Please Give

"Please Give": LA Times Critics' Choice Award from Betsy Sharkey:

Director Nicole Holofcener tends to use ordinary encounters to examine what people value in life, and she's at it again in her incisive new comedy, "Please Give," a clever dissection of liberal guilt and the notion that money equals charity, which it does and it doesn't. Catherine Keener, a favorite of the filmmaker, is a New Yorker of some means who can't give away money fast enough to strangers but fails to see what her own daughter (Sarah Steele) needs. There are complicating and mitigating factors as the lives of two families intersect over the annexation of an apartment. The fine cast includes Rebecca Hall, Amanda Peet and Oliver Platt portraying characters who help create and clean up the mess.


Read review of "Please Give" written by Kenneth Turan at the LA Times

Opened April 30, 2010

Runtime:1 hr. 30 min.
Cast: Catherine Keener, Oliver Platt, Amanda Peet, Rebecca Hall, Sarah Steele
Director: Nicole Holofcener
Genres: Comedy, Ensemble Film, Domestic Comedy

Movie times and tickets from Fandango

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Vincere

"Vincere": LA Times Critics' Choice Award from Betsy Sharkey:

One of the most surprising things about watching the wrenching "Vincere," the story of Ida Dalser, Mussolini's secret wife and his first-born son, Benito, is that when the relationship went sour and Ida just wouldn't let it rest, that Il Duce, the sweet one, just didn't have her killed. Though Ida's life would become a torturous hell spent locked away in an insane asylum, the legacy left by her letters has made for an intense and intriguing, if at times uneven, film with Italian director Marco Bellocchio wringing every drop of emotion out of his actors and his audience before it is over. Read Sharkey's full review of "Vincere" at the LA Times

Vincere

A vivid full-blooded political melodrama, VINCERE chronicles the largely unknown story of the secret marriage of Mussolini (Filippo Timi) to Ida Dalser (Giovanna Mezzogiorno), a woman whom Il Duce met when he was a rising star in the Socialist movement. Inspired by the intensity of his beliefs and the ferocious attraction between them, Dalser sells off all of her belongings to fund the newspaper that would eventually launch his political career. After bearing him a son, Dalser discovers to her horror, that Mussolini already has another family --- and he will do anything in his power to keep her away from them.

Opened March 19, 2010

Runtime:2 hr. 8 min. N
Cast: Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Fabrizio Costella, Michela Cescon, Fausto Russo Alesi, Filippo Timi
Director: Marco Bellocchio
Genres: Biopic [feature], Historical Epic, Historical Film

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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Girl with the
Dragon Tattoo

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo": LA Times Critics' Choice Award from Betsy Sharkey:

Everyone has secrets in the "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," a mind-bending and mesmerizing thriller that takes its time unlocking one mystery only to uncover another all to chilling and immensely satisfying effect. The film is based on the first crime novel in Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy, and Danish director Niels Arden Oplev has somehow found a way to adapt one of Europe's most popular contemporary books, a bestselling sensation here as well, and still infuse it with surprise.  Read Sharkey's full review of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" at the LA Times

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her beloved uncle is convinced it was murder and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family. He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) and the tattooed and troubled but resourceful computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) to investigate. When the pair link the disappearance of Harriet to a number of grotesque murders from almost forty years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history. The Vangers are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves.

Opened March 19, 2010
Runtime:2 hr. 32 min. NR
Cast: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Lena Endre, Sven-Bertil Taube, Peter Haber, Peter Andersson, Marika Lagercrantz, Ingvar Hirdwall
Director: Niels Arden Oplev
Genres: Detective Film, Thriller
In Swedish with English subtitles.

Movie times and tickets for "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" from Fandango

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The Exploding Girl

"The Exploding Girl": LA Times Critics' Choice Award from Kenneth Turan:

Writer-director Bradley Rust Gray and star Zoe Kazan are so committed to a minimalist aesthetic, and apply it with such craft and skill, that this very careful character study of a young woman's quiet emotional crisis over spring break holds our interest almost without our knowing how it's done.  Read Turan's full review of "The Exploding Girl" at the LA Times

The Exploding Girl

A college student (Zoe Kazan) considers a romance with her longtime best friend (Mark Rendall) .

Opened March 12, 2010 NR
Director: Bradley Rust Gray
Genres: Drama, Romance
Movie times and tickets for "The Exploding Girl" from Fandango

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Breaking Upwards

"Breaking Upwards": LA Times Critics' Choice Award from Betsy Sharkey:

Daryl Wein's clever "Breaking Upwards" comes knocking at the door like a wolf in sheep's clothing, draping reality in a fictional romantic comedy about a twentysomething NYC couple named Daryl and Zoe whose relationship is coming apart. The film stars Wein and girlfriend Zoe Lister-Jones (as Daryl and Zoe) and is based on their experience trying to build themselves a better break-up. They also wrote (with Peter Duchan), produced and, in Lister-Jones' case, handled catering and wrote all the lyrics for the film's original soundtrack by composer Kyle Forester. All of which works to give "Breaking Upwards" a DIY mumblecore vibe, including its very engaging conversational style, but thanks to Wein, there is less mumble, more core from the story and the cast. Read Sharkey's full review of "Breaking Upwards"at the LA Times

Breaking Upwards

Based on the filmmakers’ actual experience, and starring the filmmakers themselves, “Breaking Upwards” explores a young, real life New York couple who, four years into their relationship and battling codependency, decide to intricately strategize their own break up. The film loosely interprets a year in their lives exploring alternatives to monogamy and the madness that ensues.

Opened April 2, 2010

Runtime:1 hr. 29 min. NR
Cast: Daryl Wein, Zoe Lister-Jones, Julie White, Olivia Thirlby, Peter Friedman
Director: Daryl Wein
Genres: Romantic Comedy, Romantic Drama, Romance, Urban Comedy

Movie times and tickets for "Breaking Upwards" from Fandango

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