In the age of streaming entertainment, it can be hard to leave the couch. But movie theaters still offer a special experience for those willing to get out of the house. Want to see what's out there? Don't miss this week's lineup of acclaimed movies showing on the big screen in and around Mesa.
Read on for the highest-rated films to catch, based on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes' Tomatometer Score, which reflects the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics.
(Movie descriptions courtesy The Movie Database; showtimes via Fandango. Movie ratings and showtimes are subject to change.)
Toy Story 4
Woody has always been confident about his place in the world and that his priority is taking care of his kid, whether that's Andy or Bonnie. But when Bonnie adds a reluctant new toy called "Forky" to her room, a road trip adventure alongside old and new friends will show Woody how big the world can be for a toy.
Boasting a Tomatometer Score of 98% and an Audience Score of 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, "Toy Story 4" has been a must-watch since its release on June 21. The New Yorker's Anthony Lane said, "Cooley's film quickens and deepens," while Matthew Rozsa of Salon noted, "The latest installment, 'Toy Story 4,' is perhaps the bleakest (and most beautiful) of them all."
Get a piece of the action at Harkins Superstition Springs 25 (6950 E. Superstition Springs Blvd.) and Picture Show at Superstition Springs Mall (6555 E. Southern Ave.) through Monday, July 1. Click here for showtimes and tickets.
Midsommar
A young couple travels to Sweden to visit their friend’s rural hometown and attend its mid-summer festival. What begins as an idyllic retreat quickly descends into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult.
Set to be released on Wednesday, July 3, "Midsommar" already has a Tomatometer Score of 90% on Rotten Tomatoes.
"This is, in other words, a less perfectly crafted nightmare than Aster's last one. But there's a deranged integrity to its sprawl, and to the filmmaker's willingness to embrace the darkest, most unsparing aspects of human desire," according to A.A. Dowd of the AV Club, while Entertainment Weekly's Leah Greenblatt said, "The skin-pricking pleasures of 'Midsommar' aren't rational, they're instinctive: a thrilling, seasick freefall into the light."
You can catch it for a pre-screening at Harkins Superstition Springs 25 (6950 E. Superstition Springs Blvd.) and AMC Mesa Grand 14 (1647 S. Stapley) through Wednesday, July 3. Click here for showtimes and tickets.
Do the Right Thing
On the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone's hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence.
With a Tomatometer Score of 90% and an Audience Score of 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, this '80s throwback has a strong following.
"In the final analysis, the best thing one can say for Lee is that he takes risks, like all true artists. For unlike most of today's filmmakers, he's not afraid to really challenge a movie audience to do some serious thinking," noted Kathleen Carroll of the New York Daily News, while the Philadelphia Inquirer's Carrie Rickey said, "['Do the Right Thing' is] an exceptional film, a movie that wisely deprives you of the cozy resolutions and epiphanies so often manufactured by Hollywood. Like the film's principals, you are left feeling that you have been torched where you live."
You can catch it at Harkins Superstition Springs 25 (6950 E. Superstition Springs Blvd.) on Sunday, June 30. Click here for showtimes and tickets.
Rocketman
The story of Elton John's life, from his years as a prodigy at the Royal Academy of Music through his influential and enduring musical partnership with Bernie Taupin.
With a Tomatometer Score of 89% and an Audience Score of 87% on Rotten Tomatoes, "Rocketman" has been getting attention since its release on May 31. The New Yorker's Anthony Lane said, "If you need somebody to recount the rise of a British rock god from pallid suburbia to the baroque extremes of fame, and to create a stir without causing too much of a fuss, Fletcher is your man," and the Chicago Reader's Leah Pickett noted, "The story reshuffles reality, especially time and facts, and the film is more enjoyable for it."
In the mood for popcorn? It's playing at Harkins Superstition Springs 25 (6950 E. Superstition Springs Blvd.), AMC Superstition East 12 (1935 S. Signal Butte Road) and AMC Mesa Grand 14 (1647 S. Stapley) through Monday, July 1. Click here for showtimes and tickets.
This story was created automatically using local movie data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
