The Milwaukee Post

By Tom Jozwik TimeOut Film Critic Spring has sprung, as they say — the season of Easter vacations, baseball's rebirth and (hopefully, this being Wisconsin) a farewell to wintry weather. Plus a welcome to an eclectic crop of movies. Following are 20 films scheduled to start U.S. runs in the next two months, prior to summer's de facto arrival on Memorial Day weekend. Release dates indicated are subject to change. ■ Now showing: "T2 Trainspotting." Dark com- edy set in, and released early in, the United Kingdom. This sequel to the w e l l - r e c e i v e d "Trainspotting" of 1996 reunites star Ewan McGregor and director Danny Boyle. (See review on page 7B.) ■ Friday: "The Baby Boss." Animated 3-D pro- duction provides a 7-year- old's take on how a new addition affects his family. Donald Trump (err, Trump's "Saturday Night Live" alter ego, Alec Baldwin) voices the baby. ■ Friday: "Ghost in the Shell." Japanese anime- rooted sci-fi/action flick pits a cyborg policewoman (Scarlett Johansson) against a computer hacker. ■ Friday: "The Zookeeper's Wife." True story, based on Diane Ackerman's book, of the Warsaw zookeeper and his wife who provided safe har- bor for Jews during World War II. Jessica Chastain takes on the title role. ■ April 7: "Going in Style." Buddies Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Alan Arkin plan a rob- bery as payback for a bank they feel defrauded them. The comedy co-stars Ann- Margret and is directed by Zach Braff, late of TV's "Scrubs." ■ April 7: "Smurfs: The Lost Village." The boys in blue, and Smurfette (voice of Demi Lovato), seek out ... yep, a lost village. The Smurfs aren't the 3-D car- toon's only seekers, though, and their path is fraught with peril. Among the voic- es: Rainn Wilson, Gabriel Iglesias — and chef Gordon Ramsay. ■ April 12: "Gifted." Mckenna Grace is the young grade-schooler referred to in the title, whose genius for math ends up disrupting the life she shares with her uncle (Frank Adler). 2016 Oscar nominee Octavia Spencer co-stars in this drama with humorous moments. ■ April 14: "The Fate of the Furious." Sequel to 2015's "Furious 7" brings back big-name cast mem- bers Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez and Jason Statham while adding Charlize Theron. The action flick is directed by F. Gary Gray ("Straight Outta Compton," "The Italian Job"), whereas James Wan helmed its predecessor. ■ April 14: "The Lost City of Z." Adventure biopic based on a similarly titled 2009 book. S c r e e n w r i t e r - d i r e c t o r James Gray's film centers on ex-military man Percival Fawcett, a British explorer (played by a British actor, Charles Hunnam) who dis- appeared nearly a century ago as he searched for a lost city in the Amazon. Robert Pattinson and Sienna Miller co-star. ■ April 21: "Born in China." A Disneynature documentary, billed as fami- ly fare, takes viewers to the Celestial Empire. Monkeys, pandas and snow leopards star; John Krasinski ("The Office") and Xun Zhou nar- rate. ■ April 21: "Leap!" Released abroad as "Ballerina" in 2016, this computer-animated film features the voices of Elle Fanning and Dane DeHaan, among others. It's a French- Canadian musical/adven- ture, in English, helmed by Eric Summer and Eric Warin. ■ April 21: "Unforgettable." Rosario Dawson, Katherine Heigl and Cheryl Ladd are in this thriller seemingly on the order of last year's "The Girl on the Train": former hubby and new wife holed up at former homestead, while old wife's on outside looking in. As a teacher of mine used to say, "Wouldn't that frost you?" ■ April 28: "The Circle." Emma Watson dis- covers climbing up the cor- porate ladder can bring dan- gerous results — especially in a sci-fi film in the era of the internet. Tom Hanks and Bill Paxton co-star — the latter, who died Feb. 25, ironically portraying a dying man in his final film. ■ April 28: "How to Be a Latin Lover." Young Mckenna Grace is in this comedy, too, along with Kristen Bell, Salma Hayek, Raquel Welch — and Eugenio Derbez as a gigolo whose much older wife throws him out. Being bounced unexpectedly puts Derbez's character on the road to familial understand- ing. ■ May 5: "Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2." They're baaaack! Star- Lord, Drax the Destroyer, Rocket Raccoon and Gamora, that is, aka Chris P r a t t , Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana. Plus director James Gunn, in a Marvel Comics super- hero sequel whose predeces- sor was critically and popu- larly applauded in 2014. ■ May 12: "Snatched." Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn turn being kidnapped into a hilarious proposition. Christopher Meloni and Oscar Jaenada co-star; Jonathan Levine directs. ■ May 12: "The Wedding Plan." A subti- tled Israeli film, directed by Rama Burshtein, has the tagline "30 days, 1 wedding, no groom." Seems the groom fell through ... but not the wedding. This come- dy was a Venice Film Festival selection and has won accolades from the Israeli Film Academy. ■ May 19: "Annabelle 2." Anthony LaPaglia (TV's "Without a Trace") might be the biggest name in this horror flick, which involves a dollmaker whose child died tragically, the dollmak- er's wife, a nun, orphan girls — and Annabelle. ■ May 19: "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul." The fourth flick in a comedic series dating to 2010 finds wimpy, fame- seeking Greg Heffley (Jason Drucker, replacing Zachary Gordon) taking a road trip with his family. David Bowers directs for the third time. ■ May 19: "Everything, Everything." Amandla Sternberg's character Maddy says she's "willing to sacrifice everything just to live one perfect day." As it is, her immunodeficiency condition has confined the adolescent to her mother's home all her life. But now that teenaged Olly (Nick Robinson) has moved into the neighborhood — let the perfect days begin? Based on the young adult novel by Nicola Yoon. March 31, 2017 • Milwaukee County Post • 15 ENTERTAINMENT Boss Baby (voice of Alec Baldwin) is flanked by Mom (Lisa Kudrow) and Dad (Jimmy Kimmel) in a scene from "The Baby Boss." DreamWorks Animation Emma Watson, foreground, stars with Tom Hanks in the sci-fi film "The Circle," in theaters April 28. STX Entertainment Springing into existence: a score of eclectic films

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