Bengal Movie Theater
APRIL 9, 8 P.M.
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, an adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's story, re-teams the director with Brad Pitt, who takes on the title role. What makes Button such a curious case is that when he is born in New Orleans just after World War I, he is already in his eighties, and proceeds to live his life aging in reverse. This sweeping film follows the character's unusual life into the 21st century as he experiences joy and sadness, loves lost and found, and the meaning of timelessness. PG-13 167 min
APRIL 10 & 11, 7 & 9:45 P.M.
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Slumdog Millionaire is the story of Jamal Malik (Patel), an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is about to experience the biggest day of his life. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India's "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" But when the show breaks for the night, police arrest him on suspicion of cheating; how could a street kid know so much? 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 (Pinto), the girl he loved and lost. Each chapter of his story reveals the key to the answer to one of the game show's questions. R 120 min
APRIL 13, 1 & 3 P.M.
THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX
The tale of three unlikely heroes - a misfit mouse who prefers reading books to eating them, an unhappy rat who schemes to leave the darkness of the dungeon, and a bumbling servant girl with cauliflower ears - whose fates are intertwined with that of the castle's princess. G 94 min
APRIL 13 & 14, 8 P.M.
TIME CRIMES (spanish)
Bolt is a spoiled German Shepherd who is the star of his own action TV show and is living the good life. One day he is accidentally abandoned in his trailer but he truly believes he still has the superpowers from his show. Along the way, he meets some friends who are trying to find their homes and they help him discover his true self. PG 96 minutes
APRIL 14, 5:15 P.M. (community cinema)
MADE IN AMERICA
t’s a civil war that’s lasted 40 years. Passed down from son to son. Fought eye for an eye. Over 15,000 dead and counting, while the world stands by. Welcome to South Central Los Angeles. But what’s at the root of this long-standing battle? Filmmaker Stacy Peralta hits the streets of LA to find out, and speaks with former and current members of the Bloods and the Crips, two of the most notorious and violent street gangs in America. Not Rated 93 minutes
APRIL 15 & 16, 8 P.M.
UNDERWORLD RISE OF THE LYCANS
The Underworld series gets the prequel treatment with this third outing that fleshes out the story of the ancient war between the vampiric Death Dealers and their wolfman counterparts, the Lycans. F/X technician Patrick Tatopoulos (Godzilla, Independence Day) steps out of the effects lab and into the director's chair with this entry, which sees stars Bill Nighy returning as Viktor, the King of his vampire clan and father to Sonja (Rhona Mitra), a free-minded heir who tests her parent by heading outside of their castle's borders and doing battle with the ravenous werewolves of the surrounding area. Sonja also harbors a secret love affair with Lucien (Michael Sheen), the first of the Lycans, a race of lycanthropes who were bred by the vampires to be slaves and protectors to the bloodsucking clan. As the news of their love spreads to Viktor, ranks of the vampire elite help Lucien escape, leading to a revolution of the Lycans against their masters and setting up the mythology of the later latexed adventures featured in Len Wiseman's two previous films. R 92 min
APRIL 17 & 18, 7 & 9:45 P.M.
VALKYRIE
At the absolute height of World War II, German generals hatch a daring plan to assassinate Adolf Hitler and effectively render the German war machine impotent. Directed by Bryan Singer, Valkyrie stars Tom Cruise as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, the real-life mastermind behind the elaborate plot known as Project Valkyrie: a plan to assassinate Hitler and overthrow his government from the inside. Stauffenberg has been a loyal soldier and an asset to the Reich for his entire military career, but after losing an eye, a hand, and three fingers in an Allied bombing, he reaches a breaking point. The destructive madness that his country is unleashing on the world has become too terrible for the colonel to stand silent. He joins the resistance movement -- a treasonous act, punishable by death -- and risks his life and the life of his family for the chance to change history. Comprised of high-ranking officials working in secret, the German Resistance has access to the inner workings of the government and military, putting them in the perfect position to dispatch the dictator and then use his own official contingency plan to seize power -- before the army, the S.S., and loyal party members can put someone just as diabolical in the Führer's place. PG-13 120 min
APRIL 18, 1 & 3 P.M.
MARLEY AND ME
Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston go to the dogs with Marley & Me, a tale of a couple embarking on the adventure of marriage, career, family, and the world's worst dog. At least that's how writer and newlywed John comes to describe his blonde lab, Marley, when he takes the puppy home and finds that the fluff-ball has an uncanny ability to eat and/or destroy just about anything. As years go by, John and his wife, Jennifer, contemplate having babies and moving across the country, while Marley grows into 100 lbs. of funny, wild, completely untrainable canine companionship — as well as one of the most important people in the family. PG 120 min
APRIL 20 & 21, 8 P.M.
THE SECRETS (French)
It has been passed throughout the ages, traveling through centuries... This is The Secret to everything - the secret to unlimited joy, health, money, relationships, love, youth: everything you have ever wanted. All the resources you will ever need to understand and live The Secret. The world's leading scientists, authors, and philosophers will reveal The Secret that utterly transformed the lives of every person who ever knew it... Plato, Newton, Carnegie, Beethoven, Shakespeare, Einstein. Not Rated
APRIL 22, 7 P.M.
PATAGONIA WILD AND SCENIC FILM FESTIVAL
APRIL 23, 8 P.M., APRIL 24 & 25, 7 & 9:45 P.M.
PAUL BLART:MALL COP
Paul Blart is a mild-mannered, dutiful family man who works as a security guard in a New Jersey mall. For years, he has applied to become a cop, but he always fails the physical exam because he is overweight. One day, a gang of organized criminals put the mall under siege and take hostages. Blart becomes trapped inside, and because of his sense of duty, refuses to leave. He thus becomes the police department's eyes on the inside and attempts to stop the criminals on his own. PG 87 min
APRIL 27 & 28, 8 P.M.
MY FATHER MY LORD
An intimate and deeply disturbing story of the conflict between a father's love and his deep devotion to religion. A respected Orthodox Rabbi dotes on his only son but his religious strictures leave an emotional gap between the impish child and the stern father. When the father's all consuming obsession with observing religious ritual inadvertently leads to tragedy, his previously subvertient wife rages against both her husband and God. A dramatic retelling of the story of Abraham & Isaac with a devastating "twist." NR 73 min
APRIL 29 & 30, 8 P.M.
RELIGULOUS
Bill Maher interviews some of religion's adherents. Muslims, Jews and Christians of many kinds pass before his jaundiced eye. Maher goes to a Creationist Museum in Kentucky, which shows that dinosaurs and people lived at the same time 5000 years ago. He talks to truckers at a Truckers' Chapel. (Sign outside: "Jesus love you.") He goes to a theme park called Holy Land in Florida. He speaks to a rabbi in league with Holocaust deniers. He talks to a Muslim musician who preaches hatred of Jews. Maher finds the unlikeliest of believers and, in a certain Vatican priest, he even finds an unlikely skeptic. R 101 minutes
MAY 1 & 2, 7 & 9:45 P.M.
GRAN TORINO
Walt Kowalski is a widower who holds onto his prejudices despite the changes in his Michigan neighborhood and the world around him. Kowalski is a grumpy, tough-minded, unhappy an old man, who can't get along with either his kids or his neighbors, a Korean War veteran whose prize possession is a 1972 Gran Torino he keeps in mint condition. When his neighbor Thao, a young Hmong teenager under pressure from his gang member cousin, tries to steal his Gran Torino, Kowalski sets out to reform the youth. Drawn against his will into the life of Thao's family, Kowalski is soon taking steps to protect them from the gangs that infest their neighborhood. R 116 min
MAY 2, 1 & 3 P.M.
INKHEART
Author Cornelia Funke's best-selling children's novel comes to vivid life on the big screen with this family-friendly tale about a bookbinder whose storytelling skills possess the curious power to transport the characters he speaks about into the real world. When a nefarious villain from a bedtime story that the father is currently reading to his daughter emerges to kidnap the stunned storyteller, it's up to the young girl and her adventurous friends — both real and imaginary — to bring dad back home and close the book on the dreaded fiend once and for all. PG 106 min