‘Airplane!’ Continues to Shine; ‘Ant-Man’ and ‘Trainwreck’ Now Screening (Mon., 7/20/15)

1) Airplane! — “Don’t call me Shirley!” With that line, Leslie Nielsen reinvented himself from stock 2^nd-leading man status to world-class comedian in this 1980 film. Written and directed by Jim Abrahams and David and Jerry Zucker, Airplane! was originally a one-off spoof of Airport and other disaster movies from the 1970’s. But it turned out to be such a hugely successful film that a sequel was released two years later. A whole host of TV and movie stars show up for a non-stop gag fest … including Ethel Merman! It may be true that 40 years on, as many jokes miss as hit, but when they hit, it’s … well, it’s time for takeoff! 5 p.m. Runs through Thursday. Row House Cinema, 4115 Butler St., Lawrenceville.

2) Ant-Man – This thing has had more rewrites than Ben Affleck’s genealogy chart. It’s about a man who makes himself smaller at will while increasing his own strength. (Maybe not the most spectacular of superpowers, but by the time Hank Pym, the inventor of Ant-Man technology‚ showed up in a Marvel Comic in 1962, most of the really splashy superpowers had already been taken.) Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish began writing a big-screen adaptation in 2006 with Wright set to direct. Wright’s famous for Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and the considerably less successful Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Tintin. The script started to become a very “Wright & Cornish” movie … whereas Marvel was explicitly looking for something that existed in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (already populated by the Iron Man, Thor, Avengers, and Captain America movies). Eventually Wright and Cornish left the picture and other writers were brought in to make it adhere more closely to the M.C.U. aesthetic. (I bet you didn’t even know there was one.) After Paul Rudd was signed to play the title character, he and Adam McKay did even more rewrites, which were then rewritten by another team of writers. Amazing! All that to make a movie you know is going to be just like every other movie of its kind in the last 10 years. Check Fandango for screens and times.

3) Trainwreck — Currently the buzz-worthiest woman on television, Amy Schumer branches out into feature films by writing and starring in this R-rated rom-com directed by Judd Apatow. Here she plays a hard-living career woman known more for the number of her relationships than their duration. But one day Cupid shoots his arrow, and Bill Hader playing a doctor shows up, and now she’s got some decisions to make. Colin Quinn’s on hand, along with Vanessa Bayer, Tim Meadows, and an almost unrecognizable Tilda Swinton playing a Helen Gurley Brown wanna-be. There’s also cameo appearances by Chris Evert, Marv Albert, Matthew Broderick, LeBron James, and Marisa Tomei. For screens and times check Fandango.

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