[Reel Pizza] Schedule Sept 6 - 26

Holiday greetings! 

Here is the Reel Pizza schedule for the next three week period.  I am not going to repeat the MIFF By-the-Sea information that is contained in the previous email;  if you would like the MIFF information sent again, do not hesitate to ask me.  It is also posted on our website; on the lower left hand side of the page, there is a dedicated "MIFF" tab that will take you to all the information in that email.  Tickets will be going on sale soon.

See you soon! 
-Lisa

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New Lobby Art!
ERNIE ABDELNOUR Town Hill  "SNAPSHOTS"
Operating from his small shop in Town Hill (Ernie's Steampunk Sculpture), Ernie Abdelnour fashions fascinating, often funny sculptures of copper and brass, odd pieces of plumbing, tools, assorted debris, and anything else that strikes his fancy. This exhibit features his nostalgic takes on films and stars, both past and present.  Using mixed media collage from acrylic emulsions to oil paints and found objects,  Ernie has created homages to many great cinematic legends.

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SPECIAL PROGRAMMING
SIERRA CLUB SUMMER SUNDAY MATINEE SERIES
Sunday Sept 22
CHASING ICE  (PG-13)  74min  2:00pm
This 2012 documentary film is about photographer James Balog’s efforts to publicize the effects of climate change. Chasing Ice is the story of one man’s mission to change the tide of history by gathering undeniable evidence of our changing planet. Within months of that first trip to Iceland, the photographer conceived the boldest expedition of his life: The Extreme Ice Survey. With a band of young adventurers in tow, Balog began deploying revolutionary time-lapse cameras across the Arctic to capture a multi-year record of the world’s changing glaciers. His videos compress years into seconds and capture ancient mountains of ice in motion as they disappear at a breathtaking rate. The film will be introduced by Bridget Beesaw, renowned environmental photographer and friend of the filmmaker.  The Maine Chapter of the Sierra Club sponsors these films and presents them for free to get people thinking about environmental issues. 

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Fri Sept 6 - Mon Sept 9
STILL MINE  (PG-13)  103min  5:30 and 8:00
This unforgettable love story without sentimentality or melodrama from director Michael McGowan (St. Ralph) is based on the true story of an elderly New Brunswick couple and their trials with an intractable government.  When Irene Morrison (Geneviève Bujold, The King of Hearts) can no longer navigate stairs, her husband of 61 years, Craig (James Cromwell, Babe, LA Confidential) starts to build a single story home on their rural farm, using wood milled on their land and a plan in his head.  When the local building inspector gets wind of their project, stop-work orders and fines accumulate and he threatens to bulldoze the unpermitted structure when Craig is unable and unwilling to comply with, to him, unnecessary bureaucracy, even with the assistance of his long-time lawyer (Campbell Scott, Big Night).  As Irene becomes increasingly ill, her devoted husband takes a final stand.   trailer

Tues Sept 10 - Thurs Sept 12
CRYSTAL FAIRY  (R)  100min  [partly in Spanish with subtitles]   5:30 and 8:00
Chilean director Sebastian Silva’s (The Maid) new film is a freewheeling and consistently funny road movie.  Michael Cera (Juno, Superbad) plays an obnoxious, self-absorbed American travelling through Chile searching with some local friends, played by the director’s three brothers, for a rare psychoactive cactus to consume and appreciate.  At a party he off-handedly invites a mysterious and free-spirited hippie (child actress GabbyHoffman, Field of Dreams) to join them on their quest, but is surprised and disappointed when she actually shows up.  They journey to a rural beach community in the Atacama Desert where personalities clash, and perhaps lives are transformed.   trailer

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Fri Sept 13 - Mon Sept 16
MIFF By-the-Sea  (NR)
Over this weekend we are, for a fifth year, hosting a selection of films and guest filmmakers from this summer’s Maine International Film Festival.  The films --  both live action and animated, and including documentaries, fiction features, and three collections of short films -- hail from Maine and around the world, and will be screening at various times throughout the weekend; each film, save one, will screen twice.  We will have special presentations of IMPROVISION and ROCK&REEL over this weekend plus a special opening reception to meet our guest filmmakers.  Please pick up the purple MIFF By-the-Sea flyer for film descriptions, guest schedules and start times; Discount passes are available; ask us! 

Tues Sept 17 - Thurs Sept 19
BLACKFISH  (PG-13)  83min  6:00 and 8:15
Filmmaker Gabriella Cowperthwaite’s new documentary is both riveting and emotionally wrenching.  She starts with the tragic story of the death of a marine mammal trainer at SeaWorld by her performing whale Tilikum, a 32 year-old, 12,000 pound bull orca who had previously killed people, but was also stolen from his family as a calf and has lived in confinement ever since.  Orca experts, and trainers and other workers give striking testimony that questions the existence of an industry that earns high profit from highly intelligent and sentient mammals held captive to perform for human enjoyment.  trailer

also

Tues Sept 17 - Thurs Sept 19
THE ATTACK  (R)  99min  5:30 and 8:00
Banned in the Arab world because its Lebanese director Ziad Doueiri filmed, against a long-standing prohibition, in Israel, this balanced fictional film is sympathetic to both sides of the conflict.  Ali Suliman (Paradise Now) stars as a prosperous Palestinian surgeon with a successful career in Tel Aviv and a loving wife (Reymonde Amsellem).  His world is upended when, after a horrific suicide attack, he learns that his wife was the bomber.  Considered a traitor both in his homeland and now in his adopted home, he travels at great risk to the West Bank to try to discover the truth about a woman he thought he knew.  This taut and compelling thriller is based on the novel by Yasmina Khadra.  trailer

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Fri Sept 20 - Mon Sept 23
FRUITVALE STATION  (R)  84min
Winner of the top two prizes, from both critics and audience, at Sundance, this drama follows the last day in the life of twenty-two year-old Oakland CA resident Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan, Red Tails).  It is New Year’s Eve 2008, his mama’s birthday, and he is determined to improve his life and relations with his family, starting today; this includes his mother (Octavia Spencer, The Help), young daughter (Ariana Neal) and girlfriend (Melonie Diaz, )  Tragically, Oscar’s day ends by being shot in the back while handcuffed, the result of an altercation on the subway while returning home from New Year’s festivities.  His shooting, another senseless killing of an unarmed black man, sparked protests across the Bay Area and shook the nation to its core.  This multi-faceted portrait of a complex individual lost to senseless tragedy is the distinctive debut feature of director Ryan Coogler.  trailer

Tues Sept 24 - Thurs Sept 26
A HIJACKING  (R)  99min  [partly in Danish & Somali with subtitles]
A Danish cargo ship with a seven man crew headed for Mumbai is hijacked by Somali pirates.  The CEO of the ship’s company in Copenhagen (Søren Malling) believes himself to be a skilled negotiator, and with the help of a professional hostage negotiator, is the pointman with the Somalis who demand a king’s ransom for the return of ship and crew.  Meanwhile on the ship, the men are becoming frayed psychologically, especially the likable cook Mikkel (Pilou Asbæk) and the engineer, who are toys to their captors and just want to go home.  As the months pass, the increasingly gripping negotiations start to wear everyone down.  This is an assured masterpiece of realism, only the second feature from Danish director Tobias Lindholm.  trailer

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Coming On Our Second Screen?

2 GUNS  (R) 109min
Denzel Washington (Unstoppable, Flight) and Mark Wahlberg (Ted) star as two criminals who, when their latest caper robbing the bank of a Mexican cartel drug lord’s account goes horribly awry, realize each is an undercover officer working for different government agencies.  Now they have run afoul of both sides of the law and will have to work together to save both their skins.   Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur (101 Reykjavík) keeps the action briskly paced with his all-star cast, including Bill Paxton, Paula Patton and James Marsden, and a smart, taut and funny script.  trailer

WE’RE THE MILLERS  (R)  109min
Jennifer Aniston (Horrible Bosses) and Jason Sudeikis (SNL) play off each other quite nicely in this raunchy, outlandish and LOL funny stoner comedy from Dodgeball director Rawson Marshall and Wedding Crashers screenwriters Steve Faber and Dan Fybel.  He is a small time dealer who is robbed of cash and product; since now he can’t pay his supplier, it is suggested that he bring the next load in from Mexico.  Deciding it would be a safer border crossing if he were a family man, he twists the arms of his neighbors to join him as his family: a cynical stripper (Aniston) a neglected nerd (Will Poulter, Son of Rambow) and a streetwise runaway (Emma Roberts, Nancy Drew).  After a quick change into some new clothes, they head off to Mexico in a shiny new RV.  What could go wrong?  trailer

ELYSIUM  (R)  109min
Set in post-apocalyptic 2154, the ‘haves’ live in elite, perfectly manicured comfort aboard a sleek and luxurious space station orbiting the planet called Elysium, and the ‘have-nots’ scrape out a minimal existence in an overpopulated and ravaged Earth.  Jody Foster plays the ruthless Defense Secretary determined, with the help of her equally sadistic mercenary (Sharlto Copley), to keep all emigrants off Elysium.   Matt Damon stars as Max, an ex-con factory worker who has been injured and must get onto Elysium for its miraculous healthcare.  His passage with his best friend (Diego Luna) is provided by an underground rebel group in exchange for acquiring crucial information.  Max’s personal quest becomes one for all humanity if he succeeds.  Director Neill Blomkamp follows up his Oscar-nominated debut, District 9, with this stylish, absorbing and thrilling sci-fi action picture.   trailer

COMING NEXT SCHEDULE
PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS
THE WORLD'S END
LEE DANIELS' THE BUTLER
THE SPECTACULAR NOW
BLUE JASMINE
IN A WORLD
PRINCE AVALANCHE

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