Screening Report 7/16/2025
Hello, and welcome to this week’s screening report! MMOCA has added the third event page for their Rooftop Cinema series. On August 14, MMOCA has programmed a screening of the surreal video-art film Ryan Trecartin film I-Be Area, the follow-up to Trecartin’s viral A Family Finds Entertainment. The Rooftop Cinema series should carry us right up to the first weekend of the UW semester, which starts the UW Cinematheque season.
This week’s new releases are helmed by two reboots, I Know What You Did Last Summer and Smurfs, both of which are kicking off today with some sour reviews. Eddington is somewhat better received, though similarly divisive to Ari Aster’s last sprawling Joaquin Phoenix epic Beau is Afraid. Like Beau, Eddington’s story of a Colorado COVID political standoff (think a “this town ain’t big enough” western with modern politics) has had vocal champions and detractors since its Cannes premiere. Hari Hara Veera Mallu Pt. 1 has been programmed and delayed previously, so take a heads up that the film is currently only set to screen on the 23rd. The most exciting new release among cinephiles I’m talking to has to be the baseball comedy Eephus, playing one show only at the Bartell Theater, a film about a grown, grown rec league playing its last game at the local diamond - the film has been receiving the sort of rave cult comedy reviews a movie like Hundreds of Beavers boasted last year.
On the rep side, three all-time great films anchor some lesser known treats. On the 2022 Sight & Sound Critics’ Poll of the greatest films of all time, David Lynch’s Mulholland Dr. placed 8th, Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing placed 24th, and My Neighbor Totoro placed 72nd - they all count among personal favorites of my own. Of particular note is that Mulholland Dr. plays at Cinematheque with editor, producer, and longtime Lynch friend and collaborator Mary Sweeney attending to discuss the film after the showing. The Claude Lelouch series also continues on with Happy New Year, a witty caper film with an emphasis on romance and philosophy. And on Friday, Wu-Tang Clan inspiration The Mystery of Chess Boxing plays in its English dub, directed by The 7 Grandmasters/36 Deadly Styles director Joseph Kuo.
Next week, the opening weekend of new releases is limited to the new Fantastic Four reboot and two Sundance films, Sorry Baby and Oh, Hi!, which have opened in limited release to positive reviews. It’s worth noting that horror films Ick and Together actually open on the 27th and 29th respectively, seemingly just with the strategy of dodging Marvel’s opening three nights. I was less familiar with Ick, starring Brendan Routh and Mena Suvari, which received a few positive reviews out of last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Together has been the center of some controversy around supposed plagiarism, but the timeline seems to exonerate writer-director Michael Shanks, and the film’s reviews might be the best of the summer so far.
On the repertory side, I have to admit a relative lack of familiarity with Cinematheque’s choices - Japanese medical war drama Red Angel sounds compelling if devastating, and neo-noir Narrow Margin has all the hallmarks of being the kind of 90s blast from the past only our Cinematheque programmers know how to make shine. I do think Creed remains Ryan Coogler’s best film, even above the wonderful Sinners, and I look forward to seeing that on the terrace. And Mamoru Hosoda’s Summer Wars was already a great looking movie when I saw it on DVD many years ago - I look forward to seeing the 4K restoration. The week of August 1st, our upcoming new releases include The Naked Gun and The Bad Guys 2, as well as the start of MMOCA’s Rooftop Cinema series.
PLUG ZONE
-Rob Thomas has reviews of Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story and Don’t Let’s Go To The Dogs Tonight (excerpted below), as well as reflections on the revival of (and upcoming sequel to) Rob Reiner/Christopher Guest classic This Is Spinal Tap.
-James Kreul shares some thoughts on James Gunn’s new Superman film (excerpted below,) as well as brief previews of tonight’s Art + Lit Lab screening of Lori Felker’s Patient and Saturday’s screening of Carson Lund’s Eephus.
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 (7/17/25-7/23/25)
New Releases
-Don’t Let’s Go To The Dogs Tonight - AMC, Marcus Point
”’Don’t Let’s Go’ observes the strange, affecting ways this family hangs onto normalcy until the very end, how they listen to ‘70s pop songs during the day and sleep with carbine rifles at night.” - Rob Thomas
-Eddington - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-I Know What You Did Last Summer - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Smurfs - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Saiyaara - AMC
-Tanvi: The Great - AMC
-Eephus (with Deuce) - 5p 7/19 at Bartell Theater
-Hari Hara Veera Mallu Pt 1 - 7/23 at Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-Together (Early Screening) - 7p 7/23 at Marcus Point
-Superman - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
”The greatest strength of James Gunn's Superman is that it does not even try to reach Superman’s potential as modern myth, pop culture icon, or whatever. It’s a good film, which the franchise needs right now more than a great film.” - James Kreul
-28 Years Later - AMC, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Elio - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-F1 - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-How To Train Your Dragon - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Jurassic World: Rebirth - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Jujutsu Kaisen: Hidden Inventory/Premature Death - Marcus Point, 7/17 at AMC and Marcus Point
-Lilo & Stitch - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-Materialists - AMC
-M3GAN 2.0 - AMC
-Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning - AMC, Marcus Point
-The Wild Robot - AMC
Repertory
-Happy New Year - 7p 7/17 at UW Cinematheque
-Romance on the High Seas - 1:30p 7/17 at AMC
-The Mystery of Chess Boxing - 7p 7/18 at UW Cinematheque
-Jumanji - 12p 7/20, 6p 7/21 at Flix Brewhouse
-Do The Right Thing - 9p 7/21 at Memorial Union Terrace
-Mulholland Dr. (Mary Sweeney in Person) - 7p 7/23 at UW Cinematheque
-Space Station 3D - 10a 7/23 at AMC
-The Boss Baby - Flix Brewhouse
-My Neighbor Totoro - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
NEXT WEEK (7/24/25-7/30/25)
New Releases
-The Fantastic Four: First Steps - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Ick - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-Together - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-Oh, Hi! - AMC
-Sorry, Baby - AMC
-House on Eden - 7/24 at AMC
-I Know What You Did Last Summer - AMC
-Smurfs - Flix Brewhouse
-Superman - AMC
-Transformers One - Flix Brewhouse
-The Wild Robot - Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
Repertory
-Bolero - 7p 7/24 at UW Cinematheque
-Red Angel - 7p 7/25 at UW Cinematheque
-Creed - 7p 7/28 at Memorial Union Terrace
-The Goonies - 6p 7/28 at Flix Brewhouse
-Narrow Margin - 7p 7/30 at UW Cinematheque
-Under the Sea 3D - 10a 7/30 at AMC
-Shrek - AMC
-Summer Wars - Marcus Point
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