It's been a shocking week for Tacoma's cultural spaces. As of now, movie theaters are still open, but on Monday, March 16, the Grand Cinema will close operations for at least two weeks. Before that happens, if you choose to go out to a movie theater this weekend (and remember, stay home if you don't feel well), we've rounded up the best cinematic options for your viewing pleasure. We've done our best to make sure the information in this post is accurate, but, given the rapidly developing situation, we'd recommend double-checking with theaters directly before going out.
1917
Legendary screenwriter William Goldman once said of the film industry, “Nobody knows anything,” and this is still mostly true, with one exception: If cinematographer Roger Deakins shot the movie, that movie is worth seeing on the biggest screen possible. Even if 1917 were solely the most impressive work of Deakins’ remarkable career—which it is—I’d be recommending it. But the World War I movie is also one hell of a stunning storytelling experience from director Sam Mendes, co-writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns, and editor Lee Smith. “But wait,” you say, “isn’t the whole point of this movie that there aren’t any cuts? Why did they need an editor at all?” 1917’s hook (or less generously, its gimmick) is that it’s meant to unfold in a single, unbroken take. It’s one of the rare instances of a film’s marketing actually benefiting the finished film, because of the way this knowledge is both paid off... and then subverted. BOBBY ROBERTS
Various locations
Bad Boys for Life
Michael Bay's absence behind the camera (although he briefly appears in a cameo that I reflexively booed) is immediately apparent. The action—still glistening, swooping, and forever circling, as directing duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah do some damn good Bay-raoke in their debut—is slower and mostly coherent. But even more remarkable: For the first time that I can remember, this is a Bad Boys movie primarily fueled by emotion as opposed to disdainfully rejecting it. And get this: That emotion? HUMILITY! I know. What the fuck, right? But fucks are abundant in Bad Boys for Life, and given often, flying just as freely as the one-liners, bullets, and grenades going off frequently and everywhere. BOBBY ROBERTS
Regal Lakewood Stadium
Emma.
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From the moment Mr. Woodhouse (Bill Nighy) bounded down the steps of his staircase in full scowl, I wanted to see Emma. again. I went in pretty hyped up because Anya Taylor-Joy was making full use of her signature penetrating stare to play the character closer to the book—little did I expect that she would be matched frown for frown by Nighy, playing her father, whose background sighing and perpetual phobia of drafts lit up every scene with an endearing ridiculousness. SUZETTE SMITH
Various locations
Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey
Birds of Prey is Harley Quinn/Margot Robbie’s show, and just like in the not-so-great Suicide Squad, it’s a show she clearly steals—and a show with a distinctly feminist take on the glut of male-oriented superhero cinema. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
Regal Lakewood Stadium
The Hunt
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While other movies are seeing their releases postponed thanks to coronavirus, the controversial horror-comedy The Hunt—which was already postponed from its September release date—is still opening tonight. Whether or not you venture out to a theater to see it, it's worth seeing: Pulpy and bloody, it's a B-movie with smarts. In a riff on the 1924 short story "The Most Dangerous Game," rich, urban "elites" round up a dozen rural "deplorables," set them loose on the grounds of a woodsy, sprawling estate, and hunt them down for sport. But a clever twist or two later, The Hunt, written by Nick Cuse and Damon Lindelof—the latter coming off his success with HBO's extraordinary Watchmen—ends up offering a bit more than dark humor and skull-crunching violence. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Regal Lakewood Stadium
The Invisible Man
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Film students and theorists are going to be studying the career of writer/director Leigh Whannell for decades, trying to suss out how this young Australian has mined piles of gold from high-concept but low-budget popcorn fare. Whannell's been responsible for bringing two hugely successful horror franchises into the world—the sagas of Saw and Insidious—and, in 2018, turned the fairly ridiculous B-movie plot of Upgrade into a hit thanks to his stylized direction and pulpy action sequences. Whannell is about to have another hit on his hands with Blumhouse Productions’ The Invisible Man, starring an excellent Elisabeth Moss. Made on a slender budget that was likely eaten up by CGI effects, this riff on H.G. Wells’ sci-fi classic is a slow, steady squeeze from a vise that doesn’t release its grip until its final shot. ROBERT HAM
Regal Lakewood Stadium
My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising (Dubbed and Subtitled)
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The latest installment of the anime franchise, in which Deku and his fellow heroes take on an evil villain on an island, should please fans.
Century Federal Way & AMC Lakewood Mall
Onward
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Especially when compared to Pixar's best, there's definitely stuff to nitpick in the studio's latest, Onward. Fair? Maybe, but then again, even Pixar movies can have a hard time living up to Pixar movies. But to focus on Onward's benign, minor missteps—none of which detract from the story's surprisingly emotional arc—is to miss the bigger picture. Funny and wholly original, it's a fantasy adventure that digs into something nearly all of us know but rarely talk about: How the memory of an absent family member can hang over the lives of the living. ERIK HENRIKSEN
Wide release
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
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From Céline Sciamma (Girlhood), Portrait of a Lady on Fire is set in 18th century France, where young artist Marianne (Noémie Merlant) is commissioned to paint a portrait of Héloïse (Adèle Haenel) for potential suitors to fall in love with. One thing: Héloïse does not want her portrait done, as she does not want to get married. So Marianne poses as her maid to get close to the lady, completing the painting in secret. But of course this closeness and secretiveness make them all hot for each other. Portrait was the first woman-directed film to take home the Queer Palm award at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival and was also nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Golden Globes. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Grand Cinema
The Way Back
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Ben Affleck plays an alcoholic coach who returns to the town where he was a teen basketball star in this redemption drama by Gavin O'Connor.
Wide release
Wendy
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Benh Zeitlin’s new film Wendy—which reimagines the popular J. M. Barrie play/children’s story Peter Pan in New Orleans instead of London—feels like a two-hour M83 music video. And not everyone will love that. But I did! As with Beasts of Southern Wild, Zeitlin works here with nonprofessional actors. And while casting Mack as Peter employs the trope of the magical Black character, Mack is also, hands down, the best Peter Pan in cinema up to this point. Where previous cinematic Peter Pans have interpreted the character as jockish and bullying, Mack's Peter feels like someone from outside our society who is barely interested in us. That feels far more accurate to author J.M. Barrie's vision. SUZETTE SMITH
Grand Cinema
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Our critics don't recommend these movies, but you might like to know about them anyway.
