Sunday Night Film Club – Boston

“A washed-up ballplayer is put in charge of a pack of kids scarcely more mature than himself in this remake of the 1976 comedy hit. Morris Buttermaker (Billy Bob Thornton) is a former major league baseball player whose career and life has hit the skids thanks to his overwhelming fondness for booze and women. Needing a break, his lawyer (Marcia Gay Harden) arranges for Buttermaker to take on coaching responsibilities for the Bears, a Little League baseball team comprised of a handful of hapless losers. As Buttermaker tries to groom his young charges into a winning team, he also gives them a glimpse of his hard-living lifestyle while they gear up to take on perennial rivals the Yankees and their arrogant Coach Bullock (Greg Kinnear. The 2005 version of The Bad News Bears was written by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, who previously scripted another Billy Bob Thornton vehicle, Bad Santa.”

“During the harsh Antarctic winter an epic journey takes place every year. More astounding than Shackleton’s voyage of Endurance, this is the story of the indigenous Emperor Penguins, who march across the harsh landscape of Antarctica to find their mates and keep the journey going for new generations. Like last year’s hit Winged Migration, The March of the Penguins features astounding up-close footage of birds in action. While penguins may technically be stuck on the ground, they move with such unique grace and calm, walking steadfastly across the most inhospitable terrain, or sliding on their bellies, that you can’t help but root for them every step of the way. Gorgeous cinematography highlights the vast labyrinths of ice that cover of the South Pole, and prepare to be stunned by a never-before-seen underwater sequence that shows the penguins really flying – though the freezing ocean under the Antarctic ice. Director Luc Jacquet and his crew followed the penguins on their journey for 13 months, then cleverly edited the film to tell a narrative story that brings the journey to life through clever penguin dialogue. Filled with excitement, danger, adventure, romance, and gorgeous scenery, The March of the Penguins is a real-life epic.”

“Oscar-winner Jennifer Connelly stars in this delightful Jim Henson film. When a teenaged girl (Connelly) thoughtlessly wishes her infant brother would just disappear, she has to face the consequences when the Goblin King (Bowie) whisks the baby away to a maze-like world populated with talking dogs, kindly monsters and Bogs of Eternal Stench. This classic children’s story is well-loved by its fans for its amazing set design and thoughtful lessons about growing up. And the five David Bowie songs are just as good as you remember.”

“Acclaimed director Tim Burton brings his vividly imaginative style to the beloved Roald Dahl novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, about eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp) and Charlie (Freddie Highmore), a good-hearted boy from a poor family who lives in the shadow of Wonka’s extraordinary factory. Long isolated from his own family, Wonka launches a worldwide contest to select an heir to his candy empire. Five lucky children, including Charlie, draw golden tickets from Wonka chocolate bars and win a guided tour of the legendary candy-making facility that no outsider has seen in 15 years. Dazzled by one amazing sight after another, Charlie is drawn into Wonka’s fantastic world in this astonishing and enduring story.”

“In a modern-day world where the walking dead roam an uninhabited wasteland, the living try to lead “normal” lives behind the walls of a fortified city. A new society has been built by a handful of enterprising, ruthless opportunists, who live in the towers of a skyscraper, high above the hard-scrabble existence on the streets below. But outside the city walls, an army of the dead is evolving. Inside, anarchy is on the rise. With the very survival of the city at stake, a group of hardened mercenaries is called into action to protect the living from an army of the dead.”

“A new restart of the “Batman” franchise under the helm of “Memento” Director Chris Nolan and more in tone with the early “Batman: Year One” style comics. As a boy a young Bruce Wayne watched in horror as his millionaire parents were slain in front of his eyes, a trauma which led him to become obsessed with revenge but his chance is cruelly taken away from him by fate. After disappearing to the East where he seeks counsel with the dangerous but honorable ninja cult leader known as Ra’s Al-Ghul, he returns to his now decaying Gotham City overrun by organised crime and dangerous individuals manipulating the system whilst the company he inherited is slowly being pulled out from under him. The discovery of a cave under his mansion, and a prototype armoured suit leads him to take on a new persona, one which will strike fear into the hearts of men who do wrong – he becomes, Batman. In the new guise, and with the help of rising cop Jim Gordon, Batman sets out to take down the various nefarious schemes in motion by individuals such as mafia don Falcone, the twisted doctor/drug dealer Jonathan ‘The Scarecrow’ Crane, and a mysterious third party that is quite familiar with Wayne and waiting to strike when the time is right.”