‘Star Trek Beyond’ Beaming onto Local Screens: ‘The Secret Life of Pets’ Also Screening (Wed., 7/27/16)

1) Star Trek Beyond – Okay, here’s the facts according to Wikipedia: This is the 13^th film in the Star Trek franchise and the third installment in the rebooted series after 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness. And that doesn’t include the five television series. That’s a lot of “Beam me up, Scottys.” Several sources describe the plot as the USS Enterprise crew forced to abandon ship  and becoming stranded on an unknown planet. The script for Beyond was written by Simon Pegg (who plays Scotty) and Doug Jung. Chris Pine and Pittsburgh born Zachary Quinto (Kirk and Spock) return, as do Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho and the late Anton Yelchin. New to this venture are Idris Elba and Sofia Boutella. All in all it’s turned out to be a pretty long five-year mission. Check Fandango for screens and times. (TH)

2) The Secret Life of Pets – Did you ever wonder what your pet does when you go off to work? Me neither. I figure that as long as they don’t doodoo on the rug, I don’t really care what else they do do. But the fine folks at Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment have wondered and to that end bring us this animated movie about a pampered pet, Max, who has to join forces with a mongrel named Duke when they find out a bunny rabbit called Snowball is creating a battalion of abandoned pets with one goal in mind: ruin the lives of pets and their owners! Chris Renaud and Yarrow Cheney co-direct from a script by Ken Aurio, Brian Lynch, and Cinco Paul. Voice talents include Ellie Kemper, Kevin Hart, Albert Brooks, Dana Carvey, Louis C.K., Steve Coogan, and Eric Stonestreet. Check Fandango for screens and times. (TH)

3) Our battlin’ Buccos end a two-game home series against the Seattle Mariners tonight at 7:05 p.m. It’s also the second annual Star War’s Night complete with costume characters from the film and a pre-game Star War’s Costume contest. Maybe a Pittsburgh Furry can adapt one of their outfits. Being a Trekkie, I think I’ll hold out and see if they do a Star Trek night. PNC Park, 115 Federal St., North Shore.

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