The new J.R.R. Tolkien film, the celebrated author of ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit’, explores his formative years at Exeter College in Oxford. The orphaned and shy young man finds friendship, courage, and inspiration among a fellow group of writers and artists. Their brotherhood strengthens as they grow up and weather love and loss together, including Tolkien’s tumultuous courtship of his beloved Edith Bratt, until the outbreak of the First World War which threatens to tear their fellowship apart. All of these experiences would later inspire Tolkien to write his famous Middle-earth novels. Starring Nicholas Hoult and Lily Collins and directed by Finnish filmmaker Dome Karukoski. (PG-13, 112 mins)

“Handsomely made in the customarily fastidious style of most period biographical dramas, Tolkien is strongly served by Hoult, who, after four X-Men outings (and a supporting role in last year’s The Favourite), demonstrates that it’s high time he moved on from that sort of thing to more interesting and challenging dramatic characterizations.” – Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter

“Hoult brings a quiet, romantic intensity to the young Tolkien (pronounced ‘Tolkeen’, who knew?), Lily Collins does a lot with a little as his first love Edith, and the Hobbit horde will gobble up all of the easter-egg references peppered throughout the movie.” – Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly

Opens Friday, May 17th

Inspired by the extraordinary true story of Joan Stanley (Judi Dench), one of the most influential spies in British history. Arrested later in life, Joan is charged with providing classified scientific information—including details on the building of the atomic bomb—to the Soviet government for decades. As she is interrogated, Joan relives her student days at Cambridge where she excelled at physics while challenging deep-seated sexism; her tumultuous love affair with a dashing political radical (Tom Hughes); and the devastation of World War II, which inspired her to risk everything in pursuit of peace. Directed by Shakespearean aficionado Trevor Nunn. (R, 101 mins)

“Lindsey Shapiro has captured an intriguing piece of hidden history, showcasing women’s strengths and the overlooked roles they played during the world’s most turbulent times of war.” – Tiffany Tchobanian, Film Threat

“A good old-fashioned British spy thriller.” – Deborah Young, The Hollywood Reporter

Opens Friday, May 17th

In this neo-noir fever dream, Sam (Andrew Garfield), a disenchanted young man living in an East L.A. apartment complex, discovers a mysterious woman, Sarah (Riley Keough), frolicking in the swimming pool. When she vanishes, Sam embarks on a surreal quest across Los Angeles to decode the secret behind her disappearance, leading him into the murkiest depths of mystery, scandal, and conspiracy in the City of Angels. (R, 140 mins)

“Enabling and mocking paranoid obsession at the same time might sound incoherent. In this hilariously demented spin on L.A. noir, it’s simply honest.” – Mike D’Angelo, The A.V. Club

“If this is Mitchell trying to go full-bore David Lynch – as a zine author and oddball collector, he pointedly casts Patrick Fischler, aka the diner-nightmare guy from Mulholland Drive and a sinister bureaucrat in Twin Peaks – he’s certainly not holding back.” – Tim Robey, The Telegraph

Wednesday, May 22nd, at 7:15pm

After one of the longest and most tortuous development stories in filmmaking history, filmmaker Terry Gilliam (Brazil, Twelve Monkeys, Monty Python and the Holy Grail) has finally completed the film that could never be made. In Gilliam’s contemporary re-make of the early 1600s classic novel, Adam Driver plays Toby, a director who has sold out for lucrative advertising productions. On location in Spain, he plunges into a world of time jumping fantasy when he meets ‘Don Quixote’ (Jonathan Pryce), a delusional Spanish cobbler who believes Toby to be Sancho Panza. They embark on an epic adventure where surreal dreams and reality intertwine. (132 mins)

“The movie nearly killed him. Yet the victory isn’t just that he finished it, but that he’s fashioned something so magnificent in its messiness.” – David Fear, Rolling Stone

“Witty, goofy, and glorious, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is Terry Gilliam’s best film in two decades.” – Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com

“The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is an absolute must-see for Gilliam fans and ‘film that never was’ buffs. It’s a picture that crossed into legend long before it was actually, fully and completely in the can.” – Roger Moore, Movie Nation