Screening Report 7/2/2025

Back for the summer.

Jul 02, 2025

Hello, and welcome to this week’s screening report! I’m back from vacation and ready to join y’all at the movies once again. The Bartell Theater has booked independent baseball comedy Eephus, one of the hottest independent films of the year distributed by Chicago’s Music Box films, for July 19th. AMC is now advertising online that “movies begin 25-30 minutes after showtime.” However, at revivals like the IMAX rerelease of Princess Mononoke, I can say that sometimes, there will be no trailers or pre-roll and films will start exactly at the listed time. In my opinion, do yourself a favor and arrive on time, even if it is a lot of trailers.

The two highest profile releases of this week, Jurassic World: Rebirth and 40 Acres, have already debuted as of this write-up. The high-profile concept of 40 Acres’ Canadian farmland post-apocalypse thrills might not be obvious to those who’ve missed its marketing, but its positive reviews have it firmly on my radar to check out. AMC also has a collection of international releases on offer. Malice is a Mandarin mystery drama. Metro…In Dino is a Hindi ensemble drama about romantic relationships, maybe more Richard Curtis than Robert Altman. The Queen of My Dreams is a Pakistani/Canadian coming of age dramedy.. And Thammadu completes the group, a Telugu action drama with intense dramatic stakes.

In repertory, the films outside of the standard revival rotation are Cinematheque’s programming. Their Claude Lelouch retrospective jumps forward from A Man and a Woman with Cat and Mouse, a playful whodunit, paired with the short chase film Rendezvous. On the Fourth of July, those of us looking for an alternate celebration to fireworks might enjoy Dan O’Bannon’s The Return of the Living Dead, returning to his Dark Star roots with a wonderful mix of horror and slacker comedy. And on Wednesday the 9th, Cinematheque hosts its David Lynch shorts program, paired with iconic Twin Peaks reveal episode “Lonely Souls,” with editor and longtime Lynch collaborator Mary Sweeney in attendance for a post-screening discussion. These Lynch shorts are must-see for fans of Lynch, and I’m expecting it to be a very crowded screening.

Next week, we have the massive new release of James Gunn’s Superman, hoping to launch DC’s own cinematic universe after the decline of the previous DC Comics continuity including films like Man of Steel, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman. We have a couple other films premiering alongside Superman, but they’re not especially promising. Skill House is a slasher really only aimed at those who recognize social media influencers like Bryce Hall. Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story offers a post-Dracula story for Van Helsing, but until the film plays for more critics there’s nothing to recommend it. Lastly, the Jujutsu Kaisen film is simply a recap film of the named arcs as they aired on the TV series, with “remixed sound for an immersive theater experience, and an all-new acoustic version of Tatsuya Kitani’s ‘Where Our Blue Is,’” and is not suited to those not already deeply immersed in the franchise.

There are a few more wildcards in rep next week. Cinematheque’s programming of W.C. Fields comedy It’s A Gift is slightly surprising if only because I can find no record of Cinematheque screening Fields’ most famous comedy The Bank Dick - maybe to come someday soon. Flix offers Ari Aster’s Midsommar just two days before the premiere of his new film, Eddington. And viewers will have to choose on Wednesday the 16th between two repertory films, the Gene Hackman/Al Pacino road comedy Scarecrow at Cinematheque or the Barbara Stanwyck/Fred MacMurray noir classic Double Indemnity at Cinesthesia. Lastly, the week of 7/18, the horrific minds of Eddington, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and Smurfs descend upon us.

PLUG ZONE

-Rob Thomas has FIVE reviews of new release films, including F1, The Queen of My Dreams, Hot Milk, Jurassic World: Rebirth (excerpted below) and 40 Acres! Keep up the great work, Rob!

-David Boffa and Sara Batkie discuss The Phoenician Scheme in Tone Madison.

-On her Substack The Pink Stuff, Sara Batkie also has a brief write-up of Orson Welles’ Mr. Arkadin, to which The Phoenician Scheme bears comparison.

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 (7/3-7/9)

New Releases

-Malice - AMC
-Metro in Dino - AMC
-The Queen of My Dreams - AMC
-Thammadu - AMC

-Jurassic World: Rebirth - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
”We didn’t want theme parks or “dinosaur whisperers” or raptors chasing Chris Pratt on a motorcycle through Malta. We just wanted something that would approach the feeling we got when we saw the 1993 original in the theater for the first time.” - Rob Thomas

-Cat and Mouse + Rendezvous - 7p 7/3 at UW Cinematheque
-Return of the Living Dead - 7p 7/4 at UW Cinematheque
-Raiders of the Lost Ark - 9p 7/7 at Memorial Union Terrace
-Scream - 6:30p 7/8 at Flix Brewhouse
-Galapagos 3D - 10a 7/9 at AMC
-Short Films By David Lynch (Mary Sweeney in Person) - 7p 7/9 at UW Cinematheque
-This Is Spinal Tap - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-Despicable Me 4 - AMC
-The Garfield Movie - Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-Minions - Flix Brewhouse

NEXT WEEK (7/10/25-7/16-25)

New Releases

-Skill House - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-Superman - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story - AMC
-Jujutsu Kaisen: Hidden Inventory/Premature Death The Movie - 7/16-7/17 at AMC and Marcus Point

-Jurassic World: Rebirth - AMC

Repertory

-And Now My Love - 7p 7/10 at UW Cinematheque
-It’s A Gift - 7p 7/11 at UW Cinematheque
-Mad Max: Fury Road - 9p 7/14 at Memorial Union Terrace
-Midsommar - 6p 7/15 at Flix Brewhouse
-Deep Sea 3D - 10a 7/16 at AMC
-Double Indemnity - 6:30p 7/16 at Madison Central Library
-Scarecrow - 7p 7/16 at UW Cinematheque
-Kung Fu Panda 4 - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest - Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-Sonic the Hedgehog - Flix Brewhouse

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