This page is updated every second Thursday.
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Remember Alliance Atlantis? It was the Canadian distributor whose logo you saw in front of tons of American movies, like the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The company changed its name when it was bought by Canadian film distributor Entertainment One, a.k.a. eOne, which started out as Records on Wheels way back in the day. Well, it seems Hasbro, the American toy company, has now bought Entertainment One. It’s not like eOne was flooding the country with Canadian content, but they did try. Now that it’s owned by an American toy company though — well, it should be interesting to see what happens next. The Play-Doh movie, anyone? /Shane Hnetka
Opening
Friday 14
FANTASY ISLAND Blumhouse studios turns an old TV show about fulfilling people’s fantasies (I think that’s what the show was about) into a horror movie, just in time for Valentine’s Day.
THE PHOTOGRAPH A woman falls for the man doing a story on her family. Also just in time for Valentine’s Day but not a horror movie (or IS it)?
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG After the horrifying first look at live-action Sonic, the studio took the massive criticism to heart and redesigned the character to look more like, well, Sonic. Fair enough, the design was horrible, but I’m not sure filmmakers should bow to online criticism so quickly. I know studios are just putting out product for mass consumption to make lots of money but any product is going to end up pretty mediocre when it tries to please everyone.
Friday 21
BRAHMS: THE BOY II The first Boy was an okay movie. Nothing special, but it tried to be creepy. Still, it really didn’t demand a sequel four years later.
THE CALL OF THE WILD Harrison Ford teams up with an unconvincing-looking CGI dog in this latest adaptation of Jack London’s classic novel. It looks family friendly, so I’m curious how they’ll handle the racism and violence.
Friday 28
THE INVISIBLE MAN Blumhouse takes the Universal classic horror movie based on H. G. Wells’ novel and turns it into some dumb story about an abusive husband who makes himself invisible to terrorize his wife. While I have more confidence in Blumhouse than Universal, which has struggled to revitalize their classic monsters (The Mummy with Tom Cruise was a category-five crappicane), but I’m not sold on this. I love Wells’ novel and the original 1933 movie is a masterpiece. I love the idea of a scientist experimenting on himself and going mad. This just looks like a stupid twist on Sleeping with the Enemy.
Cineplex Flashback Film Festival
TWELVE MONKEYS Cult classic time-travel movie with Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt, directed by Terry Gilliam. (Feb. 21, 22, 25; March 1)
RPL Film Theatre
Thursday 13
6:30 THERE WILL BE BLOOD Paul Thomas Anderson’s brilliant masterpiece about a man fighting his adopted son over oil rights.
Friday 14
6:30 JALLIKATTU A bull escapes and causes trouble for a small village.
8:30 BECAUSE WE WERE GIRLS A documentary about an immigrant family and their dark secret.
Saturday 15
3:30 FAMILY MATINEE: THE ROCKETEER Classic, retro superhero movie about a pilot who finds a jet pack and uses it to fight Nazis.
6:30 BECAUSE WE WERE GIRLS
8:30 JALLIKATTU
Monday 17
3:00 HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE This Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok, Jojo Rabbit) film stars Sam Neill as a foster uncle who goes on the run with his rebellious foster nephew. Absolutely fantastic movie.
Wednesday 19
12:00 FROZEN Disney’s successful animated film about two sisters, one of whom has ice powers.
6:30 THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION Classic movie based on a Stephen King story about a wrongfully imprisoned man.
Thursday 20
6:30 IMITATION OF LIFE Classic Douglas Sirk movie about a white actress in the 1950s who befriends her maid. The black woman’s daughter is light enough to pass for white and is desperate to do so — much to her mother’s dismay.
Friday 21
6:30 PARASITE Director Bong Joon Ho’s (The Host, Snowpiercer) excellent film about poverty, wealth and the chasm between them just deservedly won the Best Picture Oscar.
8:30 DARK WATERS Mark Ruffalo is a lawyer fighting a chemical company that has polluted the water. Those bastards.
Saturday 22
3:30 FAMILY MATINEE: BEAN Rowan Atkinson brings his Mr. Bean character to the big screen.
6:30 DARK WATER
8:30 PARASITE
Sunday 23
6:30 PARASITE
8:30 DARK WATER
Tuesday 25
6:30 TALKIES: ICE CASTLES It’s the end of the month and time for another crappy movie which will be comedically dissected for your amusement.
Wednesday 26
12:00 THE SOCIAL NETWORK Bio-pic about the birth of Facebook.
6:30 RIP: A REMIX MANIFESTO A documentary about copyright.
Thursday 27
6:30 INDEPENDENT VISIONS: FOUND IN TRANSLATION: ANIMATING THE GOOD AND THE BAD A selection: of: animated: shorts.
Friday 28
6:30 FINAL FRIDAY: GIFT A documentary that looks at the act of giving and receiving gifts.
Saturday 29
3:30 FAMILY MATINEE: A LITTLE PRINCESS A young girl goes to a boarding school when her father goes missing.
6:30 2019 CANNES LIONS INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF CREATIVITY The popular yearly collection of commercials from around the world is here. Huzzah huzzah.
8:30 2019 CANNES LIONS INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF CREATIVITY
Sunday 1
6:30 2019 CANNES LIONS INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF CREATIVITY
8:30 2019 CANNES LIONS INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF CREATIVITY
Friday 6
6:30 CATS A legendarily terrible movie adaptation of the popular theatre musical.
8:30 BOMBSHELL A bio-pic about the women who took down the head of Fox News for sexual harassment.
Saturday 7
6:30 BOMBSHELL
8:30 CATS
Sunday 8
6:30 CATS
8:30 BOMBSHELL
Kramer IMAX
FLYING MONSTERS A documentary about pterosaurs. Hey, cool.
GREAT BEAR RAINFOREST Ryan Reynolds narrates this wilderness doc set in his home province of B.C. Does he put on a bear suit and pester Vancouver bus commuters? Does he strip naked and catch wild salmon in his teeth? Probably not.
INTO NATURE’S WILD In this documentary, three people use the power of IMAX to take ordinary viewers into North America’s most uncharted nature.
SUPERPOWER DOGS Are awesome dogs the focus of this awesome doc? You’ll have to buy a ticket to find out.