Transcultural Encounters & Border Crossings: The Syrian Bride – One Day Only Saturday, January 17th

Watch Trailer Director: Eran Riklis
Writer(s): Suha Arraf and Eran Riklis
Cast: Hiam Abbass, Makram Khoury and Clara Khoury

A family deals with the typical anxieties of a wedding day while also confronting the political turmoil of the Middle East in this drama, a collaboration between Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers. Hammed (Makram J. Khoury) is a leading political figure in Majdal Shams, a Druze community that has been under Israeli occupation since the late ’60s. Years ago, Hammed arranged for his daughter Mona (Clara Khoury) to marry Tallel (Derar Sliman), who has since become a successful actor in Syria. Hammed has gathered the family together to see Mona off, but the occasion is a bittersweet one — given the combative relationship between Israel and Syria, once Mona crosses the border with her husband, it’s unlikely she will ever be able to return. THE SYRIAN BRIDE is a story about physical, mental and emotional borders, and the strength and will to cross them.

“It is written, directed and acted with real compassion and sympathy for the humanity of its characters, no matter who they are or on what side of these multiple issues they turn out to be.” – Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

“The movie charms while making a bold statement about the borders that governments and individuals construct to keep each other apart.” – John Monaghan, The Detroit Free Press

Film introductions by professors Katarzyna Marciniak and Michael Gillespie.

Sponsored by The College of Arts and Sciences, Making and Breaking the Law Theme, and the Wealth and Poverty Theme.

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Running Time: 97 Minutes97 MIN
G Rated

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Foxcatcher: Last Day Thursday, February 12th

Watch Trailer Director: Bennett Miller
Writer(s): E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman
Cast: Steve Carell, Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo

FOXCATCHER is a psychological drama directed by Academy Award nominee Bennett Miller (MONEYBALL) and starring Golden Globe winner Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Academy Award nominee Mark Ruffalo, Academy Award winner Vanessa Redgrave and Sienna Miller. The film was written by E. Max Frye and Academy Award nominee Dan Futterman.

FOXCATCHER tells the story of Olympic Gold Medal-winning wrestler Mark Schultz (Tatum), who sees a way out from the shadow of his more celebrated wrestling brother Dave(Ruffalo) and a life of poverty when he is summoned by eccentric multi-millionaire John du Pont (Carell) to move onto his estate and train for the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Desperate to gain the respect of his disapproving mother, du Pont begins “coaching” a world-class athletic team and, in the process, lures Mark into dangerous habits, breaks his confidence and drives him into a self-destructive spiral. Based on actual events, FOXCATCHER is a gripping and profoundly American story of fragile men who pinned their hopes for love and redemption on a desperate obsession for greatness that was to end in tragedy.

“Foxcatcher, one of the year’s very best films, exposes the diseased underbelly of American exceptionalism and knocks the ground out from under you.” – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

“A superbly modulated study of a twisted mind with a career-changing performance by Steve Carell.” – Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter

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

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Running Time: 134 Minutes134 MIN
R Rated

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Wild: Leaving Thursday, February 5th

Watch Trailer Director: Jean-Marc Vallée
Writer(s): Nick Hornby, Cheryl Strayed
Cast: Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Gaby Hoffmann
Awards: Golden Globe Nomination for Best Actress

With the dissolution of her marriage and the death of her mother, Cheryl Strayed has lost all hope. After years of reckless, destructive behavior, she makes a rash decision. With absolutely no experience, driven only by sheer determination, Cheryl hikes more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, alone. WILD powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddens, strengthens, and ultimately heals her.

“What makes its heroine worth caring about – what makes her a rare and exciting presence in present-day American film – is not that she’s tidy or sensible or even especially nice. It’s that she’s free.” A.O. Scott

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Running Time: 115 minutes115 MIN
R Rated

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The Homesman: Last Day Thursday, January 15th

Watch Trailer Director: Tommy Lee Jones
Writer(s): Kieran Fitzgerald and Wesley Oliver
Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Hilary Swank, Meryl Streep

When three women living on the edge of the American frontier are driven mad by harsh pioneer life, the task of saving them falls to the pious, independent-minded Mary Bee Cuddy (Hilary Swank). Transporting the women by covered wagon to Iowa, she soon realizes just how daunting the journey will be, and employs a low-life drifter, George Briggs (Tommy Lee Jones), to join her. The unlikely pair and the three women (Grace Gummer, Miranda Otto, Sonja Richter) head east, where a waiting minister and his wife (Meryl Streep) have offered to take the women in. But the group first must traverse the harsh Nebraska Territories marked by stark beauty, psychological peril and constant threat.

“A Beautifully Crafted, Absorbing Look At Life in the American West.” -Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter

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Running Time: 122 Minutes122 MIN
R Rated

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The Babadook: Leaving the Athena on December 24th

Watch Trailer Director: Jennifer Kent
Writer(s): Jennifer Kent
Cast: Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman, and Daniel Henshall

Six years after the violent death of her husband, Amelia (Essie Davis) is at a loss. She struggles to discipline her ‘out of control’ 6 year-old, Samuel (Noah Wiseman), a son she finds impossible to love. Samuel’s dreams are plagued by a monster he believes is coming to kill them both. When a disturbing storybook called ‘The Babadook’ turns up at their house, Samuel is convinced that the Babadook is the creature he’s been dreaming about. His hallucinations spiral out of control, he becomes more unpredictable and violent. Amelia, genuinely frightened by her son’s behaviour, is forced to medicate him. But when Amelia begins to see glimpses of a sinister presence all around her, it slowly dawns on her that the thing Samuel has been warning her about may be real.

“One of the smartest and most effective horror films in years.” – Jordan Hoffman, New York Daily News

“This psychological thriller from gifted first-time filmmaker Jennifer Kent will have you climbing the walls simply by plumbing the violence of the mind. Brace yourself.” – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

 

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Running Time: 93 minutes93 MIN
Rating: Unrated

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Citizenfour: Last Day Thursday, December 18th

Watch Trailer Director: Laura Poitras
Cast: Edward Snowden

CITIZENFOUR is a real life thriller, unfolding by the minute, giving audiences unprecedented access to filmmaker Laura Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald’s encounters with Edward Snowden in Hong Kong, as he hands over classified documents providing evidence of mass indiscriminate and illegal invasions of privacy by the National Security Agency (NSA).

Poitras had already been working on a film about surveillance for two years when Snowden contacted her, using the name “CITIZENFOUR,” in January 2013.  He reached out to her because he knew she had long been a target of government surveillance, stopped at airports numerous times, and had refused to be intimidated. When Snowden revealed he was a high-level analyst driven to expose the massive surveillance of Americans by the NSA, Poitras persuaded him to let her film.

CITIZENFOUR places you in the room with Poitras, Greenwald, and Snowden as they attempt to manage the media storm raging outside, forced to make quick decisions that will impact their lives and all of those around them.

CITIZENFOUR not only shows you the dangers of governmental surveillance—it makes you feel them. After seeing the film, you will never think the same way about your phone, email, credit card, web browser, or profile, ever again.

 Executive Produced by Steven Soderbergh.

“It’s a tense and frightening thriller that blends the brisk globe-trotting of the “Bourne” movies with the spooky, atmospheric effects of a Japanese horror film.”-A.O. Scott, New York Times

“Whether you think Edward Snowden is a hero or a traitor, you should see the riveting documentary “Citizenfour”…”-Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

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Running Time: 114 Minutes114 MIN
R Rated

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The Theory of Everything: Leaving Thursday, February 5th

Watch Trailer Director: James Marsh
Writer(s): Anthony McCarten (screenplay) and Jane Hawking (book)
Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, and Tom Prior

Starring Eddie Redmayne (“Les Misérables”) and Felicity Jones (“The Amazing Spider-Man 2”), this is the extraordinary story of one of the world’s greatest living minds, the renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, who falls deeply in love with fellow Cambridge student Jane Wilde. Once a healthy, active young man, Hawking received an earth-shattering diagnosis at 21 years of age. With Jane fighting tirelessly by his side, Stephen embarks on his most ambitious scientific work, studying the very thing he now has precious little of – time. Together, they defy impossible odds, breaking new ground in medicine and science, and achieving more than they could ever have dreamed. The film is based on the memoir Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen, by Jane Hawking, and is directed by Academy Award winner James Marsh (“Man on Wire”).

“Redmayne and Jones are beautifully compatible as Hawking and his then-wife Jane as they navigate the ebb and flow of 25 years of their relationship.” – Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times 

“Stephen Hawking, a genius challenged by a progressive neurological disease, is a role that demands miracles of an actor. And Eddie Redmayne, in a landmark performance, delivers them.” – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

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Running Time: 123 Minutes123 MIN
PG-13 Rated

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Rosewater: Last Day Thursday, December 18th

Watch Trailer Director: Jon Stewart
Writer(s): Jon Stewart (screenplay) and Maziar Bahari (book)
Cast: Gael García Bernal, Kim Bodnia, Dimitri Leonidas, Haluk Bilginer and Shohreh Aghdashloo

Rosewater is based on The New York Times best-selling memoir “Then They Came for Me: A Family’s Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival,” written by Maziar Bahari. The film marks the directorial debut of “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart, and stars Gael García Bernal.

Rosewater follows the Tehran-born Bahari, a broadcast journalist with Canadian citizenship. In June 2009, Bahari returned to Iran to interview Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who was the prime challenger to president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. As Mousavi’s supporters rose up to protest Ahmadinejad’s victory declaration hours before the polls closed, Bahari endured personal risk by sending footage of the street riots to the BBC. Bahari was arrested by police, led by a man identifying himself only as “Rosewater,” who tortured and interrogated him over the next 118 days.

“Stewart proves he can pull back from the satirical comedy and become a thoughtful, incisive and questioning filmmaker.” -Mary Houlihan, Chicago Sun-Times

“A strong, striking political drama.” – Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

 

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Running Time: 103 Minutes103 MIN
R Rated

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Holiday Film Series: THE SANTA CLAUSE

Watch Trailer Director: John Pasquin
Writer(s): Leo Benvenuti and Steve Rudnick
Cast: Tim Allen, Judge Reinhold, Wendy Crewson, Eric Lloyd and David Krumholtz

This holiday comedy offers a new take on the story of Santa Claus and features the first big screen performance of comedian Tim Allen. It follows the exploits of Scott Calvin, a divorced advertising executive sharing custody of his son with his ex-wife, who finds himself legally roped into becoming the new Santa Claus after he dons the Jolly One’s suit and accepts his business card. When Scott tells of his plight, his ex-wife immediately sues for full-time custody of their son Charlie. Charlie knows the truth, for he was with his dad when it all happened. Will they be able to convince the court that Scott is indeed Santa?

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Running Time: 97 Minutes97 MIN
PG Rated

Balances the sugar with the spice, which Allen sprinkles on just right.

Rita Kempley
Washington Post
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Holiday Film Series: ARTHUR CHRISTMAS

Watch Trailer Director: Sarah Smith and Barry Cook
Writer(s): Peter Baynham and Sarah Smith
Cast: James McAvoy, Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy and Hugh Laurie

The CG-animated family comedy Arthur Christmas, an Aardman production for Sony Pictures Animation, at last reveals the incredible, never-before seen answer to every child’s question: ‘So how does Santa deliver all those presents in one night?’ The answer: Santa’s exhilarating, ultra-high-tech operation hidden beneath the North Pole. But at the heart of the film is a story with the ingredients of a Christmas classic – a family in a state of comic dysfunction and an unlikely hero, Arthur, with an urgent mission that must be completed before Christmas morning dawns.

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Running Time: 100 Minutes100 MIN
PG Rated

Hilarious, fast-paced and superbly entertaining.

Bruce Demara
Toronto Star
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