Presented as a special fundraiser to benefit to the Knox-Galesburg Symphony, Disney's animated masterpiece Fantasia will be screened at Galesburg's Orpheum Theatre on July 13, treating patrons, perhaps for the first time, to this largely wordless musical-anthology classic from 1940, a work boasting ballerina hippos, a haunting rendition of "Ave Maria," and Mickey Mouse taking on the role of "Sorcerer's Apprentice."

How disappointing to find the Manhattan populace in this Quiet Place prequel adhering to a silence-is-golden policy within what seems like minutes of the first alien assault, and to find Day One subsequently adhering, essentially, to the same narrative blueprint as before.

If you're still coming down from the sexy, full-throttle charisma assault of Luca Guadagnino's Challengers, you'll likely be lifted right back up with writer/director Jeff Nichols' The Bikeriders, which equals that tennis-throuple melodrama in allure and watchability – and co-stars Mike Faist, to boot.

Hailed by New York Observer reviewer Rex Reed as “one of the most powerful films about the Arab-Israeli conflict that has ever been attempted on the screen” the award-winning dramatic romance Out in the Dark will be presented as the fourth and final Pride Month event in the Figge Art Museum's 2024 Free Film at the Figge series, its June 30 screening treating audiences to what the Los Angeles Times deemed "an edgy tale fueled by do-or-die sociopolitical intrigue."

Easily Pixar's most satisfying entertainment of the decade, it's imaginative, thoughtful, and touching, and if nothing here rips your heart out in the manner of Bing Bong (thank God), you might find yourself laughing even harder than you did during the 2015 classic. The original had almost everything, but it didn't have a French-accented emotion named Ennui, nor a riotous 2D dog and his ambulatory fanny pack.

Presented as the third of four Pride Month events in the Figge Art Museum's Free Film at the Figge series, writer/director Daniel Ribeiro's 2014 coming-of-age romance The Way He Looks enjoys a June 23 screening in the Davenport venue's John Deere Auditorium, the Brazilian release currently enjoying a 93-percent appropval rating on Rotten Tomaoes, where the critical consensus reads: "Compassionate, emotionally detailed, and populated with resonant characters, The Way He Looks leaves a warmth that lingers."

While I long ago stopped being surprised by Richard Linklater's ability to pull off the wildly improbable, if not seemingly impossible, it wasn't until his new-to-Netflix Hit Man that I imagined Linklater capable of a first-rate blend of Double Indemnity, Crimes & Misdemeanors, and Tootsie. I didn't think anyone was capable of that.

Presented as the second of four Pride Month events in the Figge Art Museum's Free Film at the Figge series, the award-winning 2020 romantic drama Ammonite enjoys a June 16 screening in the Davenport venue's John Deere Auditorium, writer/director Francis Lee's film hailed by Rotten Tomatoes' critical consensus for the "chemistry between Saoirse Ronan and a never-better Kate Winslet."

In the familial road-trip dramedy Ezra, Bobby Cannavale plays the leading role of struggling standup comic Max Brandel, and he's mad at everybody. Everybody.

If you see George Miller's prequel Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and find yourself off-put by more than a few shaky visual effects (a motif that'll continue throughout the film's two-and-a-half hours), a number of colorless performances, a rather pushy degree of myth-building, and one of the most fraudulent fake noses of the past few decades, you'll likely find your early irritation largely forgotten by the finale.

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