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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Friday’s openings: Animals of a different color

Dan Webster

With so many people either visiting, or avoiding, downtown Spokane this weekend, mainstream movie fans should have a pretty easy time getting tickets at theaters anywhere but River Park Square. Which may not be that big a thing, considering the only two Friday mainstream openings feature a fake teddy bear and a former service pooch.

The bigger openings follow on Wednesday, July 1. But more on on that shortly. Friday's openings are as follows:

"Ted 2": Seth MacFarlane and Mark Wahlberg return in this sequel to the film that follows the exploits of the grossest character imaginable and his best-buddy. You guess as to which actor plays which character.

"Max": A traumatized service dog, having survived a tour in Afghanistan, returns home and struggles to adapt to life with a civilian family. Just in time for the upcoming July 4th holiday, a family movie draped with dogs and patriotic fervor.

"Me and Earl and the Dying Girl": This Sundance darling involves an aimless high school senior, whose specialty is making satirical remakes of popular movies with his buddy Earl, forced to be nice to a classmate who has cancer. Bring hankies. 

Opening July 1:

"Terminator Genisys": The saga of the Connor family continues with more time travel, this plotline involving an older John (Jason Clarke) sending another of his warriors back to protect his mother Sarah in 1984 with terminators both gunning for and protecting them both (also starring an aging Arnold Schwarzenegger). Oh, yeah, he's bock!

"Magic Mike XXL": Matthew McConaughey and director Steven Soderbergh are missing, but Channing Tatum and some of the other posse members return for this sequel to the 2012 original about a bunch of male strippers. Talk about pole dancing.

So the drill (so to speak) remains the same: Go and see a movie. And enjoy.