Splices: Elvis, Gru, Beba and Cats, This Week at the Movies

It’s extremely hot, and we’re all being bombarded with incessant bad news. But the refreshing environs of the movie theater are here for us all. Peel yourself off the couch and get to the nearest arthouse or cineplex — here’s what’s playing at the moment.

Baz Luhrmann’s wildly divisive Presley biopic Elvis is still in theaters everywhere, as are Top Gun: Maverick (which just surpassed $1 billion at the box office), Pixar’s roundly unnecessary Lightyear and Scott Derrickson’s latest horror effort The Black Phone. Everything Everywhere All at Once — easily one of the year’s best and most creative features so far — is still playing at both the megaplexes and the Belcourt. Because, y’know, everywhere all at once.

There’s also a pair of brand-new features opening at the Belcourt this weekend. Director Rebeca “Beba” Huntt’s “coming-of-age documentary/cinematic memoir” Beba opens July 1 at the arthouse, as does directors Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat’s Spanish-language Official Competition. The former is, according to Indiewire’s Robert Daniels, “a complicated and bold self-portrait, exploring identity, internalized anti-Blackness, and generational trauma,” while the latter is a “sharp observational comedy”  featuring Penélope Cruz and Antonio Banderas.

The latest installment of the ever-popular CatVideoFest — precisely what it sounds like — will land at the Belcourt on July 2 & 5, while the theater’s monthlong Queer Qlassics series will kick off July 6 with the Wachowski sisters’ dangerously horny 1996 noir Bound (more on that in this week's Critics’ Picks). Other impending repertory screenings at the beloved Hillsboro Village cinema include Once Upon a Time in the West (July 2, 3 & 7), The Wizard of Oz (July 2 & 5) and Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (July 3 & 6). The Belcourt will also kick off a run of David Lynch’s powerfully weird 1997 feature Lost Highway on July 8 — more on that in next week’s issue.

Of course, the big corporate chains can do repertory too, sort of. Fathom Events will host 25th-anniversary screenings of Men in Black on July 3 & 4 (more on that in our Picks section as well). Meanwhile, Full Moon Cineplex in Hermitage will host weekend screenings of 1998’s Halloween H20: 20 Years Later July 1 & 2.

Hitting megaplexes everywhere on Friday is Universal Pictures’ Minions: The Rise of Gru. The fifth installment in the Despicable Me series finally, thank God, delves deeply into the backstory of the titular Gru, and features voice performances from the likes of Michelle Yeoh, Jean-Claude Van Damme, RZA and Julie Andrews. More big-budget popcorn flicks are coming later in July. Thor: Love and Thunder — the 29th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe — will absolutely overtake screens on July 7, while Jordan Peele’s third feature, Nope, will land on July 22.

Expect anticipated titles like Marcel the Shell With Shoes On and Claire Denis’ Both Sides of the Blade (featuring Juliette Binoche!) to hit the Belcourt mid-month.