Optimus Prime (voiced by 81-year-old legend of the VO game Peter Cullen) is back for yet another sequel of questionable necessity, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. This one has O.P. leading his robots in disguise in defense of the Maxmials, who are robots disguised as animals, against the Terrorcons, who are also robots in disguise, only bad. Good news: Michael Bay isn’t directing!
Adapted from one of the early 1970s Stephen King short stories that earned him the reputation as a master of horror, The Boogeyman stars Sophie Thatcher (of Yellowjackets fame) as a teenager whose home is invaded by a creature who hides under the bed, comes out at night, and feeds on fear. If you’re afraid of the dark, this is not the film for you. If you’re into classic horror, turn me on!
If you’re looking for an escape from summer blockbusters, Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ new comedy with director Nicole Holofcener You Hurt My Feelings is here for you. Beth’s (Louis-Dreyfus) husband Don (Tobias Menzies) is a therapist, so you’d think he would know better than to admit he doesn’t like the new book she’s been writing. Guess not. Surely, that one little slip up can’t have life-altering consequences? Oops again!
John Waters’ transgressive, but radically inclusive, cinema increasingly looks ahead of its time. With 1988’s Hairspray, he came the closest to the mainstream he ever would. Future talk show host Ricki Lake stars as Tracy Turnblad, a typical ’50s teenager who loves to dance. She wants to be a regular on local a local TV teen show, but first she must overcome her arch rival, Amber (Colleen Ann Fitzpatrick), and the close-minded, racist establishment. Debbie Harry, Sonny Bono, Jerry Stiller, and of course, drag legend Divine round out the cast of this fever dream of rock and roll and racial integration. On Sunday, June 11, it’s coming back for a 35th anniversary screening at several Malco theaters.
On Tuesaday at Crosstown Theater, Indie Memphis’ Microcinema series presents A Tribute to Barbara Hammer. The avant-garde filmmaker who died in 2019 was a pioneer of queer cinema, creating more than 80 films in the course of her career. The 1982 short film “Audience” shows the dynamic interaction between the artist and the viewer that was at the core of her cinema. Nitrate Kisses from 1992 was her first feature-length work, a experimental documentary about the lives of queer people living on the margins of social acceptability. Microcinema begins at 7:00 p.m.
