[Reel Pizza] MIFF By-the-Sea festival 9/13 - 16, 2013

Hi all, we are delighted a FIFTH time to be presenting a special collection of films, from just down the street to the other side of the planet, for your viewing pleasure.  Please read about the fabulous lineup below, and plan some time to check out an excellent new film not supported by a massive marketing campaign!  Tickets will go on sale as soon as August is over!  Cheers!
-Lisa, Chris and Colin

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Friday Sept 13 through Monday Sept 16, 2013

MIFF By-the-Sea  a Best-of selection from the Maine International Film Festival 
Presented by The Maine Film Center, First Light Film Society, Atlantic Brewing Company, and Reel Pizza Cinerama

4 DAYS OF FILM  *  OVER  Two Dozen Films from MDI, Maine, the USA, and around the Globe.
 Live-Action, Animated, Fiction, Documentaries,  Experimental & Short Films 
 Special Editions of IMPROVISION and ROCK & REEL
FILMMAKER  PRESENTATIONS * CATERED OPENING RECEPTION * CLOSING PARTY at the Lompoc Café

Individual film tickets $8
Full Festival Pass (for one) to all events  $90
Partial Pass - 10 admissions (limit 2/screening) $70
Partial Pass - 6 admissions (limit 2/screening) $45
Catered Opening Night Celebration admission $15

All tickets available @ box office during regular hours and at the door (starting 9/1)
call for advance credit card sales   (cc add 50c per admission)
(sorry, Big Tickets not valid for these screenings)

THE FILMS:
* = possible guest filmmaker in attendance

DOCUMENTARIES:
ENZO AVITABILE MUSIC LIFE   Italy 2012 80min [in ITALIAN with subtitles]  Sat 4:30; Sun 8:30
In his latest film, Oscar winner Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs, Stop Making Sense, Rachel Getting Married) follows his musical passions to Naples, Italy to document an extraordinary gathering of world musicians led by Enzo Avitabile -- the Neapolitan multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter whose past collaborators include James Brown and Tina Turner. One of the world's great directors reveals to us the thrilling music of a singular artist who fuses Neapolitan, folk, jazz, and world music -- but also explores the city of Naples with all of its treasures and contradictions. The film feels celebratory as Enzo creates amazing new music with collaborators from all over the world including Eliades Ochoa of Buena Vista Social Club, Naseer Shamma, Daby Touré and Trilok Gurtu.

BENJAMIN RABIER   France 2012  53min  [in FRENCH with subtitles]   Sat 2:00; Sun 7:15
The French illustrator and animator Benjamin Rabier (1864-1939) is not often discussed in the history of animation, though he collaborated with the French genius Émile Cohl on a number of pioneering (but lost) animated films. His public perception rests instead on his creation in 1924 of the the laughing cow mascot for Swiss cheese company Fromageries Bel. In this delightful French homage/fantasy we discover that Rabier loved the evocation of all animals in "flat, supple colors, with simple drawings." If this sounds like proto-Disney, director Mark Faye (whose film is mostly live-action) means to make that comparison. Rabier devoted his whole life to creating animal characters: Flambeau the dog and Gideon the duck are also among his creations. The most famous human character patented by Rabier was Tintin Lutin, a visual precursor of the more noirish Tintin by Hergé. Rabier seems to have suffered a mental breakdown from illustrating too much, trying to complete an illustrated edition of Buffon's thirty-six-volume Natural History, but the popularity of the laughing cow ad changed all that. Benjamin Rabier is part biography, part flight of fancy, all fun.

BOTSO  USA  2013  87min Winner of MIFF 2013 Audience Award  Fri 8:30; Mon 6:00
The astonishing life of Wachtang "Botso" Korisheli -- musician, sculptor, and beloved teacher to generations -- is compellingly recounted in this new and truly inspiring documentary. Born in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, young Botso is affectionately held in Stalin's arms not long before Stalin's brutal regime orders the execution of Botso's father. Remarkably, Botso is allowed twenty minutes for a final visit -- during which time his father reveals his own thoughts on the essence of life, words that still inspire Botso today at age 91. These words helped the young Botso endure years of suffering at the hands of both the Soviet army and the Nazis during World War II, and also gave him the determination to maintain an infectious passion for humanity, the arts, and life itself. Eventually arriving in America with nothing but hope, Botso became a beloved musical educator of children, settling in Morro Bay on the central California coast. He has gone on to touch generations of students, inspiring some of the world's premier musical artists -- including five-time Grammy Award winner Kent Nagano. Filmed partly in the Republic of Georgia, this feature-length documentary also captures the rich culture of the ancient region which has helped shaped Botso's unique way of teaching.

FAR FROM AFGHANISTAN* USA/Afghanistan 2012  129min  [partly in DARI with subtitles] Sat 8:00; Sun 2:30
An omnibus film by five American filmmakers and a collective of young Afghan media journalists, Far from Afghanistan takes a look at the longest overseas war in U.S. history. Inspired by the 1967 French New Wave-based collaborative film Loin du Vietnam (Far from Vietnam), Far from Afghanistan unites a variety of filmmakers, cinematographers, editors and technicians in the international effort to redirect U.S. policy away from military and political intervention toward true humanitarian and developmental care-giving, with films exploring divergent approaches both to filmmaking and to how we think about war. Among the filmmakers are MIFF veteran John Gianvito (Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind), Jon Jost (All the Vermeers in New York), Minda Martin, Travis Wilkerson and Soon-Mi Yoo, disparate in their approaches but united in their desire to address through art that this long war must end.

SWEET DREAMS  Rwanda  2013  89min  [partly in KINYARWANDA with subtitles]   Fri 7:00; Sun 3:45
A group of women, sixty strong, pound out rhythms of power and joy in the Rwandan countryside. Following the 1994 Rwandan genocide in which a million were killed by neighbors, friends and even family in tribal war, those who remained were broken, dead inside. The country has since made great strides in economic recovery, but "people are not like roads and buildings" says Kiki Katese, a pioneering Rwandan theater director. "How do we rebuild a human being?"  In answer, Kiki starts Ingoma Nshya, Rwanda's first women's drumming troupe, open to those from both sides of the conflict. There is only one requirement: to leave the categories of the past at the gate. For the women -- orphans and widows of the victims, and wives and children of the perpetrators -- the group has been a place to begin to live again, to build new relationships, to heal the wounds of the past. Yet the struggle to survive and provide for their families still persists. So when Kiki comes up with the idea to open Rwanda's first and only ice cream shop, the women are intrigued… but what exactly is ice cream and how will they succeed?  Sweet Dreams follows this remarkable group of women as they emerge from devastation to create a new future for themselves.

FEATURES:
TIME & CHARGES*   USA 2013  90min    Fri 6:30; Sat 4:45
Oscar winning screenwriter Ernest Thompson (On Golden Pond) conceived, wrote, and directed this film in conjunction with Whitebridge Farm Productions, a New Hampshire-based film and theatre production company he co-founded and which involved over five hundred local residents in Time and Charges' making. Jeremiah Ward, a hot-shot New York money manager, turns off the highway -- and straight into his past. In rural New Hampshire, he discovers confusing clues and ghostly reminders not only of people he knew forty years ago, but of the person he once was: an idealist and visionary whose clarity grew dimmer with each acquisition and every brilliant move on the career chess board. Exit 22-A seems to be a portal connecting him with the values and virtue he left behind, but it turns out to be much more. Melody -- the daughter he never knew -- has orchestrated this road map and cast of characters, determined to test Jeremiah's true convictions and to change his life. MIFF's screenings of this film represent a return of sorts for Thompson as well -- Maine is where On Golden Pond is set and where Thompson lived at that time.   

BLUEBIRD*  Maine 2013  90min    Sat 8:30; Sun 5:00
Director Lance Edmands and producer Kyle Martin have created a powerful, riveting, deeply honest drama shot on location in Millinocket in midwinter. In the frozen woods of an isolated Maine logging town, one woman's tragic mistake shatters the balance of the community, resulting in profound and unexpected consequences. Weaving together several connected storylines, Bluebird explores the profound and transcendent effects of tragedy on a small American town.  "Lance Edmands'...debut stands in direct contrast with its weary, working-class characters and the subzero Maine winter against which their story unfolds -- a mournful throwback to more poetically inclined times"  --Peter DeBruge, Variety.

THE FIFTH SEASON  Belgium 2012  93min  [in FRENCH with subtitles]   Sat 6:15; Sun 2:00
Deep in Belgium's Ardennes forest, life goes on in a small rustic village as it always has. Seasons come and go, farmers work the land, children play in the woods, festivals are celebrated. The village seems immune to the world's problems. The Fifth Season starts in winter with the traditional burning of Uncle Winter, who has been accused of a list of crimes. Strangely, the ceremonial bonfire won't light. Whether this is the cause or merely the first symptom of a wider malaise is unclear, but from this point on, the seasons refuse to change. Crops fail, the cows won't give milk; soon people start blaming each other and looking suspiciously at an outsider who sells honey from a caravan where he lives with his wheelchair-bound son. Poetic and full of powerfully resonant images, this film is part fable, part stark warning, and fully haunting and exceptional cinema.

GERMANIA Argentina 2012  75min  [in GERMAN and SPANISH with subtitles] Fri 8:45; Sun 7:00
In the small Argentinian town of Entre Ríos, a German family is preparing to leave their farm for reasons the film will slowly reveal. On their last day, the two late-teenage siblings, Brenda and Lucas, say goodbye to their friends while their mother closes up the house. But in Germania, winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Buenos Aires Film Festival, nothing is as it seems. Director Maximiliano Schonfeld has made an elusive, poetic, powerful and deeply satisfying film. Class relations, notions of family, sexual desire and the end of adolescence are all subtly and sensitively explored. Germania features haunting, truthful performances by a non-professional cast.

THE GIRL AND DEATH Netherlands/Russia/Germany  2012  124min  [in GERMAN, RUSSIAN, and FRENCH with subtitles]   Sun 8:30; Mon 5:30
From MIFF's very first Mid-Life Achievement Award winner, Jos Stelling (The Pointsman, The Illusionist, The Flying Dutchman) and winner of Best Picture at the Netherlands Film Festival, The Girl and Death is about the impossible love between Nicolai and the courtesan Elise, a love that is obstructed by materialism, wealth and the threat of death.  In post-WWII Russia, aging doctor Nicolai returns to an old, abandoned hotel -- where he first met his great love half a century ago -- and relives his romantic tragedy. The hotel still bears the traces of its impressive past... it embodies the end of an era as the vibrant hopes of the young lovers embody the possibilities of a new world. As ever, Stelling's unique cinema is based on idiosyncratic humor, stunning images and large emotions. This is a film about time that somehow feels miraculously outside of it. 

TANTA AGUA (So Much Water)  Uruguay/Mexico/Netherlands  2013  102min  [in SPANISH with subtitles]  Sat 2:30; Mon 7:45
From the fertile cinematic soil of Uruguay comes this disarmingly low-key, extremely human comic family drama, Grand Jury Prize winner at this year's Miami Film Fest. Fourteen-year-old Lucia and her brother Federico live with their mother. Their father Alberto, a chiropractor, sees his kids rarely. He rents a cabin for the three of them at "the hot springs capital of Uruguay." Not only is the holiday a short one, it looks likely to be ruined by rain. Their hearts sink when, on arrival, they learn that it's forbidden to use the pools because of an impending electric storm. Alberto tries to keep them amused and make good their disastrous family break.  "Graced by a disarming lightness of touch, even when things seem darkest, writer-directors Ana Guevara and Laetitia Jorge find humor and poignancy in... this charming film" --David Rooney, Variety.

SHORT FILMS PROGRAMS: 
A celebration of the short film form in its many genres: dramatic (domestic and international), animation, documentary, horror, and experimental. Both programs offer a balanced sampling of provocative filmmaking: a tasting menu, if you will!

MAINE-MADE SHORT FILMS* 71min   Sat 6:45; Sun 5:30
The Sea [Is Still] Around Us   Director Hope Tucker   Innovative depiction of the death of a Maine resort lake.
The Dark Sea (COA)    Director Moses Bastille  A deep sea diver in his literal element:  the bottom of the ocean.
Vanilla    Director Mike Robida  Sometimes we just have to hunker down in solitude …and sometimes love interferes with our plans.
The Digger (COA)  Director SL Benz  A light-hearted chronicle of a young woman left to deal with the clutter that her recently departed grandmother has left behind.
The County  Co-Directors Michael Ferry, Christopher Giamo, Kelsey Kobik  Portrait of a year in Aroostook County.
Conception (COA) Director Gabriella Niejedlik  A trippy journey with exceptional music.
The Carrying Place    Co-Directors Amy Grumbling, Megan Grumbling  Scary things are happening to the two remaining denizens of an area being intentionally flooded.
No Kingdom (COA)   Director Nate Pronovost  A poignant reflection on the burdens of cosmic royalty.

SHORT FILMS FROM AWAY 89min   Sat 3:00; Mon 8:00
Karaoke!  USA  Director Andrew Renzi  A young man wears out a New York City night, trying to avoid his problems.  Winner of Short Film Grand Jury Prize, Sundance Film Festival 2013.
Reborning  USA  Co-Directors Helen Hood Scheer, Yael Bridge  An artist mesmerizingly creates life-like dolls of newborn babies.
Barbie Boy   USA   Director Nick Corporon  A  seven year old recognizes his first moment of 'growing up.'
Man With the Golden Brain   France  Director Joan Chemla  Stanley is not like other boys. He possesses something that everyone increasingly wants a piece of…. 
Off Season  USA  Kori Feener  Winter arrives for the animals in this Massachusetts cow barn. 
Drone  USA   Director Daniel Jewel  A day in the life of a Drone operator (Trainspotting's Ewen Bremner).
La Vis (The Screw)  France  Director Didier Flamand  Jean Reno (Léon: The Professional) stars in this hilarious tale of a man daring to complain to the administration office at the Dept. Store of Non-Ferrous Metals about a screw with no notch.

SILENT SHORTS - Rock & Reel 42min   Fri  6:00
A jazz- and classical-influenced trio with MDI's versatile Joe Cough, Jr. (COA '13) on trumpet and guitar, Nathaniel Hilliard (COA '13) on keyboards and Chris Gray on drums will provide live accompaniment to two Buster Keaton silent short films.  The Scarecrow (1920) stars Keaton as a clumsy farmhand who competes with another farmhand (Joe Roberts) for the love of the farmer's daughter (Sybil Seely).  The farmer is played by Keaton’s own father Joe Keaton.  In The Goat (1921), captured murderer Dead Shot Dan is having his mug shot taken, but a prying Buster Keaton inadvertently gets his picture taken instead.  After the criminal escapes, Buster learns it is his face on all the Wanted posters when he is chased by every policeman in town, one of whom he discovers is the father of his new girlfriend.

IMPROVISION  ~90min Fri 11:00
Check out our wacky collaboration with the talented ImprovAcadia crew!  With the sound turned off, this ever-changing group of up and coming comedians improvises the dialogue, music tracks, and sound effects to a cheesy, grade-B movie that they have never seen before!  Their talents make the pictures on the screen way funnier than they were ever anticipated.  Its a totally new show every time.  Don't miss out on all the fun. 

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[Reel Pizza] update Aug 30 - Sept 5

Hi all

Tonight! is the last of the Inaugural Edition of Outdoor Movies on the Village Green for this year. Chris will be showing a classic Harold Lloyd silent comedy SPEEDY which will be accompanied with live music by members of FLETCHER'S LANDING PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA.  It is sure to be great, and the rain WILL hold off (if I am wrong, we will relocated into the Congo Church, but it isn't going to happen!!)  The show starts at 8:30; pre-show before...

This coming week's films are below.  Soon you will be receiving information on our 5th MIFF By-the-Sea coming September 13 - 16th, a curated best-of collection of films screened at this July's Maine International Film Festival in Waterville.  The lineup looks great!  The schedule and some of the film descriptions are on the website (technical difficulties are preventing me from adding the rest; will happen ASAP)  Paper versions should be ready this weekend, and I will email to you the info tonight or tomorrow.  Tickets will go on sale early next week. 

Have a great holiday weekend!  Happy First Day of School!  See you soon!
-Lisa

Fri Aug 30 - Thurs Sept 5
RED 2   (PG-13) 116min   6:00 and 8:30
Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, and Helen Mirren reprise their roles as Retired, Extremely Dangerous CIA agents in this extremely silly, mindlessly fun and just plain enjoyable character-driven action comedy.  A top-secret mission that went disastrously wrong decades ago might be about to be exposed and this motley, aging crew must track down a missing portable nuclear device that is also being searched for by relentless assassins, ruthless terrorists and power-crazed government officials, to save the world and their own lives too.  

Fri Aug 30 - Mon Sept 2
THE WAY, WAY BACK  (PG-13)  103min   5:30 and 8:00
This funny and poignant coming-of-age story is the directing debut of Oscar-winning screenwriters (for The Descendants) Nat Faxon and Jim Rash.  Shy and awkward teen Duncan is about to spend his summer vacation with his overprotective, divorced mom (Toni Collette) at the beach house of her creepy and menacing boyfriend (Steve Carell) and his aloof daughter.  Although the girl next door (AnnaSophia Robb) is friendly, Duncan feels totally out of place, but finds refuge at a nearby waterpark, run by affable slacker Owen (Sam Rockwell) and his assistant (Maya Rudolph).  The family dynamics are authentic in this witty and delightful gem.

Tues Sept 3 - Thurs Sept 5
MUSEUM HOURS  (NR/PG-13)  106min  [partly in German with subtitles]  5:30 and 8:00
This seductive and contemplative hybrid of drama and art-history essay on the power of art to both mirror and alter our lives is the new feature from director Jem Cohen.  Johann (Bobby Sommer) is a museum guard who spends his days silently observing the visitors to Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Art Museum.  Canadian Anne (Mary Margaret O’Hara) is suddenly called to Vienna from overseas to attend to a comatose relative.  With little to do she wanders the streets; a chance meeting with Johann sparks a deepening connection that draws them through the halls of the museum as they linger over the masterworks and explore around the Austrian capital. 
 

[Reel Pizza] update Aug 23 - 29

OMG!  We have reached the last full week of summer vacation!  Get in all those fun activities while you can! 

This week's free Wednesday night movie on the Village Green is one of our family's favorites and a true classic MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO.  Preshow starts at 8, feature begins at 8:30. 

Here is what is happening this coming week at Reel Pizza.
See you Soon!
-L

Fri Aug 23 - Thurs Aug 29
THE WOLVERINE   (PG-13)  126min  5:30 and 8:15
Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables) returns to superhero form in this more intimate story of Wolverine having adventures fighting the yakusa in Japan.  Years after he saved the life of a soldier during the Nagasaki bombings, he is called to the now old man’s deathbed to protect his granddaughter Mariko, and is helped by pixie street-wise warrior Yukio.  This gripping story well-told with spectacular set pieces was written by proven screenwriters Scott Frank (Minority Report), Christopher MacQuarrie (The Usual Suspects) and Mark Bomback (Unstoppable) and directed by James Mangold (Walk the Line). 

Fri Aug 23 - Mon Aug 26
UNFINISHED SONG  (PG-13)  93min 6:00 and 8:00
Both heartwarming and heartbreaking, this British comedy tells the inspiring story of crusty and curmudgeonly Arthur (Terence Stamp).  He is quite happy with his dull daily routine until his beloved and ailing wife (Vanessa Redgrave) can no longer get herself to the spirited local singing group in which she participates, led by young, energetic choir director Elizabeth (Gemma Arterton) and though he is reluctant to attend with her, he must take her.  Christopher Eccleston plays his estranged son.

Tues Aug 27 - Thurs Aug 29
I’M SO EXCITED  (R)  95min  [in Spanish with subtitles]  6:00 and 8:00
Flamboyant Spanish director Pedro Almad o var (Women on the Verge, Talk to Her) returns to his early roots with this campy, inspired, lunatic and occasionally uproarious farce.  A technical failure has endangered flight 2459 and the control center is seeking a solution.  The flight attendants, in the face of danger, devote themselves body and soul to the task of making the flight as enjoyable as possible for the passengers while they await the resolution. 

[Reel Pizza] Schedule Aug 16 - Sept 5

Here is the next schedule of films and events playing at Reel Pizza Fri Aug 16 - Thurs Sept 5.
Hard to believe this takes us past Labor Day!  Enjoy these last weeks of full on Summer!!

We have the next installment of the Summer Sierra Club Free Sunday Matinee Series coming Sunday Aug 18 at 2pm. This month the film is the gorgeous PLANET OCEAN and will be introduced by staff from COA's Marine Mammal Research Group, Allied Whale.  Scroll down for more information on this film.

Have you heard about the free family outdoor film series we are doing with the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce?  For the next three Wednesday nights, Chris will be showing a family - friendly film on the Village Green.  The preshow starts at 8pm, with the feature at 8:30.  The film on Wed Aug 14 will be SECOND HAND LIONS.

We are getting together the films for our Fifth (!) year of MIFF-by-the-Sea, our "Best Of" selection of films that screened this past July at the Maine International Film Festival.  This will take place the weekend of September 13th.  Look for more information coming soon about this. 

See you soon
-Lisa

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Fri Aug 16 - Thurs Aug 22
PLANES (PG) 92min  5:30 and 7:30

This Brand New, action-packed Disney animated adventure-comedy is an expansion of the world created for Cars and Cars 2.  Dusty (voice of Dane Cook) is a crop duster who dreams of competing in the exhilarating Wings of the Globe flight competition.  However, he has a debilitating fear of heights that may squash that ambition.  With help and encouragement from his friends Dottie (Teri Hatcher) a forklift, Chug (Brad Garrett) a fuel truck, and Skipper (Stacey Keach) a curmudgeonly old naval plane, he tries out and, unbelievably, qualifies for the race.  He is joined in his eye-opening around the world travels with Quebec mail plane Rochelle (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), British racer Bulldog (John Cleese), and pretty reigning Pan-Asian champ Ishani (Priyanka Chopra) among others.

Fri Aug 16 - Mon Aug 19
THE HEAT (R)   117min   6:00 and 8:30

Funny women Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock join comedic forces using their goofy chemistry in this impressive buddy-cop comedy.  In director Paul Feig’s follow-up to his hit Bridesmaids, these two women star as socially inept agents, one prim and proper, the other a battering ram, who are forced to work together to catch a ruthless drug lord.  The jokes are brash, coarse, and very funny.  Mayhem ensues.

Tues Aug 20 - Thurs Aug 22

20 FEET FROM STARDOM (PG-13)  89min   6:00 and 8:00

Moving and joyous, this marvelous documentary from filmmaker Morgan Neville shines a spotlight on the untold story of some of the talented backup singers behind rock’s greatest stars, while exploring the benefits and drawbacks of their careers.  Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Judith Hill, Claudia Linnear and Lisa Fischer are some of the gifted women who have sung behind the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, and Sting, who also speak on camera about these women’s contributions to their success.  Each has a uniquely fascinating and person story of their life spent in the shadow of superstardom.

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Fri Aug 23 - Mon Aug 26

UNFINISHED SONG  (PG-13)  93min

Both heartwarming and heartbreaking, this British comedy tells the inspiring story of crusty and curmudgeonly Arthur (Terence Stamp).  He is quite happy with his dull daily routine until his beloved and ailing wife (Vanessa Redgrave) can no longer get herself to the spirited local singing group in which she participates, led by young, energetic choir director Elizabeth (Gemma Arterton) and though he is reluctant to attend with her, he must take her.  Christopher Eccleston plays his estranged son.

Tues Aug 27 - Thurs Aug 29

I’M SO EXCITED  (R)  95min  [in Spanish with subtitles]

Flamboyant Spanish director Pedro Almadovar (Women on the Verge, Talk to Her) returns to his early roots with this campy, inspired, lunatic and occasionally uproarious farce.  A technical failure has endangered flight 2459 and the control center is seeking a solution.  The flight attendants, in the face of danger, devote themselves body and soul to the task of making the flight as enjoyable as possible for the passengers while they await the resolution. 

 

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Fri Aug 30 - Mon Sept 2

THE WAY, WAY BACK  (PG-13)  103min

This funny and poignant coming-of-age story is the directing debut of Oscar-winning screenwriters (for The Descendants) Nat Faxon and Jim Rash.  Shy and awkward teen Duncan is about to spend his summer vacation with his overprotective, divorced mom (Toni Collette) at the beach house of her creepy and menacing boyfriend (Steve Carell) and his aloof daughter.  Although the girl next door (AnnaSophia Robb) is friendly, Duncan feels totally out of place, but finds refuge at a nearby waterpark, run by affable slacker Owen (Sam Rockwell) and his assistant (Maya Rudolph).  The family dynamics are authentic in this witty and delightful gem.

Tues Sept 30- Thurs Sept 5

MUSEUM HOURS  (NR/PG-13)  106min  [partly in German with subtitles]

This seductive and contemplative hybrid of drama and art-history essay on the power of art to both mirror and alter our lives is the new feature from director Jem Cohen.  Johann (Bobby Sommer) is a museum guard who spends his days silently observing the visitors to Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Art Museum.  Canadian Anne (Mary Margaret O’Hara) is suddenly called to Vienna from overseas to attend to a comatose relative.  With little to do she wanders the streets; a chance meeting with Johann sparks a deepening connection that draws them through the halls of the museum as they linger over the masterworks and explore around the Austrian capital. 

 

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COMING ON OUR SECOND SCREEN?

WOLVERINE   (PG-13)  126min

Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables) returns to superhero form in this more intimate story of Wolverine having adventures fighting the yakusa in Japan.  Years after he saved the life of a soldier during the Nagasaki bombings, he is called to the now old man’s deathbed to protect his granddaughter Mariko, and is helped by pixie street-wise warrior Yukio.  This gripping story well-told with spectacular set pieces was written by proven screenwriters Scott Frank (Minority Report), Christopher MacQuarrie (The Usual Suspects) and Mark Bomback (Unstoppable) and directed by James Mangold (Walk the Line). 

 

BLUE JASMINE  (PG-13)  98min

Woody Allen’s latest feature (#43) returns him to the US from recent pictures made in Europe (Midnight in Paris, To Rome with Love) but to San Francisco, not New York with this inspired social satire, an homage to Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire.  Cate Blanchett gives an amazing, complex performance finding the heart of a neurotic fragile woman who finds herself suddenly and utterly broke, after her husband is convicted of fraud.  With nowhere else to go, she moves in with her estranged but gracious working class sister Ginger (Sally Hawkins) but remains in total denial about her entitlement to a certain social strata. When she meets Dwight (Peter Sarsgaard) she thinks she may have found her meal ticket back to her previous financial status.

 

RED 2   (PG-13) 116min

Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, and Helen Mirren reprise their roles as Retired, Extremely Dangerous CIA agents in this extremely silly, mindlessly fun and just plain enjoyable character-driven action comedy.  A top-secret mission that went disastrously wrong decades ago might be about to be exposed and this motley, aging crew must track down a missing portable nuclear device that is also being searched for by relentless assassins, ruthless terrorists and power-crazed government officials, to save the world and their own lives too.   

 

Sunday August 18
PLANET OCEAN (NR)  85min  2:00pm  FREE

This documentary by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, the well-known French director and producer features astonishing aerial photography from locations the world over. This film aims to change the way people look at the ocean, focusing on “the greatest natural mystery of our planet” and also has the goal to help our children believe in a better and more sustainable worldview. A reminder of the bond between humans and nature and the duty that exists to protect our planet, this film highlights international researchers and takes the audience on a magnificent and unprecedented journey into the heart of the least known regions of our planet.   Staff from Allied Whale, COA's marine mammal research group, will introduce the film.

 
COMING NEXT?

MIFF BY THE SEA
THE BLING RING
ELYSIUM
FRUITVALE STATION
WE'RE THE MILLERS
THE WORLD'S END
BLACKFISH
and more!

[Reel Pizza] Update Aug 9 - 15

Hi everyone
here is a reminder of our schedule for this coming week, starting today.  I will be sending out the next full schedule shortly. 
Hope you are having a crazy, fabulous summer!  Enjoy it while it lasts; the next schedule goes past Labor Day!!
See you soon!
-L



Next IMPROVISION is Sunday August 11 at 11pm.  This is our wacky, occasional collaboration between Chris' B-movies and the talented folks at ImprovAcadia, where we show a movie with no sound that they have never seen before and, in a randomly chosen genre, they make up the dialogue, songs and sound effects on the spot, creating something much funnier than was ever intended originally.  It is a new show every time and always great fun. 

Fri 8/9 - Thurs 8/15  DESPICABLE ME 2  (PG)  98min   5:30 and  7:45
Fri 8/9 - Mon 8/12  MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING  (PG-13)  109min   6:00 and  8:30
Tues 8/13 - Thurs 8/15  THE KINGS OF SUMMER  (R)   95min   6:00 and  8:15

Friday August 9 - Thursday August 15
DESPICABLE ME 2  (PG)  98min   5:30 and  7:45
In this BRAND NEW sequel to the popular 2010 hit, again directed by Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin, villainous mastermind Gru (Steve Carrell) has become a family man, taking care of his three adopted daughters Margo, Edith, and Agnes, and planning birthday parties and other paternal activities.  His neighbor is also scheming, attempting some matchmaking.  But when his idyllic life is upset by mysterious events, he recognizes the hand of another super-villain to which he must respond, with the help of his minions.

Friday August 9 - Monday August 12
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING  (PG-13)  109min   6:00 and  8:30
Director Joss Whedon followed up his worldwide blockbuster The Avengers with this refreshing adaptation of the classic Shakespeare comedy.  Shot over two weeks with a cast of friends from his TV work (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angels, Firefly) and given a contemporary setting of a weekend party in an affluent LA suburb (he filmed in his own home) the romantic and comical events of the original story remain intact.  Using the Bard’s words, Beatrice and Benedick are sparring lovers in a story where all’s well that ends well. 

Tuesday August 13 - Thursday August 15
THE KINGS OF SUMMER  (R)   95min   6:00 and  8:15
This original and whimsical coming-of-age comedy is the feature debut of director Jordan Vogt-Roberts and screenwriter Chris Galletta.  Three teenaged friends decide to spend their summer building and then living in a house in the nearby woods, like men, and far from the reach of their parents.  Their idyllic summer quickly becomes a test of friendship.  Part Stand By Me, part Napolean Dynamite, it is a charming and captivating new film.