Events for March, 2013
The Mist
Directed by Frank Darabont. US. 2007. R. 126 min. Weinstein. blu ray. B&W.
- Fri, Mar 1, 10:10 pm
“Traditionally, horror movies have almost acted as the entry-level exam for gifted filmmakers, a way to make their names before graduating to respectable material – just ask Sam Raimi or Peter Jackson. Refreshingly, with “The Mist”, Frank Darabont has gone the other way. Of course, he started out writing horror flicks, but this is a guy whose directorial career has largely been about conveying hope, joy, and carefully sculpted sentiment. But for his third take on Stephen King, after “The Shawshank Redemption” and “The Green Mile”, Darabont has gone back to the well and come up with a tight, tense frightflick with more originality than a thousand “Saws.” More»
Kristin Pedemonti: Release YOUR Inner Superhero
Tickets: $8.50 Buy tickets online.
- Sat, Mar 2, 2:00 pm
Calling all superheroes! Bring your superhero self to Colonial and join award-winning, internationally acclaimed storyteller Kristin Pedemonti for true tales of every day Superheroes from Superhero Grandma to superheroes Just Like YOU! This program is best enjoyed by those 5 and up, please. For extra fun, you are encouraged to dress as a superhero, real or imagined. Kristin’s new CD “Superhero 101″ will be available for purchase. Visit her website for more info: www.storytellerkp.com.
Charley Varrick
Directed by Don Siegel. US. 1973. PG. 111 min. Universal. 35mm.
- Sun, Mar 3, 2:00 pm
Walter Matthau is at his crumpled, unflappable best in this tough but witty crime drama. A small-time crook, Charley Varrick (Matthau) has the unfortunate experience of robbing a bank and then discovering that he has made off with a fortune in mob money. And when a brutal, sadistic, yet oddly polite mob enforcer (Joe Don Baker) comes after him, Charley must use all his ingenuity and nerve to get himself out of his predicament. More»
The House I Live In
Directed by Eugene Jarecki. US. 2012. NR. 108 min. Abramorama. blu ray.
- Sun, Mar 3, 4:30 pm
“Eugene Jarecki’s documentary dissection of the war on drugs offers a powerfully despairing view of a crackdown that began in the Nixon era. Working as a superb investigative journalist, Jarecki demonstrates all the ways that the ”war” has become futile in “The House I Live In,” but also how it is now an unstoppable industry, with privatized prisons run as economic engines. Jarecki talks to convicts, corrections officers, judges, and — in a fantastic interview — David Simon, creator of The Wire, who argues that the targeting of minorities, fused with mandatory sentencing, has turned the war on drugs into ”a holocaust in slow motion.” (Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly) More»
Amour
Directed by Michael Haneke. France. 2012. PG-13. 127 min. Sony Pictures Classics. 35mm.
Fri, Mar 1 thru Thu, Mar 14 -- Roll over to view showtimes.
The subject of Michael Haneke’s shattering Amour is right there in the title. It’s about the indignities of growing old and the inevitability of death, but only in the same way The Master concerns Scientology—as a means to an end, a phenomenon that reveal its characters’ true nature. The thought that loving relationships end peacefully, with a slow fade into the twilight of shuffleboard and 5 o’clock dinners, rarely describes the reality for most couples; people often have to face the hardship of seeing their partner deteriorate and die before they do. It’s a test of devotion and love that lurks in the unforeseen distance from the honeymoon phase: Not only do people have to care for loved ones in low moments, when they’ve lost control of their bodies, but they often have to do it when they aren’t in peak shape, either. Death dictates the terms. Human beings have to adapt to them. More»
Horton Hears a Who!
Directed by Jimmy Hayward. US. 2008. Ages 4+. 86 min. Fox. 35mm.
- Sat, Mar 9, 2:00 pm
“After the calamity that was “The Cat in the Hat” — one of the nastiest children’s movies ever made — you’d think Dr. Seuss’ widow and executor, Audrey Geisel, would never let a filmmaker near her husband’s expansively humanist worldview again. Yet here she is with an executive-producer credit, only this time on a movie I suspect both of them would love, albeit with minor reservations. Warm, playful and inventive, this tale of an elephant with a spirit as generous as his waistline comes juiced with the genially goofy animation of the folks who brought us “Ice Age” coupled with a respectful doffing of the cap to Geisel’s exuberantly wacky visual style. More»
Point Entertainment presents Two Funny Philly Guys – SOLD OUT
Tickets: $25-$30. Buy tickets online.
- Sat, Mar 9, 8:00 pm
Comedian Joe Conklin has been a constant in Philadelphia radio for more than 20 years, with his spot-on impressions of Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Cole Hamels, Allen Iverson, Charles Barkley, Harry Kalas, Bobby Clarke and so many others. Fearless and hilarious, he skewers some of the country’s top politicians, pro athletes, sports executives and film stars….which he’s been known to do sometimes to their faces. Big Daddy has performed more than 4,000 comedy shows over the past 20 years, along with hosting his popular overnight radio show on WIP. Originally starting out as a musical comedian, opening for rock shows like the Hooters in the 80s, Big Daddy now focuses “observational comedy” with stories about his life and living in Philadelphia. We’re thrilled to welcome this pair of Philadelphia comedy icons back to the Colonial. Just added on Feb 4: special guest MC, NFL Hall of Famer Ray Didinger! More»
The Hot Rock
Directed by Peter Yates. US. 1972. PG. 101 min. Fox. 35mm.
- Sun, Mar 10, 2:00 pm
Interestingly enough, Donald Westlake, who wrote the ultra-tough “Point Blank” (playing Mar 17), also wrote a lighthearted, funny, and very clever series featuring a likable, inept but dedicated gang of crooks, led by a chronic loser named Dortmunder, here played with great finesse and subtlety by Robert Redford. In “The Hot Rock,” he is joined by a sterling comedic gang of misfits (including George Segal, Ron Liebman, and Zero Mostel), as they seek to steal a priceless diamond – first from the Brooklyn Museum, then from a prison, then from a jail, and then from a bank. More»
The Waiting Room
Directed by Peter Nicks. US. 2012. NR. 81 min. International Film Circuit. blu ray.
- Sun, Mar 10, 4:30 pm
“As a documentary about the raging inadequacies of our fatally flawed health-care system, “The Waiting Room” is blessed and cursed with an unmistakable timeliness, especially after Mitt Romney went on “60 Minutes” and posited emergency rooms as a solution for the uninsured seeking medical care. Among its many other distinctions, “The Waiting Room” stands as a powerful refutation of Romney’s conception of emergency rooms as a reasonable, or even vaguely acceptable, option for the uninsured. More»
MST3K: Gamera vs. Guiron
Directed by Noriaki Yuasa. Japan. 1969. NR. 90 min. DVD.
- Fri, Mar 15, 9:45 pm
It’s a really good thing that Gamera has a fondness for saving annoying human children from harm. Otherwise, evil alien space babes would dine on their delicious brains! But soft, what light through yonder atmosphere breaks? It is the east, and Guiron is no fun. This knife headed monster baddie is so sharp, he wears his sunglasses at night. The battle the title promises is full of turtle soup, served with a heaping side of cheese. More»
The Tale of Despereaux
Directed by Sam Fell. US. 2008. Ages 6+. 93 min. Universal. 35mm.
- Sat, Mar 16, 2:00 pm
Update 3/11 – Main Line Animal Rescue’s pre-film visit has been postponed. We’ll post the new date as soon as we’ve got one!
“Among recent animated features, “Despereaux” is a rare creature, not only for the handmade look and subtlety of its computer-generated imagery but also for its irony-free embrace of once-upon-a-time storytelling. At the heart of this sometimes lumbering saga are the illuminated pages of a storybook and the way they embolden a child or, in this case, a mouse. More»
Point Blank
Directed by John Boorman. US. 1967. R. 92 min. Warner Bros. 35mm.
- Sun, Mar 17, 2:00 pm
Mystery writer Donald Westlake (writing as Richard Stark) was responsible for one of the toughest, smartest series of crime novels published during the 1960s, featuring the hard-as-nails pragmatic bank robber, Parker (no first name). His first novel, “The Hunter,” has been filmed several times and under several titles. This year, Taylor Hackford made “Parker,” starring Jason Stratham in the title role. In 1999 Mel Gibson made and called it “Payback.” Please forget them. More»
Quartet
Directed by Dustin Hoffman. UK. 2012. PG-13. 100 min. Weinstein Co. 35mm.
Fri, Mar 15 thru Thu, Mar 28 -- Roll over to view showtimes.
‘Old age ain’t no place for sissies,” Bette Davis once famously observed. In Quartet, set in a Georgian-style mansion on a lovely patch of English countryside, the “ain’t” has been changed to a more proper “is not.” But still, the point is clear: Even here at Beecham House, a stately home for retired musicians, getting old is a challenge. More»
Point Entertainment presents Steve Forbert and Paul Thorn
Tickets: $19.50 - $29.50. Buy tickets online.
- Fri, Mar 22, 8:00 pm
Over With You, Steve Forbert’s first studio album in three years, is a focused song cycle featuring an earnest account of the often-mixed emotions involved in personal relationships. The ten new compositions combine the plainspoken honesty and insightful contemplations into this topic that perhaps only a man from Mississippi, the home state of both Jimmie Rodgers and Tennessee Williams, could provide. And these songs make the case that Forbert should be considered in the first rank of American songwriters.
Paul Thorn took an unexpected detour on the road to recording a follow-up to his most successful release, 2010′s Pimps and Preachers. After writing many discs of semi-autobiographical tunes that have drawn comparisons to John Hiatt and John Prine, the critically acclaimed singer/songwriter – hailed as the “Mark Twain of Americana” – decided to do an album of covers. “I wanted to take a break from myself,” he reveals, “do something different, and just have fun.” A highlight of the 2012 Philadelphia Folk Festival, Thorn was first introduced to the Philadelphia area via his 1999 hit on WXPN, “Ain’t Love Strange.” More»
The Secret World of Arriety
Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi. Japan. 2012. Ages 7+. 94 min. Disney. 35mm.
- Sat, Mar 23, 2:00 pm
“The wee folk beneath the floorboards in the wistful animated children’s film “The Secret World of Arrietty” don’t get underfoot: they scramble and hide, if less like scattering mice and more like practiced explorers. There aren’t many of them. For all that Arrietty Clock (voiced by Bridgit Mendler) knows, her family may be the last of its kind, a lost little world in a land of giants. Even so, while she’s 14 going on 15, and three or so inches going on four, Arrietty seems bigger because her courage, along with her fluid form and softly dappled world, come by way of the famed Japanese company Studio Ghibli, where little girls rule, if not necessarily as princesses. More»
The Driver
Directed by Walter Hill. US. 1978. R. 91 min. Fox. 35mm.
- Sun, Mar 24, 2:00 pm
For those who only think of Ryan O’Neal in terms of his early bland, pretty-boy performances (“Love Story,” “Peyton Place,” “Paper Moon”), this film will come as a revelation. Here, he is a tough, cool, and taciturn getaway driver – the best in his field – who is pursued relentlessly by an obsessive, mean-spirited cop (Bruce Dern, at his most intense) who will stop at nothing – legal or illegal – to catch him. More»
Point Entertainment presents: The David Bromberg Quartet and Tom Rush
Tickets: $29.50 - $42.50. Buy tickets online.
- Sun, Mar 24, 7:30 pm
WXPN Welcomes David Bromberg and Tom Rush! A Philadelphia native, David Bromberg’s history is almost too overwhelming for a single paragraph of info. A guitarist since he was 13 years old, Bromberg has recorded and performed with major artists such as the Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Carly Simon and Jerry Jeff Walker. Now living in Wilmington, Delaware, Bromberg splits his time between his violin shop and touring with his Big Band and Quartet. More»
Birders: The Central Park Effect
Directed by Jeffrey Kimball. US. 2013. NR. 65 min. blu ray.
Fri, Mar 29 thru Thu, Apr 4 -- Roll over to view showtimes.
“HBO’s documentary about birds and birders in New York’s Central Park should be a delight for everyone. Bird watchers will find affirmation and even explanation for their avocation. People who can’t tell a towhee from a titmouse will still wonder at the beauty of it all. More»
Balloon Freak John Cassidy
Tickets: $8.50 Buy tickets online.
- Sat, Mar 30, 2:00 pm
John Cassidy, our most popular kids performer at the Colonial, is an eccentric comedian whose bizarre antics have earned him widespread acclaim as one of the most original and unique performers today. He has also made numerous television appearances having appeared on such popular shows as Live with Regis and Kelly, NBC’s Today Show and Martha Stewart Living and regularly plays Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York City and his native Philadelphia. John also holds several Guinness World Records for speed in balloon sculpting. You can learn more about John and check out some amazing videos and photos online at johncassidy.com.