✹ WEEKLY FILM RUNDOWN: May 17-23
The latest releases and special screenings hitting Music City this week. For a complete list of upcoming releases, check out our 2024 Film Guide.
Back to Black The long-hyped Amy Winehouse biopic is in the hands of Sam Taylor-Johnson. While the buzz indicates that the photographer-turned-director has fumbled again after Fifty Shades of Grey, don’t believe it. This is another pop-culture masterwork ten years ahead of its time. Now playing in theaters.
Evil Does Not Exist Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi follows up the Oscar-winning Drive My Car with this parable about a village resisting a developer hoping to turn their home into a glamping destination. Now playing at The Belcourt.
IF John Krasinski directs Ryan Reynolds in this CGI comedy about a girl who begins to see the imaginary friends stuck in limbo when the world’s kids grow up. An early contender for the crowdpleaser of the summer, especially with an all-star cast that includes Matt Damon, Sam Rockwell, Emily Blunt, Awkwafina, and Steve Carell. Now playing in theaters.
The Strangers: Chapter 1 While it never got the credit it was due, The Strangers remains one of the creepiest and most tense horror films of the past fifteen years. Even if director Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2: Die Harder, Deep Blue Sea) has had a touch-and-go career, the first in this planned trilogy starring Riverdale’s Madelaine Petsch may finally give the franchise some extended goodwill. Now playing in theaters.
The Philadelphia Story and Network: In the former, Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant, and Jimmy Stewart are at the pinnacle of their talents George Cukor’s screwball comedy classic about a socialite who finds her wedding day ruined by her ex and a tabloid reporter. The latter is Sidney Lumet’s prescient media satire about a weathered news anchor (Peter Finch) who is mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore and remains one of the best films ever made. Playing this weekend at The Belcourt with an encore screening of Network on Wednesday.
I Saw The TV Glow Perhaps the greatest cinematic con game of the past few years is that Jane Schoenbrun’s 2022 Sundance sensation We’re All Going to the World’s Fair was anything but a thinly veiled trans polemic that displayed the same concern for nuance as its director’s Twitter screeds calling Red Scare’s Dasha Nekrasova and her friends fascists. So, of course, A24 would bankroll the director’s bigger budget follow-up about teens whose realities blur when their favorite TV show is canceled that stars Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine, and Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst (?). It may evade the sophomore slump, but will probably make those of us who aren’t full of shit just want to break stuff. Now playing at AMC Murfreesboro 16, AMC Thoroughbred 20, and The Belcourt.
The World’s Greatest Sinner Cult actor Timothy Carey’s polarizing film about an insurance salesman who becomes an evangelist under the influence of the devil gets a 4K restoration after spending six decades languishing in obscurity. Playing at The Belcourt as part of Music City Mondays.
The Blue Angels Actor Glen Powell produced this documentary about the famed military squad, especially for IMAX. Now playing at AMC Thoroughbred 20, Regal Opry Mills 20, and Regal Streets of Indian Lake 16 (Hendersonville).
Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil (Malayalam) A groom realizes he’s married the woman of his nightmares. Now playing at Regal Hollywood 27