By Chip Chandler — Producer
New in Amarillo theaters: A ginormous shark, Spike Lee's latest joint and some insanely wealthy Asians. Check here for all of your movie options through Aug. 16!
Opening Thursday
BlacKkKlansman
In Spike Lee's latest, Colorado Springs police detective Ron Stallworth (John David Washington, Denzel's son) infiltrates the Ku Klux Klan — only, given that he's a black man, he has to use a colleague (Adam Driver) to actually get inside the group. It's based on a true story, and it's garnering Lee some of his best reviews in years. "This is not only one of the year’s best films but one of Lee’s best as well. Juggling the somber and the hilarious, the sacred and the profane, the tragedy and the triumph, the director is firing on all cylinders here," RogerEbert.com's Odie Henderson writes. (R for language throughout, including racial epithets, and for disturbing/violent material and some sexual references; click here for showtimes at Cinemark Hollywood 16, 9100 Canyon Drive)
The Meg
A 75-foot-long Megalodon shark, thought to be extinct, attacks a deep-sea submersible and traps its crew at the bottom of the deepest trench in the Pacific Ocean. Only Jason Statham can save them, naturally. Also naturally: No reviews yet for this amped-up Jaws. (PG-13 for action/peril, bloody images and some language; click here for showtimes at United Artists Amarillo Star 14, 8275 W. Amarillo Blvd., and Hollywood 16 and here for Tascosa Drive-In, 1999 Dumas Drive)
Slender Man
An internet urban legend comes to the screen in this new horror film. (You may know of the story as the alleged inspiration for the 2014 stabbing of a Wisconsin girl by her friends.) Here, a group of Massachusetts friends are fascinated by the story and attempt to prove that the paranormal man doesn't actually exist — to bloody consequences. (PG-13 for disturbing images, sequences of terror, thematic elements and language including some crude sexual references; click here for showtimes at Amarillo Star 14 and Hollywood 16)
Opening Wednesday
Crazy Rich Asians
Kevin Kwan's bestselling romantic comedy comes to the screen in the first major American film to feature an all-Asian cast since 1993's The Joy Luck Club. Chinese-American Rachel (Constance Wu, Fresh Off the Boat) flies to Singapore with her boyfriend (acting newcomer Henry Golding), not realizing that he's from an obscenely wealthy family — who, not surprisingly, don't approve of her and her decidedly middle-class background as the daughter of a single mom. Initial reviews are promising: "Crazy Rich Asians isn’t really about crazy rich Asians anyway, so much as one American who gains a greater appreciation of where she comes from. It’s a great romance, but it’s most powerful as a story of her love with herself," writes Slate's Inkoo Kang. (PG-13 for some suggestive content and language; click here for showtimes at Amarillo Star 14 and Hollywood 16)
Special engagements
Big, Loud & Live 15
Watch the Drum Corps International world championship prelims live from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis in Big, Loud & Live 15. The event will begin at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at both Amarillo Star 14 and Hollywood 16.
Grave of the Fireflies
The Studio Ghibli Fest 2018 continues with this historical masterpiece about two young siblings struggling to survive after their home in Japan has been wiped out in the end of World War II. An English-dubbed version will screen at 12:55 p.m. Aug. 12 and 7 p.m. Aug. 15, with a subtitled version screening at 7 p.m. Aug. 13, all at both Amarillo Star 14 and Hollywood 16.
Made for More
Best-selling author Rachel Hollis' story is told again in an encore screening of this inspirational documentary, followed by a Q&A with the author. It'll be seen at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 13 at both Amarillo Star 14 and Hollywood 16.
Blood Fest
This new horror film, featuring a slasher targeting a film festival celebrating horror movies, will get a one-night-only screening at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 14 at both Amarillo Star 14 and Hollywood 16.
Elvis '68 Comeback Special
The iconic televised concert in which Elvis Presley relaunched his singing career will be seen again in a 50th anniversary reissue with behind-the-scenes footage and more. It'll screen at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 16 and 20 at both Amarillo Star 14 and Hollywood 16.
Upcoming
Aug. 16: Advance tickets are on sale now for action thrillers Alpha and Mile 22 at both Amarillo Star 14 and Hollywood 16.
Aug. 20: In faith-based drama An Interview with God, young reporter (Brenton Thwaites, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales) struggles with his dying faith after covering the Afghanistan war, then meets a mysterious man (David Strathairn) claiming to be God. The film will screen at 7 p.m. Aug. 20 to 22 at both Amarillo Star 14 and Hollywood 16.
Aug. 23: The sci-fi classic 2001: A Space Odyssey will screen for a 50th anniversary celebration at Amarillo Star 14.
Aug. 23 and 25: The RiffTrax crew will take on notoriously awful sci-fi film Krull in a live screening at 7 p.m. Aug. 23, followed by an encore at 12:55 p.m. Aug. 25, at both Amarillo Star 14 and Hollywood 16.
Aug. 24: Family adventure A.X.L., dark puppet comedy The Happytime Murders and thriller Searching is scheduled to open, but advance tickets are not yet on sale.
Aug. 26 and 29: The TCM Big Screen Classics series continues with a 60th anniversary presentation of the Rogers & Hammerstein musical South Pacific at 2 and 7 p.m. Aug. 26 and 29 at both Amarillo Star 14 and Hollywood 16.
Aug. 28: A 25th anniversary screening of inspirational football drama Rudy will screen at 2 and 7 p.m. Aug. 28 at both Amarillo Star 14 and Hollywood 16.
Aug. 31: Sci-fi action film Kin and Spanish-language dramedy Ya Veremos are scheduled to open, but advance tickets are not yet on sale.
Aug. 31 to Sept. 6: Immerse yourself in all things Potter with Wizarding World XD Week at Hollywood 16. All eight Harry Potter films and Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them will screen at various times throughout the week. Festival pass is $25, and individual admissions are $5 each.
Listings at a glance
Click on titles for my review and on theaters for showtimes.
Ant-Man and the Wasp (H-16); Avengers: Infinity War (WM-6); BlacKkKlansman (H-16); Christopher Robin (AS-14, H-16); Crazy Rich Asians (AS-14, H-16 beginning Wednesday); The Darkest Minds (AS-14, H-16); Deadpool 2 (WM-6); Death of a Nation (AS-14, H-16); Dog Days (AS-14, H-16); The Equalizer 2 (AS-14, H-16 and Tascosa); Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (AS-14, H-16); The Incredibles 2 (AS-14, H-16); Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (AS-14); Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (AS-14, H-16); The Meg (AS-14, H-16 and Tascosa); Mission: Impossible — Fallout (AS-14, H-16); Ocean's 8 (WM-6); Overboard (WM-6); Sicario: Day of the Soldado (WM-6); Slender Man (AS-14, H-16); Solo: A Star Wars Story (WM-6); The Spy Who Dumped Me (AS-14, H-16); Tag (WM-6); Teen Titans GO! to the Movies (AS-14, H-16); Unfriended: Dark Web (WM-6); and Won't You Be My Neighbor (WM-6).
Chip Chandler is a producer for Panhandle PBS and a member of GALECA. He can be contacted at Chip.Chandler@actx.edu, at @chipchandler1 on Twitter and on Facebook.
