Cinematically, Yours
This Week’s Movie Reviews
Port Townsend

Port Townsend v. the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Since the movie bug caught me at a relatively young age, I've been following the Oscars for countless years. But what's changed for me in recent years is how dazed and confused I am by glaring omissions in the nominations. LITTLE WOMEN received six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture of the Year, yet Greta Gerwig was not nominated as Best Director. 

     But to complain is folly, as I have been spoiled by Port Townsend moviegoers. Nationally, the top three movies in the country last year were AVENGERS: ENDGAME, THE LION KING and TOY STORY 4. I played two of those, but only AVENGERS finished in the top 10 at the Rose. The top 3 movies at the Rose in 2019 were MAIDEN, FANTASTIC FUNGI and DOWNTON ABBEY. And a local film called THE BOWMAKERS was the 8th most popular film at the Rose. If there's a curve or trend or probability to national box office grosses, Port Townsend moviegoers - thankfully - throw a wrench in that curve with their singular, curious, wonderful taste in movies.

     1917 had a great opening weekend, and will be holding over in the Rose for another week. LITTLE WOMEN holds over in the Starlight Room, and returning by demand - and as promised - KNIVES OUT. It shares the Rosebud screen with Best Picture nominee JOJO RABBIT.

     Our annual free community screening in recognition of Martin Luther King Day is this coming Monday, with a showing of SELMA, by director Ava DuVernay. It starts at 12:30; no tickets necessary; first-come, first-seated.

     The Community Arts Film Series continues this Saturday and Sunday with a screening of STUFFED, a lively look at new generation of taxidermists. Check out these glowing reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.

     Our Starlight classic film next Wednesday (1/22) will be SAHARA (1943) starring Humphrey Bogart and Lloyd Bridges. We present this in partnership with Key City Public Theatre. Their Visions in Motion 2020 program pulls together threads of art and history from 1920 to 2020 to celebrate the power of expression over oppression. In this multimedia installation, painting collides with theater, dance and music to defy the bounds of conformity. The project is inspired by the themes in the Rite of Spring ballet, and the play Roger Bloomer, written by John Howard Lawson. Lawson also wrote SAHARA. Lawson was one of the Hollywood Ten, the first group of American film industry professionals to be blacklisted by Congress during the 1950s McCarthy era's investigation of communist influence in Hollywood.

--Rocky