Freeze Frame: “7500” (R), “Miss Juneteenth” (Not rated), “The Short History of the Long Road” (Not rated), “Feel the Beat” (Not rated)

If a claustrophobic thriller is what you’re looking for, the airline hijack movie “7500” fills the bill. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as a mild-mannered pilot fending off terrorists wielding glass knives. All of the action takes place in the  plane’s cockpit. Gordon-Levitt is solid and the filmmakers strive for realism over melodrama. While tense and well made, “7500” is unnerving and about as enjoyable as fingernails on the chalkboard.

 

“Miss Juneteenth” is a sweet-natured drama about a struggling mom, well played by Nicole Beharie, who enters her reluctant daughter in an annual pageant that she’d won years before. “Miss Juneteenth” is a sensitively acted salute to the tenacious, unshakable fortitude of black motherhood.

 

“The Short History of the Long Road” is an indie road movie about a teen girl, played by Sabrina Carpenter, who lives a nomadic life with her father in a ramshackle RV. When he suddenly dies, she seeks out her long-lost mother. Although it rambles like the endless roadways it follows, “The Short History of the Long Road” is a perceptive low-key character study.

 

“Feel the Beat” is a dance movie aimed squarely at young girls. Sophia Carson plays a disgraced Broadway dancer who returns to her small hometown and takes over a struggling kid’s dance team filled with misfits. It plays a bit like a sanitized “Bad News Bears.” Artificial, hokey and by-the-numbers, “Feel the Beat” will appeal only to its target demo. Others beware.

 

Your local art house theaters are offering online viewing options for a number of  intriguing movie titles. More information is available at nelson-atkins.org, Screenland.com, fineartsgroup.com and drafthouse.com.


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