Weekend Movie Selections

The BFG

Steven Spielberg's supersize dream of a movie, adapted from the Roald Dahl children's book about a little orphan girl and the Big Friendly Giant who takes her away. Newcomer Ruby Barnhill and Oscar-winner Mark Rylance star, and even if the story takes some silly turns, there is magic here - on a very large scale.

PG

(scary images).

Hunt For the Wilderpeople This lushly photographed kiwi comedy from Taika Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows) - a close-to-perfect film - features a star turn by teen actor Julian Dennison as a maladjusted orphan who bonds with a gruff widower (Sam Neill) during a months-long trek through the bush. 1 hr. 41 PG-13 (thematic elements including violent content, and for some profanity).

Wiener-Dog Known for his sometimes vicious, even misanthropic, satires about life in suburbia, Todd Solondz changes gears with this accessible dramedy about a dachshund who is passed on to several different owners. A meditation on our attitudes to death, the film retains Solondz's edgy humor, but it's softened by a deep sense of compassion. 1 hr. 30 R (profanity, some disturbing content).

Steven Rea's selections do not appear this week.