Here Are All the Movies Opening Today, May 22; What Will You See?

Here are the films opening theatrically in the U.S. the week of Friday, May 22. [Synopses provided by distributor unless listed otherwise.]

Wide

Poltergeist
Director: Gil Kenan
Cast: Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt, Jared Harris, Kennedi Clements, Kyle Catlett, Saxon Sharbino
Synopsis: “The Bowens are like any other Californian suburban family. But one night their youngest, 5-year-old Madison, hears a voice from inside the television set. At first there is an invasion of friendly spirits, but then a force of evil threatens to destroy them.”

Tomorrowland
Director: Brad Bird
Cast: Britt Robertson, George Clooney, Thomas Robinson, Hugh Laurie, Raffey Cassidy, Kathryn Hahn
Synopsis: “Bound by a shared destiny, a bright, optimistic teen bursting with scientific curiosity and a former boy-genius inventor jaded by disillusionment embark on a danger-filled mission to unearth the secrets of an enigmatic place somewhere in time and space that exists in their collective memory as ‘Tomorrowland.'”
Criticwire Grade Average: B- (9 reviews)

Limited

Aloft
Director: Claudia Llosa
Cast: Jennifer Connelly, Mélanie Laurent, Cillian Murphy, William Shimell, Zen McGrath
Synopsis: “Following a mother and her son, we delve into a past marred by an accident that tears them apart. She will grow into being a renowned artist and healer, and he into his own as a peculiar falconer who bears the marks of a double absence. In the present, a young journalist will bring about an encounter between the two that puts the very meaning of life and art into question, so that we may contemplate the possibility of living life to its fullest, despite the uncertainties littering our paths.”
Criticwire Grade Average: C (6 reviews)
Theatrical Release: New York and Los Angeles (expands to various cities throughout August)

Chocolate City
Director: Jean-Claude La Marre
Cast: Carmen Electra, Michael Jai White, Vivica A. Fox, Robert Ri’chard, Tyson Beckford, Darrin Dewitt Henson, Imani Hakim
Synopsis: “Life for a struggling college student changes in an instant when he meets the owner of a male strip club who convinces him to give amateur night a whirl.”
Theatrical Release: Various (including New York and Los Angeles, Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, Memphis, Minneapolis, St. Louis and Newark)

(Dis)Honesty: The Truth About Lies
Director: Yael Melamede
Synopsis: “A documentary feature film that explores the human tendency to be dishonest. Inspired by the work of behavioral economist, Dan Ariely, the film interweaves personal stories, expert opinions, behavioral experiments, and archival footage to reveal how and why people lie.”
Theatrical Release: New York (also available on VOD)

The Farewell Party
Director: Sharon Maymon & Tal Granit
Cast: Ze’ev Revach, Levana Finkelshtein, Aliza Rosen, Ilan Dar, Rafi Tabor
Synopsis: “The Farewell Party is a compassionate dramatic comedy about friendship and saying goodbye. A group of friends at a Jerusalem retirement home build a machine for self-administered euthanasia in order to help their terminally-ill friend. But as rumors of the secret machine begin to spread, more and more people ask for their help.” [Toronto International Film Festival]
Criticwire Grade Average: B- (4 reviews)
Theatrical Release: New York (opens in Los Angeles on June 5th)

The Film Critic
Director: Hernán Guerschuny
Cast: Rafael Spregelburd, Dolores Fonzi, Blanca Lewin, Ignacio Rogers
Synopsis: “Tellez is a strict and prestigious film critic, totally weary of Hollywood romantic comedies and certain that the best of the seventh art died long time ago. Maybe because of its work, suffers from what he calls the ‘maladie du cinema’: He sees the world like if it was a big movie that, in addition, he cannot keep from criticizing. While searching for his new apartment, he unexpectedly meets Sofia, a young and attractive woman that has very little to do with his good taste. ‘Elemental, constructed on a basis of cliches’ he would describe her. Movements of random bring them together over and over again, in strangely idyllic situations. Tellez attempts to escape from a staging that he loathes, but suspects that the movie genre that he hates the most is taking its revenge.”
Criticwire Grade Average: B- (4 reviews)
Theatrical Release: Los Angeles

Güeros
Director: Alonso Ruizpalacios
Cast: Tenoch Huerta, Ilse Salas, Sebastián Aguirre, Leonardo Ortizgris
Synopsis: “Ever since the National University strike broke out, Sombra and Santos have been living in angst-ridden limbo. Education-less, motionless, purposeless, and unsure of what the strike will bring, they begin to look for strange ways to kill time. But their idiosyncratic routine is interrupted by the unexpected arrival of Tomas, Sombra’s kid brother. Unable to fit in amongst these older slackers, Tomas discovers that unsung Mexican folk-rock hero Epigmenio Cruz has been hospitalized somewhere in the city. Tomas convinces Sombra and Santos they must track him down in order to pay their final respects on his deathbed. But what they thought would be a simple trip to find their childhood idol, soon becomes a voyage of self-discovery across Mexico City’s invisible frontiers.”
Criticwire Grade Average: A- (7 reviews)
Theatrical Release: New York (opens in eight additional North American markets)

The Human Centipede III (Final Sequence)
Director: Tom Six
Cast: Dieter Laser, Laurence R. Harvey, Eric Roberts, Bree Olson
Synopsis: “Bully prison warden Bill Boss has a lot of problems; prison riots, medical costs, staff turnover, but foremost he is unable to get the respect he thinks he deserves from his inmates and the state Governor. He constantly fails in experimenting with different ideas for the ideal punishment to get the inmates in line, which drives him completely insane. Under threats of termination by the Governor, his loyal right hand man Dwight comes up with a brilliant idea. An idea based on the notorious Human Centipede movies, that will literally and figuratively get the inmates on their knees, creating the ultimate punishment and deterrent for anyone considering a life of crime.”
Theatrical Release: New York and Los Angeles

Love at First Fight
Director: Thomas Cailley
Cast: Kevin Azais, Adèle Haenel
Synopsis: “Arnaud, facing an uncertain future and a dearth of choices in a small French coastal town, meets and falls for the apocalyptic-minded Madeleine, who joins an army boot camp to learn military and survival skills to prepare for the upcoming environmental collapse. Intrigued and excited by Madeleine’s wild ideas, Arnaud signs up for the boot camp himself. They soon realize that the boot camp is harder than they’d imagined, but the experience nonetheless cements them together as the couple continues to explore their young love.”
Criticwire Grade Average: B (8 reviews)
Theatrical Release: New York (expands to various cities throughout July)

The Rumperbutts
Director: Marc Brener
Cast: Vanessa Ray, Josh Brener, Arian Moayed
Synopsis: “A married, indie band duo regretfully takes a job on a children’s show (“Rumperbutts”). Despite the money & success, they are miserable. However, on one magical evening, a mysterious man appears & gives them a second chance.”
Theatrical Release: Los Angeles

Seeds of Time
Director: Sandy McLeod
Cast: Cary Fowler, Mariano Suta Apucusi, Pamela Anderson, Alejandro Argumedo, Lino Mamani Marca, John Torgrimson, Diane Ott Whealy, Nolberto Palomino Ccana, Luigi Guarino, Paul Smith
Synopsis: “A perfect storm is brewing as agriculture pioneer Cary Fowler races against time to protect the future of our food. Gene banks of the world are crumbling, crop failures are producing starvation inspired rioting, and the accelerating effects of climate change are already affecting farmers globally. But Fowler’s journey, and our own, is just beginning: From Rome to Russia and, finally, a remote island under the Arctic Circle, Fowler’s passionate and personal journey may hold the key to saving the one resource we cannot live without: our seeds.” [SXSW Film Festival]
Theatrical Release: New York (opens in Los Angeles on May 29th)

Sunshine Superman
Director: Marah Strauch
Cast: Jean Boenish, Carl Boenish
Synopsis: “A heart-racing documentary portrait of Carl Boenish, the father of the BASE jumping movement, whose early passion for skydiving led him to ever more spectacular –and dangerous– feats of foot-launched human flight. Experience his jaw-dropping journey in life and love, to the pinnacle of his achievements when he and wife Jean broke the BASE jumping Guinness World Record in 1984 on the Norwegian ‘Troll Wall’ mountain range. Incredibly, within days, triumph was followed by disaster. Told through a stunning mix of Carl’s 16mm archive footage, well-crafted re-enactments and state-of-the-art aerial photography, Sunshine Superman will leave you breathless and inspired.”
Criticwire Grade Average: A- (8 reviews)
Theatrical Release: New York and Los Angeles (expands to various markets through the end of July)

When Marnie Was There
Director: Hiromasa Yonebayashi
Cast: Kasumi Arimura, Sara Takatsuki, Nanako Matsushima, Susumu Terajima, Toshie Negishi, Ryôko Moriyama, Hitomi Kuroki, Hana Sugisaki, Hiroyuki Morisaki, Ken Yasuda, Shigeyuki Totsugi, Yô Ôizumi, Takuma Otoo
Synopsis: “Anna hasn’t a friend in the world – until she meets Marnie among the sand dunes. But Marnie isn’t all she seems…An atmospheric ghost story with truths to tell about friendship, families and loneliness. Anna lives with foster parents, a misfit with no friends, always on the outside of things. Then she is sent to Norfolk to stay with old Mr and Mrs Pegg, where she runs wild on the sand dunes and around the water. There is a house, the Marsh House, which she feels she recognises – and she soon meets a strange little girl called Marnie, who becomes Anna’s first ever friend. Then one day, Marnie vanishes. A new family, the Lindsays, move into the Marsh House. Having learnt so much from Marnie about friendship, Anna makes firm friends with the Lindsays – and learns some strange truths about Marnie, who was not all she seemed…”
Theatrical Release: New York and Los Angeles

Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman
Director: Adam Carolla & Nate Adams
Cast: Paul Newman, Tom Cruise, Robert Redford, Joanne Woodward, Mario Andretti, Michael Andretti, Adam Carolla, Jay Leno, Patrick Dempsey, Robert Wagner
Synopsis: “The world knows Paul Newman as an Academy Award winning actor with a fifty-plus year career as one of the most prolific and revered actors in American Cinema. He was also well known for his philanthropy; Newman’s Own has given more than four hundred and thirty million dollars to charities around the world. Yet few know the gasoline-fueled passion that became so important in this complex, multifaceted man’s makeup. Newman’s deep-seated passion for racing was so intense it nearly sidelined his acting career. His racing career spanned thirty-five years; Newman won four national championships as a driver and eight championships as an owner. Not bad for a guy who didn’t even start racing until he was forty-seven years old.”
Theatrical Release: Various (including Indianapolis)

Missed last week? Here are all the releases from the weekend of May 15.