Want to see a movie, but not sure what's worth your time (and money)? Don't miss this week's lineup of acclaimed movies showing on the big screen in and around Fresno.
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 percent and an Audience Score of 95 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, "Toy Story 4" has been a must-watch since its release on June 21.
The New Yorker's Anthony Lane said, "[Director Josh] 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 Regal UA Broadway Faire (3351 W. Shaw Ave.) through Monday, July 1; Regal Edwards Fresno & IMAX (250 Paseo del Centro) through Wednesday, July 3. 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 for wide release on Wednesday, July 3, "Midsommar" already has a Tomatometer Score of 93 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
"This is, in other words, a less perfectly crafted nightmare than [director Ari] 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. 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."
Catch it on the big screen at Regal Manchester – Fresno (2055 E. Shields Ave.) and Regal Edwards Fresno & IMAX (250 Paseo del Centro) beginning Tuesday, July 2. 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 percent and an Audience Score of 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, this 1989 favorite has much to recommend it.
"In the final analysis, the best thing one can say for [Spike] Lee is that he takes risks, like all true artists. For unlike most of today's film makers, he's not afraid to really challenge a movie audience to do some serious thinking," noted Kathleen Carroll of the New York Daily News. The Philadelphia Inquirer's Carrie Rickey called it "an exceptional film, a movie that wisely deprives you of the cozy resolutions and epiphanies so often manufactured by Hollywood."
You can catch it at Regal Edwards Fresno & IMAX (250 Paseo del Centro) through Wednesday, July 3. 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 percent and an Audience Score of 87 percent 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, [director Dexter] Fletcher is your man."The Chicago Reader's Leah Pickett noted, "The story reshuffles reality, especially time and facts, and the film is more enjoyable for it."
Catch it on the big screen at Regal Edwards Fresno & IMAX (250 Paseo del Centro) through Wednesday, July 3. Click here for showtimes and tickets.
Pavarotti
Featuring never-before-seen footage, concert performances and intimate interviews, filmmaker Ron Howard examines the life and career of famed opera tenor Luciano Pavarotti.
With a Tomatometer Score of 89 percent and an Audience Score of 97 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, "Pavarotti" has been getting attention since its release on June 7.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Sarah Bryan Miller said, "It's an engaging film, filled with vintage snapshots, interviews with friends and former colleagues, and, most of all, that marvelously distinctive voice, with all the emotion it could convey." Jeff Strickler of Minneapolis Star Tribune stated, "As 'Pavarotti' demonstrates, while the music was mesmerizing, so was the man."
It's playing at Regal Edwards Fresno & IMAX (250 Paseo del Centro) through Wednesday, July 3. 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.
