SUN 4 Dec • Cold War Double Bill

TORN CURTAIN (15) 1.30

(US 1966) dir. Alfred Hitchcock 122m. Digital.
Paul Newman, Julie Andrews, Lila Kedrova, Wolfgang Kieling, Ludwig Donath, Tamara Toumanova.

The Hitchcock thriller that brought together 1966's starriest pairing and, in the movie's most famous sequence, gave him the opportunity to show just how difficult it really is to kill someone. Paul Newman is an American physicist who is also an East German agent; Julie Andrews is his suspicious fiancée. The Cold War has never been more enjoyable with a cat-and-mouse chase across the Iron Curtain, some classic set pieces that simply ooze suspense, and a Hitchcock signature finale set in a crowded theatre.

Trailer

+ TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY (15) 3.50
(France/UK/Germany 2011) dir. Tomas Alfredson 127m. Digital.
Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ciarán Hinds, Kathy Burke.

Gary Oldman is George Smiley in an atmospheric adaption of the John le Carré novel set at the height of the Cold War. The tarnished reputation of a former espionage agent is put to one side as he is summoned back to investigate leaks within his old department and the identity of a double agent entrenched at the heart of British Intelligence. It's a brilliant study of the disenchantment, compromise and tensions of the spying game, all beautifully played by a stellar cast, not least by a scene-stealing Kathy Burke.

Trailer

£9/£7 Concs

SUN 11 Dec • Dark Journeys Double Bill

POST MORTEM (15) 2.30

(Chile/Germany/Mexico 2011) dir. Pablo Larrain 98m. Subtitles. Digital.
Alfredo Castro, Marcelo Alonso, Amparo Noguera.

A provocative and gripping mix of the morbidly comic and the surreal from the director and star of the acclaimed TONY MANERO. Chile 1973: a military coup brings mounting corpses and paperwork for coroner's assistant Mario. When, like so many others, his neighbour Nancy, a cabaret dancer (and the object of his obsessive fantasies) mysteriously vanishes, an escalating nightmare journeys towards a chilling and macabre finale.

Trailer

+ OSLO, AUGUST 31st (15) 4.30

(Norway 2011) dir. Joachim Trier 94m. Subtitles. Digital.
Anders Danielsen Lie, Anders Borchgrevink, Andreas Braaten, Hans Olav Brenner, Malin Crepin, Petter Width Kristiansen, Johanne Kjellevik Ledang.

A day in the life of Anders, once a talented writer, now a recovering drug addict. A visit to his native Oslo for a job interview allows him to revisit, reassess and try to reconnect with the city and people he loves. It's a tense and compelling journey handled with great warmth by director Joachim Trier and the seemingly effortless performance by Anders Danielsen Lie is an immensely moving portrayal of a troubled soul.

Trailer

£9/£7 Concs

SUN 18 Dec • Woody Allen Double Bill

THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO (PG) 2.30

(US 1985) dir. Woody Allen 82m.
Mia Farrow, Jeff Daniels, Danny Aiello, Irving Metzman, Stephanie Farrow, Edward Herrmann, Van Johnson, Milo O'Shea, Dianne Wiest, Alexander H. Cohen, Michael Tucker, Glenne Headly.

Movies were the great escapism for 1930's Depression America, but there's no escape for New Jersey waitress Cecelia when the leading man of 'The Purple Rose of Cairo' walks off the screen and begins to woo her. But Hollywood wants its star back and the film to end. It's one of Allen's funniest films and reputedly his own personal favourite.

Trailer

+ MIDNIGHT IN PARIS (12A) 4.15

(Spain/US 2011) dir. Woody Allen 94m. Digital.
Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody, Carla Bruni, Marion Cotillard, Rachel McAdams, Michael Sheen, Owen Wilson, Kurt Fuller, Mimi Kennedy, Yves Heck, Alison Pill, Corey Stoll, Tom Hiddleston, Léa Seydoux.

Woody Allen continues his Euro-hopping and this time the location is Paris, city of romance where the artistic giants of the bohemian Paris of the 1920s continue to haunt the boulevard cafes. Accompanied by his fiancee and her rather unpleasant parents, writer Gil (Owen Wilson) arrives in search of inspiration for a half finished novel. On a midnight stroll the ghosts are suddenly flesh and blood, and Scott Fitzgerald, Picasso, Dali, and Ernest Hemingway all still have something to say. The dialogue is witty and sophisticated, and the in jokes, cinematic and otherwise, are a delight.

Trailer

£9/£7 Concs/£5.50 Under 15's

SUN 25 Dec

Cinema closed – Happy Christmas!

SUN 1 Jan • The Artist as Comedy Genius: Buster Keaton Double Bill

SHERLOCK JR. (U) 1.30

(US 1924) dir. Buster Keaton 45m. Digital.
Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire, Joe Keaton.

Keaton is the movie theatre projectionist/janitor who's in love with the same prim miss as the town's rogue who quickly frames Buster for a robbery. Fortunately he's studying to become a detective and of course the silver screen is a potent mix of fantasy and reality so when he falls asleep in front of the screen... Wonderfully comic and visually incredible.

Trailer

+ THE GENERAL (U) 2.35

(US 1926) dirs. Buster Keaton & Clyde Bruckman 78m.
Buster Keaton, Marion Mack, Glen Cavander.

Sitting triumphantly at number 18 in the AFI's list of the Greatest Films of All Time, THE GENERAL is Keaton's masterpiece: perfectly conceived, immaculately executed and with more laugh out loud moments than any movie deserves. He's railroad engineer Johnnie Gray who, with his beloved engine 'The General', is caught up in the American Civil War. His other great love Annabelle believes he's a coward but when both beloveds are captured by spies, the great locomotive chase begins. The trains, the stunts and the spectacular finale are all for real. CGI? No thanks.

Trailer

£9/£7 Concs/£5.50 Under 15's

SUN 8 Jan • A Masterpiece Restored.

LES ENFANTS DU PARADIS (PG) 2.30

(France 1945) dir. Marcel Carne 190m. Subtitles. Digital.
Arletty, Jean-Louis Barrault, Pierre Brasseur, Marcel Herrand, Maria Casares, Louis Salon.

Poetic Realism reaches sublime heights. Set in the theatrical world of Paris in the 1840's, LES ENFANTS DU PARADIS centres around four men's love & lust for the beautiful Garance (Arletty). Only one is genuine. Mime artist Deburau (Jean-Louis Barrault) truly cares for her and because of this is the one who suffers most at the feet of a woman he will never obtain. This intricate and multi-layered tapestry – tragic, farcical, melancholy, magical, immediate, other-worldly – was filmed clandestinely during the Nazi occupation of Paris. It is still regularly voted as the best French film ever and has now been fully restored to reflect all of it's pure cinematic magic.

Trailer

£9/£7 Concs/£5.50 Under 15's

SUN 15 Jan • Megalomania USA Double Bill

PRIVATE FILES OF J. EDGAR HOOVER (15) 1.45

(US 1977) dir. Larry Cohen 110m. Digital.
Broderick Crawford, James Wainwright, Michael Parks, Dan Dailey.

Clint Eastwood's J. EDGAR it certainly ain't. Although made 35 years ago without the benefit of hindsight but with an astonishing degree of prescience, master of schlock-horror Larry Cohen wears a very serious face to tell the story of the American who held sway over 58 million people as the founder and director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The CITIZEN KANE like construction follows Hoover from his his racket busting days to his death in 1972 and explores a few dark secrets along the way.

Trailer

+ CITIZEN KANE (U) 4.00

(US 1941) dir. Orson Welles 119m.
Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore, Agnes Moorehead, Ruth Warrick.

A reporter searches for the meaning of millionaire newspaper tycoon Charles Foster Kane's last word, 'Rosebud' and gradually unfolds the troubled and turbulent public and private life of one of the richest and most powerful men in America. Routinely voted the best film ever made, and certainly still the most influential, this is Welles' masterpiece, with Kane's ever-growing greed and loss of youthful idealism a reflection of the America he symbolises.

Trailer

£9/£7 Concs

SUN 22 Jan • A Tribute to Raul Ruiz (1941-2011)

MYSTERIES OF LISBON (PG) 1.15

(Portugal/France 2010) dir. Raul Ruiz 266m. Subtitles. Digital.
Adriano Luz, Maria Joao Bastos, Ricardo Pereira, Clothilde Hesme.

A fitting finale to a Life in Film. Chilean born Raul Ruiz was the idiosyncratic master of world independent movie making whether delighting audiences with a dazzling star-studded adaptation of Proust in TIME REGAINED or perplexing them with such metaphysical mysteries as HYPOTHESIS OF THE STOLEN PAINTING. In a career that spanned almost five decades, each film displayed a mix of baroque imagery, bizarre humour and labyrinthine plots that offered a unique and enjoyable experience. This can certainly be said of his final epic work MYSTERIES OF LISBON based on a 19th-century Portuguese novel which twists and turns through three generations and even more countries, all beautifully captured by Ruiz's flowing camerawork. The plot centres around Joao, a boy born out of wedlock to wealthy lovers embroiled in a passionate affair but forbidden to marry. When he becomes a curious and frustrated teenager, he wants to discover the truth about his birth and bloodline. It's probably unlike anything you've ever seen.

Trailer

£9/£7 Concs/£5.50 Under 15's

SUN 29 Jan • A Tribute to Charles Laughton (1899-1962)

REMBRANDT (U) 2.15

(UK 1936) dir. Alexander Korda 85m.
Charles Laughton, Gertrude Lawrence, Elsa Lanchester, Edward Chapman, Walter Hudd, Roger Livesey.

The legendary Charles Laughton, whose death 50 years ago is being commemorated this year, plays Rembrandt in the most ambitious and original of 1930's biopics. At the peak of his success as an artist, his beloved wife dies suddenly and his work takes on a darker, more menacing tone, much to the displeasure of his clients. As his talent is no longer sought after he becomes involved in a bittersweet relationship with his maid. Laughton gives one of his greatest performances.

Trailer

+ THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (PG) 4.00

(US 1955) dir. Charles Laughton 93m. Digital.
Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish, Billy Chapin, Sally Jane Bruce.

Laughton described it as really a nightmarish sort of fairy tale but sadly this sublimely sinister masterwork was the actor's one and only foray into film directing. A parable of good vs evil that combines stark realism with Germanic expressionism, and features Robert Mitchum's amazing performance as preacher Harry Powell who regards women, particularly widows with children who know where the money is buried, as simply an earthly temptation to be removed at will. Evil is certainly abroad in the world and children must bear its brunt, but, as the beautifully radiant Lillian Gish says, "They abide, they endure." And, so does THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER.

Trailer

£9/£7 Concs/£5.50 Under 15's