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Author Archive | Alex Kamody

What We Do in the Shadows

Watch Trailer Director: Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi
Writer(s): Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi
Cast: Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi, Jonathan Brugh

Follow the lives of Viago (Taika Waititi), Deacon (Jonathan Brugh), and Vladislav (Flight of the Corcords’ Jemaine Clement) – three flatmates who are just trying to get by and overcome life’s obstacles-like being immortal vampires who must feast on human blood. Hundreds of years old, the vampires are finding that beyond sunlight catastrophes, hitting the main artery, and not being able to get a sense of their wardrobe without a reflection, modern society has them struggling with the mundane like paying rent, keeping up with the chore wheel, trying to get into nightclubs, and overcoming flatmate conflicts.

“You’ve got to love a thing to skewer it as thoroughly as Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement do in their delightfully silly vampire mockumentary ‘What We Do in the Shadows.'” -Michael O’Sullivan, Washington Post

“There is so much love and understanding of all the genres the film is skewering that ‘What We Do in the Shadows’ transcends its lowbrow inspirations. It’s a real treat.” -Billy Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic

“It’s a cheerfully horrific affair, a sanguine comedy that feels more than a bit like a Christopher Guest farce or an elaborate Monty Python sketch, imprinted with the Kiwi comic sensibilities of co-directors Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi.” -Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

 

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Running Time: 86 min86 MIN
Rating: Unrated

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Moms Weekend: GREY GARDENS

Director: Ellen Hovde, Albert Maysles, David Maysles, and Muffie Meyer
Cast: Edith Bouvier Beale, Edith (Little Edie) Bouvier Beale

Grey Gardens is a fabled home located in the elite seaside Village of East Hampton, Long Island.  Of course, Grey Gardens is also a landmark documentary, a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical and an HBO movie starring Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange. Most importantly, Grey Gardens is a breathtaking and alluring portrait of Edith Beale and her daughter Edie.
In April, the spotlight will shine back on the Edies, when Grey Gardens (the original 1970s documentary, not the Drew Barrymore remake) returns to theaters. America’s favorite high-society dropouts even got a makeover for the occasion—a “striking new 2K restoration [has been] made by the Criterion Collection in collaboration with the Academy Film Archive at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences”. The Athena Cinema will feature a special 2 day run of the cult classic documentary for OHIO Moms Weekend.

If you’ve somehow managed to never catch Albert and David Maysles’s cult classic, this is a good opportunity to take in all of its beautiful weirdness on the big screen. The doc offers a very intimate look into the lives of Edith “Big Edie” Ewing Bouvier Beale and Edith “Little Edie” Bouvier Beale (and cousin of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis), as they live surrounded by the detritus of their past in a decaying East Hampton mansion, Grey Gardens.

 

Watch the trailer for the 2K Restoration of Grey Gardens HERE.

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Running Time: 100 min100 MIN
PG Rated
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible

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Two Days, One Night: Last Day Thursday, March 12th

Watch Trailer Director: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
Writer(s): Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
Cast: Marion Cotillard, Fabrizio Rongione, Catherine Salée
Language: French

Sandra (Marion Cotillard) has just returned to work after recovering from a serious bout with depression. Realizing that the company can operate with one fewer employee, management tells Sandra she is to be let go. After learning that her co-workers will vote to decide her fate on Monday morning, Sandra races against time over the course of the weekend, often with the help of her husband, to convince each of her fellow employees to sacrifice their much-needed bonuses so she can keep her job. With each encounter, Sandra is brought into a different world with unexpected results.

“There is strength in simplicity, something the Dardenne brothers’ “Two Days, One Night” and its brilliant star, Marion Cotillard, prove emphatically.” -Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic

“As a parable on karma, capitalism and Darwinian corporate politics, “Two Days, One Night” can often feel brutal. As a testament to connection, service, sacrifice and self-worth, it’s a soaring, heart-rending hymn.” Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

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Running Time: 95 min95 MIN
PG-13 Rated

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Mommy: Last Day Thursday, March 12th

Watch Trailer Director: Xavier Dolan
Writer(s): Xavier Dolan
Cast: Anne Dorval, Antoine-Olivier Pilon, Suzanne Clément
Language: French

A feisty widowed single mom finds herself burdened with the full-time custody of her rambunctious
15-year-old ADHD son. As they try to make ends meet, Kyla, the peculiar girl across the street, offers her help. Together, they find a new sense of balance, and hope is regained.

“‘Mommy’ is a shockingly honest, nerve-wracking and dazzling piece of cinema. If this doesn’t rattle your soul, you don’t have one.” -Tom Long, Detroit News

“Dolan is only 25, and though he doesn’t have Orson Welles beat, this has to be one of the best films ever written and directed by a 25-year-old.” -Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

“A film of suffocating power and surprising warmth.” -Mary Corliss, TIME Magazine

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Running Time: 139 min139 MIN
R Rated

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42nd Athens International Film + Video Festival SNEAK PEEK! Leviathan

Watch Trailer Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev
Writer(s): Oleg Negin, Andrey Zvyagintsev
Cast: Aleksey Serebryakov, Elena Lyadova, Roman Madyanov
Language: Russian

For the first time ever, the Athena Cinema will be revealing exclusive SNEAK PEEKS of feature films programmed for the 42nd Athens International Film + Video Festival, which takes place during April 3rd-9th.

Kolia lives in a small town near the Barents Sea in North Russia. He has his own auto-repair shop. His shop stands right next to the house where he lives with his young wife Lilya and his son from a previous marriage. Vadim Shelevyat, the Mayor of the town, wants to take away his business, his house and his land. First he tries buying off Kolia, but Kolia cannot stand losing everything he has, not only the land, but also all the beauty that has surrounded him from the day of his birth. So Vadim Shelevyat starts being more aggressive.

“Call it what you like – a modern Russian epic, a crime drama, a black comedy or a scream in the dark – Leviathan is a shaggy masterpiece.” -Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail

“As harshly beautiful as the Barents Sea coastline where it is set, this parable inspired in part by the biblical tale of Job dumps more misfortune than one hapless man should ever have to endure.” -Kristin Tillotson, Minneapolis Star Tribune

“This is quite a movie, a bitter and compassionate work of genius that will reward repeat viewings and keep on getting better.” -Andrew O’Hehir, Salon.com

ACADEMY AWARD® NOMINEE

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Running Time: 140 min140 MIN
R Rated

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42nd Athens International Film + Video Festival SNEAK PEEK! Grabbers

Watch Trailer Director: Jon Wright
Writer(s): Kevin Lehane
Cast: Richard Coyle, Ruth Bradley, Russell Tovey

For the first time ever, the Athena Cinema will be revealing exclusive SNEAK PEEKS of feature films programmed for the 42nd Athens International Film + Video Festival, which takes place during April 3rd-9th.

On Erin Island, an idyllic fishing village off the coast of Ireland, charming but somewhat work-shy Ciaran O’Shea, is tasked with greeting Lisa Nolan, a straight-laced young officer who has arrived from the mainland. Not that there is much for them to do, aside from dealing with the occasional drunk, and that’s usually O’Shea himself. But strange doings are afoot: the crew of a fishing boat disappears, whales start appearing dead on the shore, a local lobsterman catches a strange tentacled creature in his trap. Soon it becomes clear to O’Shea and Nolan that there’s something big out there, and that it’s hungry. It’s time to rally the villagers, arm the troops…and head to the pub.

“Wright checks off the expected genre boxes with the gleeful mischief of a gremlin trashing a plane engine.” -Ian Buckwalter, NPR

“Perfect fodder for a late-night audience, UK/Irish co-production Grabbers, directed by Jon Wright, is a fun ride, and while it doesn’t reinvent the “Tremors” and Slither modern-b-movie wheel, it adds a few neat touches to that formula.” -Jessica Kiang, The Playlist

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Running Time: 94 min94 MIN
Not Rated

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Mr. Turner: Leaving the Athena Wednesday, March 18th

Watch Trailer Director: Mike Leigh
Writer(s): Mike Leigh
Cast: Timothy Spall, Paul Jesson, Dorothy Atkinson

Mr. Turner explores the last quarter century of the life of the great if eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner (Timothy Spall). Profoundly affected by the death of his father, loved by a housekeeper he takes for granted and occasionally exploits sexually, he forms a close relationship with a seaside landlady with whom he eventually lives incognito in Chelsea, where he dies. Throughout this, he travels, paints, stays with the country aristocracy, visits brothels, is a popular if anarchic member of the Royal Academy of Arts, has himself strapped to the mast of a ship so that he can paint a snowstorm, and is both celebrated and reviled by the public and by royalty.

“An inspired film, a beautiful exploration of art and creation and difficulty, with Spall’s brilliant performance at its center.” -Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic

“As is usual with any Mike Leigh film — a style unique and trademarked by now — his ensemble is a collection of remarkably adept actors who know their characters so well they could stay in character for weeks, continually improvising, as they often do.” -Sasha Stone, TheWrap

Closed captioning devices are available for this film. If needed, please ask about it at the concessions counter.

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Running Time: 150 min150 MIN
R Rated

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Still Alice

Watch Trailer Director: Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland
Writer(s): Lisa Genova, Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland
Cast: Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin, Kristen Stewart

Alice Howland (Julianne Moore), a successful Columbia University linguistics professor happily married with three grown children, struggles to maintain her mind after being diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s.

“The movie is harrowing, as any story about Alzheimer’s should be, but Moore gives it an extra layer of gravity and heartbreaking inevitability.” -Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald

“Sorrow-laden and moving, Still Alice isn’t gratuitously grim nor is it easily sentimental. There’s humor here — vaguely gallows-like, perhaps but also earned.” -Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post

“While it’s no surprise that Moore is so good, “Still Alice” has an unexpected trick up its sleeve: the sweetly gentle performance of Kristen Stewart, as Alice’s actress daughter Lydia.” -Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

Closed captioning devices are available for this film. If needed, please ask about it at the concessions counter.

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Running Time: 101 min101 MIN
PG-13 Rated

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42nd Athens International Film + Video Festival SNEAK PEEK! Timbuktu

Watch Trailer Director: Abderrahmane Sissako
Writer(s): Abderrahmane Sissako, Kessen Tall
Cast: Ibrahim Ahmed, Abel Jafri, Toulou Kiki
Language: English, French, Arabic, Bambara, Songhay

For the first time ever, the Athena Cinema will be revealing exclusive SNEAK PEEKS of feature films programmed for the 42nd Athens International Film + Video Festival, which takes place during April 3rd-9th.

Not far from Timbuktu, now ruled by the religious fundamentalists, Kidane lives peacefully in the dunes with his wife Satima, his daughter Toya, and Issan, their twelve-year-old shepherd. In town, the people suffer, powerless, from the regime of terror imposed by the Jihadists determined to control their faith. Music, laughter, cigarettes, even soccer have been banned. The women have become shadows but resist with dignity. Every day, the new improvised courts issue tragic and absurd sentences. Kidane and his family are being spared the chaos that prevails in Timbuktu. But their destiny changes when Kidane accidentally kills Amadou, the fisherman who slaughtered his beloved cow. He now has to face the new laws of the foreign occupants.

“The kind of mature polemical filmmaking that can’t help but seem singular, because few political-issue-type directors try it, and even fewer get it right.” -Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, AVClub.com

“An unflinching, quietly furious exploration of life under radical Islamist rule. It also makes a point about power that even nonextremist, democratically elected leaders would do well to keep in mind.” -A.O. Scott, New York Times

ACADEMY AWARD® NOMINEE

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Running Time: 9797 MIN
PG-13 Rated

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2015 Oscar Nominated Live Action Short Films: Last Day Thursday, February 26th

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Catch all of this year’s Oscar nominated short films before the 87th Annual Academy Awards telecast on Sunday, February 22nd!

 

The Oscar Nominated Short Films 2015 program offers viewers the rare opportunity to experience the year’s best short films from across the globe, collected together in this special cinematic showcase.

Aya

Two strangers unexpectedly meet at an airport. He mistakenly assumes her to be his assigned driver. She, enchanted by the random encounter, does not hurry to prove him wrong. (Dir. by Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis, Israel/France, in English/Hebrew/Danish with subtitles, 39 minutes.)

Boogaloo and Graham

Jamesy and Malachy are over the moon when their soft-hearted Dad presents them with two baby chicks to care for, but the two boys are in for a shock when their parents announce that big changes are coming to the family. (Dir. by Michael Lennox and Ronan Blaney, UK, English, 14 minutes.)

Butter Lamp (La Lampe Au Beurre De Yak)

A young itinerant photographer and his assistant offer to photograph some Tibetan nomads in front of various background. (Dir. by Hu Wei and Julien Féret,  France/China, in Tibetan with subtitles, 15 minutes.)

Parvaneh

A young Afghan immigrant travels to Zurich where she meets a punk named Emily. (Dir. by Talkhon Hamzavi and Stefan Eichenberger, Switzerland/Dari, in German with subtitles, 25 minutes.)

The Phone Call

The Phone Call follows Heather (played by Oscar-nominee Sally Hawkins), a shy woman who works at a helpline call center. When she receives a phone call from a mystery man (played by Oscar-winner Jim Broadbent), she has no idea that the encounter will change her life forever. (Dir. by Mat Kirkby and James Lucas, UK, English, 21 minutes.)

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Running Time: 118 Minutes118 MIN

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