Hi all
During our break we got nice, freshly painted walls in the lobby (thank you Noreen Hogan, painter extraordinaire!), and now we have some wonderful photographs to grace them, from a wonderful filmmaker, supporter and friend, David Westphal. These pictures will hang until early March.
LOBBY ART from
David Westphal Somesville
"Last fall, my wife and I traveled to see and photograph the spectacular landscapes of northern Arizona. To observe it was a pleasure. To take pictures…it was a challenge, and I appreciated the fact that many photographers have gone before. When we arrived at Canyon de Chelly, we respectfully walked this land with a Navajo guide and learned much about the Navajo Nation through our conversations with him.
I began my work in documentary photography in 1953 when color film, Kodachrome, was the film of choice. Several photographs from this period taken in Montana on the tribal lands of the Blackfoot Nation are exhibited on the back walls of the lobby.
I want to especially thank Chris and Lisa for giving me the opportunity to exhibit my work, and Eric Perrin for printing, and K. A. McDonald for framing the large prints. I hope you enjoy these pictures."
and...Here are the film descriptions and dates for our next schedule which runs Jan 22 - Feb 11. See you soon! -Lisa
Fri Jan 22 - Mon Jan 25
THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG (G) 95min
Set in 1920's New Orleans, Disney's latest is a spirited, funny and beautifully hand-drawn animated twist on the Grimm fairytale with an infectious jazzy, Cajun flavor. Tiana is a hard-working waitress who is saving her money to open her own restaurant. She finds a frog (really a prince under a voodoo spell) at her window who convinces her to kiss him, but instead of breaking the spell, she is likewise transformed. These two end up in a bayou swamp where, with the help of an alligator and a firefly, they try to find someone to reverse the curse.
Tues Jan 26 - Thurs Jan 28
BEESWAX (NR) 100min
Rising indie director Andrew Bujalski (Funny Ha Ha) has made a marvelous new film that revolves around the personal and professional entanglements of twin sister (played by real life twins Maggie and Tilly Hatcher.) Jeannie is a hard-working entrepreneur, co-owner of a moderately successful Austin TX vintage clothing store with a semi-estranged friend who is threatening a lawsuit to end their partnership. She calls on ex-boyfriend Merrill, just graduated from law school, for help. Her sister Lauren, on the other hand, is a rootless free spirit trying to decide whether or not to move to Kenya to teach English. This charming film tells a story of families, friends and lovers, and the awkward moments that bind off of them together.
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Fri Jan 29 - Mon Feb 1
AMREEKA (PG-13) 97min
The story of the difficult transition of a Palestinian immigrant to America at the beginning of the Iraq War is balanced with a warm and affectionate human comedy in writer-director Cherien Dabis' authentic and endearing, semi-autobiographical debut feature film. Tired of being harassed at Israeli checkpoints both to and from work, divorced Muna (Nisreen Faour) and her studious teenaged son (Melkar Muallem) are excited to get a green card and move to the US, In her sister's small Illinois town where they go, her optimism and ethnic pride are tempered but not overwhelmed by the bittersweet reality of their adjustment.
Tues Feb 2 - Thurs Feb 4
THE SUN (NR) 110min [partly in Japanese with subtitles]
Acclaimed Russian director Alexander Sokurov (Russian Ark), in one of his greatest works, has created an incisive, haunting portrait of enigmatic Japanese emperor Hirohito (Issey Ogata) during the time just before to shortly after his country's surrender to the Allied forces, ending WWII. The distracted, defeated leader whose days until then had been filled with rituals and hobbies like writing poetry and studying marine biology, must now face his destiny, publicly renounce his divine status to his citizenry, and honorable face American General Douglas MacArthur to lay the foundation for post-war Japan. Not meant to be a factual, historical drama, this accomplished, provocative film examines the psychology of power at a moment of transition.
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Fri Feb 5 - Mon Feb 8
AN EDUCATION (PG-13) 100min
Young Carey Mulligan gives an Oscar-worthy performance as a sixteen year old girl in 1961 suburban London who hopes to attend college at Oxford, but yearns to be intellectual and sophisticated long before her classmates. Then one day she meets David (Peter Sarsgaard) a charming, older man who takes an interest in her (platonic, he promises her parents), opening a door to a glamorous world she desires, with plays and concerts, chic restaurants, jazz clubs and worldly discussions with him and his friends. This involving and entertaining film with a screenplay by Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, About a Boy) based on British journalist Lynn Barber's memoir, is directed with delicate restraint by Lone Scherfig (Italian for Beginners, Wilbur).
Tues Feb 9 - Thurs Feb 11
SKIN (PG-13) 107min
In 1950's South Africa, young Sandra Laing (Ella Ramangwane) is a black child, classified as white because she was born to white Afrikaner parents (Sam Neill and Alice Krige). Unaware of their mixed race ancestry and in denial of their daughter's obvious traits, they are outraged when their beloved daughter is expelled from the all-white school her brother attends, and Sandra is reclassified as mixed-race. Their appeal to the Supreme Court is successful and she is again officially white, to her father's extreme satisfaction. But, by now Sandra (here played by Sophie Okoneda, Hotel Rwanda) knows that she will never be accepted by the white community. When she falls in love with a nice, black vegetable seller, her truly racist father disowns her and she must now live as a black woman in oppressive Apartheid South Africa. Based on a true story, this fascinating and affecting drama of betrayal and triumph is told with grace and simplicity by director Anthony Fabian.
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COMING ON OUR SECOND SCREEN (
as soon as we can book them~)
I
T'S COMPLICATED (R) 114min
Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin team up with director Nancy Meyers (Something's Gotta Give) in a smart and winning romantic comedy about love and divorce. Jane (Streep) and Jake (Baldwin) were divorced a decade ago, when Jake married a much younger woman. A successful business owner, still single Jane remains on good terms with her ex. She is just beginning a relationship with the architect (Martin) remodeling her kitchen, himself healing from divorce. Then at their son's college graduation, Jane and Jake have a drunken fling which becomes a full-fledged affair back home, and things get irresistibly, hilariously complicated.
SHERLOCK HOLMES (PG-13) 128min
Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man) and Jude Law (Cold Mountain) take on the roles of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous sleuth and his stalwart partner Dr. Watson in this modern update from director Guy Richie (Snatch, RocknRolla). Downey's Holmes is eccentric and brainy, but also brawny, while Law's Watson is not bumbling, but witty and charming. Their nemesis is Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong) who uses black magic to advance his nefarious intentions, upon which the fate of the world rests. This action-packed re-imagining is explosively fast-paced and innovative fun.
AVATAR (PG-13) 163min
James Cameron (Terminator, Titanic) returns with his long-awaited next feature, an ecological, science-fiction adventure set in 2154, with special effects from Weta (Lord of the Rings). Sam Worthington plays a paraplegic ex-Marine who is sent to infiltrate a native population of giant, blue-skinned, forest-dwelling Na'vi on a distant planet by undergoing a mind-meld with a human-Na'vi clone, which returns to him the freedom of movement. The Na'vi homeland is preventing the humans from mining a much-needed energy mineral so they need to be convinced to move. It's an imaginative, gorgeous and entertaining spectacle that will transport you to another world.
UP IN THE AIR (R) 109min
One of the most well-received movies of this year is the third film from young, Oscar-nominated director Jason Reitman (Juno, Thank You for Smoking). George Clooney, in top form, stars as a carefree, loner businessman, a career transition counselori.e. hatchet manwhose company has just hired a cost-effective new trainee (Anna Kendrick, Twilight) to learn his job so she can fire people via video-conferencing. Besides not being able to reach his nearly-attained elitist goal of ten million frequent flyer miles if he is grounded, he will see much less of another frequent traveler (Vera Farmiga) who has caught his eye. This loose adaptation of Walter Kirn's clever novel is surprising, smart, timeless and original.
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Coming Next Schedule?
THE LOVELY BONES
NINE
PRECIOUS
THE ROAD
THE MAID
BROKEN EMBRACES
CRAZY HEART
THE YOUNG VICTORIA
and more!
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