What to watch in theaters and at home this weekend July 21-23, 2023
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — As it turns out, that Barbenheimer double feature is actually a good idea. Here's a look at all your new entertainment options for the weekend.
Theatrical Releases
It's an incredible weekend to beat the heat by catching a film in an air-conditioned theater as the serious drama of Christopher Nolan’s "Oppenheimer" and Margot Robbie’s cotton candy satire "Barbie" make their way into theaters. And they are both worth seeing.
It’s been a good summer for movies (even if the box office numbers haven’t been robust). I’d also recommend seeing “Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning- Part One,” “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” “Asteroid City,” and “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” while they are still in theaters.
Oppenheimer
Studio Synopsis: Written and directed by Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer is an IMAX-shot epic thriller that thrusts audiences into the pulse-pounding paradox of the enigmatic man who must risk destroying the world in order to save it.
Starring:Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon
Genre:Biography, Drama, History
Rated:R for some sexuality, nudity and language
Reaction: "Oppenheimer' does a fantastic job of showing a man divided between contradictory beliefs; a man who wants to dictate a future he has no power to control. (Full Review)
Where to Watch: Theaters
Barbie
Studio Synopsis:Barbie suffers a crisis that leads her to question her world and her existence.
Starring:Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Issa Rae, Kate McKinnon, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey, Rita Arya
Genre: Comedy, Adventure
Rated:PG-13 for suggestive references and brief language.
Reaction: The film comes dressed in a healthy amount of pink and is accessorized with '80s musical numbers, over-the-top performances, the best fight scene since "Anchorman," and a hefty amount of social commentary. (Full Review)
Where to Watch: Theaters
Streaming
For those of you who will be bunkering down in your homes, here's a look at new titles coming to your favorite streaming subscription services. I'd recommend "The Deepest Breath," a white-knuckle thriller that just happens to be a documentary about freedivers. I'm also fascinated with "Sharksploitation," a documentary about cinema and sharks.
Stephen Curry: Underrated
Studio Synopsis:Apple Original Films and A24 present the highly anticipated, critically acclaimed documentary “Stephen Curry: Underrated,” directed and produced by Emmy Award winner Peter Nicks. An Official Sundance Film Festival selection, “Stephen Curry: Underrated” is the remarkable coming-of-age story of one of the most influential, dynamic and unexpected players in the history of basketball: Stephen Curry. This feature documentary — blending intimate cinéma vérité, archival footage and on camera interviews — documents Curry’s rise from an undersized college player at a small town Division I college to a four-time NBA champion, building one of the most dominant sports dynasties in the world.
Genre: Documentary
Rated: PG-13 for brief strong language
Where to Watch: Apple TV+
They Cloned Tyrone
Studio Synopsis:A series of eerie events thrusts an unlikely trio (Boyega, Foxx and Parris) onto the trail of a nefarious government conspiracy in this pulpy mystery caper.
Starring:John Boyega, Teyonah Parris, David Alan Grier, J. Alphonse Nicholson, Tamberla Perry, Eric Robinson Jr. with Kiefer Sutherland and Jamie Foxx
Genre: Action, Comedy
Rated:R for pervasive language, violence, some sexual material and drug use
Where to Watch: Netflix
The Deepest Breath
Studio Synopsis:The story of a champion freediver and expert safety diver, whose lives seemed fated to converge at the height of their careers. A look at the thrilling rewards — and inescapable risks — of chasing dreams through the depths of the ocean.
Genre: Documentary
Rated:PG for some intense peril, unsettling images and language
Where to Watch: Netflix
Tori and Lokita
Studio Synopsis:From two-time Palme d’Or winners Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne ("Two Days, One Night") comes the story of seventeen-year-old Lokita and twelve-year-old Tori , two immigrants — from Benin and Cameroon, respectively — struggling for survival on the margins of society. The inseparable pair work as performers in a cheap trattoria, dealing drugs on the side for the restaurant’s abusive cook, while balancing the demands of an indifferent bureaucracy and a band of violent smugglers. When Lokita is held captive while working in a marijuana grow house, Tori scrambles to save his companion from their abusers, as events spiral out of control.
Starring:Pablo Schils, Joely Mbundu
Genre:Drama
Where to Watch:The Criterion Channel, also available to rent and purchase from digital retailers.
Superpowered: The DC Story
Studio Synopsis: A three-part documentary about the iconic comic book company’s legacy.
Genre: Documentary
Where to Watch: Max
Sharksploitation
Studio Synopsis:Dive into the birth of a subgenre in the shadow of the legendary "Jaws." Discover a deep-sea documentary that navigates the bizarre legacy of shark cinema and humanity's ceaseless intrigue.
Genre: Documentary
Where to Watch: Shudder
Digital to Rent & Own
The Flash
Studio Synopsis:Worlds collide in “The Flash” when Barry uses his superpowers to travel back in time in order to change the events of the past. But when his attempt to save his family inadvertently alters the future, Barry becomes trapped in a reality in which General Zod has returned, threatening annihilation, and there are no super heroes to turn to. That is, unless Barry can coax a very different Batman out of retirement and rescue an imprisoned Kryptonian – albeit not the one he’s looking for. Ultimately, to save the world that he is in and return to the future that he knows, Barry’s only hope is to race for his life. But will making the ultimate sacrifice be enough to reset the universe?
Starring: Ezra Miller, Sasha Calle, Michael Shannon, Ron Livingston, Maribel Verdú, Kiersey Clemons, Antje Traue, Michael Keaton
Genre: Action, Fantasy
Rated:PG-13 for sequences of violence and action, some strong language and partial nudity
Where to Watch: Digital retailers
Ruby Gillman Teenage Kraken
Studio Synopsis:Sweet, awkward 16-year-old Ruby Gillman is desperate to fit in at Oceanside High, but she mostly just feels invisible. She's math-tutoring her skater-boy crush , who only seems to admire her for her fractals, and she's prevented from hanging out with the cool kids at the beach because her over-protective supermom , has forbade Ruby from ever getting in the water. But when she breaks her mom's #1 rule, Ruby will discover that she is a direct descendant of the warrior Kraken queens and is destined to inherit the throne from her commanding grandmother, the Warrior Queen of the Seven Seas. The Kraken are sworn to protect the oceans of the world against the vain, power-hungry mermaids who have been battling with the Kraken for eons. There's one major, and immediate, problem with that: The school's beautiful, popular new girl, Chelsea just happens to be a mermaid. Ruby will ultimately need to embrace who she is and go big to protect those she loves most.
Starring: Lana Condor, Toni Collette, Jaboukie Young-White, Jane Fonda
Genre: Animated, Comedy
Rated:PG for some action, rude humor and thematic elements
Where to Watch: Digital retailers
The Venture Bros Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart
Studio Synopsis:Doc’s latest invention will either bankrupt Team Venture or launch them to new heights, as Hank searches for himself, Dean searches for Hank, The Monarch searches for answers, and a mysterious woman from their pasts threatens to bring their entire world crashing down on them.
Starring: Dana Snyder, J.K. Simmons, Steven Rattazzi, Jay Pharoah, Jane Lynch, Clancy Brown
Genre: Animation, Comedy, Action
Rated:R for language, some sexual references, bloody images and brief full nudity.
Where to Watch: Digital retailers. Coming to Blu-ray & DVD July 25, 2023
The Cow Who Sang a Song into the Future
Studio Synopsis:When the long-deceased Magdalena bubbles up to the surface of a polluted river gasping for air, her shocking return sends her family into turmoil and offers an opportunity for healing.Starring: Francisca Alegria, Manuela Infante, Fernanda Urrejola
Genre: Drama
Where to Watch: Digital retailers
New to Blu-ray & DVD Highlights
Toplined by HBO's "The Last of Us," it's a phenomenal week for 4K UHD releases that also includes The Criterion Collection's Budd Boetticher five-disc set "The Ranown Westerns," and Jean -Luc Godard's masterpiece "Breathless." Arrow Films adds a 4K release for the increadibly underrated and completely overlooked "Hugo."The week also sees the release of the romantic comedy "Love Again" and the acclaimed Holocaust drama "Persian Lessons."
The Last of Us: Season One
Studio Synopsis: "The Last of Us" takes place 20 years after modern civilization has been destroyed. Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal and heartbreaking journey as they both must traverse the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.
The Ranown Westerns: Five Films Directed by Budd Boetticher
Studio Synopsis:The five briskly entertaining, vividly performed westerns made by director Budd Boetticher and strapping star Randolph Scott in the second half of the 1950s transcend their B-movie origins to become rich, unexpectedly profound explorations of loyalty, greed, honor, and revenge. Often grouped under the name Ranown (after producer Harry Joe Brown and Scott’s production company) and colorfully scripted by Burt Kennedy and Charles Lang, these films seem to unfold in a world unto themselves, staking a claim between traditional westerns and the subversive genre revisionism of the 1960s—and representing the crowning achievement of the underappreciated auteur Boetticher.
Love Again
Studio Synopsis:What if a random text message led to the love of your life? In this romantic comedy, dealing with the loss of her fiancé, Mira Ray sends a series of romantic texts to his old cell phone numbernot realizing the number was reassigned to Rob Burns’ new work phone. A journalist, Rob is captivated by the honesty in the beautifully confessional texts. When he’s assigned to write a profile of megastar Celine Dion (playing herself in her first film role), he enlists her help in figuring out how to meet Mira in personand win her heart.
Breathless 4K UHD
Studio Synopsis:There was before "Breathless," and there was after "Breathless." Jean-Luc Godard burst onto the film scene in 1960 with this jazzy, free-form, and sexy homage to the American film genres that inspired him as a writer for Cahiers du cinéma. With its lack of polish, surplus of attitude, anything-goes crime narrative, and effervescent young stars Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg, Breathless helped launch the French New Wave and ensured that cinema would never be the same.
Hugo 4K UHD
Studio Synopsis:Hugo Cabret is an orphan, living secretly in the walls of a Paris train station, tending to the many clocks, stealing what he needs to survive and hiding from the ruthless station inspector. But his clandestine life and precious secrets are threatened when he is caught thieving by the bitter old man who runs a toy booth at the station, and Hugo's world becomes enmeshed with that of the shop owner and his bookish granddaughter. A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a mechanical man, and a hidden message from Hugo's dead father are all connected to a place where dreams are made.
Persian Lessons
Studio Synopsis: Occupied France, 1942. Gilles (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart) is arrested by SS soldiers alongside other Jews and sent to a camp in Germany. En route to the camp, he narrowly avoids sudden execution by swearing to the guards that he is not Jewish, but Persian. This lie temporarily saves him, as one of the soldiers’ superior officers is “looking for a Persian,” and has promised additional rations to the soldier who delivers. Gilles is then assigned a literal life-or-death mission: to teach Farsi to Head of Camp Koch (Lars Eidinger), who dreams of opening a restaurant in Iran once the war is over. Through an ingenious trick, Gilles manages to survive by inventing words of “Farsi” every day and teaching them to Koch. The unusual relationship between the two men sparks jealousy in other prisoners and particularly the SS guards towards Gilles. Meanwhile Koch’s suspicions grow every day, and Gilles struggles with the unfairness of his privileges compared to his fellow prisoners, while fighting to maintain his secret and survive.