The Muppets
Free Family Flicks @ the Pratt
To stage "The Greatest Muppet Telethon Ever "and raise the $10-million needed to save the theater, Walter, Mary and Gary help Kermit the Frog reunite the Muppets, who have all gone their separate ways.
Starring Amy Adams, Jason Segel, Chris Cooper.
Directed by James Bobin, 2011, PG, 98 minutes.
Schedule: (click on the location to see map)
- Southeast Anchor Library
- Saturday, June 2, 2012 (10:30 AM)
Suggested Audience: Whole Family
Food Stamped
Find out what it's like to take "the food stamp challenge."
Follow Shira and Yoav Potash as they attempt to eat a healthy, well-balanced diet on a food stamp budget. (62 min.) Discussion following the screening.
Sign language interpreters provided
by the Hearing and Speech Agency
Presented in partnership with Urbanite Project 2012
Schedule: (click on the location to see map)
- Central Library Wheeler Auditorium
- Monday, June 4, 2012 (6:00 - 8:00 PM)
Suggested Audience: Adults, Seniors
Can't Stop the Music
A special "Gay Pride Month" screening
“Both awful and immensely enjoyable---the ideal party movie!” - Wade Major, Box Office Magazine
Come party with us and take in a movie so bad that it inspired the creation of the "Golden Razzie Awards" (honoring the best of Hollywood's worst movies) in 1980. Billed as "the movie musical event of the '80s," Can’t Stop the Music tells the “true” story of how The Village People came about, based on a script by Grease producer Allan Carr and directed by Rhoda's mom, Nancy Walker. A very dorky Steve Guttenberg, a very sexy Valerie Perrine, and a very wooden Bruce Jenner (a Razzie "Worst Actor" nominee) star alongside the Village People, who sing their classic "Y.M.C.A." and five other other songs. Monumentally, mind-bogglingly and magnificently bad, this movie features laughable script-writing, acting, and over-the-top musical numbers. It won two Golden Raspberry Awards (Worst Picture and Worst Screenplay) out of seven nominations.Come dressed as your favorite Village Person or 1980s diva and be prepared to witness the limits of camp, kitsch, and bad taste.
See also:
Directed by Nancy Walker, U.S., 1980, 124 min.)
Schedule: (click on the location to see map)
- Central Library Wheeler Auditorium
- Saturday, June 9, 2012 (2:00 PM)
Suggested Audience: Adults
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
When bass player Nick’s ex-girlfriend shows up at his gig three days after their breakup with her new man, he quickly asks Norah to pose as his girlfriend to help him save face. This unplanned invitation leads to a sleepless night of adventure in the indie rock world and the beginnings of a romance that could change both of their lives.
(Directed by Peter Sollett, 2008, 90 minutes, Rated PG-13)
Schedule: (click on the location to see map)
- Southeast Anchor Library
- Saturday, June 9, 2012 (3:00 PM)
Suggested Audience: Teens, Adults
Out of the Past
Jacques Tourneur honed his directing skills on several Val Lewton produced horror films for RKO in the early '40s. The dark moody lighting and sharp editing used in The Cat People, I Walked With a Zombie, and The Leopard Man were easily applied to another genre in which RKO specialized: the film-noir.
One of the classic tropes of the film-noir is the femme fatale, the woman who causes the protagonist's downfall, and Out of the Past, sports one of the best, or should we say worst, of these shady ladies. Kathie Moffat (played brilliantly Jane Greer) causes "hero" Jeff Bailey to utter the immortal line (and there are many in this film), "You're just like a leaf that blows from gutter to gutter." For Kathy is not satisfied with messing up the life of just one man; her other "gutter," Whit Sterling, is played menacingly by Kirk Douglas.
Out of the Past, as is typical of the genre, has a convoluted plot filled with many interesting subordinate characters. Daniel Mainwaring, writing under the pseudonym Geoffry Homes, wrote the original novel on which Out of the Past was based, Build My Gallows High, and the screenplay for the film. He went on to write some classic 50's films, including Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
(Directed by Jacques Tourner, 1947, US, 97 min., black & white. Not Rated.)
For more information see:
- http://www.mrqe.com/movie_reviews/out-of-the-past-m100040727
- Turner Classic Movies
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/361/Out-of-the-Past/
Schedule: (click on the location to see map)
- Central Library Wheeler Auditorium
- Saturday, June 9, 2012 (10:30 AM - 1:00 PM)
Suggested Audience: Adults
Happy Feet 2
Free Family Flicks @ Pratt
The world’s most famous tap-dancing penguin, Mumble, and the love of his life, Gloria now have a son of their own, Erik. Erik is struggling to find his own particular talents in the Emperor Penguin world. But new dangers are threatening the penguin nation, and it’s going to take everyone working -- and dancing -- together to save them. Featuring the voices of Elijah Wood and Robin Williams.
Directed by George Miller, 2011, 100 min., rated PG.
Schedule: (click on the location to see map)
- Central Library Wheeler Auditorium
- Saturday, June 16, 2012 (2:00 PM)
Suggested Audience: Whole Family
Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
Cinema Classics at the Southeast Anchor Library
In 1934, a trainful of suspects and one murder victim make the trip from Istanbul to Calais especially interesting. Super-sleuth Hercule Poirot sets out to solve the mystery. An entertaining Agatha Christie mystery whodunit, ably supported by a remarkable all-star cast including Albert Finney, Martin Balsam, Ingrid Bergman, Lauren Bacall, Sean Connery, Richard Widmark, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave, and Michael York.
(Directed by Sidney Lumet, 1974, 128 minutes, Black & White, Rated PG)
Schedule: (click on the location to see map)
- Southeast Anchor Library
- Saturday, June 16, 2012 (1:00 PM)
Suggested Audience: Adults, Seniors
Super 8
In the summer of 1979, a group of friends in a small Ohio town witness a catastrophic train crash while making a super 8 movie and soon suspect that it was not an accident. Shortly after, unusual disappearances and inexplicable events begin to take place in town, and the local Deputy tries to uncover the truth—something more terrifying than any of them could have imagined.
Directed by J.J. Abrams, 2011; Rated PG-13; 112 minutes.
This film contains some violence, strong language and adult themes. Parents and guardians should use their best judgment when deciding if younger children should attend.
Schedule: (click on the location to see map)
- Pennsylvania Avenue Branch
- Monday, June 18, 2012 (1:00 PM)
Suggested Audience: Teens, Adults
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
The four Pevensie children return to Narnia and discover that even though it has been only a short time in their world, hundreds of years have passed since they ruled there. With the help of a heroic mouse called Reepicheep and the exiled heir to the throne, Prince Caspian, they set out to overthrow the evil King Miraz who has taken charge in this second installment of the epic Chronicles series. Starring William Moseley and Anna Popplewell; Directed by Andrew Adamson, 2008.
Rated PG; 174 minutes
Schedule: (click on the location to see map)
- Reisterstown Road Branch
- Friday, June 22, 2012 (2:00 PM)
Suggested Audience: Teens
The Help
Set in Mississippi during the 1960s, Skeeter is a southern society girl who returns from college determined to become a writer, but turns her friends' lives—and a small Mississippi town—upside down when she decides to interview the black women who have spent their lives taking care of prominent southern families. Aibileen, Skeeter's best friend's housekeeper, is the first to open up—to the dismay of her friends in the tight-knit black community. Despite Skeeter's life-long friendships hanging in the balance, she and Aibileen continue their collaboration and soon more women come forward to tell their stories -- and as it turns out, they have a lot to say.
DreamWorks Pictures; Directed by Tate Taylor
Rated PG-13; 146 minutes; 2011
This film contains strong language and adult themes. Parents and guardians should use their best judgment when deciding if younger children should attend.
Schedule: (click on the location to see map)
- Southeast Anchor Library
- Saturday, June 23, 2012 (1:00 PM)
Suggested Audience: Adults, Seniors
Priest
This post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller is set in an alternate world—one ravaged by centuries of war between man and vampires. The story revolves around a legendary Warrior Priest from the last Vampire War who now lives in obscurity among the other downtrodden human inhabitants in walled-in dystopian cities ruled by the Church. When his niece is abducted by a murderous pack of vampires, Priest breaks his sacred vows to venture out on a quest to find her before they turn her into one of them.
Directed by Scott Charles Stewart, 2011; Rated PG-13; 87 minutes.
This film contains fantasy violence, horror elements and adult themes. Parents and guardians should use their best judgment when deciding if younger children should attend.
Schedule: (click on the location to see map)
- Pennsylvania Avenue Branch
- Monday, June 25, 2012 (1:00 PM)
Suggested Audience: Teens, Adults
The Dark Knight
This time the Dark Knight faces a rising psychopathic criminal called The Joker, whose eerie grin belies a dangerous agenda. Starring Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, and Michael Caine; Directed by Christopher Nolan, 2008; Rated PG-13; 152 minutes
Schedule: (click on the location to see map)
- Reisterstown Road Branch
- Tuesday, June 26, 2012 (5:00 PM)
Suggested Audience: Teens
In the Time of the Butterflies
In the Time of the Butterflies is inspired by the true story of the three Mirabal sisters who, in 1960, were murdered for their part in an underground plot to overthrow the government.
Starring Salma Hayek, Lumi Cavazos, Mia Maestro, Pilar Padilla, Edward James Olmos, and Marc Anthony. Directed by Mariano Barroso; rated PG-13; 95 minutes
Schedule: (click on the location to see map)
- Reisterstown Road Branch
- Wednesday, June 27, 2012 (5:30 - 7:00 PM)
Suggested Audience: Teens, Adults, Seniors

Sense and Sensibility
Emma Thompson stars in and received an Academy Award® for her screen adaptation of Jane Austen’s first novel about two sisters: pragmatic, ironic Elinor (Emma Thompson) and passionate, willful Marianne (Kate Winslet). Their struggle to find romantic happiness in a early 19th century English society obsessed with financial and social stature is a warm-hearted drama.
(Directed by Ang Lee, 1995, 135 minutes, Rated PG)
Schedule: (click on the location to see map)
- Southeast Anchor Library
- Saturday, June 30, 2012 (1:00 PM)
Suggested Audience: Adults, Seniors