Author: newsletter

With his unique vision, writer/director Ned Benson ambitiously captures a complete picture of a relationship in the beautifully relatable portrait of love, empathy and truth that is The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby. Once happily married, Conor (James McAvoy, The Last King of Scotland) and Eleanor (Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty, The Help) suddenly find themselves as strangers longing to understand each other in the wake of tragedy. The film explores the couple’s story as they try to reclaim the life and love they once knew and pick up the pieces of a past that may be too far gone. Screened for the first time at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, Benson’s latest version of their story combines his previous two filmstitled Him and Heruniting their perspectives and taking a further look into the subjectivity of relationships.

DC Shorts proudly presents jury and audience awards to our top films. These shorts are programmed into two Best of DC Shorts showcases that are screened at the U.S. Navy Memorial, Angelika Mosaic on September 20th and 21st. It is a great way to conclude the week – and catch the selections that might go on to fame and that special golden statue!

We’ll be watching Showcase B at the Navy Memorial (show time is 4pm) You must pre-purchase tickets at the link below!

In the hilarious and emotional The Skeleton Twins, twins Maggie (Kristen Wiig, Bridesmaids) and Milo (Bill Hader, “Saturday Night Live”) lead separate lives on opposite sides of the country. After many years of estrangement, both feel that they’re at the end of their ropes, and an unexpected reunion forces them to confront how their lives went so wrong. For Maggie, that means re-examining her marriage to sweet “nature frat boy” Lance (Luke Wilson) and her own self-destructive tendencies, while Milo must face the pain of an early heartbreak he never quite got past. As the twins’ reunion reinvigorates them both, they realize the key to fixing their lives just may lie in accepting the past and mending their relationship with each other. Also starring Ty Burrell (“Modern Family”).

Join the Sunday Night Film Club as we celebrate the DC Shorts Film Festival!

We will be viewing Showcase #14 at the Navy Memorial (701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC).

Shorts included in this showcase:

Love at 20 Finding love at 20 isnt easy for anyone, but for Sophia, it is complicated by her own special challenges.

Witches Old resentments bubble to the surface when a witch announces alternative Saturday night plans to her coven.

This Is Me Balinda shares her story of how medical marijuana has changed her life.

Silence Is Golden After a series of bad dates, a woman decides shes happier on her own.

Cadet Pushed by his coach/father, a young runner eventually lashes out at the least expected moment.

Around a Table (Autour Dune Table) Disparate people ponder the cathartic nature of the coffee klatch ritual.

A Stitch In Time (For $9.99) Set on finding out if her coworker likes her, Laura visits the discount time travel lab to get a peek at her future.

The Dandelion (Le Pissenlit) The staff of The Dandelion try many wacky schemes to save their cafe.

Chadwick Boseman stars as James Brown in this biopic from Universal Studios and director Tate Taylor (The Help). From a childhood spent in poverty to his emergence as the Godfather of Soul, Brown’s incredible life story is one of talent, determination, and perseverance. Brian Grazer, Mick Jagger, Victoria Pearman, and Erica Huggins produce a film co-penned in part by Jez and John-Henry Butterworth (Fair Game).

After nearly four decades together, Ben (John Lithgow) and George (Alfred Molina) finally tie the knot in an idyllic wedding ceremony in lower Manhattan. But when George loses his job soon after, the couple must sell their apartment and – victims of the relentless New York City real estate market – temporarily live apart until they can find an affordable new home. While George moves in with two cops (Cheyenne Jackson and Manny Perez) who live down stairs, Ben lands in Brooklyn with his nephew (Darren Burrows), his wife (Marisa Tomei), and their temperamental teenage son (Charlie Tahan), with whom Ben shares a bedroom. While struggling with the pain of separation, Ben and George are further challenged by the intergenerational tensions and capricious family dynamics of their new living arrangements.

Acclaimed Irish director Lenny Abrahamson creates a wildly quirky comedy about a naive young wannabe musician, Jon (Domhnall Gleeson, About Time), who finds himself out of his depth when he joins an avant-garde rock band led by the mysterious Frank (Michael Fassbender, conquering the ultimate acting challenge), an unstable but charismatic musical savant who wears a large, round fake head with crudely painted-on features all the timelike Daniel Johnston hidden behind a cartoon smile. Frank’s closest musical collaborator is the forbidding Clara (Maggie Gyllenhaal, Donnie Darko); part caretaker, part jailer, Clara is the antithesis of all things mainstream. For Jon, this is the break he’s been waiting for, his chance to climb through the looking glass and into the world of artistic collaboration, real music-making, and rock ‘n’ roll adventure that he’s always dreamed of. But does he have the talent to make it? Written by Jon Ronson (The Men Who Stare at Goats) and Peter Straughan (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), based on the memoir by Ronson.

Bursting with the magnetic personality and irresistible Afrobeat music of Nigerian superstar Fela Kuti, Finding Fela tells the story of his remarkable music and life, social and political impact, and lasting legacy.

Also featuring Bill T. Jones and scenes from the hit Broadway show Fela! Directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks, The Armstrong Lie).

“I’m going to kill you, Father.” In Calvary, an inventive mystery-drama with a pitch-black comic heart, Father James (Brendan Gleeson, In Bruges) is a good priest who is threatened in the confessional by a mysterious member of his parish. Although he continues to comfort his own fragile daughter Fiona (Kelly Reilly) and reach out to help members of his church with their various scurrilous moraland often comicproblems, he feels sinister and troubling forces closing in, and begins to wonder if he will have the courage to face his own personal Calvary. Also starring Chris O’Dowd. From John Michael McDonagh, the acclaimed writer and director of The Guard.

From Marvel, the studio that brought you the global blockbuster franchises of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers, comes a new team-the Guardians of the Galaxy. An action-packed, epic space adventure, Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe. To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits-Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon, Groot, a tree-like humanoid, the deadly and enigmatic Gamora and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Quill discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand-with the galaxy’s fate in the balance.