Enjoy a fantastic new season of films at Ludlow Assembly Rooms (From Ludlow Advertiser)

Enjoy a fantastic new season of films at Ludlow Assembly Rooms

7:00am Thursday 5th January 2012 in Leisure

The Ides of March (15)

When Stephen (Ryan Gosling) joins the staff of charismatic Presidential candidate Mike Morris (George Clooney, who also directs) on the campaign trail, he gets a crash course in politics – but it may not be quite what he was expecting. Based on the play by Beau Willimon, this political thriller also stars Paul Giamatti and Philip Seymour Hoffman, with Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood.

‘A tense, nail-biting tour-deforce’ Daily Mirror (4 stars)

Wednesday and Thursday, January 4 and 5 at 7.30pm.

The Awakening (15)

Best-selling author Florence Cathcart (Rebecca Hall) doesn’t believe in ghosts – she even helps the police to expose phoney ‘spiritualists’ who prey upon those left grieving after WW1. So when headmaster Robert Mallory (Dominic West) brings her a tale of supernatural goings-on at his boarding school, she agrees to visit the school and debunk the mystery. Or at least, that’s what she thinks will happen…..

Friday and Saturday, January 6 and 7 at 7.30pm.

The British Guide to Showing Off (15)

Andrew Logan. British artist.

Living legend. And creator of the anarchic and outrageous Alternative Miss World Show, a spectacular costume pageant and fancy dress party for grown ups.

The film covers the mounting of the 2009 show, with exuberant animation and plenty of offbeat humour from contestants old and new, and features contributions from Brian Eno, Ruby Wax, Zandra Rhodes and Grayson Perry. A film for anyone who has ever wanted to break out.

Monday January 9 at 7.30pm.

The Deep Blue Sea (12A)

The great British director Terence Davies (Distant Voices, Still Lives) directs Terence Rattigan’s 1952 play about Hester (Rachel Weisz), a woman struggling to keep herself together as her marriage falls apart and her young lover proves to be fickle. A haunting exploration of a woman in the grip of emotional turmoil, set at a time when one was expected to maintain a stiff upper lip. Also starring Tom Hiddleston and Simon Russell Beale.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, January 10, 11 and 12 at 7.30pm.

The Well Digger’s Daughter (La filled du puisatier) (PG)

Daniel Auteuil (Jean de Florette) goes behind the camera to direct another of Marcel Pagnol’s wonderful stories of rustic French life, set in the glorious Provençal countryside. Patricia, the well digger’s pretty daughter, meets Jacques, a handsome young pilot who goes off to fight in the war, leaving her pregnant. How will her family, Jacques’ family and the local community react to the shocking news?

Fri 13 & Sat 14 Jan, 7.30pm.

The Salt of Life (Gianni e le Donne) (12A)

‘Lustrous, effortless, entrancing’– Financial Times.

Another chance to see this beguiling slice of Italian life from the writer, director and star of Mid August Lunch. Gianni is retired, and ambles around Rome wondering if he is too old to be attractive to women. This charming and gentle comedy also features a lot of women, including Gianni’s formidable mother and her card-playing cronies.

Monday, January 16 at 7.30pm My Week with Marilyn (15)

In 1957 Marilyn Monroe came to London to film The Prince and the Showgirl with Sir Laurence Olivier. She charmed everyone in sight (except Olivier), and Colin Clark, a young assistant on whose memoirs the story is based, was smitten. Michelle Williams brilliantly captures Marilyn’s unique combination of glamour and vulnerability. Also featuring Eddie Redmayne, Kenneth Branagh, Judi Dench, Simon Russell Beale, Dominic Cooper and Toby Jones.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, January 17, 18 and 19 at 7.30pm, matinee on Thursday at 2pm.

Way of the Morris (12A)

‘ A short, adorable documentary’ – Financial Times.

‘Truly charming’–The Daily Telegraph.

Actor and filmmaker Tim Plester revisits his home village in Oxfordshire, and in acquainting himself with the history and practice of Morris dancing, turns from sceptic to admirer. The film includes an outline of the mysterious origins of Morris, plus home movies of the village team from the 70s, and their pilgrimage to the Somme, from which only one of their number returned in 1916.

This is a DVD screening in Oscars Screen 2, Thursday, January 19 at 8pm.

Romantics Anonymous (Les Emotifs Anonymes) (12A)

This light-hearted romantic comedy features two chronically shy people, a failing chocolate factory, and a series of increasingly farcical situations that seem designed to thwart the tentative lovers. Will they ever get together?

Will the chocolate factory survive? Will you be able to stop yourself cheering them both on?

‘Frothy, funny and utterly charming’– Eye for Film

Monday and Tuesday, January 23 and 24 at 7.30pm.

Wuthering Heights (15)

Andrea Arnold (Red Road, Fish Tank) directs a radical interpretation of Emily Brontë's novel, capturing the harsh wildness of life on the Yorkshire moors, and the close friendship between the young Cathy and Heathcliff, which grows into a passionate and obsessive love.

Wednesday and Thursday, January 25 and 26 at 7.30pm.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (cert 12A)

Another thrilling adventure for Robert Downey Jnr’s unconventional Holmes, and Jude Law’s Watson, as they join forces to outwit and bring down their fiercest adversary, Professor Moriarty, who is out to cause the collapse of Western civilisation.

Also featuring Noomi Rapace and Kelly Reilly.

Friday, Saturday and Monday, January 27, 28 and 30 at 7.30pm

Les Enfants du Paradis (PG)

A welcome re-release of this restored 1945 film, regularly voted the greatest French movie ever made. Set in 1830s Paris, the story revolves around the beautiful actress Garance, and her four would-be lovers. Both the cast (Pierre Brasseur, Jean-Louis Barrault and Arletty) and script by Jacques Prévert, are outstanding.

‘Among the peaks of romantic cinema’ – The Observer

Tuesday, January 31 at 7pm

Resistance (PG)

This story, based on the best-selling book by Owen Sheers and filmed in the nearby Olchon Valley, explores what might have happened if Britain were occupied by Nazi Germany. It’s 1944, and a group of women in an isolated Welsh village wake up to discover that all their menfolk have disappeared. Left on their own, how will the women survive under German officialdom?

Meanwhile, what are the men up to? Starring Andrea Riseborough and Michael Sheen

Wednesday and Thursday, February 1 and 2 at 7.30pm.