Film Now Playing

OPENING THIS WEEK:

THE DARK KNIGHT—How many fans do you think will be confused when the marquee doesn’t say Batman? With Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, and Gary Oldman. Directed by Christopher Nolan (Memento). Reviewed this issue. Flix, Market Arcade, Regal Hollywood, Regal Elmwood, Regal Galleria, Regal Transit, Regal Quaker, Transit Drive In

MAMMA MIA!—Or, ABBA The Musical The Movie. Pierce Brosnan and Meryl Streep duet on “S.O.S.,” and that’s just for a start. With Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, and Amanda Seyfried. Directed by Phyllida Lloyd. Reviewed this issue. Flix, Market Arcade, McKinley , North Park, Regal Hollywood, Regal Elmwood, Regal Galleria, Regal Transit, Regal Hollywood

SPACE CHIMPS—Animated movie with the summer’s most self-explanatory title. Clearly the studio has no hope for the box office success of any film that it decides to open on the same weekend as The Dark Knight, but I guess it pays to have something in theaters for kids who can’t get into the guaranteed-to-be-sold-out Batman film and can’t be persuaded to sit through Meryl Streep warbling “Waterloo.” Voices of Andy Samberg, Stanley Tucci, Jeff Daniels, and Patrick Warburton. Directed by Kirk De Micco. McKinley, Regal Elmwood, Regal Galleria, Regal Transit, Flix, Regal Hollywood

WHEN DID YOU LAST SEE YOUR FATHER?—Jim Broadbent and Colin Firth star in this British drama as a father and son who examine their relationship when the older man is diagnosed with a terminal illness. Co-starring Juliet Stevenson and Gina McKee. Directed by Anand Tucker (Hilary and Jackie). Reviewed this issue. Amherst

ETC:

BRIDE OF THE MONSTER (1956)—How can you not love a movie with lines like “He tampered in God’s domain!”? To call it Ed Wood’s best movie may not be saying much, but he gives Bela Lugosi a few enjoyably hammy speeches, maybe to make up for the climactic scene in which he has to wrestle a fake rubber octopus with a broken motor. Fri 7:30pm. The Screening Room, Northtown Plaza Business Center, 3131 Sheridan Drive, Amherst (837-0376/screeningroom.net).

THE LITTLE PRINCESS (1939)—Frances Hodgson Burnett’s perennial story retooled as a vehicle for Shirley Temple as a girl left at a boarding school while her father goes off to fight the Boer War. Co-starring Richard Greene, Anita Louise, Cesar Romero, Ian Hunter (no, not the same one), and Arthur Treacher (yes, the same one). Directed by Walter Lang (Cheaper by the Dozen). Thurs July 24, 7 pm. Riviera Theatre, 67 Webster Street, North Tonawanda (692-2413).

THE MAN THEY COULD NOT HANG (1939)—Boris Karloff as a scientist unjustly accused of murder who vows to survive his own execution in order to seek revenge. Co-starring Lorna Gray, Robert Wilcox, and Roger Pryor. Directed by Nick Grinde. Thurs July 17, 7 pm. Riviera Theatre, 67 Webster Street, North Tonawanda (692-2413).

VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA (1961)—What can you say about a sci-fi movie whose hero is a renegade admiral determined to launch an atomic missile from a submarine into the atmosphere in order to save the earth? I say, thank god we’ve learned something from science in the last 50 years. With the kind of cast you don’t get ever day: Walter Pidgeon, Joan Fontaine, Barbara Eden, Peter Lorre, Frankie Avalon, and Howard (Floyd the Barber) McNear. An early hit from disaster specialist Irwin Allen (The Towering Inferno). Fri 9pm. The Screening Room, Northtown Plaza Business Center, 3131 Sheridan Drive, Amherst (837-0376/screeningroom.net).