New films usually open at the Grand every Friday.
The films listed below are tentative and are not confirmed until the Monday before. We will post changes as they happen. Check back often!
Have a film request? Let us know by e-mailing thegrandcinema@gmail.com. If you want to get on the Grand's weekly showtimes e-mail, you can sign up here.
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Whatever WorksOpening Date: Jul 3, 2009An eccentric man played by Larry David abandons his upper class life to lead a more bohemian existence. He meets a young girl from the South named Melodie (Evan Rachel Wood), and her family; and no two people seem to get along in the entanglements that follow. Directed by Woody Allen. |
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MoonOpening Date: Jul 10, 2009It is the near future. Astronaut Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is living on the far side of the moon, completing a three-year contract with Lunar Industries to mine Earth’s primary source of energy, Helium-3. It is a... It is the near future. Astronaut Sam Bell is living on the far side of the moon, completing a three-year contract with Lunar Industries to mine Earth’s primary source of energy, Helium-3. It is a lonely job, made harder by a broken satellite that allows no live communications home. Taped messages are all Sam can send and receive. Thankfully, his time on the moon is nearly over, and Sam will be reunited with his wife, Tess, and their three-year-old daughter, Eve, in only a few short weeks. Finally, he will leave the isolation of “Sarang,” the moon base that has been his home for so long, and he will finally have someone to talk to beyond “Gerty,” the base’s well-intentioned, but rather uncomplicated computer (Kevin Spacey). Suddenly, Sam’s health starts to deteriorate. Painful headaches, hallucinations and a lack of focus lead to an almost fatal accident on a routine drive on the moon in a lunar rover. While recuperating back at the base (with no memory of how he got there), Sam meets a younger, angrier version of himself, who claims to be there to fulfill the same three year contract Sam started all those years ago. Confined with what appears to be a clone of his earlier self, and with a “support crew” on its way to help put the base back into productive order, Sam is fighting the clock to discover what’s going on and where he fits into company plans. |
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CheriOpening Date: Jul 17, 2009Set in the luxurious demi-monde of pre-First World War Paris, Cheri tells the story of a love affair between the beautiful retired courtesan, Lea (Michelle Pfeiffer), and Cheri (Rupert Friend), the son of her old colleague and rival, Mme Peloux (Kathy Bates). Lea has educated the spoilt and callow boy in the ways of love, but after six years, Mme Peloux has secretly arranged a marriage between Cheri and Edmee (Felicity Jones), the daughter of another rich courtesan, Mme Laure (Iben Hjejle). As the inevitable moment of parting approaches, Lea and Cheri try to come to terms with their imminent separation, but the roots of their life of ease and pleasure reach deeper than even they can imagine and they begin to understand, too late, how much they mean to one another. Cheri radiates quality in every department, and - whether it's popular or not - this splendid achievement establishes him as one of Britain's very best film producers. -- Christopher Tookey, Daily Mail [UK] Beautifully directed by Stephen Frears, Cheri is funny, stylish - and made with class. -- Mark Adams, Sunday Mirror [UK] |
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Every Little StepOpening Date: Jul 24, 2009After raking in awards at several major film festivals, Every Little Step reaches movie audiences and Broadway fans alike. A film about a musical that is itself about the casting of a musical, the documentary takes fans inside the makings of A Chorus Line. Much of it focuses on the casting process for the musical’s 2005 revival, though it also takes fans through the show’s many incarnations and to its original inspiration. Back in 1974, choreographer Michael Bennett saw the potential for a spectacular show in the recorded late-night conversations of several stage performers. One year--and a lot of labor--later, A Chorus Line premiered to high acclaim, introducing the world to what would turn out to be a timeless work. Every Little Step takes viewers through the next few decades with rare footage and fresh interviews, showing the show’s history unfold in a world filled with war, anxiety, and political change. As casting is done is for the 2005 revival, audiences see how much the times have changed in the light of media outlets like MySpace and American Idol. As viewers get to know the actors behind the production, the realms of theater and reality blur. With its underdog heroes and self-reflexive narrative, A Chorus Line is understandably appealing to today’s reality-show audiences. The film is the joint effort of directors James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo, whose backgrounds as theatre producers, filmmakers, and documentarians combine well to create a film that manages to be not only educational but as entertaining as its subject. A movie as layered and enthralling as its subject. -- Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly It's a can't-miss effort that knows how to please. -- Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times A briskly self-aware, thoroughly stage-struck portrait ... of a show that itself is a stage-struck theatrical portrait. -- Bob Mondello, NPR |
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(500) Days of SummerOpening Date: Jul 31, 2009This is a story of boy meets girl, begins the wry, probing narrator of 500 Days of Summer, and with that the film takes off at breakneck speed into a funny, true-to-life and unique dissection of the unruly and unpredictable year-and-a-half of one young man’s no-holds-barred love affair. Tom, the boy, still believes, even in this cynical modern world, in the notion of a transforming, cosmically destined, lightning-strikes-once kind of love. Summer, the girl, doesn’t. Not at all. But that doesn’t stop Tom from going after her, again and again, like a modern Don Quixote, with all his might and courage. Suddenly, Tom is in love not just with a lovely, witty, intelligent woman – not that he minds any of that -- but with the very idea of Summer, the very idea of a love that still has the power to shock the heart and stop the world. |
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Herb and DorothyOpening Date: Jul 31, 2009HERB & DOROTHY tells the extraordinary story of Herbert Vogel, a postal clerk, and Dorothy Vogel, a librarian, who managed to build one of the most important contemporary art collections in history with very modest means. In the early 1960s, when very little attention was paid to Minimalist and Conceptual Art, Herb and Dorothy Vogel quietly began purchasing the works of unknown artists. Devoting all of Herb's salary to purchase art they liked, and living on Dorothy's paycheck alone, they continued collecting artworks guided by two rules: the piece had to be affordable, and it had to be small enough to fit in their one-bedroom Manhattan apartment. Within these limitations, they proved themselves curatorial visionaries; most of those they supported and befriended went on to become world-renowned artists including Sol LeWitt, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Richard Tuttle, Chuck Close, Robert Mangold, Sylvia Plimack Mangold, Lynda Benglis, Pat Steir, Robert Barry, Lucio Pozzi, and Lawrence Weiner. After thirty years of meticulous collecting and buying, the Vogels managed to accumulate over 2,000 pieces, filling every corner of their tiny one bedroom apartment. "Not even a toothpick could be squeezed into the apartment," recalls Dorothy. In 1992, the Vogels decided to move their entire collection to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. The vast majority of their collection was given as a gift to the institution. Many of the works they acquired appreciated so significantly over the years that their collection today is worth millions of dollars. Still, the Vogels never sold a single piece. Today Herb and Dorothy still live in the same apartment in New York with 19 turtles, lots of fish, and one cat. They've refilled it with piles of new art they've acquired. Delightful, involving documentary about an unlikely couple who became pioneer contemporary art collectors with working-class salaries. -- Doris Tourmarkine, Film Journal International The Vogels [Herb and Dorothy], sitting in their same old apartment, overflowing as ever, make for charming company. -- Nathan Lee, New York Times |
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SeraphineOpening Date: Aug 14, 2009Based on a true story, Seraphine centers on Séraphine de Senlis (Moreau), a simple and profoundly devout housekeeper whose brilliantly colorful canvases now adorn some of the most famous galleries in the world. Wilhelm Uhde (Tukur), a German art critic and collector - he was the first Picasso buyer and discoverer of naïve primitive painter Le Douanier Rousseau - discovers her paintings while she is working for him as a maid in the beautiful countryside of Senlis near Paris in the early part of the 20th century. A moving and unexpected relationship develops between the avant-garde art dealer and the visionary cleaning lady. Martin Provost’s fictionalized and poignant portrait of this forgotten painter is a testament to creativity and the resilience of one woman’s spirit. Moreau is bewitching -- she simply breathes her role, without a hint of vanity. -- Adam Markovitz, Entertainment Weekly Séraphine is one of the most evocative films about an artist I’ve ever seen -- and in its treatment of madness one of the least condescending. -- David Edelstein, New York Magazine Yolande Moreau captures both the purposeful, single-minded woman who does other people's laundry to support her painting, and Séraphine de Senlis, whose secret life of fervid creativity drove her to madness. -- Maria Garcia, Film Journal International (In French with English subtitles) |
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AdamOpening Date: Aug 28, 2009Soon after moving in, Beth, a brainy, beautiful writer damaged from a past relationship encounters Adam, the handsome, but odd, fellow in the downstairs apartment whose awkwardness is perplexing. Beth and Adam's ultimate connection leads to a tricky relationship that exemplifies something universal: truly reaching another person means bravely stretching into uncomfortable territory and the resulting shake-up can be liberating. |
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The CoveOpening Date: Aug 28, 2009The Cove is an astounding piece of investigative journalism with the heart of an action thriller. Led by Louie Psihoyos, leader of the Ocean Preservation Society, and Richard O'Barry, an internationally recognized authority on dolphin training who is best known for his work on the 1960's TV show Flipper, the film follows a high-tech dive team on a mission to discover the truth about the international dolphin capture trade as practiced in Taji, Japan. Utilizing state-of-the-art techniques, including hidden microphones and cameras, the team uncovers how this small seaside village serves as a horrifying microcosm of massive ecological crimes happening worldwide. The Cove is also directed by Louie Psihoyos, who brings confidence and precision to his insider's account of this life-or-death covert operation. A celebrated photographer who has created images for National Geographic for 18 years, Psihoyos captures the magnificence of the dolphins themselves and the ocean that surrounds them. |