The Coolidge Corner Theatre

Off the Couch presentation Tuesday, February 9 @ 7:00pm
Senior Matinee screening Wednesday, February 10 @ 2:30pm

Nominated for 2 Academy Awards: Best Actress, Helen Mirren & Best Supporting Actor, Chritopher Plummer

This production, directed by Michael Hoffman, is like a great night at the theatre--the two performing demons go at each other full tilt and produce scenes of Shakespearean affection, chagrin, and rage. - David Denby, The New Yorker

After almost fifty years of marriage, the Countess Sofya (Helen Mirren), Leo Tolstoy’s (Christopher Plummer) devoted wife, passionate lover, muse and secretary suddenly finds her entire world turned upside down. In the name of his newly created religion, the great Russian novelist has renounced his noble title, his property and even his family in favor of poverty, vegetarianism and even celibacy.

When Sofya then discovers that Tolstoy’s trusted disciple, Chertkov (PaulGiamatti) may have secretly convinced her husband to sign anew will, leaving the rights to his iconic novels to the Russian people rather than hisvery own family, she is consumed by righteous outrage. Into this minefield wanders Tolstoy’s worshipful new assistant, the young, gullible Valentin (James McAvoy). In no time, he becomes a pawn, first of the scheming Chertkov and then of the wounded, vengeful Sofya as each plots to undermine the other’s gains.

dir. Michael Hoffman, w/ Chrisopher Plummer, Helen Mirren, James McAvoy 1h25m

Must end February 18th

Nominated for 2 Academy Awards including Best Animated Feature!

Senior Matinee screening Wednesday, February 17 @ 1:40pm

An adventure in pure imagination that plays to the smart kid in all of us. - Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

You don't want to watch this movie, you want to climb inside it and play. - Dana Stevens, Slate

Three mean old farmers - fat Boggis, squat Bunce and skinny Bean - have joined forces and have Mr. Fox, his family and animal friends surrounded.

What they don't know is that they are not dealing with any old fox - it's Fantastic Mr. Fox (aka George Clooney) and he has a fantstic master plan to save the day!

dir. Wes Anderson, w/ George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, 1h27m

Must end February 18

Broken Embraces leaves the viewer in a contradictory state, a mixture of devastation and euphoria, amusement and dismay that deserves its own clinical designation. Call it Almodóvaria, a syndrome from which some of us are more than happy to suffer. - A.O. Scott, The New York Times

A man writes, lives and loves in darkness. Fourteen years before, he was in a brutal car crash on the island of Lanzarote. In the accident, he not only lost his sight, he also lost the of his life, Lena. This man uses two names: Harry Caine, a playful pseudonym with which he signs his literary works, stories and scripts, and Mateo Blanco, his real name, with which he lives and signs the film he directs. After the accident, Mateo Blanco reduces himself to his pseudonym, Harry Caine. If he can’t direct films he can only survive with the idea that Mateo Blanco died on Lanzarote with his beloved Lena. In the present day, Harry Caine lives thanks to the scripts he writes and to the help he gets from his faithful former production manager, Judit García, and from Diego, her son, his secretary, typist and guide.

dir. Pedro Almodovar, w/ Penelope Cruz, Lluis Homer, Spanish with English subtitles, 2h7m

Must end February 18

Nominated for 6 Academy Awards including Best Actor: George Clooney, Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress for both Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick, Best Director: Jason Reitman, and Best Adapted Screenplay!

Winner of 1 Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay

Up in the Air is poised to be a smash, and Clooney--slim, dark, perfectly tailored--glamorizes insincerity in a way that makes you want to go out and lie. David Edelstein, New York Magazine

Ryan Bingham (George Clooney), a corporate downsizer and consummate modern business traveler who, after years of staying happily airborne, suddenly finds himself ready to make a real connection. Content with his life on the road and in the air, he can carry all he needs in one wheel-away case and is closing in on his lifetime goal of attaining 10 million frequent flyer miles. Ryan has nothing real to hold onto...until he falls for a simpatico fellow traveler.

dir. Jason Reitman, w/ George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Jason Bateman 1h49m

Exclusive Boston presentation! Digitally presented on Blu-Ray

Must end February 18

Nominated for an Academy Award: Best Supporting Actor, Woody Harrelson

This is a fully felt, morally alert, marvellously acted piece of work. Despite the grim subject, it’s a sweet-tempered movie, with moments of explosive humor—an entertainment. David Denby, The New Yorker

Its truths are personal. It means to shake you. And does. Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

Will Montgomery (Ben Foster), a U.S. Army Staff Sergeant who has just returned home from a tour in Iraq and is assigned to the Army’s Casualty Notification service. Partnered with fellow officer Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson) to bear the bad news to the loved ones of fallen soldiers, Will faces the challenge of completing his mission while seeking to find comfort and healing back on the home front. When he finds himself drawn to Olivia (Samantha Morton), to whom he has just delivered the news of her husband’s death, Will’s emotional detachment begins to dissolve and the film reveals itself as a surprising, humorous, moving and very human portrait of grief, friendship and survival.

dir. Oren Moverman w/ Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton, Jena Malone, Steve Buscimi, 1h52min

Must end Thursday, Feb. 11!!

A proudly Calvinist work - I mean the comic strip character, not the philosopher - that understands the delights of deep play. - Ty Burr, The Boston Globe

Cowboy and Indian’s plan to gift Horse with a homemade barbeque backfires when they accidentally buy 50 million bricks. Whoops! This sets off a perilously wacky chain of events as the trio travel to the center of
the earth, trek across frozen tundra and discover a parallel underwater universe of pointy-headed (and dishonest!) creatures. Each speedy character is voiced—and animated—as if they are filled with laughing gas.
With panic a permanent feature of life in this papier-mâché burg, will Horse and his equine paramour—flame-tressed music teacher Madame Longray (Jeanne Balibar)—ever find a quiet moment alone? A sort of
Gallic Monty Python crossed with Art Clokey on acid, A Town Called Panic is zany, brainy and altogether insane-y!

dirs. Stephane Aubier, Vincent Patar, w/ Stephane Aubier, animation, 1h15m

THIS MONTH, AS PART OF OUR FEATURE PRE-SHOW SCREENINGS, WE’RE PROUD TO PRESENT SHORT FILMS FROM ANNE CONTINELLI OF 20 AMERICAN DOLLERS LLC, AND ANNIE LUKOWSKI AND LENYNA JULIET WEBER OF WORKING BUG FILMS.

Screening in Moviehouse 1
THE DONATION

Screening in Moviehouse 1
ROAD TO THE ALTER: THE FLORIST

Road to the Alter is a 10-episode web series following one man's journey through Weddingland. As Simon, played by Jaleel White (remember Urkel?), pops the question to Rochelle, played by Leyna Juliet Weber, they begin navigating the tumultuous wedding racket. All the while an incompetent reality crew follows them mock-u-ality style. Taffeta napkin selecting and mini-wiener tasting pave a turbulent road to the alter. This is part two of the series.

Screening in Moviehouse 1
BIG TALKING HEADS

Big Talking Heads is a mock-umentary about people who think they have giant heads. It is the winner of the Audience Choice Award for Open Screen, March 2008. In addition, it was chosen for the Best of Open Screen 2008.

Anne Continelli is a local comedy filmmaker as well as our own in-house editor. Her business, 20 American Dollars, LLC, which she co-owns with Deb Malone, is hard at work producing a comedy web series called "Is That Yours?", based upon an award-winning short film of theirs. You can watch it at http://isthatyours.com.