Alice Through the Looking Glass: 3D PG
In the real world, teen Alice (Mia Wasikowska) has grown into a pioneer of trade routes leading to China. Before long, she is drawn back to Wonderland where she finds the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) wasting away from depression. To save him, Alice must travel back in time and prevent certain tragic events from occurring. She borrows a time-traveling Chronosphere from Time himself (Sacha Baron Cohen), but is repeatedly assailed by the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter), who wants in on Alice’s time travelling gig. Also serving as the Red Queen’s origin story, this sequel explains how she became evil and, more importantly, how she acquired her outsized head. Neon bright colors share the film’s muted color pallet, creating moments of visual wonderment. However, the two-hour runtime craves more highly developed characters and more story than evidenced here.
X-Men: Apocalypse: 3D PG-13
It’s the 1980s when Apocalypse awakens from a coma of several thousand years. Having seen that weak humans have effectively harnessed their superior numbers to dominate the strong humans and mutants, Apocalypse is determined to destroy civilization and start over. He slyly recruits other mutants by promising to increase their powers. Much telepathy occurs between Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) running a school for mutants, and Magneto (Michael Fassbender). Meanwhile, they both owe much to Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence). While critics are split on whether this one’s story is up to par, most agree that the ensuing superhero-on-superhero battles are perilous and engrossing.
