The Descendants
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SHOWTIMES
Friday, Dec. 9 — Thursday, Dec. 15
Daily at 2:20, 4:40 & 7:00 plus late shows Fri. and Sat. at 9:15
Also matinees Sat. and Sun. at 12:00 Noon
OVERVIEW
You heard it here, and we’ll stand by it: THE DESCENDANTS is the film to beat for this year’s Best Film Oscar, and George Clooney, its star, is a lock for Best Actor. “From Alexander Paine, who’s previously given us no less than SIDEWAYS, ABOUT SCHMIDT and ELECTION comes the year’s best film. Director Alexander Payne is a master of the human comedy, of the funny, moving and messy details that define a fallible life. In adapting the 2009 novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings, Payne and co-screenwriters Nat Faxon and Jim Rash have given George Clooney the context to deliver the finest, truest and most emotionally raw performance of his career. Clooney has never exposed himself to the camera this openly, downplaying the star glamour and easy charm. Even the laughs come with a sting…. Clooney’s Matt King, a workaholic semi-schlub of a Honolulu attorney, is descended from royal blood: His great-great-grandmother was a Hawaiian princess who married a haole (white) banker and passed on a rich chunk of real estate. As the primary beneficiary of 25,000 acres of Kauai paradise, Matt must decide to keep the land unspoiled or sell it to developers to please an army of cousins, led by a hilariously greedy Beau Bridges. Matt also has personal issues. A boating accident has left his neglected wife, Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie), in a coma and left Matt (the self-proclaimed “backup parent”) in charge of their two daughters, sass queen Scottie (Amara Miller, a firecracker), 10, and seen-it-all Alexandra (Shailene Woodley), 17, whose reckless ways with boys and drugs has landed her in boarding school. Just when Matt steps it up as a husband and father, life blindsides him, first when he’s informed that Elizabeth will never come out of her coma (should he pull the plug?), and when Alex tells him that Mom was cheating on him (should he dive into denial?). I’ll pause here to let you sneer at what sounds like TV soap slop. This is where Payne comes in. He walks the high wire between humor and heartbreak with unerring skill. No net. Just when you think you have him figured, you haven’t. Want a movie you can really connect with? The Descendants is damn near perfect”—Peter Travers, Rolling Stone. R. 115 Min.
Melancholia
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SHOWTIMES
Friday, Dec. 9 — Thursday, Dec. 15
Daily at 1:55, 4:30 & 7:10 plus late shows Fri. and Sat. at 9:40
OVERVIEW
“A moving masterpiece, marked by an astonishing profundity of vision. The title refers to a celestial body as well as a state of mind: In director Lars von Trier’s galaxy, Melancholia is a planet that, scientific calculations confirm, is on a catastrophic collision course with Earth. As such, the impending doom fits perfectly with the mindset of Justine (an alabaster Kirsten Dunst, digging deep), a bride sinking deeper and deeper into her own terrible depression on the day of her sumptuous wedding party. (Her handsome, bewildered groom is played by True Blood‘s Alexander Skarsgård.) Even her protective sister, Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg), can’t calm Justine’s mounting terror and foreboding. And Claire, of all people, has something bigger to worry about: Keeping a telescopic eye on the situation, she and her astronomer husband (Kiefer Sutherland) know that Melancholia is literally coming closer and threatening to destroy everything. Everything. I’m not giving away a plot twist: von Trier provides a breathtaking prelude to the coming temporal and psychological apocalypse, set to the grand romanticism of Wagner’s famous “Prelude” from Tristan und Isolde. The lush music blends so completely with the swooning, dreamscape cinematography of Manuel Albert Claro that sight and sound truly melt into one. The result is a movie acutely attuned to feelings of despair that nevertheless leaves the viewer in a state of ecstasy. All this and Stellan Skarsgård, John Hurt, Charlotte Rampling, and Udo Kier in the cast, too.”–Entertainment Weekly. R. 136 Min.
The Way
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SHOWTIMES
Monday, Nov. 28 — Thursday, Dec. 1
Daily at 2:30 and 7:15
Monday, Dec. 5 — Thursday, Dec. 8
Daily at 2:30, 4:50 & 7:10 Except NO 7:10 show on Tuesday!
Friday, Dec. 9 — Thursday, Dec. 15
Daily at 2:10 and 6:50
OVERVIEW
“The Way” is a powerful and inspirational story about family, friends, and the challenges we face while navigating this ever-changing and complicated world. Martin Sheen plays Tom, an American doctor who comes to St. Jean Pied de Port, France to collect the remains of his adult son (played by Emilio Estevez), killed in the Pyrenees in a storm while walking the Camino de Santiago, also known as The Way of Saint James. Rather than return home, Tom decides to embark on the historical pilgrimage to honor his son’s desire to finish the journey. What Tom doesn’t plan on is the profound impact the journey will have on him and his “California Bubble Life.” Inexperienced as a trekker, Tom soon discovers that he will not be alone on this journey. On “The Way,” Tom meets other pilgrims from around the world, each with their own issues and looking for greater meaning in their lives: a Dutchman (Yorick van Wageningen), a Canadian (Deborah Kara Unger) and an Irish writer (James Nesbitt), who is suffering from a bout of writer’s block. From the unexpected and, oftentimes, amusing experiences along “The Way,” this unlikely quartet of misfits creates an everlasting bond and Tom begins to learn what it means to be a citizen of the world again. Through Tom’s unresolved relationship with his son, he discovers the difference between “the life we live and the life we choose.” THE WAY, written and directed by Emilio Estevez, was filmed entirely in Spain and France along the actual Camino de Santiago. PG-13.
The Skin I Live In
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SHOWTIMES
Monday, Dec. 5 — Thursday, Dec. 8
Daily at 2:15. 4:35 & 6:50
Friday, Dec. 9 — Thursday, Dec. 15
Daily at 4:30
OVERVIEW
THE SKIN I LIVE IN is a scary, sexy and terrifically twisted horror film from the artist known as Pedro Almodóvar, Spain’s stylish maestro of kink and flamboyant emotion. Skin reunites Almodóvar with Antonio Banderas for the first time since 1990′s Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! Director and star still bring out the wicked, badass best in each other. Banderas plays Dr. Robert Ledgard, a widower plastic surgeon who uses his isolated mansion to hide a suicidal patient whom we see only in a head bandage and a body stocking. She’s called Vera (Elena Anaya), and when Robert is not experimenting on her with synthetic skin grafts, he’s observing her behind glass with a voyeuristic perversity that evokes Hitchcock’s 1958 masterpiece, Vertigo. Banderas is magnetic with a vengeance, the fire in his eyes a constant threat to the surgical precision of the scientist he plays. He’s a new-century Dr. Frankenstein and twice as bone-chilling for that. Vera has no memories; she’s a blank canvas on which Robert (and by extension the audience) does all the painting. You can tell Vera badly wants out; she even tries to seduce Robert, who looks guilty but tempted. Robert’s housekeeper, Marilia (the excellent Marisa Paredes), is a fierce guard. That is, until her hood son Zeca (Roberto Álamo) breaks in (wearing a tiger mask) and decides to take carnal advantage of this beautiful bird in a gilded cage. There’s a teasing allure in the way Almodóvar uncovers the secrets Robert hides. Adapting Thierry Jonquet’s novel Mygale, director and co-writer Almodóvar never lets the creeping terror obliterate the bruised humanity of the characters. Few directors have Almodóvar’s skill at swerving from outrageous camp to unspeakable terror without tipping into absurdity”–Peter Travers, Rolling Stone. In Spanish with English subtitles. R. 117 Min.
Best of the Sundance Shorts 2011
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SHOWTIMES
Friday, Dec. 9 — Sunday, Dec. 11
Late shows Fri. and Sat. at 9:20 and matinees Sat. and Sun. at 12:00 Noon
OVERVIEW
A collection of shorts from the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, screening ONLY at Railroad Square because it’s been chosen as a charter member in Sundance’s Arthouse project. Come catch the latest in inventive short filmmaking at its best, including: INCIDENT BY A BANK, a detailed and humorous account of a failed bank robbery, WORST ENEMY, a comedy about a female misanthrope who gets herself stuck in a full body girdle and WE’RE LEAVING, in which Rusty has to find a new place to live with his wife and teenage American alligator, Chopper. Unrated. 86 minutes.
Tickets
Admission Prices at Railroad Square Cinema
Adults
$8.50 evenings
$7.00 matinees (shows starting before 4:30 unless otherwise stated)
$6.50 with a discount book
$5.50 Mondays
Children (12 and under)
$5.50 at all times
Senior Citizens (65 & Over), Military Personnel and Students with I.D.s
$6.50 evenings and matinees
Members
$5.50 Tuesdays & Wednesdays
Discount books are available. $65 for 10 admissions or $55 if you’re a Railroad Square Cinema member.
Click here to get info about membership.
Directions
Finding Railroad Square Cinema
It’s easy! We are located in Railroad Square between College Ave. and Main Street in Waterville, Maine. If you’re coming from Interstate 95, get off at Main Street, exit 130 (formerly 34) and head towards downtown Waterville. About a mile from the exit look for our large, yellow sign on your left as you cross the railroad tracks. Our entrance is between the RR tracks and the Burger King sign.
Directions to Railroad Square Cinema
17 Railroad Square, Waterville, Maine, 04901 [ map ] • 24-hour movie info: 207-873-6526
