Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie R
Though a tad older and a smidge wider, Edina and Patsy (Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley who appeared in the roles in the much-loved BBC TV show) are still perpetually drunk and apt to make fools of themselves. Seeking to gain new clients for her PR company, Edina persuades Patsy to accompany her to a chichi party where Kate Moss is the featured guest. After Edina and Patsy predictably cause a disaster, they are hounded by the tabloid press. Broke and repeatedly admonished for not having the good sense to die while they had money and looked better, Edina and Patsy hide out on the French Riviera. British to a fault, they love opulence and plot shamelessly to get money to stay in the Riviera and complete their Brexit!
Ice Age: Collision Course: 3D PG
Woolly mammoths Manny and Ellie (voiced by Ray Romano and Queen Latifah) hope to prevent their daughter, Peaches (Keke Palmer), from marrying ne’er-do-well, Julian (Adam DeVine), but that concern is shelved after they spot an enormous, fiery asteroid hurtling toward Earth. Manny intends to come up with a plan to save them all, helped, of course, by his pals—ground sloths Sid and Granny and saber-toothed tigers Diego and Shira. The friends are unaware this impending catastrophe can be traced back to acorn-obsessed squirrel, Scrat (Chris Wedge), who finds his way aboard an alien spaceship that he pilots (badly). This fifth film in the franchise pads its paper-thin plot with a confusing host of new characters, but who can object to Neil deGrasse Tyson voicing an ice age weasel?
Lights Out PG-13
After moving out on her own, Rebecca (Teresa Palmer) hoped never to see her emotionally unstable mother, Sophie (Maria Bello), again. But when Rebecca’s 10-year-old stepbrother, Martin (Gabriel Bateman), is plagued by the same dark presence that haunted Rebecca as a child, she returns home to protect him. Now perceived as a threat to the ghost’s relationship with Sophie, both Martin and Rebecca endure horrifying visions and supernatural attacks. Their one defense is to avoid the dark where the ghost can materialize. Whatever you do, don’t turn out the lights during this spooky entry produced by horror-genre behemoth James Wan.
Star Trek Beyond PG-13
J.J. Abrams steps out of the director’s chair but still produces this third installment in the Star Trek franchise reboot. Here, the villainous Krall (Idris Elba under heavy prosthetic makeup) becomes stranded on the desert planet, Altamid. While most of the Enterprise crew is held hostage, Kirk, Spock, Bones, Sulu, Scotty, Uhura, Chekov and crew member addition Jaylah (Simon Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, John Cho, Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldana, Anton Yelchin and Sofia Boutella), remain free, but are separated into groups of two around the planet. Both Kirk and Spock are grappling with personal issues they must set aside to prevent Krall from obtaining a “death machine” held by the Federation. The threequel’s screenplay was co-written by actor Simon Pegg, who penned numerous action set pieces and brought back welcome flourishes of humor.
