SPRING FILMS 2008 Jan - March
Tuesday 22nd January - Tuesday 25th March 2008
Tues 22 January
2.30pm &08pm
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Director: Shekhar Kapur USA 2007 130 mins
Starring: Samantha Morton, Geoffrey Rush, Cate Blanchett, Clive Owen
Reprising their roles in Elizabeth, Blanchett and Rush return for a captivating historical thriller laced with treachery and romance.
Joining them is Clive Owen as Sir Walter Raleigh, the dashing seafarer. Queen Elizabeth I (Blanchett) is facing bloodlust over her throne, familial betrayal and an open challenge from Philip II, King of Spain. As she prepares to go to war, Elizabeth struggles to balance her duties with an unexpected vulnerability in her love for Raleigh. Unable to act on her feelings for him, Elizabeth encourages her favourite lady-in-waiting to befriend Raleigh to keep him near, but this strategy forces her to observe their growing intimacy.
The Golden Age portrays an icon of English history as she embarks on a bid to crush traitors and enemies, and to control her heart.
Tickets £5.00
Tues 29 January
2.30pm & 8pm
And When Did You Last See Your Father?
Director: Anand Tucker Ireland, UK 2007 107mins
Starring: Gina Mckee, Elaine Cassidy, Colin Firth, Juliet Stevenson, Claire Skinner, Jim Broadbent, Matthew Beard
Blake Morrison's painfully honest memoir is brought to life by a top-notch cast in this powerful drama.
Colin Firth stars as successful writer Blake, who treats his ageing parents as something of a burden. When his overbearing, boorish father (Broadbent) becomes terminally ill, Blake must reassess a relationship characterised by obscure resentments and frequent public humiliations. Was Mr Morrison Senior a bully and a shameless philanderer - or just a larger-than-life soul who always meant well?
Beautifully scripted by David Nicholls (Starter For Ten), this is an emotional, often hilarious examination of those ever-complicated family ties.
Tickets £5.00
FAMILY FILM
Tues 12 February
2.30pm & 7pm
Stardust
Director: Matthew Vaughn UK/ USA 2007 128 mins
Starring: Claire Danes, Charlie Cox, Robert De Niro, Ricky Gervais
Tristan (Cox) tries to win the heart of the village beauty by promising to bring her a falling star.
When he finds the star, he is stunned to discover that it is not a lump of rock, but an angry, injured girl named Yvaine (Danes) - who has no desire to be dragged across the world and presented to anyone's girlfriend. And Tristan is not the only one seeking the star: a dying king's four sons - not to mention the ghosts of their three dead brothers - and three evil witches are all pursing the star for their own reasons.
As Tristan and Yvaine are forced to flee together he discovers the meaning of true love, but does not realise he is leading Yvaine into even more danger...
Tickets £5.00 (under 16s £4.00)
Tues 26 February
2.30pm &08pm
Evening
Director: Lajos Koltai. USA 2007. 117 mins.
Starring: Natasha Richardson, Toni Collette, Vanessa Redgrave, Claire Danes.
Adapted from Susan Mionot's novel, Evening is a sumptuous tale of New England bluebloods.
When Constance (Richardson) and Nina (Collette) gather at the deathbed of their mother, Ann (Redgrave), they learn for the first time that she had spent one night with a man named Harris 50 years ago, and that she remembers him so many years later as the love of her life.
As the daughters try to face the loss of their mother and the struggle to be happy in their own lives, they piece together an idea of love, happiness, and the woman they called their mother.
Confidently helmed by Koltai, the film's all-star supporting cast includes Meryl Streep, Glenn Close and Patrick Wilson.
Tickets £5.00
Tue 11 March
2.30pm &08pm
In the Shadow of the Moon
Director: David Sington USA 2007 115mins
Starring: John Young, Jim Lovell, Alan Bean
Dismissing conspiracy theories, Sington's elegant and exciting documentary lets the surviving crew members of the Apollo space missions tell their own stories - and challenges us to imagine the sights they have seen.
Merging the magnificence of science with the compelling drama of the human quest for advancement, this is a visually stunning meditation on the historic Apollo space programme. In the four remarkable years between 1968 and 1972, American history took a defining turn as nine NASA spacecraft made the trip to the moon, and 12 bold explorers became the first men ever to set foot on ground beyond planet Earth. Poignant viewing, at a time when the assertion of American power takes a much more destructive form.
Tickets £5.00
Tue 25 March
2.30pm &08pm
Casablanca
Director: Michael Curtiz USA 1942 102mins
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Dooley Wilson
World War II Morocco springs to life in Michael Curtiz's (The Adventures Of Robin Hood) classic love story.
Colourful characters abound in Casablanca, a waiting room for Europeans trying to escape Hitler's war-torn Europe. Humphrey Bogart plays Richard "Rick" Blaine, a cynical but good-hearted American whose café is the gathering place for everyone from the French Police to the black market to the Nazis. When his long-lost love, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), surfaces in Casablanca with her Resistance leader husband, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), Rick is pulled into both a love triangle and a web of political intrigue. Ilsa and Victor need to escape from Casablanca, and Rick may be the only one who can help them.
Sixty-five years on and Casablanca has lost none of its excitement, drama, comedy or romantic charm; its dialogue has become part of our vocabulary and 'As Time Goes By' one of cinema's greatest love songs. Here's looking at you, Casablanca!
Tickets £5.00