[Reel Pizza] Schedule March 1 - 21

We have come to the last three weeks of official winter.  Enjoy it while it lasts!

Here is the next schedule for Reel Pizza that runs March 1 - 21.  We have two special programs during this time: 

On Saturday afternoon March 9, we will host a fundraising matinee for the Maine Association of Certified Professional Midwives with a screening of BIRTHSTORY: Ina May Gaskin and the Farm Midwives.  This group is raising money to pay for the introduction of a bill to create licensing for their profession so that birthing center and homebirth can become a viable option for more families (both our kids were born at home).  The film is a historical documentary about this unique sisterhood gains strength from its use of home movies made by the women involved.  $10 admission. 

The Conners Emerson 8th graders are fundraising to take their class on a graduation trip and provide the after-commencement celebration.  They will have a Bingo/movie/Silent Auction afternoon on Sunday Mar 10 starting at 1:30.  They have secured a fabulous and extensive collection of donations by local businesses so you might want to stop in for an Easter gift or getting a head start on next Christmas at a bargain.  The movie is the third in a series featuring a trio of Pliocene-Quaternary glacial age friends (PG) at 2pm; $5 for the film.  The last time we had Bingo for a fundraiser, it was lots of fun and there will be prizes! You can also buy a raffle ticket for a new IPad; the drawing will be at 3:30 at the close of the silent auction.

We hope you will be able to support these worthy causes.

And here is our film schedule; first in brief as the first two weeks are confirmed on both sides.  The descriptions follow.  Sorry no kid movies.....just aren't any out there right at the moment. Keep busy with Jazz Band and Show Choir and One Acts (good luck everyone!), and Enjoy the sun!

-Lisa

ps You emailers probably don't care, but please note the printed, snail mail schedules are coming....just a little later this time due to a scheduling issue at the printers.  If you run into someone who is looking for it, please print them a copy of the pdf!  Thanks!

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Fri Mar 1 - Thurs Mar 7    SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK (R)  120min  5:30 and 8:00
Fri Mar 1 - Mon Mar 4    PROMISED LAND  (R)  110min  6:00 and 8:30
Tues Mar 5 - Thurs Mar 7    HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE  (NR) 120min 6:00 and 8:30

Fri Mar 8 - Thurs Mar 14    DJANGO UNCHAINED (R)  165min   5:00  and 8:30
Fri Mar 8 - Mon Mar 11    SMASHED (R)  85min  5:30 and 7:45
Tues Mar 12 - Thurs Mar 14    HAPPY PEOPLE  (NR)   94min  5:30 and 7:45

Fri Mar 15 - Thurs Mar 21    ??
Fri Mar 15 - Mon Mar 18    WUTHERING HEIGHTS  (R)  129min 
Tues Mar 19 - Thurs Mar 21     RUST AND BONE  (R)  122min

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Fri Mar 1 - Thurs Mar 7

SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK  (R)  120min  5:30 and 8:00

David O. Russell (The Fighter, I Heart Huckabees) has assembled an all Oscar-nominated cast and adapted the debut novel of author Matthew Quick into a screwy, quirky and crowd-pleasing romantic comedy.  Bradley Cooper (Hangover) is Pat, just released from some months in a mental institution after a domestic dispute gone awry, is now living at home with mom (Jackie Weaver, Animal Kingdom) and dad (Robert DeNiro) and hoping to get back together with his estranged wife.  When he meets mysterious Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence, The Hunger Games) a girl with her own issues, things get complicated. 

Fri Mar 1 - Mon Mar 4

PROMISED LAND  (R)  110min  6:00 and 8:30

Involving and affecting, this contemporary drama from director Gus Van Sant (Milk) explores the dangers and temptations of fracking in rural Pennsylvania as small town America faces economic stresses and decline.  Matt Damon and Frances McDormand are salespeople for a natural gas company sent to buy drilling rights from property owners.  He fully believes he is doing right for these hard up folks; she is a single mom just interested in the paycheck that supports her child.  Before they can close the deal, they are opposed by a respected retired teacher (Hal Holbrook) and a grassroots eco-warrior (John Krasinski).  This is America at the crossroads. 

Tues Mar 5 - Thurs Mar 7
HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE  (NR)  120min  6:00 and 8:30

This exceptional, Oscar-nominated portrait of grass-roots activism fed by rage, fear and determination, is the story of two coalitions whose innovative work turned AIDS from a death sentence in the early 1980s into a manageable condition with the development of combination therapies by the late 1990s. Beginning six years into the epidemic, when victims were still pariahs, award-winning journalist turned filmmaker David France uses broadcast news stories, and never-before-seen home movies (cam-corders were the era’s new technology) showing these groups using controversial actions to shame the pharmaceutical companies and policy makers to accelerate drug trials. 

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Fri Mar 8 - Thurs Mar 14
DJANGO UNCHAINED  (R)  165min  5:00  and 8:30

Quentin Tarantino directs….you need more info?  This time he has created a sprawling revenge thriller Western, set in the South just before the Civil War.  Oscar winner Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) returns to play a bounty hunter/dentist who buys a certain slave Django (Jamie Foxx) who can help him identify three wanted men.  In exchange he gives the black man his freedom.  But Django won’t be free until he is reunited with his wife (Kerry Washington) who has been sold to a notorious plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio) whose house slave (Samuel L. Jackson) might be more vicious than he.  It is violent, offensive, and completely over the top, and also funny and serious and totally entertaining. 

Fri Mar 8 - Mon Mar 11
SMASHED  (R)  85min  5:30 and 7:45

In this spirited, unsentimental and interesting dramady, Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim vs the World) stars as a young woman, an elementary school teacher, with a drinking problem.  Happily married to a trust fund-supported husband she enjoys their nights out drinking, but he can afford to spend his days hungover.  When her job is put in jeopardy, she makes a choice to try sobriety, and finds an understanding sponsor (Octavia Spencer, The Help).  But as her husband isn’t willing to take this journey with her, being sober isn’t nearly as easy as she would like and it calls into question her relationships with her family.  Young director and co-writer James Ponsoldt uses humor to temper this serious but not depressing, sharply written and interesting story.

Tues Mar 12 - Thurs Mar 14
HAPPY PEOPLE: A Year in the Taiga   (NR)  94min  [partly in Russian with subtitles]   5:30 and 7:45

Distinguished filmmaker Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man, Cave of Forgotten Dreams) takes yet another unforgettable journey into a remote and extreme natural landscape.  This visually stunning documentary explores the indigenous people living in the heart of the Taiga in Western Siberia, whose daily routines have barely changed over the last centuries.  Over four seasons, the film follows a trapper, telling the story of a culture virtually untouched by modernity.  The director used footage from co-director Dmitry Vasyukov’s 4 hour Russian TV documentary, creating an insightful and exquisite look at the cultural traditions of a remote, indigenous people. 

 
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Fri Mar 15 - Thurs Mar 21
WUTHERING HEIGHTS  (NR)  129min

This exciting and fresh take on Emily Brontë’s classic and only novel boldly revitalizes this epic love story of forbidden passion on the moors of rural Northern England. British director Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank) uses a cast of unknown actors, and gorgeously atmospheric naturalism and realism in her interpretation of the relationship between the orphaned boy Heathcliff, brought into the home of a benevolent Yorkshire farmer, and his daughter Catherine, as well as the quite different relationship between the boy and the man’s son Hindley.  As these three grow into adulthood, they must confront the intense feelings and rivalries that have grown over the years. 

Tues Mar 19 - Thurs Mar 21

RUST AND BONE  (R)  122min  [in French with subtitles]

This story of two disparate people who bring each other back to life features charismatic performances by Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts, and astute direction by Oscar-nominated director Jacques Audiard (Un Prophèt).  Based on short stories by Canadian Craig Davidson, homeless Ali has custody of his young son who he hardly knows, and is trying to make ends meet, while getting his sister to take care of his kid.  He gets a job as a bar bouncer, and one night he breaks up a fight started by radiant Marineland whale trainer Stephanie, and takes her home, leaving her his number.  When a tragic accident occurs to Stephanie, she desperately calls Ali. 

 

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COMING ON OUR SECOND SCREEN

SIDE EFFECTS  (R)  106min

Director Stephen Soderberg (sex, lies and videotape, Magic Mike) claims he is retiring and this is his final film, which would be a shame.  True or not, with this film he has made a clever elegant and provocative psychological thriller.  Emily (Rooney Mara, Girl with a Dragon Tattoo) and Martin (Channing Tatum) are a well-to-do New York couple who are trying to cope after Martin serves time for insider trading.  Emily’s increasing depression is being treated by her psychiatrist (Jude Law) but their worlds unravel after she is prescribed a new anti-anxiety drug that has unexpected results. 

 

IDENTITY THIEF   (R)  111min

Melissa McCarthy is a fearless and genius comedienne given her first starring role in this goofy, raunchy and funny comedy directed by Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses).  Her portrayal of Diana, a shopaholic who uses other people’s identities and credit to finance her sprees is brazen, and the latest target of her con is hapless account rep named Sandy Patterson (Jason Bateman).  He finds his world turned upside down, and has to hunt down this woman and get her back to Denver to get his identity back. 

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COMING NEXT SCHEDULE?
BEAUTIFUL CREATURES
AMOUR
QUARTET
WARM BODIES
JACK THE GIANT SLAYER
OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL
THE INCREDIBLE BURT WONDERSTONE
SAFE HAVEN

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[Reel Pizza] update Feb 22 - 28

hi
Its been a movie schedule week, and thus I am late in getting this out....are you used to this yet??  ...sorry....  The new schedule will be on its way to you soon.

Anyhow, big weekend ahead!  On this Sunday evening we will celebrate Oscah' Night with SFOA.  This year, comedian and filmmaker (and Oscar-nominated songwriter) Seth McFarlane is the TV host.  Festivities start at 6pm, wearing a costume put you in the running for some fabulous prizes (best dressed and best character), as does selecting the most winners on  your ballot.  Delicious hors d'oeuvres and complimentary champagne to tempt your palate (the RP Kitchen will be open as well)  It is always great fun.  Hope to see you here!

Please note that on Oscah' Sunday, our regular films will only be shown at 1pm matinees, with doors opening at 12:30pm. 

Also, the printed schedule says HYDE PARK plays thru Feb 24, which is wrong, it will play thru Monday Feb 25. 

And finally, the Senior matinee on Feb 28 will be ZERO DARK THIRTY at 1pm.

See you soon,
-Lisa

Here is the week's schedule:

Fri Feb 22 - Thurs Feb 28  ZERO DARK THIRTY  (R)  157min    5:00 and 8:30; Sun 1pm only
Fri Feb 22 - Mon Feb 25  HYDE PARK ON HUDSON  (R)  95min  5:30 and 7:45; Sun 1pm only
Tues Feb 26 - Thurs Feb 28  THE OTHER SON  (PG-13)  105min  [in French, Arabic and Hebrew with subtitles]  5:30 and 8:00

Fri Feb 22 - Thurs Feb 28 
ZERO DARK THIRTY  (R)  157min  5:00 and 8:30; Sun 1pm only
Director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal follow up their Oscar winner The Hurt Locker with this taut retelling of the decade-long search for Osama Bin Laden in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.  This riveting portrait follows CIA analyst Maya (Oscar-nominee Jennifer Chastain, The Help), a single-minded loner in a sea of dismissive colleagues, who persists in following a thin thread replete with dead-ends for many years even as the focus of the agency turns to other areas, to find the target.  In making this non-partisan and intense police procedural based on first-hand accounts the filmmakers take the viewer through a complicated mission with realistic, gripping and sobering force.

Fri Feb 22 - Mon Feb 25
HYDE PARK ON HUDSON  (R)  95min  5:30 and 7:45; Sun 1pm only
Bill Murray as FDR brings to life our 32nd president, a man who used his considerable charm to get his way in matters both personal and presidential.  This delightfully witty and intimate character study showcases the complicated domestic arrangements in the Roosevelt household over a pivotal weekend in summer 1939.  Narrated by his spinster distant cousin (Laura Linney), she relates how she was summonsed to “help him forget the weight of the world,” as the family, including his mother, wife Eleanor and personal secretary, prepares for the arrival of King George VI and his Queen to their home.  On their first visit to America, the British royals are seeking support for their impending war against Hitler.  Roger Michell (Persuasion) directs a screenplay by Richard Nelson based on the diaries left by cousin Dorothy after her death in 1991.  

Tues Feb 26 - Thurs Feb 28 
THE OTHER SON  (PG-13)  105min  [in French, Arabic and Hebrew with subtitles]  5:30 and 8:00
Moving and provocative, this tale of two young men who discover at age 18 that they were switched at birth is complicated by the fact that one is Palestinian and the other Israeli and their families are separated by a wall of barbed wire and generations of enmity.  Director Lorraine Levy navigates with enlightened reason the paths taken by these two men and their families as they deal with the repercussions of this news.  A strong cast, including Emmanuelle Devos (Read My Lips), Khalifa Natour (The Band’s Visit), Areen Omari (Laila’s Birthday), and Jules Sitruk (Son of Rambow) gives this touching film grace and decency.

[Reel Pizza] update Feb 15 - 21

E-greetings and Happy Valentine's Day to all....We love you!

Senior Matinee tomorrow (2/14) is THE IMPOSSIBLE at 1:30.  Next Thursday (2/21) it will be LES MISERABLES at 1pm. 

This weekend we have special programming on Sunday afternoon at 2pm...PEOPLE OF A FEATHER, a groundbreaking film about the relationship between the Inuit, eider ducks and hydro-electric power generation in northern Canada, and the screening will include introduction and discussion led by COA's WH Drury Professor of Natural History and Ecology, John Anderson.

Next week is Oscar weekend, and tickets for the Sunday (Feb 24) evening gala to showcase and benefit SFOA (MDI's Summer Festival of the Arts camp) are available now at our box office.  $15 for adults, $10 for kids; cash or check only.  Things start at 6pm with hors d'oeuvres and complimentary sparkling beverages, and the Oscar presentation hosted by Seth McFarlane begins at 8:30.  Come in costume for a chance to win prizes, in both best formal attire, and best film character categories.  Grand prize will be awarded for the person whose ballot most matches the actual winners of the evening.  You don't have to stay till the end to win or support SFOA (we understand its a "school night"!)  It is always lots of fun!

Below is the schedule for the next week.  Have a great February Break!  (if you are lucky enough to get one....)

-Lisa

Fri Feb 15 - Thurs Feb 21
LES MISÉRABLES  (PG-13)  158min  5:00 and 8:30
A grand cast fills this epic, visually splendid musical based on the long-running play by Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil and Herbert Kretzmer based on Victor Hugo’s massive saga of broken dreams, unrequited love, passion, sacrifice and redemption.  Director Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech) allowed his actors to actually sing their parts (no lip-synching), which brings a reality to their acting that adds immeasurably to the film.  Set in 19th century France Hugh Jackman is Jean Valjean, convict turned respectable business man who helps a dying Fantine (favored Oscar nominee Anne Hathaway) by promising to care for her child Cosette (Isabelle Allen then Amanda Seyfried) after she loses everything, even as he is constantly tormented by Russell Crowe’s jailer Javert.   It is an enthralling spectacle with fabulous performances.
 
Fri Feb 15 - Mon Feb 18
THIS IS 40  (R)  134min    5:30 and 8:15
Spinning off characters from his hit Knocked Up, director Judd Apatow (40 Year Old Virgin) explores hitting this significant milestone through the eyes of Pete and Debbie (Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann).  This perceptive, original and very funny comedy follows the trials, tribulations and mid-life crises of this family, including two daughters (played by Apatow’s two girls) and two grandfathers (Albert Brooks and John Lithgow).  Troubles in marriage, parenting, and finances due to his nearly bankrupt record label and a mysterious cash problem at her clothing boutique threaten their world.   Co-stars include Melissa McCarthy, Megan Fox, Lena Dunham, Chris O’Dowd, and Jason Segal; and be sure to stay through the hilarious closing credits. 

Tues Feb 19 - Thurs Feb 21
A CAT IN PARIS  (PG)  65min  5:30 and 7:00 and 8:30
One of last year’s unexpected Oscar nominees for Animated feature, this gorgeous, stylish and charming French escapade has been updated with English language dialog featuring voice-work by Marcia Gay Harden, Angelica Huston and Matthew Modine.  Dino is an elegant black cat who leads a double life.  By day, he curls up with young Zoe, a girl still traumatized by the death of her father; her mother is a police detective still searching for her husband’s killer.  By night, Dino travels with a small-time burglar across the Paris roof-tops, and often brings home a lizard to his young friend.  One night he returns with a diamond-studded necklace, quite a change from the usual; Zoe becomes curious of his nighttime activities and follows her feline friend but gets tangled up with a mean gangster and his band of bumbling thieves.  A thrilling acrobatic finale takes place on the peaks of Notre Dame Cathedral. 

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SPECIAL PROGRAMMING:

Sun Feb 17
PEOPLE OF A FEATHER  (NR)  90min  [partly in Inuktitut with subtitles]  2:00 matinee
Featuring groundbreaking footage from seven winters in the Arctic, biologist and filmmaker Joel Heath’s beautiful and award-winning documentary travels through time into the world of Inuit on the Belcher Islands in Hudson Bay. The indigenous population’s unique cultural relationship with the eider duck has been transformed by disruptions due to Canada’s massive hydroelectric dams that power eastern North America. Eider down, the warmest feather in the world, allows both Inuit and bird to survive harsh Arctic winters. Re-creations of the traditional life of one of the continent’s oldest civilizations are juxtaposed with modern life in Sanikiluaq, as both people and eiders face the challenges posed by changing sea ice, ocean currents and migration patterns. The eyes of a remote subsistence culture are in a fight for their survival and challenge the world to find energy solutions that work with the seasons of earth’s hydrological cycle.  John Anderson, COA's W.H. Drury Professor of Ecology/Natural History, will introduce and take questions after.
 
Sun Feb 24
OSCAH'NIGHT GALA  (NR)  6:00pm until the final award
Dust off your finery and come on in to benefit SFOA and have a fabulous soiree out on the town.  Enjoy displays and performances by SFOA students, delectable appetizers and dessert from local restaurants, complimentary glass of champagne, and the Academy Awards broadcast on the big screen. This year's national host is sure-to-be-funny comedian and filmmaker Seth McFarlane and the awards race is wide open.  Come in costume for a chance to win some great prizes, and don't forget to fill out your Oscar Ballot -- the Grand Prize is two tickets to Boston on Cape Air...perfect for a March get-away!  You don't have to stay till the end to support SFOA. 

[Reel Pizza] schedule Feb 8 - 28

Hi all

Here is the next schedule for Reel Pizza that takes us thru February.  Spring can't be too far behind!  We have two special programs for you this month, a film about the relationship between the Inuit, Eider Ducks and hydroelectric dams, and our annual OSCAH'NIGHT GALA that benefits local arts camp Summer Festival of the Arts, PLUS, as always, a selection of terrific films.  There are times included for the first two weeks.  Remember on Oscar Sunday we will not have evening film screenings, but both scheduled films will be shown as afternoon matinees; I will remind you again when we get closer to the day and we know both films playing.  Hope to see you soon.

-L & C

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2/8 - 2/14    THE IMPOSSIBLE  (PG-13)  114min  6:00 and 8:30
2/8 - 2/11    ANNA KARENINA  (R)  130min  5:30 and 8:15
2/12 - 2/14    A LATE QUARTET  (R)  105min  5:30 and 8:00

2/15 - 2/21    LES MISÉRABLES  (PG-13)  158min  5:00 and 8:30
2/15 - 2/18    THIS IS 40  (R)  134min    5:30 and 8:15
2/19 - 2/21    A CAT IN PARIS  (PG)  65min  5:30 and 7:00 and 8:30

2/22 - 2/28    ?
2/22 - 2/25    HYDE PARK ON HUDSON  (R)  95min
2/26 - 2/28    THE OTHER SON  (PG-13)  105min  [in French, Arabic and Hebrew with subtitles]

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SPECIAL PROGRAMMING:
Sun Feb 17

PEOPLE OF A FEATHER  (NR)  90min  [partly in Inuktitut with subtitles]  2:00 matinee

Featuring groundbreaking footage from seven winters in the Arctic, biologist and filmmaker Joel Heath’s beautiful and award-winning documentary travels through time into the world of Inuit on the Belcher Islands in Hudson Bay. The indigenous population’s unique cultural relationship with the eider duck has been transformed by disruptions due to Canada’s massive hydroelectric dams that power eastern North America. Eider down, the warmest feather in the world, allows both Inuit and bird to survive harsh Arctic winters. Re-creations of the traditional life of one of the continent’s oldest civilizations are juxtaposed with modern life in Sanikiluaq, as both people and eiders face the challenges posed by changing sea ice, ocean currents and migration patterns. The eyes of a remote subsistence culture are in a fight for their survival and challenge the world to find energy solutions that work with the seasons of earth’s hydrological cycle.  John Anderson, COA's W.H. Drury Professor of Ecology/Natural History, will introduce and take questions after.

 
Sun Feb 24

OSCAH'NIGHT GALA  (NR)  6:00pm until the final award
Dust off your finery and come on in to benefit SFOA and have a fabulous soiree out on the town.  Enjoy displays and performances by SFOA students, delectable appetizers and dessert from local restaurants, complimentary glass of champagne, and the Academy Awards broadcast on the big screen. This year's national host is sure-to-be-funny comedian and filmmaker Seth McFarlane and the awards race is wide open.  Come in costume for a chance to win some great prizes, and don't forget to fill out your Oscar Ballot -- the Grand Prize is two tickets to Boston on Cape Air...perfect for a March get-away!  You don't have to stay till the end to support SFOA. 

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

Fri Feb 8 - Thurs Feb 14

THE IMPOSSIBLE  (PG-13)  114min  6:00 and 8:30

Naomi Watts earned an Oscar nomination for her affecting portrayal of a woman caught with her family in the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami.  Based on a true story, Maria, her husband (Ewan McGregor) and their three sons are at a Thai beach resort enjoying the Christmas holiday when one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history strikes without warning.  Spanish director JA Bayona, in only his second film, vividly recreates the ferocity of the waves and their destruction in this intense and life-affirming tale of heroic endurance.  We will donate a portion of ticket sales from this film to the Rebecca Clark ’96 Memorial Scholarship in Marine Studies, honoring a COA friend researching sea turtles in the Indian Ocean that day who wasn’t as lucky.

Fri Feb 8 - Mon Feb 11

ANNA KARENINA  (R)  130min  5:30 and 8:15

This fresh and bold theatrical re-imagining of Tolstoy’s timeless classic reunites director Joe Wright and actress Kiera Knightly (Pride and Prejudice, Atonement).  Adapted by Tom Stoppard (Shakespeare in Love), this sumptuous and sweepingly romantic tragedy powerfully explores the capacity for love.  Temperamental Anna is married, unhappily, to virtuous government official Karenin (Jude Law) and has a young son she loves.  Her philandering brother (Matthew Macfayden) is married to Dotty (Kelly MacDonald); her younger sister Kitty (Alicia Vikander) is adored by her husband’s best friend Lewin (Domhnall Gleeson) but she is besotted with caddish Count Vronksy (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) who has, in turn, only eyes for Anna. 

 
Tues Feb 12 - Thurs Feb 14

A LATE QUARTET  (R)  105min  5:30 and 8:00

Four superb actors each give extraordinary performances in the feature debut of director Yaron Zilberman.  At the start of rehearsals for their 25 th anniversary concert, longtime and tightly knit members of a famed string quartet are upended when the eldest musician and leader (Christopher Walken) announces he must retire for health reasons.  This leaves a power struggle between first violinist (Mark Ivanir) and second violinist (Philip Seymour Hoffman) that is exacerbated when the violist (Catherine Keener) chooses the side of the first violist over her husband.  After years of collaboration and friendship, will this be the end?  Beethoven’s challenging late work, Quartet in C-sharp minor (Op. 131) performed by the Brentano String Quartet, is the integral musical piece to this film. 

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Fri Feb 15 - Thurs Feb 21

LES MISÉRABLES  (PG-13)  158min  5:00 and 8:30

A grand cast fills this epic, visually splendid musical based on the long-running play by Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil and Herbert Kretzmer based on Victor Hugo’s massive saga of broken dreams, unrequited love, passion, sacrifice and redemption.  Director Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech) allowed his actors to actually sing their parts (no lip-synching), which brings a reality to their acting that adds immeasurably to the film.  Set in 19 th century France Hugh Jackman is Jean Valjean, convict turned respectable business man who helps a dying Fantine (favored Oscar nominee Anne Hathaway) by promising to care for her child Cosette (Isabelle Allen then Amanda Seyfried) after she loses everything, even as he is constantly tormented by Russell Crowe’s jailer Javert.   It is an enthralling spectacle with fabulous performances.

 
Fri Feb 15 - Mon Feb 18

THIS IS 40  (R)  134min    5:30 and 8:15
Spinning off characters from his hit Knocked Up, director Judd Apatow (40 Year Old Virgin) explores hitting this significant milestone through the eyes of Pete and Debbie (Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann).  This perceptive, original and very funny comedy follows the trials, tribulations and mid-life crises of this family, including two daughters (played by Apatow’s two girls) and two grandfathers (Albert Brooks and John Lithgow).  Troubles in marriage, parenting, and finances due to his nearly bankrupt record label and a mysterious cash problem at her clothing boutique threaten their world.   Co-stars include Melissa McCarthy, Megan Fox, Lena Dunham, Chris O’Dowd, and Jason Segal; and be sure to stay through the hilarious closing credits. 

 
Tues Feb 19 - Thurs Feb 21

A CAT IN PARIS  (PG)  65min  5:30 and 7:00 and 8:30

One of last year’s unexpected Oscar nominees for Animated feature, this gorgeous, stylish and charming French escapade has been updated with English language dialog featuring voice-work by Marcia Gay Harden, Angelica Huston and Matthew Modine.  Dino is an elegant black cat who leads a double life.  By day, he curls up with young Zoe, a girl still traumatized by the death of her father; her mother is a police detective still searching for her husband’s killer.  By night, Dino travels with a small-time burglar across the Paris roof-tops, and often brings home a lizard to his young friend.  One night he returns with a diamond-studded necklace, quite a change from the usual; Zoe becomes curious of his nighttime activities and follows her feline friend but gets tangled up with a mean gangster and his band of bumbling thieves.  A thrilling acrobatic finale takes place on the peaks of Notre Dame

 

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Fri Feb 22 - Mon Feb 25

HYDE PARK ON HUDSON  (R)  95min

Bill Murray as FDR brings to life our 32nd president, a man who used his considerable charm to get his way in matters both personal and presidential.  This delightfully witty and intimate character study showcases the complicated domestic arrangements in the Roosevelt household over a pivotal weekend in summer 1939.  Narrated by his spinster distant cousin (Laura Linney), she relates how she was summonsed to “help him forget the weight of the world,” as the family, including his mother, wife Eleanor and personal secretary, prepares for the arrival of King George VI and his Queen to their home.  On their first visit to America, the British royals are seeking support for their impending war against Hitler.  Roger Michell (Persuasion) directs a screenplay by Richard Nelson based on the diaries left by cousin Dorothy after her death in 1991.  

 
Tues Feb 26 - Thurs Feb 28

THE OTHER SON  (PG-13)  105min  [in French, Arabic and Hebrew with subtitles]

Moving and provocative, this tale of two young men who discover at age 18 that they were switched at birth is complicated by the fact that one is Palestinian and the other Israeli and their families are separated by a wall of barbed wire and generations of enmity.  Director Lorraine Levy navigates with enlightened reason the paths taken by these two men and their families as they deal with the repercussions of this news.  A strong cast, including Emmanuelle Devos (Read My Lips), Khalifa Natour (The Band’s Visit), Areen Omari (Laila’s Birthday), and Jules Sitruk (Son of Rambow) gives this touching film grace and decency.

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COMING  ON OUR SECOND SCREEN?

DJANGO UNCHAINED  (R)  165min

Quentin Tarantino directs….you need more info?  This time he has created a sprawling revenge thriller Western, set in the South just before the Civil War.  Oscar winner Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) returns to play a bounty hunter/dentist who buys a certain slave Django (Jamie Foxx) who can help him identify three wanted men.  In exchange he gives the black man his freedom.  But Django won’t be free until he is reunited with his wife (Kerry Washington) who has been sold to a notorious plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio) whose house slave (Samuel L. Jackson) might be more vicious than he.  It is violent, offensive, and completely over the top, and also funny and serious and totally entertaining. 

 

ZERO DARK THIRTY  (R)  157min 

Director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal follow up their Oscar winner The Hurt Locker with this taut retelling of the decade-long search for Osama Bin Laden in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.  This riveting portrait follows CIA analyst Maya (Oscar-nominee Jennifer Chastain, The Help), a single-minded loner in a sea of dismissive colleagues, who persists in following a thin thread replete with dead-ends for many years even as the focus of the agency turns to other areas, to find the target.  In making this non-partisan and intense police procedural based on first-hand accounts the filmmakers take the viewer through a complicated mission with realistic, gripping and sobering force.

 

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COMING NEXT SCHEDULE?
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
WUTHERING HEIGHTS
BEAUTIFUL CREATURES
AMOUR
QUARTET
RUST AND BONE
PROMISED LAND
SIDE EFFECTS

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[Reel Pizza] correction thru Feb 7

same initials, different men.....sorry to both.
-L

Next week (2/7) it is LINCOLN at 1:00. 
There will also be a special matinee of LINCOLN over the weekend sponsored by Acadia Senior College on Sat 2/2 at 1:00 and will include discussion led by Lincoln enthusiast Nat Fenton.  Regular prices apply to this weekend screening. 

[Reel Pizza] update thru Feb 7

Hi Everyone

Oops, just realized that I missed last week's update...between the two silent film events we were involved with (both fabulous, by the way!), and Monday holiday and Friday no school and our first bout of final exams, we were distracted!  Looking at our ticket records, it seems that many have been aware of our weekend events and films!  We continue LIFE OF PI this week; also thru Thursday we will be screening the amazing, beautiful and sobering documentary about our earth's melting glaciers CHASING ICE (PG-13 rated for language...) at 6:00 and 7:45....SORRY for any inconvenience my lack of attendance caused.
 
The Senior Matinee this week (1/31) is LIFE OF PI at 1:30.

Next week (2/7) it is LINCOLN at 1:00. 
There will also be a special matinee of LINCOLN over the weekend sponsored by Acadia Senior College on Sat 2/2 at 1:00 and will include discussion led by Lincoln enthusiast Ned Ferm.  Regular prices apply to this weekend screening. 

Also on Saturday 2/2 starting at 2pm in the adjacent auditorium, we will be screening DOWNEAST, a documentary from Maine=based filmmakers Ashley Sabin and David Redmon (Girl Model, a recent MIFF film) about the transition at the Stinson Cannery in Prospect Harbor from a sardine packing facility to a lobster processor. 

Our weekend film is the OSCAR NOMINATED SHORT FILMS collections, and is one of the strongest programs in terms of quality in years.  We will be showing the animated group at 5:30.  Please note that this year this animated program is entirely family friendly, and will contain the five nominated films and several honorable mentions.  The live action program will start at 7:30.  And the mid-week selection is HOLY MOTORS, a mesmerizing, critically acclaimed and visually splendid cinematic experience that cineastes will not want to miss. 

We look forward to seeing you here, and out on the ice, since we can finally skate and ice fish...HURRAY!

-Lisa

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thru 1/31
LIFE OF PI  (PG)  127min   5:30 and 8:00
CHASING ICE  (PG-13)  74min   6:00 and 7:45

Sat 2/2  Special Matinees
LINCOLN  (PG-13)  149min 1:00  in association with Acadia Senior College
DOWNEAST (NR)  77min  2:00

2/1 - 2/7  LINCOLN  (PG-13)  149min  5:00 and 8:00
2/1 - 2/4  OSCAR-NOMINATED SHORT FILMS   (NR)  animated 88min 5:30; live-action 114min 7:30
2/5 - 2/7  HOLY MOTORS  (NR)  115min  [partly in FRENCH with subtitles] 5:30 and 8:15


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Fri Jan 25 - Thurs Jan 31
LIFE OF PI  (PG)  127min   5:30 and 8:00
This spellbinding, epic survival tale from director Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain) begins with a middle-aged Canadian man (Irrfan Khan) telling his immigration story to a writer.  As a youth in Pondicherry, India, Pi Patel (Suraj Sharma), a spiritual boy who lives with his secular family and their small zoo of exotic animals.  Moving to Canada with his family and their animals, the ship goes down; Pi survives, with only a Royal Bengal tiger as his companion in a lifeboat.  The visually splendid, emotionally satisfying, altogether amazing adventure story, based on the novel by Yann Martel, tells of his 227 days spent with a carnivorous tiger at sea.  Eleven Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Score and Best Song.

Tues Jan 29 - Thurs Jan 31
CHASING ICE  (PG-13)  74min   6:00 and 7:45
Spurred by an assignment for National Geographic to visually depict climate change, acclaimed photographer James Balog, a global warming skeptic, set out to photograph melting glaciers, and in the process became a believer.  First-time filmmaker Jeff Orlowski documents the challenges and successes of Balog’s Extreme Ice Survey of glaciers in Alaska, Greenland, Iceland and Montana.  Using time lapse photography, Balog has captured a multi-year record of the eye-opening changes in these massive sheets of ice with harrowing, exquisitely beautiful and remarkably sobering images.  Oscar nominated for Best Song.

Fri Feb 1 - Thurs Feb 7, also special matinee w. Acadia Senior College Sat Feb 2, 1:00pm
LINCOLN  (PG-13)  149min  5:00 and 8:00
Taking its inspiration from historian Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book Team of Rivals director Stephen Spielberg, screenwriter Tony Kushner (Munich, Angels in America), and actor Daniel Day-Lewis collaborate on this dramatic and powerful historical drama.  Set during the final four months of the Civil War, of Lincoln’s presidency and his life, it brings to life the president’s determination at the tumultuous beginning of his second term to pass the thirteenth amendment (abolishing slavery) before the end of the war, so as to make this change permanent in the country.  Tommy Lee Jones gives a memorable performance as abolitionist and Congressman Thaddeus Stevens.  Twelve Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Director, Actor (2) for Day-Lewis and Jones, Actress for Sally Field, Adapted Screenplay, Costumes, Cinematography and Score.

Fri Feb 1 - Mon Feb 4
OSCAR-NOMINATED SHORT FILMS   (NR)  animated 88min 5:30; live-action 114min 7:30
After qualifying, based on festival honors and commercial runs, the Academy has narrowed the field to five each in both the live-action category and the animated category. The animation choices, including a Maggie Simpson short and a couple of honorable mentions to round out the program, are all completely family friendly and considered one of the best programs in years. In the Live Action category, strong stories from Afghanistan, Somalia, France, US and Canada, are about aging, babysitting, choosing a career, winning a polo match and cheating Death. We will show the animated collection early and the live-action after. Two separate admissions.  Obviously all Oscar-nominated....

Tues Feb 5 - Thurs Feb 7
HOLY MOTORS  (NR)  115min  [partly in FRENCH with subtitles]   5:30 and 8:15
Stretch yourself by experiencing this wondrous, beautiful cinematic adventure from French director Leos Carax.  This inventive, episodic ride, a tribute to the power of cinema, is a mesmerizing and unforgettable visual feast.   Transformative actor Denis Lavant (Lovers on the Bridge) plays many different roles over the course of this film.   He begins as Monsieur Oscar, a well-dressed business man who is picked up at his house by a limousine driven by a slender blonde chauffeur (Edith Scob). Each time he enters the limo as it drives around Paris, he is given a new assignment and emerges a different character: a tycoon, a gypsy beggar, a ninja warrior, a sewer troll.  Eva Mendes and Australian pop star Kylie Minogue “costar.”

Saturday Feb 2 
DOWNEAST (NR)  77min   2:00pm
An experiential story that unfolds over the course of two years in nearby Prospect Harbor, this intimate film from directors Ashley Sabin and David Redmon (Girl Model) observes the closing of the last remaining sardine cannery in the US and after, when Boston-based entrepreneur Antonio Bussone purchases the plant, hoping to re-build a lobster processing facility and rehire the laid-off, older sardine workers. His troubles begin day one as local politicians oppose his vision of rebuilding the factory. Undeterred, Antonio moves forward.

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