sexta-feira, 31 de maio de 2019

Which movies in theaters are worth the price of admission?

Alain Delon wearing a costume: Image: The Leopard/TMDb © Image: The Leopard/TMDb Image: The Leopard/TMDb

Need date night ideas? Don't miss this week's lineup of acclaimed movies showing on the big screen in and around New York City.

Here are the highest rated films to catch, based on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes' Tomatometer Score, which reflects the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics.

(Movie descriptions courtesy The Movie Database; showtimes via Fandango. Movie ratings and showtimes are subject to change.)

The Leopard

As Garibaldi's troops begin the unification of Italy in the 1860s, an aristocratic Sicilian family grudgingly adapts to the sweeping social changes undermining their way of life. Proud but pragmatic Prince Don Fabrizio Salina allows his war hero nephew, Tancredi, to marry Angelica, the beautiful daughter of gauche, bourgeois Don Calogero, in order to maintain the family's accustomed level of comfort and political clout.

Boasting a Tomatometer Score of 100 percent and an Audience Score of 89 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, this 1960s classic is a must-see. The AV Club's Scott Tobias said, "The film aches with regret over a crumbling empire, but its feelings are complicated by the wise prince, who recognizes his place on the wrong side of history," while Variety Staff noted, "A magnificent film, munificently outfitted and splendidly acted by a large cast dominated by Burt Lancaster's standout stint in the title role."

It's playing at Roxy Cinema Tribeca (2 Ave. of The Americas) through Saturday, June 1. Click here for showtimes and tickets.

Booksmart

Two academic teenage superstars realize, on the eve of their high school graduation, that they should have worked less and played more. Determined to never fall short of their peers, the girls set out on a mission to cram four years of fun into one night.

With a Tomatometer Score of 97 percent and an Audience Score of 75 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, "Booksmart" has been a must-watch since its release on May 24.

"'Booksmart' puts a fresh spin on the coming-of-age comedy because it's focused on two girls, one of whom is also queer," noted Erin Keane of Salon.com, while the Globe and Mail's Chandler Levack said, "'Booksmart' is a love letter for any young woman who has ever stayed home on a Friday night to watch a Ken Burns documentary."

It's playing at AMC Bay Plaza Cinema 13 (2210 Bartow Ave.) through Wednesday, June 5; Regal E-Walk & RPX (247 W. 42nd St.) through Wednesday, June 5; Williamsburg Cinemas (217 Grand St.) through Thursday, June 6; and AMC Dine-in Staten Island Mall 11 (2655 Richmond Ave.) through Wednesday, June 5. Click here for showtimes and tickets.

A Star Is Born

A movie star helps a young singer/actress find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral.

With a Tomatometer Score of 97 percent and an Audience Score of 82 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, this classic is a must-see. Time Magazine's Staff said, "All this, plus a dozen big musical sequences, makes this a mighty long gulp of champagne; but, like champagne, it is hard to refuse," and the Chicago Reader's Dave Kehr noted, "Judy Garland gives everything she has as the young star on the way up; her performance is an emotional autobiography."

Interested? It's playing at City Cinemas Village East (181-189 Second Ave.) through Monday, June 3. Click here for showtimes and tickets.

Avengers: Endgame

After the devastating events of "Avengers: Infinity War," the universe is in ruins due to the efforts of the Mad Titan, Thanos. With the help of remaining allies, the Avengers must assemble once more in order to undo Thanos' actions and restore order to the universe once and for all, no matter what consequences may be in store.

With a Tomatometer Score of 95 percent and an Audience Score of 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, "Avengers: Endgame" has become a favorite since its release on April 26. The Observer's Oliver Jones said, "What you will be getting when you walk into an inevitably overstuffed movie theater is something singular that reflects our age in a way that none of the MCU films that preceded it have. Indeed, very few Hollywood spectacles ever have," while Matthew Lickona of the San Diego Reader stated, "The MCU will go on and on, but this chapter, and the American pragmatism vs. American ideals bromance that drove it, have well and truly come to their 'Excelsior! Nuff said!' moment."

Want to see for yourself? It's playing at AMC Bay Plaza Cinema 13 (2210 Bartow Ave.) through Wednesday, June 5; Regal E-Walk & RPX (247 W. 42nd St.) through Wednesday, June 5; Concourse Plaza Multiplex (214 E. 161st St.) through Wednesday, June 5; and College Point Multiplex Cinemas (2855 Ulmer St.) throu gh Tuesday, June 4. Click here for showtimes and tickets.

This story was created automatically using local movie data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.

Aladdin had a mother in the original animated movie. Here's why she was cut.

The live-action remake of "Aladdin" is in theaters now. Similar to the animated movie, Aladdin doesn't have any parents. Early on, he vaguely reveals in the new movie that he lost both of them.

But that wasn't always the case with the 1992 movie.

"The one exception in our movies I think is 'Aladdin,'" Ron Clements, who codirected "Aladdin," told INSIDER in March of Disney movies without parents while discussing the animated movie and the 30th anniversary of "The Little Mermaid." "He didn't have a dad, but he did have a mom."

Aladdin's mother would've been a single parent.Disney

If you're a die-hard Disney fan, you may have known Aladdin's mother was cut from the finished film, but you may not be familiar with the story of how she wound up removed from the movie.

Disney lyricist Howard Ashman initially pitched the idea for the Oscar-winning movie. In addition to "Aladdin," Ashman wrote the lyrics for Disney classics during the studio's renaissance era, including "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Little Mermaid" before his death in 1991.

"Howard was very involved with 'Aladdin' and wrote the first version of 'Aladdin'," said Clements. "In fact, [he] wrote a song that was very personal to [him], that [Aladdin] sang to his mom called 'Proud of Your Boy.'"

In the song, Aladdin apologizes to his mother, admitting that he wasn't always the perfect son, but that he's going to make something of himself so that his mother will be proud of him. In a DVD feature for the film years later, Clements said the song meant a lot to Ashman because of his own relationship with his mother.

"At a certain point when we had sort of developed the story and put it up on story reels and showed it to [then-Disney chairman] Jeffrey Katzenberg for the first time, he wanted us to cut the mom," said Clements. "He said, 'The mom's a zero. 86 the mom."

Clements said Katzenberg was right to some degree.

"That was a blunt way of putting it," said Clements of Katzenberg's criticism, but acknowledged the movie was probably better off without her. "There were problems in terms of the way she worked in the story. The story did work better with Aladdin as just a street kid who didn't have a father or a mother."

Read more: Ron Clements explains why Disney movies often didn't have one or both parents

Though he had a lot of say in the creative direction of Disney's animated features at the time, Katzenberg didn't always get his way. A few years earlier, he wanted the now iconic "Part of Your World" song cut from "The Little Mermaid." Ariel actress Jodie Benson told INSIDER Katzenberg suggested cutting the song after some children were getting restless during a test screening of the film.

While "Part of Your World" did wind up in the final version of "The Little Mermaid," it wouldn't be until many years later when "Aladdin" came to Broadway that most people would hear "Proud of Your Boy" for the first time. The song Ashman wrote years ago is a staple of Disney's Broadway adaptation of the movie and you can hear it here.

quarta-feira, 29 de maio de 2019

New movie theater featuring bedroom cinema experience opens in Switzerland

[unable to retrieve full-text content](WFLA/CNN Newsource) – If you've been to the movies lately, you've probably come across a theater with reclining seats. But a Swiss theater is taking that to a whole new level. The movie theater has ...

terça-feira, 28 de maio de 2019

'Downton Abbey' Movie Trailer - In Theaters Sept. 20

Newsweek

Duration: 02:24 6 days ago

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Welcome to a new era. We've been expecting you. Watch the new trailer now for #DowntonAbbeyFilm, only in theaters this September.

segunda-feira, 20 de maio de 2019

New movie theater featuring bedroom cinema experience opens in Switzerland

[unable to retrieve full-text content](WFLA/CNN Newsource) – If you've been to the movies lately, you've probably come across a theater with reclining seats. But a Swiss theater is taking that to a whole new level. The movie theater has ...

Ryan Jay Reviews Three New Movies in Theaters

Thinking about seeing a movie this weekend, but are afraid it won't be worth your time or money? Well, we have you covered! Ryan Jay, a nationally syndicated radio film critic and entertainment guru, joins us to tell you what movies you should make a trip to see in the theater, what movies you should wait to rent at home, and what movies you should skip altogether.

For full reviews and opportunities to see the newest movies before anyone else (for FREE!), visit his website at RyanJayReviews.com

Copyright 2019 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

sábado, 18 de maio de 2019

'Kinky Boots' to star in movie theaters, coming full circle

NEW YORK (AP) - If anyone is kicking themselves that they missed seeing the musical "Kinky Boots," relax - it's coming to a movie screen nearby this summer.

Fathom Events plans to show a performance from the London cast in nearly 500 movie theaters across America on June 25 and again on June 29.

The musical is about a staid British shoe factory on the brink of ruin that retrofits itself into a maker of footwear for drag queens. It has songs by Cyndi Lauper and a story by Harvey Fierstein.

The musical, which made its bow on Broadway in 2013, won the Tony Award that year and later a Grammy Award for best musical theater album. A London production won the Olivier Award.

Both the West End and Broadway runs are over, with the Broadway doors closing last month after more than six years and 2,500 performances. The filmed version was recorded at the Adelphi Theatre in London. It will star Matt Henry as Lola and Killian Donnelly as Charlie.

Viewers will also enjoy "an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the story and "never-before-seen footage from the record-breaking Broadway run."

Its appearance in movie theaters will mark a full-circle moment for the title: The show is based on the film written by Geoff Deane and Tim Firth.

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Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

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