Tuesday, 2/17: The Cooler 6:30; In America 8:30
Wednesday, 2/18: In America 6:30; The Cooler 8:30
Thursday, 2/19: In America 6:30; The Cooler 8:30
Last Shows for In America!
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Fort Wayne Cinema Center Movies for 2/20-2/26
21 Grams, The Cooler & University of St. Francis Student Showcase
21 Grams
--2 Academy Award Nominations
Benicio Del Toro - Best Supporting Actor, Naomi Watts - Best Supporting Actress
--Number 4 on the National Board of Review's Top Ten Films of the Year
Friday at 8:30PM, Saturday at 1:30PM, 4PM & 6:30PM, Sunday at 4:15PM, Monday at 6:15PM, Tuesday at 6:15PM, Wednesday at 8:30PM, Thursday at 8:30PM
The Cooler
Alec Baldwin – Academy Award Nominee, Best Supporting Actor
"It's a pleasure to watch Macy, with customary craft and intelligence, create from the ground up an unlikely, yet plausible romantic lead." – Newsday. "From James Whitaker's seductive camerawork to Mark Isham's lush score, The Cooler places all the smart bets and hits the jackpot. William H. Macy is hilarious…Maria Bello dazzles! Alec Baldwin’s revelatory portrayal is the stuff Oscars are made of." – Rolling Stone. "A surprising, ingenious film." – Washington Post.
103 min. Rated R for strong sexuality, violence, language and some drug use.
Friday at 6:15PM, Saturday at 8:45PM, Sunday at 2PM, Monday at 8:30PM, Tuesday at 8:30PM, Wednesday at 6:30PM, Thursday at 6:30PM
University of St. Francis Film Festival
The University of St. Francis will be presenting a variety of student produced shorts.
Awards will be given for the best short in each category
Check below for the complete line up. The event should last approximately 90 min.
--Admission to this event is free.
Sunday at 7PM
21 Grams
Like "Mystic River," "21 Grams" is a grim, compelling and exceedingly well-acted meditation on life, death, guilt and redemption, starring a superlative Sean Penn. Clint Eastwood's traditionalist masterwork dealt with three childhood friends haunted by a long-ago event; "21 Grams," directed by Mexico's Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, making his English-language debut, uses a radically different style to focus on three strangers brought together by a new and terrible act of fate. Penn plays Paul, a math professor dying of coronary disease who gets a new lease on life, thanks to a heart transplant from a man (Danny Huston) who was cut down with his two young daughters in an automobile accident. Paul's nagging sense of guilt compels him to track down and - without revealing their link - try to help the man's widow, Christina (Naomi Watts), a former party girl who has resumed her cocaine habit following the tragedy. They become lovers and together decide to seek vengeance against Jordan (Benicio del Toro), a born-again ex-convict whose determination to stay straight with God's help was challenged when his truck accidentally plowed into Christina's family. In less talented hands, the screenplay by "Amores Perros" writer Guillermo Arriaga might seem like a glorified soap opera - the borrowed-heart trope is especially well-worn - but with this cast and director, you won’t want to miss a moment. That's not only because it's solid adult drama, but because Inarritu has eschewed a straight-line narrative in favor of a challenging, non-linear structure that sketches the basic story in the first few minutes, then keeps going back and forth to fill in more and more key details. Penn, del Toro and Watts create some of the year's richest, most wrenching characters, ably supported by Charlotte Gainsborough as Penn's estranged wife and Melissa Leo as del Toro’s stricken spouse. Stunningly photographed, largely with a hand-held camera, by Rodrigo Prieto (another member of the "Amores Perros" team) on gritty locations in Memphis and Albuquerque, "21 Grams” is also a visual tour de force - and a rare Hollywood product depicting class differences with any kind of honesty. The title refers to the weight - perhaps the soul - the body is said to lose at the precise moment of death. But "21 Grams" has no shortage of soul, wit or intelligence. 125 min., Rated R (violence, profanity, sex).
The Cooler
--Alec Baldwin & Maria Bello – Nominated for Golden Globes & Screen Actor’s Guild Awards--
In Vegas, the house always wins--especially when the house has employed Bernie Lootz (William H. Macy), a man whose luck is so bad that it rubs off everyone around him. In the old-school casino Shangri-La, this makes him a valuable staffer as what’s called a cooler. His talent is gracefully displayed in "The Cooler’s" opening scene as the camera weaves fluidly through the casino floor in Bernie’s wake. A simple brush of his hand against the roulette wheel or quiet presence as a spectator at the craps table quickly subdues a run on the house. Bernie’s luck begins the change, though, when he falls in love with cocktail waitress Natalie (Maria Bello) and, however unlikely, she with him. This does not bode well for Bernie, as he has been working off a debt to the owner of the casino, Shelly Kaplow (a menacing Alec Baldwin). Shelly, who handles cheats the old-fashioned way rather than calling in the authorities, is intent on keeping Bernie and his bad luck around. Mixed in as well are subplots involving a movement to modernize the aging Shangri-La, in a storyline critical of the current condition of the Vegas strip, and the sudden appearance of Bernie’s newly married son and his very pregnant wife. Helmer Wayne Kramer glamorizes the pastime, using fast motion at the cards and craps tables and a succession of stills to portray the games. Also vital to the classical atmosphere are a melancholy jazz score and a soundtrack that includes such favorites as "It’s Almost like Being in Love" and "My Funny Valentine." But Macy of course, anchors the film in the titular role, his singular features and consummate talent seemingly designed and destined for this very role. "It's a pleasure to watch Macy, with customary craft and intelligence, create from the ground up an unlikely, yet plausible romantic lead." – Newsday. "From James Whitaker's seductive camerawork to Mark Isham's lush score, The Cooler places all the smart bets and hits the jackpot. William H. Macy is hilarious…Maria Bello dazzles! Alec Baldwin’s revelatory portrayal is the stuff Oscars are made of." – Rolling Stone. "A surprising, ingenious film." – Washington Post. Running time: 103 min. Rated R for strong sexuality, violence, language and some drug use.
St. Francis Film Festival List
Walk/Run Cycles
Cloudy Day Renee Dunham
Alien Escape Renee Dunham
Pondering Pooch Stephanie Kauffman
Running Figure Stephanie Kauffman
Girl Running Megan Gibbs
I, Robot, Walk Christopher Studabaker
Live Action
The 7th Brady Sprunger
Surprise Dave Affholter, Joe Myers, Kat McGrath
Hamburger Man Brad Richey
Joe Real Matt Kindness, Renee Dunham
A Beautiful Day Stephanie Kauffman
Animation
Dream on Sucker Dave Affholter, Brad Richey
Checkmate Jillian Blevins
Hare-brained Love Megan Gibbs
Fiendish Feline Stephanie Kauffman
Good Head Brady Sprunger
Running on Empty Christopher Studabaker
Limited Adventures of Mr. Meat Patrick Riggle, Matt White
Unconditional Patrick Riggle, Matt White
PMS Renee Dunham
Lost Jeremy Selzer
Gnometopia Brady Sprunger