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2 New Films This Weekend at THE NEON + LGBT Film Fest Line-Up!

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Hello Everyone.

After a phenomenal 10-week run, it’s time for MIDNIGHT IN PARIS to head out.  If you still need to see it (or need to see it one more time), you can find remaining showtimes on ourwebsite.  That said, PAGE ONE: INSIDE THE NEW YORK TIMES is leaving after just one week.  Hurry down if it’s still on your list.

In addition to holding onto BUCK, we will open two new films – SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN and THE DOUBLE HOUR.

Synopsis for SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN:  “In 19th-century China, seven year old girls Snow Flower and Lily are matched as laotong – or “old sames” – bound together for eternity. Isolated by their families, they furtively communicate by taking turns writing in a secret language, nu shu, between the folds of a white silk fan.In a parallel story in present day Shanghai, the laotong’s descendants, Nina and Sophia, struggle to maintain the intimacy of their own childhood friendship in the face of demanding careers, complicated love lives, and a relentlessly evolving Shanghai. Drawing on the lessons of the past, the two modern women must understand the story of their ancestral connection, hidden from them in the folds of the antique white silk fan, or risk losing one another forever.What unfolds are two stories, generations apart, but everlasting in their universal notion of love, hope and friendship.” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)  Click HERE to be directed to SNOW FLOWER’s official website.

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Synopsis for THE DOUBLE HOUR: “Guido, a former cop, is a luckless veteran of the speed-dating scene in Turin. But, much to his surprise, he meets Slovenian immigrant Sonia, a chambermaid at a high-end hotel. The two hit it off, and a passionate romance develops. After they leave the city for a romantic getaway in the country, things suddenly take a dark turn. As Sonia’s murky past resurfaces, her reality starts to crumble. Everything in her life begins to change – questions arise and answers only arrive through a continuous twist and turn of events keeping viewers on edge until the film’s final moments.” (Samuel Goldwyn Pictures)  Click HERE to be directed to THE DOUBLE HOUR’s official website.

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Marketing pieces for The 6th Annual Downtown Dayton LGBT Film Festival are well underway, and I’m quite pleased with the line-up!  In the coming days, you’ll start to see stacks of postcards popping up all over town (if you’d like to place some at your business or favorite hangout, please let me know…I anticipate their arrival any day).

Here’s this year’s line-up:

Fri. Sept. 23 at 7:30 – THE GREEN – sponsored by Square One Salon & Spa

Fri. Sept. 23 postfilm – PARTY at SIDEBAR – sponsored by Lisa Hanauer & Sue Spiegel

Sat. Sept. 24 at 12:30 – GEN SILENT with THE COLONEL’S OUTING & FIRST AND LOVELISS – sponsored by Greater Dayton LGBT Center

Sat. Sept. 24 at 3:00 – TOP DRAWER SHORTS: I DON’T WANT TO GO BACK ALONE, REVOLUTION, LUST LIFE, CHANGE, THE QUEEN, and THE NOT SO SUBTLE SUBTEXT – sponsored by Miami Valley Fair Housing Center

Sat. Sept. 24 at 7:30 – TOMBOY – sponsored by PFLAG Dayton

Sat. Sept. 24 at 9:30 – GOING DOWN IN LA-LA LAND with 52 – sponsored by MJ’s Cafe, JOHN and Marion’s Piazza

Sun. Sept. 25 at 12:30 – CAROL CHANNING: LARGER THAN LIFE – sponsored by Human Race Theatre Company

Sun. Sept. 25 at 3:00 – WEEKEND with EMPIRE – sponsored by Ken Byers

Ticketing details, trailers, and news about visiting artists will be available soon on the festival website.  One special treat…The Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra will give a pair of tickets away at each LGBT festival screening to see Lynda Carter when she’s in town!

We don’t anticipate THE DOUBLE HOUR (and maybe even SNOW FLOWER) to stick around too long…so we hope you’ll hurry down.

Take care!

Jonathan

SHOWTIMES for August 19 – August 25:

THE DOUBLE HOUR (NR) 1 Hr 35 Min

Friday, Saturday, Sunday: 3:00, 9:30

Monday – Thursday:  2:20, 8:30

SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN (PG-13) 2 Hr

Friday, Saturday, Sunday: 12:10, 2:30, 5:00, 7:30, 9:50

Monday – Thursday: 3:00, 5:30, 8:00

BUCK (PG) 1 Hr 28 Min

Friday, Saturday, Sunday: 1:00, 5:15, 7:20

Monday – Thursday: 4:30, 6:30

COMING SOON:

As always, all dates are tentative.  Some of these dates will change.

In some cases, titles may disappear.

Aug 26   ANOTHER EARTH

Aug 26   THE GUARD

Sept. 2   THE TRIP

Sept. 9   LIFE ABOVE ALL

Sept 9   THE WHISTLEBLOWER

Sept 9  BEATS AND RHYMES: A TRIBE CALLED QUEST

Sept 23   HIGHER GROUND

TBD   SARAH’S KEY

TBD   THE FUTURE

Don’t Miss BEGINNERS! Prize Details Inside!!

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Hello Everyone.

If you still need to see THE TREE OF LIFE, Thursday (7/21) will be its last day at THE NEON (all showtimes are available at HERE).  On Friday, we will open the new film from Mike Mills – BEGINNERS – starring Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer (Plummer’s performance is an Oscar shoe-in for “Best Supporting Actor”).

Synopsis for BEGINNERS: “From writer/director Mike Mills comes a comedy/drama about how deeply funny and transformative life can be, even at its most serious moments.  BEGINNERS imaginatively explores the hilarity, confusion, and surprises of love through the evolving consciousness of Oliver (Golden Globe Award nominee Ewan McGregor). Oliver meets the irreverent and unpredictable Anna (Melanie Laurent of Inglourious Basterds) only months after his father Hal (Academy Award nominee Christopher Plummer) has passed away. This new love floods Oliver with memories of his father who – following 44 years of marriage – came out of the closet at age 75 to live a full, energized, and wonderfully tumultuous gay life. The upheavals of Hal’s new honesty, by turns funny and moving, brought father and son closer than they’d ever been able to be. Now Oliver endeavors to love Anna with all the bravery, humor, and hope that his father taught him.” (taken from filmjabber.com)

Click HERE to visit the official site.  Below is a wonderful “Making Of” featurette.

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Before the 7:20 screenings of BEGINNERS on both Friday and Saturday night, I will be giving out a handful of T-Shirts and soundtracks.  So brush up on your NEON trivia – I hope to see you here!

On Saturday night, our large auditorium has been rented for a special event.   2 MUCH FLAVOR is a rollerblading documentary (a follow-up to SAVOR THE FLAVOR from 2008) by local videomakers Ryan Benner and Andrew Thompson.  A trailer is available HERE.  The movie will play on Saturday night, July 23 at 10pm.  Tickets will be $5 each.

Many of you have been asking and calling about BUCK.  We appreciate your patience as our schedule continues to re-arrange.  We will eventually play it!

Our new parking lot has new lines and is ready for parking!  You can access this lot (which has 2 different sections) from St. Clair.  One section exits onto 5th Street…the other exits back onto St. Clair.  All the spots are visible from our front window, and new light bulbs have been installed to make certain it is well lit.  As always, this lot if free to NEON customers.  If it is full, we can validate your ticket for the parking garage any time after 6:00 on weekdays or all weekend long.  If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to call or write.

Hope to see you soon.

Take care!

Jonathan

SHOWTIMES for July 22 – July 28:

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS (PG-13) 1 Hr 40 Min

Friday: 12:50, 3:00, 5:10, 7:30, 9:40

Saturday: 12:50, 3:00, 5:10, 7:30

Sunday: 12:50, 3:00, 5:10, 7:30, 9:40

Monday – Thursday: 3:30, 6:00, 8:30

BEGINNERS (R) 1 Hr 45 Min

Friday, Saturday, Sunday: 12:30, 2:45, 5:00, 7:20, 9:45

Monday – Thursday:  3:00, 5:30, 8:00

2 MUCH FLAVOR (NR)

Saturday: 10pm

COMING SOON:

As always, all dates are tentative.  Some of these dates will change.

In some cases, titles may disappear.

July 29 PAGE ONE: INSIDE THE NEW YORK TIMES

July 29 DOUBLE HOUR

Aug 5 BUCK

Aug 5 SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN

Aug 12 BEATS AND RHYMES: A TRIBE CALLED QUEST

Aug 26 ANOTHER EARTH

Aug 26 THE GUARD

Sept. 9 LIFE ABOVE ALL

Sept 9 WHISTLEBLOWER

Sept 23 HIGHER GROUND

TBD THE FUTURE

THE TREE OF LIFE – The Most Talked About Indie of the Year at THE NEON!

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Hello Everyone.

As planned, the fantastically charming POTICHE was only here for a week.  And just as we suspected, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS is still performing very well, and audiences are adoring it…so it will stick around for at least another week.

Today (6/24), we open the most talked about indie film of the year – Terrence Malick’s THE TREE OF LIFE.  Starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain, TREE OF LIFE was the winner of the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.  This film has been given a 100% review by The New York Times, The Chicago Sun-Times, NPR, USA Today, Variety, Time Out New York, The Village Voice, and many more.  Roger Ebert wrote, “The only other film I’ve seen with this boldness of vision is Kubrick’s 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, and it lacked Malick’s fierce evocation of human feeling.”

Synopsis for THE TREE OF LIFE:  “The film follows the life journey of the eldest son, Jack, through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tries to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father. Jack finds himself a lost soul in the modern world, seeking answers to the origins and meaning of life while questioning the existence of faith. Through Malick’s signature imagery, we see how both brute nature and spiritual grace shape not only our lives as individuals and families, but all life.”  (Fox Searchlight Pictures)  Check out the beautifully designed official site.

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Last week’s screening of WE WERE HERE was a marvelous, sold-out event – with a beautiful film and an insightful and brave panel discussion.  Many thanks to all my friends and community partners who helped to make the evening such a success.

We will have a new neighbor in the next few days – Sabai: Asian Cuisine & Sushi Bar. What we have been using for our parking lot for the past several years will soon become theirs.  Luckily, we will be able to utilize a new space that’s visible from our front windows.  Please start getting in the habit of parking in our new lot…though there aren’t parking lines yet, there will be soon.  We’ve painted a couple of the posts to make the lot quite easy to find.

Hope to see you this weekend.

Take care!

Jonathan

SHOWTIMES for June 24 – June 30:

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS (PG-13) 1 Hr 40 Min

Friday, Saturday, Sunday: 12:50, 3:00, 5:10, 7:30, 9:40

Monday – Thursday: 3:30, 6:00, 8:30

THE TREE OF LIFE (R) 2 Hr 18 Min

Friday, Saturday, Sunday: 1:00, 4:15, 7:00, 9:45

Monday – Thursday:  2:30, 5:15, 8:00

COMING SOON:

As always, all dates are tentative.  Some of these dates will change.

In some cases, titles may disappear.

July 1  DOUBLE HOUR

July 8  BUCK

July 15   PAGE ONE: INSIDE THE NEW YORK TIMES

July 15   BEGINNERS

Aug 5   SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN

Aug 12   BEATS AND RHYMES: A TRIBE CALLED QUEST

Aug 26   ANOTHER EARTH

Aug 26   THE GUARD

Sept. 9   LIFE ABOVE ALL

Sept 23   HIGHER GROUND

Tom Shadyac’s I AM Starts Today!

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Hello Everyone.
Opening this week is a film that was quietly released back in February.  No one asked me about it.  Then the press started to hit a few weeks ago – radio shows, afternoon talk shows (including Oprah)…and we started getting numerous calls and e-mails.  Tom Shadyac’s I AM is a documentary that we hope will live up to the requests.
In addition to opening I AM, we will hold onto OF GODS AND MEN and JANE EYRE for one more week.
Synopsis for I AM:  “I AM, a probing exploration of our world, what’s wrong with it, and what we can do to make it better, represents Tom Shadyac’s first foray into non-fiction following a career as one of Hollywood’s leading comedy practitioners, with such successful titles as ACE VENTURA, LIAR LIAR, and BRUCE ALMIGHTY to his credit. I AM recounts what happened to the filmmaker after a cycling accident left him incapacitated, possibly for good. Though he ultimately recovered, he emerged a changed man. Disillusioned with life on the A-list, he sold his house, moved to a mobile home community, and decided to start life anew.”  (Shady Acres Entertainment) Visit the OFFICIAL SITE
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Tickets are now available on at THE NEON box office for next week’s special screening of VEER.  “Start your Miami Valley Cycling Summit experience a day early with Bike Film Night at THE NEON on Thursday, May 19 at 7:30 – featuring the Dayton premier of VEER.  This critically acclaimed documentary tells the stories of people who have made a difference in the world of cycling, and how cycling has made a real difference in people’s lives.  Join us for this inspiring film and support one of the Miami Valley’s own cycling advocate organizations: Bike Miami Valley.  All proceeds from your $5 admission will benefit this growing cycling non-profit organization.” (taken from press release) Visit the SITE
The FilmDayton Festival is next weekend – May 20-22.  Their website is up and running with details about each film, each party, numerous special events and links for tickets.  Check out the OFFICIAL SITE.
On May 26 at 7:30, the YMCA will hold a special event at THE NEON.  “THE OTHER SIDE, a documentary by Baxter Stapleton, captures the story of two worlds colliding through mentoring.  Two successful business men living in the comfort of suburbia – surrounded with personal possessions and notoriety –  realized they were unfulfilled and wanted a greater purpose.  This desire to make a difference led them to reach out to the other side.  In doing so, they realized that both sides had lessons to teach. The film implores the audience to remember that in giving you receive.” (taken from press notes)   Tickets for this event are $8 and will be available at our box office starting this weekend.
Almost all details are in place for our screening of a powerful and moving documentary called WE WERE HERE.  That said,  new element was introduced to the event yesterday evening – when a local woman called me with a very interesting proposal…I’ll give you the full update next week.  “WE WERE HERE is the first documentary to take a deep and reflective look back at the arrival and impact of AIDS in San Francisco.  It explores how the City’s inhabitants were affected by, and how they responded to, that calamitous epidemic.  Though a San Francisco-based story, We Were Here extends beyond San Francisco and beyond AIDS itself.  It speaks to our capacity as individuals to rise to the occasion, and to the incredible power of a community coming together with love, compassion, and determination.”  WE WERE HERE will screen on June 16 at 7PM.  Tickets are $8 each and are currently available at THE NEON box office.  This screening is sponsored by The Greater Dayton LGBT Center.
Be sure to take a look at the trailer, and get your tickets early.
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If you’ve been to THE NEON lately, you’ve more than likely seen our note at the front counter about pricing.  Here’s what it states: “Effective June 3, 2011.  At THE NEON, we strive to have the best films, the best customer service and the best prices.  While we don’t intend on changing these goals, we must unfortunately raise our admission prices.  On June 3, all General Admission, Matinee and Senior Citizen tickets will increase by 50 cents.  Our ticket prices have not increased since August of 2008…and our new ticket prices will still be at least $2 less expensive than all the first-run multiplexes in the region.  Thanks for your understanding.”  We hope this won’t deter you from coming to THE NEON…as we have dozens of great films coming our way in the weeks and months ahead.
Thanks so much for your interest in THE NEON.
We hope to see you soon!
Take care,
Jonathan
SHOWTIMES for May 13 – May 19:

JANE EYRE (PG-13) 2 Hrs
Friday, Saturday, Sunday:  12:30, 5:15
Monday – Wednesday:  5:15
Thursday:   5:00
I AM (NR) 1 Hr 17 Min
Friday, Saturday, Sunday:  1:00, 3:15, 5:15, 7:30, 9:30
Monday – Thursday:  3:15, 5:15, 7:30
OF GODS AND MEN (R) 2 Hrs 2 Min
Friday, Saturday, Sunday: 2:50, 8:00
Monday – Wednesday: 2:50, 8:00
Thursday:   2:50
VEER (Miami Valley Cycling Summit event)
Thursday: 7:30
COMING SOON:
As always, all dates are tentative.  Some of these dates will change.
In some cases, titles may disappear.
May 20 IN A BETTER WORLD
May 27   THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD
May 27  THE BEAVER
June 3  BILL CUNNINGHAM NEW YORK
June 3   WINTER IN WARTIME
June 10 INCENDIES
June 17  DOUBLE HOUR
June 24   MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
July 1  TREE OF LIFE
July 8  BUCK
July 15   PAGE ONE
TBD   POTICHE
TBD  BEGINNERS
TBD MEEK’S CUTOFF