Sunday Night Film Club – DC

Josh Radnor wrote, directed and stars in happythankyoumoreplease, a sharp comedy centered on a group of 20-something New Yorkers struggling to figure out themselves, their lives and their loves. On his way to a meeting with a publisher, aspiring novelist Sam Wexler (Radnor) finds Rasheen, a young boy separated from his family on the subway. When the quiet Rasheen refuses to be left alone with social services, Sam learns the boy has already been placed in six previous foster homes and impulsively agrees to let the boy stay with him for a couple days. Dropped into Sam’s chaotic, bachelor lifestyle, Rasheen is introduced to Sam’s circle of friends; Annie (Malin Akerman) who has an unhealthy pattern of dating the wrong men, as well as an auto-immune disorder which has rendered her hairless, Mary-Catherine (Zoe Kazan) and Charlie (Pablo Schreiber) whose potential move to Los Angeles threatens their relationship, and Mississippi (Kate Mara), an aspiring singer/waitress who tests Sam’s fear of commitment. When Sam’s unexpected friendship with Rasheen develops, he realizes adulthood is not about waiting for the right answers to get the life you want, but simply stumbling ahead and figuring them out in the process. Featuring a brilliant young cast and music from breaking indie musicians, happythankyoumoreplease deftly captures the uncertainty and angst of what it is to be young, vulnerable, and desperate to find out who you are-or perhaps more importantly, who you want to be.

**This is opening weekend for this film, so please consider buying your ticket in advance at https://www.movietickets.com/purchase.asp?perf_id=637799278

Facing unemployment and his girlfriend’s rejection, writer Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) is convinced that he has no future. That all changes when an old friend introduces him to MDT, a drug that produces enhanced mental abilities. Stoked on MDT, Eddie rises to the top of the financial world. He attracts the attention of a tycoon (Robert De Niro) who believes he can use Eddie to make a fortune, but terrible side-effects and a dwindling supply threaten to destroy Eddie’s house of cards.

Just as he is on the brink of winning a senate seat, politician David Norris (Matt Damon) meets a ballerina named Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt). Though David is smitten, mysterious men conspire to keep him away from the beautiful dancer. David learns he is up against the powerful agents of Fate itself, and, glimpsing the future laid out before him, must either accept a predetermined path that does not include Elise, or defy Fate to be with her.

In Miguel Arteta’s new comedy Cedar Rapids, Tim Lippe (Ed Helms) was the guy people always thought would go places but then he just… didn’t. He’s been living in uber-sleepy Brown Valley, Wisconsin his whole life, still “pre-engaged” to his 7th grade teacher Millie Vanderhei (Sigourney Weaver), while selling insurance to protect other people’s dreams. But now, Tim’s stalled life is about to get a kick-start because, for the first time in his 34 years, he’s headed to a “major” metropolis–Cedar Rapids, Iowa–where he must try to save his company at a do-or-die insurance convention that, for him, will be entirely nonconventional. From the minute he checks into his hotel with his ancient American Tourister and cummerbund money-belt, it’s clear Tim has no idea how the modern world really works. He is soon smitten with seductive Nebraskan insurance agent Joan (Anne Heche) and awed by his experienced roommates, the straight-shooting Wilkes (Isiah Whitlock Jr.) and the suspicious Zeigler (John C. Reilly). Disheartened when he comes face-to-face with corporate corruption, Tim is ultimately lured beyond the lobby into an urban jungle he’s only ever seen on DVD and when it seems his life–and chances to succeed–have gone completely topsy-turvy, he finds his own unjaded way to turn it all around.

Don’t miss this rare opportunity to see all five Academy Award nominees in the category of Best Live Action Short!

This showing is very likely to sell out. Please purchase your tickets in advance at https://www.movietickets.com/purchase.asp?perf_id=633543787.

Based on Mordecai Richler’s prize-winning comic novel-his last and, arguably, best-Barney’s Version is the warm, wise, and witty story of Barney Panofsky (Paul Giamatti), a seemingly ordinary man who lives an extraordinary life. A candid confessional, told from Barney’s point of view, the film spans four decades and two continents, taking us through the different “acts” of his unusual history. There is his first wife, Clara (Rachelle Lefevre), a flame-haired, flagrantly unfaithful free sprit with whom Barney briefly lives la vie de Boheme in Rome. The “Second Mrs. P.,” (Minnie Driver), is a wealthy Jewish Princess who shops and talks incessantly, barely noticing that Barney is not listening. And it is at their lavish wedding that Barney meets, and starts pursuing, Miriam (Rosamund Pike), his third wife, the mother of his two children, and his true love. With his father Izzy (Dustin Hoffman) as his sidekick, Barney takes us through the many highs, and a few too many lows, of his long and colorful life. Not only does Barney turn out to be a true romantic, he is also capable of all kinds of sneaky acts of gallantry, generosity, and goodness when we-and he-least expect it. Academy Award nominee for Best Makeup.

Tickets may be purchased in advance at https://www.movietickets.com/purchase.asp?perf_id=632771750

Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck) is living the American dream: great job, beautiful family, shiny Porsche in the garage. When corporate downsizing leaves him and co-workers Phil Woodward (Chris Cooper) and Gene McClary (Tommy Lee Jones) jobless, the three men are forced to re-define their lives as men, husbands, and fathers.

Bobby soon finds himself enduring enthusiastic life coaching, a job building houses for his brother-in-law (Kevin Costner) which does not play to his executive skill set, and perhaps the realization that there is more to life than chasing the bigger, better deal. With humor, pathos, and keen observation, writer-director John Wells (the creator of “ER”) introduces us to the new realities of American life.

In this unique ghost story set on the beautiful Peruvian coastline, a married fisherman struggles to reconcile his devotion to his male lover within his town’s rigid traditions. Miguel (Cristian Mercado), a handsome, young and beloved fisherman, and his beautiful bride, Mariela (Tatiana Astengo), are about to welcome their first child. But Miguel harbors a secret. He’s in love with Santiago (Manolo Cardona), a painter who is ostracized by the town because he’s both agnostic and gay. When Santiago drowns accidentally in the ocean’s strong undertow, he cannot pass peacefully to the other side. He returns after his death to ask Miguel to look for his body and bury it according to the rituals of the town. Miguel must choose between sentencing Santiago to eternal torment or doing right by him and, in turn, revealing their relationship to Mariela and the entire village. Winner of the World Cinema Audience Award (Drama) at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Written and directed by Javier Fuentes-Leon. (Fully subtitled)

Tickets may be purchased in advance at https://www.movietickets.com/purchase.asp?perf_id=631492549.

This is opening weekend for the film and it may sell out, so please plan to arrive at 3:15 and purchase your tickets in advance at https://www.movietickets.com/purchase.asp?perf_id=630899883.

The newest film from Mike Leigh (Happy-Go-Lucky, Vera Drake, Secrets & Lies, Topsy Turvy), master of in-depth characterization, is cause for celebration. Another Year is a touching and beautifully-nuanced drama of a year in the life of a happily married middle-aged couple, and the less well-adjusted people who gather around them; little seems to happen, but much does. Leigh regulars Jim Broadbent (Topsy Turvy, When Did You Last See Your Father) and Ruth Sheen (High Hopes) play Tom and Gerri, a warm and affable couple. Tom is a geological engineer, Gerri is a medical counselor; they like to tend their garden in the public allotment and enjoy having friends over for a meal. One of the regular guests is Mary (National Board of Review Best Actress winner Leslie Manville, in a spectacular train-wreck of a performance), a lonely co-worker of Gerri’s who hits the bottle and hits on the wrong guys for romance. She is attracted to Tom and Gerri’s adult (but much younger) son Joe (Oliver Maltman), not knowing that he has brought his new girlfriend home to meet the parents.