Myrtle's Speech

Not that writing blog posts isn't fun, but it becomes really really fun when it involves getting the chance to talk to someone intimately involved in the production of a film. Hence, today I am really really excited to sit down at my laptop because we were lucky enough to have the amazing and awesomely gracious Jennifer Ehle answer a few questions!!!!!

For those of you who may not know, Jennifer Ehle was raised in Winston-Salem and stars as "Myrtle Logue" in our current hit THE KING'S SPEECH.

She also happens to be a two-time Tony Award-winning actress!!! She performs both on the stage and in film. Jennifer is probably best known for her starring role as Elizabeth Bennet in the 1995 mini-series "Pride and Prejudice" in which she starred alongside Colin Firth. She has starred in such films as Wilde, Sunshine, Paradise Road, Michael Clayton and Pride and Glory. Her two Tony Awards came for her performances in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing (2000) and The Coast of Utopia (2006/2007).

Here's what we threw at Jennifer:

1.) So how did you come by your role as "Myrtle Logue" in The King's Speech? Did you seek out the role or did it just sort of fall in your lap?

My wonderful agent in London, Sally Long-Innis, set up a meeting for me with both Tom Hooper, the director of The King's Speech, and the casting director. We all had a nice chat. Tom thought about it for a few days and then I was told that Myrtle was mine.

2.) In The King's Speech, your character is Australian and in your career so far you have played a lot of British characters, so you seem to be amazingly at ease with accents, does that just come naturally or is it due to your training? Why do you think you gravitate to non-American roles?

I don't think it's so much to do with gravitating to non- American roles as to just being lucky enough to be offered parts with such varied backgrounds. I did live in London for 12 years and was fortunate enough to make a living there playing English characters.

3.) What was it like to be reunited on screen with your Pride and Prejudice co-star Colin Firth all these years later? The one scene that you have with him (and costars Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter in the Logue dining room) is perhaps my favorite in the entire film. What was it like filming that scene? Was it as fun to film as it seems?

It was wonderful to work with Colin again, he is such a brilliant actor. I had never worked with Helena or Geoffrey before but had known them both a little bit for a long time and adore them. Helena, Geoffrey and Colin were all very funny together and lovely and welcoming to me so there was a lot of laughter I remember. The day we shot the scene of Myrtle arriving home and finding The Windsors in her sitting room I was 'wearing' my baby in a carrier, and she fell asleep while we were rehearsing. No one batted an eyelid, it was very sweet.

4.) What do you think that you have taken with you into your acting roles from growing up in Winston-Salem?

I feel very fortunate to have grown up in Winston-Salem, in a city that values the arts and artists so highly.

5.) When you come back to town to visit your parents where is the one place (restaurant, store, etc) you just have to visit?

Whenever I come back to Winston to visit I try to get to Reynolda Gardens to have a wander and a lemonade (easy on the sugar) from the soda shop. I used to spend a lot of time at Maria's shop, formerly at The Stratford Center, and I miss it now; but I do see Maria herself (my Godmother) when I am home! Also my third grade teacher from Whitaker School, Nancy Truluck, and I try to get together, too.

Just another reason to come see THE KING'S SPEECH!

New Year, New Films

So we are excited to welcome a handful of new films this weekend...and we know it's going to be a crazy madhouse around here with our first film...THE KING'S SPEECH. I can honestly say that this film is one of the best, if not the best of the year. I usually leave the reviews to the critics, but I was so impressed by this film that I just have to take this opportunity to gush. THE KING'S SPEECH has everything that makes a movie great...a good story, a sense of humor, drama, a stellar cast....and on and on....

Burger pretty much gushes just as much as I do in his Yes!Weekly review.

Our next film is a documentary on the Drive By Truckers. THE SECRET TO A HAPPY ENDING documents the Drive-By Truckers and their congregation of fans as they explore tales of human weakness and redemption. Filmmaker Barr Weissman followed the band during three critical years of touring and recording — years in which the band struggles to overcome the trauma of divorce and survives a near breakup. SECRET combines band interviews, behind-the-scenes footage on the road and in the studio, along with legendary live performances. Reflective of the band’s roots in Alabama and Georgia, the film explores the changing American South — its tangled past and strange beauty. THE SECRET TO A HAPPY ENDING is only here for one showing Saturday, 1/15 @ 10:30pm and tickets are going fast! We will have some giveaways and a drawing for an autographed poster.

On Sunday, January 16 at 8pm we will be screening ZEITGEIST:MOVING FORWARD. Zeitgeist: Moving Forward, by director Peter Joseph, is a feature length documentary work which will present a case for a needed transition out of the current socioeconomic monetary paradigm which governs the entire world society. Here is a link to a great article in the NY Times about the Zeitgeist movement and director Peter Joseph.



It's going to be a super-sized weekend!

Best of 2010 - Part 2

I've already posted my best of 2010 film list, but 2010 has been full of so many other special memories that I just couldn't stop there. Below is my Best of Everything Else List (in random order):

1.) CAKEBALLS!!!!

2.) RiverRun

3.) The fact that Genevieve likes to dress up for anything

4.) Our Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.... tattoos

5.) The special screenings we have had for non-profits and the community including: Indestructible, The Thin Man, Citizen Architect, 8: The Mormon Proposition, Crude...just to name a few

6.) Our LOST season finale showing and the best costume winner!

7.) The bulletin board of questions (with the most popular one yet...favorite soundtrack)

8.) All the great press we have received over the past year. Thank you to Winston-Salem Journal, relish, Yes!Weekly, 88.5 WFDD, skirt! and on and on.

9.) A special q&a with Peter Brunette following The White Ribbon...Rest in Peace dear Peter.

10.) Finally being able to screen Stone and invite Angus MacLachlan in to answer a few questions

2010 will be a year to remember with all of the "extra" things we've been able to do. To get a little sentimental though some of my best memories will continue to be the private times I spend with my son at a/perture.

Bring it on 2011!

Best of 2010 - Part 1

Happy New Year! As we welcome in 2011, I thought it would be fitting to rank my "best of" 2010 films. I do love making lists. So below are my favorite films that found a home at a/perture last year:

10.) A Town Called Panic – the first film that graced our screens. How could we not love a stop-motion animated movie about Cowboy, Horse and Indian?

9.) Exit Through the Gift Shop – whether it was “real” or not, we loved this documentary about Banksy and the street art scene.

8.) A Single Man – a beautifully photographic film by director Tom Ford and starring the charming and oh so handsome Colin Firth

7.) Waiting for “Superman” – the much-lauded doc about the state of America’s public education system brought in the teachers. We loved the discussions it generated.

6.) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – we screened the entire trilogy, but the first one was the standout. It was so good we forgot that it was subtitled.

5.) Winter’s Bone – the debut film from director Debra Granik may have been a bit gloomy, but the superb acting by newcomer Jennifer Lawrence was a ray of sunshine.

4.) The Secret in Their Eyes – too bad we couldn’t get more people to come see the 2010 Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language film. The Academy was spot-on about the pure genius of this Argentine murder mystery.

3.) Inside Job – the inspired doc about the 2008 financial crisis really got patrons' blood boiling.

2.) The Social Network – the critics’ darling, we were so happy to have a week’s worth of screenings at a/perture. Really, where would we be without our 3,441 facebook fans?

1.) Black Swan – this Natalie Portman/Darren Aronofsky demented ballerina thriller is still breaking attendance records.

Honorable mention: A Prophet (Jigar's favorite), Marwencol and I Am Love

It really was a stellar year and 2011 is shaping up to be just as spectacular! We've created a special f/irst anniversary poster and you can pick up your copy for only $3.50. Help support a/perture and decorate your office cubicle, dorm or man cave.

We still love you too Joe Camel

It's that most wonderful time of the year. I hope all our readers are ready for the holiday, and excited to spend time with friends, family, and the like. Our son has had me calling Santa nonstop, but not to ask for more presents, for some reason to take them back. Maybe it's the start of a new tradition, where we do the returning before Christmas. I know a semi-lost tradition for Lawren's family was going to the movies on Christmas day, so if you're looking for a new one of your own to start, I can't think of a better place to go than a cute little arthouse on 4th street in downtown Winston-Salem. We're excited to be open for the holidays, still sharing the beautiful chaos that is Black Swan and opening the film I Love You Phillip Morris.

Before the town of Joe Camel gets bent out of shape, this isn't a documentary about the Marlboro man, although the lead character may have his cool and gumption. I Love You Phillip Morris is the improbable but true story of a spectacularly charismatic conman's journey from small-town businessman to flamboyant white-collar criminal, who repeatedly finds himself in trouble with the law and on the lam, brilliantly escaping from the Texas prison system on four separate occasions - all in the name of love. Jim Carrey is the conman who falls for Phillip Morris, played by Ewan McGregor. To put a pretty little bow on the Christmas theme, the movie was written and directed by John Requa and Glen Ficara, who became famous for Bad Santa.

Part of the entertainment from watching this film is knowing there was a guy out there who did in fact do this. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone agrees in his review, calling the movie "all over the place. But it's also outrageously funny." Check out the trailer below:

Just your typical love story, right? We're skipping our normal 12pm shows on Saturday so everyone can enjoy present unwrapping in peace, but it's a normal day after that. If it's not a white Christmas, at least come to a/perture for a black and white Christmas!

Happy holidays everyone!

Like this (thumbs up)

If there's one thing I'm actually given credit for (still on rare occasions), it's my impeccable timing. Once again, I'm delivering here for you when we open The Social Network this Friday. Now this is a movie that has been out there for a little bit, and it's safe to say a few people saw it back then, but it's the last movie Lawren and I went to see at a place not called a/perture cinema. So when we were given the chance to show it, we jumped on it. And what happens after we announce it? Six golden globe nominations, including best drama, best actor and supporting actor, best director, and best screenplay. Oh, and Mark Zuckerberg is now Time's "Person of the Year." All because we booked the film. Christmas we'll put the theory to the test when we open Carrot Top's new movie...crap, my wittiness has been absconded just by typing the evil red head's name.

Wait a second, he looks a little like Jesse Eisenberg, no? The hair at least. Few people know this, but Carrot Top invented Myspace. That explains a lot.

So everyone knows that The Social Network is Ben Mezrich's adaptation of the story of how Facebook was founded. So is it all completely factually accurate? Probably not. Is it a great film? Absolutely. And it features a score from Trent Reznor (also a Golden Globe nominee - when did anybody think they would read that?). Here's the trailer:

Few things are creepier than a chorus of kids singing Radiohead. Now go become our fan on FACEBOOK!

Bring on the SWAN

With the tame and family-friendly UNCSA production of The Nutcracker having just excited after another crowd-pleasing run, it's time to bring on Darren Aronofsky's interpretation of Swan Lake, otherwise known as (dum, dum, dum)... BLACK SWAN!!!

Many of you have been waiting patiently for this film and we are so excited that our release date was bumped forward a couple of days and will be hitting our screen this FRIDAY (12/17). It is worthy of the wait as evidenced by the numerous Golden Globe nominations it picked up early this morning...

BEST PICTURE

BEST ACTRESS - NATALIE PORTMAN

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - MILA KUNIS

BEST DIRECTOR

Not to mention AFI picked BLACK SWAN as one of the ten best films of 2010! In case you have missed all of the buzz and the increase in TV trailers over the past week (since the film blew the pants of NY and LA), here is a brief synopsis:

Nina (Natalie Portman) is a ballerina in a New York City ballet company whose life, like all those in her profession, is completely consumed with dance. She lives with her obsessive former ballerina mother Erica (Barbara Hershey) who exerts a suffocating control over her. When artistic director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) decides to replace prima ballerina Beth MacIntyre (Winona Ryder) for the opening production of their new season, Swan Lake, Nina is his first choice. But Nina has competition: a new dancer, Lily (Mila Kunis), who impresses Leroy as well. Swan Lake requires a dancer who can play both the White Swan with innocence and grace, and the Black Swan, who represents guile and sensuality. Nina fits the White Swan role perfectly but Lily is the personification of the Black Swan. As the two young dancers expand their rivalry into a twisted friendship, Nina begins to get more in touch with her dark side - a recklessness that threatens to destroy her.

Check out the trailer below:

Another bonus, for those of you out of school or taking a holiday vacation, we've added in a matinee to our schedule for Monday thru Thursday of next week (12/20-12/23) AND we will be open both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Check out our website for our holiday showtimes!

Tamara who? Tamara DREWE!

Get ready for a romp in the British countryside! Along with the seriously dramatic Client 9 and Fair Game, we will be screening Stephen Frears' riotous new comedy Tamara Drewe. Tamara Drewe is based on the graphic novel by Posy Simmonds, a famous cartoonist across the pond.

Tamara Drewe is a witty modern take on the romantic English pastoral of Tom Hardy, but the present-day English countryside—stocked with pompous writers, rich weekenders, bourgeois bohemians, a horny rock star, and a great many Buff Orpington chickens and Belted Galloway cows—is a much funnier place. When Tamara Drewe sashays back to the bucolic village of her youth, life for the locals is thrown upside down. Tamara—once an ugly duckling—has been transformed into a devastating beauty (with help from plastic surgery). As infatuations, jealousies, love affairs and career ambitions collide among the inhabitants of the neighboring farmsteads, Tamara sets a contemporary comedy of manners into play using the oldest magic in the book—sex appeal. Having seen this film a few months ago in Toronto, it really is quite amusing. For more insight into director Stephen Frears (My Beautiful Laundrette, The Queen, High Fidelity) and his take on Tamara Drewe and filmmaking in general check out this interview in FilmIndependent.

Trailer below:

We're continuing our fired up streak...

It seems like we've been on a string of movies that tell a good story, but leave you a little angry afterwards. Waiting for Superman, Inside Job, Fair Game, and now we can add Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer. Documentary specialist Alex Gibney, who gave us Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and Oscar winner Taxi to the Dark Side has hit another home run here. Opening Friday for an abbreviated term, just like Spitzer's stint as governor, we'll have to say goodbye to this one on Sunday. We've timed the run to coincide with the amount of time call girl Ashley Dupre was actually relevant. Obviously Mr. Spitzer has no one to blame but himself for his problems, but Gibney's story makes some observations that are a little more than just fishy. This movie is on the short list for the Best Documentary Oscar, and Amy Biancolli's review in the San Francisco Chronicle makes me think Gibney could get his third nomination. Check out the trailer below.

Are movie titles really fair game?

Wow. If you could only see through your computer screen and truly picture the excitement as I write about the next movie coming to a/perture. How often do you get a movie that is so socially relevant and buzzed about like Fair Game? Throw on top of that the film is celebrating its 15 year anniversary of proving that Cindy Crawford was just a pretty face and Billy Baldwin had more up his sleeve than Sliver....wait a second, Lawren's trying to tell me something. What do you mean there are two movies called Fair Game? Isn't there some sort of rule that once a movie reaches a certain level of awesomeness, no one else can use that name? I'm working on a script right now, then. My movie is going to be called Star Wars. I can almost hear George Lucas's lawyers stampeding across the central United States to ring my doorbell right now.

Well, putting that minor embarrassing confusion aside, it does appear that the 2010 version of Fair Game is actually more socially relevant, given the hubub around this whole WikiLeaks thing, and a far superior movie (2010 - 80%, 1995 - 13% on Rotten Tomatoes...ouch). Naomi Watts plays outed CIA operative Valerie Plame, revealed by officials looking to discredit her husband Joe Wilson (not the "YOU LIE" one, but a former diplomat) played by Sean Penn. Yeah, I guess that cast is better than Baldwin-Crawford. Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post is a fan of how the story is told, more of a look at the toll Valerie's work takes on their marriage and home life instead of a blow 'em up spy affair, that director Doug Liman is more well known for (The Bourne Identity and Mr. & Mrs. Smith). In her own words..."Quality-starved audiences should flock to it, if only to ensure more of them get made." Methinks Ms. Hornaday would not have said the same about the previous one. Trailer below: