The Kids are All Right

The Kids Are All Right is the heartfelt new comedy from acclaimed director Lisa Cholodenko, starring Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, and Mark Ruffalo. Two teenaged children (Alice in Wonderland’s Mia Wasikowska and Journey to the Center of the Earth’s Josh Hutcherson) get the notion to seek out their biological father and introduce him into the family life that their two mothers (Bening and Moore) have built for them. Once the donor (Ruffalo) is found, the household will never be the same, as family ties are defined, re—defined, and re—re—defined. THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT is the New York Times Critic's Pick!

It's so real, so sexy, so sad, so honest and so truly, heartbreakingly funny. -- Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com

Uproariously funny! A whip-smart and witty script. -- New York Magazine

A generous, nearly note-perfect portrait of a modern family. -- Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

Truly special! One of the most endearing and genuine cinematic portraits of a contemporary American family. -- indieWire

I don’t know what’s more delightful, that ‘The Kids Are All Right’ stars Bening, Moore, and Ruffalo at the top of their games in an irresistible story of lesbian marriage, sperm-donor fatherhood, sex, red wine, and teen angst. Or that this warm, funny, sexy, smart movie erases the boundaries between specialized ‘‘gay content’’ and universal ‘‘family content’ with such sneaky authority. So let’s say both, and give high fives (or whatever they give in Southern California) to director Lisa Cholodenko (‘High Art,’ ‘Laurel Canyon’) and her co-writer, Stuart Blumberg, for using the components of a commercial dramedy to cross boundaries with such indie élan. -- Lisa Schwartzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

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Stonewall Uprising

“It was the Rosa Parks moment,” says one man. June 28, 1969: NYC police raid a Greenwich Village Mafia-run gay bar, The Stonewall Inn. For the first time, patrons refuse to be led into paddy wagons, setting off a 3-day riot that launches the Gay Rights Movement. Told by Stonewall patrons, Village Voice reporters and the cop who led the raid, STONEWALL UPRISING compellingly recalls the bad old days when psychoanalysts equated homosexuality with mental illness and advised aversion therapy, and even lobotomies; public service announcements warned youngsters against predatory homosexuals; and police entrapment was rampant. A treasure-trove of archival footage gives life to this all-too-recent reality, a time when Mike Wallace announced on a 1966 CBS Reports: “The average homosexual, if there be such, is promiscuous. He is not interested in, nor capable of, a lasting relationship like that of a heterosexual marriage.” At the height of this oppression, the cops raid Stonewall, triggering nights of pandemonium with tear gas, billy clubs and a small army of tactical police. The rest is history.

Essential...masterful...pitch-perfect! Kate Davis and David Heilbroner's essential new history of the events and repercussions of the Stonewall riots is about as expert a piece of analytic documentary filmmaking as can be conceived. The filmmakers masterfully unpack the cultural mores and revolutionary undercurrents of the '60s that led to the explosive mix of bigotry, passion, fear, and politics that coalesced outside Greenwich Village's Stonewall Inn on June 28, 1969. -- Arthur Ryel-Lindsey, Slant Magazine

A wealth of archive footage and eye-witness interviews. . . I laughed, I cried, I loved it. -- Tim Macavoy, Inside Movies

Stirring...an absolute must-see! You'll swell with gratitude and joy as the pride spreads like wildfire. -- Metrosource Magazine

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Restrepo

Filmmakers Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington pay a visit to Afghanistan's Korengal Valley to spend a year with the Second Platoon, a besieged squadron who dubbed their stronghold Outpost Restrepo in honor of their fallen comrade PFC Juan Restrepo. An al-Qaeda and Taliban stronghold, Korengal Valley sees some of the fiercest fighting in the War on Terror. At Outpost Restrepo, every shot fired is personal, and every target hit a gift to a fallen friend. RESTREPO is the New York Times Critic's Pick!

The warrior drama unfolds organically, without artificial suspense. -- Ella Taylor, Village Voice

It's doubtful you'll ever see a combat documentary that channels the chaos of war as thoroughly as this one. -- Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

This movie will stir your heart and open your mind. -- Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

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The Extra Man

A sophisticated and moving comedy, THE EXTRA MAN follows Louis Ives (Paul Dano), a lonely dreamer who fancies himself the hero of an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel... When a deeply embarrassing incident forces him to leave his job at an exclusive Princeton prep school, Louis heads to New York City to make a fresh start. He quickly finds a nine-to-five job at an environmental magazine, where he encounters an entrancing, green-obsessed co-worker Mary (Katie Holmes). But it's Louis' new home life that really sparks his imagination. He rents a room in the ramshackle apartment of Henry Harrison (Kevin Kline), a penniless, wildly eccentric but brilliant playwright. When Henry's not dancing alone to obscure music or singing operettas, he's performing - with great panache - the duties of an "extra man", a social escort for the wealthy widows of Manhattan high society. These two men, separated in age by more than forty years, develop a volatile mentor/apprentice relationship. Through a series of urban adventures where they encounter everything from a leaping lion to a wildly jealous hirsute neighbor, from drunken nonagenarians to a shady Swiss hunchback, Louis and Henry form a memorable bond that bridges their differences.

... this adaptation of Jonathan Ames' novel exudes the sort of smarts and sophisticated charm specialized audiences seek. -- Todd McCarthy, Variety

Going below the surface, the filmmakers and the cast (including a marvelous performance by Marian Seldes as an osteoporotic doyenne) successfully create the hardest characters to pull off: exotic yet recognizable New Yorkers. -- Melissa Anderson, Village Voice 

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Chicken Run

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Facing imminent death while laying eggs at Tweedy's English farm, a group of chickens, led by the determined Ginger (Julia Sawahla, BBC-TV's ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS), plan to escape their prisonlike coop. The situation goes from bad to worse when the sinister Mrs. Tweedy (Miranda Richardson) decides to stop selling eggs and use the hens as the main ingredient in chicken pot pies. However, some hope literally falls from the sky in the form of Rocky (Mel Gibson), an American rooster who promises to teach the chickens how to fly. As the hens begin their struggle to get airborne, the monstrous pie-making machine arrives, giving the chickens precious little time to make their great escape. Aardman Studios' first full-length feature film is a stunning showcase of stop-motion animation. Utilizing the unique Plasticine designs of the acclaimed WALLACE & GROMIT and CREATURE COMFORT shorts, CHICKEN RUN features vibrant visuals and colorful characters that are immediately endearing. (The naive and constantly knitting Babs, voiced by Jane Horrocks, is particularly hilarious.) With its clever writing, witty film references, and pitch-perfect combination of comedy, drama, and romance, CHICKEN RUN is one of those rare movies that genuinely appeals to viewers of every age.

Agora

4th century A.D. Egypt under the Roman Empire... violent religious upheaval in the streets of Alexandria spills over into the city's famous library. Trapped inside it's walls, the brilliant astronomer Hypatia and her disciples fight to save the wisdom of the ancient world. Among them, the two men competing for her heart: the witty, privileged Orestes and Davus, Hypatia's young slave, who is torn between his secret love for her and the freedom he knows can be his if he chooses to join the unstoppable surge of the Christians.

The mother of all secular humanists fights a losing battle against freshly minted religious zealots in “Agora,” a visually imposing, high-minded epic. -- Todd McCarthy, Variety

A great example of bravura filmmaking by a gifted young international filmmaker. -- Los Angeles Times

The skeptical and the secular also need stories of martyrdom and rousing acts of cinematic preaching. -- A.O. Scott, New York Times

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Get Low

For years, townsfolk have been terrified of the backwoods recluse known as Felix Bush (Robert Duvall). People say he‘s done all manner of unspeakable things -- that he‘s killed in cold blood; that he‘s in league with the Devil; that he has strange powers -- and they avoid him like the plague. Then, one day, Felix rides to town with a shotgun and a wad of cash, saying he wants to buy a funeral. It‘s not your usual funeral for the dead Felix wants. On the contrary, he wants a “living funeral”, in which anyone who ever had heard a story about him will come to tell it, while he takes it all in. Sensing a big payday in the offing, fast-talking funeral home owner Frank Quinn (Bill Murray) enlists his gentlemanly young apprentice, Buddy Robinson (Lucas Black), to win over Felix‘s business. Buddy is no stranger to Felix‘s dark reputation, but what he discovers is that behind Felix‘s surreal plan lies a very real and long-held secret that must get out. As the funeral approaches, the mystery– which involves the widow Maddie Darrow (Sissy Spacek), the only person in town who ever got close to Felix, and the Illinois preacher Charlie Jackson (Bill Cobbs), who refuses to speak at his former friend‘s funeral – only deepens. But on the big day, Felix is in no mood to listen to other people spinning made-up anecdotes about him. This time, he‘s the one who is going to do the telling about why he has been hiding out in the woods.

With a mix of sly humor, homespun grace and affecting poignancy, "Get Low" casts a well-nigh irresistible spell while spinning a Depression-era folk tale from the Tennessee backwoods. -- Joe Leydon, Variety

Get Low, starring Bill Murray and Robert Duvall, shows off the lost art of storytelling. Wry, funny, and poignant -- Get Low is a treat. -- Laremy Legel, Film.com 

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