Screening Report 6/4/2025

Sharks, schemes, and high school dreams.

Jun 04, 2025

Hello, and welcome to this week’s screening report! I’d like to wish my fellow queer readers a happy Pride month, and I hope the summer weather catches up with us soon - even if we’re headed into the air-conditioned movie theater as fast as we can be.

This week’s new releases are headlined by Ballerina (which is still under review embargo) and The Phoenician Scheme (which had reviewed weeks ago at Cannes,) but we have more information about a few more new releases as well. Dangerous Animals, the shark/serial killer horror film from director Sean Byrne, is debuting to pretty high reviews, highlighting a surprising nasty streak. The Nick Kroll/Andrew Rannellis vacation horror comedy I Don’t Understand You is a little more divisive, with critics divided on the target of its humor. Only the most devoted Al Pacino fans need bother with The Ritual, however. (I’m sticking with my plan of seeing the new Wes Anderson.) As mentioned in last week’s newsletter, this week’s rep lineup is full of good, fairly well seen movies that are often not the first picks for exhibition - my #1 pick would be The Iron Giant, but you can’t go wrong.

Next week, we have three headline films debuting in our commercial theaters. The How to Train You Dragon remake first previewed here in Madison in late April, which helps confirm that the film is extremely faithful to Dreamworks original by comparison to the Lilo & Stitch remake topping the box office. Mike Flanagan’s adaptation of Stephen King’s The Life of Chuck premiered last September at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the People’s Choice Award. The last film to win that award that wasn’t nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars was Where Do We Go Now? in 2011 - however, the films in between all premiered at TIFF only a couple months before premiering in the US, rather than the nearly full year delay The Life of Chuck is receiving. (It’s worth making clear that while The Life of Chuck is a Stephen King sci-fi novella, it’s much more of a literary drama, more Hearts in Atlantis or The Shawshank Redemption than The Shining.) Past Lives director Celine Song is also releasing her follow-up Materialists, starring Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal, and Chris Evans in what appears to be a fairly appealing if broad romcom.

The rep lineup next week is primarily highlighted by two high school comedies, with WUD Film playing Olivia Wilde’s Gen-Z overachiever comedy Booksmart and Cinesthesia programming Michael Schultz’s 70s indie classic Cooley High. If you missed WUD playing But I’m A Cheerleader on Monday, you’ll have another chance to see it at Flix on 6/17. And if you plan your weekend right, you’ll be able to see both Raiders of the Lost Ark at Flix and then Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade at Marcus - Temple of Doom and the 21st century sequels are stuck at home for now. Lastly, looking ahead to the weekend of 6/20, we’ll see the releases of Pixar’s Elio and Danny Boyle’s zombie sequel 28 Years Later.

PLUG ZONE

-I’m starting a personal writing project this summer to write about twenty of my favorite movies, albums, and video games. My first film piece, on Satoshi Kon’s Paprika, went up this weekend.

-James Kreul has a review of the new Mission: Impossible film and shares some of his future plans for a premium experience of Moving Image Madison.

-Rob Thomas has reviews of Tornado, Jane Austen Wrecked My Life [excerpted below,] and the Broken Social Scene doc It’s All Gonna Break.

Want to see your film writing or short film here in The Horizon Line? Send a link to your work to horizonlinemadison@gmail.com.

THIS WEEK (6/5-6/11)

New Releases

-Ballerina - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Dan Da Dan: Evil Eye - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-Dangerous Animals - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-The Phoenician Scheme - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Housefull 5 - AMC, alternate ending AMC
-I Don’t Understand You - Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-The Ritual - AMC
-Thug Life - AMC
-Turnstile: Never Enough - 7p 6/5 at AMC, 6:30p 6/5 at Marcus Point
-Hari Hara Veera Mallu: Part 1 - 6/11 at Marcus Point and Marcus Palace
-How To Train Your Dragon (Early Access Screening) - 6/11 at AMC/Marcus Point/Marcus Palace/Flix Brewhouse

-Jane Austen Wrecked My Life - Marcus Point
”Writer-director Laura Piani’s debut is more of a winning, minor-key film in which (as the title suggests) the love of literature is at least on the same footing as romantic love.” - Rob Thomas

Repertory

-The Great Gatsby - 11:30a 6/8 at Flix Brewhouse
-The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers [Extended] - 12p 6/8 at Flix Brewhouse, 5p 6/9 at Flix Brewhouse
-The Mitchells vs. The Machines - 9p 6/9 at Memorial Union Terrace
-The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift - 7p 6/10 at Flix Brewhouse
-Deep Sky - 10a 6/11 at AMC
-Dogma - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-The Iron Giant - Flix Brewhouse

NEXT WEEK (6/12-6/18)

New Releases

-How to Train Your Dragon - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-The Life of Chuck - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-Materialists - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-Miley Cyrus: Something Beautiful - 6:45p 6/12 at Marcus Palace
-Elio [Early Access] - 6/18 at AMC/Marcus Point/Marcus Palace

-Ballerina - AMC
-Harold and the Purple Crayon - Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-Hari Hara Veera Malu: Part 1 - 1:30p 6/12 at Marcus Palace

Repertory

-Booksmart - 9p 6/9 at Memorial Union Terrace
-But I’m A Cheerleader - 7p 6/17 at Flix Brewhouse
-Cooley High - 6:30p 6/18 at Madison Central Library
-To The Arctic 3D - 10a 6/18 at AMC
-Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-Raiders of the Lost Ark - Flix Brewhouse
-Sing 2 - Flix Brewhouse

Follow us on Bluesky if it’ll help you keep up with us! If you wrote something you’re proud of and want me to plug it here, please shoot a link to horizonlinemadison@gmail.com.

The Horizon Line Madison

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