Coming Attractions
DATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE
To get updated information, please click REFRESH on your browser's menu bar.

THE EAST (PG13)   6/21
Buy Tickets Now!

This suspenseful and provocative espionage thriller from acclaimed writer-director Zal Batmanglij and writer-actress Brit Marling, stars Marling as former FBI agent Sarah Moss. Moss is starting a new career at Hiller Brood, an elite private intelligence firm that ruthlessly protects the interests of its A-list corporate clientele. Handpicked for a plum assignment by the company's head honcho, Sharon (Patricia Clarkson), Sarah goes deep undercover to infiltrate The East, an elusive anarchist collective seeking revenge against major corporations guilty of covering up criminal activity. Determined, highly-trained and resourceful, Sarah soon ingratiates herself with the group, overcoming their initial suspicions and joining them on their next action or "jam." But living closely with the intensely committed members of The East, Sarah finds herself torn between her two worlds as she starts to connect with anarchist Benji (Alexander Skarsgård) and the rest of the collective, and awakens to the moral contradictions of her personal life. 116 min.

Much Ado About Nothing (PG13)   6/21
Buy Tickets Now!

Shakespeare's classic comedy is given a contemporary spin in Joss Whedon's film. Shot in just 12 days (and using the original text), the story of sparring lovers Beatrice and Benedick offers a dark, sexy and occasionally absurd view of the intricate game that is love. Director Joss Whedon is one of Hollywood's finest, scripting several hit films including Toy Story and The Avengers and creating one of television's most critically praised shows, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 107 min.

World War Z (PG13)   6/21
Buy Tickets Now!
Special Sneak Preview Screening: Thursday, 6/20 at 8pm.

Brad Pitt stars in this action/adventure that revolves around a United Nations employee who travels the world in a race against time to stop a pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatening to decimate humanity itself. Also with Mireille Enos, Anthony Mackie and Bryan Cranston. Directed by Marc Forster. 120 min.

The Audience   Buy Tickets Now!
Sunday 6/23 at 12 pm &
Monday 6/24 at 7 pm
Ticket Prices:
Adults $15 / Children 12 & Under - $12
Helen Mirren reprises her Academy Award winning role as Queen Elizabeth II in the highly–anticipated West End production of The Audience, broadcast as part of our series from the National Theatre of London. For sixty years, Elizabeth II has met each of her twelve Prime Ministers in a weekly audience at Buckingham Palace–a meeting like no other in British public life–it is private. Both parties have an unspoken agreement never to repeat what is said. Not even to their spouses.

The Audience breaks this contract of silence–and imagines a series of pivotal meetings between the Downing Street incumbents and their Queen. From Churchill to Cameron, each Prime Minister has used these private conversations as a sounding board and a confessional–sometimes intimate, sometimes explosive.

From young mother to grandmother, these private audiences chart the arc of the second Elizabethan Age. Politicians come and go through the revolving door of electoral politics, while she remains constant, waiting to welcome her next Prime Minister. The Audience reunites writer Peter Morgan and Academy Award–winning actress Helen Mirren following their collaboration on the critically–acclaimed movie sensation The Queen. The Audience is directed by Academy Award–nominated director Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot, The Hours) and presented in the West End by Matthew Byam Shaw for Playful Productions, Robert Fox and Andy Harries.

The Heat(R)   6/28

This comedy from Paul Feig (Bridesmaids) stars Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy. Uptight FBI special agent Sarah Ashburn (Bullock) is paired with testy Boston cop Shannon Mullins (McCarthy) in order to take down a ruthless drug lord. The hitch: neither woman has ever had a partner - or a friend for that matter.

Copperhead (PG)   6/28

Unlike any Civil War movie to date, this is a film of the war at home – of a family ripped apart by war, of fathers set against sons and daughters, of a community driven to an appalling act of vengeance against a man who insists on exercising his right to free speech during wartime. A story of the violent passions and burning feuds that set ablaze the home front during the Civil War, this is a deeply moving examination of the price of dissent, the place of the individual amidst the hysteria of wartime, and the terrible price of war – a cost measured not in dollars but in fractured families, broken loves, and men dead before their time. Based on the extraordinary novel by Harold Frederic, who witnessed these conflicts firsthand as a small child, Copperhead tells the story of Abner Beech, a stubborn and righteous farmer in Upstate New York, who defies his neighbors and his government in the bloody and contentious autumn of 1862. The great American critic Edmund Wilson praised Frederic's creation as a brave and singular book that "differs fundamentally from any other Civil War fiction."With Copperhead, director Ron Maxwell, who with Gettysburg and Gods and Generals established himself as our foremost cinematic interpreter of the American Civil War, takes on the War from a stunning and unexpected and richly, unforgettably humanist angle. Starring Peter Fonda.

Birth Story: Ina May Gaskin & The Farm Midwives (NOT RATED)  
One show only: Monday, July 1 at 7pm
Buy Tickets Now! 

Winner of the Audience Award at the 2012 Los Angeles Film Festival, this remarkable film tells the story of counterculture heroine Ina May Gaskin and her spirited friends, who began delivering each other's babies in 1970, on a caravan of hippie school buses, headed to a patch of rural Tennessee land. With Ina May as their leader, the women taught themselves midwifery from the ground up, and, with their families, founded an entirely communal, agricultural society called The Farm. They grew their own food, built their own houses, published their own books, and, as word of their social experiment spread, created a model of care for women and babies that changed a generation's approach to childbirth. Forty years ago Ina May led the charge away from isolated hospital birthing rooms, where husbands were not allowed and mandatory forceps deliveries were the norm. Today, as nearly one third of all US babies are born via C-section, she fights to preserve her community's hard-won knowledge. With incredible access to the midwives' archival video collection, the film not only captures the unique sisterhood at The Farm Clinic, but shows childbirth the way most people have never seen it - unadorned, unabashed, and awe-inspiring. Directed by Sara Lamm and Mary Wigmore. "A disarming example of documentary filmmaking." Variety. 94 min

Twenty Feet From Stardom (PG13)   7/05

Millions know their voices, but no one knows their names. In his compelling new film, director Morgan Neville shines a spotlight on the untold true story of the backup singers behind some of the greatest musical legends. Triumphant and heartbreaking in equal measure, the film is both a tribute to the unsung voices who brought shape and style to popular music and a reflection on the conflicts, sacrifices and rewards of a career spent harmonizing with others. These gifted artists span a range of styles and genres, but each has a uniquely fascinating and personal story to share of life spent in the shadows of superstardom. Along with rare archival footage and a peerless soundtrack, the film boasts intimate interviews with Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Mick Jagger and Sting to just name a few. However, these world-famous figures take a backseat to the diverse array of backup singers whose lives and stories take center stage in the film. 89 min.

Free The Mind (UNRATED)   7/10
One show only: Wednesday July 10 at 7pm
Buy Tickets Now! 

In 1992 Professor Richard J. Davidson, one of the world's leading neuroscientists, met the Dalai Lama, who encouraged him to apply the same rigorous methods he used to study depression and anxiety to the study of compassion and kindness. Dr. Davidson, who was named one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in 2006, did just that, and the results of his studies at Wisconsin's Center for Investigating Healthy Minds are portrayed in the fascinating new documentary. By studying the practices of Tibetan monks and other meditative techniques, Dr. Davidson found that it is actually possible to rewire the brain through meditation and mental training exercises, and he has dedicated himself to applying this discovery to improve the lives of people throughout the world. Dr. Davidson recently has been working with young children dealing with ADHD and anxiety in school settings, as well as American war veterans struggling with PTSD, in an attempt to discover whether mind-focused techniques, such as meditation and yoga, can ease their pain, relax their nervous systems, improve their attention and help them become happier and more peaceful. Can Professor Richard Davidson make a difference? Can he free these people from their troubled existences and help them lead ordinary lives? Free the Mind follows three test subjects – one school-aged boy and two veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – on a daring journey into the deepest recesses of the human mind. "Grips your heart from the first moment. . . a great and beautiful film. Visually brilliant." Film Comment. 79 min.

Midnight's Children (UNRATED)   7/12

Salman Rushdie adapted his acclaimed novel into this film co-written and directed by Deepa Mehta. At the stroke of midnight on August 15th, 1947, as India declares independence from Great Britain, two babies are switched at birth by a nurse in a Bombay hospital. And so it is that Saleem Sinai, the illegitimate child of a beggar woman, and Shiva, the only son of a wealthy couple, are fated to live the destinies meant for each other. Over the next three decades, Saleem and Shiva find themselves on opposite sides of many a conflict, whether it be because of class, politics, romantic rivalry, or the constantly shifting borders that are drawn every time neighbors become enemies and decide to split their newborn nation into two, and then three, warring countries. Through it all, the lives of Saleem and Shiva are mysteriously intertwined. They are also inextricably linked to the history of India itself, which takes them on a whirlwind journey full of trials, triumphs and disasters. 140 min.

Stories We Tell (PG13)  7/12

In this inspired, genre-twisting new film, Oscar-nominated writer/director Sarah Polley (Away From Her) discovers that the truth depends on who's telling it. Polley is both filmmaker and detective as she investigates the secrets kept by a family of storytellers. She playfully interviews and interrogates a cast of characters of varying reliability, eliciting refreshingly candid, yet mostly contradictory, answers to the same questions. As each relates their version of the family mythology, present-day recollections shift into nostalgia–tinged glimpses of their mother, who departed too soon, leaving a trail of unanswered questions. Polley unravels the paradoxes to reveal the essence of family: always complicated, warmly messy and fiercely loving. Stories We Tell explores the elusive nature of truth and memory, but at its core is a deeply personal film about how our narratives shape and define us as individuals and families, all interconnecting to paint a profound, funny and poignant picture of the larger human story. "This playful and elegiac documentary is wholly of a piece with Sarah Polley's fiction work, and just as rewarding." Variety. "Riveting. A deeply personal piece of art." L.A. Times 108 min.

Munch 150   Buy Tickets Now!
Sunday 7/14 at 12 pm &
Monday 7/15 at 7 pm
Ticket Prices:
Adults $15 / Children 12 & Under - $12
This year, all of Norway celebrates the 150th anniversary of the birth of Edvard Munch (1863 - 1944), one of the towering figures of modern art. Munch 150, co-hosted by the National Museum and the Munch Museum (both in Oslo), is already being hailed a "once-in-a-lifetime show". Global interest is huge - not least as a result of one of his four paintings of The Scream having recently set a public art auction record of $120 million. Many know Munch as the man who painted The Scream, but his complete works are remarkable and secure his place as one of the greatest artists to have ever lived. The event film will be going behind-the-scenes to show some of the process of putting the exhibition together - as well as touring Norway to provide an in-depth biography of a man who lived from the mid-19th century right through to the German occupation of Norway in the Second World War. Norwegian and international guests will also offer their expert insight and knowledge to host Tim Marlow.

The Way, Way Back (PG13)   7/19


This funny and poignant coming of age story, stars Steve Carell, Toni Collette and Sam Rockwell. Liam James plays 14-year-old Duncan, who is on summer vacation with his mother, Pam (Collette), her overbearing boyfriend, Trent (Carell), and his daughter, Steph (Zoe Levin). Having a rough time fitting in, the introverted Duncan finds an unexpected friend in gregarious Owen (Rockwell), manager of the Water Wizz water park. Through his funny, clandestine friendship with Owen, Duncan slowly opens up to and begins to finally find his place in the world - all during a summer he will never forget. Also with Allison Janney, Maya Rudolph, Rob Corddry and Amanda Peet. 96 min.

 

Red 2 (PG13)   7/19

Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker, Catherine Zeta-Jones, John Malkovich, Byung-hun Lee and Helen Mirren star in this high-octane action-comedy sequel to the worldwide sleeper hit, retired black-ops CIA agent Frank Moses reunites his unlikely team of elite operatives for a global quest to track down a missing portable nuclear device. To succeed, they'll need to survive an army of relentless assassins, ruthless terrorists and power-crazed government officials, all eager to get their hands on the next-generation weapon. The mission takes Frank and his motley crew to Paris, London and Moscow. Outgunned and outmanned, they have only their cunning wits, their old-school skills, and each other to rely on as they try to save the world-and stay alive in the process.

Othello   Buy Tickets Now!
Sunday, 10/13 at 12pm
Monday, 10/14 at 7pm
Ticket Prices: Adult $15 / Children 12 & under $12

The National Theatre presents a major new production of William Shakespeare's celebrated play about the destructive power of jealousy. Olivier Award-winning actor Adrian Lester (Henry V) takes the title role. Playing opposite him as the duplicitous Iago is fellow Olivier Award-winner Rory Kinnear (The Last of the Haussmans, James Bond: Skyfall), who is reunited with director Nicholas Hytner (Timon of Athens, One Man, Two Guvnors) following their acclaimed collaboration on the National Theatre's recent production of Hamlet. Othello, newly married to Desdemona – who is half his age – is appointed leader of a major military operation. Iago, passed over for promotion by Othello in favour of the young Cassio, persuades Othello that Cassio and Desdemona are having an affair.

Vermeer and Music: the Art of Love and Leisure   Buy Tickets Now!
Sunday 10/27 at 12 pm &
Monday 10/28 at 7 pm
Ticket Prices:
Adults $15 / Children 12 & Under - $12
London's National Gallery is offering a major exhibition on one of the most startling and fascinating artists of all-time Johannes Vermeer, painter of the Girl with a Pearl Earring. Vermeer painted little more than 30 works that still exist, and the National Gallery has chosen to focus on his art in relation to music. Music was one of the most popular themes of Dutch painting and revealed an enormous amount about the sitter and the society. The event film goes beyond the exhibition to tell the entire story of Vermeer's life and, in doing so we show in detail many of the artist's other great works. The program will suit the wide audience who adore Vermeer's work and who want both to see it in detail and to learn more about this mysterious, fascinating man.

Jobs (PG13)  

Joshua Michael Stern directed this powerful story of the visionary who set out to change the world, and did. The film details the major moments and defining characters that influenced Steve Jobs on a daily basis from 1971 through 2000. It plunges into the depths of his character, creating an intense dialogue-driven story that is as much a sweeping epic as it is an immensely personal portrait of Steve Jobs' life. The filmmakers were granted unprecedented access during shooting to the historic garage in Palo Alto, which served as the birthplace to Apple Inc. JOBS stars Ashton Kutcher, Dermot Mulroney, Josh Gad, Lukas Haas, J.K. Simmons and Matthew Modine. We follow Steve Jobs (Kutcher) from the enthusiasm and self-discovery of his youth through his darkest days, brightest triumphs, and the ultimate power of his drive, his passions, and his undying will to change everything we thought possible. Dark, honest, and uncompromising, "Jobs" plunges into the depths of Steve Jobs' character, uncovering his driving motivations, his gifts, his flaws, his failures, and his ultimate successes. 122 min.

Pandora's Promise (UNRATED)  

In the next few decades, humankind will need to double, or even triple energy production as billions of people in the developing world lift themselves out of poverty and begin to live modern lives. Unless the source of this new energy is clean and non-CO2 emitting, the risk of triggering a devastating global climate catastrophe is all but certain. The magnitude of this dilemma, and the limitations of commonly proposed solutions, have left the mainstream environmental movement teetering between apocalyptic thinking and utter disarray. Plunging headfirst into this challenge comes this highly anticipated and debated new film by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Robert Stone that recently premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Three years in the making and filmed on four continents, this meticulously researched and beautifully crafted film asks whether the most viable option we have to tackle climate change might be the one technology we fear the most: nuclear power. "Whatever your stance, Stone's compelling film opens Pandora's Box and promises to change the conversation for years to come." 87 min.

290 Delaware Ave., Albany, NY