Tuesday weekly posts feature some short notes on various cinematic topics, followed by the Now Showing in Madison guide to commercial theaters and alternative venues.

As I mentioned last week, starting today I’m going to experiment with publishing the regular weekly posts, including the Now Showing in Madison listings, on Tuesdays. I needed to reclaim part of my weekend, namely lazy Sundays, and Sundays are hard to keep lazy with a Monday deadline looming every week. I just needed more me time.

The first Tuesday post today needs to be very short, however, because several projects have deadlines approaching and I need to focus on them this week. And unfortunately, I can’t wring much content out of them at this point, because it is too early to make any official announcements about them:

• I’m selecting and booking the 2026-2027 Duck Soup silent cinema series at Overture Center, with some deadlines looming because the season needs to be announced soon. It’s coming together. My “Plan A” is more or less set, but there are many moving parts that have to be worked out over the next few days. Meanwhile, don’t forget about The Signal Tower (1924) on Saturday, June 13.

• As many of you know, I’m now Assistant Curator, Film and Art Video at Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. There are not one but two exciting developments in progress at MMoCA. One should be announced soon, and you should see some new ongoing programming in the next few weeks. The other is in its early stages, but I’ll need to spend some time on it the next few weeks if it is ever going to come together!

• Mills Folly Microcinema has received a Dane Arts grant for its 2026-2027 season. Now I just have to figure out those programs as well! Luckily, Mills Folly will have some guest programmers for some upcoming screenings. Meanwhile, don’t forget that the next Project Projection screening will be Wednesday, July 29, and the submission form is already posted.

• And I have a few video ideas in the hopper for Moving Image Madison, both recorded conversations with Rob Thomas, and some video essay-type-things that involve learning some new tech and editing skills. A note posted at Not That Rob Thomas provides a pretty good hint about what we’ll be discussing at some time in the future. But the next topic will be a film set to be released this weekend.

Okay, I’ll stop here and get back to work. Just one more note: Don’t forget about tonight’s Laundry Film Screening, part of the LAB^4 community programming project at Arts + Literature Laboratory, which starts at 6:00pm (so unfortunately I can’t make it!).

Now Playing In Madison: May 12–May 18, 2026

Please confirm showtimes with the venues (follow venue links where provided). The commercial theaters update their weekend listings on Wednesdays. Another valuable source that posts on Wednesdays with now playing lists is The Horizon Line Madison. When possible, I will provide links to reviews by Rob Thomas at Not That Rob Thomas, who gets around to far more proper reviews than I do.

Comments here are not reviews of the films, they are usually a response to the trailer, a summary of the buzz I have heard, or just snark. They are not always particularly accurate, according to reader feedback. I add trailers to new films of interest that you might not know about (American indies, international features, etc.).

Arts + Literature Laboratory

• LAUNDRY FILM SCREENING, Wednesday, May 13, 6:00pm

  • As part of LAB^4 community programming at ALL, artist India Johnson has curated a selection of short films on the topic of laundry, including Clotheslines by Roberta Cantow.

Commercial Theaters:
AMC Theatres
Flix Brewhouse
Marcus Theatres (Palace and Point)

• AMERICAN IN PARIS, AN at AMC.

  • Vincente Minnelli / Gene Kelly classic. Should be fun on the big screen!

• ANIMAL FARM at AMC.

  • Hmm, Orwell adaptation distributed by faith-based distributor Angel. Interesting mix. Directed by everyone’s favorite motion-capture actor, Andy Serkis. Surprise: Opening week viewers are criticizing the film for changes from the original book.

• ATTACK ON TITAN: THE LAST ATTACK at AMC and Point.

  • My understanding is that this is comprised of final two special episodes (The Final Chapters Part 1 & 2) into one 2-hour and 40-minute feature, with improved visuals and sound.

• BEST IN SHOW at Flix.

• BILLIE EILISH - HIT ME HARD AND SOFT: THE TOUR at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

  • Billie Eilish concert film. I have to admit, Billie Eilish is one of the few current female pop stars who I enjoy listening to during interviews. But I have mixed responses to most of the music, so I’ll pass on this one for now.

• CRAZY RICH ASIANS at AMC.

• CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON at AMC.

  • If you haven’t seen this on the big screen, you might want to consider catching this at AMC Fitchburg. Looks like it will be a week-long run starting Friday, May 15.

• DEEP WATER at AMC and Palace.

• DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2, THE at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

• DRAMA, THE at AMC and Point.

• FRIED GREEN TOMATOES 35TH ANNIVERSARY at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

• HOKUM at AMC, Palace, and Point.

• IN THE GREY at AMC, Palace, and Point.

  • If you have been to any film in any theater in the last month or so, there is a very good chance that you’ve seen this trailer for the latest Guy Ritchie action drama starring Henry Cavil, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Eliza Gonzalez. Might be fun.

• IS GOD IS at AMC, Palace, and Point.

  • Another one in heavy trailer rotation if you’ve been in the theaters this month. On the surface this seems like pretty predictable stuff, but the cast just might bring the right energy to make it interesting.

• KARUPPU at AMC.

  • Indian Tamil-language courtroom drama / action film with mythological fantasy elements, starring Prakash Raj and Suriya.

• KRISHNAVATARAM at AMC.

  • Indian Hindi-language mythological drama. Looks like the final screening is Wednesday night. Presented with no subtitles (but Variety says a English dubbed version will be released in North America in a few weeks).

• LIFEHACK at Palace and Point.

  • Ugh, there’s now a term for films whose characters spend most of their time online or in chats: “screenlife action thriller.” Sorry, just I threw up a little in my mouth. But I guess I should post the trailer.

• MĀRAMA at AMC.

  • Horror film set in 1859 North Yorkshire, about a young Maori woman who arrives from New Zealand to serve as a governess for a wealthy man’s granddaughter. This appears to offer more than the current wave of typical horror films, but I’m a little skeptical. Update: This is getting decent reviews.

• MARCUS MYSTERY MOVIE at Palace.

• MICHAEL at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

  • Apparently people didn’t know how much they needed a Michael Jackson music-filled bio-pic that doesn’t go beyond the Bad tour in 1988. I guess that makes sense to someone my age, I seem to recall disliking almost everything in the Michael Jacksons ouvre after (and including) Scorsese’s Bad video. As of this writing, Michael is the fourth-highest grossing film of 2026.

• MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM HATHAWAY: THE SORCERY OF NYMPH CIRCE at AMC, Palace, and Point.

  • A pretty cool trailer, nearly incomprehensible if you are unfamiliar with the franchise.

• MORTAL KOMBAT II at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

• NEGLECTED at AMC.

  • Josh Duhamel and Dylan Sprouse star as a detective (Guess what? He’s retiring soon) and serial killer in this cat-and-mouse crime drama. This seems like it will go straight to video-on-demand after a nominal theatrical release.

• OBSESSION at AMC, Palace, and Point.

  • Horror film with the ol’ Be Careful What You Wish For theme. Young man buys a supernatural toy and wishes that his crush would fall hopelessly in love with him. Dude, you know you should have added “while respecting ourselves as individuals and providing sufficient space when needed.”

• PATI PATNI AUR WOH DO at AMC.

  • Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy, a “spiritual sequel” to Pati Patni Aur Woh (2019, translates as “Husband, Wife, and Her”).

• PROJECT HAIL MARY at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

  • Read Rob Thomas’s review.

• SHEEP DETECTIVES, THE at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

  • Okay, I have no idea if this is any good. Word-of-mouth so far is that it is seems to be better than the first impressions I had from the trailer. But does it need a New Yorker think-piece from Jill Lepore (who just won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for History) titled, “What ‘The Sheep Detectives’ Doesn’t Understand About Sheep”? Someone behind the paywall can tell me if it is worth it.

• SHREK 25TH ANNIVERSARY at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

• STEAL THIS STORY, PLEASE! at Point.

• SUPER MARIO GALAXY MOVIE, THE at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

• THAT TIME I GOT REINCARNATED AS A SLIME THE MOVIE: TEARS OF THE AZURE SEA at AMC.

• TOP GUN 40TH ANNIVERSARY at AMC, Palace, and Point.

• TOP GUN: MAVERICK RE-RELEASE at AMC, Palace, and Point.

• WINTER HYMNS at Flix.

  • Return engagement for this Wisconsin’s Own film that played at the Wisconsin Film Festival. Directed by Nathan Deming, who was one of the filmmmakers leading the drive for a new state film office, Film Wisconsin. Read Rob Thomas’s review.

• WIZARD OF THE KREMLIN, THE at AMC, Palace, and Point.

  • You might just hear more from me (and a certain someone) about this recent AMC Secret Cinema film. What I will say, for now, is that Putin (Jude Law) is not on-screen as much as he seems he might be from this trailer. And the trailer does not capture how many cups of tea are poured at meetings during the film. It’s an interesting history lesson following a fictional character inspired by Russian avant-garde theater director / businessman / politician / bureaucrat Vladislav Surkov. But a history lesson does not always translate into a compelling drama.

Have you used the Now Showing in Madison listings at least once to find something interesting to see? Have you discovered a film that you didn’t realize was playing in town? Please consider supporting these efforts directly by clicking the “Buy Me a Popcorn” button and making a modest donation on those occasions when you find this resource valuable to your moviegoing in Madison.

Buy Me a Popcorn

Looking Ahead:

Local filmmaker Michael Doyle Olson has started what he hopes to be a comprehensive, collaborative public calendar of alternative film screenings in Madison. It is still a work in progress, but check it out at www.mdo.me/film.

UW Cinematheque & WUD Film

• UW Cinematheque will resume with “Bleak Week” from Wednesday, June 24 through Tuesday, June 30.

Side Room Cinematheque

• Consult Instagram @sideroomcinematic for screening details, second Thursday of the month, and last Monday of the month.

Cinesthesia at Madison Public Library Central Branch

• MENACE II SOCIETY (Allen & Albert Hughes, 1993), Wednesday May 20, 6:30pm.

Weekly posts feature some short notes on various cinematic topics, followed by the Now Showing in Madison guide to commercial theaters and alternative venues.

As you’ve probably noticed, I’ve missed two Monday (self-imposed) publication deadlines. Multiple ongoing projects and schedule changes have led me to value my time off on Sundays, and I’ve taken advantage of opportunities to rest rather than consider the weekend as “workdays” for side projects. But I want to make sure that the Now Showing listings appear early in the week, so I’m going to make a change in the publication schedule.

These weekly free posts, which will include the Now Showing listings, will appear on Tuesdays starting next week, May 12.

Support your local artists, musicians, and filmmakers!

A piano recital by Deirdre Brenner and Sibila Konstantinova (pictured above) on Sunday, May 10, 12:30pm in the Collins Recital Hall within the Hamel Music Center on campus will also include film and video work by Blake Barit, Charlie Borowicz, Philip Denvir, TJ Hill, Claudia Krogmeier, Tina Rose Rea Meister and Blue Rachapradit.

The concert combines the original 2-piano version of the celebrated seven movement work, The Planets, by composer Gustav Holst (composed prior to the better known orchestral version), with a world-premiere 2-piano arrangement by Dobrinka Tabakova of “Tectonic” from her Earth Suite, composed originally in 2018.

“Each movement of the program will be presented alongside an original video exploring the ideas which inspired these compositions,” explains the promotional material for the program. The recital is free and open to the public, and it will also stream live on YouTube (I’m not sure how the film and video work will be handled for the livestream).

At Arts + Literature Laboratory, LAB^4 project artist India Johnson will curate a program of laundry-themed films on Wednesday, May 13 at 6:00pm. The free program will include Clotheslines by Roberta Cantow, I always do my collars first by Conni Castille and Allison Bohl, and The Washing Society by Lizzie Olesker and Lynne Sachs. You can find more program details at the Arts + Literature Laboratory website.

While this isn’t a screening of local films by local filmmakers, the event emerges from an ongoing local project, the LAB^4 community curation project at Arts + Literature Laboratory. The curator for this screening, India Johnson, is a research-based artist working across craft, artist publishing, and social practice. You can read an interesting essay on Clotheslines by Neyat Yohannes at the Criterion Collection website.

The Wisconsin 48 Hour Film Project has announced the date and location for its next screenings: Sunday, May 17, Marcus Palace Theaters. They will screen three unique programs at 12:00pm, 3:00pm, and 6:00pm. The broad theme for this round of films was “Movie Magic,” and filmmakers drew specific genres and were on the clock to produce the films on May 1.

I had the opportunity to be a judge for the last round of 48 Hour Films, and the whole process is a great deal of fun. Tickets for these screenings tend to sell out (you have the filmmaking teams, casts, and friends to compete with for seats). So, if you’re interested in going, I’d recommend purchasing tickets well in advance.

Looking ahead to June, the Children’s Film Academy of Madison (C-FAM) will hold a screening of their recent film projects, Wrestling and Small Time Rock Stars on Monday, June 1 at 6:30pm at Marcus Point Cinemas. I hope to find out more about these projects and this screening as the date approaches, and I’m sure we will find more updates at the C-FAM Instagram account (@cfam608_).

Now Playing In Madison: May 7–May 11, 2026

Please confirm showtimes with the venues (follow venue links where provided). The commercial theaters update their weekend listings on Wednesdays. Another valuable source that posts on Wednesdays with now playing lists is The Horizon Line Madison.

Comments here are not reviews of the films, they are usually a response to the trailer, a summary of the buzz I have heard, or just snark. They are not always particularly accurate, according to reader feedback. I add trailers to new films of interest that you might not know about (American indies, international features, etc.).

UW Cinematheque & WUD Film

• Campus film screenings have ended for the Spring Semester.

  • UW Cinematheque will resume with “Bleak Week” from Wednesday, June 24 through Tuesday, June 30.

Commercial Theaters:
AMC Theatres
Flix Brewhouse
Marcus Theatres (Palace and Point)

• AMC SCREEN UNSEEN: MAY 11 at AMC.

• ANIMAL FARM at AMC, Point, Flix.

  • Hmm, Orwell adaptation distributed by faith-based distributor Angel. Interesting mix. Directed by everyone’s favorite motion-capture actor, Andy Serkis. Surprise: Opening week viewers are criticizing the film for changes from the original book.

• BILLIE EILISH - HIT ME HARD AND SOFT: THE TOUR at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

  • Billie Eilish concert film. I have to admit, Billie Eilish is one of the few current female pop stars who I enjoy listening to during interviews. But I have mixed responses to most of the music, so I’ll pass on this one for now.

• CABIN IN THE WOODS, THE at AMC.

• CASA GRANDE at AMC.

• CRAZY RICH ASIANS at AMC.

• DEEP WATER at AMC, Point, Palace.

• DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2, THE at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

  • A sequel to a 2006 film you’ve probably heard about, even if you haven’t seen it.

• DRAMA, THE at AMC, Point.

  • This does appear to be staying for another week, so I hope to catch up with it before “the twist” gets ruined for me.

• ERUPCJA at AMC.

  • Fresh from its screening at the Wisconsin Film Festival. Not many screenings left for this one before it leaves Friday.

• EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE at AMC.

• FRIED GREEN TOMATOES 35TH ANNIVERSARY at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

• HOKUM at AMC, Point, Palace.

• HOPPERS at AMC, Point.

• IRON MAIDEN: BURNING AMBITION at Point, Palace.

  • This would make a very interesting double feature with the Billie Eilish concert documentary. This appears to be a right-down-the-middle documentary of the band best known for “Run For the Hills,” and Eddie.

• KRISHNAVATARAM at AMC.

  • Indian Hindi-language mythological drama about Lord Krishna. Interestingly, AMC Fitchburg (according to its website listings) will be screening this film in Hindi with no English subtitles. (But the film is being released in multiple Indian-language dubs around the world this weekend.) This is the first part (“The Heart / Hridayam”) of a planned trilogy. Apparently an English-language version will be released in North America in a few weeks.

• LABYRINTH at Point.

• LEE CRONIN’S THE MUMMY at AMC.

• MARAMA at AMC.

  • Horror film set in 1859 North Yorkshire, about a young Maori woman who arrives from New Zealand to serve as a governess for a wealthy man’s granddaughter. This appears to offer more than the current wave of typical horror films, but I’m a little skeptical.

• MARCUS MYSTERY MOVIE at Point, Palace.

• MICHAEL at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

  • Apparently people didn’t know how much they needed a Michael Jackson music-filled bio-pic that doesn’t go beyond the Bad tour in 1988. I guess that makes sense to someone my age, I seem to recall disliking almost everything in the Michael Jacksons ouvre after (and including) Scorsese’s Bad video. As of this writing, Michael is the fourth-highest grossing film of 2026.

• MORTAL KOMBAT at Point, Palace.

• MORTAL KOMBAT II at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

• MOTHER MARY at AMC.

  • I think I’m going to run out of time to see this before it leaves after Thursday night. But it has received decidedly mixed to negative reviews. Still, I’m curious.

• NEGLECTED at AMC.

  • Josh Duhamel and Dylan Sprouse star as a detective (Guess what? He’s retiring soon) and serial killer in this cat-and-mouse crime drama. This seems like it will go straight to video-on-demand after a nominal theatrical release.

• PROJECT HAIL MARY at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

• RZA’S ONE SPOON OF CHOCOLATE at AMC.

  • Last screening will be tonight. Saw this with Rob Thomas, and you can read his review at Not That Rob Thomas. I thought it had many interesting traits and details worthy of discussion, but I also admit that it is not particularly good.

• SHEEP DETECTIVES, THE at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

• STEAL THIS STORY, PLEASE! at Point.

  • Documentary about Amy Goodman, host of the progressive radio news program Democracy Now. Played at the Wisconsin Film Festival, and now returning for limited release. Read Rob Thomas’s review.

• SUPER MARIO GALAXY MOVIE, THE at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

• THAT TIME I GOT REINCARNATED AS A SLIME THE MOVIE: TEARS OF THE AZURE SEA at AMC, Point.

• WINTER HYMNS at Flix.

  • Return engagement for this Wisconsin’s Own film that played at the Wisconsin Film Festival. Directed by Nathan Deming, who was one of the filmmmakers leading the drive for a new state film office, Film Wisconsin.

Have you used the Now Showing in Madison listings at least once to find something interesting to see? Have you discovered a film that you didn’t realize was playing in town? Please consider supporting these efforts directly by clicking the “Buy Me a Popcorn” button and making a modest donation on those occasions when you find this resource valuable to your moviegoing in Madison.

Buy Me a Popcorn

Looking Ahead:

Local filmmaker Michael Doyle Olson has started what he hopes to be a comprehensive, collaborative public calendar of alternative film screenings in Madison. It is still a work in progress, but check it out at www.mdo.me/film.

Side Room Cinematheque

• Consult Instagram @sideroomcinematic for screening details, second Thursday of the month, and last Monday of the month.

Cinesthesia at Madison Public Library Central Branch

• MENACE II SOCIETY (Allen & Albert Hughes, 1993), Wednesday May 20, 6:30pm.

Scroll down for Now Showing in Madison, April 29–May 4, 2026

Monday posts feature some short notes on various cinematic topics, followed by the Now Showing in Madison guide to commercial theaters and alternative venues.

As you can probably sense from the delay for this week’s post, I’ve been a little short on time this week. So the Now Playing list below is bare bones, with some trailers for new films but not my usual snarky comments. But I do want to point out some events tonight and Saturday which will feature work by young filmmakers.

First up, tonight’s Project Projection screening at Mills Folly Microcinema, 7:00pm at Arts + Literature Laboratory, 111 S. Livingston Street, Suite 100. I talked about this showcase for local film and video last week, and tonight’s edition will feature several familiar filmmakers if you’ve attended past Project Projection screenings. But I want to point out two young filmmakers who will screen their work tonight as an introduction to this post’s theme: young filmmakers showing their work this week.

Sherif Newegy (“Shico”) is a Madison West High School student who is already a veteran of Project Projection screenings. He has also presented a program of his recent experimental films at Side Room Cinematheque at Aftershock Games. Sherif continues to expand his visual vocabulary with his more recent work, and I particularly admire his interest (and ability) to explore the texture of his images with limited technical means. Tonight, Sherif will screen a new experimental short, Aversion, which he describes as a “wrestling match between body and mind.”

More on the narrative end of the spectrum, Keason Griffin will present a 10-minute excerpt from a feature film project which draws inspiration from popular genre filmmaking (and a popular horror franchise), Five Nights at Freddy’s 3: The Mangle Project. “When I was 11, I started making movies and as the years went on, I have improved and had more fun with my projects,” Keason explains in his program note, “I am excited to show this.”

Filmmaker Gretta Wing Miller (whose work will also be featured tonight) explained to me, “I worked with [Keason] a few years ago in an after school video program at Goodman Center and he understood the concepts instantly. He was the prime mover in several productions! Keasion was the winner of $1K ‘scholarship’ from my neighbor Karen Faster’s film fest at Barrymore two years ago.”

Unfortunately, our screening tonight is at the same time as another screening of work by young filmmakers, which I only found out about at the last minute. At Channel3000.com, Corey Moen provides an overview of an inaugural festival of short documentaries about local history produced by students at Madison West High School.

“Students in four sections of U.S. History Honors at the Madison Metropolitan School District’s West High School will premiere 12 local history documentaries for “Our City, Our Voices,” as part of the school’s first-ever Youth Media project collaboration with PBS Wisconsin,” Moen explains. The screening will begin at 6:30pm tonight at West High School. I hope to follow up on this story and see if there might be a way to set up another opportunity to see the films.

Finally, another set of filmmakers will present their work at the Communication Arts Showcase on Saturday, May 2, 7:00pm, at the Union South Marquee Theater. I’m hoping to attend this screening, but if you want to attend too I would advise getting there early. Student filmmakers have a lot of friends who want to see the film, too!

The program will feature a range of projects from Communication Arts courses at UW-Madison. But the Showcase concludes with two new 30-minute films produced in the capstone film production class, Com Arts 659, taught by Erik Gunneson. Each year the class is split into two groups, who form production companies to produce the films. This year’s films are Fragile, produced by Redacted Pictures, and What it Takes produced by Fluorine Films.

If you want to get a behind the scenes look at these films, take a look at the Instagram accounts for Redacted Pictures (@redacted.pictures) and Fluorine Films (@fluorinefilms), and check out the links in each of their Instagram bios for opportunities to donate funds for their production budgets.

Be sure to support local filmmaking, even just by attending screenings of local work!

Now Playing In Madison: April 29–May 4, 2026

Please confirm showtimes with the venues (follow venue links where provided). The commercial theaters update their weekend listings on Wednesdays. Another Now Playing source that posts on Wednesdays is The Horizon Line Madison.

Comments here are not reviews of the films, they are usually a response to the trailer, a summary of the buzz I have heard, or just snark. They are not always particularly accurate, according to reader feedback. I add trailers to new films of interest that you might not know about (American indies, international features, etc.).

Mills Folly Microcinema at Arts + Literature Laboratory

• PROJECT PROJECTION: LOCAL FILM AND VIDEO, Wednesday, April 29, 7:00pm, 111 S. Livingston Street, Suite 100.

  • See notes above.

UW Cinematheque

The following films and events are scheduled to play at UW Cinematheque between Thursday, April 30, and Sunday, May 3, 2026, listed in chronological order:

• THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN, 4070 Vilas Hall, Friday, May 1, 7 p.m.

  • Terry Gilliam, USA, 1989, 126 min.

• COMMUNICATION ARTS SHOWCASE - MAY 2026, Union South Marquee Theater, Saturday, May 2, 7 p.m.

  • Note location, Union South Marquee Theater. Co-presented by Wisconsin Union Directorate Film Committee. See notes above.

Commercial Theaters:
AMC Theatres
Flix Brewhouse
Marcus Theatres (Palace and Point)

• AMC SCREEN UNSEEN: MAY 3 at AMC.

• AMC SCREEN UNSEEN: MAY 4 at AMC.

• ANIMAL FARM at AMC, Palace, Point, Flix.

  • Hmm, Orwell adaptation distributed by faith-based distributor Angel. Interesting mix. Directed by everyone’s favorite motion-capture actor, Andy Serkis.

• BILLIE EILISH - HIT ME HARD AND SOFT: THE TOUR EARLY ACCESS at Palace.

• BUSBOYS at Palace.

• CABIN FEVER at AMC.

• CASA GRANDE at AMC.

• DEEP WATER at AMC, Palace, Point.

• DESERT WARRIOR at AMC, Point.

• DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2, THE at AMC, Palace, Point, Flix.

• DRAMA, THE at AMC, Palace, Point, Flix.

• EK DIN at AMC.

• ERUPCJA at AMC.

• EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE at AMC.

• FIGHT CLUB 4K REMASTER at AMC.

• FUZE at AMC, Palace, Point, Flix.

• HOKUM at AMC, Palace, Point.

• HOPPERS at AMC, Palace, Point.

• I SWEAR at AMC, Point.

• LEE CRONIN’S THE MUMMY at AMC, Palace, Point, Flix.

• LORNE at AMC.

• MARCUS MYSTERY MOVIE at Palace.

• METROPOLITAN OPERA: EUGENE ONEGIN, THE at Palace, Point.

• MICHAEL at AMC, Palace, Point, Flix.

• MOTHER MARY at AMC, Palace, Point, Flix.

• NORMAL at AMC, Palace, Point.

• ONE SPOON OF CHOCOLATE, RZA’S at AMC.

  • I’ve seen this (it was the Mystery Movie this past Monday), and I have some thoughts. But for now, go ahead and read Rob Thomas’s review.

• OVER YOUR DEAD BODY at AMC, Palace, Point.

• PAST LIVES at AMC.

• POWER TO THE PEOPLE: JOHN & YOKO LIVE IN NYC at Point.

• PROJECT HAIL MARY at AMC, Palace, Point, Flix.

• SECRET FLIX at Flix.

• SILENCE OF THE LAMBS 35TH ANNIVERSARY, THE at Palace, Point, Flix.

• SPEED RACER at AMC.

• STORY OF EVERYTHING, THE at Palace, Point.

• SUPER MARIO GALAXY MOVIE, THE at AMC, Palace, Point, Flix.

• THAT TIME I GOT REINCARNATED AS A SLIME THE MOVIE: TEARS OF THE AZURE SEA at AMC, Palace, Point.

• THREE AMIGOS! at Flix.

• WHISPER OF THE HEART 4K at AMC.

• WINTER HYMNS at Flix.

  • Return engagement for this Wisconsin’s Own film that played at the Wisconsin Film Festival.

• YOU, ME & TUSCANY at AMC, Palace.

Have you used the Now Showing in Madison listings at least once to find something interesting to see? Have you discovered a film that you didn’t realize was playing in town? Please consider supporting these efforts directly by clicking the “Buy Me a Popcorn” button and making a modest donation on those occasions when you find this resource valuable to your moviegoing in Madison.

Buy Me a Popcorn

Looking Ahead:

Local filmmaker Michael Doyle Olson has started what he hopes to be a comprehensive, collaborative public calendar of alternative film screenings in Madison. It is still a work in progress, but check it out at www.mdo.me/film.

Side Room Cinematheque

• Consult Instagram @sideroomcinematic for screening details, second Thursday of the month, and last Monday of the month.

Cinesthesia at Madison Public Library Central Branch

• MENACE II SOCIETY (Allen & Albert Hughes, 1993), Wednesday May 20, 6:30pm.

You can read Rob’s full review of Fuze on his Substack, which he posted on Wednesday. I’m not sure if I’m going to post a written review for the reasons you will hear in the video (I don’t like to be a negative Nelly all the time). Certain areas in our views of Fuze overlap, while others diverge. But we agree that the “Mystery Movie” concept at Marcus Theaters (or “Screen Unseen” at AMC, or “Secret Flix” at Flix Brewhouse) is a fun and reasonably affordable way to expand the range of movies you see while also supporting local theaters.

One final note: We mention that most of the Mystery Movies are on Monday nights, but I just noticed that there is a “Family Edition” of the Marcus Mystery Movie on Sunday, May 3 at 2:00pm.

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Monday posts feature some short notes on various cinematic topics, followed by the Now Showing in Madison guide to commercial theaters and alternative venues.

I’m going to keep this short and sweet today, because I’m hoping to post a video-essay-type-thing later this week (or very soon)!

The next Project Projection screening of local work at Mills Folly Microcinema will be Wednesday, April 29 at 7:00pm at Arts + Literature Laboratory, 111 S. Livingston Street, Suite 100. If you’re interested in submitting your own work, the deadline is this Friday, April 24 (and there is even some wiggle room on that, if you’re working on something.)

Our general focus is on experimental films, short documentaries, animation, and music videos, but we often end up showing work that doesn’t strictly fit into those categories. You can get a sense of what the Project Projection screenings are like by reading Grant Phipps’ piece published in Tone Madison ahead of a Project Projection screening last October.

To submit your work, fill out the Airtable entry form on the Project Projection event page at the Arts + Literature Laboratory Laboratory website. If accepted, you will need to be able to deliver an exhibition file to me early next week (I set the deadline very close to the screening date, but I’m confident that I can swing the turn around time!).

In related news, Mills Folly Microcinema will be receiving a Dane Arts grant to continue its programming in 2026-2027. So stay tuned for more experimental film programming in the coming year. (We’re still waiting to hear about our Madison Arts Commission grant proposal, so I hope to share more good news on that front soon.)

You don’t have to be a local filmmaker to take part in Project Projection screenings, it’s also important for the community to attend the screenings and support local artists. So mark your calendar now, and join us next week!

Now Playing In Madison: April 20-27, 2026

Please confirm showtimes with the venues (follow venue links where provided). The commercial theaters update their weekend listings on Wednesdays. Another Now Playing source that posts on Wednesdays is The Horizon Line Madison.

Comments here are not reviews of the films, they are usually a response to the trailer, a summary of the buzz I have heard, or just snark. They are not always particularly accurate, according to reader feedback. I add trailers to new films of interest that you might not know about (American indies, international features, etc.).

Cinesthesia at Madison Public Library Central Branch

• KISS ME DEADLY (Robert Aldrich, 1955), Tuesday, April 21, 6:30pm.

UW Cinematheque

• YOUNG MR. LINCOLN, 4070 Vilas Hall, Friday, April 24, 7 p.m.

  • John Ford, USA, 1939, 100 min.

• GREEN SNAKE, 4070 Vilas Hall, Saturday, April 25, 7 p.m.

  • Tsui Hark, Hong Kong, 1993, 99 min. Following up on last week’s screening of Tsui Hark’s The Blade (1995), this will be a unique screening of a 35mm print from the David Bordwell collection at the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research.

• MICHAEL CLAYTON, Chazen Museum, Sunday, April 26, 2 p.m.

  • Tony Gilroy, USA, 2007, 120 min.

Wisconsin Union Directorate Film

• PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER (2012), Union South Marquee Theater, Thursday, 4/23, 6:30 p.m.

• SONG OF THE SEA (2014) [OPEN CAPTION], Union South Marquee Theater, Friday, 4/24, 6:30 p.m.

• REDLINE (2009), Union South Marquee Theater, Friday, 4/24, 9 p.m.

• ARCO (2025), Union South Marquee Theater, Saturday, 4/25, 6:30 p.m.

• SON OF THE WHITE MARE (1981), Union South Marquee Theater, Saturday, 4/25, 9 p.m.

Commercial Theaters:
AMC Theatres
Flix Brewhouse
Marcus Theatres (Palace and Point)

• AMC SCREAM UNSEEN: APRIL 20 at AMC.

• AMERICAN YOUNGBOY at Palace and Point.

  • NBA Youngboy concert film, limited dates and screening times.

• BHOOTH BANGLA at AMC.

  • Indian Hindi-language horror comedy starring Akshay Kumar.

• BLUE ANGELS, THE at AMC.

• BRIDESMAIDS: 15TH ANNIVERSARY at AMC, Palace, and Point.

• BUSBOYS at Palace and Point.

  • I can’t imagine a less appealing idea than a buddy comedy starring David Spade (ugh) and Theo Von (double ugh). I just threw up a little in my mouth.

• CHRISTOPHERS, THE at AMC and Point.

  • Fresh off its screening at the Wisconsin Film Festival, the latest from Steven Soderbergh stars Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel (who is also in Mother Mary this week).

• DACOIT: A LOVE STORY at AMC.

  • Indian romantic action drama, shot simultaneously in Telugu and Hindi. The screening today (Monday) is in Telugu, but unfortunately today is the film’s last at AMC Fitchburg.

• DAZED AND CONFUSED at Flix.

• DESERT WARRIOR at AMC.

  • Apparently the most expensive film to be produced in Saudi Arabia (Wikipedia), but directed by English filmmaker Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) and starring Anthony Mackie (Captain America: Brave New World), so let’s see if this turned out like the LIV tour.

• DRAMA, THE at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

• EVENING WITH NICOLE SCHERZINGER: LIVE AT ROYAL ALBERT HALL, AN at AMC.

• EVIL DEAD, THE (1981) at AMC.

• EXIT 8 at AMC and Point.

• FACES OF DEATH at Flix.

• FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF at AMC.

• FIGHT CLUB 4K REMASTER at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

• FUZE at AMC, Palace, and Point.

  • British crime thriller starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass; 28 Years Later, directed by David Mackenzie (Hell or High Water)

• GARDENER, THE at Palace and Point.

  • Radha Mitchell (Melinda and Melinda; Man on Fire) stars as the heir to a cosmetics empire who fights against a hostile takeover. She seeks refuge in a remote mountaintop cottage. I’m guessing she discovers something about herself when she meets a gardener.

• HOPPERS at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

• I SWEAR at AMC and Point.

  • British biopic about John Davidson, a Scotsman with a severe case of Tourette syndrome. You might recall the recent story of the real-life John Davidson at this year’s BAFTA awards. But lead actor Robert Aramayo received a BAFTA for his performance.

• KAPODISTRIAS (THE GOVERNOR) at Point.

  • Limited screenings (Fathom Entertainment presentation) of this historical drama about Ioannis Kapodistrias (1776-1831), a Greek statesman and politician.

• LEE CRONIN’S THE MUMMY at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

• LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA, A at AMC.

  • French comedy, with a gawd awful premise of a father and son escaping the police by hiding in a summer camp for young adults with disabilities. As Preston Sturges put it, “The French, they are a funny race.”

• LORNE at AMC and Point.

  • Documentary about Saturday Night Live executive producer Lorne Michaels. I wonder how many comedians will imitate his voice during their interviews.

• MARCUS MYSTERY MOVIE at Palace and Point.

• MICHAEL at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

  • Michael Jackson biopic. Shouldn’t be problematic at all, since it covers the Jackson Five years through his early solo career, right? (Well, at least through Thriller, if that is still early solo.)

• MILE END KICKS at AMC.

  • Canadian romantic comedy, written and directed by Chandler Levack (I Like Movies, 2022). Premiered at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.

• MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL at Flix.

• MOTHER MARY at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

  • The latest film from David Lowery (The Green Knight; Ain’t Them Bodies Saints), a psychological thriller starring Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel (who is also in The Christophers this week). Will this play long enough in town for me to see it before it leaves?

• NORMAL at AMC, Palace, and Point.

  • Fresh off of its Wisconsin Film Festival screening. Action film starring Bob Odenkirk.

• OVER YOUR DEAD BODY at AMC, Palace, and Point.

  • Action comedy remake of the Norwegian film The Trip (2021), starring Jason Segel and Samara Weaving. Directed by Jorma Taccone, one third of The Lonely Island, whose two feature films have been MacGruber and Popstar: Never Stop Never Popping.

• PROJECT HAIL MARY at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

• READY OR NOT 2: HERE I COME at Flix.

• REMINDERS OF HIM at Palace.

• SILENCE OF THE LAMBS 35TH ANNIVERSARY, THE at Flix, Palace, and Point.

• SPEED RACER at AMC and Point.

  • There are many people out there who will argue that this was an overlooked film when it was released in 2008. It seems to be having “a moment,” but the last of the IMAX screenings is today at AMC. Point screenings are on April 26 & 27.

• SUPER MARIO GALAXY MOVIE, THE at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

• THAT TIME I GOT REINCARNATED AS A SLIME THE MOVIE: SCARLET BOND at Point.

  • Japanese anime based on the light novel fantasy manga series.

• WHISPER OF THE HEART 4K at AMC.

  • A lesser known Studio Ghibli animated feature, with a screenplay by Hayao Miyazaki, but direction by Yoshifumi Kondō.

• WIZARD OF OZ, THE (1939) at Flix.

• YOU, ME & TUSCANY at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

Have you used the Now Showing in Madison listings at least once to find something interesting to see? Have you discovered a film that you didn’t realize was playing in town? Please consider supporting these efforts directly by clicking the “Buy Me a Popcorn” button and making a modest donation on those occasions when you find this resource valuable to your moviegoing in Madison.

Buy Me a Popcorn

Looking Ahead:

Local filmmaker Michael Doyle Olson has started what he hopes to be a comprehensive, collaborative public calendar of alternative film screenings in Madison. It is still a work in progress, but check it out at www.mdo.me/film.

Side Room Cinematheque

• Consult Instagram @sideroomcinematic for screening details, second Thursday of the month, and last Monday of the month.

Mills Folly Microcinema

• PROJECT PROJECTION: LOCAL FILM AND VIDEO, Wednesday, April 29, 7:00pm

  • Submission deadline, Friday, April 24. Details at the Project Projection event page at artlitlab.org

Wisconsin Union Directorate Film / UW Cinematheque

• COMMUNICATION ARTS SHOWCASE - MAY 2026, Union South Marquee Theater, Saturday, 5/2, 7 p.m.

  • This annual event is co-presented by WUD Film, the UW-Madison Department of Communication Arts, and the UW Cinematheque, and it features works produced in various media production courses.

A shortened newsletter today, appearing on Wednesday instead of Monday, due to the Wisconsin Film Festival (and the weather!).

Another short post this week, and a little late due to being a little bit busy at the Wisconsin Film Festival. I’ve seen 13 films, so I need to see a few more so that I don’t end up on that unlucky number. I’ve now missed a few from last minute scheduling conflicts and golf-ball sized hail. But I plan to see at least two more: Sholay tonight (which I’ve discussed before) , and The Furious on Thursday.

That is a lot of action. But if I can pace myself, I’ll go back for what is one of the most intense martial arts films I’ve ever seen, Tsui Hark’s The Blade (1995), on Saturday, April 18, 7:00pm, when the UW-Cinematheque resumes its regular programming this weekend.

The Blade is a pretty fantastic film, and I’ve owned both a crappy VCD (Video CD, common for a while in Hong Kong, how’s that for commitment?) and a not-so-great DVD. But I’m pretty sure I saw it for the first time in a 35mm film screening in Vilas Hall (so I’m not sure if it was for a class at the UW-Cinematheque). Purchasing the new Criterion Collection 4K of The Blade is a no-brainer (although I haven’t got around to it yet). But a chance to see it again, with a crowd, on 35mm should be a special treat on Saturday—if my brains have not been turned to mush by then.

Lea Jacobs’ new book: John Ford at Work

I’ve neglected to mention the new book, John Ford at Work, by Lea Jacobs, and I won’t be able to elaborate on it here and now. But if you haven’t caught any of the John Ford films screened at the UW-Cinematheque this season, you should try to catch Stagecoach on Friday, April 17 at 7:00pm. Jacobs will lead a post-screening discussion after the film.

Shortly before its demise, Tone Madison published a piece by Lance Li in which Jacobs discusses the period of Ford’s career she covers in the new book. If you have a moment to read that, it will likely inspire you to go see Stagecoach if you haven’t already made plans to do so.

Easy Come, Easy Go

Last week I mentioned three films whose theatrical run I hoped would last beyond the Festival: the Japanese animated film ChaO at Point, Exit 8, also from Japan, at AMC, and The King’s Warden from South Korea at AMC. Well, one out of three ain’t bad, I suppose: Exit 8 continues its run at Point into this weekend.

I don’t have time, unfortunately, to provide my commentary for this week’s Now Playing listings below. But two Wisconsin Film Festival films have opened commercially this week: Steven Soderbergh’s The Christophers and the Bob Odenkirk actioner Normal. Unless I had a glitch in my Now Playing assembly process, I don’t see any Indian popular cinema in the listings. [Edit, 11:20am: there was a glitch! AMC has Bhooth Bangla (Hindi) and Dacoit: A Love Story (Telugu). Listings below updated.] But unless you want to see Theo Von and David Spade in Busboys for some God-forsaken reason, you should be able to catch some of my alternative suggestions above and not miss a short window for other films playing this week.

Now Playing In Madison: April 15-20, 2026

Please confirm showtimes with the venues (follow venue links where provided). The commercial theaters update their weekend listings on Wednesdays. Another Now Playing source that posts on Wednesdays is The Horizon Line Madison.

Comments here are not reviews of the films, they are usually a response to the trailer, a summary of the buzz I have heard, or just snark. They are not always particularly accurate, according to reader feedback. I add trailers to new films of interest that you might not know about (American indies, international features, etc.).

UW Cinematheque

The following films are scheduled to play at UW Cinematheque between Friday, April 17, and Sunday, April 19, 2026, listed in chronological order:

• STAGECOACH, 4070 Vilas Hall, Friday, April 17, 7 p.m.

  • John Ford, USA, 1939, 96 min.

• THE BLADE, 4070 Vilas Hall, Saturday, April 18, 7 p.m.

  • Tsui Hark, Hong Kong, 1995, 105 min.

Wisconsin Union Directorate Film

• ROOMMATES (2026) [ADVANCE SCREENING], Union South Marquee Theater, Thursday, 4/16, 7 p.m.

• STOP MAKING SENSE (2023) [OPEN CAPTION SCREENING], Union South Marquee Theater, Friday, 4/17, 6:30 p.m.

• IRON LUNG (2026), Union South Marquee Theater, Friday, 4/17, 9 p.m.

• CINEMA PARADISO (1988), Union South Marquee Theater, Saturday, 4/18, 6 p.m.

• THRONE OF BLOOD (1957), Union South Marquee Theater, Saturday, 4/18, 9 p.m.

According to the sources, these free screenings for the UW-Madison community take place in Union South’s state-of-the-art Marquee Theater. There are no film screenings listed in the provided schedules for Wednesday, April 15; Sunday, April 19; or Monday, April 20. As requested, information regarding WUD Film Committee meeting times has been excluded.

Commercial Theaters:
AMC Theatres
Flix Brewhouse
Marcus Theatres (Palace and Point)

• AMC SCREAM UNSEEN: APRIL 20 at AMC.

• BEAUTIFUL PLANET IMAX, A at AMC.

• BHOOTH BANGLA at AMC.

• BRIDESMAIDS: 15TH ANNIVERSARY at AMC, Flix, Palace, Point.

• BTS WORLD TOUR ‘ARIRANG’ IN JAPAN: LIVE VIEWING at Palace, Point.

• BUSBOYS at Palace.

• CHRISTOPHERS, THE at AMC, Point.

• DACOIT: A LOVE STORY at AMC.

• DAZED AND CONFUSED at Flix.

• DRAMA, THE at Flix, Palace, Point.

• EXIT 8 at Point.

• FACES OF DEATH at Flix.

• FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF at AMC, Flix, Palace, Point.

• HAMLET at AMC.

• HOPPERS at Flix, Palace, Point.

• HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON at Flix.

• LEE CRONIN’S THE MUMMY at AMC, Flix, Palace, Point.

• LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA, A at AMC.

• LORNE at AMC, Point.

• MARCUS MYSTERY MOVIE at Palace, Point.

• NORMAL at AMC, Palace, Point.

• PROJECT HAIL MARY at Flix, Palace, Point.

• READY OR NOT 2: HERE I COME at Flix.

• REMINDERS OF HIM at Palace.

• SUPER MARIO GALAXY MOVIE, THE at Flix, Palace, Point.

• THAT TIME I GOT REINCARNATED AS A SLIME THE MOVIE: SCARLET BOND at Point.

• UNDER THE SEA at AMC.

• YOU, ME & TUSCANY at AMC, Flix, Palace, Point.

Have you used the Now Showing in Madison listings at least once to find something interesting to see? Have you discovered a film that you didn’t realize was playing in town? Please consider supporting these efforts directly by clicking the “Buy Me a Popcorn” button and making a modest donation on those occasions when you find this resource valuable to your moviegoing in Madison.

Buy Me a Popcorn

Looking Ahead:

Local filmmaker Michael Doyle Olson has started what he hopes to be a comprehensive, collaborative public calendar of alternative film screenings in Madison. It is still a work in progress, but check it out at www.mdo.me/film.

Side Room Cinematheque

• Consult Instagram @sideroomcinematic for screening details, second Thursday of the month, and last Monday of the month.

Mills Folly Microcinema

• PROJECT PROJECTION: LOCAL FILM AND VIDEO, Wednesday, April 29, 7:00pm

  • Submission deadline, Friday, April 24. Details at the Project Projection event page at artlitlab.org

Cinesthesia at Madison Public Library Central Branch

• KISS ME DEADLY (Robert Aldrich, 1955), Tuesday, April 21, 6:30pm.

We share some thoughts and memories about the Wisconsin Film Festival overall, and then discuss some of the tickets we have for films Friday through Sunday that we’re particularly looking forward to. If you don’t want to follow Rob and I down memory lane, the weekend preview begins at the 17:30 mark in the video.

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Monday posts will now feature some short notes on various cinematic topics, followed by the Now Showing in Madison guide to commercial theaters and alternative venues.

Today is going to be a very short newsletter, because I have to get my beauty sleep for the Wisconsin Film Festival this week. It’s all about seeing and being seen, you know.

The Now Showing listing today will only be a list of titles and a few trailers. I’m intrigued by a few films in the theaters this week, particularly the Japanese animated film ChaO at Point, Exit 8, also from Japan, at AMC, and The King’s Warden from South Korea at AMC. Unfortunately, next Monday’s Now Showing list will also be somewhat bare bones, because I’m going to see 14 films or programs between Friday and Sunday, leaving very little time for Moving Image Madison.

I will, however, attempt to post Notes here through the weekend. So stay tuned for those!

Also, there will be some extra content this week! Rob Thomas (Not That Rob Thomas) and I recorded a preview of the opening weekend of the Wisconsin Film Festival that I hope to post tomorrow (Tuesday). It is “in the can” but I’m hoping to add some bells and whistles and b-roll of trailers for films that we talk about. Here’s a sneak peak snapshot:

I do want to remind you of a few other things happening this week:

• On Cinema, with comedians Greg Turkington and Tim Heidecker, Tuesday, April 7, 8:00pm at the Barrymore Theater. Okay, it’s cinema-adjacent, but worth a look if you’re not familiar with it already.

• Beyond Resolution: Short Films by Sabine Gruffat at Mills Folly Microcinema, Wednesday, April 8, 7:00pm, Arts + Literature Laboratory. Consult my notes in last week’s post.

• Wisconsin Screenwriter’s Symposium, April 10-12 at the Pyle Center on the UW-Madison campus.

Obviously, I wish the Wisconsin Screenwriter’s Symposium was not scheduled at the same time as the Wisconsin Film Festival (they’re both programs of the Department of Communication Arts!). But if you’re a screenwriter, you should know about this, and look ahead next year to their Wisconsin’s Own Screenwriting Competition.

I have literally run out of time to write anything more at the moment. I’ll just quickly add that in addition to Mills Folly on Wednesday and my Festival experience starting on Friday, I’m also giving a talk at the West High School Equity Symposium on Thursday morning, on the topic of experimental film as social protest and personal expression. And I suppose at some point I should start working on my taxes! Wish me luck.

Now Playing In Madison: April 6-13, 2026

Please confirm showtimes with the venues (follow venue links where provided). The commercial theaters update their weekend listings on Wednesdays. Another Now Playing source that posts on Wednesdays is The Horizon Line Madison.

Comments here are not reviews of the films, they are usually a response to the trailer, a summary of the buzz I have heard, or just snark. They are not always particularly accurate, according to reader feedback. I add trailers to new films of interest that you might not know about (American indies, international features, etc.).

Mills Folly Microcinema

• VISITING FILMMAKER: SABINE GRUFFAT, Wednesday, April 8, 7:00pm.

  • Sabine Gruffat is a French-American artist born in Bangkok, Thailand. She co-founded and co-programs the Cosmic Rays Film Festival in Chapel Hill, NC with filmmaker Bill Brown. Her shorts film program, Beyond Resolution, These films draws from a range of genres and layered techniques. Images are processed to draw attention to the hidden logics in software, hardware, and materiality. In repurposing media, the works call attention to the histories from which meaning’s fragile frameworks emerge. See notes in last week’s post.

UW Cinematheque

• Wisconsin Film Festival this weekend. Regular programming resumes Friday, April 17.

Wisconsin Union Directorate Film

• Spring Break. Regular programming resumes Tuesday, April 7.

  • Wisconsin Film Festival programs at Cinematheque start Friday, April 10.

Barrymore Theatre

• ON CINEMA, Tuesday, April 7, 8:00pm

  • Okay, not a screening, or exclusively about cinema. But if you know, you know. And if you don’t, you should probably take a moment to investigate whether you would like to attend this visit from Gregg Turkington and Tim Heidecker.

Commercial Theaters:
AMC Theatres
Flix Brewhouse
Marcus Theatres (Palace and Point)

• AI DOC: OR HOW I BECAME AN APOCALOPTIMIST, THE (2026) at AMC, Palace, Point.

• AMC SCREAM UNSEEN: APRIL 6 at AMC.

• AMC SCREEN UNSEEN: APRIL 13 at AMC.

• BEAST (2026) at AMC, Palace, Point.

• BTS WORLD TOUR ‘ARIRANG’ IN GOYANG: LIVE VIEWING (2026) at Palace, Point.

• CHAO (2026) at AMC, Point.

• DACOIT: A LOVE STORY (2026) at AMC.

• DARK CRYSTAL, THE (1982) at Flix.

• DHURANDHAR: THE REVENGE (2026) at AMC.

• DRAMA, THE (2026) at AMC, Palace, Point, Flix.

• EXIT 8 (2025) at AMC.

• FACES OF DEATH (2026) at AMC, Palace, Point.

• FANTASY LIFE (2026) at AMC.

  • Read Rob Thomas’s review.

• GOAT (2026) at AMC, Palace.

• GREAT AWAKENING, A (2026) at AMC, Point.

• HAMLET (2026) at AMC, Point.

• HOPPERS (2026) at AMC, Palace, Point, Flix.

• HUNTING MATTHEW NICHOLS (2026) at AMC, Palace, Point.

• IMAX SPACE STATION 3D at AMC.

• JERRY MAGUIRE 30TH ANNIVERSARY (2026) at AMC, Point.

• KILLER, THE - HONG KONG CINEMA CLASSICS at AMC, Point.

  • Man, I don’t have time to see this tonight (Monday), and I can’t see it on Wednesday due to Mills Folly Microcinema. Oh well, I bought the 4K disc.

• KING’S WARDEN, THE (2026) at AMC.

• LEGENDS OF THE LOST ARK at Point.

• MARCUS MYSTERY MOVIE at Palace, Point.

• NEWBORN (2026) at AMC.

• PREMARITAL (2026) at AMC.

• PROJECT HAIL MARY (2026) at AMC, Palace, Point, Flix.

• RAAKAASAA (2026) at AMC.

• READY OR NOT 2: HERE I COME (2026) at AMC, Palace, Point, Flix.

• REMINDERS OF HIM (2026) at AMC, Palace, Point, Flix.

• SECRET BETWEEN US, THE (2026) at AMC.

• STARDUST at Flix.

• SUPER MARIO GALAXY MOVIE, THE (2026) at AMC, Palace, Point, Flix.

• THEY WILL KILL YOU (2026) at AMC, Palace, Point, Flix.

• YETI, THE (2026) at AMC.

• YOU, ME & TUSCANY (2026) at AMC, Palace, Point.

Have you used the Now Showing in Madison listings at least once to find something interesting to see? Have you discovered a film that you didn’t realize was playing in town? Please consider supporting these efforts directly by clicking the “Buy Me a Popcorn” button and making a modest donation on those occasions when you find this resource valuable to your moviegoing in Madison.

Buy Me a Popcorn

Looking Ahead:

Local filmmaker Michael Doyle Olson has started what he hopes to be a comprehensive, collaborative public calendar of alternative film screenings in Madison. It is still a work in progress, but check it out at www.mdo.me/film.

Side Room Cinematheque

• Consult Instagram @sideroomcinematic for screening details, second Thursday of the month, and last Monday of the month.

Mills Folly Microcinema

• PROJECT PROJECTION: LOCAL FILM AND VIDEO, Wednesday, April 29, 7:00pm

Cinesthesia at Madison Public Library Central Branch

• KISS ME DEADLY (Robert Aldrich, 1955), Tuesday, April 21, 6:30pm.

Monday posts will now feature some short notes on various cinematic topics, followed by the Now Showing in Madison guide to commercial theaters and alternative venues.

In terms of film programming in Madison, there often is a trend of “when it rains, it pours,” We have an abundant of riches coming up with the Wisconsin Film Festival, holds its Opening Night festivities on Thursday, April 9 (although my first screening will be in the morning on Friday, April 10). But the whole week leading up to the Festival has noteworthy film programming, including the Midwest Film and Video Poetry Festival this Saturday, April 4 (more on that below). But I also want to draw your attention to a special program next Wednesday, so you’ll have to pace yourself to maintain your film stamina through the week.

Filmmaker Sabine Gruffat will present Beyond Resolution, a program of her short films, at Mills Folly Microcinema on Wednesday, April 8 at 7:00pm. As usual, the Mills Folly program will take place at Art + Literature Laboratory, 111 S. Livingston Street, Suite 100. If you have followed Mills Folly programming over the years, you are already familiar with part of Gruffat’s experimental film efforts: She co-founded (with Bill Brown) the Cosmic Rays Film Festival in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the touring program of which has played at Mills Folly several years, most recently this past January.

Those with familiarity of film and video production in the Communication Arts Department at the UW-Madison know that Gruffat was Assistant Professor of Digital Media from 2007 to 2011 (essentially the period that I was not in Madison, when I was teaching in North Carolina). She followed that with a period at University of North Carolina (during which she co-founded Cosmic Rays). She currently lives in Marseille, France.

What brings her back to Madison? Well, she was a juror at this year’s Ann Arbor Film Festival, which just wrapped up this past weekend. In addition to presenting the Beyond Resolution program in Ann Arbor, she has also scheduled screenings in Milwaukee and Chicago. Fortunately, we were able to schedule an additional screening here in Madison.

Describing the Beyond Resolution program, Gruffat writes:

This series of films favors ambiguity and resists resolution. The nearer the gaze, the more obscure the view. Illegibility here is not an escape from politics, but a way of inhabiting it differently: as a site of tension, friction, and possibility.

These films draw from a range of genres and layered techniques. Images are processed to draw attention to the hidden logics in software, hardware, and materiality. In repurposing media, the works call attention to the histories from which meaning’s fragile frameworks emerge.

Back in November 2019, Mills Folly Microcinema screened Gruffat’s short film Take it Down, which will also be a part of the Beyond Resolution program. Take it Down (pictured at the top of this post) addresses the protest and removal of a confederate soldier statue, a topic that has different resonance now, as it seems like some people, in a backlash, are trying their hardest to put similarly problematic statues back up.

Different kinds of “statues” (or embodiments, or frameworks) appear in other recent films in the program, as a means to explore the impact of video game engines, motion capture, artificial intelligence and augmented reality. In Moving or Being Moved (2021), quotes from post-modern dance theory provide an interesting context for images generated by a woman (Gruffat) who is wearing a motion capture suit while vacuuming a living room. Souvenir Statuette (2024) explores the definition of a “souvenir” when, as Gruffat states in her program notes, “some of the quasi-objects in this video were once objects, others are non-objects or computer model imaginaries.”

The program should serve as a valuable reminder to consider the materiality of the image (whether it is film, video, or computer generated) instead of passively accepting what the image seems to offer. This should be even more valuable before watching hours of film at the Wisconsin Film Festival!

Mark your calendars now for Wednesday of next week, April 8, 7:00pm. I hope to see some of you there!

Now Playing In Madison: March 30–April 6, 2026

Please confirm showtimes with the venues (follow venue links where provided). The commercial theaters update their weekend listings on Wednesdays. Another Now Playing source that posts on Wednesdays is The Horizon Line Madison.

Comments here are not reviews of the films, they are usually a response to the trailer, a summary of the buzz I have heard, or just snark. They are not always particularly accurate, according to reader feedback. I add trailers to new films of interest that you might not know about (American indies, international features, etc.).

Midwest Video Poetry Festival at Arts + Literature Laboratory, 111 S. Livingston St.

• Three different hour-long programs Saturday, April 4 at 6:00pm, 7:00pm, and 8:00pm.

The Midwest Video Poetry Festival, founded in 2020 by Rita Mae Reese and Genia Daniels, is a showcase for international, national, and regional short films which explore different ways to combine motion picture imagery with written or performed poetry. This year’s edition features films from the United Kingdom, Benin, the Netherlands, as well as New York, Pittsburgh, Ypsilanti, and Milwaukee. You can hear a recent 8 O’Clock Buzz interview with Rita Mae and Genia, discussing this year’s Festival as well as its history, in the WORT-FM archives. With campus film programming on pause for Spring Break, this Saturday is a particularly good time to catch one or more of this year’s programs!

UW Cinematheque

• Spring Break, Regular programming resumes Friday, April 17.

  • Wisconsin Film Festival programs at Cinematheque start Friday, April 10.

Wisconsin Union Directorate Film

• Spring Break. Regular programming resumes Tuesday, April 7.

  • Wisconsin Film Festival programs at Cinematheque start Friday, April 10.

Commercial Theaters:
AMC Theatres
Flix Brewhouse
Marcus Theatres (Palace and Point)

• AI DOC: OR HOW I BECAME AN APOCALOPTIMIST, THE at AMC, Point, and Palace.

  • New documentary feature from Daniel Roher, who won the Best Documentary Feature Oscar for Navalny in 2022, and Charlie Tyrell. This was picked up for distribution by Focus Features after its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.

• ALPHA at AMC and Point.

  • Latest feature from French director Julia Ducournau, whose Titane won the Palm d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2021. A teen girl with a new tattoo is suspected of contracting a lethal disease.

• AMC SCREAM UNSEEN: APRIL 6 at AMC.

• AMC SCREAM UNSEEN: MARCH 30 at AMC.

• BEN-HUR at AMC and Flix.

  • If I were to go to any Easter-themed programming this week, I think this would be it. Would be good to see it big and hear it loud.

• BIG LEBOWSKI, THE at Flix.

• BRIDE!, THE at Flix.

  • Christian Bale as Frankenstein and Jesse Buckley in a very different role than in Hamnet, as The Bride. Directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. Generally getting negative reviews, with some being particularly blunt.

• DAVID at AMC.

  • Faith-based animated feature about the young shepherd who eventually becomes the King of Israel.

• DHURANDHAR: THE REVENGE at AMC.

  • Indian Hindi-language crime action drama, and a sequel to the top grossing Indian feature film of 2025. I saw the first film in January, and I liked its scope and ambition, despite occasionally wallowing in some brutal violence. I had a chance to see this sequel this past weekend, and I could not see it Friday evening or Saturday morning due to sold-out (or nearly so) screenings. The sequel is again very ambitious genre filmmaking, and at times it soars. And by the time you’re finished watching this second film, you feel like you have seen something epic, if only because of the time commitment. There was some cheering in the audience at certain points during the climax, which reminded me that I should probably take some time to examine the role of nationalist ideology in this series.Very loosely based on a crackdown against organized crime in Karachi, Pakistan.

• DRAMA, THE at AMC, Point, Palace, and Flix.

  • New feature from Kristoffer Borgli, whose Sick of Myself (2022) and Dream Scenario (with Nicholas Cage, 2023), both showcased his warped sense of humor, both of which I liked quite a bit. While he worked with Cage on Dream Scenario, working with current in-crowd stars Zendaya, Robbert Pattinson (and even Alana Haim) has set a different level of box-office expectations. These expectations may be undermined, however, by the recent resurfacing of Borgli’s 2012 essay in which he discusses dating a teenager when he was in his 20s. Drama, indeed.

• DRISHYAM 3 at AMC.

  • Indian Malayalam-language crime thriller.

• FORBIDDEN FRUITS at AMC and Palace.

  • Horror-comedy directed by Meredith Alloway and released by Shudder and Independent Film Company.

• GOAT at AMC, Point, Palace, and Flix.

• GREAT AWAKENING, A at AMC.

  • I guess this is a celebration of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, with an account of events placed squarely in the context of the Great Awakening religious movement.

• HAPPY RAJ at AMC.

  • Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy about a man unlucky in love, who finds a woman who has feelings for him, but also has an eccentric father.

• HOPPERS at AMC, Point, Palace, and Flix.

• JESUS REVOLUTION at AMC.

  • Re-release of 2023 faith-based drama a pastor at a small Southern Califonia church attempts to connect with wayward youth in 1968.

• KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE 4K at AMC.

• KILLER - HONG KONG CINEMA CLASSICS, THE at AMC and Point.

  • I’ve discussed the re-release of these John Woo action films far too many times on this Substack. But this is the one you should really, really see if you haven’t seen any of them. Screening on three days, but try to see it on April 5 or 6, because if you go on April 8 you’ll miss Sabine Gruffat (see above).

• LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN, A at AMC.

• MAGNIFICENT LIFE, A at AMC.

  • The latest animated feature film from Sylvain Chomet (Triplets of Belleville; The Illusionist) looks at the life and career Marcel Pagnol, playwright, novelist (Manon of the Spring) and filmmaker (Marius). This is getting just so-so reviews, including from Rob Thomas.

• MARCUS MYSTERY MOVIE at Point and Palace.

• MUMMY RETURNS 25TH ANNIVERSARY, THE at AMC, Point, and Flix.

• PANDAS at AMC.

  • An IMAX 3D documentary.

• POUT-POUT FISH, THE at AMC, Point, and Palace.

  • I usually mark films like this as “this week’s sketchy mid-tier animated feature film for kids,” but this is based on a New York Times best-seller, and actually has a pretty interesting voice cast: Amy Sedaris, Nick Offerman, Miranda Otto.

• PRATHICHAYA at AMC.

  • Indian Malayalam-language political thriller that examines the merciless corporate control of the country’s news media.

• PREMARITAL at AMC.

  • Faith-based comedy about a pastor who tries to convert his daughter’s non-believing fiancé to the faith before the wedding.

• PROJECT HAIL MARY at AMC, Point, Palace, and Flix.

  • It seems to be as big as people were expecting it to be, so you probably don’t need to read any more from me about it.

• RAAKAASAA at AMC.

  • Indian Telugu-language horror film, also described as a fantasy-comedy. And based on the music and sound effects in the trailer, it seems to be more on the spectacle and entertainment end of the spectrum.

• READY OR NOT 2: HERE I COME at AMC, Point, Palace, and Flix.

  • Remember the one (in 2019) about the bride who gets hunted down by her new inlaws? I guess she survived, and is up against some more distant relatives this time.

• REMINDERS OF HIM at AMC, Point, Palace, and Flix.

  • Adaptation of the book by Colleen Hoover. Somehow I have managed to see this trailer several times before films, which cumulatively add up to about 15 to 20 minutes more than I care to spend thinking about it. But you might like it? But how do I have so much time to see this in local theaters when I couldn’t catch a break to find time to see The Testament of Ann Lee? (A rhetorical question, please do not respond in the comments.)

• SCREAM 7 at AMC, Point, and Palace.

• SECRET BETWEEN US, THE at AMC.

  • Michael Jai White produces and stars in this romantic thriller, executive produced by Keith Sweat. On his Instagram account, Sweat describes the film as “a stirring family drama about betrayal, redemption, and the power of forgiveness,” and he concludes saying, “The movie will have you crying, so don’t forget your Kleenex.” You’ve been warned!

• STAND BY ME 40TH ANNIVERSARY at Palace.

• SUPER MARIO GALAXY MOVIE, THE at AMC, Point, Palace, and Flix.

• THEY WILL KILL YOU at AMC, Point, Palace, and Flix.

  • This seems to be a variation on Ready or Not and Ready or Not 2 (see above) with a bride being hunted by her inlaws replaced by an ex-con housekeeper hunted down by Satan-worshiping residents at a NYC high-rise. But somehow this looks much, much more interesting than the Ready or Not films.

• UNDERTONE at AMC, Point, Palace, and Flix.

  • Another horror film, this one set around a podcast that explores the supernatural and paranormal.

• YOU’RE DATING A NARCISSIST! at AMC.

  • Comedy vehicle for Marisa Tomei, who plays a psychologist whose daughter clearly hasn’t read her books or listened to her lectures about “red flags” in men.

Have you used the Now Showing in Madison listings at least once to find something interesting to see? Have you discovered a film that you didn’t realize was playing in town? Please consider supporting these efforts directly by clicking the “Buy Me a Popcorn” button and making a modest donation on those occasions when you find this resource valuable to your moviegoing in Madison.

Buy Me a Popcorn

Looking Ahead:

Local filmmaker Michael Doyle Olson has started what he hopes to be a comprehensive, collaborative public calendar of alternative film screenings in Madison. It is still a work in progress, but check it out at www.mdo.me/film.

Side Room Cinematheque

• Consult Instagram @sideroomcinematic for screening details, second Thursday of the month, and last Monday of the month.

Barrymore Theatre

• ON CINEMA, Tuesday, April 7, 8:00pm

  • Okay, not a screening, or exclusively about cinema. But if you know, you know. And if you don’t, you should probably take a moment to investigate whether you would like to attend this visit from Gregg Turkington and Tim Heidecker.

Mills Folly Microcinema

• VISITING FILMMAKER: SABINE GRUFFAT, Wednesday, April 8, 7:00pm.

  • See notes above.

• PROJECT PROJECTION: LOCAL FILM AND VIDEO, Wednesday, April 29, 7:00pm

Cinesthesia at Madison Public Library Central Branch

• KISS ME DEADLY (Robert Aldrich, 1955), Tuesday, April 21, 6:30pm.

Monday posts will now feature some short notes on various cinematic topics, followed by the Now Showing in Madison guide to commercial theaters and alternative venues.

Warren Sonbert (1947-1995) was an important artist in both the New York City and San Francisco experimental filmmaking communities. Sonbert considered his experimental travelogue, Carriage Trade (final version released 1973) to be his “magnum opus,” and we will screen this important capstone to his 1960s films at Mills Folly Microcinema this week, Wednesday, March 25, 7:00pm at Arts + Literature Laboratory, 111 S. Livingston Street, Suite 100.

In their retrospective of Sonbert’s films, the Harvard Film Archive described Carriage Trade as:

[A] visual journey encapsulating his travels over four continents in six years… [the film] weaves that footage together with shots [he] removed from a number of his earlier films, offering the viewer multi-faceted readings of the connections between shots, including the ‘changing relations of the movement of objects, the gestures of figures, familiar worldwide icons, rituals and reactions, rhythm, spacing and density of images’

A concise introduction to Sonbert’s work can be found in filmmaker and Light Industry founder Thomas Beard’s overview of Sonbert’s career at 4Columns on the occasion of a Sonbert retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in 2023. Beard notes that despite the fact that the images in Carriage Trade are taken from around the world, “Save for a handful of moments, as when we clock the Taj Mahal or Venetian gondoliers, it’s difficult to locate where, exactly, we are passing through as the movie’s currents carry us along, but no matter. What we’re watching is not a travelogue so much as a complex, nonlinear image network.”

Beard associates Sonbert’s mature style, exemplified by Carriage Trade, with what film theorist Noël Carroll called “polyvalent montage” in which each shot, in Carroll’s words, “can be combined with surrounding shots along potentially many dimensions.” Beard explains how this editing strategy works in Carriage Trade:

[A} shot might be bracketed by other, “neutral” shots, typically absent a human figure, allowing it a bit of breathing room, while serving variously, and sometimes simultaneously, as a complement or point of contrast to those further up and down the reel, both on the level of their content as well as their design. An elaborate web of correspondences thus emerges between different shot lengths, between different film stocks, between the movement of the camera and the movement within the frame, between the action in the foreground / middle ground / background, between shifting color schemes.

I was first introduced to Sonbert’s films when I had an opportunity to visit the Flaherty Film Seminar in the late 1990s. Sonbert’s films were presented along with some films by Armenian filmmaker Arthur Peleshian (Artavazd Peleshayan) who was associated with the concept of “distance montage,” in which the way images resonate with each other across the duration of the film is equally important as the way images collide with each other when they are edited together. Experiencing both filmmaker’s work in such proximity opened up my eyes to many new possibilities for how to assemble and engage with images and sounds.

Or lack of sounds. Carriage Trade is a 61-minute silent film. Beard observes that when Sonbert transitioned to silence in his films, “they became more musical still, only now their rhythms were purely visual, progressing inside shots as well as across them.”

So, needless to say, watching Warren Sonbert films are not exactly passive entertainment. But actively engaging with them can be an extremely rewarding viewing experience. I hope to see some of you on Wednesday!

Now Playing In Madison: March 23-30, 2026

Please confirm showtimes with the venues (follow venue links where provided). The commercial theaters update their weekend listings on Wednesdays. Another Now Playing source that posts on Wednesdays is The Horizon Line Madison.

Comments here are not reviews of the films, they are usually a response to the trailer, a summary of the buzz I have heard, or just snark. They are not always particularly accurate, according to reader feedback. I add trailers to new films of interest that you might not know about (American indies, international features, etc.).

Mills Folly Microcinema, Arts + Literature Laboratory

• CARRIAGE TRADE, Wednesday, March 25, 7:00pm. Free admission, $5 donation encouraged. Warren Sonbert (1947–1995) was an experimental filmmaker whose work of nearly three decades began in New York in the mid-1960s, and continued in San Francisco throughout the second half of his life. Sonbert considered Carriage Trade (1973) his “magnum opus.” In this film, Sonbert interweaves footage taken from his journeys throughout Europe, Africa, Asia, and the United States, together with shots he removed from the camera originals of a number of his earlier films. See additional notes above.

UW Cinematheque

• THE DAY OF THE DOLPHIN, 4070 Vilas Hall, Friday, March 27, 7 p.m.

  • Mike Nichols, USA, 1973, 104 min.

• CONVERSATION PIECE (English language version), 4070 Vilas Hall, Saturday, March 28, 4 p.m.

  • Luchino Visconti, Italy, 1974, 121 min.

• CONVERSATION PIECE (Italian language version), 4070 Vilas Hall, Saturday, March 28, 7 p.m.

  • Luchino Visconti, Italy, 1974, 121 min.

Wisconsin Union Directorate Film

• Spring Break. Programming resumes Tuesday, April 7.

Commercial Theaters:
AMC Theatres
Flix Brewhouse
Marcus Theatres (Palace and Point)

• AI DOC: OR HOW I BECAME AN APOCALOPTIMIST, THE at AMC, Point.

  • New documentary feature from Daniel Roher, who won the Best Documentary Feature Oscar for Navalny in 2022, and Charlie Tyrell. This was picked up for distribution by Focus Features after its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.

• ALPHA at AMC, Point.

  • Latest feature from French director Julia Ducournau, whose Titane won the Palm d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2021. A teen girl with a new tattoo is suspected of contracting a lethal disease.

• AMC SCREAM UNSEEN: MARCH 23 at AMC.

• AMC SCREAM UNSEEN: MARCH 30 at AMC.

• AMERICAN UNDERDOG at AMC.

  • Re-release of 2021 sports drama with an inspirational emphasis about the career of NFL quarterback Kurt Warner.

• BEN-HUR at AMC, Point, Flix.

  • If I were to go to any Easter-themed programming this week, I think this would be it. Would be good to see it big and hear it loud.

• BERSHAMA at AMC.

  • Egyptian comedy about the hijinks that follow the death of a high school exam proctor, when the students attempt to hide that fact so that they can cheat.

• BIG LEBOWSKI, THE at Flix.

• BRIDE!, THE at AMC, Flix.

  • Christian Bale as Frankenstein and Jesse Buckley in a very different role than in Hamnet, as The Bride. Directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. Generally getting negative reviews, with some being particularly blunt.

• BRING ME THE HORIZON - L.I.V.E. IN SÃO PAULO (LIVE IMMERSIVE VIRTUAL EXPERIMENT) at Point.

  • Concert film featuring British rock band Bring Me the Horizon.

• DAVID at AMC.

  • Faith-based animated feature about the young shepherd who eventually becomes the King of Israel.

• DHURANDHAR: THE REVENGE at AMC.

  • Indian Hindi-language crime action drama, and a sequel to the top grossing Indian feature film of 2025. I saw the first film in January, and I liked its scope and ambition, despite occasionally wallowing in some brutal violence. I had a chance to see this sequel this past weekend, and I could not see it Friday evening or Saturday morning due to sold-out (or nearly so) screenings. The sequel is again very ambitious genre filmmaking, and at times it soars. And by the time you’re finished watching this second film, you feel like you have seen something epic, if only because of the time commitment. There was some cheering in the audience at certain points during the climax, which reminded me that I should probably take some time to examine the role of nationalist ideology in this series.Very loosely based on a crackdown against organized crime in Karachi, Pakistan.

• EPIC: ELVIS PRESLEY IN CONCERT at AMC.

• FIRST HYMN, THE at Point.

  • Faith-based documentary feature about the rediscovery of the earliest known Christian hymn.

• FORBIDDEN FRUITS at AMC.

  • Horror-comedy directed by Meredith Alloway and released by Shudder and Independent Film Company.

• GOAT at AMC, Point, Flix.

• HOPPERS at AMC, Point, Flix.

• I LIVE HERE NOW at AMC.

  • Horror drama directed by Julie Pacino (Al’s daughter) about a woman who is trapped in a remote hotel. This seems to be getting decent reviews, and it screened at Locarno and Edinburgh film festivals.

• JESUS REVOLUTION at AMC.

  • Re-release of 2023 faith-based drama a pastor at a small Southern Califonia church attempts to connect with wayward youth in 1968.

• KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE 4K at AMC, Point.

• KING OF KINGS, THE at AMC.

  • Re-release of 2025 animated feature about the life of Jesus Christ, presumably in theaters for the Easter season.

• MAGIC MIKE XXL at Flix.

• MAGNIFICENT LIFE, A at AMC.

  • The latest animated feature film from Sylvain Chomet (Triplets of Belleville; The Illusionist) looks at the life and career Marcel Pagnol, playwright, novelist (Manon of the Spring) and filmmaker (Marius).

• MARCUS MYSTERY MOVIE at Point.

• MUMMY RETURNS 25TH ANNIVERSARY, THE at Point, Flix.

• ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER at AMC, Point.

  • I just bought the 4K disc, but this might be worth seeing one more time on the big screen.

• PEAKY BLINDERS: THE IMMORTAL MAN at Flix.

  • Continuation of the British television series Peaky Blinders (2013-2022). This feature film starring Cillian Murphy and directed by Tom Harper will have a limited theatrical release, followed by a debut on Netflix on March 20. Read Rob Thomas’s review.

• POUT-POUT FISH, THE at AMC, Point.

  • I usually mark films like this as “this week’s sketchy mid-tier animated feature film for kids,” but this is based on a New York Times best-seller, and actually has a pretty interesting voice cast: Amy Sedaris, Nick Offerman, Miranda Otto.

• PROJECT HAIL MARY at AMC, Point, Flix.

  • Finally, your chance to see a film very heavily promoted and advertised in the hopes of cashing in on the success of the previous Andy Weir novel adaptation, The Martian.

• RAD 40TH ANNIVERSARY at AMC, Flix.

  • Join me in celebrating the 40th anniversary of skipping this film in 1986.

• READY OR NOT 2: HERE I COME at AMC, Point, Flix.

  • Remember the one (in 2019) about the bride who gets hunted down by her new inlaws? I guess she survived, and is up against some more distant relatives this time.

• REMINDERS OF HIM at AMC, Point, Flix.

  • Adaptation of the book by Colleen Hoover. Somehow I have managed to see this trailer several times before films, which cumulatively add up to about 15 to 20 minutes more than I care to spend thinking about it. But you might like it?

• RESERVOIR DOGS at Flix.

• ROTTEN MOVIES, FRESH BEER: HOT ROD at Flix.

• SCREAM 7 at AMC, Point.

  • If you loved 1 through 6 (or is this like the Star Trek films, only the odd numbered ones are good?).

• SEND HELP at Point.

• SILENCE OF THE LAMBS 35TH ANNIVERSARY, THE at AMC.

• SINNERS at AMC.

• SLANTED at AMC.

  • Sci-fi body-horror social satire directed by Amy Wang,about a Chinese-American teenage who feels insecure about her race. Of the self-aware horror films that are opening this week, this one at least has an intriguing and promising premise beyond shocks and gore. Read Rob Thomas’s review.

• STAND BY ME 40TH ANNIVERSARY at AMC, Point.

• STEEL MAGNOLIAS at AMC.

• SUPERPOWER DOGS: AN IMAX 3D EXPERIENCE at AMC.

• THEY WILL KILL YOU at AMC, Point, Flix.

  • This seems to be a variation on Ready or Not and Ready or Not 2 (see above) with a bride being hunted by her inlaws replaced by an ex-con housekeeper hunted down by Satan-worshiping residents at a NYC high-rise. But somehow this looks much, much more interesting than the Ready or Not films.

• TOW at AMC.

  • Rose Byrne, fresh off of her Oscar nomination in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, now plays a woman who lives out of her car in Seattle. The title likely refers to a plot point.

• UNDERTONE at AMC, Point, Flix.

  • Another horror film, this one set around a podcast that explores the supernatural and paranormal.

• USTAAD BHAGAT SINGH at AMC.

  • Indian Telugu-language action comedy starring actor and real-life elected official (Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh) Pawan Kaylan.

• WUTHERING HEIGHTS at AMC, Point.

  • This is not bad, in fact I liked it. But I have not read the book, so I’m not in a position of defending the book’s honor. I’m slowly working on a longer piece where I look at responses to the film across Substack, to get a sense of what film criticism looks like on this platform.

Have you used the Now Showing in Madison listings at least once to find something interesting to see? Have you discovered a film that you didn’t realize was playing in town? Please consider supporting these efforts directly by clicking the “Buy Me a Popcorn” button and making a modest donation on those occasions when you find this resource valuable to your moviegoing in Madison.

Buy Me a Popcorn

Looking Ahead:

Local filmmaker Michael Doyle Olson has started what he hopes to be a comprehensive, collaborative public calendar of alternative film screenings in Madison. It is still a work in progress, but check it out at www.mdo.me/film.

Side Room Cinematheque

• Consult Instagram @sideroomcinematic for screening details, second Thursday of the month, and last Monday of the month.

Barrymore Theatre

• ON CINEMA, Tuesday, April 7, 8:00pm

  • Okay, not a screening, or exclusively about cinema. But if you know, you know. And if you don’t, you should probably take a moment to investigate whether you would like to attend this visit from Gregg Turkington and Tim Heidecker.

Mills Folly Microcinema

• VISITING FILMMAKER: SABINE GRUFFAT, Wednesday, April 8, 7:00pm.

• PROJECT PROJECTION: LOCAL FILM AND VIDEO, Wednesday, April 29, 7:00pm

Cinesthesia at Madison Public Library Central Branch

• KISS ME DEADLY (Robert Aldrich, 1955), Tuesday, April 21, 6:30pm.

Monday posts will now feature some short notes on various cinematic topics, followed by the Now Showing in Madison guide to commercial theaters and alternative venues.

Coincidentally, I had been thinking about Ross McElwee and his very unique, personal documentaries, even before I knew that his latest film, Remake, would be playing at the Wisconsin Film Festival. I mainly thought about the role of small, compact digital technology in recent films that document personal experiences of social and political significance (like No Other Land from last year) as well as private stories that would have been hard to document without very portable digital cameras (like Penny Lane’s Confessions of a Good Samaritan, just to name one example.).

The image that popped in my head when I thought about McElwee was not an image that appears in his film, Sherman’s March (1986), but an imagined image related to the making of the film. I thought about and imagined the 16mm camera rig that he used, and how despite the cumbersome equipment present at all times, he was able to create an environment with great intimacy as he interviewed his subjects.

Sherman’s March was not only an important documentary of the mid-1980s, it was also important for American independent film more generally. For those who are not familiar with the film, the premise is that McElwee received a grant to make a historical documentary about General William Sherman’s “March to the Sea” during the American Civil War. But instead of making that film, he ends up visiting and interviewing many of his ex-girlfriends, as well as other women he meets on his journey retracing Sherman’s route. McElwee described the results as a personal essay blending fiction and nonfiction.

If you saw Sherman’s March around the time it was released, it was a breath of fresh air that opened up new possibilities for documentary and non-fiction filmmaking. McElwee aspired to be honest and to show the less likable aspects of himself, which influenced independent filmmaking more generally in the following years.

Now, the personal essay has practically overrun documentary feature films on the film festival circuit. There are many times when watching recent films where I wonder to myself if the filmmaker inserting themselves into the story, regardless of whether the topic is personal, political, or social in nature, really adds or takes away from the final film. I also sometimes wonder if the abundance of images that are taken at almost any planned or unplanned event, via ubiquitous cel phones, are actually getting us any closer to documenting the truth.

I think what makes Sherman’s March so valuable looking back at it now is how hard McElwee had to work to get his images and how willing he was to make himself vulnerable to judgement as he attempted to examine his personal relationships.

I won’t have a chance to see his new film, Remake, until the Wisconsin Film Festival screening on Saturday, April 11, 1:15pm at the Chazen Museum of Art. (There is also a repeat screening on Monday, April 13, 12:00pm at Flix Brewhouse.) But based on the topic of Remake, an examination of his relationship with his son Adrian, who passed away at 27 in 2016, it is clear that McElwee has opened himself up to vulnerabilities about his role as a father and as a filmmaker. Image making was a part of Adrian’s upbringing and family life, and McElwee will no doubt question his own documentary practice as he examines his and Adrian’s footage from over the years.

I found a great, concise introduction to Ross McElwee and his work in a Substack post at Getting Personal with Doug Block. Block, a documentary filmmaker himself and director of the great 51 Birch Street, breaks up this brief portrait into three parts, memories of a Sherman’s March screening in 1985, an interview with McElwee from 2015, and a brief contemplation about Remake after seeing it in 2026. I’m confident that after reading Block’s insightful post, you’ll want to join me and catch one of the screenings of Remake in April.

Now Playing In Madison: March 16-23, 2026

Please confirm showtimes with the venues (follow venue links where provided). The commercial theaters update their weekend listings on Wednesdays. Another Now Playing source that posts on Wednesdays is The Horizon Line Madison.

Comments here are not reviews of the films, they are usually a response to the trailer, a summary of the buzz I have heard, or just snark. They are not always particularly accurate, according to reader feedback. I add trailers to new films of interest that you might not know about (American indies, international features, etc.).

UW Cinematheque

• THE PRISONER OF SHARK ISLAND, 4070 Vilas Hall, Friday, March 20, 7 p.m.

  • John Ford, USA, 1936, 95 min.

• DAYS AND NIGHTS IN THE FOREST, 4070 Vilas Hall, Saturday, March 21, 7 p.m.

  • Satyajit Ray, India, 1970, 116 min.

• WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?, Chazen Museum, Sunday, March 22, 2 p.m.

  • Mike Nichols, USA, 1966, 129 min.

Wisconsin Union Directorate Film

• WHITE WITH FEAR (2024) [OPEN CAPTION SCREENING], Union South Marquee Theater, Thursday, 3/19, 6:30 p.m.

• NO OTHER CHOICE (2025), Union South Marquee Theater, Friday, 3/20, 6 p.m.

• THE ROOM (2003), Union South Marquee Theater, Friday, 3/20, 9 p.m.

• ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER (2025) [OPEN CAPTION], Union South Marquee Theater, Saturday, 3/21, 7 p.m,

Cinesthesia at Madison Public Library Central Branch

• INSIDE MAN (Spike Lee, 2006), Tuesday, March 17, 6:30pm.

Commercial Theaters:
AMC Theatres
Flix Brewhouse
Marcus Theatres (Palace and Point)

• AMC SCREEN UNSEEN: MARCH 16 at AMC.

• AMC SCREAM UNSEEN: MARCH 23 at AMC.

• AMERICAN UNDERDOG at AMC.

  • Re-release of 2021 sports drama with an inspirational emphasis about the career of NFL quarterback Kurt Warner.

• ANACONDA at AMC, Point, Palace.

• BRIDE, THE! at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

  • Christian Bale as Frankenstein and Jesse Buckley in a very different role than in Hamnet, as The Bride. Directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. Generally getting negative reviews, with some being particularly blunt.

• CRIME 101 at AMC, Point, Flix.

• DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA INFINITY CASTLE at Palace.

  • Japanese dark fantasy action anime feature.

• DEPARTED, THE at Flix.

  • Marty won his Oscar for this one.

• DHURANDHAR: THE REVENGE at AMC, Point.

  • Indian Hindi-language crime action drama, and a sequel to the top grossing Indian feature film of 2025. I saw the first film in January, and I liked its scope and ambition, despite occasionally wallowing in some brutal violence. Very loosely based on a crackdown against organized crime in Karachi, Pakistan.

• EPIC: ELVIS PRESLEY IN CONCERT at AMC, Point, Palace.

• ERIN BROCKOVICH at AMC.

• GOAT at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

• HE CALLS ME DAUGHTER at AMC, Point, Palace.

  • Faith-based documentary focusing on women with absent, distant, or broken fathers.

• HOPPERS at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

• HUBBLE at AMC.

  • IMAX documentary

• KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE 4K at AMC.

• KING OF KINGS, THE at AMC.

  • Re-release of 2025 animated feature about the life of Jesus Christ, presumably in theaters for the Easter season.

• MARCUS MYSTERY MOVIE at Palace.

• METROPOLITAN OPERA: TRISTAN UND ISOLDE, THE at Point, Palace.

• ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER at AMC.

• PEAKY BLINDERS: THE IMMORTAL MAN at Flix.

  • Continuation of the British television series Peaky Blinders (2013-2022). This feature film starring Cillian Murphy and directed by Tom Harper will have a limited theatrical release, followed by a debut on Netflix on March 20. Read Rob Thomas’s review.

• POUT-POUT FISH, THE at AMC, Point, Palace.

  • I usually mark films like this as “this week’s sketchy mid-tier animated feature film for kids,” but this is based on a New York Times best-seller, and actually has a pretty interesting voice cast: Amy Sedaris, Nick Offerman, Miranda Otto. Opens wide March 20.

• PROJECT HAIL MARY at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

  • Finally, your chance to see a film very heavily promoted and advertized in the hopes of cashing in on the success of the previous Andy Weir novel adaptation, The Martian.

• RAD 40TH ANNIVERSARY at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

  • Join me in celebrating the 40th anniversary of skipping this film in 1986.

• READY OR NOT 2: HERE I COME at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

  • Remember the one (in 2019) about the bride who gets hunted down by her new inlaws? I guess she survived, and is up against some more distant relatives this time.

• REMINDERS OF HIM at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

  • Adaptation of the book by Colleen Hoover. Somehow I have managed to see this trailer several times before films, which cumulatively add up to about 15 to 20 minutes more than I care to spend thinking about it. But you might like it?

• REVENANT 10TH ANNIVERSARY RE-RELEASE, THE at AMC.

• ROTTEN MOVIES, FRESH BEER: HOT ROD at Flix.

  • Interesting idea: Camp plus alcohol?

• SCARED TO DEATH at AMC.

  • Horror film, originally on the festival circuit in 2024. Apparently a making-a-movie comedy. In the Whatever Happened To department, this features Rae Dawn Chong (Commando).

• SCREAM 7 at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

  • If you loved 1 through 6 (or is this like the Star Trek films, only the odd numbered ones are good?).

• SEND HELP at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

• SLANTED at AMC.

  • Sci-fi body-horror social satire directed by Amy Wang,about a Chinese-American teenage who feels insecure about her race. Of the self-aware horror films that are opening this week, this one at least has an intriguing and promising premise beyond shocks and gore. Read Rob Thomas’s review.

• STEEL MAGNOLIAS at AMC.

• STORM RIDER: LEGEND OF HAMMERHEAD at AMC.

  • Sci-fi adventure film set in a post-apocalyptic future three centuries after the “Great Flood.” Shot in Croatia.

• TMNT II: THE SECRET OF THE OOZE 35TH ANNIVERSARY at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

• TOW at AMC.

  • Rose Byrne, fresh off of her Oscar nomination in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, now plays a woman who lives out of her car in Seattle. The title likely refers to a plot point.

• UNDERTONE at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

  • Another horror film, this one set around a podcast that explores the supernatural and paranormal.

• UNSUNG HERO at AMC.

  • Faith-based drama, originally released in 2024, based on the story of Rebecca and Joel Smallbone who transformed their family into successful Christian recording artists.

• URBAN COWBOY at Flix.

• USTAAD BHAGAT SINGH at Point, Palace.

  • Indian Telugu-language action comedy starring actor and real-life elected official (Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh) Pawan Kaylan.

• ZOOTOPIA 2 at AMC.

Have you used the Now Showing in Madison listings at least once to find something interesting to see? Have you discovered a film that you didn’t realize was playing in town? Please consider supporting these efforts directly by clicking the “Buy Me a Popcorn” button and making a modest donation on those occasions when you find this resource valuable to your moviegoing in Madison.

Buy Me a Popcorn

Looking Ahead:

Local filmmaker Michael Doyle Olson has started what he hopes to be a comprehensive, collaborative public calendar of alternative film screenings in Madison. It is still a work in progress, but check it out at www.mdo.me/film.

Side Room Cinematheque

• Consult Instagram @sideroomcinematic for screening details, second Thursday of the month, and last Monday of the month.

Mills Folly Microcinema, Arts + Literature Laboratory

• CARRIAGE TRADE, Wednesday, March 25, 7:00pm. Free admission, $5 donation encouraged. Warren Sonbert (1947–1995) was an experimental filmmaker whose work of nearly three decades began in New York in the mid-1960s, and continued in San Francisco throughout the second half of his life. Sonbert considered Carriage Trade (1973) his “magnum opus.” In this film, Sonbert interweaves footage taken from his journeys throughout Europe, Africa, Asia, and the United States, together with shots he removed from the camera originals of a number of his earlier films.

If you have been paying attention to the contributions from the Chicago Film Archives at the Wisconsin Film Festival the past few years, you likely remember the name of Chicago’s Tom Palazzolo. The CFA collection of shorts at WFF 2023, “Tap Dancing Teens & Screaming Sandwichmen: Gems from Chicago Film Archives,” included Palazzolo’s short Jerry’s 1976), which follows deli owner Jerry Meyers, who was famous for berating his customers throughout the day. And if you attended the Heather McAdams screening last year, you may recall a brief discussion of Tom Palazzolo’s role in the Chicago independent film community (I recall it, because I asked the question!).

Palazzolo is so well ingrained in Chicago’s film community that his nickname, often used in in his on-screen credits and publicity for his films, is “Tom Chicago” or “Tommy Chicago.” And as CFA’s Olivia Babler reminds us in her program notes in the Festival guide, Roger Ebert dubbed Palazzolo “Chicago’s filmmaker laureate.”

My first encounter with Palazzolo and his films was as an undergraduate at UW-Madison in the early 1990’s (though it possibly could have been 1989, I haven’t been able to track the date down), when he visited for a screening of his short films and his experimental narrative feature, Caligari’s Cure (1982). My memory of Caligari’s Cure is hazy, beyond its expressionist set design (but in saturated 16mm color instead of black and white) and its riffing on Bunuel and Dali’s Un Chien Anadalou. But Palazzolo’s take on filmmaking, and on life in general, was idiosyncratic and inspiring, just what I needed to see and hear in my impressionable undergraduate days.

In 2023, the Chicago Film Archive received a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation to restore and photochemically preserve Caligari’s Cure. You can see the entire film at the Chicago Film Archives website, but hopefully it will play again in Madison at some point.

In fact, you can see many more Palazzolo films at the Chicago Film Archives website, including those to be included in the Wisconsin Film Festival screening on Saturday, April 12, at 11:00am at the Bartell Theatre. But if you do end up watching one or two online, I’m confident you’ll want to see the whole program with a crowd to appreciate the audience response. As the Chicago Film Archives explains in their notes for another Palozzolo program:

Palazzolo’s unique perspective on everyday life in the city, in combination with his dark sense of humor, results in films that are as tender and heartwarming as they are sharp and critical. Known for making documentaries on subjects as wide ranging as the 1968 convention, a neo-Nazi march in Marquette Park, Maxwell Street, and the “tattooed lady of Riverview” park, Palazzolo is as curious a citizen of the city as he is a filmmaker. His documentary approach ranges from observational to participatory, yet what always rises to the surface is his keen interest in the human condition.

Here’s a link to Jerry’s which screened at the Chicago Film Archives WFF presentation in 2023, and a link to an interview with Palazzolo for the Metrograph in New York, on the occasion of their 2023 retrospective of his films, to get you started on your Palazzolo journey. I hope to see some of you at the screening in April!

Monday posts will now feature some short notes on various cinematic topics, followed by the Now Showing in Madison guide to commercial theaters and alternative venues.

Tickets for the 2026 Wisconsin Film Festival went on sale this past weekend. How do I plan to cover this momentous event here on Moving Image Madison? My plan right now is to post occasional “Quick Picks,” films you should know about when figuring out your Festival film-going schedule between April 9 to April 16. I’ll also provide a more in depth guide to the decisions I made to navigate the Festival’s opening weekend. (Once again, I’m continuing my tradition of the Five-Film-Saturday). So stay tuned!

The first film title that jumped out at me was also the first ticket I purchased: Sholay (Ramesh Sippy | India | 1975 | 204 minutes with intermission). Regular readers here at Moving Image Madison know that I’m a fan of Bollywood films, and I try to keep you in the loop about Indian popular cinema playing in the commercial theaters in town. Well, Sholay is an essential film in the Indian popular cinema canon, and I can’t wait to see it on the big screen with a crowd. I have tickets for the Wednesday, April 15, 6:30pm screening, but there is also a workday afternoon screening on Thursday, April 16, 1:15pm.

In his Film Guide notes, Mike King describes this as “the film restoration event of the decade.” Like everything about Sholay, Mike went big with that claim, and even that doesn’t quite capture the impact that Sholay had when it was released on 1975. It has something for everyone, and it goes big with everything that appears on screen.

My first exposure to Sholay was the following clip in a world cinema history class, a music sequence set during a Holi colors festival. I knew instantly that I wanted to see the entire film, and it took quite a while after that to find access to it. If this doesn’t inspire you to buy a ticket, I don’t know what to tell you.

Anti-hero buddies Jai (Amitabh Bachchan) and Veeru (Dharmendra) are recruited by a retired police officer (who once held them in custody) to capture the notorious bandit Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan), who leads a gang that terrorizes villages (a la Seven Samurai or The Magnificent Seven). Needless to say, there is a lot of action in Sholay, and some of the violence was a bit more extreme than general audiences were used to in India in 1975. But there’s also the typical mix of tones ranging from very broad slapstick to melodramatic romance. And, of course there’s the music: six songs by R.D. Burman who was the most respected music directors in the Hindi film industry.

Amitabh Bachchan was a star at this point (nominated for a Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor for Anand in 1971), but this film as well as others in the mid-1970s propelled him to superstardom that lasts to this day. I actually went to see him live outside of Chicago with members of family and other Bollywood stars in The Unforgettable Tour in 2008. The most recent film I’ve seen him in at AMC Fitchburg was Kalki 2892 AD, a 2024 Telugu-language science fiction film. So for those of you who are unfamiliar with his career and his screen charisma, Sholay offers an opportunity to see him for the first time in his prime.

Sholay is also famous for having one of the greatest (by which I mean most vile) screen villains in cinema history: Gabbar Singh. A Wikipedia page is dedicated to Gabbar Singh to trace his influence in Indian popular culture (and beyond). As you watch more films from Indian popular cinema made after 1975, it does not take long to see direct and indirect references to Gabbar Singh, who has held a unique place in the popular imagination.

Don’t be turned off by its 204 minute running time. That’s only 20 minutes longer than the longest Avenger film (Avengers: Endgame) and you’ll get so much more in those 204 minutes! You won’t regret the time investment, especially if you get to see it big and with an audience. Hope to see you there!

Now Playing In Madison: March 9-16, 2026

Please confirm showtimes with the venues (follow venue links where provided). The commercial theaters update their weekend listings on Wednesdays. Another Now Playing source that posts on Wednesdays is The Horizon Line Madison.

Comments here are not reviews of the films, they are usually a response to the trailer, a summary of the buzz I have heard, or just snark. They are not always particularly accurate, according to reader feedback. I add trailers to new films of interest that you might not know about (American indies, international features, etc.).

Play Circle Theater, UW Memorial Union, 800 Langdon Street

• ASIAN FUTURES, WITHOUT ASIANS, performative lecture by Astria Suparak with music by Tammy Lakkis. Wednesday, March 11, 5:00pm. Thursday, March 12, 7:00pm with panel discussion. See note from last Monday’s post.

Art Lofts Backspace Gallery, 111 N. Frances Street

• LOOK INTO THE MIRROR YOU CANNOT SEE, MFA qualifier exhibition by Claudia Krogmeier. March 10-14. Reception March 12, 6:00pm to 8:00pm. Claudia Krogmeier is a digital media artist who uses video, performance, and extended reality to explore emotional intensity, illusions of understanding, and the subconscious mind. She is intrigued by story cycles in which logic falls away, creating new space for excitement in the bizarre, the uncanny and the intuitive. Her MFA Qualifier show “Look Into The Mirror You Cannot See” features a short film which experiments with language and symbolism to explore the destruction and resilience of our emotional lives within society today.

UW Cinematheque

The following films are scheduled to play at UW Cinematheque between Thursday, March 12, and Monday, March 16, 2026, listed in chronological order:

• THE INFORMER, 4070 Vilas Hall, Friday, March 13, 7 p.m.

  • John Ford, USA, 1935, 91 min. Last week I failed to point out that the John Ford series is presented in conjunction with the release of a new book from Cinematheque founder Lea Jacobs, John Ford at Work: Production Histories 1927-1939 from Indiana University Press.

• SUGAR CANE ALLEY, 4070 Vilas Hall, Saturday, March 14, 7 p.m.

  • Euzhan Palcy, Martinique, France, 1983, 103 min.

Wisconsin Union Directorate Film

• WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (1971) [OPEN CAPTION SCREENING], Union South Marquee Theater, Tuesday, 3/10, 6 p.m.

• JUST KIDS (2025) [OPEN CAPTION SCREENING], Union South Marquee Theater, Thursday, 3/12, 6:30 p.m.

• HAMNET (2025) [OPEN CAPTION SCREENING], Union South Marquee Theater, Friday, 3/13, 6 p.m.

• CABARET (1972), Union South Marquee Theater, Friday, 3/13, 9 p.m.

• LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (2006) [OPEN CAPTION SCREENING], Union South Marquee Theater, Saturday, 3/14, 6:30 p.m.

• SENTIMENTAL VALUE (2025) [OPEN CAPTION SCREENING], Union South Marquee Theater, Saturday, 3/14, 9 p.m.

Arts + Literature Laboratory, 111 S. Livingston Street, Suite 100

• BAD RIVER, Saturday, March 14, 7:00pm. Free screening (donations welcome).

Commercial Theaters:
AMC Theatres
Flix Brewhouse
Marcus Theatres (Palace and Point)

• AMC SCREEN UNSEEN: MARCH 16 at AMC.

• AMC SCREEN UNSEEN: MARCH 9 at AMC.

• AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH at AMC.

• BEST PICTURE MARATHON 2026: DAY TWO at Palace and Point.

• BEST PICTURE SHOWCASE DAY TWO MARATHON at AMC.

• BLUE ANGELS, THE at AMC.

  • IMAX 3-D documentary.

• BRIDE!, THE at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

  • Christian Bale as Frankenstein and Jesse Buckley in a very different role than in Hamnet, as The Bride. Directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. Generally getting negative reviews, with some being particularly blunt.

• BUGONIA at Palace and Point.

• CRIME 101 at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

• CRUNCHYROLL ANIME NIGHTS SNEAK PEEK at Point.

• DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA INFINITY CASTLE at AMC and Palace.

  • Japanese dark fantasy action anime feature.

• DOLLY at AMC.

  • Horror film.

• ENHYPEN [WALK THE LINE SUMMER EDITION] IN CINEMAS at Palace.

  • K-Pop supergroup concert film.

• EPIC: ELVIS PRESLEY IN CONCERT at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

• ERIN BROCKOVICH at AMC.

• F1 THE MOVIE at Palace and Point.

• FOR WORSE at AMC and Point.

  • Commerical release for popular film at last year’s Wisconsin Film Festival, directed by UW-Madison alum Amy Landecker and starring Madison East grad Bradley Whitford (The West Wing; Get Out).

• FRANKENSTEIN at Palace and Point.

• GOAT at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

• HAMNET at AMC, Palace, and Point.

• HOPPERS at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

  • New Pixar animated feature film. Had the top box office opening for Pixar in quite a long time.

• HOW TO MAKE A KILLING at Palace.

  • Latest A24 release, directed by John Patton Ford (whose Emily the Criminal was reasonably good, except the ending). This black comedy starring Glen Powell and Margaret Qualley is essentially a darker reworking of Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), where a man plots to kill his relatives who are in the way of his inheritance. Getting mixed to negative reviews, including from Rob Thomas.

• I CAN ONLY IMAGINE 2 at AMC, Palace and Point.

  • Faith-based backstage drama about the challenges of being a pop-country superstar.

• IRON LUNG at Point.

  • Horror feature film debut from YouTube influencer Mark Fischbach (a.k.a. “Markpiler.”) I know I talked about the correct film at least once in these listings, because its production history is so odd. Wikipedia reports that “as of February 20, 2026, Iron Lung [has] grossed $38.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $9.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $48.5 million.”

• KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE 4K at AMC.

• LITTLE WOMEN at AMC.

• MARTY SUPREME at AMC, Palace, and Point.

• MRITHYUNJAY at AMC.

  • Indian Telugu-language action film. Title roughly translates as “the one who conquers death.” This follows a would-be crime reporter who believes he is on the trail of an efficient killer.

• ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER at Palace and Point.

• OPTIMIST: THE BRAVEST ACT IS TRUTH, THE at Point.

  • Steven Lang (Avatar) stars as a Holocaust survivor who forms a friendship with a teenage girl, and breaks his silence about his experience.

• OSCAR NOMINATED ANIMATED SHORTS at Palace and Point.

• OSCAR NOMINATED LIVE ACTION SHORTS at Palace and Point.

• PEAKY BLINDERS: THE IMMORTAL MAN at Flix.

  • Continuation of the British television series Peaky Blinders (2013-2022). This feature film starring Cillian Murphy and directed by Tom Harper will have a limited theatrical release, followed by a debut on Netflix on March 20.

• PEGASUS 3 at AMC.

  • Chinese car racing comedy/drama (Pegasus was released in 2019, with Pegasus 2 following in 2024). Deadline.com ran an article with the lede: “The biggest movies at this weekend’s worldwide box office won’t be from Hollywood — sorry, Wuthering Heights — but rather China, where the Year of the Fire Horse has been in full swing since Tuesday.” This in part explains the release of Blades of the Guardians and Scare Out here two weeks ago, and Pegasus 3 last week. During the first three days of the Chinese New Year, Pegasus 3 actually led the other two at the Chinese domestic box office.

• PILLION at AMC and Point.

  • Romantic drama with dark humor directed by Harry Lighton. Alexander Skarsgård stars as a biker who strikes up a BDSM relationship with a timid gay man, played by Harry Melling. Winner of the Best Screenplay prize in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.

• POUT-POUT FISH, THE at AMC.

  • I usually mark films like this as “this week’s sketchy mid-tier animated feature film for kids,” but this is based on a New York Times best-seller, and actually has a pretty interesting voice cast: Amy Sedaris, Nick Offerman, Miranda Otto. Early access screening Sunday, March 15. Opens wide March 20.

• PROTECTOR at AMC.

  • Action drama starring Milla Jovovich as a mother who will do whatever it takes to find and release her daughter from a sex trafficking ring. That old saw.

• REMINDERS OF HIM at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

  • Adaptation of the book by Colleen Hoover. Somehow I have managed to see this trailer several times before films, which cumulatively add up to about 15 more than I care to spend thinking about it. But you might like it?

• ROAD AT NIGHT, A at Point.

  • A few more screenings remain at Marcus Point. Documentary by John Roach, about the tragedy that struck the family of University of Wisconsin men’s basketball assistant coach Howard Moore when a drunk driver collided with their car. See notes in a previous post.

• SAMPRADAYINI SUPPINI SUDDAPOOSANI at AMC.

  • Indian Telugu-language comedy set in a small village where a family is dragged into a complicated situation when a police officer dies in their home.

• SCARED TO DEATH at AMC.

  • Horror film, and apparently a making-a-movie comedy. In the Whatever Happened To department, this features Rae Dawn Chong (Commando).

• SCREAM 7 at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

• SECRET AGENT, THE at AMC, Palace, and Point.

• SECRET FLIX at Flix.

• SENTIMENTAL VALUE at Palace and Point.

• SINNERS at Palace and Point.

• SLANTED at AMC.

  • Sci-fi body-horror social satire directed by Amy Wang,about a Chinese-American teenage who feels insecure about her race. Of the self-aware horror films that are opening this week, this one at least has an intriguing and promising premise beyond shocks and gore.

• STORM RIDER: LEGEND OF HAMMERHEAD at AMC.

  • Sci-fi adventure film set in a post-apocalyptic future three centuries after the “Great Flood.” Shot in Croatia.

• TMNT II: THE SECRET OF THE OOZE 35TH ANNIVERSARY at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

• TRAIN DREAMS at Palace and Point.

  • Winner of Best Feature, Best Director (Clint Bentley) Best Lead Performance (Joel Edgerton) and Best Cinematography at the 2026 Independent Spirit Awards. Only a few isolated afternoon screenings on March 6, 10, and 13. But this has been streaming on Netflix since November, so whaddyagonnado?

• UNDERTONE at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

  • Another horror film, this one set around a podcast that explores the supernatural and paranormal.

• WOLF OF WALL STREET, THE at Flix.

• WUTHERING HEIGHTS at AMC, Palace, and Point.

  • Or, “Wuthering Heights,” as it is stylized on the posters. A loose adaptation of Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel, starring Margot Robbie (also a producer of the film) and Jacob Elordi (who shows his range by following up playing the monster in Frankenstein to playing Heathcliff here). This appears to be a love it/hate it thing, based on my quick scrolling on FilmStack (film newsletters on Substack).

• ZOOTOPIA 2 at AMC.

Have you used the Now Showing in Madison listings at least once to find something interesting to see? Have you discovered a film that you didn’t realize was playing in town? Please consider supporting these efforts directly by clicking the “Buy Me a Popcorn” button and making a modest donation on those occasions when you find this resource valuable to your moviegoing in Madison.

Buy Me a Popcorn

Looking Ahead:

Local filmmaker Michael Doyle Olson has started what he hopes to be a comprehensive, collaborative public calendar of alternative film screenings in Madison. It is still a work in progress, but check it out at www.mdo.me/film.

Side Room Cinematheque

• Consult Instagram @sideroomcinematic for screening details, second Thursday of the month, and last Monday of the month.

Cinesthesia at Madison Public Library Central Branch

• INSIDE MAN (Spike Lee, 2006), Tuesday, March 17, 6:30pm.

Mills Folly Microcinema, Arts + Literature Laboratory

• CARRIAGE TRADE, Wednesday, March 25, 7:00pm. Free admission, $5 donation encouraged. Warren Sonbert (1947–1995) was an experimental filmmaker whose work of nearly three decades began in New York in the mid-1960s, and continued in San Francisco throughout the second half of his life. Sonbert considered Carriage Trade (1973) his “magnum opus.” In this film, Sonbert interweaves footage taken from his journeys throughout Europe, Africa, Asia, and the United States, together with shots he removed from the camera originals of a number of his earlier films.

Monday posts will now feature some short notes on various cinematic topics, followed by the Now Showing in Madison guide to commercial theaters and alternative venues.

Like a lot of things in this town, I found out by accident about the UW-Madison campus visit by Astria Suparak next week. Now that I know about it, I should make sure that you should know about it. You should try to attend at least one of her free campus events between March 11 and 13. But first, some background.

I first knew about Suparak from her work on the Joanie 4 Jackie underground film network coordinated by artist and filmmaker Miranda July, which started in 1995. Essentially, Joanie 4 Jackie was a “sneakernet” or bicycle distribution network where films were passed along around the country on VHS cassettes. Somewhere, if I dug around for it, I think I might still find my copy of Suparak’s curated VHS tape, Some Kind of Loving, with films by Karen Yasinsky, Jane Gang, Jennifer Reeder, Stephanie Barber, and Peggy Ahwesh.

Suparak presented her curated film screening Sexuality Malfunctioned at Starlight Cinema at the UW Madison Memorial Union on March 23, 2000. This was probably the first time I saw any work by Luther Price (she screened Sodom, 1989, Super 8mm, 20 minutes) as part of a 90 minute program which also included films by Peggy Ahwesh, Laura Parnes, and Jennifer Reeder. Previewing the same program at UW-Milwaukee the following night (see poster above), Kevin John wrote:

[Because] Suparak has programmed Sexuality Malfunctioned like a perfectly coherent essay, one need only keep in mind her précis from the program notes to begin to see how these bursts of mismatching energy actually signify: ‘Dis-ease and uncomfort within desire explored through techniques such as hand-painting, manipulated found-footage, optical printing and stop-motion animation. Sexual development in the age of the spectacle.'

What can we expect from Suparak over 25 years later? Well, she has kept herself very busy as an artist and curator based in Oakland, California. Her website astriasuparak.com has pages and pages of descriptions and documentation of her projects over the years. The promotional materials for next week’s visit explains: Her cross-disciplinary projects address complex and urgent issues (like institutionalized racism, feminisms, and colonialism) made accessible through a popular culture lens.”

Her performative lecture, Asian futures, without Asians, also described in the promotional materials as a live cinema work, surveys “60 years of mainstream science-fiction cinema,” to break down “the unstable category of ‘Asian’ through a series of maps, regulations, and geopolitical trends.” Live musical accompaniment will be provided by Detroit-based DJ and multimedia artist Tammy Lakkis. A quick survey of Suparak’s website documents her many performances of Asian futures, without Asians, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York as well as many other museums and art venues.

The two performances of Asian futures, without Asians will take place next week on Wednesday, March 11 at 5:00pm, and Thursday, March 12 at 7:00pm at the Play Circle Theater in the UW-Madison Memorial Union. Both are free, but you do need to reserve tickets through Campus Arts Ticketing. The Thursday, March 12 performance will be followed by a discussion with several UW-Madison participants, including moderator Helen Lee (Glass Lab, Art Department).

Speaking of the Glass Lab, another component of Suparak’s visit will be a free glass and neon fabrication demonstration to “explore how glass and neon contribute to the language of futurity.” The Glass Lab presentation will be Friday, March 13, 2:00-5:00pm, UW Art Lofts, 111 N Francis Street.

One last detail: The artists have requested mask-wearing at all of these events. Masks will be available to all guests. I hope to see some of you at the Thursday, March 12 performance!

Now Playing In Madison: March 2-9, 2026

Please confirm showtimes with the venues (follow venue links where provided). The commercial theaters update their weekend listings on Wednesdays. Another Now Playing source that posts on Wednesdays is The Horizon Line Madison.

Comments here are not reviews of the films, they are usually a response to the trailer, a summary of the buzz I have heard, or just snark. They are not always particularly accurate, according to reader feedback. I add trailers to new films of interest that you might not know about (American indies, international features, etc.).

First Look at the Fest: Wednesday, March 4, 7:00pm at Flix Brewhouse

• As I mentioned a few weeks ago, the Wisconsin Film Festival First Look event can be a fun way to preview upcoming festival films, look at the schedule one day before the rest of us access it in Isthmus, and purchase tickets for the hot screenings. A little pricey, $50 in advance, $60 at the door. But hey, nothing wrong with tossing the Festival a few shekels their way, is there?

UW Cinematheque

After a very busy weekend with filmmaker Owen Kline last week, the Cinematheque keeps things simple with a Friday/Saturday combo.

• AIR MAIL, 4070 Vilas Hall, Friday, March 6, 7 p.m.

  • John Ford, USA, 1932, 84 min.

• CRONOS, 4070 Vilas Hall, Saturday, March 7, 7 p.m.

  • Guillermo del Toro, Mexico, 1992, 92 min.

Wisconsin Union Directorate Film

WUD Film makes up for the slower-than-usual Cinematheque weekend with an impressive lineup of new and old films.

• AMERICAN FICTION (2023) [OPEN CAPTION SCREENING], Union South Marquee Theater, Tuesday, 3/3, 7 p.m.

• THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB (2025), Union South Marquee Theater, Wednesday, 3/4, 6:30 p.m.

• FAULT LINES (2025), Union South Marquee Theater, Thursday, 3/5, 6:30 p.m.

• WHEN HARRY MET SALLY... (1989) [OPEN CAPTION SCREENING], Union South Marquee Theater, Friday, 3/6, 6:30 p.m.

• IF I HAD LEGS I’D KICK YOU (2025) [OPEN CAPTION SCREENING], Union South Marquee Theater, Friday, 3/6, 9 p.m.

• SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959), Union South Marquee Theater, Saturday, 3/7, 6 p.m.

• BOYZ N THE HOOD (1991), Union South Marquee Theater, Saturday, 3/7, 9 p.m.

Commercial Theaters:
AMC Theatres
Flix Brewhouse
Marcus Theatres (Palace and Point)

• 3/7: 2026 BEST PICTURE SHOWCASE DAY ONE MARATHON at AMC.

• AMC SCREEN UNSEEN: MARCH 9 at AMC.

• AURORA: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE EARTH? at Point.

  • Concert film featuring Norwegian singer-songwriter Aurora.

• AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH at AMC, Palace.

• BEST PICTURE MARATHON 2026: DAY ONE at Point.

• BETTER TOMORROW, A at AMC, Point.

  • I’ve been pushing these Hong Kong classics from director John Woo, perhaps too often. Final screenings Monday, March 2 and Wednesday, March 4

• BLADES OF THE GUARDIANS at AMC.

  • This played in town much longer than I had anticipated, to the point that I wish I had taken the time to write a review to convince more people to see it. I did find a review that more or less covered many of the points that I would have made at Polygon.

• BOOGIE NIGHTS at Flix.

• BRIDE!, THE at AMC, Flix, Palace, Point.

  • Christian Bale as Frankenstein and Jesse Buckley in a very different role than in Hamnet, as The Bride. Directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal.

• BUGONIA at Point.

• CRIME 101 at AMC, Flix, Palace, Point.

  • Action thriller starring Chris Hemsworth. Read Rob Thomas’s review.

• DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA INFINITY CASTLE at Palace.

  • Japanese dark fantasy action anime feature.

• DOLLY at AMC.

  • Horror film.

• DREAMS at AMC.

  • Jessica Chastain stars in this drama about a wealthy socialite who has a secret affair with an undocumeted immigrant dancer, played by Isaac Hernández. Read Rob Thomas’s review.

• EPIC: ELVIS PRESLEY IN CONCERT at AMC, Flix, Palace, Point.

  • Baz Luhrman hadn’t done enough to tarnish Elvis Presley’s legacy, so this time he goes into the archives and presents concert footage re-formatted for an IMAX experience.

• F1 THE MOVIE at Palace.

• FRANKENSTEIN at Point.

• GET ON THE BUS at AMC.

  • Spike Lee’s 1996 drama about a bus trip to the Million Man March.

• GOAT at AMC, Flix, Palace, Point.

• GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, DON’T DIE at AMC, Flix, Palace, Point.

  • Big-budget splashy return of director Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean films, among others) is a sci-fi satire starring Sam Rockwell. Read Rob Thomas’s review.

• HAMNET at Palace, Point.

• HOPPERS at AMC, Flix, Palace, Point.

  • New Pixar animated feature film.

• HORRIBLE BOSSES at Flix.

• HOW TO MAKE A KILLING at AMC, Flix, Palace, Point.

  • Latest A24 release, directed by John Patton Ford (whose Emily the Criminal was reasonably good, except the ending). This black comedy starring Glen Powell and Margaret Qualley is essentially a darker reworking of Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), where a man plots to kill his relatives who are in the way of his inheritance. Getting mixed to negative reviews, including from Rob Thomas.

• I CAN ONLY IMAGINE 2 at AMC, Flix, Palace, Point.

  • Faith-based backstage drama about the challenges of being a pop-country superstar.

• IRON LUNG at Point.

  • I have been mis-identifying this film in the listings the past few weeks. This is, of course, the horror feature film debut from YouTube influencer Mark Fischbach (a.k.a. “Markpiler.”) I know I talked about the correct film at least once in these listings, because its production history is so odd. Wikipedia reports that “as of February 20, 2026, Iron Lung [has] grossed $38.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $9.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $48.5 million.”

• I STILL BELIEVE at AMC.

  • Faith-based biography romance inspired by the Christian musician Jeremy Camp. This had a release in 2020, on a limited scale due to COVID.

• K-POPS! at AMC.

  • This family friendly comedy is the directorial debut of rapper Anderson .Paak. A musician (.Paak) hopes to revive his career as a K-pop star in Korea. I guess this kind of fills in for The Moment leaving theaters so soon.

• LITTLE WOMEN at AMC.

  • The 2019 version, directed by Greta Gerwig

• MARTY SUPREME at Point.

• MIDWINTER BREAK at AMC, Palace, Point.

  • Lesley Manville and Ciarán Hinds star in this adaptation of the novel of the same title by Bernard MacLaverty. A retired couple deal with the tensions in their relationship while traveling to Amsterdam.

• NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE at AMC.

  • A theatrical engagement after the sneak peek at the UW-Cinematheque last month. I’ve only heard good things about this. Rob Thomas attended that screening, read his review.

• ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER at Point.

• OSCAR NOMINATED ANIMATED SHORTS at Palace, Point.

• OTHELLO at Point.

  • Recorded stage performance starring David Harewood, Caitlin Fitzgerald, and Toby Jones.

• PEAKY BLINDERS: THE IMMORTAL MAN at Flix.

  • Continuation of the British television series Peaky Blinders (2013-2022). This feature film starring Cillian Murphy and directed by Tom Harper will have a limited theatrical release, followed by a debut on Netflix on March 20.

• PEGASUS 3 at AMC.

  • Chinese car racing comedy/drama (Pegasus was released in 2019, with Pegasus 2 following in 2024). Deadline.com ran an article with the lede: “The biggest movies at this weekend’s worldwide box office won’t be from Hollywood — sorry, Wuthering Heights — but rather China, where the Year of the Fire Horse has been in full swing since Tuesday.” This in part explains the release of Blades of the Guardians and Scare Out here two weeks ago, and Pegasus 3 last week. During the first three days of the Chinese New Year, Pegasus 3 actually led the other two at the Chinese domestic box office.

• PILLION at AMC, Point.

  • Romantic drama with dark humor directed by Harry Lighton. Alexander Skarsgård stars as a biker who strikes up a BDSM relationship with a timid gay man, played by Harry Melling. Winner of the Best Screenplay prize in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.

• PRESIDENT’S CAKE, THE at AMC.

  • Winnner of the Audience Award and the Camera d’Or after its debut in the Director’s Fortnight section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. Drama set in 1990s Iraq, shortly after Saddam Hussain’s invasion of Kuwait. Read Rob Thomas’s review.

• PROTECTOR at AMC.

  • Action drama starring Milla Jovovich as a mother who will do whatever it takes to find and release her daughter from a sex trafficking ring. That old saw.

• PSYCHO KILLER at Palace, Point.

  • Horror film getting generally negative reviews, with Rotten Tomatoes summarizing the critics consensus as, “Qu’est-ce que c’est? Better run, run, run, run, run, run, run away.”

• ROAD AT NIGHT, A at Point.

  • A few more screenings remain at Marcus Point. Documentary by John Roach, about the tragedy that struck the family of University of Wisconsin men’s basketball assistant coach Howard Moore when a drunk driver collided with their car. See notes in a previous post.

• SCREAM 7 at AMC, Flix, Palace, Point.

  • The latest film in the horror franchise which launched with Scream in 1996. Trivia: Courtney Cox is apparently the only actress to appear in seven consecutive films of a horror franchise. Probably all that needs to be said about the role of women in slasher films. (How often do they survive to make it to the sequels?) Meanwhile, Scream 7 had a franchise record opening of 97.2 million worldwide this past weekend.

• SECRET AGENT, THE at Palace, Point.

• SEND HELP at AMC, Flix, Palace, Point.

  • The latest thriller from Sam Raimi appears to be a variation on Swept Away (1974 and 2002), downplaying the sexual tension angle in favor of class and office politics in contemporary corporate capitalism. Raimi’s input and star Rachel McAdams might make this worth a look.

• SENTIMENTAL VALUE at Palace.

• SINNERS at Palace.

• SOLO MIO at Flix.

  • Kevin James vehicle about an American groom who is left at the altar on his wedding day in Italy. Distributed by faith-based Angel Studios. This disappeared last week, so count among your blessings that it has returned.

• TRAIN DREAMS at Palace, Point.

  • Winner of Best Feature, Best Director (Clint Bentley) Best Lead Performance (Joel Edgerton) and Best Cinematography at the 2026 Independent Spirit Awards. Only a few isolated afternoon screenings on March 6, 10, and 13. But this has been streaming on Netflix since November, so whaddyagonnado?

• VISHNU VINYASAMM at AMC.

  • Indian Telugu-language romantic comedy. Apparently the release date for this film was pushed up because of the threat of leaks of the film to the internet.

• WOMAN KING, THE at AMC.

  • Viola Davis stars as General Nanisca, who leads an all-female regiment of warriors in the West African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 1820s.

• WUTHERING HEIGHTS at AMC, Flix, Palace, Point.

  • Or, “Wuthering Heights,” as it is stylized on the posters. A loose adaptation of Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel, starring Margot Robbie (also a producer of the film) and Jacob Elordi (who shows his range by following up playing the monster in Frankenstein to playing Heathcliff here). This appears to be a love it/hate it thing, based on my quick scrolling on FilmStack (film newsletters on Substack).

• ZOOTOPIA 2 at AMC.

Have you used the Now Showing in Madison listings at least once to find something interesting to see? Have you discovered a film that you didn’t realize was playing in town? Please consider supporting these efforts directly by clicking the “Buy Me a Popcorn” button and making a modest donation on those occasions when you find this resource valuable to your moviegoing in Madison.

Buy Me a Popcorn

Looking Ahead:

Local filmmaker Michael Doyle Olson has started what he hopes to be a comprehensive, collaborative public calendar of alternative film screenings in Madison. It is still a work in progress, but check it out at www.mdo.me/film.

Side Room Cinematheque

• Consult Instagram @sideroomcinematic for screening details, second Thursday of the month, and last Monday of the month.

Art Lofts Backspace Gallery, 111 N. Frances Street

• LOOK INTO THE MIRROR YOU CANNOT SEE, MFA qualifier exhibition by Claudia Krogmeier. March 10-14. Reception March 12, 6:00pm to 8:00pm.

Cinesthesia at Madison Public Library Central Branch

• INSIDE MAN (Spike Lee, 2006), Tuesday, March 17, 6:30pm.

Scroll down for Now Showing in Madison, February 23–March 2, 2026

Monday posts will now feature some short notes on various cinematic topics, followed by the Now Showing in Madison guide to commercial theaters and alternative venues.

At Tone Madison, Grant Phipps published a survey of the artist videos in the current exhibition 150 Artists x 150 Years at the Madison Public Library Central Branch. Well, if you’re like me, you haven’t had a chance to swing by to see the work. We only have a few more days to do so, with the exhibition closing this Saturday, February 28.

The larger exhibition, as the title suggests, incorporates the work of 150 artists to celebrate the Madison Public Library’s 150th year of service. The artworks are spread across seven participating Madison libraries. The three video artists discussed in Phipps’s article include Toby Kaufmann-Buhler, Aaron Granat, Chele Isaac. There work is on display at the Madison Public Library Central Branch, 201 W. Mifflin Street.

Each artist was assigned a word that had entered the dictionary between 1875 and 2025. Toby Kaufmann-Buhler was assigned the word “Hyper-thymesia,” which resulted in his video, Eye Sees Time. Aaron Granat was assigned “aphantasia,” which led to his work Aphantasia. And Chele Isaac was assigned “photosynthesis,” which inspired her video photo><synthesis.

“These three perceptive video works . . . facilitate artistic connections between memory, language, and personal and/or family history in ways that should be celebrated and meaningfully engaged with at your opportunity,” Phipps concludes in his overview, “—particularly as our reality seems to become increasingly shaped by virtual, fracturing distortions."

Substack recommendation: Penny Lane is My Real Name by filmmaker Penny Lane

Since starting this humble little hyper-local Substack newsletter, I have found myself spending more time on the Substack platform, especially since the Film & TV category has been established. I’ll have more to say about what I have found over the next weeks and months. But for now, I wanted to make a quick recommendation for Penny Lane is My Real Name from filmmaker Penny Lane.

I’m currently a free subscriber to her Substack, and I find it well worth my time not only for the posts that free subscribers have access to, but also for her Notes with interesting links to other resources.

Today (Monday, February 23), Lane has scheduled a live video chat with filmmaker Matt Wolf, director of Pee-wee as Himself, at 12:00pm. In her recent feed, you can also find an archived video chat with Marcie Hume, producer and director of Corey Feldman vs. the World. And if the world has got you down in the dumps, losing faith in humanity, Lane’s most recent post is “5 Funny Documentaries for Dark Times.”

But who is Penny Lane? I think Penny Lane is one of the most interesting documentary filmmakers working today. Her films include Nuts! (I highly recommend reading her Notes on Nuts!, essentially endnotes and citations for the film); Hail Satan! (about the origins of The Satanic Temple and the group’s grassroots political activism); Listening to Kenny G (about the smooth jazz musician, which is far more interesting than you would every think just from the title itself), and Confessions of a Good Samaritan (which documents Lane’s journey as an altruistic kidney donor). You can learn more about Lane at her website, pennylaneismyrealname.com.

If you want to re-kindle your faith in the documentary form, just read a few entries from this inspiring filmmaker.

Now Playing In Madison: February 23-March 2, 2026

Please confirm showtimes with the venues (follow venue links where provided). The commercial theaters update their weekend listings on Wednesdays. Another Now Playing source that posts on Wednesdays is The Horizon Line Madison.

Comments here are not reviews of the films, they are usually a response to the trailer, a summary of the buzz I have heard, or just snark. They are not always particularly accurate, according to reader feedback. I add trailers to new films of interest that you might not know about (American indies, international features, etc.).

UW Cinematheque

Multi-film days at the UW-Cinematheque this weekend, including a visit from filmmaker Owen Kline.

• FIUME O MORTE!, 4070 Vilas Hall, Thursday, February 26, 7 p.m.

  • Igor Bezinović, Croatia, Italy, Slovenia, 2025, 112 min.

• OWEN KLINE’S MYSTERY REEL, 4070 Vilas Hall, Friday, February 27, 5 p.m.

  • A “mind-bending assortment of short films, avant-garde classics, 16mm television ads, trailers, animation, and other so-called ephemera” curated by filmmaker Owen Kline as a prelude to the Cinematheque screening of Funny Pages at 7:00pm.

• FUNNY PAGES, 4070 Vilas Hall, Friday, February 27, 7 p.m.

  • Owen Kline, USA, 2022, 85 min.

• THE FOOL KILLER, 4070 Vilas Hall, Saturday, February 28, 12 p.m.

  • Servando Gonzalez, USA, 1965, 100 min.

• THE SEVEN LITTLE FOYS, 4070 Vilas Hall, Saturday, February 28, 2:30 p.m.

  • Melville Shavelson, USA, 1956, 95 min.

• WHO KILLED TEDDY BEAR?, 4070 Vilas Hall, Saturday, February 28, 4:45 p.m.

  • Joseph Cates, USA, 1965, 95 min.

• WITHNAIL & I, 4070 Vilas Hall, Saturday, February 28, 7 p.m.

  • Bruce Robinson, UK, 1987, 105 min.

• FISTS IN THE POCKET, 4070 Vilas Hall, Sunday, March 1, 12 p.m.

  • Marco Bellocchio, Italy, 1965, 108 min.

• LONELY ARE THE BRAVE, 4070 Vilas Hall, Sunday, March 1, 2:30 p.m.

  • David Miller, USA, 1962, 107 min.

• LOVE AND DEATH ON LONG ISLAND, 4070 Vilas Hall, Sunday, March 1, 5 p.m.

  • Richard Kwietniowski, UK, Canada, 1997, 93 min.

• MADAM SATAN, 4070 Vilas Hall, Sunday, March 1, 7 p.m.

  • Cecil B. DeMille, USA, 1930, 115 min.

Wisconsin Union Directorate Film

• FARMING THE REVOLUTION (2024), Union South Marquee Theater, Thursday, 2/26, 6:30 p.m.

• DESERT HEARTS (1985), Union South Marquee Theater, Friday, 2/27, 6:30 p.m.

• HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE (2004) [ENGLISH SUBTITLES], Union South Marquee Theater, Friday, 2/27, 9 p.m.

• HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE (2004) [ENGLISH DUB], Union South Marquee Theater, Saturday, 2/28, 6 p.m.

• THELMA & LOUISE (1991), Union South Marquee Theater, Saturday, 2/28, 9 p.m.

Commercial Theaters:
AMC Theatres
Flix Brewhouse
Marcus Theatres (Palace and Point)

• AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH at AMC, Palace.

• BAD GUYS 2, THE at Point, Palace.

• BENDITO CORAZÓN (BLESSED HEART 2026) at Point.

  • Faith-based historical drama set in 18th-century Los Altos de Jalisco.

• BETTER TOMORROW - HONG KONG CINEMA CLASSICS, A at AMC, Point.

  • I’ve been pushing these Hong Kong classics from director John Woo, perhaps too often. But this next round of screenings will take place March 1, 2, and 4.

• BILLY IDOL SHOULD BE DEAD at Point.

  • Documentary about 70’s punk singer (Generation X), 80’s pop idol and MTV staple Billy Idol.

• BLADES OF THE GUARDIANS at AMC.

  • While I was concerned about the limited screenings for this film last week, it has been extended into this week. I had a chance to see it, and it is a very entertaining, old-fashioned rip-roaring yarn.

• BORN TO BE WILD at AMC.

  • IMAX 3D nature documentary

• CRIME 101 at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

  • Action thriller starring Chris Hemsworth. Read Rob Thomas’s review.

• DRACULA at AMC, Palace.

  • Luc Besson’s take on the old legend is generally getting negative reviews. See what Rob Thomas had to say here.

• EPIC: ELVIS PRESLEY IN CONCERT at AMC, Point, Palace.

  • Baz Luhrman hadn’t done enough to tarnish Elvis Presley’s legacy, so this time he goes into the archives and presents concert footage re-formatted for an IMAX experience.

• FRUITVALE STATION at AMC.

• GET ON THE BUS at AMC.

• GHOST ELEPHANTS at Point.

  • Documentary by Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man; Cave of Forgotten Dreams) about South African naturalist Steve Boyes, who searches for an undiscovered species of African elephant in Angola. Opens February 27. Presented by National Geographic, this will also end up on Disney+ and Hulu on March 7.

• GOAT at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

• GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, DON’T DIE at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

  • Big-budget splashy return of director Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean films, among others) is a sci-fi satire starring Sam Rockwell. Read Rob Thomas’s review.

• HAMNET at Flix.

• HOMECOMING: THE TOKYO SERIES at AMC, Point, Palace.

  • Documentary about the 2025 series opening series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs, held in Tokyo. Examines the unique place of baseball in Japanese popular culture (with several Japanese players, including the great Shohei Ohtani, playing for the Dodgers).

• HOPPERS EARLY ACCESS SCREENINGS at AMC, Point, Palace.

  • Early access screenings to the new Pixar animated feature film on Saturday, February 28.

• HOUSEMAID, THE at Point.

• HOW TO MAKE A KILLING at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

  • Latest A24 release, directed by John Patton Ford (whose Emily the Criminal was reasonably good, except the ending). This black comedy starring Glen Powell and Margaret Qualley is essentially a darker reworking of Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), where a man plots to kill his relatives who are in the way of his inheritance. Getting mixed to negative reviews, including from Rob Thomas.

• I CAN ONLY IMAGINE 2 at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

  • Faith-based backstage drama about the challenges of being a pop-country superstar.

• IRON LUNG at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

  • I have been mis-identifying this film in the listings the past few weeks. This is, of course, the horror feature film debut from YouTube influencer Mark Fischbach (a.k.a. “Markpiler.”) I know I talked about the correct film at least once in these listings, because its production history is so odd. Wikipedia reports that “as of February 20, 2026, Iron Lung [has] grossed $38.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $9.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $48.5 million.”

• KOKUHO at AMC, Point.

  • Japanese historical drama which premiered at the Director’s Fortnight section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. This has become the highest-grossing domestic live-action film in Japan. A kabuki actor seeks revenge from a yakuza gang after the death of his father. Distributed in the U.S. by GKIDS, which usually distributes anime and international animiated features.

• K-POPS! at AMC.

  • This family friendly comedy is the directorial debut of rapper Anderson .Paak. A musician (.Paak) hopes to revive his career as a K-pop star in Korea. I guess this kind of fills in for The Moment leaving theaters so soon.

• MARTY SUPREME at Flix.

• MIDWINTER BREAK at AMC, Point, Palace.

  • Lesley Manville and Ciarán Hinds star in this adaptation of the novel of the same title by Bernard MacLaverty. A retired couple deal with the tensions in their relationship while traveling to Amsterdam.

• NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE at AMC, Point.

  • A theatrical engagement after the sneak peek at the UW-Cinematheque last month. I’ve only heard good things about this. Rob Thomas attended that screening, read his review.

• NT LIVE: HAMLET at Point.

• PEGASUS 3 at AMC.

  • Chinese car racing comedy/drama (Pegasus was released in 2019, with Pegasus 2 following in 2024). Last Thursday, Deadline.com ran an article with the lede: “The biggest movies at this weekend’s worldwide box office won’t be from Hollywood — sorry, Wuthering Heights — but rather China, where the Year of the Fire Horse has been in full swing since Tuesday.” This in part explains the release of Blades of the Guardians and Scare Out here last week, and Pegasus 3 this week. During the first three days of the Chinese New Year, Pegasus 3 actually led the other two at the Chinese domestic box office.

• PRIDE & PREJUDICE 20TH ANNIVERSARY RE-RELEASE at Flix.

• PSYCHO KILLER at AMC, Point, Palace.

  • Horror film getting generally negative reviews, with Rotten Tomatoes summarizing the critics consensus as, “Qu’est-ce que c’est? Better run, run, run, run, run, run, run away.”

• REDUX REDUX at AMC.

  • A woman travels through parallel universes, repeatedly killing her daughter’s murderer. That old saw.

• ROAD AT NIGHT, A at Point.

  • A few more screenings remain at Marcus Point. Documentary by John Roach, about the tragedy that struck the family of University of Wisconsin men’s basketball assistant coach Howard Moore when a drunk driver collided with their car. See notes in a previous post.

• SCARE OUT at AMC.

  • Like Blades of the Guardians, this Zhang Yimou’s Scare Out had very limited screenings at first, but has been extended through Wednesday, February 25. However, in his Screening Report last Wednesday, Alex at Horizon Line wrote, “Unfortunately, I went and saw Scare Out on Tuesday and would warn folks to steer clear.” A National Security squad races to identify and capture spies who have leaked classified intelligence. If you do go, expect drones, offices in glass skyscrapers, and lots of facial recognition software.

• SCREAM 7 at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

  • Opening night fan event screenings on Thursday, February 26, regular screenings start Friday, February 27.

• SEND HELP at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

  • The latest thriller from Sam Raimi appears to be a variation on Swept Away (1974 and 2002), downplaying the sexual tension angle in favor of class and office politics in contemporary corporate capitalism. Raimi’s input and star Rachel McAdams might make this worth a look.

• SINNERS at AMC.

• THIS IS NOT A TEST at AMC.

  • This zombie horror film appears to be a 102-minute trigger-fest. “A suicidal and abused teen girl as she faces the mental torments of her abusive father and being abandoned by her elder sister all the while reluctantly surviving alongside five other damaged teenagers.”

• TWILIGHT at Flix.

• WOMAN KING, THE at AMC.

  • Viola Davis stars as General Nanisca, who leads an all-female regiment of warriors in the West African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 1820s.

• WUTHERING HEIGHTS at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

  • Or, “Wuthering Heights,” as it is stylized on the posters. A loose adaptation of Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel, starring Margot Robbie (also a producer of the film) and Jacob Elordi (who shows his range by following up playing the monster in Frankenstein to playing Heathcliff here). This appears to be a love it/hate it thing, based on my quick scrolling on FilmStack (film newsletters on Substack).

• ZOOTOPIA 2 at AMC.

Have you used the Now Showing in Madison listings at least once to find something interesting to see? Have you discovered a film that you didn’t realize was playing in town? Please consider supporting these efforts directly by clicking the “Buy Me a Popcorn” button and making a modest donation on those occasions when you find this resource valuable to your moviegoing in Madison.

Buy Me a Popcorn

Looking Ahead:

Local filmmaker Michael Doyle Olson has started what he hopes to be a comprehensive, collaborative public calendar of alternative film screenings in Madison. It is still a work in progress, but check it out at www.mdo.me/film.

Side Room Cinematheque

• Consult Instagram @sideroomcinematic for screening details, second Thursday of the month, and last Monday of the month.

Cinesthesia at Madison Public Library Central Branch

• INSIDE MAN (Spike Lee, 2006), Tuesday, March 17, 6:30pm.

Scroll down for Now Showing in Madison, February 16–23, 2026

Monday posts will now feature some short notes on various cinematic topics, followed by the Now Showing in Madison guide to commercial theaters and alternative venues.

First, I want to give a shout out to Alex at The Horizon Line Madison for giving everyone a heads up in his Screening Report 2/11/26 that there would only be limited screenings at AMC Fitchburg this week for the new films from Yuen Woo-ping and Zhang Yimou, Blades of the Guardians and Scare Out, respectively. Well done, Alex! These films were not on my radar until you pointed them out for this week.

Yuen Woo-ping is the 80-year-old legendary action choreographer and director whose Hollywood action choreography credits include The Matrix, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and the Kill Bill films. As a director in Hong Kong, he’s best known for the films that made Jackie Chan a star, including Snake in Eagle’s Shadow and Drunken Master (both 1978).

Blades of the Guardians is based on a Chinese manhua (comic) written and illustrated by Xianzhe Xu starting in 2015. This live-action adaptation stars Wu Jing, Tony Leung Ka-fai, and Jet Li (in his first major role since the 2020 live-action Mulan).

Of the two weekday screenings of Blades of the Guardians this week, only one is an evening screening. So, if you’re working 9-to-5 most weekdays, your only chance to see it will be Tuesday, February 17 at 7:50pm.

• Blades of the Guardians at AMC Fitchburg 18

  • Tuesday, February 17, 7:50pm

  • Wednesday, February 18, 4:50pm

This limited programming reminds me of the mid-day only screenings during the second half of the run for The Testament of Ann Lee at AMC. Maybe I’m thinking about this too much, but perhaps AMC is experimenting with screening times for international and independent features knowing that their target audience members might be willing to plan ahead and take a few workday hours off every once in a while.

I know that there are at least a few readers of this newsletter who would not have a problem working out a 4:50pm screening if they knew they only had limited chances to see a film. I wonder if market research has pointed AMC in this direction. Who knows? We’ll see if a pattern emerges.

What I do know is that most AMC Theaters screening Blades of the Guardians will not limit its two-day run to one mid-day and one evening screening, according to the website of the film’s North American distributor, Well Go USA.

That said, AMC Fitchburg is not the most limited in terms of available screening times across the country. AMC Katy Mills (Katy, Texas) only has two screenings at 3:50pm. AMC Loews Cherry Hill 24 (Cherry Hill, NJ) has almost all of its screenings at or around 5:00pm or earlier.

The theater I could find with the most screenings of Blades of the Guardians per day during its run, curiously enough, is not an AMC theater. Cinemark Century Rio Plex 24 in Alburquerque, New Mexico, will have a whopping five screenings per day on February 17, 18, and 19. My scan of the Well Go USA website was pretty quick, so there may be a more generous theater. But this one really stuck out. Who knew New Mexico had so many wuxia fans?

Zhang Yimou has had quite the international filmmaking career since his breakout films in the late 1980s and early 1990s (Red Sorghum; Ju Dou; Raise the Red Lantern; The Story of Qiu Ju). After a renewed international interest in martial arts films thanks to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Zhang directed a several big-budget wuxia films like Hero (2002); House of Flying Daggers (2004); Curse of the Golden Flower (2006) and Shadow (2018). The last Zhang film I’ve seen in the theaters was the historical drama Full River Red in 2023, which was the highest-grossing domestic film in China that year.

Scare Out is Yimou’s first venture into contemporary spy thrillers, and it reunites him with one of the stars of Full River Red, Jackson Yee (who is also famous as a singer and member of the boy band TFBoys). For UW-Cinematheque fans, you’ll recognize Jackson Yee from Bi Gan’s Resurrection, which played at the Ctek recently.

Thankfully, Scare Out will play for two evening screenings on Tuesday, February 17 and Wednesday, February 18, which will allow for the possibility of seeing both Scare Out and Blades of the Guardians if you are so inclined and have two consecutive evenings for Chinese cinema.

• Scare Out at AMC Fitchburg 18

  • Tuesday, February 17, 8:00pm

  • Wednesday, February 18, 7:20pm

Only a few advance tickets have been sold for the evening screenings, but be aware that both Scare Out and Blades of the Guardians will play in relatively small auditoriums, so keep an eye on ticket availability and plan in advance if you want to catch either of these films.

First sign of spring: The 2026 Wisconsin Film Festival First Look, Wednesday, March 4, 7:00pm at Flix Brewhouse

I haven’t gone to one of these in a while (and it’s not on my schedule for this year), but the Wisconsin Film Festival First Look event can be fun, especially if you want to see trailers to help you pick films, and if you want a leg up on securing your tickets.

This year the First Look takes place on Wednesday, March 4, 7:00pm at Flix Brewhouse. The price of admission is pretty steep ($50 advance, $60 door) but ultimately its value depends on whether you would like to make a donation to support the continued existence of the Festival each year.

Regardless of whether you plan to go, the First Look is good news, because it means that the Festival schedule will be released the following day, Thursday, March 5, in the March issue of Isthmus (and available online, of course, at the Festival website.)

The dates for the 2026 Wisconsin Film Festival are Thursday, April 9 through Thursday, April 16, 2026.

Now Playing In Madison: February 16–23, 2026

Please confirm showtimes with the venues (follow venue links where provided). The commercial theaters update their weekend listings on Wednesdays. Another Now Playing source that posts on Wednesdays is The Horizon Line Madison.

Comments here are not reviews of the films, they are usually a response to the trailer, a summary of the buzz I have heard, or just snark. They are not always particularly accurate, according to reader feedback. I add trailers to new films of interest that you might not know about (American indies, international features, etc.).

Duck Soup Cinema at Overture Center

• PETER PAN (1924), Saturday, February 21, 2pm & 7pm. See my notes from last week about the 1924 reception of the film.

UW Cinematheque

• A POET, 4070 Vilas Hall, Thursday, February 19, 7 p.m.

  • Simón Mesa Soto, Colombia, Germany, Sweden, 2025, 120 min. A middle-aged seemingly failed poet mentors a talented young girl. This won the Jury Prize in Un Certain Regard at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.

• JACOB’S LADDER, 4070 Vilas Hall, Friday, February 20, 7 p.m.

  • Adrian Lyne, USA, 1990, 119 min.

• HARAKIRI, 4070 Vilas Hall, Saturday, February 21, 7 p.m.

  • Masaki Kobayashi, Japan, 1962, 133 min.

• THE COLOR PURPLE, Chazen Museum, Sunday, February 22, 2 p.m.

  • Steven Spielberg, USA, 1985, 152 min.

Wisconsin Union Directorate Film

• THE LIBRARIANS (2025), Union South Marquee Theater, Thursday, 2/19, 6:30 p.m.

• MONSTER (2023), Union South Marquee Theater, Friday, 2/20, 6 p.m.

• BUGONIA (2025) [OPEN CAPTION SCREENING], Union South Marquee Theater, Friday, 2/20, 9 p.m.

• THE WOOD (1999) [OPEN CAPTION SCREENING], Union South Marquee Theater, Saturday, 2/21, 6:30 p.m.

• RYE LANE (2023), Union South Marquee Theater, Saturday, 2/21, 9 p.m.

Cinesthesia Series at Madison Public Library Central Branch

• JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH (2021), Tuesday, 02/17, 6:30pm

Commercial Theaters:
AMC Theatres
Flix Brewhouse
Marcus Theatres (Palace and Point)

Between Monday, February 16, and Monday, February 23, the following films are scheduled at the specified theaters:

• AMERICAN PSYCHO at Flix.

• APOCALYPSE OF ST. JOHN, THE at Palace.

  • Faith-based documentary feature presented by Fathom Entertainment.

• AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH at AMC, Palace, and Point.

• BAD BOYS at Flix.

• BEST MAN, THE at AMC.

• BLADES OF THE GUARDIANS at AMC.

  • Chinese martial-arts drama directed by Yuen Woo-ping (legendary action choreographer) and starring Jet-Li. As of this writing, only two screenings on Tuesday and Wednesday. See notes above.

• CHASE ATLANTIC: LOST IN HEAVEN at Palace and Point.

  • Limited release concert film by Australian pop-R&B band Chase Atlantic. Wednesday, February 18 and Saturday, February 21.

• COLD STORAGE at AMC.

  • A dangerous, contagious fungus escapes a sealed facility. Joe Keery (Stranger Things; and I liked him in Pavements) and Liam Neeson (who has a particular set of skills) must save the day.

• CRIME 101 at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

  • Action thriller starring Chris Hemsworth. Read Rob Thomas’s review.

• DEEP SKY at AMC.

  • IMAX space documentary with images from NASA’s Webb Telescope.

• DRACULA at AMC, Palace, and Point.

  • Luc Besson’s take on the old legend is generally getting negative reviews. See what Rob Thomas had to say here.

• EPIC: ELVIS PRESLEY IN CONCERT at AMC.

• FRUITVALE STATION at AMC.

• GAME NIGHT at Flix.

• GOAT at AMC, Flix, and Point.

• GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, DON’T DIE at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

  • Big-budget splashy return of director Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean films, among others) is a sci-fi satire starring Sam Rockwell. Read Rob Thomas’s review.

• HAMNET at Flix.

• HOMECOMING: THE TOKYO SERIES at Palace and Point.

• HOUSEMAID, THE at Palace.

• HOW TO MAKE A KILLING at AMC, Flix, and Point.

  • Latest A24 release, directed by John Patton Ford (whose Emily the Criminal was reasonably good, except the ending). This black comedy starring Glen Powell and Margaret Qualley is essentially a darker reworking of Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), where a man plots to kill his relatives who are in the way of his inheritance.

• I CAN ONLY IMAGINE 2 at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

  • Faith-based backstage drama about the challenges of being a pop-country superstar.

• IRON LUNG at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

  • German thriller directed by Jan-Ole Gerster in which a tennis coach at a tropical resort gets caught up in a missing persons mystery. Premiered at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival.

• KOKUHO at AMC and Point.

  • Japanese historical drama which premiered at the Director’s Fortnight section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. This has become the highest-grossing domestic live-action film in Japan. A kabuki actor seeks revenge from a yakuza gang after the death of his father. Distributed in the U.S. by GKIDS, which usually distributes anime and international animiated features.

• LOVE & BASKETBALL at AMC.

  • I actually saw this during my one trip to the Sundance Film Festival in 2000. Not bad.

• MARTY SUPREME at Flix.

• MIDWINTER BREAK at AMC and Palace.

  • Lesley Manville and Ciarán Hinds star in this adaptation of the novel of the same title by Bernard MacLaverty. A retired couple deal with the tensions in their relationship while traveling to Amsterdam.

• MILAN CORTINA WINTER OLYMPICS ON NBC at AMC.

• MISERY at Flix.

• MOMENT, THE at AMC, Palace, and Point.

  • Mockumentary-style film about pop star Charli XCX (starring as a fictional version of herself) who begins to object to the more cringy aspects of her publicity commitments for an ongoing arena tour. An A24 release, if that helps.

• MORTUARY ASSISTANT, THE at AMC.

  • Horror film. Newbie at the River Fields Mortuary must face sinister forces.

• MY LORD at AMC.

  • Indian Tamil-language political satire. A man has falsely been declared legally dead, but then he is identified as a possible kidney donor for a government official.

• MYSTERY MOVIE, MARCUS at Palace.

• NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE at AMC.

  • A theatrical engagement after the sneak peek at the UW-Cinematheque last month. I’ve only heard good things about this. Rob Thomas attended that screening, read his review.

• O’ ROMEO at AMC.

  • Indian Hindi-language action thriller. A former gang-member, who has particular skills with a barber’s razor, is exiled after killing a don’s brother. He now works as a covert operative for the Intelligence Bureau, of course. The trailer claims this is inspired by true events, of course. This trailer has a particularly nasty gunshot to the head, so viewer beware.

• OBSERVANCE, THE at AMC.

  • Horror film. A woman awakes from a five-year coma to discover that a cult has taken over her town. The trailer begins with a quote from Nietzsche, so maybe this might appeal to the art horror crowd. But probably not. The poster also quotes from “Teddy Bear’s Picnic,” so who knows?

• PETS ON A TRAIN at Palace and Point.

  • This weeks mid-to-low rate animated feature for kids about animal bandits.

• PRETTY IN PINK 40TH ANNIVERSARY at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

• PSYCHO KILLER at AMC, Palace, and Point.

• ROAD AT NIGHT, A at Point.

  • A few more screenings remain at Marcus Point. Documentary by John Roach, about the tragedy that struck the family of University of Wisconsin men’s basketball assistant coach Howard Moore when a drunk driver collided with their car. See notes in last weeks post.

• ROSE, THE: COME BACK TO ME at Point.

  • Documentary about South Korean indie band.

• SCARE OUT at AMC.

  • Contemporary Chinese espionage drama from director Zhang Yimou (Raise the Red Lantern; Hero; House of Flying Daggers). A National Security squad races to identify and capture spies who have leaked classified intelligence. Expect drones, offices in glass skyscrapers, and lots of facial recognition software. See notes above about limited screening times on Tuesday and Wedensday.

• SCARLET at AMC.

  • Anime feature from Academy Award-nominated director Mamoru Hosoda (Mirai, 2018). Mixture of medieval-era and modern-day adventure about a sword-fighting princess avenging the death of her father. Interesting mix of cel-shaded charater animation and more textured backgrounds and details.

• SCREEN UNSEEN, AMC: FEBRUARY 16 at AMC.

• SECRET FLIX at Flix.

• SEND HELP at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

  • The latest thriller from Sam Raimi appears to be a variation on Swept Away (1974 and 2002), downplaying the sexual tension angle in favor of class and office politics in contemporary corporate capitalism. Raimi’s input and star Rachel McAdams might make this worth a look.

• SINNERS at AMC.

• SMURFS at Palace and Point.

• SOLO MIO at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

  • Kevin James vehicle about an American groom who is left at the altar on his wedding day in Italy. Distributed by faith-based Angel Studios

• STRANGERS, THE: CHAPTER 3 at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

  • Final chapter (?) in a standalone trilogy in the horror franchise (so actually the fifth film overall). I was today years old when I discovered that this has been what Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2; Deep Blue Sea) has been doing for the last few years.

• STRAY KIDS: THE DOMINATE EXPERIENCE at AMC.

  • K-Pop concert film.

• THIS IS NOT A TEST at AMC.

  • This zombie horror film appears to be a 102 minute trigger-fest. “A suicidal and abused teen girl as she faces the mental torments of her abusive father and being abandoned by her elder sister all the while reluctantly surviving alongside five other damaged teenagers.” Distributed by Independent Film Company, not to be confused with Independent Film Channel.

• TWILIGHT at Flix.

• WUTHERING HEIGHTS at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

  • Or, “Wuthering Heights,” as it is stylized on the posters. A loose adaptation of Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel, starring Margot Robbie (also a producer of the film) and Jacob Elordi (who shows his range by following up playing the monster in Frankenstein to playing Heathcliff here). This appears to be a love it/hate it thing, based on my quick scrolling on FilmStack (film newsletters on Substack).

• ZOOTOPIA 2 at AMC, Flix, Palace, and Point.

Have you used the Now Showing in Madison listings at least once to find something interesting to see? Have you discovered a film that you didn’t realize was playing in town? Please consider supporting these efforts directly by clicking the “Buy Me a Popcorn” button and making a modest donation on those occasions when you find this resource valuable to your moviegoing in Madison.

Buy Me a Popcorn

Looking Ahead:

Local filmmaker Michael Doyle Olson has started what he hopes to be a comprehensive, collaborative public calendar of alternative film screenings in Madison. It is still a work in progress, but check it out at www.mdo.me/film.

Side Room Cinematheque

• Consult Instagram @sideroomcinematic for screening details, second Thursday of the month, and last Monday of the month.

Scroll down for Now Showing in Madison, February 9–16, 2026

Monday posts will now feature some short notes on various cinematic topics, followed by the Now Showing in Madison guide to commercial theaters and alternative venues.

The next Duck Soup Cinema silent film series screenings in the Capital Theater in the Overture Center are fast approaching, with Paramount Pictures’ 1924 version of Peter Pan on Saturday, February 21, at 2:00pm and 7:00pm.

For those of you who listened to my appearance on Jonathan Ytreberg’s The Oscar Project Podcast on January 9, you heard me mention that I looked for vintage movie magazine and trade coverage of The Big Pond just a few hours before the podcast recording. I regretted not thinking of it earlier, because the free online resource, Lantern: Media History Digital Library is a treasure trove of primary research materials initiated by Eric Hoyt and the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research.

After just a few minutes searching the Lantern database, I had access to more material than I could possibly discuss in this entry. One source in particular, the January 10, 2025 issue of Exhibitors Trade Review, conveniently surveyed critical responses to Peter Pan in “Nation’s Press Unanimous In Praise for Peter Pan”:

Mr. Edwin Schallert in Los Angeles Times: “A new highway to childhood land has been discovered. And this time it is motion pictures that have chartered the magic road. If you would venture into an enchanted domain you have only to behold Peter Pan. It points a path so remarkably new and promising that it is to be heralded as one of the screens most remarkable and brilliant achievements.”

Harriette Underbill in the New York Herald-Tribune.— “There is the inspiration of [J.M. Barrie] himself, there is the direction of Herbert Brenon amounting to positive genius. There is the fine acting, the perfect castmg, the splendid mechanism, the pictorial beauty. But there is a soul in Peter Pan which is a thing apart from all its tangible perfection.”

Quinn Martin in the New York Morning World.— “Peter Pan is one of the triumphs of the screen. And Famous Players-Lasky remind us once again that, although they also deal in quantity, quality is one of their specialties.” [Famous Players-Lasky eventually became Paramount Pictures.]

Keep in mind that a lot of trade coverage focused on positive reviews and publicizing the film industry rather that serving as a Rotten Tomatoes-style aggregate of critical responses. And you don’t have to look too deep in the archive to find dated (and cringy) commentary about gender roles when discussing the casting of Betty Bronson as Peter Pan (I won’t trouble you by including it here). But I encourage you to explore the Lantern archive materials on Peter Pan (or any film within its perview) with a simple search at the top of its home page.

Eric Hoyt and Kelley Conway recently earned the Best Edited Collection Award for their 2025 book, Global Movie Magazine Networks from the Society of Cinema and Media Studies. The book, published by University of California Press and accessible as an open access free download, includes an introduction by Hoyt and Conway in which they describe the process by which the periodicals were scanned and indexed for the Lantern collection. The database currently contains 3,004,013 pages of digitized books and magazines from the histories of film, broadcasting, and recorded sound.

Point Cinemas week-long engagement of A Road at Night, begins with benefit screening Thursday, February 12

A Road at Night, which won the Wisconsin’s Own Audience Favorite Award at the 2025 Wisconsin Film Festival, will have a return engagement in Madison at Marcus Point Theaters starting with a benefit screening on Thursday, February 12 at 5:30pm.

Madison-based filmmaker John Roach (ROACH Projects, and co-writer of The Straight Story) examines the tragedy that struck former Wisconsin Badgers player and coach Howard Moore. In 2019, drunk driver collided with Moore’s car, killing his wife and daughter, and leaving Moore severely disabled. The documentary features interviews with Moore’s family and with members of the University of Wisconsin athletics community.

As Roach explains on the Road at Night website, “The film looks at how our lives can change in an instant and the powerful bonds of family, faith, teammates and community. We see how the worst of times often can bring out the best in people. You’ll laugh, cry, think…and want to hug your family.”

In addition to Thursday’s benefit screening, there will be three Q & A screenings with different participants in the documentary during the film’s opening weekend.

• Friday, February 13, 7:30pm: John Roach, Joe Feng (ROACH Projects), Jerell Moore (Howard Moore’s son), Doug Moe.

• Saturday, February 14, 5:40pm: Matt Lepay (Badgers broadcaster), Stan Van Gundy (Moore’s Wisconsin coach), Andy Kilbride and Rashard Griffith (Moore’s Wisconsin teammates).

• Sunday, February 15, 2:30pm: John Roach, Howard Moore, Sr., Pastor Matt Metzger (Blackhawk Church), Brad Davidson (Badgers player and current coach)

Screenings will continue at Marcus Point through Thursday, February 19.

Now Playing In Madison: February 9–16, 2026

Please confirm showtimes with the venues (follow venue links where provided). The commercial theaters update their weekend listings on Wednesdays. Another Now Playing source that posts on Wednesdays is The Horizon Line Madison.

Comments here are not reviews of the films, they are usually a response to the trailer, a summary of the buzz I have heard, or just snark. They are not always particularly accurate, according to reader feedback. I add trailers to new films of interest that you might not know about (American indies, international features, etc.).

UW Cinematheque

• A USEFUL GHOST, 4070 Vilas Hall, Thursday, February 12, 7 p.m.

  • Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, Thailand, France, Singapore, Germany, 2025, 130 min. Winner of the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival’s Critics’ Week. The purchase of a vacuum cleaner leads to an elaborate ghost story with ties to a haunted factory.

• CONFESSIONS OF A CONGRESSMAN, 4070 Vilas Hall, Friday, February 13, 7 p.m.

  • Eloy de la Iglesia, Spain, 1978, 107 min.

• MARK OF THE RENEGADE, 4070 Vilas Hall, Saturday, February 14, 7 p.m.

  • Hugo Fregonese, USA, 1951, 81 min.

Wisconsin Union Directorate Film

• WILD & SCENIC FILM FESTIVAL (2025), Union South Marquee Theater, Monday, 2/9, 6:30 p.m.

• MR. NOBODY AGAINST PUTIN (2025), Union South Marquee Theater, Thursday, 2/12, 6:30p.m.

• IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE (2000), Union South Marquee Theater, Friday, 2/13, 6:30 p.m.

• PRIDE & PREJUDICE (2005) [OPEN CAPTION SCREENING], Union South Marquee Theater, Friday, 2/13, 9 p.m.

• THE WEDDING BANQUET (2025) [OPEN CAPTION SCREENING], Union South Marquee Theater, Saturday, 2/14, 6:30 p.m.

• ROMEO + JULIET (1996) [OPEN CAPTION SCREENING], Union South Marquee Theater, Saturday, 2/14, 9 p.m.

Commercial Theaters
AMC Theatres
Flix Brewhouse
Marcus Theatres (Palace and Point)

Note: At the time this list was assembled (Sunday, February 8), the posted schedule for films at Flix Brewhouse was missing or incomplete Monday, February 9.

• ALI at AMC.

• APOCALYPSE OF ST. JOHN, THE at AMC.

  • Faith-based documentary feature presented by Fathom Entertainment.

• ARCO at AMC.

  • French feature-length animated feature, co-produced by Natalie Portman, nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar this year

• AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH at AMC, Palace, or Point.

• BEST MAN, THE (1999) at AMC.

  • Valentine’s Day related repertory programming (I guess?)

• BLUE ANGELS, THE at AMC.

  • IMAX documentary

• BUFFALO KIDS at AMC.

  • This week’s sketchy mid-tier animated feature for children.

• COLD STORAGE at AMC or Point.

  • A dangerous, contagious fungus escapes a sealed facility. Joe Keery (Stranger Things; and I liked him in Pavements) and Liam Neeson (who has a particular set of skills) must save the day.

• CRIME 101: LIVESTREAM Q&A at Palace or Point.

  • This Chris Hemsworth actioner actually opens on February 13, but this advance screening with a livestream Q & A is Monday, February 9 at 7:00pm.

• DRACULA at AMC, Palace, or Point.

  • Luc Besson’s take on the old legend is generally getting negative reviews. See what Rob Thomas had to say here.

• ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND at Flix.

• F1 THE MOVIE at AMC.

• FRUITS BASKET: PRELUDE at Point.

  • One-night only anime feature presented by Crunchyroll on Monday, February 16, 7pm.

• GALE: YELLOW BRICK ROAD at Palace.

  • One-night only Fathom Entertainment presentation. Horror film riffing on the public domain elements of The Wizard of Oz.

• GOAT at AMC, Flix, Palace, or Point.

• GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, DON’T DIE at AMC, Palace or Point.

  • New feature film from Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean; his first feature since A Cure for Wellness, 2017). Early access screenings Thursday, February 12.

• HAMNET at AMC, Flix, Palace, or Point.

• HOUSEMAID, THE at AMC, Flix, Palace, or Point.

• I CAN ONLY IMAGINE 2 EARLY ACCESS at AMC.

  • Faith-based backstage drama about the challenges of being a pop-country superstar.

• IRON LUNG at AMC, Flix, Palace, or Point.

  • German thriller directed by Jan-Ole Gerster in which a tennis coach at a tropical resort gets caught up in a missing persons mystery. Premiered at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival.

• LOVE & BASKETBALL at AMC.

  • I actually saw this during my one trip to the Sundance Film Festival in 2000. Not bad.

• MARCUS MYSTERY MOVIE (2/16) at Palace or Point.

• MARTY SUPREME at AMC, Flix, Palace, or Point.

• MELANIA at AMC, Flix, or Palace.

  • The film that launched a thousand think pieces. I actually do want to see this at some point, for the same reason I have watched Citizens United and Loose Change: it is important to understand what some people believe.

• MERCY at AMC, Flix, Palace, or Point.

  • I feel bad for Rebecca Ferguson every time I see an ad or trailer for Mercy. I hope she got a big check for this one, at least.

• MOMENT, THE at AMC or Point.

  • Mockumentary-style film about pop star Charli XCX (starring as a fictional version of herself) who begins to object to the more cringy aspects of her publicity commitments for an ongoing arena tour. An A24 release, if that helps.

• MORTUARY ASSISTANT, THE at AMC.

  • Horror film. Newbie at the River Fields Mortuary must face sinister forces.

• MY LORD at AMC

  • Indian Tamil-language drama.

• NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE at AMC.

  • A theatrical engagement after the sneak peek at the UW-Cinematheque last month. I’ve only heard good things about this.

• NO OTHER CHOICE at AMC.

  • I’m running out of opportunities to finally see this, hopefully I will this week. Meanwhile, read Rob Thomas’s review.

• O’ROMEO at AMC

  • Indian Hindi-language action thriller.

• OBSERVANCE, THE at AMC

  • Horror film.

• ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER at AMC.

• PRETTY IN PINK 40th ANNIVERSARY at AMC, Flix, Palace, or Point.

• ROAD AT NIGHT, A at Point.

  • Documentary by John Roach, about the tragedy that struck the family of University of Wisconsin men’s basketball assistant coach Howard Moore when a drunk driver collided with their car. Q & A session with Roach and other participants at Marcus Point, Friday, February 13, 7:30pm. (See notes and trailer above.)

• ROSE: COME BACK TO ME, THE at AMC or Point.

  • Documentary about South Korean indie band.

• ROTTEN MOVIES, FRESH BEER: BAD BOYS at Flix.

• SCARLET at AMC.

  • Anime feature from Academy Award-nominated director Mamoru Hosoda (Mirai, 2018). Mixture of medieval-era and modern-day adventure about a sword-fighting princess avenging the death of her father. Interesting mix of cel-shaded charater animation and more textured backgrounds and details.

• SCREEN UNSEEN: FEBRUARY 16, AMC at AMC.

• SCREEN UNSEEN: FEBRUARY 9, AMC at AMC.

• SECRET FLIX at Flix.

• SEND HELP at AMC, Flix, Palace, or Point.

  • The latest thriller from Sam Raimi appears to be a variation on Swept Away (1974 and 2002), downplaying the sexual tension angle in favor of class and office politics in contemporary corporate capitalism. Raimi’s input and star Rachel McAdams might make this worth a look.

• SENTIMENTAL VALUE at AMC.

• SHELTER at AMC, Flix, Palace, or Point.

  • The latest action vehicle for Jason Statham. Former assassin something something must protect girl something something.

• SMURFS (2025) at Palace or Point.

• SOLO MIO at AMC, Flix, Palace, or Point.

  • Kevin James vehicle about an American groom who is left at the altar on his wedding day in Italy. Distributed by faith-based Angel Studios.

• SONG SUNG BLUE at Palace or Point.

  • You can see the original documentary titled Song Song Blue on YouTube. Meanwhile, people seem to really enjoy this fictionalization of the story of Lightning and Thunder starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson.

• STILL HOPE at Point.

  • Fathom Entertainment presentation. Sixteen-year-old Hope is forced into sex trafficking for several years, but eventually escapes and returns to her family. This appears to be a faith-based production, described as “a testament of resilience and faith.”

• STRANGERS: CHAPTER 3, THE at AMC, Flix, Palace, or Point.

  • Final chapter (?) in a standalone trilogy in the horror franchise (so actually the fifth film overall). I was today years old when I discovered that this has been what Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2; Deep Blue Sea) has been doing for the last few years.

• STRAY KIDS: THE dominATE EXPERIENCE at AMC, Palace, or Point.

  • K-Pop concert film.

• WHISTLE at AMC or Point.

  • Horror film. Dumb high school kids mess with a cursed Aztec Death Whistle.

• WINTER OLYMPICS ON NBC, MILAN CORTINA at AMC.

• WITH LOVE at AMC.

  • Indian Tamil-language teen romantic comedy. Notable in a week with barely any Indian popular cinema in Madison’s theaters.

• WUTHERING HEIGHTS at AMC, Flix, Palace, or Point.

  • Or, “Wuthering Heights,” as it is stylized on the posters. A loose adaptation of Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel, starring Margot Robbie (also a producer of the film) and Jacob Elordi (who shows his range by following up playing the monster in Frankenstein to playing Heathcliff here).

• ZOOTOPIA 2 at AMC, Flix, Palace, or Point.

Have you used the Now Showing in Madison listings at least once to find something interesting to see? Have you discovered a film that you didn’t realize was playing in town? Please consider supporting these efforts directly by clicking the “Buy Me a Popcorn” button and making a modest donation on those occasions when you find this resource valuable to your moviegoing in Madison.

Buy Me a Popcorn

Looking Ahead:

Local filmmaker Michael Doyle Olson has started what he hopes to be a comprehensive, collaborative public calendar of alternative film screenings in Madison. It is still a work in progress, but check it out at www.mdo.me/film.

Cinesthesia Series at Madison Public Library Central Branch

• JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH (2021), Tuesday, 02/17, 6:30pm

Duck Soup Cinema

• PETER PAN (1928), Saturday, February 21, 2pm & 7pm.

Side Room Cinematheque

• Consult Instagram @sideroomcinematic for screening details, second Thursday of the month, and last Monday of the month.

Scroll down for Now Showing in Madison, February 2–9, 2026

Monday posts will now feature some short notes on various cinematic topics, followed by the Now Showing in Madison guide to commercial theaters and alternative venues.

I’m sure like many of you, I was a bit busy and distracted this past weekend with various tasks and chores to catch up on. So, even though I knew The Testament of Ann Lee was opening this weekend, I figured I could catch it in a few days when my scheduled opened up a bit.

I was not paying attention to the showtimes, however. For the next few days, The Testament of Ann Lee only has afternoon (3:40pm) screenings at AMC Fitchburg 18. And I’m not sure if it is going to continue screening into next week.

This is very disappointing. Hopefully it is just a consequence of extra Oscar-related screenings since the nominations were announced, and more screening times will be announced later this week. But it is strange that I wouldn’t have a problem catching an evening screening of Paris Hilton Infinite Icon or Melania the next few days, if I wanted to do so.

The Atlantic article on the short attention span of students includes example from UW-Madison film study class.

I read with interest the new article in The Atlantic by Rose Horowitch, posted online January 30: “The Film Students Who Can No Longer Sit Through Films.” (Unfortunately it is behind a paywall, but you can get the premise of the article from the free paragraphs.)

I had a flashback to my undergrad and graduate days due to the academics whom Horowitch talked to in the article. Lynn Spiegel, now professor of screen cultures at Northwestern, taught in the Communication Arts Department at UW-Madison when I was an undergrad. And Malcolm Turvey, founding director of the Tufts University Film and Media Studies program, lectured in Com Arts when I was a graduate student. Current UW-Madison professors cited in the article include filmmaker Craig Erpelding and scholar Jeff Smith. (Criterion Channel subscribers will recognize Jeff Smith for his video essays produced with David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson.)

Smith provides the article’s most vivid example of students unwillingness to sit through assigned films.

After watching movies distractedly—if they watch them at all—students unsurprisingly can’t answer basic questions about what they saw. In a multiple-choice question on a recent final exam, Jeff Smith, a film professor at UW Madison, asked what happens at the end of the Truffaut film Jules and Jim. More than half of the class picked one of the wrong options, saying that characters hide from the Nazis (the film takes place during World War I) or get drunk with Ernest Hemingway (who does not appear in the movie). Smith has administered similar exams for almost two decades; he had to grade his most recent exam on a curve to keep students’ marks within a normal range.

I can’t cast the first stone at current students in terms of patience with films. As I grow older, I’m finding it harder to stick with films I watch at home all the way through in one sitting. I’m finding myself pausing roughly at what appear to me to be act breaks. So I could argue, as a weak defense, that my break is related to an analysis of the narrative.

At the risk of sounding like a grouchy old man, I think the larger problem is the lack of engagement from students in any material that does not appear to be directly related to the grade that they will receive or the job that they want after they graduate.

Even though I have been away from teaching at the university level for over a decade, I know that the problem described in the article goes well beyond watching films. There’s a high percentage of college students who simply won’t read assigned texts. Or, they can’t read books. In fact, Horowitch already published a related article in The Atlantic back in October 2024: “The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books.” (also behind a paywall)

We can’t, however, just throw up our hands and give up on some students, or focus just on engaged students (who will always make up a significant percentage of any class). One reason (among many) for recent attacks on higher education is the long term social impact that college curricula can have on shaping values. Right now, the challenge is to persuade students that education is not just about jumping through hoops and connecting dots, or programming AI to jump through hoops and connect dots for them. I think we’re already seeing the political consequences of failing to do so, especially among young men.

I’ll conclude, getting off my soap box, by encouraging everyone to reconnect with the joy that reading a great book and watching a great film can give you. And share that joy with people around you, particularly younger people, because not everyone understands or appreciates what that joy has to offer.

Now Playing In Madison: February 2–9, 2026

Please confirm showtimes with the venues (follow venue links where provided). The commercial theaters update their weekend listings on Wednesdays. Another Now Playing source that posts on Wednesdays is The Horizon Line Madison.

Comments here are not reviews of the films, they are usually a response to the trailer, a summary of the buzz I have heard, or just snark. They are not always particularly accurate, according to reader feedback. I add trailers to new films of interest that you might not know about (American indies, international features, etc.).

UW Cinematheque

• RESURRECTION, 4070 Vilas Hall, Thursday, February 5, 7 p.m.

  • Bi Gan, China, France, 2025, 160 min. Expect a big crowd for what might end up being the only screening in Madison for the latest from Bi Gan (Kaili Blues; Long Day’s Journey Into Night).

• PRISONEROS DE LA TIERRA, 4070 Vilas Hall, Friday, February 6, 7 p.m.

  • Mario Soffici, Argentina, 1939, 86 min.

• ROLLERCOASTER, 4070 Vilas Hall, Saturday, February 7, 7 p.m.

  • James Goldstone, USA, 1977, 119 min.

Wisconsin Union Directorate Film

• SURF’S UP (2007) [OPEN CAPTION SCREENING], Union South Marquee Theater, Friday, 2/6, 6:30 p.m.

• RAGING BULL (1980) [OPEN CAPTION SCREENING], Union South Marquee Theater, Friday, 2/6, 9 p.m.

• RAGING BULL (1980), Union South Marquee Theater, Saturday, 2/7, 6 p.m.

• THE NAKED GUN (2025) [OPEN CAPTION SCREENING], Union South Marquee Theater, Saturday, 2/7, 9 p.m.

• WILD & SCENIC FILM FESTIVAL (2025), Union South Marquee Theater, Monday, 2/9, 6:30 p.m.

AMC Theatres, Flix Brewhouse, Marcus Theatres

Note: At the time this list was assembled (Sunday, February 1), the posted schedule for films at Flix Brewhouse was missing or incomplete for February 6, 8, and 9.

• 28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE (2026) at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

• AA BATA AAMA at Point.

  • Nepali-language drama about the emotional weight of preparing to move abroad.

• ALI at AMC.

• AMC SCREEN UNSEEN: FEBRUARY 9 at AMC.

• AMC SCREAM UNSEEN: FEBRUARY 2 at AMC.

• ARCO (2025) at AMC.

  • French feature-length animated feature, co-produced by Natalie Portman, nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar this year.

• AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH (2025) at AMC, Point, Palace.

• BUFFALO KIDS at AMC

• BUGONIA (2025) at AMC.

  • Monday, February 2 only, 3:00pm.

• CHARLIE THE WONDERDOG at Point, Palace.

  • Week four for this sketchy low-to-medium-budget family friendly animated feature. I assume this will get bounced for Sony’s Goat next week, but you never know.

• CRIME 101: LIVESTREAM Q&A at Point, Palace.

  • This Chris Hemsworth actioner actually opens on February 13, but this advance screening with a livestream Q & A is Monday, February 9 at 7:00pm.

• DRACULA (2026) at AMC.

  • Luc Besson joins Brett Ratner in the accused-of-sexual-misconduct directors whose work is playing in Madison commercial theaters this week. Despite the presence of Christoph Waltz as the “unnamed priest” (this film’s version of Van Helsing), I’m not sure whether this umpteenth version of Dracula will have anything interesting to offer.

• F1 THE MOVIE (2025) at AMC.

• GOAT EARLY ACCESS at Palace.

  • The Sony Pictures Animation feature, Goat, officially opens February 13, but this early access screening at Palace Cinema is Saturday, February 7 at 1:00pm.

• HAMNET (2025) at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

• HOUSEMAID, THE (2025) at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

• IRON LUNG (2026) at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

  • German thriller directed by Jan-Ole Gerster in which a tennis coach at a tropical resort gets caught up in a missing persons mystery. Premiered at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival.

• ISLANDS (2026) at AMC.

• LAND BEFORE TIME, THE at Point, Palace.

• LEGO MOVIE (2014) 3D EXCLUSIVE, THE at AMC.

• LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP (2026), THE at Point, Palace.

• LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING 2026, THE at Point, Palace.

• LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS (2026), THE at Point, Palace.

• MARCUS MYSTERY MOVIE (2/2) at Point, Palace.

• MARDAANI 3 (2026) at AMC.

  • Indian Hindi-language action film. Some screenings sold out this past weekend.

• MARTY SUPREME (2025) at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

• MELANIA (2026) at AMC, Palace.

  • The film that launched a thousand think pieces. I actually do want to see this at some point, for the same reason I have watched Citizens United and Loose Change: it is important to understand what some people believe.

• MERCY (2026) at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

  • I feel bad for Rebecca Ferguson every time I see an ad or trailer for Mercy. I hope she got a big check for this one, at least.

• MILAN CORTINA WINTER OLYMPICS ON NBC at AMC.

  • Interesting idea, but I think I’ll stay home if I’m going to watch the Olympics.

• THE MOMENT at AMC, Marcus Point

• MOSES THE BLACK at AMC, Point.

  • Crime drama directed by Yelena Popovic, but most tellingly produced by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson. A feared gang leader from Chicago’s West Side (Omar Epps) returns home after being released from prison, in order to avenge the murder of his best friend.

• NO OTHER CHOICE (2025) at AMC, Point.

  • The latest from director Park Chan-wook (Oldboy; Decision to Leave). Golden Globe nominee, and shortlisted for the Best Foreign Film Academy Award nominations. This might be the only film I actually get a chance to see this week, despite a lot of interesting options. Meanwhile, read Rob Thomas’s review.

• OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTIHI at Point.

  • Indian Telugu-language comedy.

• ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER (2025) at AMC.

  • It’s back in theaters. Sure, it is streaming on HBO Max at this point, but I might see it again on the big screen if I get a chance. I want to compare one or two specific scenes from Pynchon’s Vineland with its parallel in Anderson’s very loose adaptation. Meanwhile, here are some of my other thoughts on the film.

• PARIS HILTON INFINITE ICON: A VISUAL MEMOIR (2026) at AMC.

  • Directors Bruce Robertson and JJ Duncan follow Paris Hilton as she returns to music in 2024 (was she ever there, did she ever leave?) with her first-ever concert at the Hollywood Palladium. As vapid as this appears to be, I’d rather you go to watch this than pay to see Melania.

• PRIMATE (2026) at AMC, Palace.

  • This has legs in its theatrical run? I saw the trailer. This looks slick but dumb. A family’s adopted chimpanzee (their first mistake) is bitten by a rabid animal and goes, well, apeshit. I’ve skimmed a few reviews that suggest it might be fun, at least.

• PRIVATE LIFE, A (2025) at AMC.

  • French-language black comedy/mystery thriller directed by Rebecca Zlotowski (Grand Central; Planetarium; An Easy Girl) starring Jodie Foster (yes, she speaks French very well, thank you), Daniel Auteuil, and Mathieu Amalric.

• RETURN TO SILENT HILL at Point, Palace.

• ROOM WITH A VIEW, A at AMC.

• SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD at Flix.

• SEND HELP (2026) at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

  • The latest thriller from Sam Raimi appears to be a variation on Swept Away (1974 and 2002), downplaying the sexual tension angle in favor of class and office politics in contemporary corporate capitalism. Raimi’s input and star Rachel McAdams might make this worth a look.

• SHELTER (2026) at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

  • The latest action vehicle for Jason Statham. Former assassin something something must protect girl something something.

• SINNERS (2025) at AMC.

• SOLO MIO (2026) at AMC, Point, Palace.

  • Kevin James vehicle about an American groom who is left at the altar on his wedding day in Italy. Distributed by faith-based Angel Studios.

• SONG SUNG BLUE at Point, Palace.

  • You can see the original documentary titled Song Song Blue on YouTube. Meanwhile, people seem to really enjoy this fictionalization of the story of Lightning and Thunder starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson.

• SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS, THE (2025) at AMC.

• STILL HOPE (2026) at AMC, Point, Palace.

  • Fathom Entertainment presentation. Sixteen-year-old Hope is forced into sex trafficking for several years, but eventually escapes and returns to her family. This appears to be a faith-based production, described as a testament of resilience and faith.

• STRANGERS: CHAPTER 3, THE (2026) at AMC, Point, Palace.

  • Final chapter (?) in a standalone trilogy in the horror franchise (so actually the fifth film overall). I was today years old when I discovered that this has been what Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2; Deep Blue Sea) has been doing for the last few years.

• STRAY KIDS: THE DOMINATE EXPERIENCE - ADVANCE EARLY ACCESS SCREENINGS (2026) at AMC.

  • K-Pop concert film. The early access event is Wednesday, February 4. The film opens on Friday, February 6.

• TAFITI: ACROSS THE DESERT (2026) at AMC.

  • I know what you’re thinking. Is this film about the beloved Disney Lion King characters Timon (a meerkat) and Pumbaa (a warthog)? The answer is no. This is about Tafiti (a meerkat) and his friend Bristles (a bush pig). This will replace Charlie the Wonderdog as the sketchy mid-budget animated feature of the week.

• TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE, THE (2025) at AMC.

  • See my note above about the odd afternoons-only screening times for this film that I very much want to see.

• TIME HOPPERS: THE SILK ROAD at AMC, Point, Palace.

  • A well-intentioned animated feature about a diverse set of students in Vancouver (!) who travel back in time to save scientists (and save science). A Fathom release screening February 7 and 8.

• TWILIGHT SAGA MARATHON, THE at Point, Palace.

• WHIPLASH at Flix.

• WHISTLE (2026) at AMC.

  • Horror film. Dumb high school kids mess with a cursed Aztec Death Whistle.

• WITH LOVE at AMC

• WORLDBREAKER (2026) at AMC.

  • Action film starring Milla Jojovich and Luke Evans.

• ZOOTOPIA 2 (2025) at AMC, Point, Palace, Flix.

Looking Ahead:

Local filmmaker Michael Doyle Olson has started what he hopes to be a comprehensive, collaborative public calendar of alternative film screenings in Madison. It is still a work in progress, but check it out at www.mdo.me/film.

Cinesthesia Series at Madison Public Library Central Branch

• JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH (2021), Wednesday, 02/17, 6:30pm

Duck Soup Cinema

• PETER PAN (1928), Saturday, February 21, 2pm & 7pm.

Side Room Cinematheque

• Consult Instagram @sideroomcinematic for screening details, second Thursday of the month, and last Monday of the month.

Scroll down for Now Showing in Madison, January 26–February 2, 2026

Monday posts will now feature some short notes on various cinematic topics, followed by the Now Showing in Madison guide to commercial theaters and alternative venues.

The Project Projection screening at Mills Folly Microcinema last Wednesday went very well, with about 50 in attendance for the showcase for local experimental films, short docs, music video, and animation. A few ideas emerged after the screening for ways to make Project Projection films available to additional local audiences. It’s too early to comment on the specific ideas, but it is exciting to see a community of filmmakers emerging from the screenings. I hope that Project Projection films and programs will have a life beyond one-time screenings at Mills Folly.

Highlights from the Cosmic Rays Film Festival tour include latest from animator Karen Yasinsky, I Am Not Your Monster (2024)

I hope that many of you can join us for the regular Mills Folly Microcinema monthly screening this week, Wednesday at 7:00pm at Arts + Literature Laboratory, 111 S. Livingston Street. We will screen You Don’t Know Me: Selections from the 2025 Cosmic Rays Film Festival. Cosmic Rays in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, founded by filmmakers Sabine Grufat and Bill Brown, has emerged as an exciting showcase for new experimental films from around the world.

This will mark the third time that Mills Folly has showcased the Cosmic Rays touring program (the previous screenings were in 2024 and 2022). Each installment has been a strong mix of various types of personal filmmaking and techniques. If you want to get a concise sample of whats going on in the experimental film festival circuit, I strongly recommend attending on Wednesday.

One short featured this week that I’m looking forward to screening is I Am Not Your Monster (2024) by experimental animator Karen Yasinsky. I showed Yasinsky’s Marie (2010) my first year programming Rooftop Cinema at MMoCA in 2018. While Marie reworks a rotoscoped image from Robert Bresson’s Au hasard Balthasar (1966) using various techniques, I Am Not Your Monster reworks rotoscoped images from Young Frankenstein (1974) and other sources, using shaded pencil and charcoal drawings to bring the images to life.

The pencil drawings are on white backgrounds, allowing Yasinsky to play with spatial relationships between the images, sometimes suturing them together using eyeline matches. Yasinsky replaces Frankenstein’s monster with “a person I know” (as she describes her in her program notes for the film at Crossroads), creating a new dynamic between Gene Wilder’s frantic performance (as Dr. Fredrick Frankenstein) and the “person’s” subdued responses to him. Meanwhile, Teri Garr (as Inga) does not seem to be able to piece together what she sees, or know how to respond to it.

Yasinsky’s technique is hypnotic in its deceptive simplicity. Many images of Wilder have excessive detail which seem to transform his eyes into a manic gaze. Although I don’t think that I Am Not Your Monster has the conceptual impact of Marie, it is still a great example of personally produced animation, and well worth seeking out for experimental film and animation enthusiasts.

Two French feature films in Madison theaters the same week?

Week to week, global cinema in the Madison commercial theater market is dominated by Indian popular cinema and occasional Japanese anime or Chinese features. This is great, in my opinion. I try my best to keep up with as many Bollywood films as I can. But it is not very often that multiple recent French films play in Madison’s theaters at the same time.

This week we have two French-produced features. First, the Oscar-nominated animated feature film, Arco, presented in a dubbed version, featuring voices of (co-producer) Natalie Portman, America Ferrera and Will Farrell. And second, Jody Foster (speaking French and English) in the black comedy/thriller A Private Life, also starring Daniel Auteuil and Mathieu Amalric.

Not surprisingly, both are playing at AMC Fitchburg 18 (both opening on Thursday, January 29). While Marcus Point will likely bring in some of the films nominated for the Oscar for Best International Feature Film between now and March, AMC Fitchburg does seem to have the recent edge on international titles. I’m going to attempt to keep closer tabs on how many international titles play at AMC, Marcus, and Flix in 2026.

Now Playing In Madison: January 26–February 2, 2026

Please confirm showtimes with the venues (follow venue links where provided). The commercial theaters update their weekend listings on Wednesdays.

Comments here are not reviews of the films, they are usually a response to the trailer, a summary of the buzz I have heard, or just snark. They are not always particularly accurate, according to reader feedback. I add trailers to new films of interest that you might not know about (American indies, international features, etc.).

Mills Folly Microcinema

• YOU DON’T KNOW ME: SELECTIONS FROM THE 2025 COSMIC RAYS FILM FESTIVAL, Wednesday, January 28, 7pm.

  • Touring program of films selected from the 2025 Cosmic Rays Film Festival in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. See notes above.

UW Cinematheque

The following films are scheduled to play at UW Cinematheque from Thursday, January 29, through Sunday, February 1, 2026, listed in chronological order:

• NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE, 4070 Vilas Hall, Thursday, January 29, 7 p.m.,

  • Matt Johnson, Canada, 2025, 98 min. I don’t pretend to fully understand what is going on here, but it does seem like it is a lot of fun.

• YI YI, 4070 Vilas Hall, Friday, January 30, 7 p.m.,

  • Edward Yang, Taiwan, Japan, 2000, 173 min.

• CAPRICORN ONE, 4070 Vilas Hall, Saturday, January 31, 7 p.m.,

  • Peter Hyams, USA, 1978, 124 min.

Wisconsin Union Directorate Film

• KING IN THE WILDERNESS (2018), Union South Marquee Theater, Thursday, 1/29, 6 p.m.

• WEAPONS (2025), Union South Marquee Theater, Friday, 1/30, 6 p.m.

• FUNNY GAMES (1997), Union South Marquee Theater, Friday, 1/30, 9 p.m.

• NICKEL BOYS (2024), Union South Marquee Theater, Saturday, 1/31, 6 p.m.

• WEAPONS (2025), Union South Marquee Theater, Saturday, 1/31, 9 p.m.

Bartell Theater Film Series

• XANADU – Friday, 01/30, 8:00pm

• SISTER FIGHT - Saturday, 1/31/, 7:00pm

  • Directed by UW- Madison Graduate Hannah Beck and written/executive produced by Wisconsin native Madeline Rose Thompson comes the world premiere screening of an end of summer comedy about embracing the messiness of sisterhood.

• GROUNDHOG DAY – Sunday, 02/01, 1:00pm [start time corrected]

• HONEYCOMB presented by Four Star Video - Sunday, 02/01, 3:00pm [screening updated]

Side Room Cinematheque

• Monday, January 26, 8:00pm at Aftershock Arcade, 1444 E. Washington Avenue. Consult Instagram @sideroomcinematic for screening details, second Thursday of the month, and last Monday of the month.

AMC Theatres, Flix Brewhouse, Marcus Theatres

• 28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE at AMC, Palace, Point, Flix.

• AA BATA AAMA at Point. Opens Friday, January 30.

  • Nepali-language drama about the emotional weight of preparing to move abroad.

• AMC SCREAM UNSEEN: FEBRUARY 2 at AMC.

• AMC SCREEN UNSEEN: JANUARY 26 at AMC.

• ANACONDA at AMC.

• ARCO at AMC.

  • French feature-length animated feature, co-produced by Natalie Portman, nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar this year.

• AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH at AMC, Palace, Point, Flix.

• BLADE RUNNER: THE FINAL CUT at Flix.

• BORDER 2 at AMC.

  • Indian Hindi-language action/war film, a sequel almost 30 years after the original Border (J.P. Dutta, 1997), set during the India-Pakistan war of 1971. I keep promising to write about nationalism in current Indian action cinema, I just have to give it some more thought and research.

• CHARLIE THE WONDERDOG at Point.

  • Week three for this sketchy low-to-medium-budget family friendly animated feature.

• DEAD MAN’S WIRE at AMC, Palace, Point.

  • Latest from director Gus Van Sant. Indianapolis entrepreneur Tony Kiritsis (Bill Skarsgård) stages a hostage standoff, and turns an eccentric outlaw folk hero. Read Rob Thomas’s review.

• EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY at AMC.

  • Chinese-language comedy. From questionable sources that I don’t have time to research further, my sense is that this is about a retired, ailing steelworker and a good-hearted drifter who form an unlikely friendship.

• GREENLAND 2: MIGRATION at Palace.

• H IS FOR HAWK at AMC, Palace, Point.

  • Helen Foy, Brendan Gleeson, and Lena Heady star in this drama about a woman (Foy) grieving for her father, and turns to falconry to recall her memory of birding and exploring nature together. Adapted from a memoir by Helen McDonald.

• HAMNET at AMC, Palace, Point, Flix.

  • Nominated for several Academy Awards, which will hopefully give me a few more weeks to catch up with it.

• HARD BOILED - HONG KONG CINEMA CLASSICS at AMC, Point.

  • I have my tickets for Monday night at AMC.

• HOBBIT MARATHON, THE at Palace, Point.

• HOUSEMAID, THE at AMC, Palace, Point, Flix.

  • Sydney Sweeney spars with Amanda Seyfried. I like both actresses, but I would advise going to see Seyfried in The Testament of Ann Lee (see below), if you need to make a choice. (That’s the choice I would make.)

• IN COLD LIGHT at AMC.

  • English language debut for Canadian filmmaker Maxime Giroux. A woman (Maika Monroe) is released from prison, and she plans on resuming her drug dealing operation. But it is never that simple, is it?

• INTERSTELLAR at Flix.

• IRON LUNG at AMC, Palace, Point, Flix.

  • Science fiction horror film, directed by and starring Mark Fischbach. Adaptation of the video game of the same name by David Szymanski (who also appears in the film). I guess Fischbach is best known for his YouTube channel (where he is known as “Markpiler”). God help us all.

• ISLANDS at AMC.

  • German thriller directed by Jan-Ole Gerster in which a tennis coach at a tropical resort gets caught up in a missing persons mystery. Premiered at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival.

• IS THIS THING ON? at Flix.

  • Another backstage drama from director Bradley Cooper, this time the stage is at a comedy club. Read Rob Thomas’s review.

• LEGO MOVIE, THE at AMC, Palace.

• LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, THE at Flix.

• LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING, THE at AMC.

• LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS, THE at AMC.

• MARCUS MYSTERY MOVIE at Palace, Point.

• MARTY SUPREME at AMC, Point, Flix.

  • Until I can finish my review/thoughts, read Rob Thomas’s review. This is also returning to some IMAX theaters for Oscar season, but even though I like the film, that would be too much for me.

• MARDAANI 3 at AMC

  • Indian Hindi-language action film. Friday, January 30 screenings are already sold out.

• MELANIA at AMC.

  • First-time documentarian Brett Ratner, best known for Rush Hour, Red Dragon, and multiple sexual misconduct allegations since 2017, follows Melania Trump for the twenty days leading up to Donald Trump’s second inauguration. Set to premiere at the “Kennedy Center” this week, then it will be distributed by Jeff Bezos’s Amazon MGM Studios.

• MERCY at AMC, Palace, Point, Flix.

  • I feel bad for Rebecca Ferguson every time I see an ad or trailer for Mercy. I hope she got a big check for this one, at least.

• MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU at Palace, Point.

• MOSES THE BLACK at Point.

  • Crime drama directed by Yelena Popovic, but most tellingly produced by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, who has a cinematic ouvre all his own (and even has his own action-themed FAST streaming channel (Free Ad Supported Television). Moses the Black stars Omar Epps, Wiz Khalifa, and Quavo. A feared gang leader from Chicago’s West Side (Epps) returns home after being released from prison, in order to avenge the murder of his best friend.

• NO OTHER CHOICE at AMC, Palace, Point.

  • The latest from director Park Chan-wook (Oldboy; Decision to Leave). Golden Globe nominee, and shortlisted for the Best Foreign Film Academy Award nominations. This might be the only film I actually get a chance to see this week, despite a lot of interesting options. Meanwhile, read Rob Thomas’s review.

• OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTIHI at Point

  • Indian Telugu-language comedy. Opens Friday, January 30.

• ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER at AMC, Palace, Point.

  • It’s back in theaters. Sure, it is streaming on HBO Max at this point, but I might see it again on the big screen if I get a chance. I want to compare one or two specific scenes from Pynchon’s Vineland with its parallel in Anderson’s very loose adaptation. Meanwhile, here are some of my other thoughts on the film.

• PARIS HILTON INFINITE ICON: A VISUAL MEMOIR at AMC.

  • Directors Bruce Robertson and JJ Duncan follow Paris Hilton as she returns to music in 2024 (was she ever there, did she ever leave?) with her first-ever concert at the Hollywood Palladium. As vapid as this appears to be, I’d rather you go to watch this than pay to see Melania.

• PRIMATE at AMC, Palace.

  • I saw the trailer. This looks slick but dumb. A family’s adopted chimpanzee (their first mistake) is bitten by a rabid animal and goes, well, apeshit. I’ve skimmed a few reviews that suggest it might be fun, at least.

• PRIVATE LIFE, A at AMC.

  • French-language black comedy/mystery thriller directed by Rebecca Zlotowski (Grand Central; Planetarium; An Easy Girl) starring Jodie Foster (yes, she speaks French very well, thank you), Daniel Auteuil, and Mathieu Amalric.

• RETURN TO SILENT HILL at AMC, Palace, Point, Flix.

  • Horror film and adaptation of the video game Silent Hill 2.

• ROOM WITH A VIEW, A at AMC.

• SEND HELP at AMC, Palace, Point, Flix.

  • The latest thriller from Sam Raimi appears to be a variation on Swept Away (1974 and 2002), downplaying the sexual tension angle in favor of class and office politics in contemporary corporate capitalism. Raimi’s input and star Rachel McAdams might make this worth a look.

• SHELTER at AMC, Palace, Point, Flix.

  • The latest action vehicle for Jason Statham. Former assassin something something must protect girl something something.

• SINNERS at AMC, Palace, Point.

  • Back in theaters for Oscar season. Catch this if you haven’t already.

• SONG SUNG BLUE at AMC, Palace, Point.

  • You can see the original documentary titled Song Song Blue on YouTube. Meanwhile, people seem to really enjoy this fictionalization of the story of Lightning and Thunder starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson

• SPACEBALLS at Flix.

• SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS, THE at AMC.

• TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE, THE at AMC.

  • A historical musical drama directed by Mona Fastvold, who co-wrote it with Brady Corbet (The Brutalist). This has been getting very good reviews and award season nominations, especially for Amanda Seyfried in the lead role as 18th-century spiritual leader Ann Lee, one of the founders of the Shakers.

• VERTIGO at Flix.

• WICKED: FOR GOOD at AMC, Palace, Point.

• WORLDBREAKER at AMC

  • Action film starring Milla Jojovich and Luke Evans.

• ZOOTOPIA 2 at AMC, Palace, Point, Flix.

Looking Ahead:

Cinesthesia Series at Madison Public Library Central Branch

• JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH (2021), Wednesday, 02/17, 6:30pm

Duck Soup Cinema

• PETER PAN (1928), Saturday, February 21, 2pm & 7pm.

Scroll down for Now Showing in Madison, January 19–26, 2026

Monday posts will now feature some short notes on various cinematic topics, followed by the Now Showing in Madison guide to commercial theaters and alternative venues.

I’m recovering from a medical issue that has kept me out of theaters for the past week, so I missed Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother. But even as I regain my health, I don’t know if I would ever have as much time as I would need to see the films I hope to see that are in local theaters and alternative venues this week.

My target is going to be at least No Other Choice, later this week. But other strong options are Sirât (who knows if it will come back in February?), Dead Man’s Wire, Hard Boiled, Night Patrol (for reasons stated below), Sentimental Value (I’m late on this one already), The Testament of Ann Lee, and heck even Vertigo and Dune (1984) would be fun to see big. As it happens every once in a while in the Madison film market, when it rains it pours, and it is hard to map out a time to see everything.

Rise of local animation at Project Projection Winter 2026, Wednesday, January 21, 7:00pm

One reason I’m so busy, of course, is that on Wednesday I’ll be hosting the next Project Projection screening of local film and video at Mills Folly Microcinema. By the time you read this Monday morning, I will have appeared on WORT-FM’s 8 O’Clock Buzz with Brian Standing to discuss Wednesday’s screening. When WORT posts the episode to its archive, I will share a link here. [Update: Here is the link.]

This Wednesday’s screening is the usual wide range of experimental films, short docs, music videos, and animation that we have been screening the past few years. But I’m particularly happy that the amount of animation that we receive through the submission process has slowly increased in recent screenings. Of course, animation is very labor intensive, so I don’t anticipate being overwhelmed with animated shorts every three months. But the animated films (or animation-adjacent films) are particularly interesting this time around.

Just to mention one: Robyn Das-Romain produced their short, Thinking of You (2022) while earning their BFA in character animation at the California Institute of the Arts. They now teach 2D and 3D animation classes at the UW-Madison. Thinking of You had a healthy run on the festival circuit and it is great to have it included in the Project Projection screening.

There are many things I like about Thinking of You. First, is Das-Romain’s attention to gesures and expressions in their character animation. Despite the contemplative tone and theme of the film, Das-Romain allows for a lot of playfulness through the unique expressive qualities of animation. And second, Thinking of You is about something. It’s not just a technical exercise to showcase animation skills. The film quietly allows you to share the character’s grief as well as their joy in having known someone special.

I’m looking forward to meeting Das-Romain, and asking them about their film in the Q & A. Join us if you can, Wednesday, 7:00pm, Mills Folly Microcinema at Arts + Literature Laboratory, 111 South Livingston Street, and also see new work from Gregg Williard, Steve Chappell, and Jon Arnold.

UW-Madison connection to Night Patrol, now in theaters

Just a quick note on the UW-Madison grad-done-good front. The Striped Chair of Vilas Hall (the Instagram account for UW-Madison Com Arts) posted a brief update on 2008 graduate Bradinn French. He’s already an Emmy winning editor (Picture Editing for Variety Programming, 2022) and now he has produced and edited the feature film, Night Patrol, starring Justin Long and Dermot Mulroney. Night Patrol is currently screening at AMC Fitchburg 18 and Marcus Point.

So next time you attend a Com Arts Showcase at the end of a semester, especially if you see films from CA 659, the capstone class that Bradinn took long ago, you might be seeing the work of a future Hollywood producer.

Now Playing In Madison: January 19–26, 2026

Please confirm showtimes with the venues (follow venue links where provided). The commercial theaters update their weekend listings on Wednesdays.

Comments here are not reviews of the films, they are usually a response to the trailer, a summary of the buzz I have heard, or just snark. They are not always particularly accurate, according to reader feedback. I add trailers to new films of interest that you might not know about (American indies, international features, etc.).

Mills Folly Microcinema

• PROJECT PROJECTION, WINTER 2026, Wednesday, January 21, 7pm.

  • Experimental film, short docs, music videos, and animation produced by filmmakers in Madison and Dane County. See note above.

UW Cinematheque

• SIRĀT, 4070 Vilas Hall, Thursday, 1/22, 7 p.m.,

  • Oliver Laxe, France, Spain, 2025, 115 min. General release scheduled for February 6. Ctek starts out blazing with their Thursday Premieres series.

• SAFE, 4070 Vilas Hall, Friday, 1/23, 7 p.m.,

  • Todd Haynes, USA, 1995, 119 min.

• AN OFFICER AND A SPY (J’ACCUSE), 4070 Vilas Hall, Saturday, 1/24, 7 p.m.,

  • Roman Polanski, France, Italy, 2019, 111 min.

• DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN, Chazen Museum, Sunday, 1/25, 2 p.m.

  • Susan Seidelman, USA, 1985, 104 min.

Wisconsin Union Directorate Film

• FROZEN (2013), Union South Marquee Theater, Friday, 1/23, 6:30 p.m.

• NOSFERATU (2024), Union South Marquee Theater, Friday, 1/23, 9 p.m.

• TITANIC (1997), Union South Marquee Theater, Saturday, 1/24, 6:30 p.m.

Bartell Theater Film Series

• THE WIZARD OF OZ – Sunday, 01/25, 3:00pm

• VERTIGO – Sunday, 01/25, 6:30pm

Cinesthesia Series at Madison Public Library Central Branch

• ALTERED STATES (1980) Ken Russell, Wednesday, 01/21, 6:30pm

Four Star Video Pop Up, Nottingham Co-op

• FLESH ISN’T WHAT IT SEEMS and SPIRIT RISER, Friday, 1/23, 7:30pm, 146 Langdon Street.

Ska Documentary Night at Muskellounge

• Private screening of PICK IT UP! (2019), Sunday, February 22, 5pm–9pm

  • $35 per person, you’ll get the full rude-boy treatment: All-you-can-eat Fraboni’s Pizza, (2) Half Acre Brews, and a live two-song musical break to keep you skanking between acts.

AMC Theatres, Flix Brewhouse, Marcus Theatres

• 28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE at AMC, Flix, Point, Palace.

• ALL YOU NEED IS KILL at AMC, Point, Palace.

  • Anime feature adapted from the same source material as the Tom Cruise vehicle Edge of Tomorrow.

• ANACONDA at AMC, Point, Palace.

• AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH at AMC, Flix, Point, Palace.

• BORDER 2 at AMC.

  • Indian Hindi-language action/war film, a sequel almost 30 years after the original Border (J.P. Dutta, 1997), set during the India-Pakistan war of 1971. I keep promising to write about nationalism in current Indian action cinema, I just have to give it some more thought and research.

• CHARLIE THE WONDERDOG at AMC, Point, Palace.

  • Another week for another sketchy low-to-medium-budget family friendly animated feature.

• CHORAL, THE at AMC.

  • Ralph Fiennes stars as a German music teacher leading a choral group in England as young men are enlisting in World War I.

• CONTAINMENT, THE at Point.

  • Indie horror film. Something something takes over a young girl, something something battle evil itself.

• DEAD MAN’S WIRE at AMC, Point, Palace.

  • Latest from director Gus Van Sant. Indianapolis entrepreneur Tony Kiritsis (Bill Skarsgård) stages a hostage standoff, and turns an eccentric outlaw folk hero. Read Rob Thomas’s review.

• DUNE (1984) at Flix.

  • I have to admit, my affection for David Lynch’s Dune has grown over the years, despite not liking it at all when I saw it in the theaters. Too much whispering interior monologues for me. But I would often find myself watching it when it popped up on television over the years. And I think that the key to its appeal is watching it, and letting whatever happens happen. I ended up buying the Arrow Video 4K release. I’m too busy to catch it big this time, but it seems like these screenings will pop up more often as the new Dune franchise continues.

• GALAXY QUEST at Flix.

• GREENLAND 2: MIGRATION at AMC, Flix, Point, Palace.

• HAMNET at AMC.

  • Very likely a prominent contender for several Oscars, based on the awards season so far.

• HARD BOILED - HONG KONG CINEMA CLASSICS at AMC, Point.

  • I’ve probably written too much about the Hong Kong action films being re-released to theaters by Shout! Studios and GKIDS. Hard Boiled is a favorite of many, but it is probably my least favorite of the three Woo films returning to screens in 2026. Still, if you’ve never seen it, and you have any interest in action cinema, you should see it big and loud.

• H IS FOR HAWK at AMC, Palace.

  • Helen Foy, Brendan Gleeson, and Lena Heady star in this drama about a woman (Foy) grieving for her father, and turns to falconry to recall her memory of birding and exploring nature together. Adapted from a memoir by Helen McDonald.

• HOUSEMAID, THE at AMC, Flix, Point, Palace.

  • Sydney Sweeney spars with Amanda Seyfried. I like both actresses, but I would advise going to see Seyfried in The Testament of Ann Lee (see below), if you need to make a choice. (That’s the choice I would make.)

• IN COLD LIGHT at AMC.

  • English language debut for Canadian filmmaker Maxime Giroux. A woman (Maika Monroe) is released from prison, and she plans on resuming her drug dealing operation. But it is never that simple, is it?

• IRON GIANT, THE at Flix.

  • People don’t really talk about The Iron Giant (1999) much anymore, but it is a great traditional 2-D animated feature from Brad Bird, who moved on to computer animation at Pixar with The Incredibles and Ratatouille.

• IS THIS THING ON? at AMC, Flix, Point, Palace.

  • Another backstage drama from director Bradley Cooper, this time the stage is at a comedy club. Read Rob Thomas’s review.

• LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, THE at AMC, Flix, Point, Palace.

• LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING, THE at AMC, Flix, Point, Palace.

• LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS, THE at AMC, Flix, Point, Palace.

• MADAGASCAR 20TH ANNIVERSARY at AMC, Point, Palace.

• MANA SHANKARAVARAPRASAD GARU at AMC.

  • Indian Telugu-language comedy-action-drama about a security officer protecting his estranged wife and kids from a vengeful ex-cop.

• MARCUS MYSTERY MOVIE at Point, Palace.

• MARTY SUPREME at AMC, Flix, Point.

  • Until I can finish my review/thoughts, read Rob Thomas’s review.

• MEGADETH: BEHIND THE MASK at Point.

  • “Dave Mustaine pulls back the curtain on 40 years of Megadeth,” if you give a shit.

• MERCY at AMC, Flix, Point, Palace.

  • I feel bad for Rebecca Ferguson every time I see an ad or trailer for Mercy. I hope she got a big check for this one, at least.

• MET OPERA: AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY at Point, Palace.

  • I was unaware of this operatic adaptation of Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about Jewish cousins who create a comic-book superhero in the late 1930s. The book is pretty great. No way I’m going to find time to see this on Saturday, but it might be worth a look at some point.

• MIGRATION at Point, Palace.

• MINECRAFT MOVIE, A at Point, Palace.

• MONDAY MYSTERY MOVIE at AMC.

• NEVERENDING STORY, THE at Flix.

• NIGHT PATROL at AMC, Point.

  • Action drama with Justin Long and Dermot Mulroney. See my note above about about the UW-Madison connection to this film. I have to say, I think I had the wrong impression of the film from my first viewing of the trailer last week. A colleague with knowledge about the film made it sound far more interesting than the trailer suggested on first viewing.

• NO OTHER CHOICE at AMC, Point, Palace.

  • The latest from director Park Chan-wook (Oldboy; Decision to Leave). Golden Globe nominee, and shortlisted for the Best Foreign Film Academy Award nominations. This might be the only film I actually get a chance to see this week, despite a lot of interesting options. Meanwhile, read Rob Thomas’s review.

• PRIMATE at AMC, Flix, Point, Palace.

  • I saw the trailer. This looks slick but dumb. A family’s adopted chimpanzee (their first mistake) is bitten by a rabid animal and goes, well, apeshit. I’ve skimmed a few reviews that suggest it might be fun, at least.

• RETURN TO SILENT HILL at AMC, Point, Palace.

  • Horror film and adaptation of the video game Silent Hill 2.

• SCREEN UNSEEN: JANUARY 26, AMC at AMC.

• SEND HELP EARLY ACCESS SCREENING at AMC, Point, Palace.

• SENTIMENTAL VALUE at AMC.

  • This did very well at the European Film Awards this past week, so perhaps we’ll have a bit more time to catch up with it on Madison’s screens during the remaining awards season.

• SHEEPDOG at AMC.

  • Indie drama focusing on the effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome, starring writer/director Steven Grayhm with Vondie Curtis-Hall and Virginia Madsen.

• SONG SUNG BLUE at AMC, Point, Palace.

  • You can see the original documentary titled Song Song Blue on YouTube. Meanwhile, people seem to really enjoy this fictionalization of the story of Lightning and Thunder starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson

• SPACEBALLS at Flix.

• SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS, THE at AMC.

• TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE, THE at AMC.

  • A historical musical drama directed by Mona Fastvold, who co-wrote it with Brady Corbet (The Brutalist). This has been getting very good reviews and award season nominations, especially for Amanda Seyfried in the lead role as 18th-century spiritual leader Ann Lee, one of the founders of the Shakers.

• WICKED: FOR GOOD at AMC.

• ZOMBIELAND SAGA: YUMEGINGA PARADISE (DUBBED) at Point.

  • One day only, Monday, January 19. Anime horror film.

• ZOOTOPIA 2 at AMC, Flix, Point, Palace.

Looking Ahead:

Mills Folly Microcinema

• YOU DON’T KNOW ME, 2025 Cosmic Rays Film Festival Tour, Wednesday, January 28, 7pm.

  • Highlights from the experimental film festival held in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Duck Soup Cinema

• PETER PAN (1928), Saturday, February 21, 2pm & 7pm.

Side Room Cinematheque

• Consult Instagram @sideroomcinematic for upcoming screenings, second Thursday of the month, and last Monday of the month.