By Chip Chandler — Digital Content Producer
In Amarillo movie theaters this week: A tale as old as time, reconfigured for a new generation, plus the Office Space of horror movies.
New in theaters
Beauty and the Beast
Stop me if you've heard this one before: A spirited young woman meets a monstrous prince and his talking furniture, then naturally falls in love. Disney's 1991 animated classic is beloved for a reason — from the eye-popping animation to the spectacular songs. Now, with the craze of remaking animated classics as live-action films still unabated, comes this new version starring Emma Watson as Belle and Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey) as the creature who steals her heart. Reviews are somewhat mixed but mostly positive. “Beauty and the Beast had me leaving the theater feeling utterly happy; like I’d spent time with old friends who’d grown and changed, and yet remained the same at heart," writes The Seattle Times' Moira Macdonald. (PG for some action violence, peril and frightening images; United Artists Amarillo Star 14, 8275 W. Amarillo Blvd., and CInemark Hollywood 16, 9100 Canyon Drive)
The Belko Experiment
American workers in a Colombian high-rise office building are locked in and told they must kill or be killed in this bloody new horror satire from writer James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy) and director Greg McLean (Wolf Creek). Reviews are trickling out and are decidedly mixed. "Don't expect style or invention, much less satire," writes the Village Voice's Alan Scherstuhl. "As a self-aware guilty pleasure, The Belko Experiment may not quite seize greatness, but it does give it a playful squeeze," counters Variety's Dennis Harvey. (R for strong bloody violence throughout, language including sexual references, and some drug use; AS-14, H-16)
The Salesman
UPDATE: Just learned that Premiere Cinemas Westgate Mall 6, 7701 W. Interstate 40, has booked this Iranian drama, this year's Oscar winner for best foreign language film. Here's what I wrote about the film last month during my Oscar marathon blog series:
Director Asghar Farhadi’s latest, a gut-wrenching family drama that shifts successfully into a revenge thriller, isn’t his best (that’s A Separation), but it’s still phenomenal work. Shahab Hosseini and Taraneh Alidoosti star as married couple Emad and Rana, two actors in Tehran who are starring together in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. Playing Willy and Linda Loman would be stressful enough, but Emad and Rana have bigger problems to deal with: They’ve recently been forced out of their apartment after a construction accident, and Rana is attacked in their new apartment, apparently by someone who thought she was the previous resident, a woman of ill repute. Farhadi knows well the strictures of Iranian society (showing, for instance, how the acting troupe has to work around cultural expectations to stage Miller’s work), but his message of how civility can wash away under a wave of fear and hostility is universal. (PG-13 for mature thematic elements and a brief bloody image; WM-6)
Special engagements
Reservoir Dogs
This cult classic, the feature debut of writer/director Quentin Tarantino, has only grown in reputation since its debut in 1992. The crime drama, in which a group of thieves suspects one another of being undercover cops, returns to the big screen as part of Cinemark's Classics Series, playing at 2 p.m. Sunday and 2 and 7 p.m. Wednesday. (R for strong violence and language; H-16)
Still playing
Fifty Shades Darker (H-16); Fist Fight (H-16); Get Out (AS-14, H-16); John Wick: Chapter 2 (H-16); Kong: Skull Island (AS-14, H-16); The Lego Batman Movie(AS-14, H-16); Logan (AS-14, H-16); Moana (Premiere Cinema Westgate Mall 6, 7701 W. Interstate 40); Monster Trucks (WM-6); Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (WM-6); Rings (WM-6); Rock Dog (H-16); Sing (WM-6); The Shack (AS-14, H-16); and XXX: The Return of Xander Cage (WM-6). (Click links for my reviews)
Chip Chandler is a digital content producer for Panhandle PBS. He can be contacted at Chip.Chandler@actx.edu, at @chipchandler1 on Twitter and on Facebook.
