Tuesday, March 17, 2009

[Reel Pizza] update and schedule

Hi to all.

And welcome to the start of the time of year when the days are longer than the nights.  Enjoy it while it lasts!

This week's senior matinee on Thursday 3/19 will be DEFIANCE at 1:30.

This is how we envision the coming week.  It appears that yes, barring further catastrophe, we will indeed be showing SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE starting Friday.  Please, however, continue to keep your fingers crossed until we actually have the film in the building!

oops it appears that I have not yet sent you the new schedule.  This failure I can easily blame on a hiccup in my computer that has consumed me the last week.  So I will start with this week in brief and continue below with the full schedule.

Friday 3/20 - Thursday 3/26
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (R)  121min   6:00 and 8:30

Friday 3/20 - Monday 3/23
HE'S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU (PG-13)  129min  5:30 and 8:00

Tues 3/24 - Thursday 3/26
WALTZ WITH BASHIR (R)  90min [in Hebrew with subtitles]   5:30 and 7:45

And now for the schedule:

Special programming:

SATURDAY 3/28  WOMEN'S HEALTH CENTER BENEFIT Films and Frock Swap
11:30-1:00 $2 per child  It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown (G) and select (VERY kid friendly) others.
1:30-3:30   $6.00 per person  Mamma Mia! Sing Along   (PG-13)
In the other theatre there will be a Frock Swap.  Bring up to 10 worn once or nearly new clothing items to swap.  Drop off begins at 10:00am, doors open to swap at 11:00.  Kids will be supervised at the 11:30 movie so serious swapping can happen!!  $10.00 entree fee.  (if you don't have swap-able items, come anyway, there will be a system for purchasing).  See you there!

SUNDAY 3/29  1:30pm  LONG NIGHT'S JOURNEY INTO DAY (NR)  94min
The United Church of Christ of Northeast Harbor and Seal Harbor presents this important, exceptional film about telling the truth, forgiveness, and restoring right relationships in a community.  Made with integrity by filmmakers Frances Reid and Deborah Hoffman in 2000, this powerful documentary explores some of the work of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.  This group was charged with deciding who, among the many who committed politically motivated crimes under the previous regime, would be granted amnesty in exchange for full disclosure.  The goal:  healing their country through catharsis and justice.  The filmmakers tell four of the stories from the over 7000 applicants for clemency.  The church will both introduce the film and afterwards lead a discussion of the themes presented.

Fri Mar 20 - Mon Mar 23
HE'S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU (PG-13)  129min
This funny, loveable ensemble comedy tells the stories of a group of interconnected Baltimore-based 20- and 30-somethings as they navigate their various relationships from the shallow end of the dating pool through the deep murky waters of married life, trying to read, or misreading the signs of the opposite sex.  Based on the wildly popular best-seller from Sex and the City screenwriters Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo and directed by Ken Kwapis (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants), this film's all-star cast includes Jennifer Anniston, Ben Affleck, Scarlett Johansson, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Connelly, Ginnifer Goodwin, and Kris Kristofferson.  Thoughtful, honest and original, this romantic comedy makes for a perfectly enjoyable night out at the movies.
 
Tues Mar 24 - Thurs Mar 26
WALTZ WITH BASHIR (R)  90min [in Hebrew with subtitles]
Filmmaker Ari Folman was a soldier in the Israeli army during the 1982 Lebanon War.  But, while talking to an old buddy who was suffering recurring nightmares about his participation in the September massacres of Palestinian refugees at Sutra and Shatila after the assassination of Lebanese president Bashir Gemayel, he realizes he remembers nothing of that time.  After consulting a therapist about how memory works, he sets off on a quest to reconstruct his missing memories.  Folman's Oscar-nominated animated film, Israel's submission for best foreign language film, is a recreation of the remembrances of his friends, family and his own self as his suppressed memories slowly make their way to the surface of his consciousness.  The vivid animation illustrated by David Polonsky brings hallucinogenic nightmares, both real and imagined, to life.  This powerful, provocative and unconventional film reveals how we repress and also how we recover from traumatic events.
 
Fri Mar 27 - Mon Mar 30
THE WRESTLER (R)  105min
In the fourth feature from director Darren Aronofsky (PI, The Fountain), the life of Oscar-nominated Mickey Rourke (Diner, Rumblefish) parallels the life of his starring role, as a has-been professional wrestler trying to get his life together late in the game.  With charisma and dignity, Rourke becomes Randy the Ram, a washed-up 1980's phenomenon who just gets by selling deli meat at the local grocery story, and fewer and fewer autographs at the choreographed weekend meets on a NJ minor league circuit.  He is estranged from his grown daughter who is his only family, and his only friend is an aging stripper (Oscar-nominated Marisa Tomei) who swore off real relationships a long time ago.  Then a heart attack takes away the one thing he really loves, performing for the crowd.  This is a powerful portrait of a battered dreamer who lives to be a hero once more in the only place he considers home, the ring.
 
Tues Mar 31 - Thurs Apr 2
WENDY AND LUCY (R)  80min
You may have been like Wendy once, or known someone like her.  Played with excellence by Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain) Wendy is a lonely and impoverished transient, but also a woman determined to make it, in her case from Indiana to Alaska where she hopes to find good work at a cannery. Her only friend is a golden mutt, Lucy, who she loses after her car breaks down in Oregon.  She must summons all her personal resources as she tried to find her missing buddy, despite her increasingly dire economic condition.  Truly independent director Kelly Reichardt whose previous collaboration with her co-screenwriter Jon Raymond was the wonderful film Old Joy, has adapted his short story "Train Choir" into a simple but rich and rewarding film about being poor but refusing to give up.  This film addresses the issues of sympathy and generosity at the edges of American life, revealing the limits and depths of people's duty to each other in tough times.
 
Fri Apr 3 - Mon Apr 6
TOURNÉES FESTIVAL OF FRENCH FILM [in French with subtitles]
The Tournées Festival was made possible with the support of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the French Ministry of Culture (CNC) through a grant awarded to the College of the Atlantic.  Tickets are $6 each or $25 for a pass for all five films.  COA students free (*must show ID).
LILI AND THE BAOBAB  (NR)  90min  Fri 4/3 5:00; Sun 4/5 6:15.
A young French photographer accepts an assignment to photograph a remote village in the Senegalese desert. Here, she lays the foundations of an improbable friendship which manages to alter local customs.
THE DUCHESS OF LANGEAIS  (NR)   137min  Sun 4/5 8:00; Mon 4/6 5:00.
During the Restoration, the dominant values are hypocrisy, social niceties and appearances. On their first encounter, the Duchess and the General fall hopelessly in love…but will their love remain unfulfilled?
THE ORIGIN OF TENDERNESS AND OTHER TALES  (NR)  95min  Fri 4/3 6:45; Sat 4/4 5:00.
A program of short films.
THE CASE OF THE GRINNING CAT (NR)  58min  Fri 4/3 8:30; Sat 4/4 6:45; Sun 4/5 5:00.
A reflection on art, culture and politics at the start of the new millennium.
THE MOUSTACHE  (NR)  86min  Sat 4/4 8:00; Mon 4/6 7:45.
A successful architect who has a wonderful relationship with his wife impulsively shaves off the moustache he's worn his entire adult life. When no-one notices, he plunges into tormented perplexity and other elements of his life begin to slip away.
 
Tues Apr 7 - Thurs Apr 9
THE CLASS  (PG-13)  128min
Skillfully blending documentary and dramatic fiction, French director Laurent Cantet (Time Out) has made an honest, alive and totally engrossing film.  Based on the autobiographical book "Between The Walls" by schoolteacher François Bégaudeau this 2008 Palme d'Or winner at Cannes and Oscar-nominee follows a charismatic teacher (played by Bégaudeau) at a multi-cultural junior high school in a lower income Parisian neighborhood over the course of a year.  This ethnically diverse group of poor, mainly immigrant teens has a hard time understanding the benefit of learning the fine points of French grammar he tries to teach them, and although he is on their side, these students challenge him, and the teacher does not always win. 
 
COMING ON OUR OTHER SCREEN...

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (R)  121min
Winner of eight Academy Awards, including best picture and director, this colorful, Dickensian, and Bollywood inspired film is from stylish British director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Millions, 28 Days Later).  The story, based on the novel "Q&A" by Vikas Swarup adapted by Simon Beaufoy (The Full Monty) follows Jamal (Dev Patel) a street-smart Mumbai slum orphan turned call center tea server who has become a contestant on a popular TV game show, and is on the verge of winning the big prize.  Suspected of cheating, he is forced to justify to a police interrogator (Irfan Khan, A Mighty Heart) how he knew all the answers to the questions.  His responses follow in flashback the highs and lows of his life as he has survived terrible poverty and unforgettable brutality with his older brother Salim and his soulmate Latika.  In all it is a passionate, joyous and winning film.

REVOLUTIONARY ROAD  (R)  119min
Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio stars as husband and wife in this powerful story of 1950's suburban dysfunction, directed by her husband Sam Mendes (American Beauty).  Based on the celebrated 1961 novel by Richard Yates, this young urban couple meets at a party, fall in love, get married, move to Connecticut and start a family.   On the outside, they seem to have the perfect house, family and marriage, and their realtor (Kathy Bates) introduces them to her mentally unstable son (Michael Shannon) as an example of normalcy.  But underneath, he hates his meaningless desk job and she feels trapped as a mother and housewife.  Then she comes up with a plan to give it all up and move the family to Paris.  This is a riveting film with remarkable performances whose meaning still has resonance today.
 
TAKEN  (PG-13)   91min
Liam Neeson (Kinsey) stars in this riveting, entertaining revenge thriller from screenwriter Luc Besson (La Femme Nikita, The Transporter) and cinematographer turned director Pierre Morel (District B-13).  Neeson is unexpectedly great as a former CIA secret agent and divorced dad who retired into doing special security jobs so he could spend more time with his teenaged daughter.  She finagles an unsupervised trip to Europe with her girlfriend, but upon their arrival in Paris, they are promptly abducted.  Dad's particular skills are essential to finding them before they are sold into an Albanian sex-slave ring and lost forever. It's a briskly-paced, adrenaline-fueled action adventure and a perfectly mindless popcorn flick.
 
THE WATCHMEN (R)  163min 
Faithful to its source, Alan Moore's potent graphic novel about an alternate, pre-apocalyptic America has been adapted to the screen with provocative adventure and superior special effects.  In the mid 1980's, Nixon has just been reelected to a fifth term, after having won the Vietnam War with the help of superhero Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup).  Now, while the US is at the brink of nuclear Armageddon with the Russians, someone is trying to eliminate all the masked heroes or Watchmen who are pledged to save mankind from itself.  The first to go is Eddie Blake otherwise known as The Comedian and one of the original Watchmen, and when the others, Rorschach, Night Owl, Silk Spectre, Ozymandias, realize their peril, they join together to discover the killer, and save themselves and their world.  Director Zach Snyder (300, Dawn of the Dead remake) has made a vigorously bold and satisfying film.
 
COMING NEXT SCHEDULE
Monsters and Aliens
Duplicity
Race to Witch Mountain
Che
Secret of the Grain
Two Lovers
Absurdistan
Azur and Asmar

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