Screening Report 9/17/25
Genuinely too many movies all at once IMO
Hello, and welcome to this week’s screening report! With this week’s releases, we officially start the transition from summer blockbusters and Sundance film festival releases to the prestige filmmaking and international film festival releases which premiered at Cannes, Venice and Toronto. I found this Indiewire article quite useful in terms of keeping track of the handful of films that still haven’t found distribution - if you’ve seen the buzz and it’s not there, it’s probably releasing sometime in the next six months.
This week’s widest new releases are somewhat inauspicious, with pretty disastrous reviews for Kogonada’s high concept romance A Big Bold Beautiful Journey. Reviews are still embargoed for the two dueling football films, the horror superstar (satire?) Him and more straightforward drama The Senior. The History of Sound, a gay period romance film starring Josh O’Connor and Paul Mescal, has somewhat lukewarm reviews, calling it understated but pleasant enough. Of the lesser known action films, Josh Duhamel hitman crime comedy London Calling has a few more “it’s fun!” reactions than the post-apocalyptic Afterburn. Megadoc and In Whose Name? document creative processes with challenging personalities, though Francis Ford Coppola creating Megalopolis probably holds more appeal to this audience than the decline of Kanye West. Cinematheque is showing Quentin Depieux’s The Second Act, the director of oddball films like Rubber and Deerskin working with Lea Seydoux and Vincent Lindon. If none of the above suits you, you could do worse than see Billy Zane’s Marlon Brando impression in Waltzing with Brando, an indulgence I’ve been enjoying on his Instagram feed for a while now.
It’s next week that really kicks into higher gear with Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, which is premiering to (possibly hyperbolic) reviews declaring it one of the very best films of the century so far. The adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland starring Leonardo DiCaprio is being shown in expanded formats across the country, though Madisonians will have to settle for the AMC IMAX if we’re not willing to travel to The Oriental in Milwaukee to see the film in 70mm. Don’t sleep on Cinematheque’s screening of Golden Bear winner Dreams (Drømmer,) either.
In repertory this week, Cinematheque has a strong lineup with making-of documentary Hearts of Darkness, Studio Ghibli’s wartime requiem Grave of the Fireflies, and Claire Denis’ energetic early film No Fear, No Die. La Cineteca Italiana returns with The Life Ahead this week and L’avventura next week. Lola’s Sidecar Lounge has a special showing of 1984 Alan Rudolph film Choose Me.
Next week’s weekend lineup forces some hard choices between nostalgic favorites with Donnie Darko at Cinematheque and The Lost Boys and The Royal Tenenbaums at WUD. I questioned whether the film belonged in repertory or premieres, but Zhang Yimou’s still otherwise unavailable film One Second is playing at Cinematheque on Saturday the 27th. Cinematheque is also celebrating Silent Movie Day on Sunday the 28th with The Italian Straw Hat - despite the 2pm screening time, the film will be at 4070 Vilas as usual. Lastly, I do want to mention that October 1st will kick off a likely heavy emphasis on horror films, starting with AMC’s screening of A Nightmare on Elm Street and Flix’s screening of Sleepy Hollow. Looking ahead to the weekend of October 3rd, the awards season films continue with Dwayne Johnson’s MMA biopic The Smashing Machine - alternatively, you may enjoy dog horror film Good Boy.
PLUG ZONE
-Rob Thomas has reviews of Rainn Wilson/Lil Rel Howery comedy Code 3 and 80s classic horror film Fright Night.
-James Kreul has previews with context of the two upcoming experimental screenings this week, celebrating Grace Mitchell and Blake Barit.
-Tone Madison offers a new podcast discussion of the summer movie season and Sara Batkie reviewing Claire Denis’ second feature No Fear No Die, playing at the Chazen this Sunday.
-I wrote a brief in memoriam of Robert Redford for my own site.
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 (9/18/25-9/24/25)
New Releases
-A Big Bold Beautiful Journey - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Him - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-The Senior - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-731 - AMC, Marcus Point
-Afterburn - AMC, Marcus Palace
-The History of Sound - AMC, Marcus Point
-In Whose Name? - AMC
-London Calling - AMC
-Megadoc - AMC
-Waltzing with Brando - AMC
-The Second Act - 7p 9/18 at UW Cinematheque
-Andrea Bocelli: Because I Believe - 12:45p 9/21, 6:35p 9/24 at Marcus Palace
-Blake Barit: Digitalog - 7p 9/24 at Art + Lit Lab
-They Call Him OG - 9/24 at Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-The Conjuring: Last Rites - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-The Long Walk - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Spinal Tap II: The End Continues - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Weapons - AMC, Marcus Point, Flix Brewhouse
-Caught Stealing - AMC
-Fantastic Four: The First Steps - AMC
-Freakier Friday - Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-Mirai - AMC
-The Naked Gun - Flix Brewhouse
-Triumph of the Heart - Marcus Point
Repertory
-Easter Parade - 1:30p 9/18 at AMC
-12 Monkeys - 9p 9/19, 6p 9/20 at The Marquee Union South
-Hearts of Darkness - 7p 9/19 at UW Cinematheque
-Pearl - 6:30p 9/19, 9p 9/20 at The Marquee Union South
-The Dark Knight - 2:45p, 6:30p 9/20 at Flix Brewhouse
-Grave of the Fireflies - 7p 9/20 at UW Cinematheque
-No Fear No Die - 2p 9/21 at Chazen Museum of Art
-Blazing Saddles - 5:30p, 6:30p 9/23 at Flix Brewhouse
-The Life Ahead - 7p 9/23 at La Cineteca Italiana
-Choose Me - 9/24 at Lola’s Sidecar Lounge
-Hamilton - Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-Howl’s Moving Castle - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-Toy Story - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Apollo 13 - AMC
-Jackass 3D - AMC
NEXT WEEK (9/25/25-10/1/25)
New Releases
-Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-One Battle After Another - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-The Strangers: Chapter II - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-Dead of Winter - AMC, Marcus Palace
-Eleanor the Great - AMC
-Dreams (Drømmer) - 7p 9/25 at UW Cinematheque
-The Year + Experimental Shorts - 8p 9/29 at Aftershock Side Room Cinematheque
-Satisfied - 9/30-10/1 at Marcus Point and Marcus Palace
-Good Boy (Early Access) - 7:30p 10/1 at Marcus Palace
-Kantara A Legend: Chapter 1 - 10/1-10/2 at Marcus Point and Marcus Palace
-A Big Bold Beautiful Journey - AMC
-Him - AMC
Repertory
-Donnie Darko - 7p 9/26 at UW Cinematheque
-The Lost Boys - 6:30p 9/26, 9p 9/27 at The Marquee Union South
-The Royal Tenenbaums - 9p 9/26, 6:30p 9/27 at The Marquee Union South
-One Second - 7p 9/27 at UW Cinematheque
-Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure - 6:30p 9/27 at Flix Brewhouse
-The Italian Straw Hat - 2p 9/28 at UW Cinematheque
-L’Avventura - 7p 9/30 at La Cineteca Italiana
-A Nightmare on Elm Street - 7p 10/1 at AMC
-Sleepy Hollow - 6:30p 10/1 at Flix Brewhouse
-Spider-Man - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-Spider-Man 2.1 - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-Spider-Man 3 - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-The Girl Who Leapt Through Time - Marcus Point
-Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-The Rocky Horror Picture Show - Marcus Point
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.