Upcoming Films:

Please note: Films are subject to change.

Unless otherwise noted, all films are shown on the third Thursday of the month, 7:15pm at Reel to Reel Cinemas in Lacombe.

Printable PDF Version of Film Information

Winter/Spring 2010 Season:

March 18- THE DAMNED UNITED

Director: Tom Hooper Cast: Michael Sheen, Timothy Spall, Colm Meaney, Jim Broadbent Runtime: 97 minutes Country: UK Language: English Rating: 14A

Reviews, Official Site Based on a novel by David Peace, The Damned United is an affectionate, tongue-in-cheek homage to English football in the 1970s. Reuniting the stellar partnership of screenwriter Peter Morgan and star Michael Sheen (Frost/Nixon, The Queen), the film is a welcome alternative to the standard inspirational sports biopic and can most definitely be enjoyed without knowledge of the ins and outs of English football. Set in 1974, The Damned United follows former England player Brian Clough (Michael Sheen) – now revered as one of the greatest English football managers – and his brief 44-day tenure as coach of the Leeds United football club. Prior to this posting, he successfully presided over Derby, lifting the club to new heights with the aid of his indispensable right-hand man, Peter Taylor (Timothy Spall, Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman), and the belief that the beautiful game "must be played beautifully." Clough takes over Leeds from his rival Don Revie (Colm Meaney Intermission), who was managing a squad that played more brutally than beautifully, and soon creates plenty of friction both on and off the pitch with his abrasive style. Using a flashback structure, The Damned United’s careful attention to period detail and clever use of archival footage offers a compelling snapshot of another era. And Michael Sheen, much like his previous transformations in The Queen and Frost/Nixon, superbly channels the arrogance of a manager who took on the football establishment to shape a winning team. Sharp, funny and thoroughly entertaining, The Damned United presents a compelling and passionate look at the near-religious fervour inspired by the beautiful game.

April 15- MARY AND MAX

Director: Adam Elliot Cast: Toni Collette, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Eric Bana Runtime: 92 minutes Country: Australia Language: English Rating: NR

Reviews, Official Site Slowly but surely, Mary and Max has been earning great praise and rewards on the festival circuit. It had its premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, then went on to win the Crystal Bear – Special Mention at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival, and has been touring internationally ever since. Mary Dinkle (voiced as a young girl by Bethany Whitmore and then by Toni Collette, Little Miss Sunshine, Nothing Is Private) is an awkward little girl raised in a working-class home and fed a bunch of creative stories by way of explaining some of the less-than-pristine habits kept by her family. She doesn’t have many friends so, almost on a whim, she decides to find someone in the phone book to contact by mail. Enter Max Horovitz (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote, Doubt), a Jewish New Yorker who lives with a mild form of autism that keeps him home and away from an active social life – his lifestyle has also kept him obese for most of his life. Over the next twenty years, against all odds, Mary and Max not only stay in touch, but form a deep bond that carries them through many trying times in both their lives. Mere plot description does little justice to the utter originality of this film, from its quirky, offbeat tone to its sensuous, lavish visual look – it combines black-and-white and colour palettes seamlessly). Most of all, however, it’s the cleverly- wrought protagonists who draw one in with their compelling, often tragic stories and their desire to find a better life through the healing powers of friendship.

May 20- AN EDUCATION

Director: Lone Scherfig Cast: Peter Sarsgaard, Carey Mulligan, Dominic Cooper, Rosamund Pike, Emma Thompson, Alfred Molina Runtime: 95 minutes Country: UK Language: English Rating: 14A

Reviews, Official Site Winner of the audience award at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, An Education comes with a fantastic pedigree. Director Lone Scherfig is the gifted Danish filmmaker behind such features as Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself and Just Like Home, and the film’s screenwriter is the ever-popular Nick Hornby, whose earlier books, including About a Boy and High Fidelity, have already been turned into highly successful films. Set in London, England, in the early sixties, An Education is a gorgeous and nuanced coming-of-age tale with a superb fable-like quality. Relatively new to acting, Carey Mulligan turns in a luminous performance as Jenny, and has already been compared to Audrey Hepburn in this role. Jenny is a student with a great will and ambition to match. She’s off to Oxford to prep for college and plans to take over the world, when she, well, meets a boy. Actually, to be precise, a man. David (Peter Sarsgaard, Jarhead, Rendition) is dashing, older and seemingly perfect – at least to Jenny. She falls head over heels in love with him, and very soon is utterly entranced by the life he is about to give her. Thoughts of school fly out the window. Of course, nothing works out that perfectly and smoothly in life, and before long her romance comes crashing down, forcing Jenny to wonder who she really was when she began this crazy journey, and what is left of her now as she realizes she must begin anew. The plotline alone does not account for the truly impeccable tone of this film – it never misses a mark as it explores its sensitive subject matter and fully rounds out its very compelling main characters. Rarely does a film evoke an era so thoroughly and thoughtfully as An Education does, plunging viewers right into the world of this gloriously rendered love affair gone awry.

June 17- Film TBA