Wednesday, December 31, 2014

[Reel Pizza] update Jan 2 - 8

I guess winter has again decided to grace us with its presence.  It's plenty warm in here though.  And soup's on!

It's good to be back in the swing of things, and so nice to see many of you these past few days.  Here is our program for the upcoming week.  Our Senior Matinees are starting right up, this coming Thursday Jan 8th when we will be showing  BIRDMAN  at 1pm. 

Happy New Year Everyone!  Looking forward to all that 2015 has to offer. 
-Lisa and Chris

Fri - Thurs    BIRDMAN (R) 119min 6:00 and 8:30
Fri - Mon    HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY Pt 1 (PG-13) 130min 5:30 and 8:00
Tues - Thurs    PRIDE (R) 120min 5:30 and 8:00


Fri Jan 2 - Thurs Jan 8
BIRDMAN
(R) 119min 6:00 and 8:30
Director Alejandro Iñárritu's latest (Amores Perros, 21 Grams) is a critically acclaimed, unpredictable and fully entertaining dark comedy nominated for seven Golden Globe awards. Michael Keaton, in a role that in some ways parallels his own career, stars as a once famous actor who walked away from a superhero franchise who is now trying to regain legitimacy by staging a Broadway play, by adapting a Raymond Carver short story. His career and his fortune are both on the line, and in the days leading up to the opening, he struggles with his cast, family and his own ego. Co-stars include Edward Norton, Emma Stone, Zach Galifianakis, and Amy Ryan.  trailer

Fri Jan 2 - Mon Jan 5
HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY Pt 1
(PG-13) 130min 5:30 and 8:00
The tale of Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) continues in this penultimate adaptation of the popular book series by Susanne Collins, as she finds herself in the long-thought destroyed District 13 with other rebels, including District President Coin (Julianna Moore), defector-spy Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman), image designer Effie Trinkett (Elizabeth Banks) and newly sober mentor Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson). They hope to convince her to become the symbol of the rebellion, while she hopes to save her friend and partner Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) who has been captured by the Capitol, is being held hostage and forced by President Snow (Donald Sutherland) to be the symbol of the establishment. It's an exciting, suspenseful and absorbing chapter in the series.  trailer

Tues Jan 6 - Thurs Jan 8
PRIDE
(R) 120min 5:30 and 8:00
This joyous crowd-pleaser, headlined by Paddy Consadine, Imelda Staunton and Bill Nighy, is a fictionalized retelling of a true and powerful story. Set in Margaret Thatcher's 1984 England when her government was trying to shut down the striking coalminer's union, a small group of London-based gay and lesbian activists decide to raise money to support the striking miners and their families. Initially rebuffed, as the miners want nothing to do with the gays, these activists select a small Welsh village to aid and take their donation in person. In the infectious style of The Full Monty and Kinky Boots, this moving story of the creation of an uneasy coalition between these two disparate groups is funny and moving.   trailer

***************

Thursday, December 25, 2014

[Reel Pizza] update 12/26-1/1

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

You have made it thru the dark days - we reopen "for the season" TOMORROW
at 4:30! We look forward to welcoming some of you in the coming weeks.
Here is a reminder of what's playing this first week. Have your selves a
merry little mud season, and enjoy your holiday.

Cheers!
-Lisa and Chris



Dec 26 - Thurs Jan 1
INTERSTELLAR (PG-13) 169min 5:00 and 8:30
In Christopher Nolan's ambitious and intelligent new film, co-written with
his brother Jonathan, Earth has been despoiled beyond repair. Matt
McConaughey plays a Nasa pilot turned corn farmer when Nasa was outlawed,
and dad to two kids who makes the wrenching decision to travel away from
his family, maybe forever, and head into space toward a wormhole by Saturn,
at the other side of which is believed to be other planets that will
support life. This visually resplendent and thought-provoking adventure
film also stars Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Chastain, Michael Caine, and Casey
Affleck. trailer

Fri Dec 26 - Mon Dec 29
BIG HERO 6 (PG) 108min 5:30 and 7:45
Disney's latest animation hit mines an obscure Marvel comic to make an
inventive, beautiful and manga-inspired comedy adventure. A young robotics
prodigy is finally turning his life around from hustling in back alleys to
using his talents for good, when his older brother and only family, also a
robotics genius, dies in a lab accident. His brother's creation, a
nurturing, health-care providing robot, Baymax, who is like a cross between
the Pillsbury Doughboy and the Michelin Man, becomes young Hiro's best
friend. When Hiro discovers the accident was a cover for stealing his
brother's work, he teaches his robot some tricks and joins forces with his
brother's comrades to solve the mystery and bring things to rights.
Preceding the feature is a new short, Feast, about the life of a family
from the perspective of their pet dog. trailer

Tues Dec 30 - Thurs Jan 1
THE TALE OF PRINCESS KAGUYA (PG) 137min 5:30 in English and 8:15 in
Japanese with subtitles
Based on the classic 10th century Japanese folktale, this gorgeous,
hand-drawn masterwork, with a gentle, watercolor visual style is from
director Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies), co-founder with Hayao
Miyazaki of famed Studio Ghibli. It tells the story of an elderly couple
who find a mysterious tiny girl in a bamboo stalk who rapidly grows to be a
beautiful young woman who enchants everyone she meets. The bamboo cutter
comes to believe she is a princess and should be better educated; he takes
her to the city to learn the ways of a regal woman, against her will.
Ultimately she must confront her fate. **Please note that the early shows
will be presented in English, the later shows in the original Japanese with
subtitles. trailer

***************

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Saturday, December 20, 2014

[Reel Pizza] Schedule Dec 26 - Jan 15

Season's Greetings everyone!

With the passing of the winter solstice tonight we are now on the road to MORE SUN, or at least theoretically more daylight hours... the sun sure has been hiding a lot lately.

I will have office hours Today - Saturday - from 4-5pm, Monday from 8-3 and Tuesday 8-noon for any of you last minute gift-needers.  Side door'll open, I'll be upstairs...


Hi Everyone! We have been away to the left coast, enjoyed the ocean and the redwood trees and the sights of San Francisco. And as soon as it started to rain, it was time to come home! We were terribly saddened this month to lose our dear friend and mentor and a great Reel Pizza hero, Dave Parsons of the Milbridge Theatre, who died unexpectedly but peacefully earlier this month. But life goes on and we are making repairs and getting ready to reopen "for the season." Senior Matinees will start right up on Jan 8th. We look forward to another year (our 20th!) of film events, community coming together, and will enjoy greeting you starting Boxing Day.
xoxo – Lisa & Chris

Below is the opening Schedule. 

We are delighted to have the artwork of Bar Harbor's Jeanne Seronde Perkins in our lobby for our opening.  There will be an artist's reception at Reel Pizza on Saturday Dec 27th from 2 - 4pm.  Please come join us. 

Also please notice that I have finally convinced  Chris to try screening the foreign animation films in their original language (with English subtitles) for the later shows.  If you have been waiting for this, PLEASE join us for the upcoming later shows of THE TALE OF PRINCESS KAGUYA in Japanese during our opening week, and tell your friends!  And if you don't like to read subtitles, please know to attend the early screenings. 

Fri Dec 26 - Thurs Jan 1
INTERSTELLAR
(PG-13) 169min  5:00 and 8:30
In Christopher Nolan's ambitious and intelligent new film, co-written with his brother Jonathan, Earth has been despoiled beyond repair. Matt McConaughey plays a Nasa pilot turned corn farmer when Nasa was outlawed, and dad to two kids who makes the wrenching decision to travel away from his family, maybe forever, and head into space toward a wormhole by Saturn, at the other side of which is believed to be other planets that will support life. This visually resplendent and thought-provoking adventure film also stars Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Chastain, Michael Caine, and Casey Affleck.  trailer

Fri Dec 26 - Mon Dec 29
BIG HERO 6
(PG) 108min  5:30 and 7:45
Disney's latest animation hit mines an obscure Marvel comic to make an inventive, beautiful and manga-inspired comedy adventure. A young robotics prodigy is finally turning his life around from hustling in back alleys to using his talents for good, when his older brother and only family, also a robotics genius, dies in a lab accident. His brother's creation, a nurturing, health-care providing robot, Baymax, who is like a cross between the Pillsbury Doughboy and the Michelin Man, becomes young Hiro's best friend. When Hiro discovers the accident was a cover for stealing his brother's work, he teaches his robot some tricks and joins forces with his brother's comrades to solve the mystery and bring things to rights. Preceding the feature is a new short, Feast, about the life of a family from the perspective of their pet dog.  trailer

Tues Dec 30 - Thurs Jan 1
THE TALE OF PRINCESS KAGUYA
(PG) 137min 5:30 in English and 8:15 in Japanese with subtitles
Based on the classic 10th century Japanese folktale, this gorgeous, hand-drawn masterwork, with a gentle, watercolor visual style is from director Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies), co-founder with Hayao Miyazaki of famed Studio Ghibli. It tells the story of an elderly couple who find a mysterious tiny girl in a bamboo stalk who rapidly grows to be a beautiful young woman who enchants everyone she meets. The bamboo cutter comes to believe she is a princess and should be better educated; he takes her to the city to learn the ways of a regal woman, against her will. Ultimately she must confront her fate. **Please note that the early shows will be presented in English, the later shows in the original Japanese with subtitles.  trailer

***************

Fri Jan 2 - Thurs Jan 8
BIRDMAN
(R) 119min 6:00 and 8:30
Director Alejandro Iñárritu's latest (Amores Perros, 21 Grams) is a critically acclaimed, unpredictable and fully entertaining dark comedy nominated for seven Golden Globe awards. Michael Keaton, in a role that in some ways parallels his own career, stars as a once famous actor who walked away from a superhero franchise who is now trying to regain legitimacy by staging a Broadway play, by adapting a Raymond Carver short story. His career and his fortune are both on the line, and in the days leading up to the opening, he struggles with his cast, family and his own ego. Co-stars include Edward Norton, Emma Stone, Zach Galifianakis, and Amy Ryan.  trailer

Fri Jan 2 - Mon Jan 5
HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY Pt 1
(PG-13) 130min 5:30 and 8:00
The tale of Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) continues in this penultimate adaptation of the popular book series by Susanne Collins, as she finds herself in the long-thought destroyed District 13 with other rebels, including District President Coin (Julianna Moore), defector-spy Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman), image designer Effie Trinkett (Elizabeth Banks) and newly sober mentor Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson). They hope to convince her to become the symbol of the rebellion, while she hopes to save her friend and partner Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) who has been captured by the Capitol, is being held hostage and forced by President Snow (Donald Sutherland) to be the symbol of the establishment. It's an exciting, suspenseful and absorbing chapter in the series.  trailer

Tues Jan 6 - Thurs Jan 8
PRIDE
(R) 120min 5:30 and 8:00
This joyous crowd-pleaser, headlined by Paddy Consadine, Imelda Staunton and Bill Nighy, is a fictionalized retelling of a true and powerful story. Set in Margaret Thatcher's 1984 England when her government was trying to shut down the striking coalminer's union, a small group of London-based gay and lesbian activists decide to raise money to support the striking miners and their families. Initially rebuffed, as the miners want nothing to do with the gays, these activists select a small Welsh village to aid and take their donation in person. In the infectious style of The Full Monty and Kinky Boots, this moving story of the creation of an uneasy coalition between these two disparate groups is funny and moving.   trailer

***************

Fri Jan 9 - Mon Jan 12
ST VINCENT
(PG-13) 103min 
Bill Murray plays Vincent, a curmudgeon and alcoholic down to his last dime, whose life is upended when new neighbors move in next door. Melissa McCarthy, playing it straight, is an overworked single mom with a precocious and nerdy pre-teen son; working long hours, she needs a sitter, and Vincent's finances could use a boost, so an arrangement is made. An odd friendship soon grows between this improbable pair, as Vincent takes Oliver on all the stops that make up his daily routine, the corner bar, the racetrack, the strip club. Vincent helps Oliver grow to become a man, while Oliver begins to see in Vincent something that no one else is able to - a misunderstood man with a good heart. This is director Ted Melfi's debut feature.  trailer

Tues Jan 13 - Thurs Jan 15
THE JUDGE
(R) 142min
Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall both give excellent performances in this court-room drama with a complex family dynamic. Big city lawyer Hank (Downey Jr.) returns home for the first time in years to attend his mother's funeral, but before he leaves to return home discovers his estranged dad, a respected small-town judge, is suspected of murder. Rich, thoughtful, funny and absorbing, this new film from director David Dobkin (The Wedding Crashers) also features Vincent D'Onofrio and Jeremy Strong as his two brothers who still live at home, Vera Farmiga as his high school sweetheart and Billy Bobb Thornton as the prosecuting attorney. trailer

***************

COMING ON OUR SECOND SCREEN?
THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF FIVE ARMIES
(PG-13) 144min
It is, indeed, the end of all things. Director Peter Jackson delivers an inspired, dark and rousing end to the JRR Tolkien world that he has inhabited for the past decade and a half. Smaug the dragon is on the loose and enraged, and dwarf lord Thorin sacrifices friendship and honor to Bilbo and the company in his desire for power. The armies of men, dwarves and elves assemble at the Lonely Mountain to argue over the hoards of treasure left by Smaug But when the orcs show up, they must either unite in battle against the dark forces of Sauron or be destroyed, as the future of Middle Earth hangs in the balance. trailer

WILD (R) 115min
Reese Witherspoon gives an unglamorous performance as a young woman who, after the death of her mother (Laura Dern) from cancer at age 45, goes on a roll of personally destructive behavior. When her marriage ends she decides that walking solo over 1000 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail would be cathartic, despite having no hiking experience or a plan or a clue of what she is about to do. Director Jean-Marc Vallée (Dallas Buyers Club) and screenwriter Nick Hornby (An Education) adapting Cheryl Strayed's bestselling memoir, have made a powerful and uplifting film of an intimate journey that helps us understand who Cheryl was as well as who she was becoming. trailer

***************

Coming Next Schedule?
Rosewater
Whiplash
Foxcatcher
Night Crawler
Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb
Tracks
The Theory of Everything
Unbroken
The Imitation Game

Antarctica: A Year on the Ice

**************
**************


Friday, December 12, 2014

[Reel Pizza] In Memorium

Reel Pizza lost a true hero and Downeast Maine an icon this week with the
passing of Dave Parsons, owner and operator of the Milbridge Theatre. Dave
was instrumental in the formation of our business from the very beginning,
setting us up with projection equipment, theater supplies and teaching us
the secret ins and outs of the movie business that you might not have
believed until this week with the revelations from the Sony Pictures
hacking scandal. In our early years, he would drive to Bar Harbor after
his show let out, and work with Chris all night to fix a problem with the
sound or projection, or to install a new piece of equipment, ferrying with
him a truckload of spare parts, just in case. He got deals for us and a
group of other small independent cinemas in Hancock, Washington and
Piscataquis counties, on popcorn bags, theater pack candy, spare lamp
bulbs, or splicing tape, among other things. He was always thinking, about
how to solve this or fix that or get a deal to save even just a little
money, so that we'd all stay afloat to show movies for another season.

At his own theatre, that he bought in 1978, he was a true showman, playing
before shows the player piano that lived at the front of his auditorium and
making sno-cones. He was meticulous, as we are too, about the sound and
the image quality that he provided to his customers. He was also a
veritable fount of information on film history, able to recall with perfect
clarity who played in some old studio picture that he thought we should
know about, and back in the day even taught classes. He had the same
memory for obscure candy companies about which we would talk after we found
some weird confection in our travels; he always knew the entire history of
the company. We will miss those fascinating conversations. He even got a
big-screen debut in the first full-length feature from Mark and Jay
Duplass, THE PUFFY CHAIR, when they filmed in the Milbridge Theatre, among
other locales in his town.

Dave was one of the most kind, and most giving persons we have ever known,
a dear friend who we will miss greatly, and a saint without whom Reel Pizza
would never have survived its first year. If you are grateful for Reel
Pizza, join us in raising a toast, be it with apple juice or champagne,
beer or bourbon (Dave would've had ginger ale) to a great man who left us
far too soon.

-Lisa and Chris

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Wednesday, December 10, 2014

[Reel Pizza] We're Back! Need Gifts?

Hi everyone!

We have returned safe and sound and refreshed from our west coast
travels, (including a great visit with former front end manager Julie
Patton in Oregon!) We are starting to get "things" ready to reopen on
Friday Dec 26th, which is not too far off. Thanks to our neighbors the
Jesup Library and the Abbe Museum for showing movies in our absence!
(as well as the HS Musical, the ACT Christmas play - which has
performances at Pemetic School this weekend - and I am sure a myriad of
other activities which have been available to fill your evenings.)

If you are interested in getting Reel Pizza gift certificates, Big
Ticket passes or One Shot individual admission cards for your holiday
gift giving, I will be having regular office hours weekdays from ~8:00am
to ~3:00pm. The side door is open and you'll find me upstairs, ready to
help you out, and perhaps even visit a bit. Alternatively, you can call
during those hours and we can transact over the phone with a credit
card. If those times don't work for you, you can mail me a check with
directions on what you want (and a phone # if I have questions). And
finally, we will often, although not guaranteed, be in town later in the
afternoon into the evening; if you see our cars parked outfront, come on
in, or please ask (email!) about making an appointment. We'll be able
to work something out!

I will be sending out our opening schedule sometime later next week,
(working on it now with nothing to report!) so you should look for that
in your inbox by next weekend. In the meantime, have happy holidays,
gather with your friends and family, sing some songs, eat good food, and
enjoy the weather (or not!) We look forward to seeing you all soon.

-Lisa and Chris

ps Chris wanted me to send this picture so that you would really believe
we were in San Francisco!

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