Hello everyone!
Happy Solstice and Merry Christmas to each of you. We have survived our exotic vacation in Hancock County, and are getting ready to reopen (although we are mostly trying to make it through the next two days!). I am glad to give you all the new schedule; we have set up a new mail management system, and I don't presently know all the ins and outs about it, but I don't expect there to be any noticeable changes. Please let me know if you have any comments or concerns. This email contains dates and times for the first two weeks, so I expect to send the next email in two weeks time (barring catastrophe). Also if you are a printed schedule subscriber, I want you to know that there was an unanticipated delay in the mailing of this first schedule due to some equipment glitch. It will be mailed on Wednesday12/26; let your friends know that we are reopening this Friday at 4:30, and their schedules are coming. Better yet, have them sign up on the website ( www.reelpizza.com) to get these emails. And, THANKS for all your good wishes while we have been closed; your kind words are so very much appreciated. Many interesting films have been released recently and we look forward to seeing you all in the coming weeks as we present them.
Here is our wish for safe and peaceful holidays, however you celebrate.
Sincerely
Lisa, Chris, Pierce and Chloe
LOBBY ART: LUCY TRACY
Lucy Tracy has been a resident of Mt Desert Island for the past thirty years. She is a weaver and a contributing craftsperson at Island Artisans. She has become interested in creating images with pressed plants and rice paper, which were a feature of the 2007 Philadelphia Flower Show. These pieces are an attempt to take plants out of context and create new landscapes.
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Fri 12/28 - Thurs 1/3
ENCHANTED (PG) 107min 5:30 and 8:00
This delightfully entertaining fairytale turns the classic stories of the Disney princess canon gently over with intelligence and charm. Gisette (Amy Adams, Junebug), having finally found her Prince Charming (James Marsden, Hairspray) is about to be married. But when the evil Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon) hears these plans, she banished Giselle from her magical kingdom. Ending up in Times Square, most New Yorkers barely notice the perky young woman in the pouffy dress. Taken in by a cynical, divorced lawyer (Patrick Dempsey, Grey's Anatomy) and his young daughter, she optimistically waits for her prince to come rescue her. Here is the season's favorite family film and a new Disney classic.
Fri 12/28 - Mon 12/31
BEOWULF (PG-13) 114min 6:00 and 8:30
Using a much improved digital performance-capture technology he introduced in The Polar Express, director Robert Zembeckis (Forrest Gump) has reimagined the epic medieval poem of Old England with excitement and gothic spectacle. Beowulf (Ray Winsome) is the legendary Viking hero who battles the grotesque monster Grendel (Crispin Glover) who continually terrorizes the people of the kingdom of Hrothgar (Anthony Hopkins), the old Danish king. When the monster is defeated then the brave warrior must confront the monster's seductive, now enraged mother (Angelina Jolie). The fun, modernized screenplay by Roger Avery (Pulp Fiction) and Neil Gaiman (Stardust) features many thrilling, hypnotic battle sequences.
Tues 1/1 - Thurs 1/3
THE DARJEELING LIMITED (R) 91min 6:00 and 8:15
Frances (Owen Wilson) has invited his two estranged younger brothers (Jason Schwartzman and Adrian Brody) on a spiritual quest and train journey across India, a year after the sudden death of their father. Each embroiled in his own personal drama, they try to reconnect, but more often argue. And Frances hasn't mentioned the part of the plan that includes visiting their mother (Angelica Huston) who years ago escaped to a Himalayan convent. This vibrant, quirky and satisfying film from director Wes Anderson (Rushmore, The Royal Tennenbaums) is full of his trademark comedic dialogue and bizarre set pieces.
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Fri 1/4 - Thurs 1/10
THE GOLDEN COMPASS (PG-13) 113min 5:30 and 8:00
This exciting, imaginative fantasy adventure, set in an alternative world where people's souls manifest themselves as animals, talking bears fight wars and Gyptians and witches co-exist, is based on author Philip Pullman's best selling novel, the first of His Dark Materials trilogy, and directed by Chris Weitz (About A Boy). A free spirited orphan (Dakota Blue Richards), raised by her professor uncle (Daniel Craig), tries to rescue a friend kidnapped by a mysterious, unsavory organization and ends up on an epic quest to save her world. This visually captivating film is fascinating and full of spectacle.
Fri 1/4 - Mon 1/7
MICHAEL CLAYTON (R) 120min 6:00 and 8:30
George Clooney, Tom Wilkerson, and Tilda Swinton star in the gripping debut film of director Tony Gilroy (screenwriter of all three BOURNE films). This character-driven thriller features Clooney as the chief "fixer" at a prestigious, powerful law firm whose personal life is in a shambles and is deep in his boss's (Sydney Pollock) debt; Swinton is the chief counsel at an agrochemical company facing a class action law suit; Wilkerson is his good friend, the feared lead attorney defending the knowingly guilty company just enough to keep the case in limbo. But when Wilkerson goes off the deep end, it becomes Clooney's job to clean up the mess.
Tues 1/8 - Thurs 1/10
DEEP WATER (PG) 93min 6:00 and 8:15
This remarkable documentary from filmmakers Louise Osmond and Jerry Rothwell is the stunning true story of the first solo, non-stop, round-the-world boat race, and the psychological toll it took on its competitors. The much-ballyhooed event attracted a field of nine, including amateur sailor Donald Crowhurst, who set out to circumnavigate the globe in late 1968. Battling treacherous seas and his own demons, Crowhurst almost immediately comes apart as he faces the isolation of nine months on the high seas. Using his 16mm footage, audiotape and written logs, this part adventure yarn - part metaphysical mystery is an unforgettable journey into one man's heart of darkness.
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Fri 1/11 - Mon 1/14
INTO THE WILD (R) 123-150min no times yet
Based on a true story and the best-selling book by Jon Krakauer, writer/director Sean Penn has made an exuberant and moving character study. In 1990, after college graduation, idealist Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch, Lords of Dogtown) rejects his family, abandons his possessions, gives his savings to charity, and hitchhikes around the west, eventually heading to Alaska to get as far away from humanity as possible. He meets grain elevator operator (Vince Vaughn), an aging hippie couple (Catherine Keener and Brian Dierker), and an aging widower (Hal Holbrook). Director of photography Eric Gautier (Motorcycle Diaries) has beautifully filmed his journey, from the South Dakota prairie to the canyons and deserts of the Southwest, to the Sea of Cortez, to the ancient forests of the Pacific Northwest, to the remote Alaskan wilderness north of Mt Denali.
Tues 1/15 - Thurs 1/17
BLAME IT ON FIDEL (NR) 99min [in French with subtitles] no times yet
Full of humor, this endearing film about a nine-year old girl and her younger brother coping with their bourgeois parent's drastic decision to devote their lives to radical activism is the assured feature debut from documentary filmmaker Julie Gavras (daughter of political filmmaker Costa-Gavras). Set in 1970's Paris, and filmed from the girl's perspective, young Anna suddenly must give up her comfortable home, beloved religious studies and devoted Cuban nanny for a cramped apartment full of scruffy revolutionaries deep in discussions about group solidarity and communism, after her Spanish uncle is arrested working against Franco. Like any child, she resists this change, but over the course of the film, she comes to her own beliefs.
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COMING ON THE SECOND SCREEN?
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (R) 122min
Joel and Ethan Coen, in their first literary adaptation (of the Cormac McCarthy novel), have made a universally critically acclaimed film. Set in West Texas in 1980, the evocative cinematography of Roger Deakins enhances the captivating performances which sustain this tense crime drama- chase film spattered with their signature dark humor. Josh Brolin is a Vietnam vet who stumbles upon and steals $2 million in drug money; Javier Bardem is indelible as a freakish psychopath on the trail of the money; Tommy Lee Jones is the local sheriff trying to intercept and prevent the unavoidable confrontation.
WALK HARD (R) 98 min
The ups and downs in the life of legendary, fictional country rocker Dewey Cox (John C. Reilly) become this latest musical biography, a funny spoof from co-writers Judd Apatow (Talladega Nights, Knocked Up) who also produces, and Jake Kasdan (The TV Set) who also directs. This very silly, exuberant parody features double entendre laden songs, many written by Marshall Crenshaw, as it follows Dewey's rollercoaster career, from his 1950's teen-aged years, through his hippie era, into the variety show and disco years, through his downfall and eventual comeback.
LARS AND THE REAL GIRL (PG-13) 106min
Lars is a very nice but terribly introverted young man who lives in the garage of his family home, now occupied by his brother (Paul Schneider) and pregnant sister-in-law (Emily Mortimer). When he announces he is bringing home a girl he met on the internet, they are astonished; when they discover that Bianca, a half Danish, half Brazilian missionary on sabbatical to see the world, is in fact an anatomically correct, life-sized plastic doll, they become rather worried. Lars' doctor (Patricia Clarkson) advises them to play along with his delusion, and the whole population of his rural Wisconsin town is changed forever. This sweet, gentle and respectful comedy, the first film from screenwriter Nancy Oliver, is eccentrically funny and altogether winning.
COMING SOON?
PS I LOVE YOU
SWEENEY TODD
CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR
OUTSOURCED
I'M NOT THERE
GONE BABY GONE
BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD
FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO
KING CORN
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Sunday, December 23, 2007
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