Transcript

sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday

camosun.ca/ce

Continuing your education.

Smart.

July - Sept 2009Admission Prices(GST included)

24-hour Info Line: 250-721-8365

Manager: Michael RyanProgrammer: Michael Hoppe

Design: Joey MacDonald

We’re at UVicUniversity of Victoria Students’ Society, conceived as an inexpensive alternative for students, the University community and the public. The theatre is in the Student Union Building at UVic. The following buses come to UVic: 4, 7, 11, 14, 26, 39, 51. Please note: the university charges

on Saturdays. Parking remains free on Sundays

Tickets and memberships go on sale 40 minutes before showtime. Please arrive early to avoid disappointment.

where noted. Films are 35mm prints unless other-wise indicated.

UVSS StudentsSeniors, Children (12 & under)Other StudentsCinemagic Members

and guests (1 only) of aboveNon-members

$5.25$5.25$6.00$6.00

$6.00$7.25

and holidays.

TEN FILM DISCOUNT PASSStudents, Seniors

(Unavailable to non-members.)

$45.00$52.50

Matinees will return mid-September

$6.00

250-721-8364

DAILY SHOW INFO: 250-721-8365www.cinecenta.com

JULY 27 & 28 (6:45 & 9:10)

SSTTAATTEE OOFF PPLLAAYYKevin MacDonald (USA, 2009, 127 mins; PG)

Cast: Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, RobinWright Penn, Jason Bateman, Jeff Daniels, and Helen Mirren

“A CRACKERJACK POLITICAL THRILLER!” –Baltimore Sun

“AN INTELLIGENT ADULT THRILLER ABOUT THE DEATH OFNEWSPAPERS.” –Salon.com

����! State of Play borrows from several sources besides the2003 British miniseries it’s based on, including All the President’sMen and The Wire. It stars Russell Crowe as an old-school reporterwho teams up with newbie blogger Rachel McAdams to find outwho killed the mistress of a congressman who was also his collegeroommate (Ben Affleck). Director Macdonald breaks no new sus-pense-flick ground: dark shadows, dangerous parking lot, ominousmusic, check. But the writers, including current master of malfea-sance Tony Gilroy, and the set designer clearly know newspapers,down to the squalid workstations and ancient computers. Detailslike these, along with the editing, which is quick-paced withoutbeing frenetic, and the strong cast raise the game of an otherwisestraightforward thriller. — Now Magazine

JULY 29 & 30 (6:45 & 9:15)

DDEEPPAARRTTUURREESSDirector: Yojiro Takita (Japan, 2008, 131 mins; Japanese with subtitles; rated G)

ACADEMY AWARD WINNER! BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM!

����! A jobless classical musician takes job in “encoffinment,” the Japanese ritual preparation of the dead. The film is lovely,moving and wise, and the actors embody their roles—the young man, his fond wife, his wise boss, and the boss’s encouraging, qui-etly sad assistant. –Roger Ebert

The brainchild of its leading actor,onetime boy-band member MasahiroMotoki, Departures turns out to be adelightful surprise, at once an engag-ing dramedy and an eloquent socialstatement. The stylized ceremonies— all performed with grieving rela-tives in attendance — turn out torequire nearly as much delicacy asplaying a cello. The rituals have a realbeauty to them. This lovely, senti-mental film will absolutely delight theart-house crowd. Multiplexes will becrowded with noisy summer films,from which Departures will representa sophisticated and elegant depar-ture. —NPR

AUG 2, 3, 4 (7:00 only)

eeaarrtthhAlastair Fothergill & Mark Linfield (UK/Germany, 2009, 90 minutes; rated G) narrated by James Earl Jones

“GORGEOUSLY PHOTOGRAPHED!” –Washington Post

“IT SHOULDN’T BE MISSED.” –Los Angeles Times

“THE SPECTACLE IS STIRRING.” –The Wall Street Journal

“A RAVISHING DISTILLATION OF THE SERIES ‘PLANET EARTH’” –Variety

With its cozy references to animal ‘’moms’‘ and ‘’dads’‘ and its delicate avoidance of disturbing imagery in the depiction oflife and death in the wild, this super-duper deluxe nature documentary (the first title from the new Disneynature label ofenvironmentally conscious crowd-pleasers) clearly aims to recruit young viewers as conservationists. The pitch works foradults, too. Earth, a showpiece from the BBC team that made Planet Earth, is spectacularly photographed, gracefully edit-ed, and effectively matter-of-fact in demonstrating the effects of climate change. James Earl Jones narrates with the author-ity of Adam naming the animals. –Entertainment Weekly

AUG 5 & 6 (7:00 & 9:15)TTOOKKYYOO!!Directors: Michel Gondry, Leos Carax, Bong Joon-ho(France/Japan/South Korea, 2008, 112 mins; Japanese with subtitles)

“A STRANGE, DIVERTING PLEASURE.” –Philadelphia Inquirer

“A fun jaunt around the city by three leading directors?Now there’s a bargain.” –Los Angeles Times

Gathering a bunch of top-flight directors to make a collectionof shorts around a specific place is a blockbuster idea. Butpulling together disparate shorts is an experiment that rarelyworks as well as it does in Tokyo! The opening piece of thetriptych of films all set in Tokyo, is by director Michel Gondry(Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). In his story, a youngcouple (Ayako Fujitani & Ryo Kase) move to Tokyo and crash ina friend’s postage stamp-size studio. The second story, byFrench filmmaker Leos Carax, is even more fantastical: it cen-ters on a grotesque figure emerging from the Tokyo sewers andcausing havoc. It satirizes immigration fears, terrorism, Frenchlawyers - while remaining defiantly absurd. The third story byBong Joon-ho makes a fable out of the life of a Tokyo shut-inor hikikomori, played by Teruyuki Kagawa. The overall project succeeds at offering three tantalizing filmsfor the price of one movie ticket. That’s value. —San Francisco Chronicle

JULY 26 (7:10 only)

AADDOORRAATTIIOONNAtom Egoyan (Canada, 2008, 101 mins; PG)ECUMENICAL JURY PRIZE WINNER!

—Cannes Film Festival, 2008In this profound and provocative exploration of cultural inher-itance, communications technology and the roots and morali-ty of terrorism, Atom Egoyan nimbly wades into an ideologicalminefield without detonating an explosion. Its story of a highschool class assignment that becomes a minor cause célèbreis a rigorously structured variant of the everything-is-connect-ed-to-everything school of filmmaking that has producedmovies like “Babel” and “Crash.” But unlike those movies“Adoration,” Mr. Egoyan’s finest film since “The SweetHereafter” (1997), doesn’t strain to maintain a pretense ofnaturalism. In every scene you feel the controlling hand of Mr.Egoyan who wrote, produced and directed it. — The New YorkTimes

AUG 7 & 8 (7:10 & 9:25)

TTEERRMMIINNAATTOORR SSAALLVVAATTIIOONNDirector: McG (USA, 2009, 115 mins; 14A – frequent violence) Cast: Christian Bale, Anton Yelchin, SamWorthington, Bryce Dallas Howard, Common,Jadagrace, Moon Bloodgood, and HelenaBonham Carter

Judgment Day has come and gone. The artificialintelligence network Skynet controls the army ofTerminators that roam the post-apocalyptic land-scape, killing or collecting humans where theyhide in the desolate cities and deserts. Only oneman saw Judgment Day coming. One man, whosedestiny has always been intertwined with the fateof human existence: John Connor. Now the worldis on the brink of the future that Connor has beenwarned about all his life. But something totallynew has shaken his belief that humanity stands achance of winning this war: the appearance ofMarcus Wright, a stranger from the past whoselast memory is of being on death row beforeawakening in this strange, new world. —WarnerBros. Pictures

JULY 31 & AUG 1 (7:10 & 9:20)

XX--MMEENN OORRIIGGIINNSS:: WWOOLLVVEERRIINNEEDirector: Gavin Hood (Australia/USA/Canada, 2009, 108 mins; 14A – violence) Cast: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, RyanReynolds, Taylor Kitsch, Will.i.am, DannyHuston, Dominic Monaghan, and Daniel Henney

Hugh Jackman reprises the role that made him asuperstar - as the fierce fighting machine whopossesses amazing healing powers, retractableclaws and a primal fury. Leading up to the eventsof X-Men, X-Men Origins: Wolverine tells thestory of Wolverine’s epically violent and romanticpast, his complex relationship with Victor Creed,and the ominous Weapon X program. Along theway, Wolverine encounters many mutants, bothfamiliar and new, including surprise appearancesby several legends of the X-Men universe whoseappearances in the film series have long beenanticipated. —20th Century Fox

sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday

camosun.ca/ce

Continuing your education.

Smart.

July - Sept 2009Admission Prices(GST included)

24-hour Info Line: 250-721-8365

Manager: Michael RyanProgrammer: Michael Hoppe

Design: Joey MacDonald

We’re at UVicUniversity of Victoria Students’ Society, conceived as an inexpensive alternative for students, the University community and the public. The theatre is in the Student Union Building at UVic. The following buses come to UVic: 4, 7, 11, 14, 26, 39, 51. Please note: the university charges

on Saturdays. Parking remains free on Sundays

Tickets and memberships go on sale 40 minutes before showtime. Please arrive early to avoid disappointment.

where noted. Films are 35mm prints unless other-wise indicated.

UVSS StudentsSeniors, Children (12 & under)Other StudentsCinemagic Members

and guests (1 only) of aboveNon-members

$5.25$5.25$6.00$6.00

$6.00$7.25

and holidays.

TEN FILM DISCOUNT PASSStudents, Seniors

(Unavailable to non-members.)

$45.00$52.50

Matinees will return mid-September

$6.00

250-721-8364

DAILY SHOW INFO: 250-721-8365www.cinecenta.com

JULY 27 & 28 (6:45 & 9:10)

SSTTAATTEE OOFF PPLLAAYYKevin MacDonald (USA, 2009, 127 mins; PG)

Cast: Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, RobinWright Penn, Jason Bateman, Jeff Daniels, and Helen Mirren

“A CRACKERJACK POLITICAL THRILLER!” –Baltimore Sun

“AN INTELLIGENT ADULT THRILLER ABOUT THE DEATH OFNEWSPAPERS.” –Salon.com

����! State of Play borrows from several sources besides the2003 British miniseries it’s based on, including All the President’sMen and The Wire. It stars Russell Crowe as an old-school reporterwho teams up with newbie blogger Rachel McAdams to find outwho killed the mistress of a congressman who was also his collegeroommate (Ben Affleck). Director Macdonald breaks no new sus-pense-flick ground: dark shadows, dangerous parking lot, ominousmusic, check. But the writers, including current master of malfea-sance Tony Gilroy, and the set designer clearly know newspapers,down to the squalid workstations and ancient computers. Detailslike these, along with the editing, which is quick-paced withoutbeing frenetic, and the strong cast raise the game of an otherwisestraightforward thriller. — Now Magazine

JULY 29 & 30 (6:45 & 9:15)

DDEEPPAARRTTUURREESSDirector: Yojiro Takita (Japan, 2008, 131 mins; Japanese with subtitles; rated G)

ACADEMY AWARD WINNER! BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM!

����! A jobless classical musician takes job in “encoffinment,” the Japanese ritual preparation of the dead. The film is lovely,moving and wise, and the actors embody their roles—the young man, his fond wife, his wise boss, and the boss’s encouraging, qui-etly sad assistant. –Roger Ebert

The brainchild of its leading actor,onetime boy-band member MasahiroMotoki, Departures turns out to be adelightful surprise, at once an engag-ing dramedy and an eloquent socialstatement. The stylized ceremonies— all performed with grieving rela-tives in attendance — turn out torequire nearly as much delicacy asplaying a cello. The rituals have a realbeauty to them. This lovely, senti-mental film will absolutely delight theart-house crowd. Multiplexes will becrowded with noisy summer films,from which Departures will representa sophisticated and elegant depar-ture. —NPR

AUG 2, 3, 4 (7:00 only)

eeaarrtthhAlastair Fothergill & Mark Linfield (UK/Germany, 2009, 90 minutes; rated G) narrated by James Earl Jones

“GORGEOUSLY PHOTOGRAPHED!” –Washington Post

“IT SHOULDN’T BE MISSED.” –Los Angeles Times

“THE SPECTACLE IS STIRRING.” –The Wall Street Journal

“A RAVISHING DISTILLATION OF THE SERIES ‘PLANET EARTH’” –Variety

With its cozy references to animal ‘’moms’‘ and ‘’dads’‘ and its delicate avoidance of disturbing imagery in the depiction oflife and death in the wild, this super-duper deluxe nature documentary (the first title from the new Disneynature label ofenvironmentally conscious crowd-pleasers) clearly aims to recruit young viewers as conservationists. The pitch works foradults, too. Earth, a showpiece from the BBC team that made Planet Earth, is spectacularly photographed, gracefully edit-ed, and effectively matter-of-fact in demonstrating the effects of climate change. James Earl Jones narrates with the author-ity of Adam naming the animals. –Entertainment Weekly

AUG 5 & 6 (7:00 & 9:15)TTOOKKYYOO!!Directors: Michel Gondry, Leos Carax, Bong Joon-ho(France/Japan/South Korea, 2008, 112 mins; Japanese with subtitles)

“A STRANGE, DIVERTING PLEASURE.” –Philadelphia Inquirer

“A fun jaunt around the city by three leading directors?Now there’s a bargain.” –Los Angeles Times

Gathering a bunch of top-flight directors to make a collectionof shorts around a specific place is a blockbuster idea. Butpulling together disparate shorts is an experiment that rarelyworks as well as it does in Tokyo! The opening piece of thetriptych of films all set in Tokyo, is by director Michel Gondry(Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). In his story, a youngcouple (Ayako Fujitani & Ryo Kase) move to Tokyo and crash ina friend’s postage stamp-size studio. The second story, byFrench filmmaker Leos Carax, is even more fantastical: it cen-ters on a grotesque figure emerging from the Tokyo sewers andcausing havoc. It satirizes immigration fears, terrorism, Frenchlawyers - while remaining defiantly absurd. The third story byBong Joon-ho makes a fable out of the life of a Tokyo shut-inor hikikomori, played by Teruyuki Kagawa. The overall project succeeds at offering three tantalizing filmsfor the price of one movie ticket. That’s value. —San Francisco Chronicle

JULY 26 (7:10 only)

AADDOORRAATTIIOONNAtom Egoyan (Canada, 2008, 101 mins; PG)ECUMENICAL JURY PRIZE WINNER!

—Cannes Film Festival, 2008In this profound and provocative exploration of cultural inher-itance, communications technology and the roots and morali-ty of terrorism, Atom Egoyan nimbly wades into an ideologicalminefield without detonating an explosion. Its story of a highschool class assignment that becomes a minor cause célèbreis a rigorously structured variant of the everything-is-connect-ed-to-everything school of filmmaking that has producedmovies like “Babel” and “Crash.” But unlike those movies“Adoration,” Mr. Egoyan’s finest film since “The SweetHereafter” (1997), doesn’t strain to maintain a pretense ofnaturalism. In every scene you feel the controlling hand of Mr.Egoyan who wrote, produced and directed it. — The New YorkTimes

AUG 7 & 8 (7:10 & 9:25)

TTEERRMMIINNAATTOORR SSAALLVVAATTIIOONNDirector: McG (USA, 2009, 115 mins; 14A – frequent violence) Cast: Christian Bale, Anton Yelchin, SamWorthington, Bryce Dallas Howard, Common,Jadagrace, Moon Bloodgood, and HelenaBonham Carter

Judgment Day has come and gone. The artificialintelligence network Skynet controls the army ofTerminators that roam the post-apocalyptic land-scape, killing or collecting humans where theyhide in the desolate cities and deserts. Only oneman saw Judgment Day coming. One man, whosedestiny has always been intertwined with the fateof human existence: John Connor. Now the worldis on the brink of the future that Connor has beenwarned about all his life. But something totallynew has shaken his belief that humanity stands achance of winning this war: the appearance ofMarcus Wright, a stranger from the past whoselast memory is of being on death row beforeawakening in this strange, new world. —WarnerBros. Pictures

JULY 31 & AUG 1 (7:10 & 9:20)

XX--MMEENN OORRIIGGIINNSS:: WWOOLLVVEERRIINNEEDirector: Gavin Hood (Australia/USA/Canada, 2009, 108 mins; 14A – violence) Cast: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, RyanReynolds, Taylor Kitsch, Will.i.am, DannyHuston, Dominic Monaghan, and Daniel Henney

Hugh Jackman reprises the role that made him asuperstar - as the fierce fighting machine whopossesses amazing healing powers, retractableclaws and a primal fury. Leading up to the eventsof X-Men, X-Men Origins: Wolverine tells thestory of Wolverine’s epically violent and romanticpast, his complex relationship with Victor Creed,and the ominous Weapon X program. Along theway, Wolverine encounters many mutants, bothfamiliar and new, including surprise appearancesby several legends of the X-Men universe whoseappearances in the film series have long beenanticipated. —20th Century Fox

sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturdayAUG 9 & 10 (7:00 only)

LLEEMMOONN TTRREEEEDirector: Eran Riklis (Israel, 2008, 106 mins; Arabic & Hebrew with subtitles; rated G)

“����!”–Now Magazine

“A RICHLY-LAYERED FEMINISTALLEGORY AS WELL AS AGEOPOLITICAL ONE.”–The New York Times

In this optimistic Middle Easternfilm, a lawyer who is defending aPalestinian widow and her lemongrove against incursions by anIsraeli defence minister tells themedia to remember the story ofDavid and Goliath. But this film byIsraeli director Eran Riklis oftenrefuses to adhere to the formula,sometimes offering a tantalizingambiguity. The remarkable HiamAbbass, the Palestinian actresswho has played a series of restricted Moslem woman discovering themselves (The Syrian Bride, Satin Rouge) attains a mem-orable stillness and grace here as Salma, the Palestinian widow who ekes out a living from the West Bank lemon grove left to herby her father. When Israel’s charming new defence minister (Doron Tavory) moves into suburban elegance next door, the securi-ty service determines the lemon trees offer potential cover for terrorists and must be cut down. So Salma gets herself a lawyer(Ali Suliman) and fights the Israeli military all the way to the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the minister’s own cloistered wife Mira(Rona Lipaz-Michael) begins to wonder if she could be a better neighbour...—The Globe and Mail

AUG 11 (6:45 & 9:15) back by popular demand!

TTHHEE CCLLAASSSS // EENNTTRREE LLEESS MMUURRSSLaurent Cantet (France, 2008, 130 minutes; French withEnglish subtitles; rated PG)

Starring François Bégaudeau

“RIVETING!” –The Globe and Mail “UNMISSABLE!” –Rolling Stone“THIS MOVIE WILL NAIL YOU TO YOUR SEAT.” –Slate

�����! The Class won the Palme d’Or at last year’sCannes Film Festival, and no surprise. It’s a razor-sharp look atone year in the life of a French high school class. It’s a terrific,cohesive work that makes the intellectual challenges of edu-cating today’s youth seem thrilling rather than hopeless. —Now Magazine I would be surprised if this brilliant andtouching film didn’t become required viewing for teachersall over. Everyone else should see it as well—it’s a wonderful movie. –The New Yorker

AUG 12 & 13 (7:10 & 9:00)

Director: Nahid Persson Sarvestani (Sweden, 2008, 90 mins; English & Farsi with subtitles)

�����! –Tribute.ca

30 years after filmmaker Nahid Persson Sarvestani participated in the revolution to overthrow the Shah and the Monarchy regime inIran, she finds herself still fascinated by the former queen whose fairytale life had intrigued her as a child. Disillusioned by the Islamicrevolution that betrayed her trust and forced her into exile, Persson Sarvestani turns the focus to her new film to an unlikely subject:Queen Farah Pahlavi, wife of the former and late Shah of Iran. In the process of filming the antagonist of her revolutionary past foralmost two years, Persson Sarvestani and her former enemy encounter frequent confrontations and revelations that evolve into anunforeseen journey of two women in exile, who have more in common than either of them could envision. –Mongrel Media����! The film is at its most absorbing when it captures the curious interplay that develops between director and subject. It’snot a power struggle exactly, but a sort of slow dance of understanding and revelation, underscored by the shared melancholy ofmutual exile. –Now Magazine

AUG 14 & 15 (6:45 & 9:25)

ANGELS AND DEMONSDirector: Ron Howard (USA, 2009, 138 mins; 14A – violence) Cast: Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor, Ayelet Zurer, StellanSkarsgard, Pierfrancesco Favino,Nikolaj Lie Kaas, and Armin Mueller-Stahl

It’s based on a novel that came before“The DaVinci Code” in Dan Brown’s oeu-vre. Prof. Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) isback on the trail again, racing throughRome against a ticking time bomb to savefour kidnapped cardinals and reach a vialof anti-matter that could vaporize theVatican. Meanwhile, intrigue within theCollege of Cardinals and evidence the pre-vious Pope was murdered. All of this hap-pens at breakneck speed, with little sub-tlety, but with fabulous production values.The interiors of the Sistine Chapel, thePantheon, churches, tombs and crypts arerendered dramatically, the College ofCardinals looks very impressive. This kindof thriller requires us to accept the pre-posterous, and if we do, it promises toentertain. Angels and Demons succeeds.–Roger Ebert“The movie can be enjoyed for the hell-raising hooey it is.” –Rolling Stone

AUG 17 & 18 (7:00 only)

EASY VIRTUE Director: Stephan Elliott (UK, 2009, 97 mins; rated G)

Cast: Jessica Biel, Ben Barnes, Kristin Scott Thomas, Colin Firth, Kimberley Nixon.

Stephan Elliott (Prisilla, Queenof the Desert)’s carbonatedscreen adaptation of an earlyNoël Coward play is so intent onsustaining a facade of fizzyeffervescence that it incorpo-rates bouncy period-style ver-sions of songs by Coward andCole Porter as a peppy runningsoundtrack. One character, JohnWhittaker (Ben Barnes), a dewyEnglish upper-class twit whobrings his glamorous, somewhatolder new American wife, Larita(Jessica Biel), home to meet hispoisonous family, is so enam-ored of the songs that snippetsof the lyrics seep into his dia-logue. “Easy Virtue” follows thetravails of Larita, a brash, beau-tiful, widowed race-car driverfrom Detroit whom John meetsin Monaco and impulsively mar-ries. John’s mother, Veronica (Kristin Scott Thomas), is predisposed to loathe her new daughter-in-law. And from the momentLarita steps out of John’s BMW roadster onto the Whittaker estate, she campaigns for Larita’s undoing.. —The New York Times

AUG 19 & 20 (7:00 & 9:15)

LLIITTTTLLEE AASSHHEESSDirector: Paul Morrison (UK, 2008, 113 mins; 14A)

It was a ripe time to live at the Students’Residence in Madrid and study at theSchool of Fine Arts. When he arrived fromCatalonia in 1922, Salvador Dali met thefuture poet Federico Garcia Lorca andfuture filmmaker Luis Bunuel. Dali was acase study, dressed as a British dandy ofthe previous century, with a feminineappearance. No doubt he was a giftedpainter. He was to become a rather loath-some man. Little Ashes focuses on anunconsummated attraction between Dali(Twilight’s Robert Pattinson) and GarciaLorca (Javier Beltran), who in the flower ofyouthful idealism and with the awakeningof the flesh, began to confuse sexualitywith artistry. Not much is really knownabout their romance, such as it was, but inthe conservative Catholic nation of thetime, and given Dali’s extreme terror ofsyphilis, it seems to have been passionatebut platonic. It found release in their rolesin the developing Surrealist movement, in which church, state, ideology, landowners, parents, authorities, laws all were mocked bydeliberately outlandish behavior. Little Ashes is a film that shows these personalities being formed. —Roger Ebert

AUG 21 & 22 (7:00 & 9:00)

AAWWAAYY WWEE GGOODirector: Sam Mendes (USA, 2009, 98 mins; 14A) Cast:John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Jeff Daniels, MaggieGyllenhaal, Allison Janney, Chris Messina, CatherineO’Hara, and Paul Schneider

Don’t let anyone spoil the secrets in this delicate dazzler.See it and then start talking. You will. The pregnantVerona (Maya Rudolph), a medical illustrator of mixedrace, loves Burt (John Krasinski), a white guy who sellsinsurance, but she doesn’t want to marry him — badfamily histories. “Do you think the baby will be dark likeyou?” Burt’s mom (Catherine O’Hara) asks blithely. Burtand Verona take to the road, visiting friends in search ofa place not to be lost in America. Director Sam Mendesdeftly follows the twists in the tartly funny and achinglytender script by novelists Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida.Rudolph, a comic force on SNL, can speak volumes withthe tilt of an eyebrow. She and Krasinski, of The Office,are absolutely extraordinary. Ditto the film, which sneaksup and floors you. –Rolling Stone

AUG 24 & 25 (7:10 & 9:00)

GGOOOODDBBYYEE SSOOLLOODirector: Ramin Bahrani (USA, 2008, 91 mins)

Two men in a cab, at night. The driv-er is black, the passenger white. Thecamera captures them in closeup,and the atmosphere between them istense with ambiguous electricity. Thedriver is chatty, cheerful, perhapsoverly friendly. The chain-smokingpassenger, with a downcast expres-sion, says almost nothing. From thatarchetypal scenario comes theremarkable new film from RaminBahrani, a young American director oftremendous accomplishment andvision. Bahrani’s parents are fromIran, but he was born and raised inWinston-Salem, North Carolina. Solo(Souléymane Sy Savané), the taxidriver, is a Senegalese immigrantmarried to a Mexican immigrant, whospeaks in a sometimes-hilariousblend of African lilt and hiphop streetslang. Pretty much every time he addresses William (Red West), his laconic good ol’ boy passenger, as “big dog,” it’s still funny.William is old, alone and clearly depressed; when he offers Solo $1,000 to drive him to a mountainous overlook called BlowingRock, a tenuous friendship is born. But Solo divines that William is contemplating suicide, and of course feels he has to inter-vene. —Salon.com

AUG 26 & 27 (7:10 & 9:00) New 35mm restoration from Janus Films!

RASHOMONDirector: Akira Kurosawa (Japan, 1950, 89 minutes; Japanese with English subtitles)“Kurosawa’s hugely influential masterpiece, screening here in a stunning new 35mm restoration, was the film that intro-duced the Japanese cinema to the West. Rashomon now stands as a cultural touchstone of the modern age.” –Pacific CinemathequeRashomon struck the world of film like a thunderbolt. Itwon the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. It won theAcademy Award as best foreign film. It set box officerecords for a subtitled film. When it was released, nobodyhad ever seen anything like it. It was the first use of flash-backs that disagreed about the action they were flashingback to. Since 1950 the story device of Rashomon hasbeen borrowed repeatedly; the genius is that all of theflashbacks are both true and false. The film opens in tor-rential rain, to reveal two men sitting in the shelter ofKyoto's Rashomon Gate. The two men are a priest and awoodcutter, and when a commoner engages them in con-versation, he learns that a samurai has been murderedand his wife raped and a local bandit (Toshiro Mifune) issuspected. The woodcutter and the priest introduce flash-backs in which the bandit, the wife and the woodcuttersay what they saw, or think they saw--and then a medi-um turns up to channel the ghost of the samurai. The cin-ematography evokes the heat, light and shade of a semi-tropical forest. The woodcutter's opening journey into thewoods is famous as a silent sequence which suggests heis traveling into another realm of reality. --Roger EbertSponsored by UVic’s Film Studies Program & the Olio Artists & Workers’ Cooperative.

AUG 30 & 31 (7:00 only)

TTHHEE MMAAGGIICC FFLLUUTTEEDirector: Kenneth Branagh (UK/France, 2006, 140 mins; rated G)

Cast: Joseph Kaiser, Amy Carson, Rene Pape, Lyubov Petrova,Benjamin Jay Davis

Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation of a libretto by Stephen Fry is populated by acast of new operatic faces well and truly liberates Mozart’s opera from thestage. Transferring the action to the trenches of WWI, Tamino (Joseph Kaiser)becomes a young soldier sent to rescue Pamina (Amy Carson), summonedrather grandiosely by her mother, the Queen of the Night (Lynbov Petrova),from atop a tank. Pamina is being held hostage by the evil Sarastro (RenePape) and, Tamino sets off to be her knight in shining armour, with the help(and hindrance) of the bumbling birdcatcher Papageno (Benjamin Jay Davis).A huge budget allows for spectacular CGI sequences and Branagh concoctssome startlingly inspired ways to accompany Mozart’s music in visuals; theQueen of the night’s famous aria being one. ..Branagh has done a sterlingjob, full of energy and colour, and although some might balk at his moderninterpretation of the story, his Magic Flute will no doubt attract aficionados,if not the popcorn crowd. —BBCi

SEPT 1 (7:10 & 9:00)EVERY LITTLE STEP Adam Del Deo & James D. Stern (USA, 2009, 93 mins; PG)

“����!” –The Globe and Mail “SENSATIONAL!” –Miami Herald

“A THRILLING COMBINATION OF DOCUMENTARY ANDMUSICAL DAZZLER!” –Rolling Stone

A Chorus Line, as everyone knows, is the sublime Broadwaymusical in which a bunch of eager, nervous dancers auditionfor a Broadway musical. So what does that make Every LittleStep? It's a documentary, pegged to the 2006 revival that asksyou to share the joy, vulnerability, heartbreak, and love of abunch of dancers trying out for a musical about a bunch ofdancers trying out for a musical. It is, in other words, a movieas layered and enthralling as its subject.--Entertainment Weekly

SEPT 2 & 3 (6:45 & 9:15)

FFLLAAMMEE && CCIITTRROONN Director: Ole Christian Madsen (Denmark, 130 min, Danish & German with subtitles)

Cast: Thure Landhardt, Mads Mikkelsenand Stine Stengade.

Based on true events, Flame & Citron is a WW IIspy thriller about two Danish resistance fighterswho work under the code names Flame (ThureLindhardt) and Citron (Mads Mikkelsen ofCasino Royale). It’s 1944, Copenhagen. Untilnow Flame and Citron have been followingorders to liquidate Danish informers who arecollaborating with the Nazis. But they begin towonder who is friend and who is foe – especial-ly when Flame is asked to kill his girlfriend...Oneof the most expensive Danish films every made.–Mongrel Media Beneath the spy-versus-spytheatrics, a much more complex moral puzzle isplayed out. In high graphic style, the film islargely concerned with the art of deception,sharpened to a razor-thin edge during wartime.Madsen’s film has gorgeous style and wickedlysharp intelligence to spare, not mentionmoments of near-agonizing suspense. Thenotion that all is fair in love and war is put acid-ly to the test, and no one emerges unscathed.–Vancouver International Film Festival

SEPT 4 & 5 (7:10 & 9:10)

MMOOOONNDirector: Duncan Jones (UK, 2009, 98 mins; PG) Cast: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey, DominiqueMcElligott, Rosie Shaw

This mesmerizing mind-bender sneaks up on you.Sam Rockwell, reliably brilliant, is an astronaut fin-ishing up a three-year stint on the moon, miningenergy from lunar rock. He wants back on Earthwith his wife and daughter. His only contact isGERTY, a robot with the sweet-sinister voice ofKevin Spacey. There’s an accident. I’ll say no more.Director Duncan Jones (son of David Bowie),working from a script by Nathan Parker, pulls offsci-fi miracles on a $5 million shoestring. Moon isa potent provocation that relies on ideas instead ofcomputer tricks to stir up excitement. –RollingStone This eerie drama harks back to sci-fimovies of the late 60s and early 70s thatexplored inner as well as outer space.”–Chicago Reader

SEPT 6 & 7 (7:00 only)WHATEVER WORKSDirector: Woody Allen (USA, 2009, 92 mins; PG) Cast: Larry David, Evan Rachel Wood, Patricia Clarkson.

It's a match made in misanthrope heaven: Larry David,the cringe-inducing crank of Curb Your Enthusiasm, andWoody Allen, the existentialist worrywart with the catalogof one-liners about love, death, and hypochondria.Whatever Works, directed by Allen from a script he'shad in his desk since Annie Hall days, is easily one of theloosest, most satisfying comedies to hail from the prolificwriter/director in a while. Sure, you could argue thatWhatever Works' themes are old hat. But it's a hat thatfits Allen's new protagonist handily. David is BorisYellnikoff, a brilliant (or so he says) physicist, divorcedfrom his wife, and making a paltry living tutoring chess topipsqueaks. A much younger woman enters the picture,befriending and beguiling the much older man. MelodieSt. Ann Celestine is her name, a runaway from the DeepSouth. She's broke, she's alone, she's a cultural ignoramus - so, of course, Boris takes her in. Evan Rachel Wood displays delight-ful comic chops - walking that fine line between dumb blond parody and an authentic bumpkin with keen instincts and a goodheart. Midway through Whatever Works Patricia Clarkson walks through the door - like a star making her big entrance in aBroadway play - and just about steals things out from under David, Wood, everyone....It's to David's credit that Whatever Worksbops along with such energy. The actor brings a sort of barbarous glee to the proceedings --Philadelphia Inquirer

SEPT 8 & 9 (7:15 & 9:15)

DDRRAAGG MMEE TTOOHHEELLLLDirector: Sam Raimi (USA, 2009, 99 mins; 14A)

Sam Raimi’s delirious psych-out of a horror film is a candy-colored ghouls-gone-wild nightmare that treats every shockas a joke — or, at least, as an invitation to crack up at yourown gullibility. Raimi surrounds a blond lass (Alison Lohman)with demons that seem to be erupting right out of her head.He gets into our heads, too; he scares the unholy living beje-sus out of you. Raimi’s operating model is the fun house, withits jack-in-the-box terrors, but he doesn’t just toy with theaudience. He plays it, like a maestro. He orchestrates atongue-in-cheek symphony of fear. Raimi directed all threeSpider-Man films, but in the ‘80s, before he went Hollywood,he made The Evil Dead and its sequel — splendid exercisesin slapstick mutilation. Drag Me to Hell marks a return to theirspirit. Going back to his roots, Raimi has made the mostcrazy, fun, and terrifying horror movie in years. —Entertainment Weekly

SEPT 10 (7:00 & 9:00)FFLLOOWW:: ffoorr lloovvee ooff wwaatteerr

Directed by Irena Salina. (USA, 2008, 83 minutes; rated G -violence)With Maude Barlow, Shelly Brime, Anthony Burgmans

A documentary and a three-alarm warning, Flow dives into ourplanet’s most essential resource — and third-largest industry —to find pollution, scarcity, human suffering and corporate profit.And that’s just in the U.S. Yet Irena Salina’s astonishingly wide-ranging film is less depressing than galvanizing, an informed andheartfelt examination of the tug of war between public healthand private interests....Flow is designed to awaken the mostsomnolent consumer. At the very least it should make you thinktwice before you take that (unfiltered) shower.—The New YorkTimes

AUG 16 (6:45 only)

AANNGGEELLSS AANNDD DDEEMMOONNSSSee Aug 14 & 15 for description

AUG 28 & 29 (7:10 & 9:15)

TTHHEE BBRROOTTHHEERRSS BBLLOOOOMMDirector: Rian Johnson (USA, 2009, 109 mins;) Cast: Rachel Weisz, Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo, Rinko Kikuchi, Robbie Coltrane, Maximilian Schell“HUGELY ENTERTAINING!” –Portland OregonianYou could describe The Brothers Bloom in various ways: as a playful vehicle for Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo and RachelWeisz, who are a lot of fun as a pair of con men and the eccentric heiress whom they ensnare (unless it’s vice versa); asan homage to caper films or grifter films or Fellini or Billy Wilder or Hitchcock. But it’s supremely uninterested in how conmen and heiresses behave outside movieland. Johnson’s characters exist in some nebulous universe that isn’t exactly nowand isn’t any other time either. They dress nattily, stay in grand hotels, and travel by steamer or improbably luxurious rail-way carriage, but they’ve also got cellphones and do business with sinister Russians driving armored BMWs. –Salon.comJohnson has infused The Brothers Bloom with so much heart and beauty that one can and should easily overlook its dis-comfiting moments. The truth is, the film’s even more profound and touching upon second viewing. –The Village Voice

AUG 23 (7:00 only)

AAWWAAYY WWEE GGOOSee August 21-22 for description.

SEPT 11 & 12 (7:15 & 9:20)

TTHHEE HHAANNGGOOVVEERR Todd Phillips (USA, 2009, 103 mins; 18A)

Cast: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Heather Graham, Justin Bartha, and Jeffrey Tambor

“RAUCOUSLY FREE-WHEELING LAFF RIOT!” –Variety

Four guys go to Vegas for a bachelor party weekend that they will never forget. Unfortunately, they forget it. Finding out whatexactly happened becomes the adventure.There is not a lot of wast-ed time here. Barely 10minutes goes by beforewe reach the morningafter and find one friendmissing, a baby in thecloset, a tiger in the bath-room, a chicken on thefloor, and smoking hotelchair. The rest is a veryfunny and fast-paceddetective story. This is amovie where you WANT tostick around for the cred-its. The beauty is that youare totally set up for it, andyou don’t mind one bit.That final sequence tiesthe movie together in anawesome fashion. —Premiere

“����!” –Time Out New York

“WONDERFUL!” –The New York Times

“UTTERLY ENGROSSING!” –Variety

back by popular demand!

Starring: Robert Pattison, Javier Beltran, Matthew McNulty

Sponsored by the UVic Sustainability Project (UVSP)Back to Hell - oops - School Special!All Seats: $4.25 for 9:15 show only!

"THE FEEL-GOOD MOVIE OF THE YEAR AND A CINEMATIC SOUL MASSAGE."-Time Magazine

A HEARTWARMING ROAD COMEDY FOR GROWNUPS.

–New Orleans Times-Picayune

“ONE OF THOSE RARE GEMS OFTHE SCI-FI GENRE.” –Film Threat

sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturdayAUG 9 & 10 (7:00 only)

LLEEMMOONN TTRREEEEDirector: Eran Riklis (Israel, 2008, 106 mins; Arabic & Hebrew with subtitles; rated G)

“����!”–Now Magazine

“A RICHLY-LAYERED FEMINISTALLEGORY AS WELL AS AGEOPOLITICAL ONE.”–The New York Times

In this optimistic Middle Easternfilm, a lawyer who is defending aPalestinian widow and her lemongrove against incursions by anIsraeli defence minister tells themedia to remember the story ofDavid and Goliath. But this film byIsraeli director Eran Riklis oftenrefuses to adhere to the formula,sometimes offering a tantalizingambiguity. The remarkable HiamAbbass, the Palestinian actresswho has played a series of restricted Moslem woman discovering themselves (The Syrian Bride, Satin Rouge) attains a mem-orable stillness and grace here as Salma, the Palestinian widow who ekes out a living from the West Bank lemon grove left to herby her father. When Israel’s charming new defence minister (Doron Tavory) moves into suburban elegance next door, the securi-ty service determines the lemon trees offer potential cover for terrorists and must be cut down. So Salma gets herself a lawyer(Ali Suliman) and fights the Israeli military all the way to the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the minister’s own cloistered wife Mira(Rona Lipaz-Michael) begins to wonder if she could be a better neighbour...—The Globe and Mail

AUG 11 (6:45 & 9:15) back by popular demand!

TTHHEE CCLLAASSSS // EENNTTRREE LLEESS MMUURRSSLaurent Cantet (France, 2008, 130 minutes; French withEnglish subtitles; rated PG)

Starring François Bégaudeau

“RIVETING!” –The Globe and Mail “UNMISSABLE!” –Rolling Stone“THIS MOVIE WILL NAIL YOU TO YOUR SEAT.” –Slate

�����! The Class won the Palme d’Or at last year’sCannes Film Festival, and no surprise. It’s a razor-sharp look atone year in the life of a French high school class. It’s a terrific,cohesive work that makes the intellectual challenges of edu-cating today’s youth seem thrilling rather than hopeless. —Now Magazine I would be surprised if this brilliant andtouching film didn’t become required viewing for teachersall over. Everyone else should see it as well—it’s a wonderful movie. –The New Yorker

AUG 12 & 13 (7:10 & 9:00)

Director: Nahid Persson Sarvestani (Sweden, 2008, 90 mins; English & Farsi with subtitles)

�����! –Tribute.ca

30 years after filmmaker Nahid Persson Sarvestani participated in the revolution to overthrow the Shah and the Monarchy regime inIran, she finds herself still fascinated by the former queen whose fairytale life had intrigued her as a child. Disillusioned by the Islamicrevolution that betrayed her trust and forced her into exile, Persson Sarvestani turns the focus to her new film to an unlikely subject:Queen Farah Pahlavi, wife of the former and late Shah of Iran. In the process of filming the antagonist of her revolutionary past foralmost two years, Persson Sarvestani and her former enemy encounter frequent confrontations and revelations that evolve into anunforeseen journey of two women in exile, who have more in common than either of them could envision. –Mongrel Media����! The film is at its most absorbing when it captures the curious interplay that develops between director and subject. It’snot a power struggle exactly, but a sort of slow dance of understanding and revelation, underscored by the shared melancholy ofmutual exile. –Now Magazine

AUG 14 & 15 (6:45 & 9:25)

ANGELS AND DEMONSDirector: Ron Howard (USA, 2009, 138 mins; 14A – violence) Cast: Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor, Ayelet Zurer, StellanSkarsgard, Pierfrancesco Favino,Nikolaj Lie Kaas, and Armin Mueller-Stahl

It’s based on a novel that came before“The DaVinci Code” in Dan Brown’s oeu-vre. Prof. Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) isback on the trail again, racing throughRome against a ticking time bomb to savefour kidnapped cardinals and reach a vialof anti-matter that could vaporize theVatican. Meanwhile, intrigue within theCollege of Cardinals and evidence the pre-vious Pope was murdered. All of this hap-pens at breakneck speed, with little sub-tlety, but with fabulous production values.The interiors of the Sistine Chapel, thePantheon, churches, tombs and crypts arerendered dramatically, the College ofCardinals looks very impressive. This kindof thriller requires us to accept the pre-posterous, and if we do, it promises toentertain. Angels and Demons succeeds.–Roger Ebert“The movie can be enjoyed for the hell-raising hooey it is.” –Rolling Stone

AUG 17 & 18 (7:00 only)

EASY VIRTUE Director: Stephan Elliott (UK, 2009, 97 mins; rated G)

Cast: Jessica Biel, Ben Barnes, Kristin Scott Thomas, Colin Firth, Kimberley Nixon.

Stephan Elliott (Prisilla, Queenof the Desert)’s carbonatedscreen adaptation of an earlyNoël Coward play is so intent onsustaining a facade of fizzyeffervescence that it incorpo-rates bouncy period-style ver-sions of songs by Coward andCole Porter as a peppy runningsoundtrack. One character, JohnWhittaker (Ben Barnes), a dewyEnglish upper-class twit whobrings his glamorous, somewhatolder new American wife, Larita(Jessica Biel), home to meet hispoisonous family, is so enam-ored of the songs that snippetsof the lyrics seep into his dia-logue. “Easy Virtue” follows thetravails of Larita, a brash, beau-tiful, widowed race-car driverfrom Detroit whom John meetsin Monaco and impulsively mar-ries. John’s mother, Veronica (Kristin Scott Thomas), is predisposed to loathe her new daughter-in-law. And from the momentLarita steps out of John’s BMW roadster onto the Whittaker estate, she campaigns for Larita’s undoing.. —The New York Times

AUG 19 & 20 (7:00 & 9:15)

LLIITTTTLLEE AASSHHEESSDirector: Paul Morrison (UK, 2008, 113 mins; 14A)

It was a ripe time to live at the Students’Residence in Madrid and study at theSchool of Fine Arts. When he arrived fromCatalonia in 1922, Salvador Dali met thefuture poet Federico Garcia Lorca andfuture filmmaker Luis Bunuel. Dali was acase study, dressed as a British dandy ofthe previous century, with a feminineappearance. No doubt he was a giftedpainter. He was to become a rather loath-some man. Little Ashes focuses on anunconsummated attraction between Dali(Twilight’s Robert Pattinson) and GarciaLorca (Javier Beltran), who in the flower ofyouthful idealism and with the awakeningof the flesh, began to confuse sexualitywith artistry. Not much is really knownabout their romance, such as it was, but inthe conservative Catholic nation of thetime, and given Dali’s extreme terror ofsyphilis, it seems to have been passionatebut platonic. It found release in their rolesin the developing Surrealist movement, in which church, state, ideology, landowners, parents, authorities, laws all were mocked bydeliberately outlandish behavior. Little Ashes is a film that shows these personalities being formed. —Roger Ebert

AUG 21 & 22 (7:00 & 9:00)

AAWWAAYY WWEE GGOODirector: Sam Mendes (USA, 2009, 98 mins; 14A) Cast:John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Jeff Daniels, MaggieGyllenhaal, Allison Janney, Chris Messina, CatherineO’Hara, and Paul Schneider

Don’t let anyone spoil the secrets in this delicate dazzler.See it and then start talking. You will. The pregnantVerona (Maya Rudolph), a medical illustrator of mixedrace, loves Burt (John Krasinski), a white guy who sellsinsurance, but she doesn’t want to marry him — badfamily histories. “Do you think the baby will be dark likeyou?” Burt’s mom (Catherine O’Hara) asks blithely. Burtand Verona take to the road, visiting friends in search ofa place not to be lost in America. Director Sam Mendesdeftly follows the twists in the tartly funny and achinglytender script by novelists Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida.Rudolph, a comic force on SNL, can speak volumes withthe tilt of an eyebrow. She and Krasinski, of The Office,are absolutely extraordinary. Ditto the film, which sneaksup and floors you. –Rolling Stone

AUG 24 & 25 (7:10 & 9:00)

GGOOOODDBBYYEE SSOOLLOODirector: Ramin Bahrani (USA, 2008, 91 mins)

Two men in a cab, at night. The driv-er is black, the passenger white. Thecamera captures them in closeup,and the atmosphere between them istense with ambiguous electricity. Thedriver is chatty, cheerful, perhapsoverly friendly. The chain-smokingpassenger, with a downcast expres-sion, says almost nothing. From thatarchetypal scenario comes theremarkable new film from RaminBahrani, a young American director oftremendous accomplishment andvision. Bahrani’s parents are fromIran, but he was born and raised inWinston-Salem, North Carolina. Solo(Souléymane Sy Savané), the taxidriver, is a Senegalese immigrantmarried to a Mexican immigrant, whospeaks in a sometimes-hilariousblend of African lilt and hiphop streetslang. Pretty much every time he addresses William (Red West), his laconic good ol’ boy passenger, as “big dog,” it’s still funny.William is old, alone and clearly depressed; when he offers Solo $1,000 to drive him to a mountainous overlook called BlowingRock, a tenuous friendship is born. But Solo divines that William is contemplating suicide, and of course feels he has to inter-vene. —Salon.com

AUG 26 & 27 (7:10 & 9:00) New 35mm restoration from Janus Films!

RASHOMONDirector: Akira Kurosawa (Japan, 1950, 89 minutes; Japanese with English subtitles)“Kurosawa’s hugely influential masterpiece, screening here in a stunning new 35mm restoration, was the film that intro-duced the Japanese cinema to the West. Rashomon now stands as a cultural touchstone of the modern age.” –Pacific CinemathequeRashomon struck the world of film like a thunderbolt. Itwon the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. It won theAcademy Award as best foreign film. It set box officerecords for a subtitled film. When it was released, nobodyhad ever seen anything like it. It was the first use of flash-backs that disagreed about the action they were flashingback to. Since 1950 the story device of Rashomon hasbeen borrowed repeatedly; the genius is that all of theflashbacks are both true and false. The film opens in tor-rential rain, to reveal two men sitting in the shelter ofKyoto's Rashomon Gate. The two men are a priest and awoodcutter, and when a commoner engages them in con-versation, he learns that a samurai has been murderedand his wife raped and a local bandit (Toshiro Mifune) issuspected. The woodcutter and the priest introduce flash-backs in which the bandit, the wife and the woodcuttersay what they saw, or think they saw--and then a medi-um turns up to channel the ghost of the samurai. The cin-ematography evokes the heat, light and shade of a semi-tropical forest. The woodcutter's opening journey into thewoods is famous as a silent sequence which suggests heis traveling into another realm of reality. --Roger EbertSponsored by UVic’s Film Studies Program & the Olio Artists & Workers’ Cooperative.

AUG 30 & 31 (7:00 only)

TTHHEE MMAAGGIICC FFLLUUTTEEDirector: Kenneth Branagh (UK/France, 2006, 140 mins; rated G)

Cast: Joseph Kaiser, Amy Carson, Rene Pape, Lyubov Petrova,Benjamin Jay Davis

Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation of a libretto by Stephen Fry is populated by acast of new operatic faces well and truly liberates Mozart’s opera from thestage. Transferring the action to the trenches of WWI, Tamino (Joseph Kaiser)becomes a young soldier sent to rescue Pamina (Amy Carson), summonedrather grandiosely by her mother, the Queen of the Night (Lynbov Petrova),from atop a tank. Pamina is being held hostage by the evil Sarastro (RenePape) and, Tamino sets off to be her knight in shining armour, with the help(and hindrance) of the bumbling birdcatcher Papageno (Benjamin Jay Davis).A huge budget allows for spectacular CGI sequences and Branagh concoctssome startlingly inspired ways to accompany Mozart’s music in visuals; theQueen of the night’s famous aria being one. ..Branagh has done a sterlingjob, full of energy and colour, and although some might balk at his moderninterpretation of the story, his Magic Flute will no doubt attract aficionados,if not the popcorn crowd. —BBCi

SEPT 1 (7:10 & 9:00)EVERY LITTLE STEP Adam Del Deo & James D. Stern (USA, 2009, 93 mins; PG)

“����!” –The Globe and Mail “SENSATIONAL!” –Miami Herald

“A THRILLING COMBINATION OF DOCUMENTARY ANDMUSICAL DAZZLER!” –Rolling Stone

A Chorus Line, as everyone knows, is the sublime Broadwaymusical in which a bunch of eager, nervous dancers auditionfor a Broadway musical. So what does that make Every LittleStep? It's a documentary, pegged to the 2006 revival that asksyou to share the joy, vulnerability, heartbreak, and love of abunch of dancers trying out for a musical about a bunch ofdancers trying out for a musical. It is, in other words, a movieas layered and enthralling as its subject.--Entertainment Weekly

SEPT 2 & 3 (6:45 & 9:15)

FFLLAAMMEE && CCIITTRROONN Director: Ole Christian Madsen (Denmark, 130 min, Danish & German with subtitles)

Cast: Thure Landhardt, Mads Mikkelsenand Stine Stengade.

Based on true events, Flame & Citron is a WW IIspy thriller about two Danish resistance fighterswho work under the code names Flame (ThureLindhardt) and Citron (Mads Mikkelsen ofCasino Royale). It’s 1944, Copenhagen. Untilnow Flame and Citron have been followingorders to liquidate Danish informers who arecollaborating with the Nazis. But they begin towonder who is friend and who is foe – especial-ly when Flame is asked to kill his girlfriend...Oneof the most expensive Danish films every made.–Mongrel Media Beneath the spy-versus-spytheatrics, a much more complex moral puzzle isplayed out. In high graphic style, the film islargely concerned with the art of deception,sharpened to a razor-thin edge during wartime.Madsen’s film has gorgeous style and wickedlysharp intelligence to spare, not mentionmoments of near-agonizing suspense. Thenotion that all is fair in love and war is put acid-ly to the test, and no one emerges unscathed.–Vancouver International Film Festival

SEPT 4 & 5 (7:10 & 9:10)

MMOOOONNDirector: Duncan Jones (UK, 2009, 98 mins; PG) Cast: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey, DominiqueMcElligott, Rosie Shaw

This mesmerizing mind-bender sneaks up on you.Sam Rockwell, reliably brilliant, is an astronaut fin-ishing up a three-year stint on the moon, miningenergy from lunar rock. He wants back on Earthwith his wife and daughter. His only contact isGERTY, a robot with the sweet-sinister voice ofKevin Spacey. There’s an accident. I’ll say no more.Director Duncan Jones (son of David Bowie),working from a script by Nathan Parker, pulls offsci-fi miracles on a $5 million shoestring. Moon isa potent provocation that relies on ideas instead ofcomputer tricks to stir up excitement. –RollingStone This eerie drama harks back to sci-fimovies of the late 60s and early 70s thatexplored inner as well as outer space.”–Chicago Reader

SEPT 6 & 7 (7:00 only)WHATEVER WORKSDirector: Woody Allen (USA, 2009, 92 mins; PG) Cast: Larry David, Evan Rachel Wood, Patricia Clarkson.

It's a match made in misanthrope heaven: Larry David,the cringe-inducing crank of Curb Your Enthusiasm, andWoody Allen, the existentialist worrywart with the catalogof one-liners about love, death, and hypochondria.Whatever Works, directed by Allen from a script he'shad in his desk since Annie Hall days, is easily one of theloosest, most satisfying comedies to hail from the prolificwriter/director in a while. Sure, you could argue thatWhatever Works' themes are old hat. But it's a hat thatfits Allen's new protagonist handily. David is BorisYellnikoff, a brilliant (or so he says) physicist, divorcedfrom his wife, and making a paltry living tutoring chess topipsqueaks. A much younger woman enters the picture,befriending and beguiling the much older man. MelodieSt. Ann Celestine is her name, a runaway from the DeepSouth. She's broke, she's alone, she's a cultural ignoramus - so, of course, Boris takes her in. Evan Rachel Wood displays delight-ful comic chops - walking that fine line between dumb blond parody and an authentic bumpkin with keen instincts and a goodheart. Midway through Whatever Works Patricia Clarkson walks through the door - like a star making her big entrance in aBroadway play - and just about steals things out from under David, Wood, everyone....It's to David's credit that Whatever Worksbops along with such energy. The actor brings a sort of barbarous glee to the proceedings --Philadelphia Inquirer

SEPT 8 & 9 (7:15 & 9:15)

DDRRAAGG MMEE TTOOHHEELLLLDirector: Sam Raimi (USA, 2009, 99 mins; 14A)

Sam Raimi’s delirious psych-out of a horror film is a candy-colored ghouls-gone-wild nightmare that treats every shockas a joke — or, at least, as an invitation to crack up at yourown gullibility. Raimi surrounds a blond lass (Alison Lohman)with demons that seem to be erupting right out of her head.He gets into our heads, too; he scares the unholy living beje-sus out of you. Raimi’s operating model is the fun house, withits jack-in-the-box terrors, but he doesn’t just toy with theaudience. He plays it, like a maestro. He orchestrates atongue-in-cheek symphony of fear. Raimi directed all threeSpider-Man films, but in the ‘80s, before he went Hollywood,he made The Evil Dead and its sequel — splendid exercisesin slapstick mutilation. Drag Me to Hell marks a return to theirspirit. Going back to his roots, Raimi has made the mostcrazy, fun, and terrifying horror movie in years. —Entertainment Weekly

SEPT 10 (7:00 & 9:00)FFLLOOWW:: ffoorr lloovvee ooff wwaatteerr

Directed by Irena Salina. (USA, 2008, 83 minutes; rated G -violence)With Maude Barlow, Shelly Brime, Anthony Burgmans

A documentary and a three-alarm warning, Flow dives into ourplanet’s most essential resource — and third-largest industry —to find pollution, scarcity, human suffering and corporate profit.And that’s just in the U.S. Yet Irena Salina’s astonishingly wide-ranging film is less depressing than galvanizing, an informed andheartfelt examination of the tug of war between public healthand private interests....Flow is designed to awaken the mostsomnolent consumer. At the very least it should make you thinktwice before you take that (unfiltered) shower.—The New YorkTimes

AUG 16 (6:45 only)

AANNGGEELLSS AANNDD DDEEMMOONNSSSee Aug 14 & 15 for description

AUG 28 & 29 (7:10 & 9:15)

TTHHEE BBRROOTTHHEERRSS BBLLOOOOMMDirector: Rian Johnson (USA, 2009, 109 mins;) Cast: Rachel Weisz, Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo, Rinko Kikuchi, Robbie Coltrane, Maximilian Schell“HUGELY ENTERTAINING!” –Portland OregonianYou could describe The Brothers Bloom in various ways: as a playful vehicle for Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo and RachelWeisz, who are a lot of fun as a pair of con men and the eccentric heiress whom they ensnare (unless it’s vice versa); asan homage to caper films or grifter films or Fellini or Billy Wilder or Hitchcock. But it’s supremely uninterested in how conmen and heiresses behave outside movieland. Johnson’s characters exist in some nebulous universe that isn’t exactly nowand isn’t any other time either. They dress nattily, stay in grand hotels, and travel by steamer or improbably luxurious rail-way carriage, but they’ve also got cellphones and do business with sinister Russians driving armored BMWs. –Salon.comJohnson has infused The Brothers Bloom with so much heart and beauty that one can and should easily overlook its dis-comfiting moments. The truth is, the film’s even more profound and touching upon second viewing. –The Village Voice

AUG 23 (7:00 only)

AAWWAAYY WWEE GGOOSee August 21-22 for description.

SEPT 11 & 12 (7:15 & 9:20)

TTHHEE HHAANNGGOOVVEERR Todd Phillips (USA, 2009, 103 mins; 18A)

Cast: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Heather Graham, Justin Bartha, and Jeffrey Tambor

“RAUCOUSLY FREE-WHEELING LAFF RIOT!” –Variety

Four guys go to Vegas for a bachelor party weekend that they will never forget. Unfortunately, they forget it. Finding out whatexactly happened becomes the adventure.There is not a lot of wast-ed time here. Barely 10minutes goes by beforewe reach the morningafter and find one friendmissing, a baby in thecloset, a tiger in the bath-room, a chicken on thefloor, and smoking hotelchair. The rest is a veryfunny and fast-paceddetective story. This is amovie where you WANT tostick around for the cred-its. The beauty is that youare totally set up for it, andyou don’t mind one bit.That final sequence tiesthe movie together in anawesome fashion. —Premiere

“����!” –Time Out New York

“WONDERFUL!” –The New York Times

“UTTERLY ENGROSSING!” –Variety

back by popular demand!

Starring: Robert Pattison, Javier Beltran, Matthew McNulty

Sponsored by the UVic Sustainability Project (UVSP)Back to Hell - oops - School Special!All Seats: $4.25 for 9:15 show only!

"THE FEEL-GOOD MOVIE OF THE YEAR AND A CINEMATIC SOUL MASSAGE."-Time Magazine

A HEARTWARMING ROAD COMEDY FOR GROWNUPS.

–New Orleans Times-Picayune

“ONE OF THOSE RARE GEMS OFTHE SCI-FI GENRE.” –Film Threat


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