Matt King (George Clooney) is an indifferent husband and father of two girls who is forced to re-examine his past and embrace his future when his wife suffers a boating accident off of Waikiki. The event leads to a rapprochement with his young daughters while Matt wrestles with a decision to sell the family’s land handed down from Hawaiian royalty and missionaries.

Saturday, December 10
1:00 pm
The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom
Director: Tara Johns, 2011, USA, 95 min.
Rated PG

Elizabeth Alison Gray is just your average suburban 11-year old waiting for adolescence to arrive when she finds out her whole life has been a lie. With only her imagination to guide her, she runs away to find the truth.

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Saturday, December 10
4:00 pm
Take Shelter
Director: Jeff Nichols, 2011, USA. 122 min.
Rated PG

Plagued by a series of apocalyptic visions, a young husband and father questions whether to shelter his family from a coming storm, or from himself.

Inspired by a true story, 50/50 is an original story about friendship, love, survival and finding humor in unlikely places. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen star as best friends whose lives are changed by a cancer diagnosis in this new comedy directed by Jonathan Levine from a script by Will Reiser. “We worked with Will on Da Ali G show, and it was shortly after that we learned he was sick.” Rogen recalls. “As shocking, sad, confusing and generally screwed up as it was; we couldn’t ignore that because we were so ill-equipped to deal with the situation, funny things kept happening. Will got better, and when he did, we thought the best way to pull something good out of the situation was to get him to write a screenplay. Ideally we wanted to make a film that would be as funny, sad, and hopefully as honest as the experience we went through. As soon as the script was completed, it quickly became a passion project for all of us. It helped us come to terms with Will’s struggle as well as our own experiences.” 50/50 is the story of a guy’s transformative and, yes, sometimes funny journey to health — drawing its emotional core from Will Reiser’s own experience with cancer and reminding us that friendship and love, no matter what bizarre turns they take, are the greatest healers.

This is a romantic comedy set in Paris about a family that goes there because of business, and two young people who are engaged to be married in the fall have experiences there that change their lives. It’s about a young man’s great love for a city, Paris, and the illusion people have that a life different from theirs would be much better. It stars Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Kathy Bates, Carla Bruni, among others.

view trailer:

The espionage thriller begins in 1997, as shocking news reaches retired Mossad secret agents Rachel (Academy Award winner Helen Mirren) and Stephan (two-time Academy Award nominee Tom Wilkinson) about their former colleague David (Ciarán Hinds of Focus’ “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day”). All three have been venerated for decades by their country because of the mission that they undertook back in 1966, when the trio (portrayed, respectively, by Jessica Chastain [“The Tree of Life”], Marton Csokas [“Dream House”], and Sam Worthington) tracked down Nazi war criminal Vogel (Jesper Christensen of “Casino Royale” and “Quantum of Solace”) in East Berlin. At great risk, and at considerable personal cost, the team’s mission was accomplished – or was it? The suspense builds in and across two different time periods, with startling action and surprising revelations.

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Nazi-occupied Holland, 1945. In a snow-covered village, thirteen-year-old Michiel is drawn into the Resistance when he aids a wounded British paratrooper. Michiel’s boyish sense of defiance and adventure soon turns to danger and desperation, as he is forced to act without knowing whom to trust among the adults and townspeople around him. Wartime’s harsh reality encroaches on childhood innocence as Michiel confronts good and evil, courage and duplicity, and his own burden.

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Saturday, November 12
4:00 pm
Precious Life
Director: Shlomi Eldar, 2010, USA/Israel, Hebrew/Arabic with English subtitles, 90 min.Rated PG
Location: Westdale Theatre

With the help of a prominent Israeli journalist, Precious Life chronicles the struggle of an Israeli pediatrician and a Palestinian mother to get treatment for her baby, who suffers from an incurable genetic disease. Each must face their most profound biases as they inch towards a possible friendship in an impossible reality.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams follows an exclusive expedition into the nearly inaccessible Chauvet Cave in France, home to the most ancient visual art known to have been created by man. It’s an unforgettable cinematic experience that provides a unique glimpse of the pristine artwork dating back to human hands over 30,000 years ago – almost twice as old as any previous discovery. — (c) IFC Films

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Inspired by actual events, Kathy (Rachel Weisz) is an American police officer who takes a job working as a peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia. Her expectations of helping to rebuild a devastated country are dashed when she uncovers a dangerous reality of corruption, cover-up and intrigue amid a world of private contractors and multinational diplomatic doubletalk.

Free Screenings of Japanese Films Shindo and Always: Sunset on 3^rd St. 2

Westdale Theatre, Hamilton, ON on October 30, 1 pm and 3:30 pm

 Presented by The Japan Foundation, The Consulate-General of Japan and The Art Gallery of Hamilton

The Japan Foundation returns to the Westdale Theatre in Hamilton for free screenings of two hit Japanese films of recent years, Shindo and Always: Sunset on 3^rd St. 2 on Sunday, October 30

Screening details:

Shindo

Dir: Koji Hagiuda (2007) PG, 120 min

Date and Time: Sunday, October 30, 1 pm

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Always: Sunset on 3^rd St. 2

Dir: Takashi Yamazaki (2007) PG, 146 min

Date and Time: Sunday, October 30, 3:30 pm

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Admission: Free

Language: In Japanese with English subtitles

Location: Westdale Theatre, 1014 King St. W., Hamilton, ON

Shindo’s young actors have already established themselves as stars in many films.  Ken’ichiMatsuyama will be well-known to Canadian fans of Japanese films for his lead roles in Linda Linda Linda, Detroit Metal City, Nana, Deathnote, Gantz and Norwegian Wood. Riku Narumi has had starring roles in Takashi Miike’s The Great Yokai War and Ryuichi Inomata’s Shodo Girls, as well as playing Hagumi in the wildly popular TV series Honey and Clover.

Following last year’s successful screening of Always: Sunset on Third St.(2005) inHamilton, the 2007 sequel, Always: Sunset on Third St. 2, returns to the same Tokyoneighbourhood and its memorable characters. This heartwarming, award-winning drama features stellar performances from some of Japan’s top stars, and the digitally enhanced set design, says Variety, “creat[es] a feeling of living in a bygone Tokyo rather than just watching a movie set there.”

About the Japanese Film Screenings:

Working in cooperation with local organizations, each year the Japan Foundation presents free screenings of recent, popular Japanese movies across Canada with the goal of introducing Japanese film and culture to a broader audience. This year’s screenings are presented with the cooperation and support of the Consulate-General of Japan in Toronto and the Art Gallery of Hamilton.

These films and two others will be screened at the Royal Cinema in Toronto from December 8-10. Please visit www.jftor.org for further details.

Terri

Friday, September 30 @ 4:00 pm

Director: Azazel Jacobs, 2011
Country: USA
Language: English
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Runtime: 105 min.
Rating: 14A
Trailer

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Reste Avec Moi (Stay With Me)

Saturday, October 1 @ 1:00 pm

Director: Robert Ménard, 2011
Country: Canada (Quebec)
Language: French with English subtitles
Genre: Drama
Runtime:100 min.
Rating: PG
Trailer

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Gerry
Presented by: G4S Secure Solutions (Canada) Ltd.

Saturday, October 1 @ 4:00 pm

Director: Alain Desrochers, 2010
Country: Canada (Quebec)
Language: French with English susbtitles
Genre: Biographical Drama
Runtime: 98 min.
Rating: 14A
Trailer

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La Sacrée
Presented by: Cogeco Inc.

Sunday, October 2 @ 1:00 pm

Director: Dominic Desjardins, 2011
Country: Canada (Ontario)
Language: French with English subtitles
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 90 min.
Rating: Not Yet Rated
Trailer

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Potiche (Trophy Wife)
Presented by: Grant Thornton

Sunday, October 2 @ 4:00 pm

Director: François Ozon, 2010
Country: France, Belgium
Language: French with English subtitles
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 103 min.
Rating: 14A
Trailer