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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Movies & More

Friday’s openings: Presenting Harley Quinn

Of the several movies the national release schedule reports will open on Friday, only one is expected to open wide across the country. And that movie is:

"Birds of Prey": After being one of the featured characters in the DC Comics production "Suicide Squad," Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) steps into the spotlight. After splitting with her boyfriend The Joker, she joins the likes of Black Canary, Huntress and Renee Montoya and all go to the rescue of a young girl -- all while having some criminally insane fun in the process, of course.

Early reviews of the film are pretty good. It's "delightfully unassuming and unconcerned with its place in a larger context. It’s a bonkers, bananas crime comedy and a genuine party movie,” wrote Forbes’ Scott Mendelson. While Los Angeles Times critic Katie Walsh wrote,“The film is a totally campy and brutal carnival ride; a colorful, chaotic and cheeky blast.”

Robbie, meanwhile, is on a career high. Starring as Sharon Tate in Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood," she's up for a Best Supporting Oscar for her role in "Bombshell." (She'll obviously lose out to Laura Dern, who was nominated for her role as a divorce attorney in "Marriage Story"). Robbie was previously nominated for Best Actress for 2018's "I, Tonya."

As usual, I'll update as the area theaters finalize their bookings.

Dan Webster

Dan Webster has filled a number of positions at The Spokesman-Review from 1981 to 2009. He started as a sportswriter, was a sports desk copy chief at the Spokane Chronicle for two years, served as assistant features editor and, beginning in 1984, worked at several jobs at once: books editor, columnist, film reviewer and award-winning features writer. In 2003, he created one of the newspaper's first blogs, "Movies & More." He continues to write for The Spokesman-Review's Web site, Spokane7.com, and he both reviews movies for Spokane Public Radio and serves as co-host of the radio station's popular movie-discussion show "Movies 101."