Variety’s 2008 Screening Series Calendar
December
This schedule will be updated frequently, so please return to this website for details on new events as they are added.
Los Angeles Screening Series (New York)
|
Doubt ALREADY SCREENED Studio: Miramax Director: John Patrick Shanley Screenplay: John Patrick Shanley Cast: Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams Q&A: Writer/Director John Patrick Shanley Set in 1964, Doubt centers on a nun who confronts a priest after suspecting him abusing a black student. He denies the charges, and much of the play's quick-fire dialogue tackles themes of religion, morality and authority Location: ArcLight Hollywood 6360 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, 90028 |
|
Waltz With Bashir ALREADY SCREENED Studio: Sony Pictures Classics Director: Ari Folman Screenplay: Ari Folman Cast: Animated Feature Q&A: Director Ari Folman This mesmerizing and gripping animated documentary begins one night at a bar, when an old friend tells director Ari about a recurring nightmare in which he is chased by 26 vicious dogs. Every night, the same number of beasts. The two men conclude that there’s a connection to their Israeli Army mission in the first Lebanon War of the early eighties. Ari is surprised that he can’t remember a thing anymore about that period of his life. Intrigued by this riddle, he decides to meet and interview old friends and comrades around the world. He needs to discover the truth about that time and about himself. As Ari delves deeper and deeper into the mystery, his memory begins to creep up in surreal images. Location: ArcLight Hollywood 6360 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, 90028 |
|
What Doesn’t Kill You ALREADY SCREENED Studio: Yari Film Group Director: Brian Goodman Screenplay: Brian Goodman, Paul T. Murray Cast: Mark Ruffalo, Ethan Hawke Q&A: Mark Ruffalo, Ethan Hawke Two childhood friends from South Boston turn to crime as a way to get by, ultimately causing a strain in their personal lives and their friendship. Location: ArcLight 234 |
|
|
Frozen River ALREADY SCREENED Studio: Sony Pictures Classics Director: Courtney Hunt Screenplay: Courtney Hunt Cast: Melissa Leo Q&A: Melissa Leo Takes place in the days before Christmas near a little-known border crossing on the Mohawk reservation between New York State and Quebec. Here, the lure of fast money from smuggling presents a daily challenge to single moms who would otherwise be earning minimum wage. Two women - one white, one Mohawk, both single mothers faced with desperate circumstances - are drawn into the world of border smuggling across the frozen water of the St. Lawrence River. Ray and Lila... and the New York State Trooper who ultimately brings the two to justice. Location: ArcLight Hollywood 6360 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, 90028 |
|
Defiance ALREADY SCREENED Studio: Paramount Vantage Director: Ed Zwick Screenplay: Clayton Frohman, Edward Zwick Cast: Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell, Alexa Davalos, Allan Corduner, Mark Feuerstein Q&A: Director Ed Zwick Based on an extraordinary true story, Defiance is an epic tale of family, honor, vengeance and salvation in World War II. The year is 1941 and the Jews of Eastern Europe are being massacred by the thousands. Managing to escape certain death, three brothers take refuge in the dense surrounding woods they have known since childhood. There they begin their desperate battle against the Nazis. Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell star as brothers who turn a primitive struggle to survive into something far more consequential – a way to avenge the deaths of their loved ones by saving thousands of others. At first it is all they can do to stay alive. But gradually, as whispers of their daring spreads, they begin to attract others – men and women, young and old – willing to risk everything for the sake of even a moment’s freedom. Tuvia (Craig) is a reluctant leader and his decisions are challenged by his brother, Zus (Schreiber) who worries that Tuvia’s idealistic plans will doom them all. Asael (Bell) is the youngest – caught between his brothers’ fierce rivalry. As a brutal winter descends, they work to create a community, and to keep faith alive when all humanity appeared to be lost. Location: ArcLight Hollywood 6360 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, 90028 |
|
The Reader ALREADY SCREENED Studio: Weinstein Director: Stephen Daldry Screenplay: David Hare Cast: Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes Q&A: TBD In postwar Germany, a young man’s decades-long obsession with an older woman runs headlong into a war crimes trial, where he learns an awful truth. Location: ArcLight Hollywood 6360 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, 90028 |
|
WALL•E ALREADY SCREENED Studio: Disney Director: Andrew Stanton Screenplay: Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter Cast: WALL•E Q&A: Director Andrew Stanton In the distant future, a small waste collecting robot inadvertently embarks on a space journey that will ultimately decide the fate of mankind. Location: ArcLight Hollywood 6360 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, 90028 |
|
|
The Wrestler ALREADY SCREENED Studio: Fox Searchlight Director: Darren Aronofsky Screenplay: Rob Siegel Cast: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood Q&A: Director Darren Aronofsky, Mickey Rourke Back in the late ‘80s, Randy “The Ram” Robinson (Mickey Rourke) was a headlining professional wrestler. Now, twenty years later, he ekes out a living performing for handfuls of diehard wrestling fans in high school gyms and community centers around New Jersey. Estranged from his daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) and unable to sustain any real relationships, Randy lives for the thrill of the show and the adoration of his fans. However, a heart attack forces him into retirement. As his sense of identity starts to slip away, he begins to evaluate the state of his life -- trying to reconnect with his daughter, and strikes up a blossoming romance with an aging stripper (Marisa Tomei). Yet all this cannot compare to the allure of the ring and passion for his art, which threatens to pull Randy “The Ram” back into his world of wrestling. Director Darren Aronofsky presents a powerful portrait of a battered dreamer, who despite himself and the odds stacked against him, lives to be a hero once again in the only place he considers home – inside the ring. Location: ArcLight Hollywood 6360 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, 90028 |
|
Revolutionary Road ALREADY SCREENED Studio: Paramount Vantage Director: Sam Mendes Screenplay: Justin Haythe Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Michael Shannon, Kathryn Hahn, David Harbour, Kathy Bates Q&A: Director Sam Mendes, Kate Winslet Adapted from the revealing novel by Richard Yates, Revolutionary Road is an incisive portrait of an American marriage seen through the eyes of Frank (three-time Academy Award® nominee Leonardo DiCaprio) and April (five-time Academy Award® nominee Kate Winslet) Wheeler. Yates’ story of 1950’s America poses a question that has been reverberating through modern relationships ever since: can two people break away from the ordinary without breaking apart? Frank and April have always seen themselves as special, different, ready and willing to live their lives based on higher ideals. So, as soon as they move into their new house on Revolutionary Road, they proudly declare their independence from the suburban inertia that surrounds them and determine never to be trapped by the social confines of their era. Yet for all their charm, beauty and irreverence, the Wheelers find themselves becoming exactly what they didn’t expect: a good man with a meaningless job whose nerve has gone missing; a less-than-happy homemaker starving for fulfillment and passion; an American family with lost dreams, like any other. Driven to change their fates, April hatches an audacious plan to start all over again, to leave the comforts of Connecticut behind for the great unknown of Paris. But when the plan is put in motion, each spouse is pushed to extremes – one to escape whatever the cost, the other to save all that they have, no matter the compromises. Location: Fine Arts Theatre 8556 Wilshire, Beverly Hills, CA 90211 |
|
Seven Pounds ALREADY SCREENED Studio: Sony Director: Gabriele Muccino Screenplay: Eric Roth Cast: Will Smith, Rosario Dawson, Woody Harrelson Q&A: Director Gabriele Muccino & Rosario Dawson The emotional story of a man who will change the lives of seven strangers. Location: ArcLight Hollywood 6360 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, 90028 |
|
|
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ALREADY SCREENED Studio: Paramount Pictures Director: David Fincher Screenplay: Eric Roth Cast: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton, Elle Fanning, Julia Ormond Q&A: TBD Tells the story of Benjamin Button, a man who starts aging backwards with bizarre consequences. Location: ArcLight Hollywood 6360 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, 90028 |
|
|
Nothing But the Truth ALREADY SCREENED Studio: Yari Film Group Director: Rod Lurie Screenplay: Rod Lurie Cast: Alan Alda, Angela Bassett, Kate Beckinsale Q&A: Writer/Director Rod Lurie & Kate Beckinsale In Washington, D.C., a female reporter faces a possible jail sentence for outing a CIA agent and refusing to reveal her source. Location: ArcLight 234 |
|
