Freeze Frame: “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” (PG-13), “Sharper” (R), “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” (R)

“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” is the third stand-alone Ant-Man movie featuring our size-shifting Avenger hero, played by Kansas City’s own Paul Rudd. Evangeline Lily, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Michael Douglas reprise their roles from the previous “Ant-Man” entry. Ant-Man and his crew inadvertently shrink to the quantum realm only to discover that it looks just like a planet from a Star Wars movie. While the tone of this goofy entry is all over the place, it does introduce Jonathan Majors as the menacing super villain Kang the Conqueror…and he nails it. Otherwise, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” is just another overly busy Marvel extravaganza.

The Apple TV+ psychological thriller “Sharper” is a twisty drama that will keep you guessing. Julianne Moore and Sebastian Stan lead a strong cast in this intricately structured tale about con artists working to fleece a billionaire, played by John Lithgow. But who’s conning whom? Don’t think too hard about the details because they don’t quite hold up to post-movie scrutiny. But “Sharper” still provides a lot of decadent fun while you’re watching it.

Given its title, you’d think that the midnight horror movie “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” would at least have some camp value. Nope. This micro-budget slasher movie is a witless “Halloween” rip-off with Pooh and Piglet responsible for the bloody mayhem instead of Michael Meyers. Pooh indeed.

Wanna see the acclaimed short films that are nominated for this year’s Academy Awards? The live-action, animated and documentary short programs open this week at the Screenland and Glenwood Arts theaters. Information is available at Screenland.com and FineArtsGroup.com.


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