Saturdays
The Saturday Spotlight: Coming Home to Doc
Programmed by Anton Yu
2016-01-09 @ 6:30 PM 10:15 PM
Sunday 3:45 PM
The Martian
(Ridley Scott, 2015) · After a fierce storm, astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is left stranded on Mars. While NASA works to bring him home and his crewmates hatch a daring rescue plan of their own, Mark must rely on his wit and ingenuity to pull through until help arrives—if it does at all. As part of UChicago Science on the Screen, the 6:30 pm screening will be followed by a discussion with University of Chicago geophysical and planetary scientists Edwin Kite and Mohit Melwani Daswani, moderated by Andy Davis, Chair and Professor of the Department of Geophysical Sciences. Please RSVP here.
runtime: 144 min format: DCP
2016-01-16 @ 7:00 PM 9:00 PM
Sunday 3:45 PM
Taxi
(Jafar Panahi, 2015) · In his third film since his arrest and 20-year ban from filmmaking, Jafar Panahi poses as a taxi driver on the streets of Tehran, capturing a diverse series of portraits of everyday characters, including strangers, acquaintances, and even his young niece Hana. Another wry work of social commentary, Taxi won the top prize at the 2015 Berlin International Film Festival, with Berlin jury president Darren Aronofsky describing it as a “love letter to cinema.”
runtime: 82 min format: DCP
2016-01-23 @ 7:00 PM 9:15 PM
Sunday 4:00 PM
Coming Home
(Zhang Yimou, 2014) · Zhang is known for intimate dramas set in consequential periods of Chinese history. While the hippie movement and Vietnam War protests grew in the U.S., the Cultural Revolution stiffened its grip on China. Lu is branded a political enemy and imprisoned. Upon release, his wife, Feng, cannot recognize him, maybe the state's disapproval internalized. What solace in incomplete reunion? Per Orwell, "What you say or do doesn't matter; only feelings matter."
runtime: 109 min format: DCP
2016-01-30 @ 7:00 PM 9:15 PM
Sunday 4:15 PM
The Assassin
(Hou Hsiao-Hsien, 2015) · Set in 9th century China during the Tang dynasty, The Assassin follows Nie Yinniang (Shu Qi) as she is sent to her home province to kill her former betrothed, a young military governor, Tian Ji'an. Forced to reconcile her past, Yinniang must choose between love and duty. For his first foray in the wuxia genre, a vivid and stunning take on the martial arts epic, Hou won the Best Director prize at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.
runtime: 105 min format: DCP
2016-02-06 @ 7:00 PM 9:30 PM
Sunday 4:00 PM
Crimson Peak
(Guillermo del Toro, 2015) · Something of a cross between The Exorcist and the music video for "Total Eclipse of the Heart," del Toro's latest work manages to combine a terrifying ghost story and decadent visuals into a single gothic nightmare. Maybe you won't pay attention to the story, immersing yourself in the dripping Victorian splendour, maybe you'll cover your eyes in fear. If you do both you'll see why Stephen King called it "gorgeous and just fucking terrifying."
runtime: 119 min format: DCP
2015-02-13 @ 7:00 PM 9:40 PM
Sunday 4:15 PM
Spectre
(Sam Mendes, 2015) · The fourth and likely the last installment in the James Bond reboot starring Daniel Craig, Spectre reintroduces the character of supervillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz), not featured in a Bond film since 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever with Sean Connery. When a cryptic message from his past leads 007 to Mexico City and Rome, he uncovers the existence of Blofeld’s global crime syndicate SPECTRE and must stop his new (old) nemesis.
runtime: 148 min format: DCP
2016-02-20 @ 7:00 PM 9:00 PM
Sunday 5:00 PM
Hitchcock/Truffaut
(Kent Jones, 2015) · In 1962, Alfred Hitchcock and François Truffaut locked themselves in a windowless Hollywood office for a week-long discussion that produced Truffaut's seminal book on filmmaking, Hitchcock. Based on original recordings of their meeting, this documentary explores Hitchcock's films and artistic style, supplemented by conversations with leading contemporary directors such as David Fincher, Wes Anderson, and Martin Scorsese.
runtime: 93 min format: DCP
2016-02-27 @ 7:00 PM 9:00 PM
Sunday 4:30 PM
The Good Dinosaur
(Peter Sohn, 2015) · They say dinosaurs died out millions of years ago, and all for the best. They were vicious and angry folk. But what if neither of these things were true? What if the Cretaceous period never ended? What if humans and dinosaurs coexisted and even got along? Pixar's latest venture imagines a world where dinosaurs rule the land and humans are primitive doggish types in this heartwarming tale of interspecies friendship.
runtime: 100 min format: DCP
2016-03-05 @ 7:00 PM 9:15 PM
Sunday 4:15 PM
Brooklyn
(John Crowley, 2015) · Seeking a better future, Irish immigrant Eilis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan) crosses the Atlantic to the U.S. and struggles to get by on her own in 1950’s Brooklyn. Initially homesick and alienated by her new home, Eilis soon falls in love with Italian-American Tony (Emory Cohen), but eventually she finds herself torn between her current and past worlds. Directed by John Crowley, Brooklyn depicts a historical period while bringing timeless themes of family and freedom.
runtime: 111 min format: DCP
2016-03-12 @ 7:00 PM 9:30 PM
Sunday 4:00 PM
Spotlight
(Tom McCarthy, 2015) · Inspired by the story of the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists who unearthed the Catholic Church’s massive cover-up of sexual abuse crimes, Spotlight follows the Boston Globe investigators in an obsessive procedural that recalls works like All the President’s Men and The Wire. Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, and Brian d’Arcy James star as the Globe Spotlight Team, slowly discovering the extent of the cover-up and the complicity of various institutions.
runtime: 128 min format: DCP
