Kong: Skull Island PG-13
Set in the early ’70s at the close of the Vietnam War, U.S. official Bill Randa (John Goodman) organizes an expedition to map unchartered Skull Island in the Pacific. Accompanied by an array of military pilots and soldiers, along with pretty nature photographer Mason Weaver (Brie Larson), the explorers arrive in helicopters that are plucked from the sky by a monster gorilla. Also on hand are gigantic spiders and fearsome, snakelike lizards. Rebooting the King Kong franchise, director Jordan Vogt-Roberts designed a simple, effective, 100-foot Kong. Here, he is the lonely last of his kind, fighting to retain dominance over his domain. Shot in the IMAX format, this creature feature is ideally suited to the biggest big screen. He is Kong, hear him roar! (Lisa Miller)
The Red Turtle PG
A face emerges from the roiling ocean at the opening of The Red Turtle, the latest film from Japan’s Studio Ghibli animators. The image recurs in various ways throughout this Robinson Crusoe-like tale of people marooned in the immensity of nature. Beautifully drawn in simple yet ample lines, the influence of traditional Japanese printmaking can be seen in what is omitted as well as what is included in each frame. The eye focuses on what’s important. The human characters never speak but interact compassionately on an island of scampering crabs, bellowing seals and wheeling flocks of birds, suspended in the vastness of sea and sky. (David Luhrssen)
