Animas City Theatre
(128 E. College Drive, 799-2281, www.animascitytheatre.com)
Slapshot
(Wednesday only) Paul Newman plays Reggie Dunlop, the coach of a pathetic minor-league American hockey team. His career at a standstill and his marriage in tatters, Dunlop has nothing to lose by taking on a new group of players who are one evolutionary step above Neanderthals. Only when the team begins winning does he decide to get behind these players, and to encourage the rest of the team to play as down-and-dirty as the newcomers. Straight-arrow team member Ned Braden (Michael Ontkean) resents this influx of gonzo talent, preferring to play clean. As the film’s multitude of subplots play themselves out, Dunlop does his best to keep the outraged Braden on the team. Slap Shot is the sort of film for which the “R” rating was invented: Its nonstop barrage of profanity and its raunchy action sequences are of such intensity that the film will probably never be shown intact on commercial television. Rated R.
Learning to Drive
Wendy is a middle-aged book critic who is shattered when her husband Ted leaves her. In order to visit her daughter, who lives upstate, Wendy begins taking driving lessons from Darwan an American citizen originally from India who makes a living as a cabbie and giving driving lessons. The two strike-up a friendship that helps her learn to take control of her life, and him adjust to his new life after an arranged marriage. Rated R.
Gaslight Theatre
(102 Fifth St. Next to the railroad depot, 247-8133, www.allentheatresinc.com)
Aloft
(Wednesday only) As we follow a mother (Jennifer Connelly) and her son (Cillian Murphy), we delve into a past marred by an accident that tears them apart. She will become a renowned artist and healer, and he will grow into his own as a peculiar falconer who bears the marks of a double absence. In the present, a young journalist (Mélanie Laurent) will bring about an encounter between the two that puts the very meaning of life and art into question, so that we may contemplate the possibility of living life to its fullest, despite the uncertainties littering our paths. Rated R.
Bridge of Spies
A dramatic thriller set against the backdrop of a series of historic events, “Bridge of Spies” tells the story of James Donovan, a Brooklyn lawyer who finds himself thrust into the center of the Cold War when the CIA sends him on the near-impossible task to negotiate the release of a captured American U-2 pilot. Screenwriters Matt Charman and Ethan Coen and Joel Coen have woven this remarkable experience in Donovan’s life into a story inspired by true events that captures the essence of a man who risked everything and vividly brings his personal journey to life. Rated PG-13.
The Intern
Ben Whittaker is a 70-year-old widower who has discovered that retirement isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Seizing an opportunity to get back in the game, he becomes a senior intern at an online fashion site. Rated PG-13.
Durango Stadium 9
(Next to Durango Mall, 247-9799, www.allentheatresi nc.com)
Goosebumps
(Also available in 3-D with surcharge) Upset about moving from a big city to a small town, teenager Zach Cooper (Dylan Minnette) finds a silver lining when he meets the beautiful girl, Hannah (Odeya Rush), living right next door. But every silver lining has a cloud, and Zach’s comes when he learns that Hannah has a mysterious dad who is revealed to be R. L. Stine (Jack Black), the author of the best-selling Goosebumps series. It turns out that there is a reason why Stine is so strange – he is a prisoner of his own imagination – the monsters that his books made famous are real, and Stine protects his readers by keeping them locked up in their books. When Zach unintentionally unleashes the monsters from their manuscripts and they begin to terrorize the town, it’s suddenly up to Stine, Zach and Hannah to get all of them back in the books where they belong. Rated PG.
Crimson Peak
In the aftermath of a family tragedy, an aspiring author is torn between love for her childhood friend and the temptation of a mysterious outsider. Trying to escape the ghosts of her past, she is swept away to a house that breathes, bleeds ... and remembers. Rated R.
Woodlawn
A gifted high school football player must learn to boldly embrace his talent and his faith as he battles racial tensions on and off the field in Woodlawn, a moving and inspirational new film based on the true story of how love and unity overcame hate and division in early 1970s Birmingham, Alabama. Rated PG.
The Walk
Twelve people have walked on the moon, but only one man – Philippe Petit (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) – has ever, or will ever, walk in the immense void between the World Trade Center towers. Guided by his real-life mentor, Papa Rudy (Ben Kingsley), and aided by an unlikely band of international recruits, Petit and his gang overcome long odds, betrayals, dissension and countless close calls to conceive and execute their mad plan. Rated PG.
Pan
(Also available in 3-D with surcharge) A live-action Peter Pan feature directed by Joe Wright. Offering a new take on the origin of the classic characters created by J.M. Barrie, the action-adventure follows the story of an orphan who is spirited away to the magical Neverland. There, he finds fun and dangers, and ultimately discovers his destiny – to become the hero who will be forever known as Peter Pan. Rated PG.
The Martian
(Also available in 3-D with surcharge) Mark Watney is stranded on Mars after his crew leaves the planet, thinking he’s dead. He plans his survival as he rations food and builds a greenhouse with his knowledge and expertise as a botanist. Meanwhile, back on Earth, an imaging satellite shows NASA he is alive. They hatch a plan to get him home that backfires. They inform his crew, who are on a course to return to Earth, that he is still alive. The crew devises a plan to turn around and retrieve him. The stakes are high as the world watches the crew’s mission to make contact and attempt a rescue. Rated PG-13.
Sicario
In Mexico, “Sicario” means hitman. In the lawless border area stretching between the U.S. and Mexico, an idealistic FBI agent (Emily Blunt) is enlisted by an elite government task force official (Josh Brolin) to aid in the escalating war against drugs. Led by an enigmatic consultant with a questionable past (Benicio Del Toro), the team sets out on a clandestine journey. Rated R.
Everest
Inspired by the incredible events surrounding a treacherous attempt to reach the summit of the world’s highest mountain, “Everest” documents the awe-inspiring journey of two different expeditions challenged beyond their limits by one of the fiercest snowstorms ever encountered by humankind. Their mettle tested by the harshest of elements found on the planet, the climbers will face nearly impossible obstacles as a lifelong obsession becomes a breathtaking struggle for survival. Rated PG-13.
Hotel Transylvania 2
Everything seems to be changing for the better at Hotel Transylvania – Dracula’s rigid monster-only hotel policy has finally relaxed, opening up its doors to human guests. But behind closed coffins, Drac is worried that his adorable half-human, half-vampire grandson, Dennis, isn’t showing signs of being a vampire. So while Mavis is busy visiting her human in-laws with Johnny – and in for a major cultural shock of her own –‘Vampa’ Drac enlists his friends Frank, Murray, Wayne and Griffin to put Dennis through a ‘monster-in-training’ boot camp. But little do they know that Drac’s grumpy and very old, old, old school dad Vlad is about to pay a family visit to the hotel. And when Vlad finds out that his great-grandson is not a pure blood – and humans are now welcome at Hotel Transylvania – things are going to get batty! Rated PG.
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
In this next chapter of the epic “Maze Runner” saga, Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) and his fellow Gladers face their greatest challenge yet: searching for clues about the mysterious and powerful organization known as WCKD. Their journey takes them to the Scorch, a desolate landscape filled with unimaginable obstacles. Teaming up with resistance fighters, the Gladers take on WCKD’s vastly superior forces and uncover its shocking plans for them all. Rated PG-13.
