‘Stillwater,’ ‘Jungle Cruise’ to flow in on Friday

Above: Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt star in the Disney Studios feature "Jungle Cruise." (Photo/Walt Disney Studios)

I’ve already written about one of the films that will be opening on Friday, “The Green Knight.” That King Arthur-themed film will play both at the Magic Lantern Theatre and at several of the area’s mainstream theaters.

But what else will open at those mainstream houses? Seems as if the list includes two main releases:

“Stillwater”: Matt Damon plays an Oklahoma working-class guy who goes to France with the intent of proving his daughter (Abigail Breslin) innocent of murder charges.

Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle is a fan. “Audiences will come away feeling like they've really been somewhere, that they were moved by the people they met and expanded by the experience,” he wrote. “You can't ask more from a movie.”

Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times was less enthused. “It's possible to be genuinely moved by that reckoning – and to admire the obvious intelligence and care that have been brought to bear on ‘Stillwater – without fully buying the trail of contrivances and compromises it leaves in its wake.”

“Jungle Cruise”:  The Disney people build another movie around one of their theme-park rides, this one a kind of “Africa Queen” clone starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt.

Matt Zoeller Seitz of RogerEbert.com tried to put the film in a kind of context. “In the pantheon of Disney movies based on Disney theme park rides, ‘Jungle Cruise’ is pretty good – leagues better than dreck like ‘Haunted Mansion’ though not quite as satisfying as the original ‘Pirates of the Caribbean.’ ”

Brian Truitt of USA Today was slightly more complimentary. “Like a zanier Bogie and Bacall, Johnson and Blunt cross an ‘African Queen’ vibe with Indiana Jones flair for a period piece that starts like gangbusters but can't keep from wading into familiar waters.”

Not satisfied? It’s mid-summer. What do you expect? At least the theaters have AC.