Hello, and welcome to this week’s screening report! The “blockbuster” part of the summer blockbusters is coming to something of a close, and hopefully alongside that the return to school will come with a reopening of our university film venues. The July 30th update and FAQ indicates all buildings will reopen as normal on August 10th, though higher base temperatures may impact how pleasant a packed theater feels in the evenings. We’ll keep an eye out for the UW Cinematheque schedule and issue our standard schedule preview.
This weekend’s two biggest films are, as of this writing, getting middling reviews - certainly a mixed reception to One Night Only, the high-concept romance about the one night it’s legal to have premarital sex (in news that makes the rules even more insane, the law has only been in place for three years?!?,) and the same for the “wait-did-people-ask-for-this” comedy sequel Super Troopers 3. (I know people quite literally crowdfunded Super Troopers 2, but that movie only did okay, and did poorly with audiences and critics.) Ice Cream Man from Eli Roth is getting poor reviews (though, to be fair to fans of his films, they usually do) and catching some AI flack. Maybe the Girl Scouts documentary Cookie Queens and Kore-eda’s divisive sci-fi film Sheep in the Box are the best new releases after all?
No reviews for The Brink of War, Nimrods, The Wrong Girls, or The End of Oak Street yet either. We do have positive reviews for The Rivals of Amziah King owing back to its festival premiere at the 2025 South by Southwest Film Festival, the first film from Black Bear Pictures’ distribution arm. The Rivals of Amziah King is a neo-Western crime film, more comedy/community film than action-packed thriller, but it still contains some high-octane violence - Siddhant Adlakha compared the film to a South Indian blockbuster in his review. Still absent is the critically acclaimed Jane Schoenbrun film Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, supposedly going into wide release this weekend - the nearest screenings in location and date are at the Kalahari in Baraboo and the Oriental in Milwaukee set for August 21st. Here’s hoping we match that weekend! (If we don’t get an update next week, I’ll pipe down about it in the meantime.) Looking ahead to the weekend of August 21st, we’ll see the release of Insidious: Out of the Further, The Magic Faraway Tree, and Mutiny.
PLUG ZONE
-Rob Thomas reviews One Night Only, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and gives a streaming highlights roundup.
-James Kreul offers a summary of this week’s MMOCA Rooftop screening and links to a podcast about a personal favorite film of mine, F.W. Murnau’s Tabu: A Story of the South Seas.
-Sara Batkie covers, alongside other film-friendly subjects, Ildiko Enyedi’s Silent Friend, a movie I’ve been excited to see but didn’t realize was on streaming, in this month’s The Pink Stuff!
Want to see your film writing or short film here in The Horizon Line? Send a link to your work to horizonlinemadison@gmail.com.
THIS WEEK (8/6/2026-8/12/2026)
New Releases
-One Night Only - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Super Troopers 3 - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Cookie Queens - AMC, Marcus Point
-DC - AMC
-Ice Cream Man - AMC, Marcus Point
-Sheep in the Box - AMC, Marcus Point
-Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie (Early Access) - 2p 8/8 at AMC/Marcus Point/Marcus Palace
-Nimrods (Early Access) - 7p 8/11 at AMC
-Minions & Monsters - AMC, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Moana - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-The Odyssey - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Spider-Man: Brand New Day - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Toy Story 5 - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Hadestown: The Musical - AMC, Marcus Point
-I Want Your Sex - AMC
-Ueck - Marcus Point
Repertory
-America: Everything You’ve Ever Dreamed Of - 8:30p 8/6 at Madison Museum of Contemporary Art
-School of Rock - 10a 8/8 at Flix Brewhouse
-National Lampoon’s Animal House - 1p 8/9 at Flix Brewhouse
-The Princess Bride - 9p 8/10 at Memorial Union Terrace
-The Karate Kid - 6p 8/11 at Flix Brewhouse
-Practical Magic - 8/11 at AMC/Marcus Point/Marcus Palace
-Space Station 3D - 10a 8/12 at AMC
-Minions: The Rise of Gru - Marcus Point
-The Muppet Movie - Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-Muppet Treasure Island - AMC
-Only Yesterday - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
-Tales from Earthsea - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace
NEXT WEEK (8/13/2026-8/19/2026)
New Releases
-The End of Oak Street - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie - AMC, Marcus Point, Marcus Palace, Flix Brewhouse
-The Brink of War - AMC
-Elijah Peel - Marcus Point
-Nimrods - AMC
-The Rivals of Amziah King - AMC, Marcus Point
-The Wrong Girls - Marcus Point
-Gangsterism - 8:30p 8/13 at Madison Museum of Contemporary Art
-Your Letter - 7:30p 8/17 at AMC, 7p 8/17 at Marcus Point
Repertory
-East of Eden - 1p 8/13, 1p 8/16 at AMC
-Clueless - 6p 8/15 at Flix Brewhouse
-Little Shop of Horrors - 9p 8/17 at Memorial Union Terrace
-She’s The Man - 6p 8/17 at Flix Brewhouse
-The Texas Chain Saw Massacre - 8/18 at AMC/Marcus Point/Flix Brewhouse
-The Loved One - 7p 8/19 at Lola’s Sidecar Lounge
-Superpower Dogs 3D - 10a 8/19 at AMC
-Your Name - Marcus Point
-Point Break - AMC, Marcus Point, Flix Brewhouse
-Wet Hot American Summer - AMC, Marcus Point, Flix Brewhouse
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