november 29, 2019 - january 9, 2020 - princess cinemas · 2019-12-03 · performers, and reconfirms...
TRANSCRIPT
A CHRISTMAS STORYDir. Bob Clark • USA/Canada • 1983 • 94min • Rated PG. CHRISTMAS CLASSICS ON THE BIG SCREEN!“A Christmas Story is a heart-warming pastiche of snowflakes,
Christmas lights and one little boy's quest for the present of hisdreams. Peter Billingsley plays the all-American protagonist, RalphieParker, a delightful little Everykid created by American humorist JeanShepherd in his novel In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash.“It's a nostalgic comedy featuring a family of eccentrics who lov-
ingly celebrate the holidays and life itself in Midwestern America inthe 1940s. They're like an early-TV comedy family, except more whim-sical and real. Melinda Dillon plays the Mom of Moms who's alwaysdishing out seconds and hasn't had a hot meal herself in 15 years.Darren McGavin plays The Old Man, perpetually battling the furnaceand the Oldsmobile and the neighboring Bumpus’ hound dogs.“Much of the film is narrated by Shepherd in his own incompara-
ble prose. It works wonderfully, with everyone emoting madly, havingperhaps the most fun any actors have had since vaudeville.” - Washington Post DECEMBER 16 & 17
COMIC BOOK CONFIDENTIALDir. Ron Mann • Canada/USA • 1988 • 90min • Rated STC.DIRECTOR RON MANN IN ATTENDANCE FOR INTRO AND Q&A!“The people behind Spider-Man, Captain America and other comic
book heroes resemble Clark Kent in real life. They are calm, reason-able, respectable-looking people whose fantasies and superhumanpowers are released in the Zap! Pow! Gasp! of their work. In ComicBook Confidential, Ron Mann's look through 50 years of Americancomic books, these artists and writers recall the origins of their workand read snippets of their stories. The camera zooms in on charactersfrom superpowered patriots to counterculture con men, sometimessetting them in motion in styles that suit their eras. “Among the 22 artists and writers interviewed, William M. Gaines
comes to embody comic-book history itself. He describes his fatherfolding up the Sunday funnies and selling them for a dime - themakeshift origins of the comic book. We see the effects, in film of Mr.Gaines testifying in 1954 before the Senate Subcommittee onJuvenile Delinquency, which was considering the proposition thatcomic books were corrupting America's youth.” - The New York Times
DECEMBER 19
DIE HARDDir. John McTiernan • USA • 1988 • 128min. • Rated 18A.EVERYONE’S FAVOURITE ‘CHRISTMAS MOVIE’“In Die Hard, Bruce Willis is your basic little guy up against a gang
of international terrorists, and they've got chainsaws and machineguns and plastic explosives and he has just the one measly handgun.“It's Christmas Eve, and Willis, playing a New York cop named John
McClane, has flown to L.A. to visit his estranged wife (BonnieBedelia). He goes to the high-rise office building where she works forthe Nakatomi Corp. and finds her and her fellow workers having aChristmas party on the 30th floor. The rest of the building is empty.“Which is why the terrorists headed by Hans Gruber (Alan
Rickman), have elected to take it over. Their object is $600 millionworth of bearer bonds in the Nakatomi vault. The vault is protected by
seven locks, the seventh of which has an "electromagnetic seal" that -according to Hans’ computer expert - it would take a miracle to break.“There are good performances from everyone in this often funny,
very violent but exciting melodrama.” - New York Daily NewsDECEMBER 15 & 18
FRANKIEDir. Ira Sachs • France/Portugal • 2019 • 100min • Rated PG. AN AGING ACTRESS’ FAMILY MOVINGLY DEALS WITH DEATH“Françoise Crémont — Frankie to her friends — is a famous
actress, and she’s dying. For a sense of how she’s handling this devel-opment, all you really need to know is that she is played by the glori-ously unsentimental Isabelle Huppert. There’s a scene, halfwaythrough, in which Frankie figures out that her husband, Jimmy(Brendan Gleeson), has conspired with her ex-husband, Michel(Pascal Greggory), to casually bring her by a local spring that happensto be famed for its healing water.She’s not moved by the gesture —
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 294:00PM •STC•
8:00PM •STC•
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 3011:00AM •STC•
3:00PM & 5:45PM •STC•
8:30PM •STC•
Admission PricesMembers/under 12: $8
Non-Members: $ 12 • Over 65/Students: $9
Annual Membership: $10Membership benefits:
$4 o� regular admissionFree film guide mailing
Snack bar combo
Descriptions below are for films playing atthe Playhouse Cinema from November 29, 2019,through to and including January 9, 2020.
18 FREE PARKING SPOTS IN PLAYHOUSE LOT NEXT DOOR! PLUS 18 MORE SPOTS ACROSS THE STREET IN MUNICIPAL LOT!
MarriageStory
MarriageStory
“An emotionally laceratingexperience, a nearly flawless
elegy for a beautifullyflawed couple.” - LA Times
“The movie is a masterpiece, one made by a man counting downhis own years as if they were rosary beads.” - Boston Globe
((CCOONNTTIINNUUEEDD OONN PPGG 33))
“In a dazzling high-wireact as actor andscreenwriter, Shia LaBeouflets loose onhis own life asa child star.”- Rolling Stone
“Intense, unsettling, modestly triumphant portrait of the artist as a young man.”- Washington Post
DEC 20- JAN 9
PROGRAMMING NOTETBA (TO BE ANNOUNCED) TITLESAt press time we were not able to confirm what
titles to put in these slots, so we decided to waituntil mid December, when some current titleswould become available.
Watch for announcements on our website orthrough our weekly e-newsletter! Thanks for payingattention to the details!
905-545-8888 • 177 SHERMAN AVE. N., HAMILTON ,ON • WWW.PLAYHOUSECINEMA.CA
November 29, 2019 - January 9, 2020
OPENS Nov 29th
See this MOVIE EVENT of the YEAR on the BIG SCREEN! Until Dec 5th
Martin Scorsese’s DeNiro/Pacino/Pesci
Driver & Johansson
THE CLIMBING EVENT OF THE YEAR!THE CLIMBING EVENT OF THE YEAR!
Dec 11th - Tickets available! Co-Sponsor - Gravity Climbing Gym
THETWO
POPES
Jonathan Pryce Anthony Hopkins
DEC 13-23
“HHHHHopkins and Pryce’s finely
tuned performances illuminate Bendict’s shrewdintelligence and Francis’s
deep humility.” - Kate Taylor , GLOBE & MAIL
“tender, bruising,exuberant film”- Hollywod Reporter
DEC 6-12 Dec 13-23(seven shows)
Act fast! Almost
SOLD OUT!
“ImpecCably Crafted!”
‘Waves’ is sure to be regardedas one of the best films of 2019.”
- The Wrap
Grab a Brew with your Film!
SUNDAY DECEMBER 12:00PM •PG•
4:00M •STC•
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MONDAY DECEMBER 24:00PM •STC•
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TUESDAY DECEMBER 34:00PM •STC•
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WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 44:00PM •STC•
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THURSDAY DECEMBER 55:15PM •STC•
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FRIDAY DECEMBER 64:15PM •14A•
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SATURDAY DECEMBER 71:35PM •STC•
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6:30PM •14A•
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SUNDAY DECEMBER 221:55PM •PG•
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MONDAY DECEMBER 234:20PM •G•
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TUESDAY DECEMBER 24 WEDNESDAY DEC 25 THURSDAY DECEMBER 261:55PM •STC•
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FRIDAY DECEMBER 272:05PM •STC•
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SATURDAY DECEMBER 281:00PM •STC•
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NOV 29 2019-JAN 9 2020
SUNDAY DECEMBER 151:50PM •STC•
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MONDAY DECEMBER 164:25PM •STC•
7:00PM •PG•
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TUESDAY DECEMBER 17 4:40PM •PG•
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WEDNESDAY DEC 183:15PM •STC•
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THURSDAY DECEMBER 194:25PM •STC•
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FRIDAY DECEMBER 204:25PM •STC•
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SATURDAY DECEMBER 212:05PM •G•
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SUNDAY DECEMBER 292:00PM •STC•
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WEDNESDAY JANUARY 17:00PM •STC•
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THURSDAY JANUARY 22:10PM •14A•
4:30PM •STC•
6:45PM •STC•
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FRIDAY JANUARY 32:20PM •STC•
4:25PM •14A•
6:45PM & 9:00PM •STC
SATURDAY JANUARY 42:10PM •STC•
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SUNDAY DECEMBER 81:30PM •14A•
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MONDAY DECEMBER 93:45PM •STC•
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TUESDAY DECEMBER 104:20PM •PG•
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WEDNESDAY DEC 114:30PM •STC•
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SATURDAY DECEMBER 141:30PM •STC•
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SUNDAY JANUARY 52:10PM •STC•
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MONDAY JANUARY 64:55PM •STC•
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TUESDAY JANUARY 74:40PM •14A•
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WEDNESDAY JANUARY 82:35PM •STC•
4:40PM •14A•
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THURSDAY JANUARY 94:40PM •14A•
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SEE NOV 29 & 30LISTINGS ON PAGE ONE
EXHIBITIONON SCREEN
JAN2&4
JUDI DENCH in aKenneth BranaghTheatre Company
Production ofWILLIAM
SHAKESPEARE’SThe
Winter’s TaleDECEMBER 28 • 1PM
Kiki’sDeliveryService
Marriage StoryMarriage
StoryMarriage
StoryMarriage
Story
MarriageStory
WAVES
WAVES
THE TWO POPES
THE TWO POPES
“An exuberant Vatican-set buddy movie.”- Times
WESTERN STARS
“A captivating musical experiencebrought to the screen that expresses both the nature of
Bruce Springsteen and the meaningbehind his album Western Stars.”
- Film Ireland
WAVES
WAVESWAVES
WAVES
WAVES
FRANKIEFRANKIE
MarriageStory
MarriageStoryMarriage
Story
MarriageStory
Marriage StoryFRANKIE
FRANKIEADVANCE
TICKETSON SALE
HARRIET
WESTERNSTARSDIE HARD
HARRIET
DIE HARD
HARRIET
FREE SCREENING WITHFOOD DONATION TOHAMILTON FOOD SHARE
Kiki’sDeliveryService
HappyHolidays!
CINEMA PASSESMAKE GREAT GIFTS!Closed.
NO SCREENINGS DEC 24 & 25
THE TWO POPES
THE TWO POPES
THE TWO POPESTHE GOOD LIAR
THE GOOD LIARTHE GOOD LIAR
THE GOOD LIARTHE GOOD LIAR
“Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen make it sing. They're a joy.
They are the new Hepburn and Tracy.” - Times
THE GOOD LIAR
THE GOOD LIAR
The Pollinators
A cinematic journey around the USAfollowing migratory beekeepers and
their truckloads of honey bees.
THE GOOD LIAR
EXHIBITION ON SCREEN
LEONARDO:THE WORKS
LEONARDO:THE WORKS
EXHIBITION ON SCREEN
An epic gangster drama... The Irishman finds Martin Scorsese revisitingfamiliar themes to poignant, funny, and profound effect
“A deeply thoughtful and empathetic film abouthow difficult it is - logistically, on top of all the
messy feelings - to end a marriage.”- AV Club
“A major triumph and one ofthe very best movies of theyear. The best film yet fromdirector Noah Baumbachwith career highs fromleads Adam Driver andScarlett Johansson.”
- Rolling Stone
“Whisks us away, showcases sucha talented and eclectic array ofperformers, and reconfirms a
singular filmmaker's (Ira Sachs)affecting artistry.” - LA Times
“Takes us on a real journey, leavingus breathless but also marvelling
at the end.”- Toronto Star
PEOPLE’S CHOICERunner-Up • TIFF 2019
“This involving and extremely well-made epic seems to be an appropriate capstone
for Scorsese - as well as De Niro, Pesci, andPacino - at this late stage in their careers.”
- Salon.com
“An exhilarating and furious indictment of class struggle,Parasite might be the masterpiece South Korea's Bong Joon-ho (Snowpiercer) has been working
toward his entire career.” - Globe & Mail
THE TWO POPES
THE TWO POPES
THE TWO POPES
THE TWO POPES
THE TWO POPES
THE TWO POPES
CLOSED FOR PRIVATE EVENT“Anchored by two outstanding
performances from Anthony Hopkinsand Jonathan Pryce, the film is a triumph of writing as well as unostentatious filmmaking.”
- Hollywood Reporter
Christmas Classicson the big Screen!Christmas Classics
on the big Screen!
Christmas Classics
Christmas Classics on the big Screen!
“A smart, empathetic film aboutthe need for both resilience and uncertainty in a faithful heart.”
- RogerEbert.com “In this intense, unsettling,modestly triumphant portraitof the artist as a young man,LaBeouf shows us not onlyhow he grew up, but what itcost him along the way.”
- RogerEbert.com
DirectorRon Mannin person!
It’s aWonderful
LifeREGULAR ADMISSIONGET YOUR ADV TICKETS!
THE TWO POPESTHE TWO POPES
“Two primal performances fromWillem Dafoe and Robert Pattinsoncarry Robert Eggers' second film
to glory. Stunningly shot inblack and white, The Lighthouse
seeps into your bones with a powerthat won't let go.” - Rolling Stone
JUDI DENCH inWILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S
The Winter’s Tale
“A sprightly, attractively composedcoming-of-age comedy set in WW IIGermany, Jojo Rabbit is an audacious high-wire act.”- Washington Post
“Writer director Taika Waititi (Hunt for theWilderpeople), brings his signature styleof humor and pathos to his latest film, aWorld War II satire that follows a lonelyGerman boy whose world view is turnedupside down when he discovers his singlemother is hiding a young Jewish girl
CERTIFIED FRESH ONROTTENTOMATOES.COM
“Director Taika Waititi's self-described "anti-hate satire" blossoms into a big-hearted blackcomedy with the thorniest possiblesubject at its center.” - NY Post
“In a dazzling high-wire act asactor and screenwriter, LaBeouflets loose on his own life as achild star and his relationshipwith his loose-cannon dad, arole he plays himself.”- Rolling Stone
“Buoyed by sensitive and ferocious ensemble turns,
Honey Boy is a cinematic salvefor a tortured soul...a powerfulvehicle for its star-screen-writer-subject.”- LA Times
“Feels like a sumptuous beach read on a lazy sunny afternoon.”
- RogerEbert.com
“A perfect blend of writing,unflashy direction, spot on performances and score (byRandy Newman)... Its triumphis that it just feels like life.”
- Associated Press
“Provocatively examines blackmasculinity and the burden of
living up to a societal standard,as well as a parental one.”- TheWrap
THE TWO POPES
It’s aWonderful
Life
HARRIETHARRIETTBA
TBA TBATBA
TBA
Hamilton’s IndependentArt House Cinema 3
$10.00 MEMBERSHIPS CAN BE PURCHASED BEFORE EVERY SCREENING WHEN YOU BUY YOUR TICKET
November 29, 2019 - January 9, 2020
she’s furious. Frankie may have made peace with her own impendingmortality, but it hasn’t necessarily left her inclined to indulge the griefof her loved ones.“Frankie, which director Ira Sachs wrote with Mauricio Zacharias,
takes place over the course of the family vacation that Frankie hasarranged for/inflicted on those loved ones. She’s chosen thePortuguese seaside town of Sintra, a beautiful setting for a gatheringthat everyone’s trying to pretend isn’t overshadowed by death. “Frankie is rife with terrific little moments. Different combinations
of characters come together to offer different angles on the complicat-ed family history on display.” - Vulture DECEMBER 6-10
THE GOOD LIARDir. Bill Condon • USA • 2019 • 110min • Rated 14A. HELEN MIRREN AND IAN MCKELLEN SHINE IN EXCITING THRILLER“Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren are out to seduce you — and to
have great fun pretending to be seduced by each other in BillCondon’s wonderfully weird thriller. Initially, the mood is all flirtationand classy high jinks. Roy Courtnay (McKellen), is a rapscallion, basedin central London, who scams naive businessmen with suchKingsman-style panache that it seems likely he was once a secretagent. He also likes to fleece wealthy widows.“Thanks to an online dating service he meets Betty (Mirren). The
latter is adorably wide-eyed, yet because we’re familiar with thetropes of this genre we suspect that Roy has met his match. And thatthe pair, after trying to double-and triple-cross each other, will windup fighting on the same side.“McKellen is 80. Mirren is 74. They both have a ball with a script
that constantly challenges stereotypes concerning the ‘old’ — espe-cially the idea that they’re more interested in companionship thansex. The Good Liar offers an antidote to prejudice of all kinds”- London Evening Standard JANUARY 2-9
HARRIETDir. Kasi Lemmons • USA • 2019 • 125min • Rated STC. HARRIET TUBMAN FINALLY GETS GIVEN THE BIOPIC TREATMENT“Harriet is an impassioned, edifying portrait of a remarkable life,
and a fitting showcase for the considerable talents of its star, Tony-winning British actress Cynthia Erivo.“It’s 1849 in Maryland and Araminta “Minty” Ross has never
known a world outside of slavery, though her husband is a free man.When her master refuses to let the pair live together, she breaks forfreedom in the North. Miraculously, she survives the treacherous 100-mile trek on her own, and lands in Philadelphia to find an entire net-work of sympathetic brothers- and sisters- in arms, including a glam-orous boarding-house matron named Marie (Janelle Monáe).“Minty gladly sheds her slave name, becoming Harriet Tubman.
She can’t stay still for long, though; and she proves to have a singulargift for spiriting captives away under impossible circumstances.“Even as the story paints Tubman with the broad, noble brush of
sainthood Erivo keeps her grounded in something fiercely, gratifying-ly real; a woman clearly meant for the history books, but not yetentirely hardened into myth.” - EW DEC 14, 15, 19, 26 & 27
HONEY BOY Dir. Alma Har'el • USA • 2019 • 95min • Rated STC.SHIA LABEOUF EXPOSES HIS COMPLICATED PAST “The genesis of this intimate drama, written by Shia LaBeouf and
directed by Alma Har’el, is built into the plot: as part of his therapy incourt-mandated rehab, a well-known actor named Otis (LucasHedges) writes a script about his past, which is shown in flashbacks. “The story is centered on the twelve-year-old Otis, a rising child
star who is chaperoned in Hollywood by his father, James (LaBeouf).They live in a grubby motel where James, a former rodeo clown, arecovering alcoholic, an ex-convict, and a sex offender, conveys toOtis his own severe discipline and comedic craft, along with physicaland emotional violence, egocentric fury, and a well of self-pity. “The public misconduct that landed Otis in rehab is linked to his
impacted rage—as is his artistry. LaBeouf plays James with a psy-chodramatic intensity that’s nonetheless methodical. The strongestmoments are when Otis is caught off guard: on a phone call with hismother (who remains unseen), and in scenes from movie sets wherehis acting and his life converge.” - The New Yorker DEC 20-JAN 9
THE IRISHMAN Dir. Martin Scorsese • USA • 2019 • 210min • Rated STC.DENIRO, PACINO, AND PESCI IN SCORSESE’S LATEST GANGSTER PIC “Sinful and sorrowful. Those affecting words from a young priest's
prayer are loaded with contemplative weight when repeated byRobert De Niro as Frank Sheeran, living out his days in the solitude ofa Catholic retirement home. He's a dinosaur whose mob cohorts havebeen killed or died out and what's left of his family has detachedthemselves from him, his sadness matched by their bitterness. Amelancholy sense of looking back also pervades the best parts of TheIrishman, in which the elder statesman of organized crime inAmerican movies, Martin Scorsese, reunites with his most totemicscreen actor to tell a sprawling gangland saga that's by turns flinty,amusing, richly nostalgic and rueful.“The Irishman is on many levels a beautifully crafted piece of
deluxe cinema. It's full of sinuous tracking shots from cinematograph-er Rodrigo Prieto that induce swoons; sumptuous period productionand costume design that evoke not just a vanished America but anear-extinct American movie realm; and fluid cutting from indispensa-ble Scorsese collaborator Thelma Schoonmaker. The movie is neverless than engaging and its milieu at all times vivid and alive.” - Hollywood Reporter NOV 29-DEC 5
IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFEDir. Frank Capra • USA • 1946 • 130min • Rated PG.DEC 21 • FREE WITH FOOD DONATION TO HAMILTON FOOD SHARE“What is remarkable about "It's a Wonderful Life" is how well it
holds up over the years; it's one of those ageless movies, likeCasablanca or The Third Man, that improves with age.“The hero, of course, is George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart), a man
who never quite makes it out of his quiet birthplace of Bedford Falls.As a young man he dreams of shaking the dust from his shoes andtraveling to far-off lands, but one thing and then another keeps him athome -- especially his responsibility to the family savings and loan.“George marries his high school sweetheart (Donna Reed), settles
down to raise a family. Then, when George's absentminded uncle(Thomas Mitchell) misplaces some bank funds during the Christmasseason. George loses hope and turns mean. He despairs, and isstanding on a bridge contemplating suicide when an Angel 2nd Classnamed Clarence (Henry Travers) saves him and shows him what lifein Bedford Falls would have been like without him.” - Roger Ebert
DECEMBER 21 & 22
JOJO RABBITDir. Taika Waititi • USA • 2019 • 108min • Rated STC.WINNER OF TIFF 2019 AUDIENCE AWARD"Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit (★★★★★) defies description. It is the
story of a young wannabe Nazi named Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis)who dreams of serving the Führer and daydreams that Adolf Hitler(Waititi) is his best friend. However, when he finds out that his mother(Scarlett Johansson) is sheltering a young Jewish girl (ThomasinMcKenzie), Jojo starts to reconsider his values.“It may sound terrible... comparing the rise of Hitler to Beatlemania
in a title sequence scored to the Fab Four’s German version of IWanna Hold Your Hand. Yet there’s a sweetness that’s quite extraordi-nary and, despite the presence of Johansson and the Oscar-winnerSam Rockwell, the film is really just the story of two kids bonded byan extreme and upsetting wartime experience. It’s hard to categorise,which is never a good thing for an awards contender, but then so wasThe Shape of Water (another Audience Award-winner at TIFF) and lookwhat happened there. It takes a special film to rise above the noise atToronto, but Jojo Rabbit is that film and there’s every reason tobelieve this extraordinary piece of work will go on to much, much big-ger things." - The Times UK DEC 26-JAN 9
JUDYDir. Rupert Goold • UK • 2019 • 118min • Rated STC. RENE ZELLWEGER SHINES AS JUDY GARLAND “Judy isn’t a biopic; it takes place over only a few months, in the
final year of Judy Garland’s life. Broke, divorced and deeply in debt in1968, Garland reluctantly agreed to leave her children and travel toLondon to perform a series of concerts at a swanky nightclub. Thingsdidn’t go terribly well, but every now and then, a bit of that Over theRainbow magic peeked through.“Rene Zellweger as Garland adds a physicality; her Judy perpetual-
ly slouches, like she’s trying to make herself smaller, with her headjutting forward as if it’s heavy. Her smile is that of a sad clown; hervoice, in the concerts, has an almost desperate abandon.“But what’s most appealing about Zellweger’s portrayal is the
brightness that peeps out from the clouds: her deep love for her chil-dren, her sly wit. You get a sense, in this skilled and splendid perform-ance, not of an icon, but a person; one terribly damaged by her pastand valiantly struggling to remain in her present.” - The Seattle Times
DECEMBER 26-29
KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICEDir. Hayao Miyazaki • Japan • 1989 • 113min • Rated G. In Japanese with English subtitles.CLASSIC STUDIO GHIBLI HAYAO MIYAZAKI ON THE BIG SCREEN “Kiki’s Delivery Service is Hayao Miyazaki’s giddy, glorious seaside
story about a budding young witch and her sarcastic cat. It’s adaptedfrom a popular novel by Japanese author Eiko Kadono, but its DNA isrooted in the classic Western kids’ literature that would later inform
Studio Ghibli masterpieces like Howl’s Moving Castle and Arrietty.“Leaving home at 13 to find her way in the world, plucky witch Kiki
heads for a nearby port town with her cat Jiji and sets up a broom-stick delivery company that’s an instant hit with the locals. Following about of illness, Kiki struggles with depression, loses her powers andmust search for a new purpose in life.“As a story about how hard it is to make your own way in the
world, Kiki’s Delivery Service is truthful and scalpel-sharp. That it man-ages all this while remaining consistently funny, optimistic and excit-ing – even for little ones – is a mark of Miyazaki’s genius.” - Time Out
DECEMBER 21 & 23
LEONARDO: THE WORKSDir. Phil Grabsky • UK • 2019 •102min • Rated G.EXHIBITIONS ON SCREEN PRESENTS A VIRTUAL DA VINCI EXHIBIT “The prolific Exhibitions on Screen strand takes a step away from
its normal practice of surveying specific gallery spaces by assemblinga virtual exhibition of Leonardo da Vinci’s paintings in a way no artgallery – not even the Louvre (currently showing 7) – can manage.“The result is undeniably impressive: a whistle-stop tour of master-
pieces that hops from one Leonardo venue to another. London’sNational Gallery shows off its Virgin of the Rocks, the Uffizi in Florenceits Annunciation, St Petersburg’s Hermitage its Benois Madonna, theNational museum in Krakow’s Lady With an Ermine. “Formally, Leonardo: The Works conforms to the makers’ custom-
ary style – long, lingering closeups, authoritative comment from arthistorians and curators, key quotes from original documents read inbooming voiceover. As gallery films go, this is pretty monumental.” - The Guardian JANUARY 2 & 4
THE LIGHTHOUSEDir. Robert Eggers • USA/Canada • 2019 • 110min • Rated STC.THE WITCH DIRECTOR IMPRESSES WITH SECOND HORROR “You can almost taste the salt on your lips in the new psychological
horror from Robert Eggers (The Witch) that will leave even the sturdi-est of sea legs shaking. It’s a two-handed chamber piece about a pairof lighthouse keepers living on a remote island off the New Englandcoast at the turn of the 20th century and it’s lit up by mesmerisingperformances from Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe.“Dafoe is Tom Wake, an old sea dog with a clay pipe jutting from
his thick beard and the chief ‘wickie’ of the lighthouse. He’s an amal-gam of salty clichés and loves gin, sea shanties, and cooking lobster.Pattinson plays ex-logger Ephraim Winslow, recently arrived fromCanada. He’s the strong and silent type who seems to have a skeletonor two in his closet.“Both are men’s men – the quarrelsome, petty, tobacco-chomping
variety. Dafoe and Pattinson deliver Max and Robert Eggers’ scriptwith incredible pathos, sounding like characters who have slippedfrom the pages of Melville’s ‘Moby Dick’. The dialogue is packed withinsults and they lash like a hailstorm.“Meanwhile, life on the island isn’t going well. Wake barks orders
constantly, putting down Winslow at every opportunity. To find relief,Winslow heads to the outside store-shed, a small sculpture of a buxom
lumarae.caSTUDIO PHOTOGRAPHY
HONEY BOY
THE GOOD LIAR
IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE
(CONTINUED ON PG 4)
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“It's like an elegant bracelet that'smodest enough to go unnoticed,but nevertheless reveals a quietlyexquisite beauty to those who arewilling to lean in and look closer.”- IndieWire
DEC 6-10
PLAYHOUSE SNACK BAR HAS UNIQUE OFFERINGS - SCRUMPTIOUS HEALTHY BARS, WILLARDS ICE CREAM, CRAFT BEER, & MORE!
November 29, 2019 - January 9, 2020mermaid in one hand. Soon things start to take a bizarre turn. Whatcomes next, set to a mind-spinning score almost defies belief.
“The desolate, lonely environment of the island is captured beauti-fully. There’s a vintage horror feel, both embracing conventions of thegenre and defying them. Sometimes you’ll wonder if you’re watchinga horror film at all. The Lighthouse leaves you dazed, terrified andelated, and it signals Eggers as one of the most exciting directorsworking today.” - Time Out DECEMBER 13-23
MARRIAGE STORYDir. Noah Baumbach • USA • 2019 • 136min • Rated STC.NOAH BAUMBACH’S LATEST IS HEARTRENDING AND REAL
“Marriage Story offers a tricky proposition. Come for the charms ofAdam Driver and Scarlett Johansson and stay for a thorough eviscer-ation of both. At the start of Noah Baumbach’s latest, and best, film,Driver’s Brooklyn theatre director Charlie and Johansson’s actressNicole are essentially separated – Nicole wanting to pursue herscreen acting career in L.A., and Charlie wanting nothing of the sort.By the time the film cycles through their divorce proceedings –includ-ing what ends up being a furious custody battle for their eight-year-old son – Baumbach’s film will have you cycling through all mannerof convulsions. This is hilarious, heartbreaking cinema – a work thatwill make you burst out laughing one moment, and leave you tearingyour hair out the next. Audiences and armchair psychiatrists canspend all manner of time analyzing how Baumbach’s own split fromhis actress wife (Jennifer Jason Leigh) spilled into Marriage Story.Everyone’s time will be better spent, though, marveling at what acompletely absorbing and devastating portrait of modern desire andresponsibility the filmmaker has wrought." - Globe & Mail
NOV 29-DEC 12
PARASITEDir. Joon-ho Bong • South Korea • 2019 • 131min • Rated STC. SOUTH KOREAN DIRECTOR BRINGS HIS SKILLS TOGETHER IN TRIUMPH
“An exhilarating and furious indictment of class struggle, Parasitemight be the masterpiece South Korea's Bong Joon-ho has beenworking toward his entire career. Mixing the social outrage ofSnowpiercer, the wild humour of Okja, the heartwarming familydrama of The Host, and the slow-boil vengeance of Mother, Bong'slatest work is a genre-hopping triumph.
“Focusing on two families – one a clan of con artists living in acramped basement apartment, the other led by a tech mogul whokeeps his wife and two children safely ensconced in a modern-luxemansion – Parasite expertly plays with tension and expectations.
“At first, it appears that Bong has created a sharp comedy, but thenboth families' lives become upended in the most peculiar of ways,leading to a final hour that is sharp enough to draw blood.”
- Globe and Mail DEC 7-17 & DEC 31-JAN 4
THE POLLINATORSDir. Peter Nelson • USA • 2019 • 92min • Rated G. EXPLORING THE MANAGED TRAVELLING HONEYBEE INDUSTRY
“The Pollinators opens under a predawn thread of red light along ahighway near California’s almond orchards. Hundreds of woodenboxes, stacked like dresser drawers on the back of tractor trailers, aresurrounded by a soft veil of honeybees. Bob Harvey, a beekeeper atBob’s Bees, estimates 18,000 honeybee hives or 40 truckloads will
arrive that day. Our food economy, at least $20 billion of it, relies onthe movement of the managed honeybee—a domesticated importfrom Europe—pollinating about one-third of our entire food supply.
“Farming’s reliance on the managed honeybee is a growing prob-lem as the honeybee population continues to decline. SamuelRamsey, an entomologist at the University of Maryland, College Park,estimates 33 to 50 percent of all honeybee colonies in the UnitedStates are dying every year.
“While theories around honeybee losses used to focus on workerbees abandoning their hives, the film says this is no longer the majorcause of hive losses. Instead, a trifecta of problems is leading to hon-eybee losses: pesticides, parasites, and poor nutrition.
“When the film focuses on industrialized agriculture and how it’simpacting all native pollinators, it really buzzes.” - Sierra Club
JANUARY 8
ROAD TO THE LEMON GROVEDir. Dale Hildebrand • Canada/Italy • 2019 • 88min • Rated PG. FEAT. HAMILTON RAISED CO-WRITER AND STAR CHARLY CHIARELLI
Charly Chiarelli (Principle Actor, Writer) and Dale Hildabrand (Director, Producer, Writer)will both be in attendance for a Q&A!“Road to the Lemon Grove is an Italian-Canadian co-production,
which also describes its co-writer and star Charly Chiarelli. Chiarelliwas born in Sicily, raised in Hamilton, and made his mark in the 1990swith a one-man show called Cu’Fu. In this production he plays tworoles. Antonio Contatini has just died and is trying to wheedle his waypast the gates of Heaven. Down on Earth, language professorCalogero Contatini is noisily grieving his father’s death, and decidesto take the old man’s ashes to a family lemon grove back in Sicily.
“Calogero has two settings: screaming at the Fates, as the cameraobliging swings upward to deliver a God’s eye point of view; and qui-etly explaining the finer points of language and its intersection withculture. The plot has him keeping a blog for his students back home,thus explaining why he sometimes breaks into pontification.
“Directed by Dale Hildebrand, the comic tone in Road to the LemonGrove is broad. Chiarelli mugs mightily as the ghost of the seniorContatini, while rolling his eyes and shouting as the put-upon son.”
- National Post DECEMBER 1
REEL ROCK 14Dir. Various • Various • 2019 • Rated STC. PRESENTED BY GRAVITY CLIMBING GYM
The Reel Rock Film Tour, one of climbing’s greatest celebrations,comes to the Playhouse for the first time with a new collection ofworld premiere films. The trailer shows the late Marc-Andre Leclercsoloing high in the alpine, the footage will appear in a film on Leclerc.In The High Road, the powerful and bold Nina Williams tests herselfon some of the highest, most difficult boulder problems ever climbed.
In United States of Joe’s climbers collide with a conservative coalmining community in rural Utah, to surprising results. And in TheNose Speed Record, legends Tommy Caldwell and Alex Honnold (ofFree Solo fame) battle Yosemite dirtbags Jim Reynolds and BradGobright in a high stakes race for greatness. $22 ADV/$25 DOOR •tickets available now at PlayhouseCinema.ca DECEMBER 11
THE TWO POPESDir. Fernando Meirelles • UK/Italy • 2019 • 125min • Rated STC.AN IMAGINED CONVERSATION DURING A POPE TRANSITION
“Anchored by two outstanding performances from AnthonyHopkins and Jonathan Pryce, the film is a triumph of writing as wellas unostentatious filmmaking. There is nothing preachy about this picwritten by Anthony McCarten and directed by Fernando Meirelles.These filmmakers have told the story of how the startling resignationof Pope Benedict XVI (Hopkins) in 2013 led to the appointment of thefirst pope from Latin America, Pope Francis (Pryce).
“The story begins in 2005, when the death of Pope John Paul II ledto Benedict’s ascension. But the surprising second place competitor inthe initial voting was Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio from Argentina.Several years later, Bergoglio decided to resign his position. This filmthen decides to speculate on a possible meeting between Benedictand Bergoglio, in which the pope refuses to accept the cardinal’s res-ignation but instead engages with him in a series of searching conver-sations, hoping to imagine whether the progressive Bergoglio mightbe a worthy successor.
“The sharply written dialogue between the men plays completelyconvincingly. Of course, the success of the film depends even moreprofoundly on the performances of the two leads. Alternately acerbic,
fierce, tender and fragile, Hopkins verifies his strength with one of themost vivid turns of his long career. Pryce goes head-to-head againstHopkins, and matches him in subtlety as well as charismatic force.
“It is a tribute to Meirelles’ direction that the film never seems stat-ic. We never tire of watching the expressive faces of these two masterperformers. The film does venture outside the Vatican chambers forscenes at Benedict’s bucolic summer residence as well as in theslums of Buenos Aires. Meirelles also incorporates flashbacks toFrancis’ youth, when he first decided to enter the priesthood and tothe most controversial part of his career.
“This drama is a searching exchange between two men of very dif-ferent backgrounds and beliefs and encourages us to see the growingunderstanding between these antagonists as a model that mightpoint the way forward in an increasingly divided world.”
- The Hollywood Reporter DECEMBER 13-31
WAVESDir. Trey Edward Shults • USA • 2019 • 135min • Rated 14A. INTERWEAVING VINGETTES MASTERFULLY EXPLORE AMERICAN LIFE
“In classical Hollywood cinema, most movies rush forward along asteady course toward a certain objective. Not so Trey Edward Shults’brilliant, audacious third feature, Waves, whose enigmatic title sug-gests how its visionary young writer-director sets out to challenge ourideas of how and why things happen in life. Set in South Florida,Waves bends and surprises, radiates and engulfs, in a dizzying andecstatic attempt to capture the love and pain and pressure visitedupon a contemporary American family, the Williams.
“Propelled by color, energy, electronic music and a quartet ofcareer-making performances, here is that rare sort of cinematicachievement that innovates at every turn, while teaching audienceshow to make intuitive sense of the way it pushes the medium. Insteadof serving up conventionally scripted scenes, Shults strings together asequence of powerful vignettes, plunging in and out of his characters’lives to expose the details that make the Williams family so real andrelatable.” - Variety DECEMBER 6-12
WESTERN STARSDir. Bruce Springsteen & Thom Zimny • USA • 2019 • 130min • Rated G. AN INTIMATE SPRINGSTEEN SHOW MIXED WITH SHORT FILMS
“Bruce Springsteen steps into the spotlight with Western Stars, ahybrid of concert movie and short film anthology backdropped byJohn Ford landscapes. Even non-Bruce fans won’t feel Boss-tracisedby this intimate showcase of the man and his music.
“The meat of the film sees the 70-year-old performing his latestalbum in his own barn. The building is, he says, ‘like a fine instru-ment’ – a spiritual place where musical magic seems almost certain tounfold. He has a full orchestra, a band of old collaborators and gui-tarist (and wife) Patti Scialfa alongside. With cameras swoopingacross the space, it all feels like a front-row seat at the world’s mostexclusive gig.
“Sure enough, magic does ensue. But it’s the cutaways betweensongs that stitch it all together with an emotional thread that charts itssubject’s struggles over the decades. He’s a self-effacing host and acandid one, opening up about heartbreaks in mini-movies full ofbleached photos, widescreen Americana and philosophicalvoiceovers. And the songs? They’re like mini-movies in themselves,full of over-the-hill cowboys and sozzled stuntmen. Close your eyesand you could be watching an old western.” - Time Out
DECEMBER 14 & 16
THE WINTER'S TALEDir. Rob Ashford • UK • 2015 • 184min • Rated STC.JUDI DENCH STUNS ON STAGE IN SHAKESPEARE CLASSIC
“The Olivier Award winning production of The Winter's Tale starringKenneth Branagh and Judi Dench returns to cinemas. The criticallyacclaimed production was the first in the hugely successful KennethBranagh Theatre Company Live season, which was broadcast to cine-mas from London's Garrick Theatre over the course of a year in 2015.
“The tragicomedy of obsession and redemption is beautifullyreimagined in a production co-directed by Rob Ashford and Branaghwith a remarkable cast, featuring Dench as Paulina, alongside TomBateman (Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile), JessieBuckley (star of breakout British film Wild Rose), Hadley Fraser,Miranda Raison and Branagh as Leontes.
“King Leontes appears to have everything: power, wealth, a lovingfamily and friends. But sexual jealousy sets in motion a chain ofevents with tragic consequences.” - Broadway World
DECEMBER 28
THE LIGHTHOUSE
THE WINTER’S TALE
JAN 8Special presentationby Demand.Film
Special admission prices