Cranky Hanke’s Weekly Reeler May 4-10: Remember Captain America (Like you could forget)

In Theaters.

All right. Here it is. Summer is “officially” here according to Hollywood. (I could swear it was “officially” here once already this spring, but I guess that was a test case.) Here we have the movie that’s so big that not only does nothing — apart from a single lonely art title locally — want to open against, but all of last week’s major (tee hee hee) openings were just sacrificed to its oncoming juggernaut of awesomeness.

Any way you look at last weekend, it was pretty darn grim. It may in fact have been the worst I’ve seen in some considerable time. The major bright spot was — and is — that Miles Ahead held up pretty well at the Fine Arts. Otherwise…

Before tackling the week’s bright shiny new deal, I’ll take a moment to mention that lone and lonely art title, Atom Egoyan’s Remember — opening Friday at the Fine Arts. This one I’ve seen and it’s reviewed in this week’s paper. Egoyan’s art house cred is still running on the fumes of that Oscar nomination (touted on the poster) from 1997. I don’t begrudge him — or the folks promoting the film — from using that, but honestly it’s on the irrelevant side here. The only possible Oscar-bait on display is Christopher Plummer’s performance — and it’s almost enough to raise the preposterous premise of Remember to another level. Now, don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed Remember. I was entertained by it. But that was in part because I was prepared to embrace its lurid and improbable (a generous terms) notion of an 80-odd-year-old Auschwitz survivor suffering from dementia going on a mission to locate and execute a Nazi war criminal. I do in fact recommend it, but be prepared to suspend your disbelief.

And then there’s Anthony and Joe Russo’s Captain America: Civil War — starting Friday (with now seemingly required Thursday night shows) at the Carolina Cinemark, Co-ed of Brevard, Epic of Hendersonville, Regal Biltmore Grande, UA Beaucatcher. In most places (the Co-ed to one side), it’s in your choice of 2D and 3D. The movie has already been cleaning up overseas, and it’s headed our way with a raft of glowing reviews (102 positive vs. seven negative on Rotten Tomatoes). I’m a little torn on this one, because I have never liked the Captain America character much (dating back to seeing the 1944 serial many years ago) and I haven’t seen the two previous films in this series. (Captain America has been Mr. Souther’s specialty.) At the same time, this really looks more like an Avengers entry than anything else. So maybe. (I’ve got at least one art house screening this week.) The folks at Disney say this entry “finds Steve Rogers leading the newly formed team of Avengers in their continued efforts to safeguard humanity. But after another incident involving the Avengers results in collateral damage, political pressure mounts to install a system of accountability, headed by a governing body to oversee and direct the team. The new status quo fractures the Avengers, resulting in two camps — one led by Steve Rogers and his desire for the Avengers to remain free to defend humanity without government interference, and the other following Tony Stark’s surprising decision to support government oversight and accountability.” Let the spandex stretch!

This week we lose Everybody Wants Some!! (pretty much a foregone conclusion), Hello, My Name Is Doris. It’s worth noting that Asheville Pizza is bringing in Martin McDonaugh’s brilliantly dark Seven Psychopaths for their 10 p.m. movie come Friday.

Special Screenings

Before getting to the usual films, let’s note that on Thu., May 5 at 7 p.m., the Fine Arts Theater continues this year’s Jewish Film Festival with the drama Apples from the Desert, which will have an encore screening Fri., May 6 at 1 p.m.

World Cinema is screening Fritz Lang’s M (1931) at 8 p.m. on Fri., May 6 at Phil Mechanic Studios, 109 Roberts St., River Arts District (upstairs in the Railroad Library). The Hendersonville Film Society is sitting out the week because of Mother’s Day. Keep watching for an update (hopefully soon) on The Asheville Film Society and the Thursday Horror Picture Show.