[Reel Pizza] schedule Sept 4 - 24

As promised!  Here is most of the plan for the next three weeks.  There is lots going on, so read carefully! 

Have you seen the magnificent quilts gracing our lobby walls yet?  We have new ART IN THE LOBBY from Maggie McKinney, of both Manchester, Maine and Kihei, Hawaii.  Living in Maine most of her life Maggie is inspired by the beauty of nature from Mt. Katahdin to the shores of Acadia National Park. Recently, she followed her son to the Hawaiian island of Maui where the coral reefs, beaches, and glorious sunsets further inspired her creations.  Her mother taught her to sew as a young woman and her love of quilting began when she became a mother and made her first baby quilt. Maggie has been creating unique, one-of-a-kind quilts and wall hangings for over 30 years. She uses a wide range of colors and high quality fabrics to create visual feasts.  Her beautiful quilts are for sale; talk to our concessions staff for assistance. 

Several Special Events are happening during this three week period.  The weekend of Sept 11 we will participate in several film events as part of the ACADIA NIGHT SKY FESTIVAL.  On Friday evening, Chris will be showing the final outdoor movie at Agamont Park.  ASTRONAUT FARMER (PG) will play at dusk.  Bring your blankets and fleeces, and hope for warm air and clear skies!  Saturday and Sunday we will have indoor matinees.  Saturday we are showing the super funny GALAXY QUEST (PG) at 2pm.  There is a $5 admission.  Sunday is the final matinee of the SIERRA CLUB SUMMER MATINEE SERIES.  We will be showing the excellent film about the importance of dark skies THE CITY DARK, which was (very) partly filmed on MDI.  The Maine Chapter of the Sierra Club presents these free matinees to get people focused on environmental issues. 

I will send out a separate mailing soon with the MIFF By-the-Sea film information, schedule and guest list which will be held on both screens over the weekend Fri Sept 18 - Mon Sept 21. For these shows, tickets will be on sale in advance at our box office, by the end of this week certainly.  Discount passes will also be available for those who are interested in several films; the line-up for this year looks great! 

On Wednesday Sept 23 we will present a single special screening of THE REFLEKTOR TAPES, a brand new concert film from the band Arcade Fire, two of whose members (Win and Will Butler) have roots on MDI. This screening will pre-empt the early show of AMY that night (AMY will play its regularly scheduled later show). 

 
Everything here has showtimes and dates.  See you soon!
-Lisa

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Friday  Sept 4 - Thurs Sept 10    RICKI AND THE FLASH  (PG-13)  102min   6:00 & 8:30

Fri Sept 4 - Mon Sept 7    SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE  (PG)  85min  5:30 & 7:45
Tues Sept 8 - Thurs Sept 10     THE YOUNG AND PRODIGIOUS T.S. SPIVET  (PG)  105min   5:30 & 8:00

Fri Sept 11 - Thurs Sept 17    THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.  (PG-13)  116min   5:30 & 8:00

Fri Sept 11 - Mon Sept 14    THE END OF THE TOUR  (R)  106min   6:00 & 8:15
Tues Sept 15 - Thurs Sept 17    MERU  (R)  87min  6:00 & 8:15

Fri Sept 18 - Mon Sept 21    MAINE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL By-The-Sea  both screens all weekend
Tues Sept 22 - Thurs Sept 24     IRRATIONAL MAN  (R)  97min   5:30 & 7:45

Tues Sept 22 - Thurs Sept 24    AMY  (R)  128min  6:00* & 8:30 (no 6:00 show on Wed)

Wednesday Sept 23  THE REFLEKTOR TAPES  (NR)  91min   6:00 ONE SHOW ONLY (pre-empts the early AMY screening) 

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Friday  Sept 4 - Thurs Sept 10

RICKI AND THE FLASH  (PG-13)  102min   6:00 & 8:30

HELD OVER!  Marvelous again, Meryl Streep stars with her daughter Mamie Gummer as a hard-rocking singer-guitarist in LA who gave up everything for her career; now she has returned to Indiana due to a family emergency involving her daughter and is trying to reconnect with her family, without much success.  Kevin Kline plays her gentle ex-husband and Audra McDonald his second wife. Rick Springfield plays a bandmate who'd rather be a boyfriend.  Jonathan Demme (Stop Making Sense, Silence of the Lambs, Rachel Getting Married) directs a riveting story by screenwriter Diablo Cody (Juno).  trailer

Fri Sept 4 - Mon Sept 7

SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE  (PG)  85min  5:30 & 7:45

Aardman Animation does it again with a charming, smart and very silly spinoff from a Wallace and Gromit story (A Close Shave) and subsequent TV show.  Full of personality even though there is no dialogue, this delightful film follows Shaun as he decides to take a day off from Mossy Bottom Farm and have some fun, but ends up getting a little more action than he bargained for.  Ending up in the Big City, Shaun and his buddies must find their way back safely to the green grass of home.  trailer

Tues Sept 8 - Thurs Sept 10

THE YOUNG AND PRODIGIOUS T.S. SPIVET  (PG)  105min   5:30 & 8:00

Unconventional, idiosyncratic French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amelie, Micmacs) has made another whimsical and inventive film, this one entirely in English.  Young T.S. Spivet, gifted in science, lives with his family on a remote Montana ranch.  He invents a perpetual motion machine, tells the Smithsonian Institute about it and soon learns he is to be rewarded a prestigious prize.  He leaves his family a note, and hops a train towards D.C.  But no one there suspects the winner is a 10-year-old boy with a dark secret.  Co-stars include Helena Bonham Carter and Jeunet regular Dominique Pinon.  trailer

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Fri Sept 11 - Thurs Sept 17

THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.  (PG-13)  116min   5:30 & 8:00

At the height of the Cold War, a CIA agent (Henry Cavill, Man of Steel) and a KGB agent (Armie Hammer, The Social Network) must set aside their longstanding hostilities and team up on a joint mission to stop a mysterious criminal organization bent on destabilizing the fragile balance of power by proliferating nuclear weapons.  Their only lead is the daughter of a vanished German scientist, the key to infiltrating the criminal organization, and they must race against time to find him to prevent worldwide catastrophe.  Director Guy Ritchie (Sherlock Holmes, Snatch) also wrote the screenplaybased on the popular 1960s TV show.  Also starring Alicia Vikander, Jared Harris, and Hugh Grant.  trailer

 

Fri Sept 11 - Mon Sept 14

THE END OF THE TOUR  (R)  106min   6:00 & 8:15

Featuring riveting performances, this is the story of a self-absorbed Rolling Stone writer and wannabe novelist David Lipsky (Jesse Eisenberg) who is assigned to profile widely acclaimed but quirky novelist David Foster Wallace (Jason Segal).  Both in awe of and jealous of his subject, Lipsky spends five days with Wallace towards the end of the book tour for his groundbreaking epic Infinite Jest.   This insightful, smart and funny drama directed by James Ponsoldt (The Spectacular Now) is based on Lipsky's memoir Of Course You End Up Being Yourself written from the unused taped conversations that were never published until after Wallace's death, but it could have been about the interaction between any two creative people not on the same plane.  trailer

 

Tues Sept 15 - Thurs Sept 17
MERU  (R)  87min  6:00 & 8:15

The Shark's Fin is a 1500 foot vertical rock wall at the top of 21,000 foot Meru Peak in the Indian Himalayas.  This is the story of three men, Jimmy Chin, Renan Ozturk, and Conrad Anker, who tried, twice, to reach this impossibly inaccessible summit.  Sherpas will not go there, so they also carried all their own gear.  Nerve-wracking footage, made by the climbers themselves, give this film a perspective and immediacy that an unrelated camera crew wouldn't have provided.  This dramatic, extreme sports documentary is ultimately about risk assessment and pushing limits.  trailer

 
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Fri Sept 18 - Mon Sept 21
MAINE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL By-The-Sea
Four days of Maine-made and International films, both feature length and shorts, with talks by filmmakers, Special Edition of ImproVision, and more. 

Tues Sept 22 - Thurs Sept 24

IRRATIONAL MAN  (R)  97min   5:30 & 7:45

Veteran director Woody Allen's 50 th feature film is a comic drama.  Joaquin Phoenix stars as a morose and alcoholic but also brilliant philosophy professor who is being chased by two women at his new school.  Parker Posey plays another professor in an unhappy marriage and Emma Stone plays one of his much younger students with a serious infatuation.  A misguided and ill-advised decision with the goal of making the world a better place changes his perspective on life for the better which helps him discover how he really can make a difference.  trailer

 and

Tues Sept 22 - Thurs Sept 24

AMY  (R)  128min  6:00* & 8:30   (Wed 6pm screening pre-empted by THE REFLEKTOR TAPES)

This absorbing, restrained and honest film tells the story of Amy Winehouse, the gifted, talented British soul singer whose personal life was full of trouble.  With the participation of many of the young woman's friends and family, and with access to a trove of home video clips, director Asif Kapadia (Senna) has made a fascinating and intimate music documentary about the relationship between art, celebrity and addiction through the story of one of the biggest singing stars in British history whose light burned out too fast.  trailer

 plus

Wednesday Sept 23  ONE SHOW ONLY 6:00pm  (pre-empts the early AMY screening)

THE REFLEKTOR TAPES  (NR)  91min   6:00

BRAND NEW!  A fascinating insight into the making of Arcade Fire's international #1 album Reflektor, this film recontextualizes the album experience and the band's creative journey, transporting the viewer into a kaleidoscopic sonic and visual landscape. It includes, filmed only for cinema audiences, never before seen personal interviews and moments captured by the band, two members whose roots are on MDI.    One Show Only!  trailer

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Fri Sept 11
ASTRONAUT FARMER (PG) ~7pm (dusk) at Agamont Park outdoors

Part of Acadia Night Sky Festival.  Charles Farmer (Billy Bob Thornton), a rancher who once trained to be an astronaut, decides to fulfill a lifelong dream: He builds a rocket in his barn and plans to pilot it into space. Though he faces foreclosure on his ranch, the disbelief of his neighbors and threats from the government, Charles remains determined to reach for the stars.  Directed by Michael Polish and starring Billy Bob Thornton.  trailer

Sat Sept 12
GALAXY QUEST (PG)  102min   2pm  $5 admission 
Part of Acadia Night Sky Festival.  Decades after the success of the sci-fi series "Galaxy Quest" the show's washed up stars -- Jason Nesmith, Gwen DeMarco, and Alexander Dane -- are unwittingly recruited by actual aliens to pull off an intergalactic rescue mission.  Starring Justin Long, Sam Rockwell, Tim Allen, Alan Rickman, Rainn Wilson, Sigourney Weaver, and Tony Shaloub.  Great Fun!  trailer

Sun Sept 13
THE CITY DARK  (NR)  84min  2pm  Free
Partly filmed on MDI, as well as Hawaii, Paris, Chicago, Florida, and Brooklyn, this definitive story of light pollution and the disappearing stars from director Ian Cheney features stunning astro-photography and a cast of eclectic scientists, historians, and lighting designers to make sense of it all.  The Maine Chapter of the Sierra Club presents this film series for free to get people thinking about environmental issues.  trailer

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[Reel Pizza] Belated update Aug 28 - Sept 3

College Shopping!!!  GULP!!!  That is what I was consumed with last week.  SORRY I didn't get any update out. 

So tonight Monday is the last night for the delightful debut feature starring Mark Ruffalo and Zoe Saldana INFINITELY POLAR BEAR... plays at 6:00 and 8:15. Tomorrow Tuesday starts 3 days of the Israeli comedy-drama THE FAREWELL PARTY at 6:00 and 8:15.  And RICKI & THE FLASH starring Meryl Streep and her daughter Mamie Gummer is playing all this week at 5:30 and 8:00, and then continues all next week also, but at new times: 6:00 and 8:30.   The next thing I do is put together the schedule email for you... should be in your inbox within 1/2 hour.  And then the MIFF By-the-Sea Film Festival information hopefully by tomorrow.
-L

Fri Aug 28 - Thurs Sept 3
RICKI AND THE FLASH (PG-13) 102min  5:30 and 8:00
Marvelous again, Meryl Streep stars with her daughter Mamie Gummer as a hard-rocking singer-guitarist in LA who gave up everything for her career; now she has returned to Indiana due to a family emergency involving her daughter and is trying to reconnect with her family, without much success. Kevin Kline plays her gentle ex-husband and Audra McDonald his second wife. Rick Springfield plays a bandmate who'd rather be a boyfriend. Jonathan Demme (Stop Making Sense, Silence of the Lambs, Rachel Getting Married) directs a riveting story by screenwriter Diablo Cody (Juno).  trailer

Fri Aug 28 - Mon Aug 31
INFINITELY POLAR BEAR (R) 90min   6:00 and 8:15
The debut feature of director Maya Forbes is an authentic, eccentric semi-autobiographical film memoir about growing up in a bi-racial family with a bipolar dad. Mark Ruffalo (The Kids are All Right) stars in this episodic comedy drama as a man just recovered from a breakdown and in a halfway house who is trying to reconnect with his wife (Zoe Saldana) and two children. When she enrolls in graduate school in New York City, they decide he will move in and take care of the kids while she's away, leading to a series of quirky, funny and sometimes frightening experiences with his spirited, loving but also occasionally exasperated children.  trailer

Tues Sept 1 - Thurs Sept 3
THE FAREWELL PARTY (NR) 95min [in HEBREW with subtitles]   6:00 and 8:15
A group of friends, an inventor and prankster, a veterinarian, and a retired policeman, at a Jerusalem retirement home decide to help a terminally ill friend pass on his own terms and come up with an ingenious plan that sets him free of his pain without them getting caught for helping. But word quickly spreads out about their assistance and the requests for help start flowing in, leading them to a dilemma of life and death proportions. This moving, bittersweet and wryly comic depiction of life in old age, written and directed by Israeli filmmaker Sharon Maymon, is not as bleak as Michael Haenke's L'Amour, nor as sugary as the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.  trailer

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[Reel Pizza] update Aug 21 - 27

hi everyone
Been swimming in salt water lately?  Sure felt good today!  If you haven't had a chance to see Kathleen Frank's lovely paintings in our lobby, make sure to come in this week.  Her show is coming down Friday morning and new works will be going up. 

On Wednesday 8/19, the Seaside Cinema at Agamont Park co-sponsored with us by the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce and the Camden National Bank is an extra special presentation. Chris will be showing two silent short films, one by Buster Keaton and another from Harold Lloyd, both of which will be accompanied live with the fabulous Fletcher's Landing Philharmonic Orchestra.  Showtime is at dusk, should be a fabulous finale to a great summer series!  Bring a blanket, grab a complimentary popcorn and we'll see you there!

Below are the films with times for this coming week.  See you soon! 
-Lisa

Fri Aug 21 - Thurs Aug 27
TRAINWRECK (R) 122min  6:00 & 8:30
Promiscuous feminist comic Amy Schumer has written an incisive, raunchy and very funny modern romantic comedy in which she stars under the direction of Judd Apatow. Loosely autobiographical, it tells the story of an uninhibited magazine writer whose father taught her that monogamy isn't realistic, a creed that she still follows in her 30s, even though her sister is happily married. When she finds herself starting to fall for the subject of her latest article, a charming and successful sports doctor (Bill Hader) she starts wondering if other grown-ups aren't onto something. Colin Quinn, Brie Larson, Mike Birbiglia and basketball star LeBron James co-star.   trailer

Fri Aug 21 - Mon Aug 24
ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL (PG-13) 105min   5:30 & 8:00
Greg is an awkward HS senior who has one friend, Earl, though he would refer to him as a "co-worker" since all their time together is spent making odd small films with punny titles. When Greg's mom tells him about an ill classmate whom he hasn't spoken to in over a decade and insists that he go visit her he's certain she will think it's weird. But eventually they become friends, and decide to make a movie for her. This clever, truthful, very funny and delightful debut film of both director (Alfonso Gomez-Rejon) and screenwriter (Jesse Andrews, adapting his novel) won both the 2015 Sundance Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award and is not at all what you might expect.  trailer

Tues Aug 25 - Thurs Aug 27
TESTAMENT OF YOUTH (PG-13) 129min  5:30 & 8:00
This powerful story of love, war and remembrance is based on Vera Brittain's memoir of her time during WWI. Starring Alicia Vickander (Ex Machina, Anna Karenina), Vera is a strong-willed feminist who would rather attend Oxford than get married, until she meets her brother's friend (Kit Harrington, Game of Thrones) and then she wants both. But war with Germany breaks out and all the young men she knows enthusiastically go off to battle for what they think will be a short and sweet engagement; when the war drags on she decides she needs to be more useful than just studying, and becomes a nurse who goes to the front lines. This feature debut of TV and documentary director James Kent is a beautifully filmed and emotionally resonant film about the consequences of war.  trailer

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[Reel Pizza] correction

I tried to make August go faster than it really is....
Actually, WE BOUGHT  A ZOO is this Wednesday August 12th!
next Wednesday (August 19) is two silent short films with live accompaniment by the esteemed Fletcher's Landing Band.... more details on that next time...
-L

[Reel Pizza] update Aug 14 - 20

hey everyone!

Below is the upcoming week's schedule of films, now complete with times. 

Don't forget there's a Sierra Club Free Matinee, a screening of MERCHANTS OF DOUBT with discussion afterwards, this Sunday Aug 14 at 2pm. 

On Wednesday evening Aug 19, the Seaside Cinema feature over at Agamont Park will be WE BOUGHT A ZOO, starring Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson, directed by Cameron Crowe.  The film, brought to you by the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce and presented by Reel Pizza, will start at dusk (8-ish).  Complimentary popcorn from Camden National Bank.  Here's the trailer.  Don't forget to bring a blanket or 2!

See you soon!
-Lisa

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Fri 8/14 - Thurs 8/20    MR. HOLMES (PG) 105min   6:00 & 8:30
Fri 8/14 - Mon 8/17    MAGIC MIKE XXL (R) 130min   5:30 & 8:00
Tues 8/18 - Thurs 8/20    INSIDE OUT (PG) 102min BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!  5:30 & 7:45
Sunday 8/16    MERCHANTS OF DOUBT (PG-13) 96min  free  2:00pm

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Fri Aug 14 - Thurs Aug 20
MR. HOLMES (PG) 105min   6:00 & 8:30
Ian McKellen stars as the famous detective, now elderly and retired, living in a remote seaside farm with his housekeeper (Laura Linney) and her young son. He is trying to recall the unsolved case from decades ago that forced him into retirement, haunted that he got something wrong that needs to be corrected , but at his age, his mind isn't what it used to be. Based on the novel A Slight Trick of the Mind by Mitch Cullins, and directed by Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters, Kinsey) this is a well-acted, intelligent, riveting and gentle drama.   trailer

Fri Aug 14 - Mon Aug 17
MAGIC MIKE XXL (R) 130min   5:30 & 8:00
This upbeat, sweet and funny road trip sequel finds the Kings of Tampa back together for one last blow-out show The guys decide to reunite at the annual male entertainer convention in Myrtle Beach SC. On the way they make stops in Jacksonville and Savannah, meeting old friends and making new ones, learning some new moves and shaking off the past. Channing Tatum stars, with co-stars Jada Pinkett Smith, Andie MacDowell, Elizabeth Banks and Amber Heard. Longtime Steven Soderberg assistant director Gregory Jacobs directs, with the venerable director producing, doing the cinematography, and editing.  trailer

Tues Aug 18 - Thurs Aug 20
INSIDE OUT (PG) 102min   5:30 & 7:45
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND! The most recent film from venerable Pixar Studios tackles the emotions of growing up. Riley is a mess when she has to move with her family from her comfortable Midwest home to a new life in San Francisco. And the emotions that guide and advise her – Joy (Amy Poehler), Fear (Bill Hadar), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), and Sadness (Phyllis Smith), who all live in the control center of her mind - are also in turmoil, conflicting on how best to navigate a new town, home and school. Early word is this Pete Doctor-written and directed animation (Up) is one of Pixar's very best, inventive, magical, touching and very funny.   trailer

Sunday Aug 16th SIERRA CLUB SUMMER MATINEE SERIES
MERCHANTS OF DOUBT (PG-13) 96min  free  2:00pm
Inspired by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway's acclaimed book, this satirically comedic, illuminating and thought-provoking documentary explores the deceptive tactics used by large corporations to undermine public policy and sway public opinion by discrediting peer-reviewed, scientific studies with pundits-for-hire who present themselves as experts but are really just obfuscators. Filmmaker Robert Kenner (Food, Inc.) starts with big tobacco which for 50 years manipulated prevented regulation on smoking, moving into toxic chemicals from big pharma, and now these spin-meisters work to fight against climate change. The Maine Chapter of the Sierra Club presents these free films to get people thinking about important issues.  trailer

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[Reel Pizza] schedule Aug 14 - Sept 3

oh my, just realized this goes into the start of school!  But we won't think of that, just concentrate on enjoying these high summer days.  Wowzer!  Who's got red tomatoes?  Not me... yet...

We have another matinee in our Sierra Club Free Summer Series coming up on Sunday August 16th at 2pm; it's the excellent MERCHANTS OF DOUBT, that, if you missed when we showed it earlier this season, you should take advantage of this screening. 

Put this date on your calendars: September 18 - 21!  We are putting together the final touches on the programming for the 7th year of MIFF By-the-Sea, our specially curated film festival featuring the best films of the Maine International Film Festival that you, like we, missed running around crazy in the middle of July.  Looks like an excellent line-up of films from close to home to far afield, including the first local public screenings of COA faculty Nancy Andrews' THE STRANGE EYES OF DR MYES! 

We haven't booked the week-long films for this schedule, so no showtimes yet.  I'll have more info early next week.

See you soon!
-Lisa


Fri Aug 14 - Mon Aug 17
MAGIC MIKE XXL (R) 130min
This upbeat, sweet and funny road trip sequel finds the Kings of Tampa back together for one last blow-out show The guys decide to reunite at the annual male entertainer convention in Myrtle Beach SC. On the way they make stops in Jacksonville and Savannah, meeting old friends and making new ones, learning some new moves and shaking off the past. Channing Tatum stars, with co-stars Jada Pinkett Smith, Andie MacDowell, Elizabeth Banks and Amber Heard. Longtime Steven Soderberg assistant director Gregory Jacobs directs, with the venerable director producing, doing the cinematography, and editing.  trailer

Tues Aug 18 - Thurs Aug 20
INSIDE OUT (PG) 102min
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND! The most recent film from venerable Pixar Studios tackles the emotions of growing up. Riley is a mess when she has to move with her family from her comfortable Midwest home to a new life in San Francisco. And the emotions that guide and advise her – Joy (Amy Poehler), Fear (Bill Hadar), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), and Sadness (Phyllis Smith), who all live in the control center of her mind - are also in turmoil, conflicting on how best to navigate a new town, home and school. Early word is this Pete Doctor-written and directed animation (Up) is one of Pixar's very best, inventive, magical, touching and very funny.   trailer

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

Fri Aug 21 - Mon Aug 24
ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL (PG-13) 105min
Greg is an awkward HS senior who has one friend, Earl, though he would refer to him as a "co-worker" since all their time together is spent making odd small films with punny titles. When Greg's mom tells him about an ill classmate whom he hasn't spoken to in over a decade and insists that he go visit her he's certain she will think it's weird. But eventually they become friends, and decide to make a movie for her. This clever, truthful, very funny and delightful debut film of both director (Alfonso Gomez-Rejon) and screenwriter (Jesse Andrews, adapting his novel) won both the 2015 Sundance Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award and is not at all what you might expect.  trailer

Tues Aug 25 - Thurs Aug 27
TESTAMENT OF YOUTH (PG-13) 129min
This powerful story of love, war and remembrance is based on Vera Brittain's memoir of her time during WWI. Starring Alicia Vickander (Ex Machina, Anna Karenina), Vera is a strong-willed feminist who would rather attend Oxford than get married, until she meets her brother's friend (Kit Harrington, Game of Thrones) and then she wants both. But war with Germany breaks out and all the young men she knows enthusiastically go off to battle for what they think will be a short and sweet engagement; when the war drags on she decides she needs to be more useful than just studying, and becomes a nurse who goes to the front lines. This feature debut of TV and documentary director James Kent is a beautifully filmed and emotionally resonant film about the consequences of war.  trailer

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

Fri Aug 28 - Mon Aug 31
INFINITELY POLAR BEAR (R) 90min
The debut feature of director Maya Forbes is an authentic, eccentric semi-autobiographical film memoir about growing up in a bi-racial family with a bipolar dad. Mark Ruffalo (The Kids are All Right) stars in this episodic comedy drama as a man just recovered from a breakdown and in a halfway house who is trying to reconnect with his wife (Zoe Saldana) and two children. When she enrolls in graduate school in New York City, they decide he will move in and take care of the kids while she's away, leading to a series of quirky, funny and sometimes frightening experiences with his spirited, loving but also occasionally exasperated children.  trailer

Tues Sept 1 - Thurs Sept 3
THE FAREWELL PARTY (NR) 95min [in HEBREW with subtitles]
A group of friends, an inventor and prankster, a veterinarian, and a retired policeman, at a Jerusalem retirement home decide to help a terminally ill friend pass on his own terms and come up with an ingenious plan that sets him free of his pain without them getting caught for helping. But word quickly spreads out about their assistance and the requests for help start flowing in, leading them to a dilemma of life and death proportions. This moving, bittersweet and wryly comic depiction of life in old age, written and directed by Israeli filmmaker Sharon Maymon, is not as bleak as Michael Haenke's L'Amour, nor as sugary as the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.  trailer

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COMING SOON ON THE WEEK-LONG SCREEN:

TRAINWRECK (R) 122min
Promiscuous feminist comic Amy Schumer has written an incisive, raunchy and very funny modern romantic comedy in which she stars under the direction of Judd Apatow. Loosely autobiographical, it tells the story of an uninhibited magazine writer whose father taught her that monogamy isn't realistic, a creed that she still follows in her 30s, even though her sister is happily married. When she finds herself starting to fall for the subject of her latest article, a charming and successful sports doctor (Bill Hader) she starts wondering if other grown-ups aren't onto something. Colin Quinn, Brie Larson, Mike Birbiglia and basketball star LeBron James co-star.   trailer

RICKI AND THE FLASH (PG-13) 102min
Marvelous again, Meryl Streep stars with her daughter Mamie Gummer as a hard-rocking singer-guitarist in LA who gave up everything for her career; now she has returned to Indiana due to a family emergency involving her daughter and is trying to reconnect with her family, without much success. Kevin Kline plays her gentle ex-husband and Audra McDonald his second wife. Rick Springfield plays a bandmate who'd rather be a boyfriend. Jonathan Demme (Stop Making Sense, Silence of the Lambs, Rachel Getting Married) directs a riveting story by screenwriter Diablo Cody (Juno).  trailer

SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE (PG) 85min
Aardman Animation does it again with a charming, smart and very silly spinoff from a Wallace and Gromit story (A Close Shave) and subsequent TV show. Full of personality even though there is no dialogue, this delightful film follows Shaun as he decides to take a day off from Mossy Bottom Farm and have some fun, but ends up getting a little more action than he bargained for. Ending up in the Big City, Shaun and his buddies must find their way back safely to the green grass of home.   trailer

THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. (PG-13) 116min
At the height of the Cold War, a CIA agent (Henry Cavill, Man of Steel) and a KGB agent (Armie Hammer, The Social Network) must set aside their longstanding hostilities and team up on a joint mission to stop a mysterious criminal organization bent on destabilizing the fragile balance of power by proliferating nuclear weapons. Their only lead is the daughter of a vanished German scientist, the key to infiltrating the criminal organization, and they must race against time to find him to prevent worldwide catastrophe. Director Guy Ritchie (Sherlock Holmes, Snatch) also wrote the screenplay based on the popular 1960s TV show. Also starring Alicia Vikander, Jared Harris, and Hugh Grant.   trailer

MR. HOLMES (PG) 105min
Ian McKellen stars as the famous detective, now elderly and retired, living in a remote seaside farm with his housekeeper (Laura Linney) and her young son. He is trying to recall the unsolved case from decades ago that forced him into retirement, haunted that he got something wrong that needs to be corrected , but at his age, his mind isn't what it used to be. Based on the novel A Slight Trick of the Mind by Mitch Cullins, and directed by Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters, Kinsey) this is a well-acted, intelligent, riveting and gentle drama.   trailer

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Sunday Aug 16th SIERRA CLUB SUMMER MATINEE SERIES
MERCHANT OF DOUBT (PG-13) 96min  free  2pm
Inspired by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway's acclaimed book, this satirically comedic, illuminating and thought-provoking documentary explores the deceptive tactics used by large corporations to undermine public policy and sway public opinion by discrediting peer-reviewed, scientific studies with pundits-for-hire who present themselves as experts but are really just obfuscators. Filmmaker Robert Kenner (Food, Inc.) starts with big tobacco which for 50 years manipulated prevented regulation on smoking, moving into toxic chemicals from big pharma, and now these spin-meisters work to fight against climate change. The DownEast Maine Chapter of the Sierra Club presents these free films to get people thinking about important issues.  trailer

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COMING NEXT SCHEDULE?
MIFF By-the-Sea
Manhattan Short Film Festival
Meru
Irrational Man
The End of the Tour
The Look of Silence
Yes Men are Revolting
Amy
and more!
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