Sunday Night Film Club – DC

Victor Mancini, a sex-addicted med-school dropout, who keeps his increasingly deranged mother, Ida, in an expensive private medical hospital by working days as a historical re-enactor at a Colonial Williamsburg theme park. At night, Victor runs a scam by deliberately choking in upscale restaurants to form parasitic relationships with the wealthy patrons who “save” him. When, in a rare lucid movement, Ida reveals that she has withheld the shocking truth of his father’s identity, Victor enlists the aid of his best friend, Denny and his mother’s beautiful attending physician, Dr. Paige Marshall, to solve the mystery before the truth of his possibly divine parentage is lost forever.

A dark spy-comedy from Academy Award winners Joel and Ethan Coen. An ousted CIA official’s (Academy Award nominee John Malkovich) memoir accidentally falls into the hands of two unwise gym employees intent on exploiting their find. Also starring George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, and Brad Pitt.

Water is the essence of life, sustaining every living being on this planet. But the global water supply isn’t just at risk, it’s already in crisis. Director Irena Salina reveals the emerging global catastrophe: African plumbers reconnect shantytown water pipes under cover of darkness to ensure a community’s survival; a Californian scientist forces awareness of shockingly toxic public water sources; a CEO argues privatization is the wave of the future; a Canadian author uncovers corporate profiteering. With an unflinching focus on politics, pollution and human rights, Flow ensures that the precarious relationship between humanity and water can no longer be ignored. While specifics of locality and issue may differ, the message is the same; water, and our future as a species, is quickly drying up. Unless we instigate change, we face a world in which only those that can pay for their water will survive.

“Most people respect the badge. Everybody respects the gun.”

**Note this is opening weekend so you may want to purchase tickets in advance…

The most acclaimed actors of our time in the film event of the year. Turk (Robert De Niro) and Rooster (Al Pacino) are partners in the NYPD Homicide Division. They have 30 years of service investigating murders, and before they pull the pin, they want to solve their last big case. The city has a serial killer who is targeting criminals who have fallen through the cracks of the judicial system and have gotten away with rape, murder, and other heinous crimes. The serial killer believes that he is helping the police by taking the scum of the earth out of society for good, never to hurt any law abiding citizens again. The serial killer shoots the criminal at very close-range and leaves a four-line poem justifying the execution. Turk and Rooster want to give this person a medal, but instead, they must arrest him before he kills again. [imdb]

There are certain moments in history when America has proven itself to the world: Neil Armstrong setting foot on the Moon; or the US MenÂ’s Hockey team beating the Soviet Union in the 1980 Olympics. One such moment, however, never got the recognition it deserved: In 1976, a small American winery bested the exalted French wines of the time and sent the wine industry into a tizzy – putting California wines on the map for good. Based on a true story, Bottle Shock chronicles the events leading up to the famous ‘Judgment of ParisÂ’ tastings.

1970s Los Angeles. Nihilist Philosophy. Glam Rock. Drugs. Booze. Closeted Homosexuality. Dianetics. A Yen for Rock and Roll Immortality. A convergence of forces shaped the short, self-destructive life of Jan Paul Beahm, a fatherless boy raised by an alcoholic mother and abandoned by an older brother who died of a drug-overdose—a kid who reinvented himself coming out of a high school program for outcasts, as the one and only Darby Crash, the legendary lead singer of the seminal Los Angeles Punk band, The Germs. Shane West (“ER”), Bijou Phillips, Rick Gonzalez and Noah Segan star in a biopic that chronicles the rise of The Germs and their charismatic leader whose image—the contorted, screaming face and death grip on the microphone—has become an icon of the U.S. punk movement and a rapt influence on bands since. Darby’s cultivated punk attitude, resplendent with the hardcore, infamous onstage self-mutilation antics and volatile energy that inspired the band’s mesmerized followers to riot, ultimately banned The Germs from playing every venue in the greater Los Angeles area. Written and directed by Rodger Grossman.

he comedy hit of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival is the irreverent tale of one teacher’s overzealous quest to mount a high school musical. Steve Coogan stars as Dana Marsch, a failed actor turned high school drama teacher. Shortchanged in the talent department, Dana still harbors ambitions and passions. At work, that is; his personal life, with his dissatisfied wife (Catherine Keener) and their border (David Arquette), leaves much to be desired. With his department under threat of closure, Dana conceives a sequel to Shakespeare’s Hamlet—a lighthearted musical theatre extravaganza that will disdain both political correctness and dramatic credibility. Despite objections from school officials and outrage in the community, Dana will not be denied his freedom of artistic expression. Co-starring Amy Poehler and Elisabeth Shue. Directed by Andrew Fleming (Dick, The Craft), who co-wrote the screenplay with Pam Brady (South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, Team America: World Police).

For this week’s show, we are co-hosting this event with the DC Indie Film Meetup Group. As we are likely to have a large combined group, we advise everyone to buy their tickets in advance at http://www.landmarktheatres.com/tickets/default.asp

Lazy stoner Dale Denton has only one reason to visit his equally lazy dealer Saul Silver: to purchase weed, specifically, a rare new strain called Pineapple Express. But when Dale becomes the only witness to a murder by a crooked cop and the city’s most dangerous drug lord, he panics and dumps his roach of Pineapple Express at the scene. Dale now has another reason to visit Saul: to find out if the weed is so rare that it can be traced back to him. And it is. As Dale and Saul run for their lives, they quickly discover that they’re not suffering from weed-fueled paranoia; incredibly, the bad guys really are hot on their trail and trying to figure out the fastest way to kill them both. All aboard the Pineapple Express.

Brennan Huff (Will Ferrell) and Dale Doback (John C. Reilly) have one thing in common: they are both lazy, unemployed leeches who still live with their parents. When Brennan’s mother and Dale’s father marry and move in together, it turns the overgrown boys’ world upside down. Their insane rivalry and narcissism pull the new family apart, forcing them to work together to reunite their parents.

Evelyn WaughÂ’s heartbreaking romantic epic tells an evocative story of forbidden love and the loss of innocence in the pre-WWII era. Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode) becomes entranced with the noble Marchmain family, first through the charming and provocative Sebastian Flyte (Ben Whishaw), and then his sophisticated sister, Julia (Hayley Atwell). The rise and fall of CharlesÂ’ infatuations reflect the decline of a decadent era in England between the wars. Co-starring Michael Gambon, Greta Scacchi and Emma Thompson as Lady Marchmain. Directed by Julian Jarrold (Becoming Jane).