Film Focus, Jan. 31-Feb. 6, 2025
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Film Focus, Jan. 31-Feb. 6, 2025

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By M. Faust

OPENING THIS WEEK: 

COMPANION (R) Thriller/sci/fi movie whose makers say the less you know about it going in the better. So who am I to go against their wishes? Starring Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid, Lukas Gage, Rupert Friend and Harvey Guillén. Directed by Drew Hancock. AMC Maple Ridge, AMC Market Arcade, Dipson Capitol, Dipson Flix, Dipson McKinley, Dunkirk Multiplex, Regal Elmwood, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria, Spotlight Theater of Warsaw

DEVA (NR) Hindi language movie starring Shahid Kapoor as a “brilliant yet rebellious police officer,” and that’s all I’ve got. With Pooja Hegde and Pavail Gulati. Directed by Rosshan Andrrews. Regal Elmwood

DOG MAN (PG) In this animated adaptation of a series of graphic novels, an injured cop and his police dog are merged by a surgeon into one body. With the voices of Pete Davidson, Lil Rel Howery, Isla Fisher, Poppy Liu, Stephen Root, and Ricky Gervais. Directed by Peter Hastings (The Country Bears). AMC Maple Ridge, AMC Market Arcade, Dipson Capitol, Dipson Flix, Dipson McKinley, Dunkirk Multiplex, Joylan, Regal Elmwood, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria, Spotlight Theater of Warsaw

GREEN AND GOLD (NR) Feel-good movie about a Wisconsin dairy farmer (Craig T. Nelson) who risks everything by betting on the Green Bay Packers to win the Super Bowl. With M. Emmett Walsh and Ashton Moio. Directed by Anders Lindwall (The Reclamation of David Simms). Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Spotlight Theater of Warsaw

LOVE ME (NR) After the apocalypse, a satellite and a buoy fall in love. I’d tell you more but the distributor ignored my request for a screener. Directed by Andrew Zuchero and Sam Zuchero. Regal Elmwood, Regal Quaker, Regal Walden Galleria

MAJHAIL (NR) In this Punjabi language crime drama, the working truce between two crime families is upset by the appointment of a new police chief. Starring Dev Kharoud, Guggu Gill, and Hobby Dhaliwal. Directed by Dheeraj Rattan. Regal Elmwood

ROUND THE DECAY (NR) Independent monster movie about a woman who returns to her smalltown home to nurse a broken heart only to run afoul of the local curse. Starring Victoria Mirrer, Damian Maffei, Sienna Hubert-Ross, and Cary Hite. Directed by Adam Newman. Dunkirk Multiplex

THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG (PG-13) In this Oscar nominee for Best International Feature, an Iranian investigator battles with his wife and daughters over the ethics of his job during the protests sparked by the 2022 killing of Mahsa Amini by Iran’s morality police. Starring Missagh Zare. Soheila Golestani, Mahsa Rostami and Setareh Maleki. Directed by Mohammad Rasoulof (A Man of Integrity). Regal Walden Galleria Read M. Faust’s review here

VALIANT ONE (R) American soldiers have to battle their way out of North Korea after their helicopter crashes there. Starring Chase Stokes, Lana Condor, and Desmin Borges. Directed by Steve Barnett. AMC Market Arcade, Dipson Capitol, Dipson Flix, Regal Elmwood, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria

NOW PLAYING:

BABYGIRL (R) Nicole Kidman as a CEO who risks her family and career for an affair with an intern. With Harris Dickinson, Sophie Wilde, and Antonio Banderas. Directed by Halina Reijn (Bodies Bodies Bodies). Regal Transit Read M. Faust’s review here. 

BRAVE THE DARK (PG-13) A high school drama teacher tries to help a troubled young student. Starring Jared Harris, Sasha Bhasin, and Will Price. Directed by Damian Harris (The Wilde Wedding). Dunkirk Multiplex, Regal Elmwood, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Spotlight Theater of Warsaw

THE BRUTALIST (R) Oscar frontrunner starring Adrien Brody as a Bauhaus-trained architect trying to make a new life in American after fleeing Hungary after World War II. With Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn, Raffey Cassidy, Stacy Martin, Emma Laird, Isaach De Bankolé, Alessandro Nivola. Directed by Brady Corbet (Vox Lux). AMC Maple Ridge, Dipson Amherst, Dipson Capitol, Dipson Flix, North Park, Regal Elmwood, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria Read M. Faust’s review here

A COMPLETE UNKNOWN (R) Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan in a biography that culminates with his appearance with an electric band in 1965. Co-starring Edward Norton, Elle Fanning, Monica Barbaro, Boyd Holbrook, and Scoot McNairy. Directed by James Mangold (Walk the Line). Dipson Amherst, Dipson Capitol, Dipson Flix, Regal Elmwood, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit  Read M. Faust’s review here. 

DEN OF THIEVES 2: PANTERA (R) Sequel. If you saw the original, you know what it was about, and if you didn’t why would you want to see the sequel? Starring Gerald Butler, O’Shea Jackson and Evin Ahmad. Directed once again by Christian Gudegast. AMC Market Arcade, Regal Elmwood, Regal Quaker, Regal Walden Galleria

MOANA 2 (PG) Animated sequel. With the voices of Auli’i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Alan Tudyk, and Nicole Scherzinger. Directed by David G. Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, and Dana Ledoux Miller. Aurora, Dipson Capitol, Dipson Flix, Dipson McKinley, Dunkirk Multiplex, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria

MUFASA THE LION KING (PG) Animated sequel, or prequel or whatever. With the voices of Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Tiffany Boone. Directed by Barry Jenkins (If Beale Street Could Talk). AMC Maple Ridge, AMC Market Arcade, Dipson Capitol, Dipson Flix, Dipson McKinley, Regal Elmwood, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria

NOSFERATU (R) Writer-director Robert Eggers (The Northman) inches toward the mainstream with this adaptation of the 1922 German horror film based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Starring Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Simon McBurney, and Willem Dafoe. Regal Elmwood, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria Read M. Faust’s review here. 

ONE OF THEM DAYS (R) Comedy starring Keke Palmer and SZA as roommates struggling to come up with the month’s rent. With Vanessa Bell Calloway, Katt Williams and Maude Apatow. Directed by Lawrence Lamont. AMC Maple Ridge, AMC Market Arcade, Dipson Capitol, Dunkirk Multiplex, Regal Elmwood, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria 

PRESENCE (R) Steven Soderbergh directed this haunted house thriller in which the camera takes the POV of the ghost. Starring Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang, and Julia Fox. AMC Maple Ridge, Dipson Capitol, Dipson Flix, Regal Elmwood, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria Read M. Faust’s review here

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 3 (PG) Sequel. A live action Jim Carrey joins a voice cast including Ben Schwartz, James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, Idris Elba, and Keanu Reeves. Directed by Jeff Fowler. AMC Maple Ridge, AMC Market Arcade, Dipson Capitol, Dipson Flix, Dipson McKinley, Regal Elmwood, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria

WICKED (PG) Adaptation of the long running musical that tells the story of The Wizard of Oz from the point of view of the Wicked Witch. N.B.: This is only part one. Starring Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, and Peter Dinklage. Directed by John M. Chu (G.I. Joe: Retaliation). Dipson Capitol, Dipson Flix, Hamburg Palace, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria Read the review by Mia Ciechalski here

WOLF MAN (R) The Blumhouse juggernaut sets its sights on another classic horror genre. Starring Julia Garner, Christopher Abbott, and Sam Jaeger. Directed by Leigh Whannell (The Invisible Man). AMC Maple Ridge, Dipson McKinley, Dunkirk Multiplex, Regal Elmwood, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria

ETC.

BLUE VELVET (1986)—While walking home, all-American youth Kyle MacLachlan finds a severed ear in a vacant lot, and his life will never be the same. Nor was American cinema after this, the movie that made David Lynch a household name. With Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern, Dean Stockwell and of course Jack Nance. Sat-Sun 11:30 am. North Park

CHARADE (1964)—As slick and sophisticated as you’d expect from a movie starring Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant. Hepburn’s recently deceased husband swindled a lot of money out of some nasty men who want it back; Grant offers to help keep them off her tail, but is he after the loot too? Co-starring Walter Matthau, James Coburn and Ned Glass. Directed by Stanley Donen (Singin’ in the Rain).  Tues 7 pm. Screening Room

THE NIAGARA MOVEMENT: THE EARLY BATTLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS—Free screening of a new documentary produced by Buffalo Toronto Public Media about the civil rights organization founded by W. E. B. Du Bois near Niagara Falls in 1905. Register for free tickets here. Weds 6 pm. The Buffalo History Museum, 1 Museum Court. 

THEATER LOCATIONS AND WEBSITES

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