BOOGIE & MY SALINGER YEAR + 2 New Virtual Engagements at The Neon

NEW IN-PERSON ENGAGEMENTS:

Synopsis for BOOGIE: “Alfred ‘Boogie’ Chin, a basketball phenom living in Queens, N.Y., dreams of one day playing in the NBA. While his parents pressure him to focus on earning a scholarship to an elite college, Boogie must find a way to navigate a new girlfriend, high school, on-court rivals and the burden of expectation.” (Focus Features) Click the image below to watch the film’s trailer. (You might recognize Taylour Paige in the photo below…she was just in MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM late last year. She truly shines in this new film, and I’m anxious to see what she does next.)

Synopsis for MY SALINGER YEAR: “New York in the 90s: After leaving graduate school to pursue her dream of becoming a writer, Joanna (Margaret Qualley) gets hired as an assistant to Margaret (Sigourney Weaver), the stoic and old-fashioned literary agent of J. D. Salinger. Fluctuating between poverty and glamour, she spends her days in a plush, wood-panelled office – where dictaphones and typewriters still reign and agents doze off after three-martini lunches – and her nights in a sink-less Brooklyn apartment with her socialist boyfriend. Joanna’s main task is processing Salinger’s voluminous fan mail, but as she reads the heart-wrenching letters from around the world, she becomes reluctant to send the agency’s impersonal standard letter and impulsively begins personalizing the responses. The results are both humorous and moving, as Joanna, while using the great writer’s voice, begins to discover her own.” (IFC Films). After just watching all 4 seasons of the hit French TV show CALL MY AGENT, I was all in for this charming new film.

Synopsis for THE FATHER: Opens March 11! “Anthony is 80, mischievous, living defiantly alone and rejecting the carers that his daughter, Anne, encouragingly introduces. Yet help is also becoming a necessity for Anne; she can’t make daily visits anymore and Anthony’s grip on reality is unravelling. As we experience the ebb and flow of his memory, how much of his own identity and past can Anthony cling to? How does Anne cope as she grieves the loss of her father, while he still lives and breathes before her? THE FATHER warmly embraces real life, through loving reflection upon the vibrant human condition; heart-breaking and uncompromisingly poignant – a movie that nestles in the truth of our own lives.” (Sony Classics) Click the image below to watch the film’s trailer.

NEW IN OUR VIRTUAL CINEMA:

Synopsis for GUSTAV STICKLEY: AMERICAN CRAFTSMAN: Available starting March 5! “The rise, fall and resurrection of the father of the American Arts and Crafts movement is chronicled in this new documentary. The film offers an unprecedented look at the life and works of Gustav Stickley as told through interviews, archival materials, and a close examination of his most iconic works. It traces the development and evolution of Stickley’s unique style, as well as the creation of his diverse businesses including the Craftsman Magazine, Craftsman Farms and his ground-breaking Manhattan store. It also details the eventual loss of his businesses – and, after several decades, the rebirth and recognition of the movement he inspired.” You can watch this film on your computer or mobile device as well as via Chromecast. For more details about screening this film at home, visit First Run’s HELP page. Click the image below to watch the trailer and gain 72 hour access to the film for $10.

Synopsis for THE PEOPLE VS. AGENT ORANGE: Available starting March 5! “The Agent Orange catastrophe did not end with the Vietnam War. Today, the world over, a primary chemical of the toxic defoliant controls weeds in farming, forestry, parks, playgrounds… It wreaks havoc on the human genome, causing deformed births and deadly cancers.

After decades of struggle and tragic personal losses, two heroic women are leading a worldwide movement to end the plague and hold the manufacturers accountable.

In France, Tran To Nga is suing the American chemical industry for poisoning her in Vietnam. In America, Carol Van Strum exposes the continuing use of toxic herbicides.

Incriminating documents disappear. Activists are threatened. A helicopter technician secretly films the contamination of reservoirs, while a massive industrial cover-up goes on.” (Alan Adelson & Kate Taverna) A week+ after this film becomes available for you to watch, you can take part in a free webinar with author David Zierler. The webinar is co-sponsored by University of Dayton Human Rights Center, the War Legacies Project, and the Children of Vietnam Veterans Health Alliance. Here’s the LINK where you can register and learn more about the webinar. Tickets for accessing the film are $12 for 72 hours. This film can be viewed on your computer or mobile device or via your TV with Apple TV or Roku. Additional instructions can be found on Eventive’s HELP PAGE. Click the image below to watch the trailer and reserve your ticket.

CONTINUING IN OUR VIRTUAL CINEMA:

Synopsis for FALLING: Viggo Mortensen’s directorial debut – also starring Lance Heriksen and Laura Linney – is now available! “John (Viggo Mortensen) lives with his partner, Eric (Terry Chen), and their daughter, Mónica (Gabby Velis), in California, far from the traditional rural life he left behind years ago. John’s father, Willis (Lance Henriksen), a headstrong man from a bygone era, lives alone on the isolated farm where John grew up. Willis is in the early stages of dementia, making running the farm on his own increasingly difficult, so John brings him to stay at his California home so that he and his sister Sarah (Laura Linney) might help him find a place near them to relocate to. Unfortunately, their best intentions ultimately run up against Willis’s adamant refusal to change his way of life in the slightest.” This film can be viewed on your computer or mobile device. You can also watch via your TV (when you download the Kino Now app on Apple TV, Roku, or Amazon TV/Stick). Additional instructions can be found on the film’s landing page…just click the picture below to watch the trailer and reserve access to the film for $12.

Synopsis for LEONA: “LEONA is an intimate, insightful, and moving film that tells the story of a young Jewish woman from Mexico City who finds herself torn between her family and her forbidden love. Ripe with all the drama and interpersonal conflicts of a Jane Austen novel, watching her negotiate the labyrinth of familial pressure, religious precedent, and her own burgeoning sentiment is both painful and beautiful – there are no easy choices to be made and the viewer travels back and forth with her as she struggles with her heart to take the best path.” This film is available to watch on your computer or mobile device as well as via your smart TV via Chromecast. Click the image below to watch the trailer and reserve 48 hour access to the film for $12.

SPECIAL EVENT:

Our friends from Toxic Brew Co. & Hole in the Wall are hosting their third “Cult Movie Night” this Sunday at 7:30…and they’ve chosen CAROUSHELL this time – a film featuring Hole in the Wall bartender Haley Madison. Tickets are $20 each, and those tickets come with 2 beers from Toxic Brew (this event is limited to folks 21 and up). This horror/comedy will be hosted by Madison with pre-screening drink specials at Hole in the Wall (just down the street).”Duke, a carousel unicorn, hates his job. He has to let kids climb on his back and ride him for hours every day. But one kid has finally pushed him too far. Duke breaks free of his carnival hell and embarks on a bloody rampage of revenge on humanity.” Click the image below to reserve a ticket.