Rooftop: Thursday, July 31, 8:30 p.m.) - IMDb listing.
BTS Army: Forever We Are Young (not rated; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX: Wednesday, July 30, 7 p.m.) - IMDb listing.
Chariots of Fire (PG; The Last Picture House: Monday, July 28, 6:45 p.m.) - IMDb listing.
Dream Big: Engineering Our World (not rated; Putnam Museum & Science Center) - IMDb listing.
Eddington (R; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, VIP Cinemas, The Last Picture House, FilmScene at the Chauncey, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - Nearly everyone in Ari Aster's satiric neo-Western appears about five seconds away from completely losing their minds. You could argue that the film eventually goes crazy, too. That's part of what I loved about it. IMDb listing,
Elio (PG; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, VIP Cinemas, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - You don't have to squint to see the more soulful, more devastatingly Pixar-ian film this entertainment might've been, say, 15 to 20 years ago, yet it's still fast and flaky and a consistently good time. IMDb listing.
FI: The Movie (PG-13; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, VIP Cinemas, Blue Grass Drive-in, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - As an unequivocal Dad Movie, this big-screen spectacle is pretty solid and successful, even though I can barely muster any enthusiasm for it. IMDb listing.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps (PG; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, VIP Cinemas, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - 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.
The Garfield Movie (PG; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX: Monday, July 28, and Wednesday, July 30, 9:30 a.m.) - A surprisingly funny animated slapstick, but in order to actively enjoy it, however, you have to agree to forget everything you ever knew about Garfield. IMDb listing.
Happy Gilmore (PG-13; The Last Picture House Rooftop) - IMDb listing.
Hari Hara Veera Mallu (not rated; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX) - IMDb listing.
Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (PG-13; Putnam Museum & Science Center: Thursday, July 31, 4 p.m.) - While the Rowling devout will likely find it bliss, this more casual Harry Potter viewer just left grateful that the film was as handsomely produced and forcefully performed as it was. IMDb listing.
Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (PG-13; Putnam Museum & Science Center: Thursday, July 31, 7 p.m.) - From its first images, I was absolutely knocked out by the epic grandeur and unabashed emotionalism of director David Yates' Harry Potter closer, a culminating adventure so thrillingly wrought and deeply, unexpectedly moving that it left me a little shaken. IMDb listing.
Hidden Universe (not rated; Putnam Museum & Science Center) - IMDb listing.
The Home (R; VIP Cinemas, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - IMDb listing.
House on Eden (R; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX) - IMDb listing.
How to Train Your Dragon (PG; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, VIP Cinemas, Blue Grass Drive-in, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - As a live-action re-creation, the movie is impressive, in its way, but boasts close to zero in the way of personality, and a true zero in terms of fresh personality. IMDb listing.
I Know What You Did Last Summer (R; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, VIP Cinemas, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - Between the obnoxiously vocalized exposition and the performers' maddening diction issues, this unnecessary horror sequel was annoying from the word go. IMDb listing.
Ick (R; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, VIP Cinemas, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - IMDb listing.
Jerusalem (not rated; Putnam Museum & Science Center) - This visually spectacular, 45-minute edu-tainment on Israel's "cradle of civilization" is really quite a glorious piece of work. IMDb listing.
Jurassic World Rebirth (PG-13; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, VIP Cinemas, The Last Picture House, Blue Grass Drive-in, Marcus Sycamore Cinema, ) - Gareth Edwards' direction kept me from hating this dino-sequel, but I did kind of hate the fact of its existence – some $180 million spent in service of something this profoundly, infuriatingly mediocre. IMDb listing.
Kill the Jockey (not rated; FilmScene at the Chauncey) - IMDb listing.
Kingdom (not rated; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - IMDb listing.
Lilo & Stitch (PG; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, VIP Cinemas, Blue Grass Drive-in, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - Given Disney's “live-action” track record of recent years, "perfectly decent" is it's own kind of upgrade, and what the film is missing in magic is more than made up for in off-the-charts cute. IMDb listing.
The Lost World (not rated; Putnam Museum & Science Center) - Putnam.org.
Mamma Mia! (PG-13; VIP Cinemas: Sunday, July 27, and Wednesday, July 30, 1 & 7 p.m.) - No movie featuring a wall-to-wall soundtrack of ABBA tunes can be all bad, even when they're as (occasionally) poorly sung and (frequently) poorly staged as they are here. IMDb listing.
Marathon Man (R; The Last Picture House: Saturday, July 26, 2:30 p.m., and Wednesday, July 30, 6:30 p.m.) - IMDb listing.
The Met Summer Encore: Romeo et Juliette (not rated: Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, Marcus Sycamore Cinema: Wednesday, July 30, 1 & 6:30 p.m.) - MetOpera.org.
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (PG-13; VIP Cinemas) - Tom Cruise's eighth go at Ethan Hunt never stops reiterating that this is Serious Stuff for both the character and his portrayer, and the exhausting sameness of it all keeps grinding the movie to a halt. IMDb listing.
Monty Python & the Holy Grail: 50th Anniversary (PG; FilmScene in the Park: Saturday, July 26, 8:30 p.m.) - IMDb listing.
Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs (not rated; Putnam Museum & Science Center) - This edu-doc tries to do too much in too little time, but it's never less than interesting, and those mega-screen vistas of Egypt are truly stunning. IMDb listing.
Museum Alive! (not rated; Putnam Museum & Science Center) - Putnam.org.
Nothing but a Winner (not rated; VIP Cinemas, Marcus Sycamore Cinema: Thursday, July 31) - 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.
Oh, Hi! (R; Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - IMDb listing.
Return to the Lost World (not rated; Putnam Museum & Science Center) - Putnam.org.
Roger Waters: This Is Not a Drill - Live from Prague (not rated; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX: Sunday, July 27, 3:30 p.m.) - IMDb listing.
Smurfs (PG; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, VIP Cinemas, Voy 61 Drive In Theatre, Blue Grass Drive-in, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - I was just happy that I managed to smile on more than a few occasions, and even find a bit of pleasure in elements I expected to loathe. IMDb listing.
Snack Shack (R; FilmScene at the Chauncey: Wednesday, July 30, 10 p.m.) - The title is fun to say. The movie is way more fun to watch. IMDb listing.
Sorry, Baby (R; FilmScene on the Ped Mall) - IMDb listing.
Space: The New Frontier (not rated; Putnam Museum & Science Center) - IMDb listing.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (PG; VIP Cinemas: Wednesday, July 30, and Thursday, July 31, 10 a.m.) - This animated sequel delivers so much excitement, hilarity, narrative pleasure, eye-popping detail, and deep emotion that you feel you just might implode with happiness. IMDb listing.
Superman (PG-13; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, VIP Cinemas, The Last Picture House, Voy 61 Drive In Theatre, Blue Grass Drive-in, FilmScene at the Chauncey, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - This problematic big swing is more fun than most generically solid comic-book movies, because it's a determinedly weird one, and largely held together by David Corenswet's devastating sincerity and well-employed comic chops. IMDb listing.
Superpower Dogs (not rated; Putnam Museum & Science Center) - Daniel Ferguson's edu-doc 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.
Symbiopsychotaxiplasm (not rated; FilmScene at the Chauncey: Sunday, July 27, 4 p.m., and Thursday, July 31, 7 p.m.) - IMDb listing.
T. REX (not rated; Putnam Museum & Science Center) - IMDb listing.
Together (R; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, The Last Picture House, FilmScene at the Chauncey, Marcus Sycamore Cinema: opens Wednesday, July 30) - IMDb listing.
Top Gun (PG; Blue Grass Drive-in) - Even 39 years later, this square, silly blockbuster features guilty pleasures, plus a few legitimate pleasures. IMDb listing.
Top Gun: Maverick (PG-13; Blue Grass Drive-in) - Had this followup and ts star actually embraced Tom Cruise's human fallibility, this corny, retrograde, occasionally quite-entertaining outing might've really been something. IMDb listing.
The Wild Robot (PG; Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - I watched nearly all of this animated adventure in a state of grinning, open-mouthed rapture, and the only thing that would've made mehappier was watching it all over again the instant it finished. IMDb listing.
