Impress your date with these must-see movies screening in New York City right now

Impress your date with these must-see movies screening in New York City right nowImage: Taxi Driver/TMDb
Hoodline
Published on June 14, 2019

In the market for high-caliber entertainment? Don't miss this week's lineup of acclaimed movies showing on the big screen in and around New York City.

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.)

Taxi Driver

A mentally unstable Vietnam War veteran works as a night-time taxi driver in New York City, where the perceived decadence and sleaze feeds his urge for violent action, attempting to save a preadolescent prostitute in the process.

Boasting a Tomatometer Score of 98 percent and an Audience Score of 93 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, this '70s throwback has been a favorite of critics.

The New Yorker's Pauline Kael said, "No other film has ever dramatized urban indifference so powerfully; at first, here, it's horrifyingly funny, and then just horrifying," while Tom Huddleston of Time Out noted, "Martin Scorsese's unflinching plunge into the darkest recesses of the human soul feels painfully relevant."

It's playing at Quad Cinema (34 W. 13th St.) this evening. Click here for showtimes and tickets.

Booksmart

Two academic teenage superstars realize, on the eve of their high school graduation, that they should have worked less and played more. Determined to never fall short of their peers, the girls set out on a mission to cram four years of fun into one night.

With a Tomatometer Score of 97 percent and an Audience Score of 93 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, "Booksmart" has proven to be a critical darling since its release on May 24.

"It's more John Hughes than Judd Apatow, and it's a little more 'Bridesmaids' than 'Lady Bird' ... a success on (its) own terms," according to Kristen Evans of The New Republic, while Salon.com's Erin Keane said, "'Booksmart' puts a fresh spin on the coming-of-age night-of comedy because it's focused on two girls, one of whom is also queer."

Catch it on the big screen at Williamsburg Cinemas (217 Grand St.) through Thursday, June 20. Click here for showtimes and tickets.

Weekend

A supposedly idyllic weekend trip to the countryside turns into a never-ending nightmare of traffic jams, revolution, cannibalism and murder as French bourgeois society starts to collapse under the weight of its own consumer preoccupations.

With a Tomatometer Score of 96 percent and an Audience Score of 79 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, this 1967 release is a must-see.

"Year after year, Jean-Luc Godard has been chipping away at the language of cinema. Now, in 'Weekend,' he has just about gotten down to the bare bones. This is his best film and his most inventive. It is almost pure movie," noted Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, while Time Out's Keith Uhlich said, "As long as cinema like this exists, there's no end in sight."

Catch it on the big screen at Quad Cinema (34 W. 13th St.) through Saturday, June 15. Click here for showtimes and tickets.

The Wild Bunch

Aging outlaw, Pike Bishop prepares to retire after one final robbery. Joined by his gang, Dutch Engstrom and brothers Lyle and Tector Gorch, Bishop discovers the heist is a setup orchestrated in part by a former partner, Deke Thornton. As the remaining gang takes refuge in Mexican territory, Thornton trails them — resulting in fierce gunfights with plenty of casualties.

With a Tomatometer Score of 95 percent and an Audience Score of 91 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, this 1960s classic has become a favorite.

The New Yorker's Pauline Kael said, "It's a traumatic poem of violence, with imagery as ambivalent as Goya's," and the Village Voice's J. Hoberman noted, "Arguably the strongest Hollywood movie of the 1960s — a western that galvanizes the clichés of its dying genre with a shocking jolt of delirious carnage."

Catch it on the big screen at Quad Cinema (34 W. 13th St.) tonight. Click here for showtimes and tickets.

Re-Animator

A dedicated student at a medical college and his girlfriend become involved in bizarre experiments centering around the re-animation of dead tissue when an odd new student arrives on campus.

With a Tomatometer Score of 95 percent and an Audience Score of 82 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, this 1985 release comes highly recommended.

Washington Post's Paul Attanasio said, "'Re-Animator' is splatter heaven. Based on the sci-fi novel by H.P. Lovecraft, 'Re-Animator's' gore is exceeded only by its wit," while Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times stated, "It's simply the best, funniest Grand Guignol horror picture to come along in ages."

Catch it on the big screen at Quad Cinema (34 W. 13th St.) on Saturday, June 15. 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.