The Names of Love | 9/6 | 7:30pm

A French comedy about love, sex, and politics. Now I see why it's been called a crowd pleaser! This French hit that had its premier at Cannes and was nominated for a ton of Cesar Awards (France's equivalent of the Oscar's) has received a warm welcome here in the US, too, with Michel Leclerc singled out for his masterful direction. "Leclerc pays such lavish homage, in the construction of his film, to golden-age Allen; the moments at which a bewildered Arthur consults his teen-age self could have come straight out of 'Annie Hall,'" says Anthony Lane in The New Yorker. If comparisons to Woody Allen don't get you off the couch, perhaps the trailer will:

The Trip | 9/30 | 7:30pm

"The Trip," a fantastic new British comedy from Michael Winterbottom, stars Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as thinly veiled versions of their acerbic and sardonic selves. If you remember "Tristan Shandy: A Cock and Bull Love Story" from back in 2005, this is essentially a reprisal of the key players. If you're not familiar with that film, it's definitely worth checking out to see what lies ahead for your here. But the trailer will give you a bit of insight - a British road movie about how it's both completely annoying and totally necessary to have friends. "Does it matter where a performer ends and the persona begins, or if the two can be separated?" asks Manhola Dargis in the New York Times, "In 'The Trip' you search for authenticity among the jokes and lulls, but what you get is what you see and hear."

Cave of Forgotten Dreams | 8/23 | 7:30pm

"Cave of Forgotten Dreams," Werner Herzog's new epic documentary, is our second film of the Fall series. Herzog takes as his subject the Chauvet caves of southern France, home to some of the oldest painted images in human history. With typical Herzogian style and approach, we consider these archaic images from a totally new perspective. The film has received numerous accolades and has been a huge critical success. "The result is a journey to prehistory that's simultaneously wondrous and tedious, profound and completely nuts -- which is to say, quintessential Herzog," says NPR.

The Tree of Life | 8/16 | 7:30pm

What can you say about "The Tree of Life?" That it stars Brad Pitt and Sean Penn, had a budget of over $30 million, and yet still didn't play the Cobb? That's a curiosity until you see the director's name: Terrence Malik. If you're unfamiliar with Mr. Malik's work, please do yourself a favor in anticipation of "The Tree of Life." Seek out "Badlands," "Days of Heaven," "The Thin Red Line," and "The New World" in that order. Prepare for vistas and long unspoken passages and meditation on nature and violence and the American experience. They are art house films with a Hollywood budget, and they're mostly unforgettable. We're very proud to start our series with Malik's most recent, with a warning from the distributor that the film has one of the highest walkout rates in recent memory. Duly noted. While the critics at Cannes were split - some booing the screen as the titles rolled, others drowning out the boos with enthusiastic applause - the jury was unanimous, giving the film the Palme d'Or, Cannes' highest honor. And now it's here, gracing out humble burg, in brilliant 35mm. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone might have summed it up best: "'Tree' delivers truths that don't go down easy. No one with a genuine interest in the potential of film would think of missing it."

Summer Series almost here! Get your tickets!

The Summer Bama Art House Film Series is almost here! We encourage you to take a look at the lineup and buy your tickets early - buying a series pass saves you money!

Please note that we've changed our screening times for this series - we'll be screening on SUNDAY EVENINGS at 7:30pm. It's easier to book multiple Sundays at the theater, and we're looking to find a permanent day. Some folks asked about the possibility of a non-weeknight screening, so we're trying Sundays with a little bit of an earlier start time. Let us know what you think!

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold | 7/31 | 7:30pm

What happens when you set out to make a film about the influence of corporate product placement in films? You wind up with a movie entitled, "POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold," the closer of our summer series. From Morgan Spurlock, the rabble rousing documentarian behind "Super Size Me," comes this creative and comical investigation into advertising, branding, and product placement. We're constantly inundated by advertisements, and Spurlock is curious about how that influences the content and the profit models for our popular entertainment. Taking us inside the process, the film becomes a meta exploration of the very issue it seeks to explain. Peter Travers, writing for Rolling Stone, says, "Spurlock says he's not selling out, he's buying in. I'm buying into Spurlock. As ever, he makes you laugh till it hurts."

But don't take his word for it - take a look at the trailer. Of course, you'll probably have to click through a few ads to get there...

Meek's Cutoff | 7/24 | 7:30pm

"Meek's Cutoff," from director Kelly Reichardt, stars Michelle Williams and Paul Dano. Reichardt, who directed "Old Joy" and "Wendy and Lucy," is one of a handful of female independent directors who are helping to remake American films. The film focuses on pioneers traversing an infamous wagon trail cut through Oregon in 1845. The story of the original settlers is riddled with violence, hunger, infighting, and death - in short, the stuff of good cinema. Writing for the Chicago Reader, reviewer Ben Sachs says, "Imagine a collaboration between John Ford and Wallace Stevens and you might get a sense of what Kelly Reichardt pulls off here: a sincere re-creation of the pioneer experience, brought to life through careful, often unexpected detail." We hope you'll join us for a new kind of sparse and parched Western in the middle of our ceaseless summer...

3 Backyards | 7/17 | 7:30pm

"3 Backyards," which won the Directing Award at Sundance, is directed by Eric Mendelsohn and stars Edie Falco. Containing three different and interwoven stories, the film has been described as a "poetic exercise." A complex visual aesthetic guides the film, and the cinematographer creates three distinctly unique styles to fit the three stories. Stephen Holden, writing his "Critics' Pick" review for The New York Times, says "The conceit that binds this movie’s three vignettes is Mr. Mendelsohn’s notion that while the front lawns of suburbia reflect how residents choose to present themselves to the outside world, their backyards are Freudian maps of their unconscious lives."

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives | 7/10 | 7:30pm

"Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives" is a strange and wonderful film that won the Palme d'Or, the festival's highest honor, at Cannes last year. This Thai film, from director Apichatpong Weerasethakul, is a magical and surreal movie that eschews traditional narrative structure in favor of a free flowing melody that's far too rare in contemporary cinema. It's a film that is nearly impossible to describe - something meditated on by critic after critic. A.O. Scott writes in his "Critics' Pick" review for The New York Times, "Instead of nostalgia for vanished magic, there is the recognition that magic is always present if we know where and how to look. Mr. Weerasethakul certainly knows where to look and is generous enough to share some of what he sees."

Another film we're very proud to bring here to Tuscaloosa - a film that solidifies our mission to bring Art House movies to the Bama. I guarantee you won't see this one at the Cobb!

Rubber | 7/3 | 7:30pm

"Oh hell yeah! Man, this movie is so awesome, dude! It's about a tire - like a radial, you know - that lives in the desert. And it like comes alive one day, and it starts you know, like rolling down the street! And then it starts, like, KILLING PEOPLE! I'm serious, man! That shit is off the chain! It's gonna be awesome! Don't take my word for it, come see it, dude!"

-Review from someone who is very excited about Rubber

Also, reviewers have said slightly more articulate things. Like Katrina Longworth, writing for the Village Voice: "An essay on storytelling and spectatorship within When Inanimate Objects Attack schlock -- one infused with the haunting aura and disillusionment of a post-Easy Rider road movie -- Rubber is some kind of miracle."

Also, it's the night before the fourth of July and the Bama serves beer. Get that party started, you know?

Putty Hill | 6/26 | 7:30pm

We're extremely happy to be able to bring "Putty Hill" to Tuscaloosa this summer. A small, honest, and deeply affecting film from a young American director, this movie represents all that's now possible in the new world of self-distribution, digital capture and exhibition, and cinematic art created far outside the confining walls of the studios. In short, this is an Art House Film, and we're thrilled to bring it here to the Bama. Produced on a shoe-string by 33-year-old director Matt Porterfield, the film represents an authentic and inspired attempt at creating a regionally distinct cinema. The region, in this case, is Porterfield's native Maryland, specifically the Baltimore suburbs where he grew up and still lives. Southern auteurs take note - regional cinema is on the rise! The New York Times did an interesting story about the film and its unique hybrid style, and the critics, throughout its festival run and now in its theatrical run, have had their fair share of praise, too. Stephen Holden, in his review in the Times, says, "Matt Porterfield's moody, elliptical fusion of fiction and documentary, slips back and forth between the forms with a stealth that dissolves one into the other." We very proud of this one, and hope you are too.

Certified Copy | 6/19 | 7:30pm

"Certified Copy" is a maze of a film that plays with the audience and our expectations. As two characters, seemingly strangers to one another, embark on a long philosophical debate about authenticity and fakery in art, both the story and our assumptions about their relationship begins to fragment. This kind of subtle and nuanced script requires some heavy lifting from the actors - which is why Juliette Binoche won the best actress award from Cannes for her role here. This film is the famous Iranian auteur Abbas Kiarostami's first film produced outside his native country, and it has received near universal critical acclaim. Scott Tobias, writing for NPR, calls it, "A film as audacious and radical as any likely to see theaters this year." A movie as complicated as this is inevitably hard to market and capture in a trailer, so we're left with a kind of amalgam of romantic lines and critical praise. But don't just judge from the trailer, read the reviews and be sure not to miss this one.

Cedar Rapids | 6/12 | 7:30pm

"Cedar Rapids," the first film of our summer series, is an indie comedy starring Ed Helms and John C. Reily. From director Miguel Arteta, who brought us "Chuck and Buck" and "The Good Girl," the film debuted at Sundance in January to rave reviews. The story of an untraveled insurance adjuster who makes his first out-of-state trip to the wild and crazy city of Cedar Rapids, the film has been praised for its ability to mix top-notch juvenile humor with dignified character portraits. It's a movie that, for most critics, seems to feel an awful lot like real life. No easy task. As Anthony Lane wrote in his review for The New Yorker, "These folks are undistinguished yet distinctive, and the film, for all the familiar grind of its plotting, pays them their honest due." See the trailer below and visit the official site here if you're so inclined.

Neverending Story | June 12 | 3pm

Bama Art House Jr. presents "The Neverending Story" on Sunday, June 12th at 3pm. If you haven't seen the film since you were a kid, well, you're probably do for a repeat viewing. This timeless 80s classic about a boy, a book, a flying dog like animal, an evil wolf with red eyes, and a magical world slowly being destroyed by a force called "The Nothing" is packed full of every single childhood trope imaginable. In short, it's not to be missed. So bring the kids and come out to the Bama Art House Jr.! If you need a refresher course, the vintage trailer is below...

Four Lions | 2/22 | 8pm

We end the series with a delightfully hilarious comedy about jihad. From the British director Chris Morris comes "Four Lions," a film about a, well, rather touchy subject. Four hapless would be terrorists, hell bent on blowing something up, struggle through myriad scenarios of incompetence and hilarity. What a nice counterpoint to the typical portrayal of terrorists as shadowy ingenious madmen tucked away in foreign mountain ranges. The protagonists here (if you can call terrorists protagonists...) aren't engaged in some grand narrative of self-awareness where the end of the film finds them reassessing their evil ways. No. This is a comedy. As such, these bumbling fools get the British comedic treatment - physical, painful, humiliating stunt gags. Akin in some ways to "In the Loop," another British comedy about contemporary geopolitical issues we brought during an earlier run of the BAH, this film is filled with cringe-inducing laughs and fast paced comedic dialogue. "You laugh until the laughter turns to ashes in your mouth. And then you laugh some more," says A.O. Scott in the NY Times. I think the trailer sums it up nicely....