The Boss Baby PG
Alec Baldwin voices Boss Baby, the briefcase-toting infant who is 100% in charge at home. Then, Boss Baby stumbles upon Puppy Co. Inc.’s plot to create a pup so cute it will receive the love previously reserved for human babies. To prevent this disaster, Boss Baby persuades his older brother, Tim (Miles Christopher Bakshi), to help the baby expose Puppy Inc.’s scheme during a Las Vegas Trade show. It’s true that Baldwin as a talking baby is inspired casting, but any plot asking us to root against puppies is up against cat-a-strophic odds! (Lisa Miller)
Ghost in the Shell PG-13
Set in the near future, bionic prosthetics save the life of Major (Scarlett Johansson) following a devastating accident. Subsequently, Major’s benefactors order her to hunt down and neutralize hundreds of hackers who are infiltrating electronically enhanced human brains. Major is grateful and throws herself into the work, until she is informed that, rather than saving her life, the authorities have stolen it. She promises to exact revenge and become her own person once again. Adapted from the Japanese Manga series, Johansson frequently wears a nude Lycra bodysuit that leaves little to the imagination. (L.M.)
Great White Shark NR
Introduced to generations as a mindless eating machine in Jaws and similar monster movies, sharks in general quickly became feared, loathed and hunted to near extinction. Reason has gradually replaced fear, thanks to documentaries that place these magnificent, complex and very ancient ocean creatures into natural perspective. Great White Shark eschews blood and gore—replacing them with science and study in a sober way. It loses a little punch this way, perhaps, and you do begin to feel all of its 42 minutes toward the end, but it’s refreshing to see these majestic animals explained in an intelligent, adult manner. This film shows at the Milwaukee Public Museum’s IMAX Theater through July 9. (John Jahn)
Twisted Dreams Film Festival
Given last year’s success, the Milwaukee Twisted Dreams Film Festival has been expanded from two to three days. The aim of this horror film-centered festival is, per TDFF’s Andrea Thompson, “to feature full-length movies and shorts with an element of the macabre.” It also includes short films dedicated to Wisconsin in particular. With such cities as Madison, Chicago and Oshkosh hosting their own such film festivals, TDFF co-directors Christopher House and Stephen Mikek decided it was high time Milwaukee get in on the horror experience, too. (J.J.)
March 31-April 2 at Underground Collaborative, lower level at 161 W. Wisconsin Ave. For tickets, visit shepherdtickets.com or twisteddreamsff.com for more information.
The Zookeeper’s Wife PG-13
This adaptation, set during World War II, draws from the diaries of a zookeeper’s wife, previously put into book form by Diane Ackerman. After the Nazis invade Poland, Warsaw zookeeper Jan Żabiński (Johan Heldenbergh) and wife Antonina (Jessica Chastain) hide Jews inside rooms located beneath their zoo. With the Nazis encamped on zoo grounds, the Żabińskis report to the Reich’s newly appointed chief zoologist, Lutz Heck (Daniel Brühl). The couple appears to cooperate with his orders, even helping Heck in his eugenics experiments, but the officer suspects they are hiding something and he’s determined to find out what. (L.M.)
