Starring: Helen Slater, Christian Slater, Keith Gordon, Richard Bradford, Peter Coyote, Martha Gehman, Yeardley Smith, Dean Stockwell

A wild ride of teenage rebellion, rock anthems, and justice punctuated by a powerful haircut reveal.

When Billie Jean Davy (Helen Slater), a 16-year-old high schooler from a small Texas town, is wronged by a rich, spoiled bully named Hubie, she decides she’s had enough of being pushed around. With the help of her troublemaker brother (Christian Slater) and loyal friends, she transforms from a local girl-next-door into a full-blown folk hero. Sporting a white T-shirt, a headband, and an unapologetic attitude, Billie Jean’s quest for justice turns her into a media sensation. She becomes the face of teenage disillusionment, with the press dubbing her “The Legend.” Along the way, she faces off with authority, defies the system, and inspires a generation to stand up for what’s right – the embodiment of Pat Benatar’s song “Invincible.”

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Helena Bonham Carter, Tim Roth, Michael Clarke Duncan, Paul Giamatti

Director Tim Burton reinvents one of the most acclaimed and beloved works of science fiction, Pierre Boulle’s classic novel “Planet of the Apes.” Burton’s Planet of the Apes begins with the famed original’s premise — a pilot finds himself in a world turned upside down after landing on a strange planet.

Starring: Akio Ôtsuka, Atsuko Tanaka, Tamio Ôki, Kôichi Yamadera

In the year 2032, the line between humans and machines has been blurred almost beyond distinction. A string of murders perpetrated by a prototype android model has drawn the attention of Public Security Section 9, a unit specializing in counter cyber-terrorism. With none of the victims’ families pressing charges, suspicions arise regarding the nature of the androids and their production company. In the course of the investigation, the almost entirely cyber-bodied agent Batou, and his still human partner Togusa embark on a journey through a technological dystopia, taking on ferocious Yakuza thugs, devious hackers, government bureaucrats, and corporate criminals to uncover the shocking truth behind the crime.

Starring: Harrison Ford, Anthony Mackie, Rosa Salazar, Liv Tyler, Giancarlo Esposito

Sam finds himself in the middle of an international incident after meeting with President Thaddeus Ross. He must soon discover the reason behind a nefarious global plot before the true mastermind has the entire world seeing red.

Starring: Prince, Cat, Sheila E., Dr. Fink, Wally Safford, Greg Brooks, Sheena Easton

It’s time to party with The Deuce like it’s… 2025!!  As in: Two-Thousand Zero Twenty-Five!! In that, we could all die any day – ’tis nigh high time to open your eyes and ears and with witless wonder bear witness to – a SIGN “☮️” THE TIMES!  Writer/director/star/Maestro Prince’s 1987-era musical manifesto Concert Film (capital “C”, capital “F”) cavalcade of choreographed, costumed, consummate consummation of stage-strutting splendor! Searing! Steamy! Sexy! Sleazy! A harbinger for the year to come!! New Year! New U! New Deuce!! Same OLD Deuce-Dummies… ready to roar!!

A watershed of jaw-dropping show-stopping that Slate mag proclaims to be “the single-greatest concert film of all time” – a sentiment much echoed elsewhere – only ever (if ever) edged from top-slot by Demme and The Talking Heads’ STOP MAKING SENSE… equally behemoth and yet altogether different beast… SIGN “☮️” THE TIMES is His Royal Badness at his (arguably) Bestness!! And despite what the naysayers may naysay – to whit: it being “fake” as a “concert film” as per the bulk being shot on Prince’s personal concert-hall sized Paris soundstage due to The Purple One having pshaw’d parts of the previously filmed live Rotterdam footage as not being up to his particulars – the pulse-pounding PERFORMANCE (more than deserving of its all-capitalization) is pure preening High Priest Of Pop perfection… pitched at a pinnacle of all-outness on every level… “makes Michael Jackson look like he’s nailed to the floor…”!!

While opening to critical raves if not so boffo box-office returns in more haughty halls the likes of Broadway’s Warner or the Village’s Art Greenwich, it was when it hit the eponymous Times Square Theater when the party really started as though 1987 was instead the year of 1999 – where everybody, everybody said “PARTY’!!

(ed. Despite the preponderance of references/allusions to the Prince song “1999” peppered throughout these program notes, the aforementioned number – despite its having been part of the live stage show – is for some bizarre reason NOT performed in the aforementioned film… as per Prince’s perhaps perfunctory design of said film being a kind of “promo” for the also for some bizarre reason “under-performing” double album of the same name… oops! outta time! ✌️+💜)

Every school day, African-American teenagers William Gates and Arthur Agee travel 90 minutes each way from inner-city Chicago to St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois, a predominately white suburban school well-known for the excellence of its basketball program. Gates and Agee dream of NBA stardom, and with the support of their close-knit families, they battle the social and physical obstacles that stand in their way. This acclaimed documentary was shot over the course of five years.

Starring: Brian Cox, Miranda Otto, Lorraine Ashbourne, Shaun Dooley

Set 183 years before the events chronicled in the original trilogy of films, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim tells the fate of the House of Helm Hammerhand, the legendary King of Rohan. A sudden attack by Wulf, a clever and ruthless Dunlending lord seeking vengeance for the death of his father, forces Helm and his people to make a daring last stand in the ancient stronghold of the Hornburg–a mighty fortress that will later come to be known as Helm’s Deep. Finding herself in an increasingly desperate situation, Héra, the daughter of Helm, must summon the will to lead the resistance against a deadly enemy intent on their total destruction.

Starring: John Cho, Katherine Waterston, Havana Rose Liu, Lukita Maxwell, David Dastmalchian, Keith Carradine

In AfrAId, Curtis (John Cho) and his family are selected to test a revolutionary new home device: a digital family assistant called AIA. Once the unit and all its sensors and cameras are installed in their home, AIA seems able to do it all. She learns the family’s behaviors and begins to anticipate their needs. And she can make sure nothing – and no one – gets in her family’s way.

Starring:

Reuniting the director, writer and stars of Forrest Gump, Here is an original film about multiple families and a special place they inhabit. The story travels through generations, capturing the most relatable of human experiences. Zemeckis directs from a screenplay by Eric Roth and him. Told much in the style of the acclaimed graphic novel by Richard McGuire on which it is based, Tom Hanks and Robin Wright star in a tale of love, loss, laughter and life, all of which happen right Here.

Starring: Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni, Jenny Slate, Hasan Minhaj, Brandon Sklenar

It Ends with Us, the first Colleen Hoover novel adapted for the big screen, tells the story of Lily Bloom, a woman who overcomes a traumatic childhood to embark on a new life in Boston and chase a lifelong dream of opening her own business. A chance meeting with charming neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid sparks an intense connection, but as the two fall deeply in love, Lily begins to see sides of Ryle that remind her of her parents’ relationship. When Lily’s first love, Atlas Corrigan, suddenly reenters her life, her relationship with Ryle is upended, and Lily realizes she must learn to rely on her own strength to make an impossible choice for her future.