New movies in Milwaukee: 'Atomic Blonde,' 'Emoji Movie,' 'Ghost Story'

'Atomic Blonde'

In 1989 Berlin, with the Wall about to crumble, spies on both sides of the Cold War are upping their game before the thaw hits. So when Britain's undercover agents start getting knocked off, MI6 sends in a spy with a license to kill — and just about every other form of bodily harm — to sort it out, if she doesn't get killed first herself. 

"Atomic Blonde" is a midsummer entry in 2017's smart-but-violent action movie sweepstakes, with Charlize Theron starring as the spy who likes being out in the cold. James McAvoy, John Goodman and Sofia Boutella co-star. 

IndieWire's Eric Kohn gave the movie a B: "Theron singlehandedly wrestles control of her big moments, to the point where it’s almost incidental that there happens to be more movie around her." 

"Atomic Blonde" is rated R for violence, pervasive language and some sexuality/nudity. It runs for 115 minutes.

'The Emoji Movie' 

In a world where theme-park rides have become blockbuster franchises and movies based on toy plastic bricks ranked among their year's best releases, it really was a matter of time before smartphone icons would get their own summer movie. 

In the animated world of "The Emoji Movie," the terrain in your phone where those emojis live is called Textopolis. One Textopolitan, named Gene (voiced by T.J. Miller) has a problem: He has multiple expressions, while the rest of the emojis just have their sole branded look. 

Other voices in the cast include James Corden as Hi-5 (a hand wearing a Band-Aid), deadpan comic Steven Wright and Jennifer Coolidge as the Mehs, Maya Rudolph as Smiler and, believe it or not, Sir Patrick Stewart as the dignified voice of the ever-popular Poop emoji. 

"The Emoji Movie" is rated PG for rude humor. It runs for 91 minutes. 

'A Ghost Story' 

Writer-director David Lowery, a Waukesha native, is going through what Ben Affleck once called a "one for them, one for me" arc. 

After breaking through with his contemplative indie drama "Ain't Them Bodies Saints" in 2013, Lowery went to Hollywood, directing the well-received redo of "Pete's Dragon" last year. 

ARCHIVE:'Ain't Them Bodies Saints' joins Milwaukee Film Festival lineup

His pendulum has swung back with "A Ghost Story," a thoughtful, lo-fi drama about life and afterlife that, like "Saints," stars Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara. 

This Affleck, who won an Oscar this year for "Manchester by the Sea," plays a man who, after dying in a car accident, returns to their home — clad in a white sheet with eye holes cut in it — to console his grieving wife. But he can't connect with her, even as she starts facing the truths of moving on with her life. 

In his 4-star review, USA TODAY critic Brian Truitt called "A Ghost Story" the best movie of 2017 so far, "a thought-provoking, singularly special masterpiece about love, mortality and how our heart keeps beating even after it stops."

"A Ghost Story" is rated R for brief language and a disturbing image. It runs for 87 minutes. 

'13 Minutes' 

The history of the German resistance movement against Adolf Hitler is filled with tragic near-misses. On Nov. 8, 1939, a bomb went off in a Munich beer hall, killing eight people but not the person it was aimed at: Hitler, who spoke at the beer hall but left 13 minutes before the bomb went off. 

The man who planted the bomb, Georg Elser, had been arrested at the Swiss border minutes before; eventually he confessed and was sent to a concentration camp. 

"13 Minutes" tells Elser's story, not just the assassination attempt but the events that led him to take on the evil in his homeland. It's directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, who directed the Oscar-nominated 2004 movie "Downfall," about Hitler's last days. 

Reviewing for the New York Daily News, Dan Gunderman gave "13 Minutes" 4 stars (out of 5), calling it "superbly acted and strikingly evocative work."

"13 Minutes" is rated R for violence and some sexuality. It's in German with English subtitles, and runs for 110 minutes.