Tuesday, March 19th, at 7:15pm

While gathering material for a segment of the ‘David Letterman Late Show’, Steve Young stumbled onto a few vintage record albums that would change his life forever. Bizarre cast recordings—marked “internal use only”—revealed Broadway-style musical shows produced by and about such corporations such as: General Electric, McDonald’s, Ford, DuPont, Xerox. In his pursuit of the genre, Steve discovers a forgotten, creative world of talented performers and songwriters who staged big musicals for trade shows during the heyday of the Mad Men era. (87 mins)

“There is a guileless quality to the enterprise as Young interviews stars such as Chita Rivera, Florence Henderson and Martin Short who worked in industrials, as well as the lesser known performers and songwriters who became his heroes.” – Kevin Crust, Los Angeles Times

“The overarching and underlying question that the film poses is nothing less than: What is art? And, for that matter, is the conventional definition of good art too narrow to account for the merits of such works as these?” – Richard Brody, The New Yorker

“You’re definitely going to laugh and laugh out loud. Young has several hilarious moments with his subjects, and the absurdity of these musicals and songs create an endless stream of silly giggles.” – Alan Ng, Film Threat

Wednesday, March 20th, at 7:15pm

While Goebbels infamously declared Berlin “free of Jews” in 1943, 1,700 managed to survive in the Nazi capital. Claus Räfle’s gripping docudrama traces the stories of four real-life survivors who learned to hide in plain sight. Moving between cinemas, cafés and safe houses, they dodged Nazi officials and a dense network of spies and informants. Yet their prudence was at odds with their youthful recklessness, prompting them to join the resistance, forge passports, or pose as Aryan war widows. Masterfully weaving these story threads together, The Invisibles is a testament to the resourcefulness, willpower and sheer chance needed to survive against incredible odds. In German with subtitles. (110 mins)

With Introduction by Barbara Gardner.

“The Invisibles is a powerful testament to the remarkable courage of those forced into heroism, and to the exceptional strength of those who chose it freely.” – Elizabeth Weitzman, The Wrap

“A film like The Invisibles is part of bearing “precise witness.” We clearly need reminders, and constant ones, of the end result of “otherizing” an entire group of people.” – Sheila O’Malley, RogerEbert.com

Peter Jackson presents an extraordinary new work showing the Great War as you have never seen it. Using state of the art technology to restore original archival footage which is more than a 100-years old, Jackson brings to life the people who can best tell this story: the men who were there. (R, 132 mins)

“A major technical accomplishment. But it’s also a major feat of storytelling, one that mentions no dates, place names or famous battles, yet nevertheless manages to evoke a profound sense of connection with its nameless subjects.” – Michael O’Sullivan, Washington Post

“Technology has allowed Jackson to erase the barriers of time and speak to a new generation about what war does to youth. His humane and heartbreaking film is a profound achievement.” – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

From director Todd Douglas Miller (Dinosaur 13) comes a cinematic event fifty years in the making. Crafted from a newly discovered trove of 70mm footage, and more than 11,000 hours of uncatalogued audio recordings, Apollo 11 takes us straight to the hear t of NASA’s most celebrated mission—the one that first put men on the moon, and forever made Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin into household names. Immersed in the perspectives of the astronauts, the team in Mission Control, and the millions of spectators on the ground, we vividly experience those momentous days and hours in 1969 when humankind took a giant leap into the future. (93 mins)

“It’s a more visceral trip than any moviegoer — even the armchair experts — has ever taken before.” – Mark Jenkins, Washington Post

“This meticulously conceived documentary is both a definitive account of the voyage as well as a creative, cinematic you-are-there unfolding of the events that transpired.” – Anthony Kaufman, Screen International

“An invigorating and inspiring viewing experience. The mission was indeed a giant leap for mankind, and now we have a documentary worthy of its subject.” – G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco chronicle

Now an adult with three children, bank teller Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw) learns that his house will be repossessed in five days unless he can pay back a loan. His only hope is to find a missing certificate that shows proof of valuable shares that his father left him years earlier. Just as all seems lost, Michael and his sister, Jane (Emily Mortimer), receive the surprise of a lifetime when Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt) — the beloved nanny from their childhood — arrives to save the day and take the Banks family on a magical, fun-filled adventure. Directed and produced by Rob Marshall, “Mary Poppins Returns” also features Lin-Manuel Miranda, Julie Walters, Colin Firth, Meryl Streep, Dick Van Dyke, and Angela Lansbury. (PG, 130 mins)

Against all the odds, this is a very worthy follow-up to the original movie. Blunt is pitch-perfect, as ever, in a film that all but insists you leave with a smile slapped on your face. – Olly Richards, Empire

Nominated for 3 Academy Awards

The director of the Oscar-winning foreign film Ida, Pawel Pawlikowski, has now received a rare Best Director nomination from the Academy for a foreign language film. This is a passionate love story between a man and a woman who meet in the ruins of post-war Poland. With vastly different backgrounds and temperaments, they are fatefully mismatched and yet condemned to each other. Set against the background of the Cold War in 1950s Poland, Berlin, Yugoslavia and Paris, it’s the tale of a couple separated by politics, character flaws and unfortunate twists of fate – an impossible love story in impossible times. Languages spoken in the film include Polish, French, German, Russian, Italian, and Croatian with subtitles. (R, 89 mins)

“Cold War is a near-perfect film, an artfully crafted, flawlessly acted meditation on love, memory and invented history that?s both deeply personal and politically attuned.” – Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

“Pawlikowski remains a director to watch and Cold War is a film to watch again and again.” – Peter Howell, Toronto Star

Laurel & Hardy, one of the world’s great comedy teams, set out on a variety hall tour of Britain in 1953. Diminished by age and with their golden era as the kings of Hollywood comedy now behind them, they face an uncertain future. As the charm and beauty of their performances shines through, they reconnect with their adoring fans. The tour becomes a hit, but Stan & Ollie can’t quite shake the specter of Laurel and Hardy’s past; the long-buried ghosts, coupled with Oliver’s failing health, start to threaten their precious partnership. A portrait of the most tender and poignant of creative marriages, they are aware that they may be approaching their swan song, trying to rediscover just how much they mean to each other. (PG, 98 mins)

“A gentle movie. It’s valedictory, with a sense of the ephemeral nature of life, the inevitability of regret, and the bittersweetness of looking back on past happiness.” – Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

“As a winsome glance back, and as a piece of artistic preservation, Stan & Ollie would be enjoyable enough. But it becomes truly transcendent in the hands of John C. Reilly and Steve Coogan, who play Ollie and Stan with intelligence and spirit that go beyond their own uncanny physical performances.” – Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

Opens Friday, March 22nd

From Oscar-winning filmmaker Asghar Farhadi (The Salesman, The Past, A Separation) comes this intimate psychological thriller. The film follows Laura (Penelope Cruz) on her travels back from Argentina to visit her small home town in Spain for her sister’s wedding, bringing her Argentinian husband (Jarvier Bardem) and her two children along for the occasion. Amid the joyful reunion and festivities, the eldest daughter is abducted. In the tense days that follow, various family and community tensions surface and deeply hidden secrets are revealed. In Spanish with subtitles. (R, 132 mins)

“Farhadi’s storytelling has overpowering force.” – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

“Immensely watchable and thematically complex tale, which in some ways plays out like a deceptively conventional Agatha Christie-style whodunit.” – Michael O’Sullivan, Washington Post

“Quintessentially, and maybe to a fault, this is a Farhadi movie: another of the writer-director’s gripping studies of a family torn asunder by a compounding mess of deception and revelation.” – A.A. Dowd, The A.V. Club

Two Nights Only! Friday & Saturday, March 22nd & 23rd

In this blockbuster sequel (and seven-time Oscar nominee) from writer/director James Cameron, Sigourney Weaver returns as Ellen Ripley, the last surviving crew member of a corporate spaceship destroyed by a vicious alien life form. Rescued by a deep salvage team during her hypersleep, Ripley learns that the planet where her crew discovered the alien has since been settled by colonists, but contact with the colony has been lost. Colonial marines, along with Ripley as an advisor, are sent to investigate — but will their impressive firepower be enough? Several future stars made early career appearances in Aliens, including Lance Henriksen, the late Bill Paxton, and Paul Reiser. (1986, R, 138mins)

“Sigourney Weaver is merely terrific… When she straps on her armament to do battle with the aliens, she makes Sylvester Stallone look like a pipsqueak.” – Bob Thomas, Associated Press

“Scene to scene, encounter to encounter, its tension builds unrelentingly. So, fasten your seat belts. It’s a blast.” – Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune

Winter/Spring Season 2019 Now on Sale!
Makes a Great Gift!

10 Sunday mornings
Jan 13, 27
Feb 3, 10, 24
March 3, 17, 24, 31
April 7

If you love movies, join a discriminating group of cinephiles to share brunch, conversation, critique, and an advance screening of the latest offering from a roster of prominent independent, foreign, and American filmmakers.

Pick up a membership form at the theater or call 757-625-6275 or 757-625-6276 to register. More details…