To start things off, de-aging technology gives us a 45-year-old Indiana Jones doing some of the wildest stunts we’ve ever seen our beloved archaeology professor attempt, allowing us to go on one last adventure with the Indy we grew up with. (B-) INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY Harrison Ford is back one more time - and one last time, he has said - in the franchise’s fifth installment. PG-13 (for intense sequences of violence and action, strong language, suggestive/drug references and thematic elements). Also starring Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan and Pom Klementieff. Though it’s bogged down by incomprehensible action and MCU fan service, the final installment in the Guardians trilogy thrives in its wild and wacky moments. In his Marvel swan song, director James Gunn delivers an incredibly weird, gleefully goopy genre picture with a surprisingly emotional core focusing on the origin story of Rocket Raccoon, the CGI rodent voiced by Bradley Cooper. 3 Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) leads his band of space misfits on a high-stakes mission in the latest superhero adventure from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. PG-13 (for sequences of violence and action, some strong language and partial nudity). Adding to the discord is the inclusion of two different versions of Batman/Bruce Wayne: one played by Ben Affleck and the other by Michael Keaton. (B-) THE FLASH The speedster (Ezra Miller) uses his powers to travel to the past in an effort to prevent his mother’s murder, but he inadvertently creates a world where there is no Justice League General Zod (Michael Shannon) from 2013′s Man of Steel is once again alive and intent on world domination and in place of Superman, there is Supergirl (Sasha Calle). PG (for some peril, thematic elements and brief language). While the film is a truly eye-popping expression of animation technology, it’s the romance between Ember (Leah Lewis) and Wade (Mamoudou Athie) that makes Elemental worth your time, thanks to a romantic male lead who is sweet and adorable, a refreshing update to the proud, barrel-chested Disney princes of yore. (A-) ELEMENTAL It’s fairly rare that animation studio Pixar makes a straightforward romantic movie, but that’s what we get in the visually dazzling Elemental, which features the forbidden love between two elements that don’t mix: fire and water. PG-13 (for terror, violent content, teen drug use and some strong language). Good but not great, the film vividly reminds viewers what it’s like to be afraid of the dark - but for better or worse, the effect doesn’t linger once the lights come back on. (B-) THE BOOGEYMAN Sophie Thatcher and Vivien Lyra Blair star as sisters traumatized by the death of their mother in director Rob Savage’s adaptation of Stephen King’s 1973 short story. R (for pervasive language, violence and drug use). Screenwriter Dewayne Perkins gives a standout performance as one of the friends in the ensemble cast. Consider it not just a sendup, but a send-off to this old cliche. The Blackening started as a way to skewer a tired trope: the frequency with which Black characters are killed first in horror movies. (B-) THE BLACKENING Several Black friends gather for a Juneteenth weekend getaway and find themselves trapped in a remote cabin with a killer in this often hilarious film that uses humor to subvert horror. PG-13 (for brief graphic nudity, smoking and some suggestive material). Starring Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Steve Park, Rupert Friend, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Matt Dillon, Hong Chau, Willem Dafoe and Margot Robbie. As the story switches between the colorful world of Asteroid City and the artsy, bohemian New York City theater world, it feels like the movie of the summer, eerily tapping into the current news about UFOs, while synthesizing the retro pop styling of Barbie with the atomic age anxiety of Oppenheimer. Anderson deploys a framing device in which the action that unfolds is actually a play, being featured in a televised staging shot in black and white. In the main plot, a motley crew arrives for the Asteroid Day and Junior Stargazer celebrations only to become stranded after a shocking alien encounter. The setting is 1955 in a tiny desert town known as Asteroid City. (A) ASTEROID CITY The Southwest meets the celestial - and the stage - in Wes Anderson’s latest ditty.
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