Expend4bles
Blue Grass Drive-in, Blue Grass IA
Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, Davenport IA
FilmScene, Iowa City IA
Marcus Sycamore Cinema, Iowa City IA
Putnam Museum & Science Center, Davenport IA
Voy 61 Drive In Theatre, Maquoketa 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.)
***
9 to Five (PG; FilmScene at the Chauncey: Sunday, September 24, 3:30 p.m.) - IMDb listing.
After Everything (R; Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - IMDb listing.
Arctic: Our Frozen Planet (not rated; Putnam Museum & Science Center) - 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.
Barbie (PG-13; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, Blue Grass Drive-in, FilmScene on the Ped Mall, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - Greta Gerwig is using capitalism, and with it big-budget Hollywood financing, to make necessary statements, and that she's able to do this while delivering ginormous laughs and making you cry constitutes something of a miracle. IMDb listing.
Blue Beetle (PG-13; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, Blue Grass Drive-in, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - Even in an umpteenth superhero adventure, marginalized demographics deserve stronger representation than this. IMDb listing.
Bottoms (R; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, FilmScene on the Ped Mall) - This "subversively" violent teen slapstick is a film of random pleasures that never becomes an overall pleasure. IMDb listing.
Breakfast on Pluto (R; FilmScene at the Chauncey: Saturday, September 23, 10 p.m.) - IMDb listing.
Camp Hideout (PG; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX) - IMDb listing.
Carlos: The Santana Journey (not rated; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - RegMovies.com.
The Creator: Early Access Screening (PG-13; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX: Wednesday, September 27, 7 p.m.) - IMDb listing.
Dino Dana: The Movie (PG; Putnam Museum & Science Center) - IMDb listing.
Doomsday (R; FilmScene at the Chauncey: Wednesday, September 27, 10 p.m.) - IMDb listing.
Dumb Money (R; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX) - IMDb listing.
The Equalizer 3 (R; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, Blue Grass Drive-in, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - In less-confident hands, this action sequel would be rubbish, and it mostly it, but Denzel Washington brings so much to the table that it would be nearly impossible not to have fun at this thing. IMDb listing.
eXistenZ (R; FilmScene on the Ped Mall Rooftop: Sunday, September 24, 7 p.m.) - IMDb listing.
Expend4bles (R; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, Blue Grass Drive-in, 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.
Fremont (not rated; FilmScene at the Chauncey: Thursday, September 28, 6:30 p.m.) - IMDb listing.
Gran Turismo (PG-13; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX) - While I won't go so far as to call Neill Blomkamp's video-game "adaptation" good, it's still a pretty-good time, and certainly a better one than those obnoxious here's-the-entire-movie-in-two-minutes trailers suggested. IMDb listing.
Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (PG-13; Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - 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.
A Haunting in Venice (PG-13; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - Given all the series changes for the better, what results is not only Kenneth Branagh's best Agatha Christie yet, but perhaps his thus-far-finest directorial achievement wholly unconnected to William Shakespeare. IMDb listing.
Hidden Universe (not rated; Putnam Museum & Science Center) - IMDb listing.
Howl's Moving Castle (PG; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX) - Hayou Miyazaki's animated fantasy is dazzlingly detailed and has a rich storyline, and it should be seen. I just wish the characters were more beguiling. IMDb listing.
Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade (PG-13; FilmScene at the Chauncey) - IMDb listing.
Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom (PG; FilmScene at the Chauncey) - IMDb listing.
Into America's Wild (not rated; Putnam Museum & Science Center) - IMDb listing.
It Lives Inside (PG-13; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, FilmScene at the Chauncey, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - IMDb listing.
Jerusalem (not rated; Putnam Museum & Science Center) - As a means of generating discussion among interfaith viewers, and perhaps especially as an introduction to the city for young audiences, Daniel Ferguson's edu-doc might prove unmissable. IMDb listing.
Meg 2: The Trench (PG-13; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX) - By the finale, this oceanic action-thriller sequel desperately needs its hero to hoist a severed helicopter blade for use as a spear, because only an image that profoundly ridiculous will guarantee that our eyes stay open. IMDb listing.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 (PG-13; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - Nia Vardolos' second sequel is legitimately stupefying in its habit of setting up possible narrative crises only to resolve them in their subsequent scenes, or ignore their implications altogether. IMDb listing.
National Lampoon's Animal House (R; Voy 61 Drive-in Theatre) - IMDb listing.
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (PG-13; Voy 61 Drive-in Theatre) - IMDb listing.
The Nun II (R; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, Blue Grass Drive-in, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - Just because a demonic apparition can do anything doesn't mean that it should be able to do everything, and if you give director Michael Chaves' horror sequel even a millisecond of thought, the entire structure comes crumbling down. IMDb listing.
Oppenheimer (R; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - In Christopher Nolan's arresting and sobering film, he gives us the sights and sounds that we, as fans of Big Events on-screen and -off, were hugely looking forward to, then asks whether we should ever have been looking forward to them in the first place. IMDb listing.
Raiders of the Lost Ark (PG; FilmScene at the Chauncey) - IMDb listing.
Resurrecting Forest Grove (not rated; Putnam Museum & Science Center: Saturday, September 23, 2 & 5 p.m.) - ForestGroveMovie.com.
The Retirement Plan (R; Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - IMDb listing.
Scrapper (not rated; FilmScene at the Chauncey) - IMDb listing.
Strays (R; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX) - I don't merely want to praise this raunchy talking-dog comedy; I want to freaking adopt it. IMDb listing.
Sukhee (not rated; Marcus Sycamore Cinema) - IMDb listing.
Superpower Dogs (not rated; Putnam Museum & Science Center) - Writer/director 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.
Surprised by Oxford (not rated; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX: Wednesday, September 27, 7 p.m.) - IMDb listing.
Talk to Me (R; Blue Grass Drive-in) - This Australian horror film, annoyingly, keeps changing its established rules, but it's certainly more inventive than 75 percent of modern horror fare. IMDb listing.
Teenage Mjutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (PG; Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX) - Jeff Rowe's franchise reboot looks great and sounds even better, and is easily the most enjoyable TMNT entertainment I've yet seen. 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 3D sights on display left me less fascinated than thunderstruck. IMDb listing.
Wild Africa (not rated; Putnam Museum & Science Center) - IMDb listing.
The Young Girls of Rochefort (G; FilmScene at the Chauncey: Monday, September 25, 6:30 p.m.) - IMDb listing.
