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? Take a look at this week's lineup of acclaimed movies showing on the big screen in and around Kansas 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.)
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 proved to be a critical darling 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."
You can catch it at B&B Theatres Northland 14 (4900 N.E. 80th St.) through Monday, July 1; AMC Ward Parkway 14 (8600 Ward Parkway), Regal Kansas City (3200 Ameristar Drive) and Alamo Drafthouse Mainstreet (1400 Main St.) through Wednesday, July 3. 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 77 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, "Booksmart" has proved 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'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."
You can catch it at AMC Barrywoods 24 (8101 Roanridge Road) through Monday, July 1. Click here for showtimes and tickets.
Jaws
An insatiable great white shark terrorizes the townspeople of Amity Island. The police chief, an oceanographer and a grizzled shark hunter seek to destroy the bloodthirsty beast.
With a Tomatometer Score of 97 percent and an Audience Score of 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, this 1975 classic boasts plenty of accolades.
"Jaws is a grisly film, often ugly as sin, which achieves precisely what it set out to accomplish — scare the hell out of you," noted Arthur Cooper of Newsweek.
It's playing at Alamo Drafthouse Mainstreet (1400 Main St.) 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 for wide release on Wednesday, July 3, "Midsommar" already has a Tomatometer Score of 93 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. The AV Club's A.A. Dowd said, "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," and Entertainment Weekly's Leah Greenblatt noted, "The skin-pricking pleasures of 'Midsommar' aren't rational, they're instinctive: a thrilling, seasick freefall into the light."
Want to see for yourself? It's playing at AMC Ward Parkway 14 (8600 Ward Parkway), Regal Kansas City (3200 Ameristar Drive), Alamo Drafthouse Mainstreet (1400 Main St.) and AMC Barrywoods 24 (8101 Roanridge Road) 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 percent and an Audience Score of 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, this 1989 favorite has much to recommend it. The New York Daily News' Kathleen Carroll said, "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 filmmakers, he's not afraid to really challenge a movie audience to do some serious thinking," while Carrie Rickey of the Philadelphia Inquirer 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 AMC Ward Parkway 14 (8600 Ward Parkway) 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.
