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Hispanic Heritage On Screen, and More Movies to See This Week


Not much is opening wide to close out September. An animated family feature titled Abominable follows the adventures of a young girl returning a magical yeti to his home. The musical biopic Judy stars Renee Zellweger as Judy Garland, who performed in London the winter before her death in 1969. 

Ciné still has Downton Abbey—read on for more on that film—and Athens Rising 2: Transmittance. Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month and the UNESCO International Year of Indigenous Languages on Sept. 25 with Lantec Chana, about the last heir of the Chana language thought extinct for more than 200 years. Take part in a one-of-a-kind event at Ciné on Sept. 26 when the silent film The Wishing Ring is screened with live accompaniment by Mauro Ronca. Enamorada, an exemplar of classic Mexican cinema, also screens on Sept. 26. One of my favorite annual events, the Found Footage Festival, returns to Ciné on Sept. 28. If you have never been, go and prepare to laugh harder than you have—or will—all year. 

Flicker’s monthlong celebration of Rudy Ray Moore concludes with 1979’s Disco Godfather on Sept. 25. Pachinko Pop Cinema presents a double feature of The Golden Bat (Sonny Chiba alert!) and Gallant Hero Lion-Maru on Sept. 26. Enjoy some trivia and some Charles Bronson on Sept. 30 with Death Wish 3, the third time former architect Paul Kersey must avenge a fallen friend or family member. On Sept. 25, the Middle East Film Series continues with The Battle of Algiers

The ACC Library will screen Athens in Our Lifetimes again on Sept. 28 and celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with Alfonso Cuaron’s excellent Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban on the 29th. No home football game means Tate movies all weekend. Enjoy either On the Basis of Sex—the doc RBG is far superior—and/or Shazam

DOWNTON ABBEY (PG) I cannot tell you whether will enjoy Downton Abbey if you are not already acquainted with the adventures of the Crawley family and their complement of plucky servants, but devoted fans will love every moment of the Crawleys’ big-screen exploits. Apparently, a visit from the king and queen of England is rather less work than Mr. Carson (now retired), Mrs. Hughes, Mrs. Patmore, Daisy, Mr. Bates, Anna and the rest expected, once their snooty, dismissive royal counterparts arrive. 

Other familial machinations arise—most courtesy of Maggie Smith’s matriarch Violet—but Robert, Cora, Mary, Edith and Tom rise above it all in an extended episode more akin to the Christmas specials. Downton Abbey is as stuffily traditional a movie as one would expect, which ensures it to be the best Downton Abbey movie for which a fan could hope. A good time is had by all, even Mr. Barrow.     

RAMBO: LAST BLOOD (R) Where does one begin with a movie as unnecessarily political as the latest Rambo? Once seen as a jingoistic icon of Reagan’s Cold War, Vietnam vet John Rambo has traded in his red headband for a red hat as he slaughters a gang of Mexican criminals, drug dealers and rapists ripped directly from the nightmares of Donald Trump. Perhaps Stallone—who co-wrote the movie, as is his tendency—is making a statement about the Trump era. In reality, he has given us a Rambo-turned-Trump-era Paul Kersey. 

Last Blood has little to recommend besides the ever underrated Stallone, who treats Rambo as respectfully as Rocky, despite some seriously bad dialogue. The whole movie leaves one wondering about the good “final” Rambo movie that could have been. Maybe he has become a domestic terrorist provided a genuine grievance against the government that has abandoned him and his veteran brothers. Or, Col. Trautman’s son asks Rambo to infiltrate a militia planning some act of particularly violent cowardice. Such are the places one’s mind wanders during a timewaster like Last Blood. Do not skip the credits, which feature a terrific summation of the franchise, including the “true ending” of the movie you just watched.

AD ASTRA (PG-13) Ad Astra may eventually abandon Brad Pitt in its heady, self-important sci-fi plot, but the majority of the film convincingly and intriguingly constructs a realistic world of regulated space travel. Pitt’s Roy McBride is an astronaut who grew up without his father (Tommy Lee Jones), a lauded astronaut hero who disappeared 30 years ago on a mission to the outer solar system in search of intelligent life. Now, his dad has returned as a potential threat to the universe. 

James Gray’s film melds the realistic sci-fi effects of Gravity with a central, Kubrickian mystery that does not quite pay off. Still, the world-building is so rich and inventive, Ad Astra’s near future is one to which I yearn to return. 

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