Sunday Night Film Club – DC

Following the death of his father, Britt Reid, heir to his father’s large company, teams up with his late dad’s assistant Kato to become a masked crime fighting team.

The new film from Michel Gondry, director of Eternal Sunshine and the Spotless Mind, starring Seth Rogen as the masked crimefighter and Jay Chou as Kato.

NOTE: This movie is very likely to sell out, so please plan to arrive 30 minutes before the movie begins. Please purchase your tickets in advance at https://www.movietickets.com/purchase.asp?perf_id=629284831

Blue Valentine is the story of love found and love lost told in moments past and present. This honest and moving portrait follows Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams who star as Dean and Cindy, a married couple who spend a night away from their daughter in an attempt to save their failing marriage. Juxtaposed with playful scenes that trace their romantic courtship six years prior, Gosling and Williams journey through the brutal heartbreak that comes with fading love and broken promises.

Fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross’s father has been shot in cold blood by the coward Tom Chaney, and she is determined to bring him to justice. Enlisting the help of a trigger-happy, drunken U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn, she sets out with him — over his objections — to hunt down Chaney. Her father’s blood demands that she pursue the criminal into Indian territory and find him before a Texas Ranger named LeBoeuf catches him and brings him back to Texas for the murder of another man.

The story of King George VI of Britain, his impromptu ascension to the throne and the speech therapist who helped the unsure monarch become worthy of it.

“I Love You Phillip Morris” is the improbable but true story of a spectacularly charismatic conman’s journey from small-town businessman to flamboyant white-collar criminal, who repeatedly finds himself in trouble with the law and on the lam, brilliantly escaping from the Texas prison system on four separate occasions — all in the name of love.

A psychological thriller set in the world of New York City ballet, Black Swan follows the story of Nina (Natalie Portman), a ballerina whose life, like all those in her profession, is completely consumed with dance. Artistic director Thomas (Vincent Cassel, Mesrine) seems ready to cast her in the lead for his new production of Swan Lake, but she has competition: a new dancer, Lily (Mila Kunis), impresses him as well. Thomas’ concept requires one dancer to play both the White Swan, with innocence and grace, and the Black Swan, who represents guile and sensuality. Nina fits the White Swan role perfectly but Lily is the personification of the Black Swan. As the two young dancers expand their rivalry into a twisted friendship, Nina begins to get more in touch with her dark side with a recklessness that threatens to destroy her. Co-starring Barbara Hershey as Nina’s retired ballerina mother Erica, who zealously supports her daughter’s professional ambition. Directed by visionary filmmaker Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler, The Fountain, Requiem for a Dream, Pi).

Life for John and Lara Brennan (Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks) is miserable after she is convicted of a murder she says she did not commit. Three years later while struggling with the demands of work and raising his son alone, John is still trying to establish her innocence. When her final appeal is rejected, Lara becomes suicidal, forcing John to exercise the only option he has left: Break her out of prison.

The first installment of the two-film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows follows Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint), and Hermione (Emma Watson) as they search for the pieces of Voldemort’s (Ralph Fiennes) soul that he extracted from his being and hid in obscure locations both far and wide. If the trio is unable to locate and destroy them all, Voldemort will remain immortal. Despite their long friendship, a combination of dark forces, romantic tensions, and long-held secrets threaten to sabotage the mission.

Chris Morris’ Four Lions is a funny, thrilling comedy that illuminates modern jihadism through the prism of farce. What This Is Spinal Tap did for heavy metal and Dr. Strangelove the Cold War, Four Lions does for the modern face of terrorism. In a British city, four men have a secret plan. Omar is disillusioned about the treatment of Muslims around the world and is determined to become a soldier. This is the most exciting idea Waj has ever heard. Better still it’s a no-brainer because Omar does his thinking for him. Opposed to Omar and everyone else on earth is the white Islamic convert Barry. He”d realize he joined the cell to channel his nihilism – if he had half the self-knowledge of a duck. Faisal is the odd man out. He can make a bomb – but he can’t blow himself up just now ‘cuz his sick dad has “started eating newspaper.” Instead, he’s training crows to fly bombs through windows. This is what Omar has to deal with. They must strike a decisive blow on their own turf but can any of them strike a match without punching himself in the face? Crackling with wit and tension, Four Lions is the essential response to our failure to engage with reality and a high toast to the idea that laughter is better than killing.