Hello Moviegoers!

The sunshine is here and either Punxatawney Phil was wrong about Spring being late or Mother Nature can’t seem to make up her mind. I find myself in a similar predicament, as I can’t decide which of the great films we’re bringing you this week to discuss first!

Let’s start with Onward, the latest from the Pixar arm of Disney, which has a nearly perfect record of delivering quality popcorn movies that appeal to the whole family. This iteration sees Tom Holland and Chris Pratt, fresh off Avengers: Endgame, as two teenage elf brothers, Ian and Barley Lightfoot, who go on a journey of discovery to spend one last day with their father, who died when they were too young to remember him. “Pixar returns with a great big power-chord of a movie — heart-pumping, resonant, and positively harmonious”--Ben Travis, Empire

Liam Neeson, who has forged a cinematic cottage industry of sorts for himself in the past decade portraying an angry husband or father avenging the unjust death of a family member in films like Taken and Cold Pursuit takes a sharp turn left back to the dramatic in Ordinary Love. Here, Neeson’s Tome finds himself being drawn closer to his wife, Joan (Lesley Manville) after she is diagnosed with breast cancer. “The film’s strength lies in the performances—two fine actors elevating their roles from the touchingly mundane to the suddenly momentous”--Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

I’ve felt for years that Riley Keough (Logan Lucky, Mad Max: Fury Road), who also happens to be Elvis’ granddaughter (yes, that Elvis) is one role away from being a huge star. The Lodge might not be that role, but it seems as if Keough has given it her all as Grace, a young woman who finds herself trapped in an isolated ski lodge with her lover’s two children with whom she has yet to develop a deep relationship. Just as things start to get weird, the children discover that as a child, Grace was the sole survivor of a Heaven’s gate type cult. Something tells me they won’t be cozying up to the fire and making s’mores as they wait for the storm to pass. “This ice-cold chiller has a confident command of every frame, using its creeping-dread rhythm and unsettling sound design to unfold a wry, brutal story in the cleverest way.” --Jeffrey M. Anderson, Common Sense Media

We’re also bringing a pair of fun documentaries this week:

Up first is The Woman Who Loved Giraffes, the story of Dr. Anne Innis Dagg who essentially is the Jane Goodall of giraffes. The doc covers Dagg’s first journey to South Africa in 1956 (featuring some gorgeous 16mm footage) and explores the differences between the world she uncovered then and the reality of these majestic creatures today. Stick your neck out and give this one a try!

For whatever reason, The Band (which band? The Band) doesn’t seem to quite get the love it deserves as a tentpole classic rock band. Daniel Roher’s Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band looks to remedy this. The film is a moving story of Robertson's personal journey, overcoming adversity and finding camaraderie alongside the four other men who would become his brothers in music and who together made their mark on music history. “Even at its most painful, the Band's story captures something golden, incendiary and wistfully beautiful - 'so beautiful,' Robertson reflects, 'that it went up in flames.'"--Anne Hornaday, Washington Post

We’re holding onto Florence’s favorite movie of February, Call Of The Wild, which returns to the Tundra next Thursday to make room for I Still Believe. In the special events sector we have new entries in both the Great Composer & Great Painter Series with In Search Of Chopin & Lucian Freud: A Self Portrait while Cat Video Fest holds on for one more screening this Sunday.

Have a wonderful week and we’ll see you at the movies!

Mister