Friday, February 26, 2010

[Reel Pizza] TIME CHANGE/ERROR

OOPS I made a mistake typing the time for YOUNG VICTORIA in the update email.

The later show is actually at 8:15.  Please adjust accordingly.

Many apologies.

-Lisa

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

[Reel Pizza] SCHEDULE Mar 5 - 25

Hi everyone

There are reports of crocuses flowering around town...in FEBRUARY....Happy Spring! 

Here is the upcoming schedule for Reel Pizza from March 5 - 25.  First I'll start out with a flurry of special events benefiting some great local causes, to which we hope you will consider lending support in the upcoming weeks.  Following that is the confirmed film schedule, and finally the coming soon titles.  Please remember for OSCAR SUNDAY (Mar 7), we will only screen afternoon MATINEES of both our regularly scheduled films.  Stay tuned for times and the other title.  Lots going on here this month; hope to see you soon!

-Lisa

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SPECIAL EVENTS

Sat March 6    ACADIA FIRE SOCCER CLUB BENEFIT for their scholarship program
VICTORY (PG)  116min  2:00pm
Michael Caine, Max von Sydow, Sylvester Stallone and soccer stars Pele and Bobby Moore star in director John Huston's rousing 1981 film about a soccer match between Allied prisoners of war and their German captors.  The Germans plan to use the match as a staged propaganda event, while the prisoners hope to escape during half time.  Suggested Donation $5.

Sun March 7   OSCAR NIGHT 2010 GALA CELEBRATION to benefit THE BAR HARBOR FOOD PANTRY 6:30pm until...?
The Academy Awards Ceremony hosted by Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin live from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood projected on both our screens!  Featuring local host Frank Bachman, delectable hors d'oeuvres and sweets from neighborhood chefs, and a complimentary glass of champagne.  Come in costume (formal or character-driven) for a chance to win great prizes;  We have screened many of the nominated films for you;  cast your ballot for the big winners~the most correct ballot wins a Grand Prize!  Sure to be a fun and fabulous time.  $15 tickets available at Reel Pizza.  See you here!

Sat March 20    BENEFIT for Emily Bracale
UNDER OUR SKIN
  (NR)  104min  1:30pm
This dramatic exposé and gripping tale addresses one of the most serious epidemics of our times.  This eye-opening film investigates the untold story of Lyme disease, an emerging epidemic larger than AIDS.  Each year thousands go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed, told that their symptoms are "all in their head." This award-winning documentary is unrated, but serious in content.  It is being shared to raise community awareness about Lyme disease and as a benefit for single Bar Harbor mom Emily Bracale who has been ill for several years.  Suggested donation is $10 per person.

Sat March 27  Women's Health Center FROCK SWAP and SING-A-LONG
Stay tuned for more details!
 
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Fri March 5 - Mon March 8
A SINGLE MAN  (R)  99min
Colin Firth (Mamma Mia!, Easy Virtue) gives an impressive performance as a closeted gay, British ex-pat, literature professor in 1962 Los Angeles.  He has decided that today will be his last; he can no longer contain the grief over the death in a car crash of his long-time lover (Matthew Goode) many months earlier.  His unremarkable day follows its usual pattern, teach class, run some errands, talk to a neighbor, visit an old friend (Julianna Moore), meet up with a promising student (Nicholas Hoult).  At the day's end, he intends to kill himself.  Based on the landmark Charles Isherwood novel, this first film from fashion designer Tom Ford is thoughtfully restrained, stunningly beautiful and powerful.  *ONE OSCAR NOM: Best Lead Actor.
 
Tues March 9 - Thurs Mar 11
THE MAID (NR)  94min  [in Spanish with subtitles]
This comic, humanist drama from young Chilean director Sebastian Silva won two jury prizes at Sundance, for world drama and for the performance of star Catalina Saavedra.  She plays Raquel, a housekeeper who has worked for the Valdez family for the past 23 years, and they consider her a part of their family, even though the relationships are complex.  She is also increasingly plagued by migraines, so Mrs. Valdez hires another domestic to help ease her load over her maid's strenuous objections.  Psychological warfare ensues as she struggles to maintain a hold on the only job she's ever done, and the only family she has. 
 
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Fri March 12 - Mon March 15
THE LOVELY BONES (PG-13)  135min
Based on Alice Sebold's critically acclaimed and best-selling novel, filmmaker Peter Jackson (LOTR) has made a fantastically beautiful, intelligently complex and memorably suspenseful film.  Saoirse Ronan (Atonement) stars as a teenaged girl in 1973 suburban Philadelphia, murdered by her unsuspected neighbor (Stanley Tucci), who remains in purgatory to watch over her family and try to help them heal their grief from the afterlife, even as her disappearance goes unsolved and her spirit guides advise her to let go.  *ONE OSCAR NOM: Best Supporting Actor.
 
Tues March 16 - Thurs Mar 18
THE MESSENGER  (R)  105min
Screenwriter Oren Moverman (I'm Not There, Married Life) moves into the director's chair in his powerful and tender story about a war hero making his first tentative steps toward a normal life.  Ben Foster (3:10 to Yuma) stars as a wounded young veteran whose final three months of duty find him assigned to the Army's Casualty Notification Office, his job to personally notify the next of kin of a loved one's death.  Paired with career officer Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson) who is trying to stay on the wagon, Will is challenged by his girlfriend's pending marriage to another, and by the emotion of his work, especially when he is drawn to a war widow (Samantha Morton) whose subdued reaction to the news of her husband's death surprises and fascinates him.  This film is fully textured with humor, anguish and hope.   *TWO OSCAR NOMS: Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay.
 
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Fri March 19 - Mon March 22
CREATION (PG-13)    108min
Charles Darwin (Paul Bettany), world-renowned scientist and dedicated family man, is struggling to accept the death of his young daughter (Martha West) from scarlet fever.  Caught in a battle between faith and reason, he is torn between his love for his deeply religious wife (Jennifer Connelly) and his own growing belief in a world where God has no place.  Based on the biography Annie's Box by Darwin's great-great grandson from compiled letters and diaries, this intelligent, thoughtful and absorbing period drama from director Jon Amiel explores the conflict Darwin finds in his marriage as he continues his writing on The Origin of Species as therapy for his devastation after Annie dies; his challenge continues as he must decide whether or not to publish his surely controversial work. 

Tues March 23 - Thurs Mar 25
NORTH FACE  (NR)  126min  [in German with subtitles]
Inspired by a true story, this is a slow-burning, fully gripping adventure drama about a Nazi-sponsored competition to climb the then unconquered and infamously dangerous northern face of Switzerland's Eiger Mountain.  Heart-stopping action sequences are interspersed with scenes full of period details.  Two childhood friends Tony and Audi are apathetically serving in the German Army when they are offered this challenging opportunity.  They arrive at the base only to discover an Austrian team prepared to race them to the top.  Berlin's biggest newspaper publisher (Ulrich Tuker, Seraphine) and his editor Luise (Johanna Wokalek), an old friend of the climbers, arrive to chronicle the event, illuminating the dichotomy between the conditions the climbers face versus that of the media in the luxury motel.  Then the promising summer weather turns ugly. 
 
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COMING SOON ON OUR SECOND SCREEN:

SHUTTER ISLAND  (R)  138min
Martin Scorsese (The Departed) returns with his fourth collaboration with Leonardo DiCaprio, a mesmerizing thriller based on Dennis Lehane's (Mystic River) novel.  The story follows two US Marshalls (DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo) ho are summoned to a mental hospital for the criminally insane located on a forbidding and remote island off the coast of Massachusetts to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a woman murderer (Emily Mortimer) from her fortress-like cell.  Also part of the excellent cast, Ben Kingsley plays the medical director, with Max von Sydow and Patricia Clarkson playing members of his staff.  Be on the lookout for footage of Acadia's Otter Cliffs, filmed here two years ago.
 
VALENTINE'S DAY  (PG-13)  125min
This pleasing and light romantic comedy follows the intertwining storylines of a diverse group of Los Angelinos as they navigate their way through love and heartbreak over the course of one Valentine's Day.  Couples and singles experience the pinnacles and pitfalls of finding, keeping or ending relationships in a day in the life of love.  Directed by director Garry Marshall (Princess Diaries) the appealing all-star cast runs the gamut from veteran Shirley MacLaine to singer-songwriter Taylor Swift in her film debut, including also her real life boyfriend Taylor Lautner, both Jessicas Alba and Biel, Kathy Bates, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Julia Roberts and her niece Emma, Queen Latifa, Ashton Kutcher, Bradley Cooper, George Lopez, Patrick Dempsey and Anne Hathaway. 
 
THE LAST STATION  (R)  112min
Rich, funny and emotional, this historical drama follows two romances a century ago.  First is the nearly 50 year union between iconic Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy (Christopher Plummer) and his devoted wife Countess Sofya (Helen Mirren).  In the name of a new religion championed by Tolstoy's trusted disciple Chertkov (Paul Giamatti) that espouses poverty, vegetarianism, communal living and celibacy, the cunning acolyte has convinced the old man to change his will giving his estate not to his family, but to the Russian people.  This has ejected some conflict into the long-standing relationship.  Tolstoy's worshipful new assistant Bulgakov (James McAvoy) is used by both sides of the property rights battle for information, even as his beliefs are overwhelmed by his feelings for another Tolstoyan (Kerry Condon).  Director Michael Hoffman has made a complex, dynamic, totally entertaining and unmissable film.  *TWO OSCAR NOMS:  Best Lead Actress,  Best Supporting Actor.
 
CRAZY HEART  (R)  111min
Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski) gives the performance of his career as the richly comic, semi-tragic, romantic anti-hero Bad Blake, a broken down, hard-living country singer-songwriter who is shamed by becoming second fiddle to his one time protégé, now a superstar (Colin Farrell).   Blake reaches for salvation through his relationship with an aspiring journalist and single mom (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who discovers the real man behind the boozed out musician, but he might not be strong enough.  First time writer-director Scott Cooper delivers a simple but authentic gem, based on the novel by Thomas Cobb and featuring terrific music mostly by T-Bone Burnett and the late Stephen Bruton.  *THREE OSCAR NOMS: Best Lead Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Music-Original Song.
 

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Coming Next Schedule:
ALICE IN WONDERLAND
AJAMI
COP OUT
THE WHITE RIBBON
FISH TANK
TOURNEES FESTIVAL OF FRENCH FILM
GREEN ZONE
Women's Health Center FROCK SWAP

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Tuesday, February 23, 2010

[Reel Pizza] update Feb 26 - Mar 4

Hey everyone

Here is the new update for Reel Pizza that runs Fri Feb 26 - Thurs Mar 4.
A New schedule will be coming your way tomorrow, so be sure to look for it.
See you soon
-Lisa

The Senior Matinee this week (Feb 25) will be THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR PARNASSUS at 1:30.
Next week (Mar 4) the matinee will be THE YOUNG VICTORIA, also at 1:30.

Fri 2/26 - Thurs 3/4  THE YOUNG VICTORIA (PG)   6:00 and 8:30
Fri 2/26 - Mon 3/1    THE ROAD  (R)  5:30 and 8:00
Tues 3/2 - Thurs 3/4   ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATED SHORT FILMS  (NR)
        ANIMATED (97min)   at  5:30 only;    LIVE ACTION  (92min)   at 7:45 only.  **Separate admission to each collection


Fri Feb 26 - Thurs Mar 4
THE YOUNG VICTORIA  (PG)  104min    6:00 and 8:30
Engrossing political intrigue and an engaging historical romance are augmented with exquisite period detail in Canadian director Jean-Marc Vallée's story, with a screenplay by Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park), of the early years of Queen Victoria's reign.  Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada) is the independent but unskilled young royal, crowned at age 18 upon the death of her father King William (Jim Broadbent).  She chooses Prime Minister Lord Melbourne (Paul Bettany) as her advisor over her mother (Miranda Richardson) but in the end it is her cousin Albert (Rupert Friend, Cheri) whose support she needs most.  This transporting and rewarding film is about a brave young woman finding her way with her life's partner.  *THREE OSCAR NOMS: Best Art Direction,  Best Costume Design, Best Makeup.

Fri Feb 26 - Mon Mar 1
THE ROAD  (R)  119min    5:30 and 8:00
This faithful adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer prize-winning novel is set in a post-apocalyptic USA after an unexplained global catastrophe has wiped out most of the world.   Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises) gives an outstanding performance as the man, a survivor and desperate father headed on a long dangerous journey with his young son to the sea.  On their trip across a burned out America, they encounter the remnants of human life, some good, some bad, including a blind, elderly man (Robert Duvall) who presents an ethical dilemma to the father trying to teach his son how to survive, to let the man die or share food with him.  John Hillcoat has directed an ultimately moving story of survival. 
 
Tues Mar 2 - Thurs Mar 4
ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATED SHORT FILMS  (NR)  ANIMATED 97min   5:30 only;  LIVE ACTION  92min    at 7:45 only; 
**Separate admission to each collection
This year we are able to screen the selection of short films in both the live action and animated categories BEFORE the Oscar Ceremony.  Most of the nominees in both categories are honored for the first time, the exception being six time nominee Nick Park who brings another installment of Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death.  Other animated offerings include an alternative telling of Sleeping Beauty, the story of a man who has lost his wallet in a coffee shop, the battle between a doctor and Death for the life of an elderly lady, and a crime spree in a world of only trademarks and brand names.  Live action stories deal with slave labor at an Indian brick kiln, a terrifying new apartment for two men, an unusual birthday gift, contending with with the aftermath of Chernobyl, and a young magician's woes.  Get ready for Oscah' Night coming up Sunday March 7th!  *ALL OSCAR NOMS: Best Animated Short Film , Best Live-Action Short Film.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

[Reel Pizza] update Feb 19 - 25

hi everyone

Below is the next week's schedule at Reel Pizza (from Feb 19 - 25).

The Senior matinee on Thursday 2/18 at 1:30 will be NINE.

Hope everyone is enjoying winter vacation, doing your best imitations of Olympic skaters (since the weather isn't cooperating yet for any local downhill sledding events!)

See you soon
-Lisa

Fri 2/19 - Thurs 2/25  THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS  (PG-13)   5:30 and 8:00
Fri 2/19 - Mon 2/22    PRECIOUS  (R)  6:00 and 8:30
Tues 2/23 - Thurs 2/25   BROKEN EMBRACES  (R)  6:00 and 8:30


Fri Feb 19 - Thurs Feb 25
THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR. PARNASSUS   (PG-13)  122min  5:30 and 8:00
Monty Python animator Terry Gilliam (Brazil, Time Bandits) has taken his surreal imagination to another level with his latest whimsical fantasy.  In this world, elderly Dr. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) lords over his extraordinary magical traveling show, where he guides his customers to enter the world of their imagination, hoping to find a soul or five to trade to the devil, Mr. Nick (Tom Waits) so he can back out of a promise made an eternity ago.  Heath Ledger, in his final role, is a key member of the theatre troupe who takes the unsuspecting into the hall of mirrors (where he is portrayed by Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law).  *TWO OSCAR NOMS:  Best Art Direction,  Best Costume Design.

Fri Feb 19 - Mon Feb 22
PRECIOUS : Based on the novel PUSH by Sapphire  (R)  109min  6:00 and 8:30
Remarkable, searingly honest performances from an eclectic ensemble cast elevate this powerful social drama directed by Lee Daniels, told through a gripping, personal story.  New actress Gabourey Sidebe inhabits the character of Precious, an obese, abused, illiterate teen with one child sired by her father, and another on the way.  She lives with and suffers her lazy, hateful mother (comic Mo'Nique), and retreats into a vibrant fantasy world to cope.  Given an opportunity to go to an alternative school she takes the chance, even as she doesn't understand the possibilities.  A sympathetic teacher (Paula Patton), a welfare case worker (Mariah Carey) and an understanding hospital nurse (Lenny Kravitz) all help Precious transform her life from a shattered childhood into a self-determined future.  *SIX OSCAR NOMS: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Lead Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Film Editing, Best Adapted Screenplay.
 
Tues Feb 23 - Thurs Feb 25
BROKEN EMBRACES  (R)  127min   [in Spanish with subtitles]    6:00 and 8:30
Pedro Almodóvar (Talk to Me, Volver) brings his signature visual brilliance to his latest film, the fourth with muse Penélope Cruz.  Harry Caine (Lluis Homar) is a screenwriter blinded in a car accident years earlier.  He is cared for by an old friend Judit and her son Diego.  One day Diego asks about his life before the accident, and hears the story of Mateo Blanco, Harry's original self.  He was a visionary director whose last film starred his beloved, beautiful actress Lena (Ms. Cruz) who was also the paid mistress of his film's producer.  With suspense, romance and melodrama, Almodóvar pays homage to the classic films of the past.  

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

[Reel Pizza] update Feb 12-18

Bonjour Mes Amis!

Our family is just back from a totally fun weekend at Carnaval d'Hiver in Quebec City, and I haven't fully returned to English yet!  The Canadians have perfected so many ways to have a blast sliding and playing in the snow, and we did them all!  It is a highly recommended event for anyone who loves winter.

Also Happy Valentine's Day to all of you, our beloved customers and friends.  Hugs and Kisses all around!

Senior Matinee on Thursday 2/11 is UP IN THE AIR at 1:30.

We are finally able to screen multi-Oscar nominee AVATAR (the non-headache-inducing, 2-D version),  starting Friday.   **Note early start time due to length.

See you soon,
-Lisa


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Here is the next week's schedule:

Fri - Thurs   2/12 - 2/18  AVATAR  (PG-13)  163min     5:00 and 8:15
Fri - Mon   2/12 - 2/15    ME AND ORSON WELLES (PG-13) 114min    5:30 and 8:00
Tues - Thurs  2/16 - 2/18   NINE  (PG-13)  119min   5:30 and 8:00

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Fri 2/12 - Thurs 2/18
AVATAR  (PG-13)  163min     5:00 and 8:15
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.   *NINE OSCAR NOMS: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Art Direction,  Best Costume Design, Best Music-Original Score, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Visual Effects

Fri Feb 12 - Mon Feb 15
ME AND ORSON WELLES (PG-13) 114min    5:30 and 8:00
Exhilarating, enchanting and fully entertaining, indie director Richard Linklater's (School of Rock, Before Sunset) latest is an appealing coming-of-age comedy set 1937 NYC during the week before the premiere of  the newly founded Mercury Theatre Company's production of Julius Caesar.  British actor Christian McKay completely embodies the role of the young, already imperious director Orson Welles.  Filled with loving period details, the story, based on a real photograph taken of the genius actor director and a young man with a ukulele, follows a teen-aged actor (Zac Efron) who lands a job at the new company and becomes involved with an older theatre assistant (Claire Danes).  Romantic rivalries and backstage crises arise as opening night approaches. 
 
Tues Feb 16 - Thurs Feb 18
NINE  (PG-13)  119min   5:30 and 8:00
The Tony award-winning Broadway musical with music and lyrics by Maury Yetson, and inspired by the Fellini film 8 ½, has been adapted back into an energetic and entertaining carnival of a movie musical by director Rob Marshall (Chicago).  World famous film director Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis) has reached a creative and personal crisis of epic proportions.  He cannot figure out his next film project, all the while balancing the numerous women in his life, including his wife (Marion Cotillard), his mistress (Penélope Cruz), his star and muse (Nicole Kidman), his costume designer and confident (Judi Dench), an American fashion journalist (Kate Hudson), a prostitute (Stacey Ferguson), and his mother's ghost (Sophia Loren).  *FOUR OSCAR NOMS: Best Supporting Actress, Best Art Direction,  Best Costume Design, Best Music-Original Song.

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Wednesday, February 3, 2010

[Reel Pizza] schedule

Good morning

This schedule takes us into March!  Spring can't be far, she says optimistically...no matter what that stinking groundhog says.

SAVE THE DATE : MARCH 7th for our annual OSCAH' NIGHT GALA CELEBRATION this year benefiting the Bar Harbor Food Pantry.  Exquisite hors d'oeuvres, Complementary glass of Champagne, Come in Costume to win Great Prizes, Grand Prize for most correct ballot. TERRIFIC FUN! and a GREAT CAUSE!   6:30 pm till the last award is presented.  Tickets:  $15 for everyone, will be available soon at Reel Pizza.  Amazingly, I think Reel Pizza will have screened a rather high percentage of the Oscar-nominated films before the Academy Awards Ceremony this year, so hopefully you all feel well informed as you fill out your ballot on Oscar Night. 

Here are the films screening at Reel Pizza from Feb 12 - March 4.  See you soon!
-Lisa and Chris

Fri Feb 12 - Mon Feb 15
ME AND ORSON WELLES (PG-13) 114min
Exhilarating, enchanting and fully entertaining, indie director Richard Linklater's latest is an appealing coming-of-age comedy set 1937 NYC during the week before the premiere of  the newly founded Mercury Theatre Company's production of Julius Caesar.  British actor Christian McKay completely embodies the role of the young, already imperious director Orson Welles.  Filled with loving period details, the story, based on a real photograph taken of the genius actor director and a young man with a ukulele, follows a teen-aged actor (Zac Efron) who lands a job at the new company and becomes involved with an older theatre assistant (Claire Danes).  Romantic rivalries and backstage crises arise as opening night approaches. 
 
Tues Feb 16 - Thurs Feb 18
NINE  (PG-13)  119min
The Tony award-winning Broadway musical with music and lyrics by Maury Yetson, and inspired by the Fellini film 8 ½, has been adapted back into an energetic and entertaining carnival of a movie musical by director Rob Marshall (Chicago).  World famous film director Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis) has reached a creative and personal crisis of epic proportions.  He cannot figure out his next film project, all the while balancing the numerous women in his life, including his wife (Marion Cotillard), his mistress (Penélope Cruz), his star and muse (Nicole Kidman), his costume designer and confident (Judi Dench), an American fashion journalist (Kate Hudson), a prostitute (Stacey Ferguson), and his mother's ghost (Sophia Loren).  *FOUR OSCAR NOMS: Best Supporting Actress, Best Art Direction,  Best Costume Design, Best Music-Original Song.

 
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Fri Feb 19 - Mon Feb 22
PRECIOUS : Based on the novel PUSH by Sapphire  (R)  109min
Remarkable, searingly honest performances from an eclectic ensemble cast elevate this powerful social drama directed by Lee Daniels, told through a gripping, personal story.  New actress Gabourey Sidebe inhabits the character of Precious, an obese, abused, illiterate teen with one child sired by her father, and another on the way.  She lives with and suffers her lazy, hateful mother (comic Mo'Nique), and retreats into a vibrant fantasy world to cope.  Given an opportunity to go to an alternative school she takes the chance, even as she doesn't understand the possibilities.  A sympathetic teacher (Paula Patton), a welfare case worker (Mariah Carey) and an understanding hospital nurse (Lenny Kravitz) all help Precious transform her life from a shattered childhood into a self-determined future.  *SIX OSCAR NOMS: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Lead Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Film Editing, Best Adapted Screenplay.
 
Tues Feb 23 - Thurs Feb 25
BROKEN EMBRACES  (R)  [in Spanish with subtitles]
Pedro Almodóvar (Talk to Me, Volver) brings his signature visual brilliance to his latest film, the fourth with muse Penélope Cruz.  Harry Caine (Lluis Homar) is a screenwriter blinded in a car accident years earlier.  He is cared for by an old friend Judit and her son Diego.  One day Diego asks about his life before the accident, and hears the story of Mateo Blanco, Harry's original self.  He was a visionary director whose last film starred his beloved, beautiful actress Lena (Ms. Cruz) who was also the paid mistress of his film's producer.  With suspense, romance and melodrama, Almodóvar pays homage to the classic films of the past.  
 
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Fri Feb 26 - Mon Mar 1
THE ROAD  (R)  119min
This faithful adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer prize-winning novel is set in a post-apocalyptic USA after an unexplained global catastrophe has wiped out most of the world.   Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises) gives an outstanding performance as the man, a survivor and desperate father headed on a long dangerous journey with his young son to the sea.  On their trip across a burned out America, they encounter the remnants of human life, some good, some bad, including a blind, elderly man (Robert Duvall) who presents an ethical dilemma to the father trying to teach his son how to survive, to let the man die or share food with him.  John Hillcoat has directed an ultimately moving story of survival. 
 
Tues Mar 2 - Thurs Mar 4
ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATED SHORT FILMS  (NR)  ??min
This year we are able to screen the selection of short films in both the live action and animated categories BEFORE the Oscar Ceremony.  Most of the nominees in both categories are honored for the first time, the exception being six time nominee Nick Park who brings another installment of Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death.  Other animated offerings include an alternative telling of Sleeping Beauty, the story of a man who has lost his wallet in a coffee shop, the battle between a doctor and Death for the life of an elderly lady, and a crime spree in a world of only trademarks and brand names.  Live action stories deal with slave labor at an Indian brick kiln, a terrifying new apartment for two men, an unusual birthday gift, contending with with the aftermath of Chernobyl, and a young magician's woes.  Get ready for Oscah' Night coming up Sunday March 7th!  *ALL OSCAR NOMS: Best Animated Short Film , Best Live-Action Short Film.

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COMING ON OUR SECOND SCREEN

THE LOVELY BONES  (PG-13)  135min
Based on Alice Sebold's critically acclaimed and best-selling novel, filmmaker Peter Jackson (LOTR) has made a fantastically beautiful, intelligently complex and memorably suspenseful film.  Saoirse Ronan (Atonement) stars as a teenaged girl in 1973 suburban Philadelphia, murdered by her unsuspected neighbor (Stanley Tucci), who remains in purgatory to watch over her family and friends and try to help them heal their grief from the afterlife, even as her disappearance goes unsolved and her spirit guides advise her to let go.  *ONE OSCAR NOM: Best Supporting Actor.
 
CRAZY HEART (R)  111min
Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski) gives the performance of his career as the richly comic, semi-tragic, romantic anti-hero Bad Blake, a broken down, hard-living country singer-songwriter who is shamed by becoming second fiddle to his one time protégé, now a superstar (Colin Farrell).   Blake reaches for salvation through his relationship with an aspiring journalist and single mom (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who discovers the real man behind the boozed out musician, but he might not be strong enough.  First time writer-director Scott Cooper delivers a simple but authentic gem, based on the novel by Thomas Cobb and featuring terrific music mostly by T-Bone Burnett and the late Stephen Bruton.   *THREE OSCAR NOMS: Best Lead Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Music-Original Song.
 
THE YOUNG VICTORIA  (PG)  104min
Engrossing political intrigue and an engaging historical romance are augmented with exquisite period detail in Canadian director Jean-Marc Vallée's story, with a screenplay by Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park), of the early years of Queen Victoria's reign.  Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada) is the independent but unskilled young royal, crowned at age 18 upon the death of her father King William (Jim Broadbent).  She chooses Prime Minister Lord Melbourne (Paul Bettany) as her advisor over her mother (Miranda Richardson) but in the end it is her cousin Albert (Rupert Friend, Cheri) whose support she needs most.  This transporting and rewarding film is about a brave young woman finding her way with her life's partner.  *THREE OSCAR NOMS: Best Art Direction,  Best Costume Design, Best Makeup.
 
THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR. PARNASSUS   (PG-13)  122min
Monty Python animator Terry Gilliam (Brazil, Time Bandits) has taken his surreal imagination to another level with his latest whimsical fantasy.  In this world, elderly Dr. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) lords over his extraordinary magical traveling show, where he guides his customers to enter the world of their imagination, hoping to find a soul or five to trade to the devil, Mr. Nick (Tom Waits) so he can back out of a promise made an eternity ago.  Heath Ledger, in his final role, is a key member of the theatre troupe who takes the unsuspecting into the hall of mirrors (where he is portrayed by Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law).  *TWO OSCAR NOMS:  Best Art Direction,  Best Costume Design.
 
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.   *NINE OSCAR NOMS: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Art Direction,  Best Costume Design, Best Music-Original Score, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Visual Effects.

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Coming on our next schedule?
Shutter Island
Valentine's Day
The Last Station
The Maid
The White Ribbon
Fish Tank
A Single Man
Youth in Revolt

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Tuesday, February 2, 2010

[Reel Pizza] update

Hi Everyone

The Oscar Nominations were announced this morning, and we have a few nominees coming up in the next few weeks.  I will make sure they are obviously noted, so you don't miss any.   We will be having our annual Gala Event celebrating the Academy Awards coming on March 7th.  Stay tuned for more details!  The new schedule will be coming your way tomorrow.  I am done for today...
Stay warm!
-Lisa

This Thursday our Senior Matinee will be ITS COMPLICATED at 1:30 (no oscar noms here...but lots of fun just the same!)

Starting Friday we have two multi-Oscar Nominated films!

Fri - Thurs 2/5 - 2/11
UP IN THE AIR  (R)  109min  5:30 and 8:00
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.  *SIX OSCAR NOMS: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Lead Actor , Best Supporting Actress (both Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick), Best Adapted Screenplay.

Fri - Mon 2/5 - 2/8
AN EDUCATION  (PG-13)  100min 6:00 and 8:15
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).  *THREE OSCAR NOMS: Best Picture, Best Lead Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay.
 
Tues - Thurs 2/9 - 2/11
SKIN  (PG-13)  107min   6:00 and 8:15
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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