CWRU Film Society Spring 2009 Schedule

Schedule subject to change without notice. Movie information provided by the Internet Movie Database and Rotten Tomatoes.

Friday, January 16 – Sunday, January 17, 2009
34rd Annual Science Fiction Marathon

Tickets go on sale Friday, January 16 at 6pm in Strosacker Auditorium. Admission is $25 dollars. More details are available.

Thursday, January 22 2009 7:00 p.m.
The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till (2005)
Rated PG-13 (70 min.) Director: Keith Beauchamp
Read more about it at IMDB
Co-sponsored by ELS

Never-before-seen testimony is included in this documentary on Emmett Louis Till, who, in 1955, was brutally murdered after he whistled at a white woman.

Friday, January 23, 2009 7:00 p.m., 9:30 p.m., 12:00 a.m.
I’m Not There. (2007)
Rated R (135 min.) Director: Todd Haynes
With Cate Blanchett, Ben Winshaw, Christian Bale
Read more about it at IMDB

Six incarnations of Bob Dylan: an actor, a folk singer, an electrified troubadour, Rimbaud, Billy the Kid, and Woody Guthrie. Put Dylan's music behind their adventures, soliloquies, interviews, marriage, and infidelity. Recreate 1960s documentaries in black and white. Put each at a crossroads, the artist becoming someone else. Jack, the son of Ramblin' Jack Elliott, finds Jesus; handsome Robbie falls in love then abandons Claire. Woody, a lad escaped from foster care, hobos the U.S. singing; Billy awakes in a valley threatened by a six-lane highway; Rimbaud talks. Jude, booed at Newport when he goes electric, fences with reporters, pundits, and fans. He won't be classified.

Saturday, January 24, 2009 7:00 p.m., 9:00 p.m.
Burn After Reading (2008)
Rated R (96 min.) Director: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
With George Clooney, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich
Read more about it at IMDB

Osbourne Cox is a CIA analyst who quits his job at the agency after being demoted because of his drinking problem. His wife, Katie, wants to divorce Osbourne and, at the counsel of her divorce lawyer, she copies many of his personal and financial files off his computer. The disc eventually finds its way to Chad Feldheimer, who intends to use the disk to blackmail Osbourne. When blackmailing him fails, he decides to take the information to the Russian embassy. Complication adds to complication, as one is forced to wonder: what's the point?

Friday, January 30, 2009 7:00 p.m., 9:30 p.m., 12:00 a.m.
Enchanted (2007)
Rated PG (107 min.) Director: Kevin Lima
With Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden
Read more about it at IMDB

The beautiful princess Giselle is banished by an evil queen from her magical animated land and finds herself in the streets of modern-day Manhattan. Shocked by this strange new environment that doesn't operate on "happily ever after," Giselle begins to fall in love with a charmingly flawed divorce lawyer who has come to her aid--even though she is already promised to a fairy tale prince--and she has to wonder: Can a storybook view of romance survive in the real world?

Saturday, January 31, 2009 7:00 p.m.,10:00 p.m.
Princess Mononoke (1997)
Rated PG-13 (134 min.) Director: Hayao Miyazaki
With voices of Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Minnie Driver
Read more about it at IMDB
Co-sponsored by Japan Connection

A prince is cursed and will die unless he can find a cure. His only hope is to travel to the far east. When he arrives, he finds himself in the middle of a battle between the animal inhabitants of the forest and an iron mining town that is exploiting and killing the forest. Leading the forest animals in the battle is a human raised by wolves, Princess Mononoke.

Friday, February 6, 2009 7:00 p.m., 9:00 p.m., 11:00 p.m.
Juno (2007)
Rated PG-13 (96 min.) Director: Jason Reitman
With Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner
Read more about it at IMDB

Juno, a 16-year-old high-school junior, discovers she's pregnant after one encounter with her best friend, Bleeker. At first planning to get an abortion, Juno decides to give birth and to place the child with an adoptive couple. She finds one in the PennySaver personals and carries on with school. The chosen parents meet Juno, sign papers, and the year unfolds. Will Juno's plan work, can she improvise, and what about Bleeker?

Saturday, February 7, 2009 7:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m.
Catch Me If You Can (2002)
Rated PG-13 (141 min.) Director: Steven Spielberg
With Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken
Read more about it at IMDB
Co-sponsored by Academic Integrity Board

When his parents separate, Frank runs away to Manhattan with $25 in his checking account, vowing to regain dad's losses and get his parents back together. Just a few years later, he's extradited, tried, and jailed for passing more than $4,000,000 in bad checks. Along the way, he's posed as a Pan Am pilot, a pediatrician, and an attorney. He's been pursued by a dour FBI agent, Carl Hanratty. What starts as a game of cat and mouse becomes something deeper.

Friday, February 13, 2009 7:00 p.m., 10:30 p.m. (Note time change from printed schedule)
The Dark Knight (2008)
Rated PG-13 (152 min.) Director: Christopher Nolan
With Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart
Read more about it at IMDB
Co-sponsored by IMPROVment

Set within a year of "Batman Begins," Batman raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the city streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as The Joker.

Saturday, February 14, 2009 7:00 p.m. 9:30 p.m.
A Knight's Tale (2001)
Rated PG-13 (132 min.) Director: Brian Helgeland
With Heath Ledger, Rufus Sewell, Shannyn Sossamon
Read more about it at IMDB

William is a young squire with a gift for jousting. After his master dies suddenly, the squire hits the road. On the journey, he stumbles across an unknown writer, Chaucer. William, lacking a proper pedigree, convinces Chaucer to forge genealogy documents that will pass him off as a knight. With his newly-minted history in hand, the young man sets out to prove himself a worthy knight at the country's jousting competition and finds romance along the way.

Thursday, February 19 2009 7:00 p.m.
The Constant Gardener (2005)
Rated R (129 min.) Director: Fernando Meirelles
With Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Bill Nighy
Read more about it at IMDB
Co-sponsored by Global Medical Initiative

As the mystery surrounding his wife's death unfolds, a quiet and self-effacing British diplomat is radicalised in his determination to get to the bottom of it. He is soon running up against a drug corporation exercising its power to both ignore the easily treated diseases of the third world and use Africa's "disposable" population for unofficial research and development.

Friday, February 20, 2009 7:00 p.m., 9:30 p.m., 12:00 a.m.
Flash of Genius (2008)
Rated PG-13 (119 min.) Director: Marc Abraham
With Jake Abel, Aaron Abrams, Alan Alda
Read more about it at IMDB
Co-sponsored by Case Engineering Council

Based on the true story of college professor and part-time inventor Robert Kearns' long battle with the U.S. automobile industry. The Kearns were a typical 1960s Detroit family, trying to live their version of the American Dream. When Bob invents a device that would eventually be used by every car in the world, the Kearns think they have struck gold. But their aspirations are dashed after the auto giants who embraced Bob's creation unceremoniously shunned the man who invented it. He becomes a man obsessed with justice and the conviction that his life's work be acknowledged by those who stood to benefit. And while paying the toll for refusing to compromise his dignity, this everyday David will try the unthinkable: to bring Goliath to his knees.

Saturday, February 21, 2009 7:00 p.m., 9:00 p.m.
Zoolander (2001)
Rated PG-13 (89 min.) Director: Ben Stiller
With Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Christine Taylor
Read more about it at IMDB

Derek Zoolander is VH1's three time male model of the year, but when Hansel wins the award instead, Zoolander's world becomes upside down. Then evil fashion guru Mugato hires Zoolander, and he thinks his life has turned around again, until he finds out that Mugato has actually brainwashed him to kill the Prime Minister of Malaysia. Can Zoolander and his new friends prevent the incident before it's too late?

Friday, February 27, 2009 7:00 p.m.
Local Filmmaker's Night

A selection of films made by local Cleveland talent. $3 admission for the entire night.

7:00 pm
Untold Stories of WW2: Hitler's Lizard Army
Director: Jacob Kouwe (10 min)
7:15 pm
Murder at Midnight
Director: Jeff Yanik (6 min)
7:25 pm
Remembrance
Director: Shahin Afnan (11 min)
7:40 pm
Broken Down
Director: Jacob Kouwe (3 min 31 sec)
7:50 pm
Broken Oath
Director: Jeff Yanik (19 min)
8:15 pm
The Struggle for Existence
Director: Michael Suglio (71 min)
9:30 pm
Out of Darkness Episode 2 "Welcome Home Cynthia"
Read more about it at the IMDB; Myspace
Director: Alex P. Michaels (24 min)

Saturday, February 28, 2009 7:00 p.m., 9:30 p.m. (Note time change from printed schedule)
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966)
Rated NR (99 min.) Director: Richard Lester
With Zero Mostel, Phil Silvers, Buster Keaton
Read more about it at IMDB
Co-sponsored by Confused Greenies

Pseudolus is the laziest slave in Rome but has one wish, to purchase his freedom. When his master and mistress leave for the day he finds out that the young master has fallen in love with a virgin in the house of Lycus, a slave dealer specializing in beautiful women. Pseudolus will be freed if he can procure the girl for young Hero. Of course, it can't be that simple.

Friday, March 6, 2009 – Saturday, March 14, 2009
No Films Due to Spring Break

Wednesday, March 18, 2009 7:00 p.m. Free Advance Screening!
I Love You, Man (2009)
Rated R. Director: John Hamburg
With Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Rashida Jones
Read more about it at IMDB
Notice: Cell phones and recording devices are not allowed at sneaks.

Peter Klaven is a successful real estate agent who, upon getting engaged to the woman of his dreams, Zooey, discovers, to his dismay and chagrin, that he has no male friend close enough to serve as his Best Man. Peter immediately sets out to rectify the situation, embarking on a series of bizarre and awkward man-dates, before meeting Sydney Fife, a charming, opinionated man with whom he instantly bonds. But the closer the two men get, the more Peters relationship with Zooey suffers, ultimately forcing him to choose between his fiancé and his new found bro, in a story that comically explores what it truly means to be a friend.

Friday, March 20, 2009 7:00 p.m., 9:30 p.m., 12:00 a.m.
Quantum of Solace (2008)
Rated PG-13 (106 min.) Director: Marc Forster
With Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric
Read more about it at IMDB
Co-sponsored by Freshman Class Officers

After being betrayed by Vesper, the woman he loved, 007 fights the urge to make his latest mission personal. Bond discovers the organization which blackmailed Vesper to steal Bond's casino winnings is far more complex and dangerous than anyone had imagined. Forensic intelligence leads Bond to Dominic Greene, a ruthless businessman and major force within the mysterious criminal organization known only as 'Quantum'. In a minefield of treachery, murder and deceit, Bond allies with old friends in a battle to uncover the truth.

Saturday, March 21, 2009 7:00 p.m., 9:00 p.m.
The Iron Giant (1999)
Rated PG (86 min.) Director: Brad Bird
With voices of Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick Jr., Vin Diesel
Read more about it at IMDB

This is the story a nine-year-old boy named Hogarth Hughes who makes friends with an innocent alien giant robot that came from outer space. Meanwhile, a paranoid U.S. Government agent named Kent Mansley arrives in town, determined to destroy the giant at all costs. It's up to Hogarth to protect him by keeping him at Dean McCoppin's place in the junkyard.

Friday, March 27, 2009 7:00 p.m., 9:30 p.m., 12:00 a.m.
The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
Rated PG-13 (117 min.) Director: Gabriele Muccino
With Will Smith, Jaden Smith, Thandie Newton
Read more about it at IMDB
Co-sponsored by Cleveland Public School Connection

Chris has an opportunity to be a stock broker but first he has to go through a grueling internship which means no pay. Chris decides to do it but when his wife leaves and he is evicted, he has to take care of his son on his own. So they find themselves sometimes living on the street and struggling to get by. But Chris is determined to make it.

Saturday, March 28, 2009 7:00 p.m., 9:00 p.m.
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Rated G (84 min.) Director: Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise
With voices of Paige O'Hara, Robby Benson, Richard White
Read more about it at IMDB

Prince Adam was cursed to a beast form. He must learn to love another and earn her love in return before his twenty-first birthday. But who could ever learn to love a beast? Ten years later, Belle, a bookworm who dreams of life outside her provincial village, finds her father trapped in the castle and offers herself in his stead. In the beginning Belle views him as nothing more than a monster; he views her as difficult and stubborn. But the two soon taste the bitter-sweetness of finding you can change and learning you were wrong.

Friday, April 3, 2009 7:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
Rated PG-13 (159 min.) Director: David Fincher
With Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Julia Ormond
Read more about it at IMDB

"I was born under unusual circumstances." And so begins 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,' adapted from the 1920s story by F. Scott Fitzgerald about a man who is born in his eighties and ages backwards. Benjamin Button is a grand tale of a not-so-ordinary man and the people and places he discovers along the way, the loves he finds, the joys of life and the sadness of death, and what lasts beyond time.

Saturday, April 4, 2009 7:00 p.m., 9:00 p.m.
SLC Punk! (1998)
Rated R (97 min.) Director: James Merendino
With Matthew Lillard, Michael A. Goorjian, Annabeth Gish
Read more about it at IMDB
Co-sponsored by WRUW

SLC Punk is a film about a couple of kids who become sick of their dull, ordinary life in conservative Salt Lake City. They make plans to try to change things and create anarchy.

Friday, April 10, 2009 7:00 p.m., 9:30 p.m., 12:00 a.m.
Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008)
Rated R (101 min.) Director: Kevin Smith
With Elizabeth Banks, Seth Rogen, Jason Mewes
Read more about it at IMDB

Lifelong platonic friends Zack and Miri look to solve their respective cash-flow problems by making an adult film together. As the cameras roll, however, the duo begin to sense that they may have more feelings for each other than they previously thought.

Saturday, April 11, 2009 7:00 p.m., 10:30 p.m.
The Godfather (1972)
Rated R (175 min.) Director: Francis Ford Coppola
With Marlon Brando, Al Pachino, James Caan
Read more about it at IMDB

Vito Corleone is the aging don (head) of the Corleone Mafia Family. His youngest son Michael has returned from WWII, but he doesn't want become involved in the family business. A drug dealer is looking for protection in exchange for a profit of the drug money. He approaches Don Corleone about it, but the Don opposes the use of drugs and turns down the offer. The dealer has the Don shot down. The Don barely survives, leading his son Michael to begin a violent mob war that tears the Corleone family apart.

Thursday, April 16, 2009 7:00 p.m.
Italian Film Festival: Il vento fa il suo giro (2005)
Rated NR (110 min.) Director: Giorgio Diritti
With Thierry Toscan, Alessandra Agosti, Dario Anghilante
Read more about it at IMDB

Friday, April 17, 2009 7:00 p.m., 9:30 p.m., 12:00 a.m.
Wanted (2008)
Rated R (110 min.) Director: Timur Bekmambetov
With James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, Angelina Jolie
Read more about it at IMDB

The anxious, clumsy and abused office clerk Wesley Allan Gibson has a boring life. When he meets the sexy Fox, Wesley is informed that his father belonged to an ancient assassin organization called Fraternity and was killed by a renegade named Cross. Wesley joins the society and prepares to face the dangerous Cross and find a hidden secret.

Saturday, April 18, 2009 7:00 p.m., 9:30 p.m.
An American in Paris (1951)
Rated NR (113 min.) Director: Vincente Minnelli
With Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant
Read more about it at IMDB
Co-sponsored by Spartan Tappers

Jerry Mulligan, a struggling American painter in Paris, is "discovered" by an influential heiress with an interest in more than Jerry's art. Jerry in turn falls for Lise, a young French girl already engaged to a cabaret singer. Jerry jokes, sings and dances with his best friend, an acerbic would-be concert pianist, while romantic complications abound.

Sunday, April 19, 2009 5:00 p.m.
Italian Film Festival: Orchestra di piazza vittorio

Sunday, April 19, 2009 7:00 p.m.
Italian Film Festival: La giusta distanza

Sunday, April 19, 2009 9:00 p.m.
Italian Film Festival: Valzer

Tuesday, April 21, 2009 7:00 p.m.
Italian Film Festival: Hotel meina

Friday, April 24, 2009 7:00 p.m., 9:30 p.m., 12:00 a.m.
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Rated R (120 min.) Director: Danny Boyle, Loveleen Tandan
With Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, Saurabh Shukla
Read more about it at IMDB

Eighteen year old Jamal Malik is having an amazing answering streak on India's "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire". He's only one correct question away from the big prize. However, some question how someone like Jamal, a self confessed non-genius who grew up in the slums of Mumbai, can be doing so well on the show when others who are brighter, more educated and wealthier than him have failed. Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slum where he and his brother grew up, of their adventures together on the road, of vicious encounters with local gangs, and of Latika, the girl he loved and lost.

Saturday, April 25, 2009 7:00 p.m., 9:30 p.m.
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Rated R (118 min.) Director: Jonathan Demme
With Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn
Read more about it at IMDB

FBI agent Clarice Starling is assigned to save a missing woman from a psychopathic serial killer. Clarice attempts to gain a better insight into the twisted mind of the killer by talking to another psychopath Hannibal Lecter. This twisted relationship forces Starling not only to confront her psychological demons, but leaves her face to face with a heinous killer so powerful that she may not have the courage to stop him!