The Rio Theatre’s patented Friday Late Night Movie series continues on July 11 with Australian filmmaker Sean Byrne‘s (THE DEVIL’S CANDY) latest, the cold blooded survival thriller DANGEROUS ANIMALS.

Zephyr, a solitary surfer with a troubled past has come to Australia’s Gold Coast to find an escape, but her peaceful existence is disrupted when she meets Moses, a local real estate agent and fellow surfer. After a romantic night with him, she flees to the ocean but is abducted by Tucker, a shark–obsessed psycho-sadomasochistic serial killer. Soon, things go from bad to the absolute bloody worst, and she finds herself facing a terrifying showdown somewhere between onboard the ship and the sharks below. Zephyr must challenge the real monster: man. With Hassie Harrington, Jai Courtney, Ella Newton.

“Making this work requires wit, the right tone and a ruthleJosh Heuston, ss sense of pace. [Director Sean] Byrne manages all three with a sure hand.” (New York Times)

“What truly elevates this film above the mediocrity one might expect from such a project is the credibility its actors bring to their characters.” (Los Angeles Times)

“Generally, movies that deal with the triumph of the human spirit are just so much multiplex chum. But Dangerous Animals is the rare survival thriller in which it feels like something is at stake beyond the mechanics of the story line.” (The Ringer)

Friday, July 11
Doors 10:30 pm | Movie 11:00 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

LATE NIGHT DATE NIGHT! Tickets are two-for-one entry.

DANGEROUS ANIMALS (Sean Byrne, 2025 / 14A / 98 mins) A shark-obsessed serial killer holds Zephyr, a rebellious surfer, captive on his boat. Racing against time, she must figure out a way to escape before he carries out a ritualistic feeding to the sharks below.

Alright, alright, alright!

Why go cruising the strip or climbing the moontower when you could spend it at your favourite indie movie theatre instead?

Join us at the Rio Theatre for a slice of cult-classic nostalgia that celebrates the best day of high school you never had: Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused.

As fresh today as it was when it was released in 1993, Linklater's infinitely quotable coming-of-age tale features a truly excellent ensemble cast, an authentically groovy 70s feel, and a pretty killer soundtrack, man. Dazed and Confused might be Linklater's best-loved work, and really showcases his signature rambling, naturalistic style and an approach to storytelling that was so memorable in his breakthrough 1991 indie hit, Slacker. Dazed and Confused manages to take a peek into the cliques and characters of high school in a smart, heartfelt, and often very funny way, revealing an endearing and occasionally profound picture of, "the best years of your life." Starring Jason London, Wiley Wiggins, Matthew McConaughey, Parker Posey, Joey Lauren Adams, Rory Cochrane, Adam Goldberg, Anthony Rapp, Marissa Ribisi, Milla Jovovovovich, and Ben Affleck.

"Bet it makes you wanna dance." (TIME Magazine)

Saturday, July 12
Doors 2:15 pm | Movie 2:45 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

DAZED AND CONFUSED (Richard Linklater, 1993 / 102 mins, 14A) | The adventures of a group of Texas teens on their last day of school in 1976, centering on student Randall Floyd, who moves easily among stoners, jocks and geeks. Floyd is a star athlete, but he also likes smoking weed, which presents a conundrum when his football coach demands he sign a "no drugs" pledge.

Get ready to rock out (and maybe lick a love pump, or two) at the Rio Theatre with 41st Anniversary screenings of the iconic comedy satire THIS IS SPINAL TAP, which has been beautifully restored, remastered, and remixed in anticipation of the long-awaited sequel (THIS IS SPINAL TAP II: THE END CONTINUES - coming in September). Created by director Rob Reiner with stars and co-writers Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer, THIS IS SPINAL TAP chronicles England’s loudest and most punctual band on their disaster-filled U.S. tour.

THIS IS SPINAL TAP pushed (or possibly created) the "mockumentary" genre with this pitch-perfect, hilarious spoof about the excesses of the rock n' roll lifestyle. Reiner (who also appeared as Archie Bunker's son-in-law on TV's ALL IN THE FAMILY) cast himself in the role of "director" Marty DiBergi, tasked with chronicling the life and times of Britain's loudest heavy metal band, Spinal Tap (co-writers Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer), during their American comeback tour.

"It stays so wickedly close to the subject that it is very nearly indistinguishable from the real thing." (The New York Times)

"... all these years later, their songs remain the same, the jokes are still funny — and in terms of fake movie bands, they still go to 11." (Rolling Stone)

"The funniest film ever made." (BBC)

Saturday, July 12
Doors 4:45 pm | Movie 5:15 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

THIS IS SPINAL TAP (Rob Reiner, 1984 / 82 mins / PG) Legendary British rock band Spinal Tap is followed by a documentary film-maker during their attempt at an American comeback tour. The resulting film, interspersed with powerful performances showcasing Tap's pivotal music and profound lyrics, candidly follows the group as the difficult industry threatens to fade them into obscurity.

“You keep dancing with the devil, one day he’s gonna follow you home.”

Following the massive success of both CREED and BLACK PANTHER franchises American director Ryan Coogler is again reuniting with one of the stars of those films, Michael B. Jordan, in an entirely new vision of fear: SINNERS.

Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers (Jordan, in a dual role) return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back. With Hailee Steinfeld, Jack O’Connell, Wunmi Mosaku, and Delroy Lindo.

"'Sinners' is a redemption movie, a revenge movie with elements of Blaxploitation, and certainly a red-blood-soaked horror movie; it’s also deeply romantic and has the rhythms and audaciousness of some of our boldest musicals." (Filmspotting)

"It’s both a wildly ambitious meditation on American history and a rip-roaring good time." (Slate)

"It is a phantasm of Black Southern delights." (New York Magazine / Vulture)

"An awe-inspiring ode to what music means to communities and cultures." (Chicago Reader)

Saturday, July 12
Doors 7:00 pm | Movie 7:30 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

SINNERS (Ryan Coogler, 2025 / 137 mins / 14A) Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.

One of the most quietly provocative and controversial indie films of the 1990s, Larry Clark’s groundbreaking KIDS chronicles a frenetic day-in-the-life of a group of contemporary teenagers in New York City. Notable for Clark's signature eye for capturing breathtaking photographic images, KIDS is a hard watch; it offers a deeply affecting, no holds-barred landscape of words and images, depicting with raw honesty the experiences, attitudes and uncertainties of innocence lost.

Featuring a screenplay from a 19-year old Harmony Korine (who was "discovered" by Clark while skateboarding in Washington Square Park), the film assembles an impressive cast of first-time actors, including Chloë Sevigny and Rosario Dawson in their breakout roles.

"Frightening, frank and serious, a wake-up call to the world." (New York Times)

"None of the advance hype on Kids can prepare you for the raw, stripped-down reality that Larry Clark captures in his astonishing first film." (San Francsico Chronicle)

"'Kids' is the kind of movie that needs to be talked about afterward." (Roger Ebert)

"'Kids' is an emotional sucker punch, a raw, dirty, disturbing piece of cinema verité filmmaking that simultaneously hooks and repulses you from its opening scenes." (Austin Chronicle)

Saturday, July 12
Doors 10:00 pm | Movie 10:30 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

KIDS (Larry Clark, 1995 / 91 mins / 18A) The film follows amoral teen Telly, who has made it his goal to sleep with as many virgin girls as possible. While on the hunt for his latest conquest, Telly and his best friend, Casper, smoke pot and steal from shops around New York. Meanwhile, Jenny, one of Telly's early victims, makes it her mission to save other girls from him. But before she has a chance to confront him at a party, everything goes horribly wrong.

Joins us at the Rio Theatre for a big screen viewing of the FIFA Club World Cup games on July 8 (Semi finals) and July 13 (Finals).

Tuesday. July 8 Semi Finals! Teams TBD.
Doors 11:30 am | Game 12:00 pm *Start time subject to change.

Hong Kong, 1962: Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) and Su Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung Man-yuk) move into neighboring apartments on the same day. Their encounters are formal and polite—until a discovery about their spouses creates an intimate bond between them.

For the celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the film, Wong Kar Wai has revisited the original concept of the film. With this special edition he has offered the possibility of storytelling by adding an unseen chapter as a bonus to the original version.

Initially conceived as one third of a triptych about food, IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE was expanded into a stand-alone feature that won immediate recognition as a modern-day classic. Another third—intended as the “dessert,” as Wong Kar Wai has put it—was, until now, only screened during his masterclass at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. Now available in wide release for the first time, IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE 2001 demonstrates the director’s masterful ability to generate palpable atmosphere and striking characterizations on a miniature canvas—with the film's stars Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Maggie Cheung Man Yuk once again providing the sizzling chemistry— evoking the mystery of transient, unexpected connections in the modern city through his inimitable romantic touch.

At once delicately mannered and visually extravagant, IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE is a masterful evocation of romantic longing and fleeting moments. With its aching musical soundtrack and exquisitely abstract cinematography by Christopher Doyle and Mark Lee Ping-bin, this film has been a major stylistic influence on the past decade of cinema, and is a milestone in Wong’s redoubtable career. (In Sight & Sound's most recent poll of The Greatest Films of All Time, the film finds itself ranked at #5.)

"Wong Kar Wai’s masterpiece is a heartbreaking story of illicit love that pulses with the ache of repressed desire." (BFI.org)

"So skillfully does the director brings us to a state of breathless expectation that when he refuses to deliver the goods he almost seems to have invented a new form of perversion." (New Yorker Magazine)

"Further complemented by the gentle lull of Nat King Cole songs, 'In The Mood For Love' casts a dreamy and melancholic spell that remains unbroken long after the closing credits have rolled." (AV Club)

"Stylized, set-designed to the last hair wisp, the film is a mixture of bold devices with delicate understatement that leave a remarkable aftereffect." (Globe and Mail)

Sunday, July 13
Doors 3:45 pm | Movie 4:15 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE 2001 (Wong Kar Wai, 2000 / PG / 107 mins / Cantonese with English subtitles) Hong Kong, 1962: A journalist, Chow and his wife move into a Hong Kong apartment, but his spouse is often away on business. Before long, the lonely Chow makes the acquaintance of an alluring neighbour whose own significant other also seems preoccupied with work. As the two friends realize their respective partners are cheating on them, they begin to fall for one another; however, neither wants to stoop to the level of the unfaithful spouses.

The Summer of 2025 marks the year that cinema's most famous shark (aka, JAWS) turns 50, and it turns out there's blood in the water (or on the screen?) as movie-loving audiences the world over hunger for more of the terrifying ocean predator.

Japanese filmmaker Morihito Inoue makes his feature debut with a horror-comedy that is sure to whet the appetite of summer audiences with HOT SPRING SHARK ATTACK, a deft fusion of shark movies and kaiju films that offers a nostalgic ode to the the beloved practical effects-heavy tokusatsu movies. SPOILER ALERT: "The dog survives!"

In Atsumi City, where construction of a huge tourist complex led by the mayor, Mankan, is underway, a series of incidents have occurred in which the people while bathing in onsen have suddenly disappeared. What's more, the bodies of unidentified people who had been attacked by sharks in the sea were found. The police chief, Tsuka, and marine biology doctor, Kose, who set out to investigate, discover the shocking truth that ferocious sharks that have been revived from ancient times are freely moving between the hot springs and attacking people... The cast includes Takuya Fujimura (ONE CUT OF THE DEAD), Daniel Aguilar (SHIN GODZILLA), Shôichirô Akaboshi, Masaki Naito, Koichi Makigami, Kiyobumi Kaneko, and Mio Takaki.

"An oversupply of sharks, tokusatsu effects that fully embody a kaiju movie, an in sane plot, an overly luxurious soundtrack, and spectacular explosions—everything was superb. The intricate sci-fi settings are brilliantly elevated into Shark Fantasy, and I was moved by the fact that a bizarre shark film, standing alongside "Sharknado," has emerged from Japan." (Japanese Shark Film Critic)

Audience Award, 2024 Tokyo International Shark Film Festival; Invited to Paris Shark Week, Atami Kaiju Film Festival, San Sebastian Horror & Fantasy Film Festival

Sunday, July 13
Doors 6:30 pm | Movie 7:00 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

HOT SPRING SHARK ATTACK "Onsen Shâku" (Morihito Inoue, 2024 / 77 mins / NR / Japanese w/EST) There have been cases of mysterious disappearances of onsen visitors in Atsumi city in S prefecture.The victims were eventually found dead with signs of severe injuries to their bodies resembling a vicious shark attack.

“You keep dancing with the devil, one day he’s gonna follow you home.”

Following the massive success of both CREED and BLACK PANTHER franchises American director Ryan Coogler is again reuniting with one of the stars of those films, Michael B. Jordan, in an entirely new vision of fear: SINNERS.

Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers (Jordan, in a dual role) return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back. With Hailee Steinfeld, Jack O’Connell, Wunmi Mosaku, and Delroy Lindo.

"'Sinners' is a redemption movie, a revenge movie with elements of Blaxploitation, and certainly a red-blood-soaked horror movie; it’s also deeply romantic and has the rhythms and audaciousness of some of our boldest musicals." (Filmspotting)

"It’s both a wildly ambitious meditation on American history and a rip-roaring good time." (Slate)

"It is a phantasm of Black Southern delights." (New York Magazine / Vulture)

"An awe-inspiring ode to what music means to communities and cultures." (Chicago Reader)

Sunday, July 13
Doors 8:30 pm | Movie 9:00 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

SINNERS (Ryan Coogler, 2025 / 137 mins / 14A) Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.

“Amélie has a strange feeling of absolute harmony... It’s a perfect moment. A soft light, a scent in the air, the quiet murmur of the city. A surge of love, an urge to help mankind overcomes her.”

We're toasting French cinema on Bastille Day (July 14) with one of our all-time favourites, a film that is equal parts romantic and magical, Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s delightfully charming AMELIE. Released in 2001, this endearing modern French classic about an impish, lonesome young woman in Paris remains one of the most successful international releases of all time, is roundly embraced by cinephiles the world over, and happens to have one of the most beloved scores (Yann Tiersen) in recent memory. It also introduced the world to the thoroughly enchanting Audrey Tatou, the pleasures of the crack of a spoon against the brittle, caramelized top of an ice-cold crème brûlée, and the magic of traveling garden gnomes. With Mathieu Kassovitz, Rufus, and Jamel Debbouze."It's hard not to fall under the spell of this moonstruck romance." (Rolling Stone)

Monday, July 14
Doors 6:00 pm | Movie 6:30 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

AMELIE "Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain" (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001 / 122 mins / 14A / French w/ EST) At a tiny Parisian café, the adorable yet painfully shy Amélie accidentally discovers a gift for helping others. Soon Amelie is spending her days as a matchmaker, guardian angel, and all-around do-gooder. But when she bumps into a handsome stranger, will she find the courage to become the star of her very own love story?

Titane: A metal highly resistant to heat and corrosion, with high tensile strength alloys, often used inmedical prostheses due to its pronounced biocompatibility.

French filmmaker Julia Decournau (whose upcoming film ALPHA received a "thunderous" 12 minute standing ovation at this year's Cannes Film Festival) became only the second female director to take home the prestigious Palme d'Or, the Cannes Film Festival's top award, for her visionary, provocative and dark body horror fantasy TITANE. The film stars Agathe Rousselle in her feature film debut as Alexia, a woman who, after being injured in a car accident as a child, has a titanium plate fitted into her head. With Vincent Lindon, Garince Millier, and Laïs Salamthe.

"'Titane' is a truly harrowing experience, if you're willing to let go behind the wheel." (Austin Chronicle)

"For whatever we're supposed to feel is outrageous about it, it's slickly entertaining for straightforward reasons: the pile-up of mysteries that some of us simply can't not see through to the end." (Rolling Stone Magazine)

"Despite its physical horrors, the movie is also a celebration of the body, of the bond between pleasure and pain, agony and ecstasy-and that fusion proves to hold for family bonds as well." (New Yorker)

"This year's Palme d'Or winner is a symphony of disturbing and dark madness unlike anything you've ever seen - and I mean that in a good way." (Chicago Sun-Times)

Monday, July 14
Doors 8:45 pm | Movie 9:15 pm *Please arrive on time. Start time subject to change.

TITANE (Julia Doucournau, 2021 / 18 A / Graphic violence / 108 mins / French with English subtitles) A woman with a metal plate in her head from a childhood car accident embarks on a bizarre journey, bringing her into contact with a firefighter who's reunited with his missing son after 10 years.

“You keep dancing with the devil, one day he’s gonna follow you home.”

Following the massive success of both CREED and BLACK PANTHER franchises American director Ryan Coogler is again reuniting with one of the stars of those films, Michael B. Jordan, in an entirely new vision of fear: SINNERS.

Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers (Jordan, in a dual role) return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back. With Hailee Steinfeld, Jack O’Connell, Wunmi Mosaku, and Delroy Lindo.

"'Sinners' is a redemption movie, a revenge movie with elements of Blaxploitation, and certainly a red-blood-soaked horror movie; it’s also deeply romantic and has the rhythms and audaciousness of some of our boldest musicals." (Filmspotting)

"It’s both a wildly ambitious meditation on American history and a rip-roaring good time." (Slate)

"It is a phantasm of Black Southern delights." (New York Magazine / Vulture)

"An awe-inspiring ode to what music means to communities and cultures." (Chicago Reader)

Tuesday, July 15
Doors 6:00 pm | Movie 6:30 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

SINNERS (Ryan Coogler, 2025 / 137 mins / 14A) Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.

Australian filmmaker Sean Byrne‘s (THE DEVIL’S CANDY) latest, the cold blooded survival thriller DANGEROUS ANIMALS, is a must-see for fans of genre horror.

Zephyr, a solitary surfer with a troubled past has come to Australia’s Gold Coast to find an escape, but her peaceful existence is disrupted when she meets Moses, a local real estate agent and fellow surfer. After a romantic night with him, she flees to the ocean but is abducted by Tucker, a shark–obsessed psycho-sadomasochistic serial killer. Soon, things go from bad to the absolute bloody worst, and she finds herself facing a terrifying showdown somewhere between onboard the ship and the sharks below. Zephyr must challenge the real monster: man. With Hassie Harrington, Jai Courtney, Ella Newton.

“Making this work requires wit, the right tone and a ruthleJosh Heuston, ss sense of pace. [Director Sean] Byrne manages all three with a sure hand.” (New York Times)

“What truly elevates this film above the mediocrity one might expect from such a project is the credibility its actors bring to their characters.” (Los Angeles Times)

“Generally, movies that deal with the triumph of the human spirit are just so much multiplex chum. But Dangerous Animals is the rare survival thriller in which it feels like something is at stake beyond the mechanics of the story line.” (The Ringer)

Tuesday, July 15
Doors 9:00 pm | Movie 9:20 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

DANGEROUS ANIMALS (Sean Byrne, 2025 / 14A / 98 mins) A shark-obsessed serial killer holds Zephyr, a rebellious surfer, captive on his boat. Racing against time, she must figure out a way to escape before he carries out a ritualistic feeding to the sharks below.

Get ready to rock out (and maybe lick a love pump, or two) at the Rio Theatre with 41st Anniversary screenings of the iconic comedy satire THIS IS SPINAL TAP, which has been beautifully restored, remastered, and remixed in anticipation of the long-awaited sequel (THIS IS SPINAL TAP II: THE END CONTINUES - coming in September). Created by director Rob Reiner with stars and co-writers Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer, THIS IS SPINAL TAP chronicles England’s loudest and most punctual band on their disaster-filled U.S. tour.

THIS IS SPINAL TAP pushed (or possibly created) the "mockumentary" genre with this pitch-perfect, hilarious spoof about the excesses of the rock n' roll lifestyle. Reiner (who also appeared as Archie Bunker's son-in-law on TV's ALL IN THE FAMILY) cast himself in the role of "director" Marty DiBergi, tasked with chronicling the life and times of Britain's loudest heavy metal band, Spinal Tap (co-writers Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer), during their American comeback tour.

"It stays so wickedly close to the subject that it is very nearly indistinguishable from the real thing." (The New York Times)

"... all these years later, their songs remain the same, the jokes are still funny — and in terms of fake movie bands, they still go to 11." (Rolling Stone)

"The funniest film ever made." (BBC)

Wednesday, July 16
Doors 6:00 pm | Movie 6:30 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

THIS IS SPINAL TAP (Rob Reiner, 1984 / 82 mins / PG) Legendary British rock band Spinal Tap is followed by a documentary film-maker during their attempt at an American comeback tour. The resulting film, interspersed with powerful performances showcasing Tap's pivotal music and profound lyrics, candidly follows the group as the difficult industry threatens to fade them into obscurity.

“You keep dancing with the devil, one day he’s gonna follow you home.”

Following the massive success of both CREED and BLACK PANTHER franchises American director Ryan Coogler is again reuniting with one of the stars of those films, Michael B. Jordan, in an entirely new vision of fear: SINNERS.

Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers (Jordan, in a dual role) return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back. With Hailee Steinfeld, Jack O’Connell, Wunmi Mosaku, and Delroy Lindo.

"'Sinners' is a redemption movie, a revenge movie with elements of Blaxploitation, and certainly a red-blood-soaked horror movie; it’s also deeply romantic and has the rhythms and audaciousness of some of our boldest musicals." (Filmspotting)

"It’s both a wildly ambitious meditation on American history and a rip-roaring good time." (Slate)

"It is a phantasm of Black Southern delights." (New York Magazine / Vulture)

"An awe-inspiring ode to what music means to communities and cultures." (Chicago Reader)

Wednesday, July 16
Doors 8:15 pm | Movie 8:45 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

SINNERS (Ryan Coogler, 2025 / 137 mins / 14A) Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.

Following the massive international success of 2005's BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, acclaimed Taiwanese filmmaker Ang Lee turned his lens to another period adaptation, this time to Eileen Chang's 1979 novella "Lust Caution." Inspired by a true story and set in Hong Kong and Shanghai during 1938-1942, the hyper-erotic romantic drama received the dreaded NC-17 rating in the US (and was eitehr banned or censored in several Asian countries) when it was released in 2007 because of its highly charged scenes of sexuality.

An intense story and strong performances are buoyed by the quiet yet lush and authentic production value that has become Lee's trademark. At its core, the film is very much a daring spy thriller that follows a secret agent (Tang Wei) whose task is to seduce, then assassinate an official (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) who works for the Japanese puppet government. Her mission becomes clouded when she finds herself falling in love with the man she is assigned to kill. With Joan Chen.

"Lee is a filmmaker who understands the power of pure visual storytelling. Lust, Caution is a near perfect film with strong performances and a well-crafted narrative." (Filmotomy)

"'Lust, Caution' is so ambitious and detailed that you'll never be bored." (The Stranger)

"Lust - the word that speaks of inflamed passions, repressed longing and seriously naughty sex stands ill at ease with this rather languid exploration of freedom fighting during the Japanese occupation of Shanghai in the early 1940s." (Eye for Film)

"You leave the theatre a trifle exhausted but rewarded by a resonance few films possess." (London Evening Standard)

Thursday, July 17
Doors 6:00 pm | Movie 6:25 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

LUST, CAUTION "Se, jie" (Ang Lee, 2007 / 18A / 157 mins / English subtitles) During World War II era, a young woman gets swept up in a dangerous game of emotional intrigue with a powerful political figure, Mr. Yee.

“You keep dancing with the devil, one day he’s gonna follow you home.”

Following the massive success of both CREED and BLACK PANTHER franchises American director Ryan Coogler is again reuniting with one of the stars of those films, Michael B. Jordan, in an entirely new vision of fear: SINNERS.

Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers (Jordan, in a dual role) return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back. With Hailee Steinfeld, Jack O’Connell, Wunmi Mosaku, and Delroy Lindo.

"'Sinners' is a redemption movie, a revenge movie with elements of Blaxploitation, and certainly a red-blood-soaked horror movie; it’s also deeply romantic and has the rhythms and audaciousness of some of our boldest musicals." (Filmspotting)

"It’s both a wildly ambitious meditation on American history and a rip-roaring good time." (Slate)

"It is a phantasm of Black Southern delights." (New York Magazine / Vulture)

"An awe-inspiring ode to what music means to communities and cultures." (Chicago Reader)

Thursday, July 17
Doors 9:20 pm | Movie 9:40 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

SINNERS (Ryan Coogler, 2025 / 137 mins / 14A) Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.

June is Pride month across North America and the Rio Theatre is joining in the celebration with the groundbreaking, and first of its kind in contemporary Hollywood mainstream films, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN: 20th anniversary screening.

The film is set in a fictitious yet picturesque location, Brokeback Mountain, and chronicles the lives of two cowboys Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist who are hired by Joe Aguirre in 1963 for sheep-herding. Slowly, the men develop a close, intimate relationship, but the values instilled in them by the heteronormative society prevents them from embracing their true feelings. They part from one another with heavy hearts, only to meet again, four years later. Ennis is married to the young Alma and has children of his own while Jack has a son with the wealthy daughter of a farm businessman, Lureen. Jack and Ennis rekindle their passion and frequently escape on romantic getaways under the pretext of fishing trips.

"To my mind, Brokeback Mountain (2005, Ang Lee) is a landmark film, a film that utterly deconstructs the “cowboy” (hypermasculine, patriarchal, phallocentric) ideology, while also revealing how horribly destructive such normalizing ideologies as hypermasculinity, patriarchy, heteronormativity, and Christianity/Protestantism are to identity. (Your Film Professor)

"Intimate and emotionally stirring, the film can be evaluated on multiple levels. It is important to note that despite there being quite a few LGBTQ+ films, Brokeback Mountain has cemented its position in cinematic history and is often considered the “go-to gay movie”. (faroutmagazine.co.uk)

Friday, July 18
Doors 2:30 pm | Film 3:00 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (Ang lee, 2005 / 134 mins / 14A) In 1960s Wyoming, two men develop a strong emotional and sexual relationship that endures as a lifelong connection complicating their lives as they get married and start families of their own.

Considered by many to be his "magnum opus," Wes Anderson's glorious THE GRAND BUDAPEST perfectly places the filmmaker's signature style against a compelling narrative brought to life thanks to stellar performances from an ensemble of A-listers. Adapted from the works of Austrian author Stefan Zweig, the film absolutely revels in its nostalgic, romanticized version of an era that exudes a refined elegance while simultaneously being pinned to a reality of the inevitable, forthcoming upheaval that will ultimately define mid-century Europe.

Set in the 1930s, the Grand Budapest Hotel is a popular European ski resort, presided over by the exceedingly charming concierge, Gustave H. (Ralph Fiennes). Zero, a junior lobby boy, becomes Gustave's friend and protege. Gustave prides himself on providing first-class service to the hotel's guests, including satisfying the sexual needs of the many elderly women who stay there. When one of Gustave's lovers dies mysteriously, Gustave finds himself the recipient of a priceless painting and the chief suspect in her murder. With F. Murray Abraham, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Jude Law, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Saoirse Ronan, Jason Schwartzman, Léa Seydoux, Tom Wilkinson, Owen Wilson, Tilda Swinton, and Tony Revolori.

"Wes Anderson blends his trademark fanciness with a more rompish style of humour than usual." (Financial Times)

"From the start, it's clear Anderson is working with a new sophistication both in the vocabulary and structure of the film's voiceover narrations." (Globe and Mail)

"Discerning travellers and Wes Anderson fans will luxuriate in the glorious Mittel-European kitsch of one of the director's funniest and most exquisitely designed movies in years." (The Times)

"Anderson's films are too precious for some, but for those of us willing to lose ourselves in them, they're a delight. "The Grand Budapest Hotel" is no different, except that he has added a hint of gravitas to the mix, improving the recipe." (Arizona Republic)

Friday, July 18
Doors 5:30 pm | Movie 6:00 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (Wes Anderson, 2014 / 14A / 99 mins) A writer encounters the owner of an aging high-class hotel, who tells him of his early years serving as a lobby boy in the hotel's glorious years under an exceptional concierge.

Wealthy businessman Zsa-zsa Korda appoints his only daughter, a nun, as sole heir to his estate. As Korda embarks on a new enterprise, they soon become the target of scheming tycoons, foreign terrorists and determined assassins. With Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera, Willem Dafoe, F. Murray Abraham, Rupert Friend, Richard Ayoade, Riz Ahmed, Scarlett Johansson, Jeffrey Wright, Hope Davis, Benedict Cumberbatch.

"A caper made with all the intricacy of a Rube Goldberg machine, 'The Phoenician Scheme' doesn't deviate from Wes Anderson's increasingly ornate style but delivers the formula with mannered delicacy." (Rotten Tomatoes)

"Each set is carefully assembled, with the blocking of each shot perfectly aligned, and Anderson’s rat-a-tat dialogue is delivered exactly as written. Still, there’s a spontaneity to the storytelling and the world it’s moving through." (The Atlantic)

"... A palate cleanser – a lovely lark, a spirits lifter." (Austin Chronicle)

"The result is more digestible, though also less moving, than Anderson’s recent Asteroid City, but it does have a stealth emotional weapon in Threapleton’s Liesl, who exudes the intelligence and self-possession of a young Anna Karina." (The New Yorker)

Friday, July 18
Doors 8:00 pm | Movie 8:30 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME (Wes Anderson, 2025 / 101 mins / PG) Wealthy businessman, Zsa-zsa Korda appoints his only daughter, a nun, as sole heir to his estate. As Korda embarks on a new enterprise, they soon become the target of scheming tycoons, foreign terrorists, and determined assassins.

The Rio Theatre's Friday Late Night Movies series continues on July 18 with a big ol' cheesy slice of unadulterated 60's camp, with "Queen of the Galaxy" Jane Fonda in Roger Vadim's out-of-this-world sci-fi sex romp / cult-classic, BARBARELLA. With Anita Pallenberg, John Phillip Law, Marcel Marceau.

"BARBARELLA is a gift-wrapped 'X' certificate bonbon for a space age nursery." (The Spectator)

"Roger Vadim's ultra-kitsch sci-fi classic somehow improves with age." (Total Film)

Friday, July 18
Doors 10:30 pm | Movie 11:00 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

Late Night Date Night! Bring a friend, date or your own friendly neighbourhood mad scientist and get two-for-one entry!

BARBARELLA (Roger Vadim, 1968 / 98 mins / PG) In the the 41st century, a highly sexual female astronaut named Barbarella is tasked with finding and stopping the mad scientist Durand-Durand, whose Positronic Ray threatens to bring evil back into the galaxy. Along the way she encounters various unusual people.

"That'll do pig. That'll do."

Gentle farmer Arthur Hoggett (James Cromwell) wins a piglet named Babe (Christine Cavanaugh) at a county fair. Narrowly escaping his fate as Christmas dinner when Farmer Hoggett decides to show him at the next fair, Babe bonds with motherly border collie Fly (Miriam Margolyes) and discovers that he too can herd sheep. But will the other farm animals, including Fly's jealous husband Rex, accept a pig who doesn't conform to the farm's social hierarchy?

"Here's the summer's sleeper for kids and their parents, a terrific picture that takes a lot of risks and makes them all pay off in a charming story about a pig who fancies himself a sheepdog -- or sheep-pig." (Gene Siskel)

"It's a clever, witty, touching piece of work that, coincidentally enough, is also a decidedly excellent date movie. Really." (Austin Chronicle)

Saturday, July 19
Doors 11:30 am | Movie 12:00 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

Kids pricing in effect!

BABE (Chris Noonan, 1995 / G / 91 mins) Gentle farmer Arthur Hoggett wins a piglet Babe at a county fair. Narrowly escaping his fate as Christmas dinner, Babe bonds with motherly border collie Fly.

Wealthy businessman Zsa-zsa Korda appoints his only daughter, a nun, as sole heir to his estate. As Korda embarks on a new enterprise, they soon become the target of scheming tycoons, foreign terrorists and determined assassins. With Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera, Willem Dafoe, F. Murray Abraham, Rupert Friend, Richard Ayoade, Riz Ahmed, Scarlett Johansson, Jeffrey Wright, Hope Davis, Benedict Cumberbatch.

"A caper made with all the intricacy of a Rube Goldberg machine, 'The Phoenician Scheme' doesn't deviate from Wes Anderson's increasingly ornate style but delivers the formula with mannered delicacy." (Rotten Tomatoes)

"Each set is carefully assembled, with the blocking of each shot perfectly aligned, and Anderson’s rat-a-tat dialogue is delivered exactly as written. Still, there’s a spontaneity to the storytelling and the world it’s moving through." (The Atlantic)

"... A palate cleanser – a lovely lark, a spirits lifter." (Austin Chronicle)

"The result is more digestible, though also less moving, than Anderson’s recent Asteroid City, but it does have a stealth emotional weapon in Threapleton’s Liesl, who exudes the intelligence and self-possession of a young Anna Karina." (The New Yorker)

Saturday, July 19
Doors 1:45 pm | Movie 2:15 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME (Wes Anderson, 2025 / 101 mins / PG) Wealthy businessman, Zsa-zsa Korda appoints his only daughter, a nun, as sole heir to his estate. As Korda embarks on a new enterprise, they soon become the target of scheming tycoons, foreign terrorists, and determined assassins.

Hong Kong, 1962: Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) and Su Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung Man-yuk) move into neighboring apartments on the same day. Their encounters are formal and polite—until a discovery about their spouses creates an intimate bond between them.

For the celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the film, Wong Kar Wai has revisited the original concept of the film. With this special edition he has offered the possibility of storytelling by adding an unseen chapter as a bonus to the original version.

Initially conceived as one third of a triptych about food, IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE was expanded into a stand-alone feature that won immediate recognition as a modern-day classic. Another third—intended as the “dessert,” as Wong Kar Wai has put it—was, until now, only screened during his masterclass at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. Now available in wide release for the first time, IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE 2001 demonstrates the director’s masterful ability to generate palpable atmosphere and striking characterizations on a miniature canvas—with the film's stars Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Maggie Cheung Man Yuk once again providing the sizzling chemistry— evoking the mystery of transient, unexpected connections in the modern city through his inimitable romantic touch.

At once delicately mannered and visually extravagant, IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE is a masterful evocation of romantic longing and fleeting moments. With its aching musical soundtrack and exquisitely abstract cinematography by Christopher Doyle and Mark Lee Ping-bin, this film has been a major stylistic influence on the past decade of cinema, and is a milestone in Wong’s redoubtable career. (In Sight & Sound's most recent poll of The Greatest Films of All Time, the film finds itself ranked at #5.)

"Wong Kar Wai’s masterpiece is a heartbreaking story of illicit love that pulses with the ache of repressed desire." (BFI.org)

"So skillfully does the director brings us to a state of breathless expectation that when he refuses to deliver the goods he almost seems to have invented a new form of perversion." (New Yorker Magazine)

"Further complemented by the gentle lull of Nat King Cole songs, 'In The Mood For Love' casts a dreamy and melancholic spell that remains unbroken long after the closing credits have rolled." (AV Club)

"Stylized, set-designed to the last hair wisp, the film is a mixture of bold devices with delicate understatement that leave a remarkable aftereffect." (Globe and Mail)

Saturday, July 19
Doors 4:15 pm | Movie 4:45 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE 2001 (Wong Kar Wai, 2000 / PG / 107 mins / Cantonese with English subtitles) Hong Kong, 1962: A journalist, Chow and his wife move into a Hong Kong apartment, but his spouse is often away on business. Before long, the lonely Chow makes the acquaintance of an alluring neighbour whose own significant other also seems preoccupied with work. As the two friends realize their respective partners are cheating on them, they begin to fall for one another; however, neither wants to stoop to the level of the unfaithful spouses.

“Amélie has a strange feeling of absolute harmony... It’s a perfect moment. A soft light, a scent in the air, the quiet murmur of the city. A surge of love, an urge to help mankind overcomes her.”

We're toasting some of our favourite "must be seen on the big screen" classics this summer and are featuring one of our all-time favourite titles is equal parts romantic and magical, Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s delightfully charming AMELIE. Released in 2001, this endearing modern French classic about an impish, lonesome young woman in Paris remains one of the most successful international releases of all time, is roundly embraced by cinephiles the world over, and happens to have one of the most beloved scores (Yann Tiersen) in recent memory. It also introduced the world to the thoroughly enchanting Audrey Tatou, the pleasures of the crack of a spoon against the brittle, caramelized top of an ice-cold crème brûlée, and the magic of traveling garden gnomes. With Mathieu Kassovitz, Rufus, and Jamel Debbouze."It's hard not to fall under the spell of this moonstruck romance." (Rolling Stone)

Saturday, July 19
Doors 7:45 pm | Movie 8:15 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

AMELIE "Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain" (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001 / 122 mins / 14A / French w/ EST) At a tiny Parisian café, the adorable yet painfully shy Amélie accidentally discovers a gift for helping others. Soon Amelie is spending her days as a matchmaker, guardian angel, and all-around do-gooder. But when she bumps into a handsome stranger, will she find the courage to become the star of her very own love story?

Let’s do the Time Warp… Again!

There is no better way to experience the pop-culture juggernaut that is  THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW than the the way it is meant to be seen – on the big screen, in the dark, and with a raucous Rio Theatre audience who are just as into it as you are.

Whether you’re a Virgin or a veteran, you’ll have a blast!

Even better? Joyful chaos creature and the Rio's own legendary host, DANDY, will be on-hand to guide the Virgins (and veterans!) through all the do's-and-don'ts of this monumentally experiential cinematic phenomenon.

As always, costumes and audience participation are highly encouraged - because costume contest! (In other words: Prizes! Here's your chance to go all out and let your freak flag fly, people.) The ticket price includes a fun prop bag, too!

Your own props are also very welcome, but please – whatever you do – DO NOT BRING RICE OR CONFETTI!

Saturday, July 19
Doors 10:30 pm | Event 11:00 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (Jim Sharman, 1975 / 100 mins / 14A) A newly engaged couple (Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick) have a breakdown in an isolated area and must pay a call to the bizarre residence of Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry).

Studio Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata's poignant animated drama GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES is a devastating meditation on the human cost of war, a tale of survival as heartbreaking as it is true to life. Based on the re-tellings of survivor Nosaka Akiyuki, the film has been universally hailed as an artistic and emotional tour de force that is both beautiful, yet at times brutal and horrifying. Now digitally remastered and restored, it is one of the rare films that truly deserves to be called a masterpiece

As the Empire of the Sun crumbles upon itself and a rain of firebombs falls upon Japan, the final death march of a nation is echoed in millions of smaller tragedies. This is the story of Seita (Tsutomu Tatsumi) and his younger sister Setsuko (Ayano Shiraishi), two children born at the wrong time, in the wrong place, and now cast adrift in a world that lacks not the care to shelter them, but simply the resources. Forced to fend for themselves in the aftermath of fires that swept entire cities from the face of the earth, their doomed struggle is both a tribute to the human spirit and the stuff of nightmares. Against all odds, the orphaned siblings must rely completely on each other and struggle to stay together and alive.

"GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES is an emotional experience so powerful that it forces a rethinking of animation... This film proves, if it needs proving, that animation produces emotional effects not by reproducing reality, but by heightening and simplifying it, so that many of the sequences are about ideas, not experiences. It belongs on any list of the greatest war films ever made." (Roger Ebert)

GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES "Hotaru no Haka" (Isao Takahata, 1988 / 90 mins / PG / In Japanese with English subs) In the latter part of World War II, a boy and his sister, orphaned when their mother is killed in the firebombing of Tokyo, are left to survive on their own in what remains of civilian life in Japan. The plot follows this boy and his sister as they do their best to survive in the Japanese countryside, battling hunger, prejudice, and pride in their own quiet, personal battle.

"Hey, pretty girl. Time to wake up."

On two memorable occasions, the Rio Theatre had the distinct honour and privilege of screening David Lynch's iconic MULHOLLAND DRIVE - accompanied by the one and only Rebekah Del Rio performing her signature song from the film on our stage. We were all deeply saddened to learn of her recent passing. Rebekah she was a gentle, funny, and quietly perceptive soul with an uncanny knack for storytelling who also happened to be in possession of a pure vocal talent that was second-to-none. It goes without saying that few artists have ever mesmerized a Rio audience or rocked our stage quite the way she did! One might even argue that her fantastic a capella rendering of "Llorando" in that pivotal scene in Lynch's opus is what underpins the whole damn movie...

We'll miss you, Rebekah! "Silencio," always. - Rio Theatre Management

Lynch wrote and directed this story in the City of Dreams about two women (including Naomi Watts, in her star-making turn) who find themselves walking a fine line between truth and deception in the beautiful but dangerous netherworld of Hollywood.

Blonde Betty Elms (Watts) has only just arrived in Hollywood to become a movie star when she meets an enigmatic brunette with amnesia (Laura Harring). Meanwhile, as the two set off to solve the second woman’s identity, filmmaker Adam Kesher (Justin Theroux) runs into ominous trouble while casting his latest project. David Lynch’s seductive and scary vision of Los Angeles’s dream factory is one of the true masterpieces of the new millennium, a tale of love, jealousy, and revenge like no other.

With Ann Miller, Michael J. Anderson, Billy Ray Cyrus, Angelo Badalamenti, Robert Forster, Rebekah Del Rio.

"You can discover a lot about yourself by getting lost in 'Mulholland Drive.' It grips you like a dream that won't let go." (Rolling Stone)

"A bone fide masterpiece. An erotic, deeply unsettling, darkly comic journey through the subconscious city of night." (Empire Magazine)

"Lynch gets dreams like almost no other filmmaker, because he understands that dreams are not metaphors, but irrationally assembled spaces in which we can’t help but look for symbolism and logic." (AV Club)

Sunday, July 20
Doors 5:45 pm | Movie 6:15 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

MULHOLLAND DRIVE (David Lynch, 2001 / 18A / 147 mins) After a car wreck on Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesiac, she and a Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality.

Join us at the Rio Theatre for the third installment of a series presented in partnership with Antisocial AV Club, featuring a 20th anniversary screening of Catherine Hardwicke’s LORDS OF DOGTOWN.

Before the movie, head on down to China Creek for an old school skate jam! Prizes for Best Dressed, Best Old School Trick and Highest Fly Out will be awarded on stage later at the Rio Theatre...

Legendary pro-skateboarder and surfer Stacy Peralta took inspiration from his own experiences as a former "Z-Boy," and penned the script for the film, which offers a dramatic re-telling of the origin and rise of the Dogtown days. A heavy drought in 1970s Southern California has an unexpected side effect: as people emptied their swimming pools, a group of teen surfers from the Dogtown area of Venice Beach move in with skateboards, and a new sport is born. Based on a true story, this film follows the up-and-coming skate team as their fearless pool surfing leads to fame, fortune -- and misfortune. With Heath Ledger, Emile Hirsch, John Robinson, and Victor Rasuk.

"It's a thrashing good time." (Seattle Times)

"The movie is like a daydream, and it's most infectious when the characters are in motion or misbehaving, which is often." (Boston Globe)

Sunday, July 20
China Creek Skate Jam at 7:00 pm!

LORDS OF DOGTOWN
Doors 9:00 pm | Movie 9:30 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

LORDS OF DOGTWON (Catherine Hardwicke, 2005 / PG / 107) The radical true story behind three teenage surfers from Venice Beach, California, who took skateboarding to the extreme and changed the world of sports forever. Stacy Peralta, Tony Alva and Jay Adams are the Z-Boys, a bunch of nobodies until they create a new style of skateboarding that becomes a worldwide phenomenon. But when their hobby becomes a business, the success shreds their friendship.

"See me, Feel me, Touch me, Heal me..."

In 1975, filmmaker Ken Russell and iconic Brit rockers The Who brought the band's classic 1969 concept album TOMMY to life with the release of the eponymous psychedelic musical fantasy drama, which, in addition to the band, boasted an outstanding, star-studded ensemble including Ann-Margret, Tina Turner (who burns up the screen as 'The Acid Queen'), Sir Elton John, Jack Nicholson, and Eric Clapton.

The rock opera tells the life story of Tommy, who, when just a boy of six, witnessed the murder of his father by his mother and her lover. They command him, "You didn't hear it, you didn't see it, and you won't say anything to anyone..." As a result, the traumatized boy goes into shock, retreating into the shadows of his mind and becoming deaf, dumb and blind. As a teenager, Tommy stumbles upon a pinball machine and discovers he is a natural prodigy at the game. Fame and fortune follow as Tommy (The Who's lead singer Roger Daltry, in an electric performance) becomes a pinball champion and later the messiah of a religious cult, which views his pinball skills as a miraculous sign of divine intervention.

“When Brit cinema mostly opted for dullness, Ken Russell was showing us a film that was daring and risky and mad.” (The Guardian)

“Tina Turner’s Acid Queen sequence is a mini-masterpiece of visual inventiveness and dramatic cohesion, helped in no small measure by Turner’s extraordinary showmanship.” (Sight & Sound)

“How many films can drench the shrill and rambunctious Ann-Margret in soap and beans and chocolate and get her an Oscar nomination? It’s that freakiness that’s both alienating and transfixing, and regardless of the film’s emotional elicitations, Tommy stays with you, stares you down, and can even haunt you.” (Consequence of Sound)

#MusicMonday, July 21
Doors 6:00 pm | Movie 6:30 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

TOMMY (Ken Russell, 1975 / 111 mins / PG ) A psychosomatically blind, deaf, and mute boy becomes a master pinball player and, subsequently, the figurehead of a cult.

Wealthy businessman Zsa-zsa Korda appoints his only daughter, a nun, as sole heir to his estate. As Korda embarks on a new enterprise, they soon become the target of scheming tycoons, foreign terrorists and determined assassins. With Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera, Willem Dafoe, F. Murray Abraham, Rupert Friend, Richard Ayoade, Riz Ahmed, Scarlett Johansson, Jeffrey Wright, Hope Davis, Benedict Cumberbatch.

"A caper made with all the intricacy of a Rube Goldberg machine, 'The Phoenician Scheme' doesn't deviate from Wes Anderson's increasingly ornate style but delivers the formula with mannered delicacy." (Rotten Tomatoes)

"Each set is carefully assembled, with the blocking of each shot perfectly aligned, and Anderson’s rat-a-tat dialogue is delivered exactly as written. Still, there’s a spontaneity to the storytelling and the world it’s moving through." (The Atlantic)

"... A palate cleanser – a lovely lark, a spirits lifter." (Austin Chronicle)

"The result is more digestible, though also less moving, than Anderson’s recent Asteroid City, but it does have a stealth emotional weapon in Threapleton’s Liesl, who exudes the intelligence and self-possession of a young Anna Karina." (The New Yorker)

Monday, July 21
Doors 8:40 pm | Movie 9:10 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME (Wes Anderson, 2025 / 101 mins / PG) Wealthy businessman, Zsa-zsa Korda appoints his only daughter, a nun, as sole heir to his estate. As Korda embarks on a new enterprise, they soon become the target of scheming tycoons, foreign terrorists, and determined assassins.

Master Korean filmmaker Bong Joon Ho (THE HOST, SNOWPIERCER) brought his work home to Korea with the cinematic masterpiece PARASITE, a pitch-black modern fairytale that proved itself a complete game-changer for movie-lovers around the world. It became the first Korean film to win the Cannes Film Festival's coveted Palme d'Or in 2019, and eventually won Oscars in four categories (Best Director, Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature).

Meet the Park Family: the picture of aspirational wealth. And the Kim Family, rich in street smarts but not much else. Be it chance or fate, these two houses are brought together and the Kims sense a golden opportunity. Masterminded by college-aged Ki-woo, the Kim children expediently install themselves as tutor and art therapist, to the Parks. Soon, a symbiotic relationship forms between the two families. The Kims provide "indispensable" luxury services while the Parks obliviously bankroll their entire household. When a parasitic interloper threatens the Kims' newfound comfort, a savage, underhanded battle for dominance breaks out, threatening to destroy the fragile ecosystem between the Kims and the Parks.

"In Bong Joon-ho’s flawless tragicomedy, a poor yet united family bluff their way into the lives of a wealthy Seoul household." (The Guardian)

"What keeps you rapt in 'Parasite' is the visual wit — every shot distills the movie’s themes — and the richness of the characters and performances." (Vulture)

"This is the best movie of the year... A tonal marvel." (NPR)

"'Parasite' isn't really a monster movie. Yet on at least one of its nearly infinite levels it is - and the monsters are us. (Boston Globe)

Tuesday, July 22
Doors 8:00 pm | Movie 8:30 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

PARASITE (Bong Joon Ho, 2019 / 133 mins / 14A / Korean with English subtitles) Greed and class discrimination threaten the newly formed symbiotic relationship between the wealthy Park family and the destitute Kim clan.

Set against 19th-century China's breathtaking landscape, CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON is the action-packed, box office "wuxia" blockbuster from acclaimed director Ang Lee (BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, SENSE & SENSIBILITY). Released in 2000, the film was an overwhelming critical and commercial success that was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and winning three - at the time, it received most nominations ever or a non-English-language film.

Featuring stunning martial arts choreography by Yuen Wo Ping (THE MATRIX), gorgeous cinematography, action, romance, adventure, and knockout performances from Chow-Yun Fat, Michelle Yeoh, and Ziyi Zhang.

"A lot of time has passed since “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” first stormed festivals, theaters and the gates of Hollywood itself in 2000. Returning to the big screen in a digital 4K restoration, the movie has lost none of its dreamy beauty or hypnotic power, and that power still builds as assuredly and methodically as ever." (LA Times)

"Watching Michelle Yeoh in both [EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE] films, particularly within the context of the awards season campaign she’s currently undergoing, is to see two bookends to the paradox that is her career. “Crouching Tiger” boasted great performances, but it was Yeoh who shined the brightest. And yet, her current “Everything Everywhere” victory lap has correctly framed her as a revered global star who only now has been allowed to fully extend her limbs." (New York Times)

Thursday, July 24
Doors 6:00 pm | Movie 6:30 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON (Ang Lee, 2000 / 120 mins / PG / English subtitles) Two master warriors are faced with their greatest challenge when the treasured Green Destiny sword is stolen. A young aristocrat prepares for an arranged marriage, but soon reveals her superior fighting talents and her deeply romantic past. As each warrior battles for justice, they come face to face with their worst enemy - and the inescapable, enduring power of love.

Seven total strangers team up for the perfect crime.
They don't know each other's name...
But they've got each other's colour.

We're dimming the lights, firing up the projector, and raising a glass (or two) to the late, great Michael Madsen, a seasoned performer who possessed an uncanny knack for creating vivid, sometimes edgy, occasionally rough yet sensitive, but ultimately very memorable characters in films like THELMA & LOUISE, DONNIE BRASCO, FREE WILLY and SIN CITY. However, it was his unforgettable performance as Mr. Blonde in Quentin Tarantino's breakout hit, the mind-blowingly stylish, explosive heist-gone-awry masterpiece RESERVOIR DOGS that cemented his status as one of his generation's leading character actors.

In 1992, Tarantino's RESERVOIR DOGS was unleashed; in addition to cleaning up at film festivals around the world, it both launched and secured the career of one cinema's most influential auteurs. A classic crime story, whipsmart dialogue, memorable performances and a killer soundtrack. Starring Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Steven Wright, and Quentin Tarantino.

"No one should go to 'Reservoir Dogs' without prior thought. But what they will see is a riveting treatise on the theme of betrayal set in an urban wasteland that murders hope and makes redemption virtually impossible." (The Guardian)

"A brash, brutal crime-caper film, 'Reservoir Dogs' has enough raw energy for 10 motion pictures and more than enough rough stuff to traumatize the sensitive. But not only does Dogs have teeth, it has brains." (Orlando Sentinel)

"No matter how many times you've freeze-framed the bit at the end, it's still up there with 'Die Hard' and 'Taxi Driver' as one of the great once-a-year indulgences." (Total Film)

"As QT's first film as both writer and director, 'Reservoir Dogs' indicates a remarkably fully formed cinematic sensibility." (Slant Magazine)

Thursday, July 24
Doors 8:45 pm | Movie 9:15 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

RESERVOIR DOGS (Quentin Tarantino, 1992 / 99 mins / 18A) After a simple jewelery heist goes terribly wrong, the surviving criminals begin to suspect that one of them is a police informant.

Oscar-nominated Canadian filmmaker Celine Song follows up her 2023 breakout hit, the romantic drama PAST LIVES, with another thoughtful take on modern love, MATERIALISTS.

Dakota Johnson stars as a young New York City matchmaker whose lucrative business gets complicated when she finds herself torn between the perfect match and her imperfect ex. Like PAST LIVES, Song's latest offers an equally mature deconstruction of the conventional rom-com while providing its trio of swoon-worthy stars (Johnson, Pedro Pascal, Chris Evans) with some of their meatiest material yet - and reaffirming the filmmaker as something of a modern master of relationship dramas.

"I do heartily recommend you see 'Materialists,' and that you see it for what it is, not what it kinda looks like from the outside, as pitched to you by the very sort of romance-commodification salespersons that Celine Song’s movie criticizes." (The Wrap)

"'Materialists' is more bittersweet than sweet—which is what makes it so wonderful, in a wistful, elusive way." (TIME Magazine)

"[Celine] Song lays bare the tricky parts of love, holding the messiness accountable without overplaying the drama. Instead of sweet escapism, it pulls us into the gray areas of desire, power, and performance." (Chicago Reader)

"A hypnotic affair... Song's contemplative writing and ethereal relationship-setting deserve some credit. She has a knack for making even the most complicated things simple and beautiful." (Seattle Refined)

"Song resists the urge to follow any formula herself, forging questions about love and romance that can’t all be answered by the time the credits roll and the lights go up." (Salon.com)

Friday, July 25
Doors 5:45 pm | Movie 6:00 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

MATERIALISTS (Celine Song, 2025 / 14A / 116 mins) A young New York City matchmaker's lucrative business gets complicated as she finds herself torn between the perfect match and her imperfect ex.

Graceful, enigmatic, and often frightening, DOGTOOTH is an ingenious dark comedy that won the Un Certain Regard Prize at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, propelling Oscar-winner Yorgos Lanthimos (POOR THINGS, THE FAVOURITE, THE LOBSTER) to the forefront of contemporary cinema's most ambitious young filmmakers.

In an effort to protect their three children from the corrupting influence of the outside world, a Greek couple transforms their home into a gated compound of cultural deprivation and strict rules of behavior. But children cannot remain innocent forever. When the father brings home a young woman to satisfy his son's sexual urges, the family's engineered "reality" begins to crumble, with devastating consequences. Like the haunting, dystopic visions of Michael Haneke and Gaspar Noé, DOGTOOTH punctuates its compelling drama with moments of shocking violence, creating a biting social satire that is as profound as it is provocative. With Christos Stergioglou, Hristos Passalis, Aggeliki Papoulia.

Restored in 4K from the 35mm camera and sound negatives by Boo Productions and mk2 Films at Asterisk* Post and I Hear Voices sound studio. Colour grading by Gregory Arvanitis and Thimios Bakatakis. Digital sound restoration by Landros Ntounis. The restoration process was supervised by the director, Yorgos Lanthimos.

"By far the most original film I've seen in a long time." (John Waters)

"... brilliant, disturbing and often frighteningly funny." (The Guardian)

"“By turns hilarious, macabre and baffling." (New York Times)

"A Stunner! Perfectly perverse." (Time Out New York)

"The father, the mother and their three kids live at the outskirts of a city. There is a tall fence surrounding the house. The kids have never been outside that fence. They are being educated, entertained, bored and exercised in the manner that their parents deem appropriate, without any influence from the outside world. They believe that the airplanes flying over are toys and that zombies are small yellow flowers. The only person allowed to enter the house is Christina. She works as a security guard at the father’s business. The father arranges her visits to the house in order to appease the sexual urges of the son. The whole family is fond of her, especially the eldest daughter. One day Christina gives her as a present a headband that has stones that glow in the dark and asks for something in return."

Friday, July 25
Doors 8:15 pm | Movie 8:45 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

DOGTOOTH (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2009 / 94 mins / R / Greek w/EST) A controlling, manipulative father locks his three adult offspring in a state of perpetual childhood by keeping them prisoner within the sprawling family compound. The children are bored to tears in spite of distractions like Christina, an employee of their father's who makes regular visits to sexually service the son. Increasingly curious about the outside world, the older daughter hatches a plan to escape.

Mischief. Mayhem. Soap.

Toxic masculinity never looked so good! The Rio Theatre's Friday Late Night Movie series continues on July 25 with a screening of David Fincher's adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's blockbuster novel about a bored office worker and his soap-making friend, FIGHT CLUB. Released in 1999, Fincher's cinematic take on millennial malaise resulted in an equally blockbuster film, thanks to his own standout direction and memorable performances from Ed Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter, Jared Leto, and.... Meat Loaf.

"It is working American Beauty-Susan Faludi territory, that illiberal, impious, inarticulate fringe that threatens the smug American center with an anger that cannot explain itself, can act out its frustrations only in inexplicable violence." (Time Magazine)

"The film’s bold, bruising humor leaves marks on a wide range of hot-button issues: It’s about being young, male and powerless against the pacifying drug of consumerism. It’s about solitude, despair and bottled-up rage. It’s about how not to feel dead as Y2K approaches. It’s about daring to imagine the disenfranchised reducing the world to rubble and starting over." (Rolling Stone Magazine)

"There are so many ways to read Fight Club that it's almost impossible to know where to start. Is it a fascistic call to action for a generation of dickless wonders? A homoerotic love story in which Jack is reintroduced to his nads before being carried off in Tyler's pneumatic arms? A satire on modern feminism's cartoonish views of what men are like, or...? Well, have a go yourself. It's half the fun." (Empire Magazine)

Friday, July 25
Doors 10:30 pm | Movie 11:00 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

Late Night Date Night! The first rule of Friday Late Night Movies at the Rio Theatre is that they're two-for-one entry!

FIGHT CLUB (David Fincher, 1999 / DCP / 139 mins / 18A) A ticking-time-bomb insomniac and a slippery soap salesman channel primal male aggression into a shocking new form of therapy. Their concept catches on, with underground "fight clubs" forming in every town, until an eccentric gets in the way and ignites an out-of-control spiral toward oblivion.

Ain't nothing I can say to make it up to you. There's only things I can do to show you... that I am with you.

A benchmark of both 1980s British and new queer cinema, Stephen Frears' poignant Oscar®-nominated drama MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE celebrates its 40th spin cycle in 2025, and has been beautifully restored in a stunning digital transfer.

In a seedy corner of London, Omar (Gordon Warnecke), a young Pakistani, is given a run-down laundromat by his uncle (Saeed Jaffrey), who hopes to turn it into a successful business. Soon after, Omar is attacked by a group of racist punks, but defuses the situation when he realizes their leader is his former lover, Johnny (a "fresh-faced" Daniel Day-Lewis). The men resume their relationship and rehabilitate the laundromat together, but various social forces threaten to compromise their success.

"It’s an enormous pleasure to see a movie that’s really about something, and that doesn’t lay on any syrupy coating to make the subject go down easily." (The New Yorker)

"A brutally funny social comedy about the racial and social consequences of a Pakistani and an Englishman going into business and becoming lovers." (Detroit Free Press)

"The strength of the film is its vision -- cutting, compassionate and sometimes hilarious -- of what it means to be Asian, and British, in Thatcher's Britain." (Time Out)

"A fascinating, eccentric, very personal movie." (New York Times)

Saturday, July 26
Doors 3:45 pm | Movie 4:15 *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE (Stephen Frears, 1985 / PG / 95 mins) An ambitious Pakistani Briton and his white boyfriend strive for success and hope when they open a glamorous laundromat.

"There's a whole ocean of oil under our feet... No one can get at it, except for me!"

Loosely based on Upton Sinclair's novel Oil! is writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson's utterly magnificent epic THERE WILL BE BLOOD, starring Daniel Day-Lewis (in an Oscar-winning performance) as a ruthless oil prospector, is as much a historical drama as it is a very relevant and contemporary commentary on 21st century consumerism, family values, religious dogma, wealth, greed, and isolation. Anderson's work is a revelatory modern masterpiece with the stylish production value of old-school Hollywood; an edgy, comples opus featuring sweeping visuals (Robert Elswit rightly deserved his Best Cinematography Oscar), a phenomenally atonal (not to mention anachronistic) score courtesy of Johnny Greenwood (Radiohead), and a stellar turn from Paul Dano.

"Day-Lewis, no ifs, ands or buts, gives one of the great elemental performances in modern cinema." (Rolling Stone)

"This is a dark, uncompromising film, thrillingly original and distinctive, with a visionary passion. It is a movie against which all directors, and all moviegoers, will want to measure themselves. Paul Thomas Anderson is doing something new with cinema, and you can hardly ask for more than that." (The Guardian)

Saturday, July 26
Doors 6:00 pm | Movie 6:30 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

THERE WILL BE BLOOD (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007 / 158 mins / 18A) When ruthless oil prospector, Daniel Plainview learns of oil-rich land in California that can be bought cheaply, he moves his operation there and begins manipulating and exploiting the local landowners into selling him their property. Using his young adopted son to project the image of a caring family man, Plainview gains the cooperation of almost all the locals with lofty promises to build schools and cultivate the land to make their community flourish. Over time, Plainview's gradual accumulation of wealth and power causes his true self to surface, and he begins to slowly alienate himself from everyone in his life.

"We're about to make film history, right here... on videotape. "

Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson made an impression with his 1996 feature debut, HARD EIGHT, but it was his sophomore effort in 1997, BOOGIE NIGHTS that really cemented his career and place in Hollywood. Set in California's San Fernando Valley in 1977, the story centres on teenage busboy and high school dropout Eddie Adams (a memorable Mark Wahlberg), who gets discovered by idealistic porn director Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds), who aspires to elevate his craft to an art form. Horner is drawn to the attractive young man, and recognizes his potential, before transforming him into adult-film sensation Dirk Diggler. Brought into a supportive circle of industry friends, including fellow actors Amber Waves (Julianne Moore), Rollergirl (Heather Graham) and Reed Rothchild (John C. Reilly), Dirk fulfills all his ambitions, but a toxic combination of drugs and egotism threatens to take him back down. Featuring Phillip Seymour Hoffman, William H. Macy, Don Cheadle, Luis Guzmán, Nicole Ari Parker.

"A beautifully made survey of '70s excess, filtered through the trashy world of the burgeoning porno film industry in southern California." (Chicago Tribune)

"Not since the mysteriously reclusive Terrence Malick has there been such an explosion of sheer talent on the American movie scene." (Observer)

"The Quentin arantino comparison is ultimately less about technique than a shared joyful electricity of the filmmaking, the sense of an artist clearly high on the sheer act of making a movie." (VICE)

Saturday, July 26
Doors 9:30 pm | Movie 10:00 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time

BOOGIE NIGHTS (Paul Thomas Anderson, 1977 / 155 mins / 18A) | Set in 1977 (back when sex was safe), pleasure was a business and business was booming for idealistic porn producer Jack Horner, whose aspirations include elevating his craft to an art form. Horner discovers Eddie Adams, a hot young (not to mention well-endowed) talent working as a busboy in a nightclub, and welcomes him into the extended family of movie-makers, misfits and hangers-on that are always around. Adams' rise from nobody to a celebrity adult entertainer is meteoric, and soon the whole world seems to know his porn alter ego, "Dirk Diggler". Now, when disco and drugs are in vogue, fashion is in flux and the party never seems to stop, Adams' dreams of turning sex into stardom are about to collide with cold, hard reality.

Oscar-nominated Canadian filmmaker Celine Song follows up her 2023 breakout hit, the romantic drama PAST LIVES, with another thoughtful take on modern love, MATERIALISTS.

Dakota Johnson stars as a young New York City matchmaker whose lucrative business gets complicated when she finds herself torn between the perfect match and her imperfect ex. Like PAST LIVES, Song's latest offers an equally mature deconstruction of the conventional rom-com while providing its trio of swoon-worthy stars (Johnson, Pedro Pascal, Chris Evans) with some of their meatiest material yet - and reaffirming the filmmaker as something of a modern master of relationship dramas.

"I do heartily recommend you see 'Materialists,' and that you see it for what it is, not what it kinda looks like from the outside, as pitched to you by the very sort of romance-commodification salespersons that Celine Song’s movie criticizes." (The Wrap)

"'Materialists' is more bittersweet than sweet—which is what makes it so wonderful, in a wistful, elusive way." (TIME Magazine)

"[Celine] Song lays bare the tricky parts of love, holding the messiness accountable without overplaying the drama. Instead of sweet escapism, it pulls us into the gray areas of desire, power, and performance." (Chicago Reader)

"A hypnotic affair... Song's contemplative writing and ethereal relationship-setting deserve some credit. She has a knack for making even the most complicated things simple and beautiful." (Seattle Refined)

"Song resists the urge to follow any formula herself, forging questions about love and romance that can’t all be answered by the time the credits roll and the lights go up." (Salon.com)

Sunday, July 27
Doors 4:00 pm | Movie 4:30 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

MATERIALISTS (Celine Song, 2025 / 14A / 116 mins) A young New York City matchmaker's lucrative business gets complicated as she finds herself torn between the perfect match and her imperfect ex.

Graceful, enigmatic, and often frightening, DOGTOOTH is an ingenious dark comedy that won the Un Certain Regard Prize at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, propelling Oscar-winner Yorgos Lanthimos (POOR THINGS, THE FAVOURITE, THE LOBSTER) to the forefront of contemporary cinema's most ambitious young filmmakers.

In an effort to protect their three children from the corrupting influence of the outside world, a Greek couple transforms their home into a gated compound of cultural deprivation and strict rules of behavior. But children cannot remain innocent forever. When the father brings home a young woman to satisfy his son's sexual urges, the family's engineered "reality" begins to crumble, with devastating consequences. Like the haunting, dystopic visions of Michael Haneke and Gaspar Noé, DOGTOOTH punctuates its compelling drama with moments of shocking violence, creating a biting social satire that is as profound as it is provocative. With Christos Stergioglou, Hristos Passalis, Aggeliki Papoulia.

Restored in 4K from the 35mm camera and sound negatives by Boo Productions and mk2 Films at Asterisk* Post and I Hear Voices sound studio. Colour grading by Gregory Arvanitis and Thimios Bakatakis. Digital sound restoration by Landros Ntounis. The restoration process was supervised by the director, Yorgos Lanthimos.

"By far the most original film I've seen in a long time." (John Waters)

"... brilliant, disturbing and often frighteningly funny." (The Guardian)

"“By turns hilarious, macabre and baffling." (New York Times)

"A Stunner! Perfectly perverse." (Time Out New York)

"The father, the mother and their three kids live at the outskirts of a city. There is a tall fence surrounding the house. The kids have never been outside that fence. They are being educated, entertained, bored and exercised in the manner that their parents deem appropriate, without any influence from the outside world. They believe that the airplanes flying over are toys and that zombies are small yellow flowers. The only person allowed to enter the house is Christina. She works as a security guard at the father’s business. The father arranges her visits to the house in order to appease the sexual urges of the son. The whole family is fond of her, especially the eldest daughter. One day Christina gives her as a present a headband that has stones that glow in the dark and asks for something in return."

Sunday, July 27
Doors 6:45 pm | Movie 7:10 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

DOGTOOTH (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2009 / 94 mins / R / Greek w/EST) A controlling, manipulative father locks his three adult offspring in a state of perpetual childhood by keeping them prisoner within the sprawling family compound. The children are bored to tears in spite of distractions like Christina, an employee of their father's who makes regular visits to sexually service the son. Increasingly curious about the outside world, the older daughter hatches a plan to escape.

"Its SCENTS-ational! 'Polyester' offers more honest laughs than 'Airplane'... ODORAMA is a wondrous screen gimmick!" (TIME Magazine)

John Waters' magnificent muse, and cinema's favourite plus-sized transvestite Divine, stars opposite '60s heartthrob Tab Hunter in this comic tale as frustrated middle-class Baltimore housewife Francine Fishpaw, a woman who tries to maintain her sanity while taking care of a dysfunctional bent on constantly driving her to the brink of insanity. Her nightmarish husband is the owner of an "adult theatre," and he's sleeping with his secretary! Her teen son Dexter is a delinquent foot fetishist and her daughter is knocked up by a local hoodlum, which only adds to the domestic turmoil. But when Francine meets dashing Todd Tomorrow (Hunter), the owner of a theatre specializing in "art films" who also drives a flashy white Corvette, her life appears rosier. With Edith Massey, Mink Stole, Stiv Baters.

This screening is proudly presented in glorious ODORAMA. Official POLYESTER scratch-and-sniff cards are included with the purchase of every ticket.

"Polyester stands firmly as a gateway between the gross-out films of Waters' past and the soft-hearted sentimentalist ones that were to come." (Spectrum Culture)

"Only John Waters would think of marrying Douglas Sirk melodrama to William Castle showmanship." (Film Frenzy)

"A fitfully amusing comedy of not so ordinary people." (Variety)

Sunday, July 27
Doors 9:00 pm | Movie 9:30 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

POLYESTER (John Waters, 1981 / 89 mins / 18A) A suburban housewife's world falls apart when she finds that her pornographer husband is serially unfaithful to her, her daughter is pregnant, and her son is suspected of being the foot-fetishist who's been breaking local women's feet.

"That's just what this country needs:  A cock in a frock on a rock. "

The Rio Theatre's #MusicMonday movie series is getting dressed up and in the mood for Vancouver Pride 2025 with a screening of writer-director Stephan Elliot's glittering delight THE ADVENTURES OF PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT.

This iconic Australian road tripping tale is one of our most regularly-requested films, and between its eye-popping visuals and spectacular soundtrack, it is an absolute "big screen must-see." A landmark of queer film when it was released in 1994, it has since managed to become both a cultural touchstone within that community and a mainstream cult-classic, its broad appeal appeal standing squarely on the shoulders of remarkable performances that bring to life a story that veers from hilarious, to sweet, to tender, and even into occasional (hilarious) filth.

The film follows three career drag queens (Terence Stamp, Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce) as they travel from Sydney to perform at a remote resort in the outback aboard their lavender tour bus, nicknamed "Priscilla." The film is equal parts eye and ear candy; its gorgeous cinematography capturing the magical beauty of the Australian landscape underscored by killer dance tracks that are accessorized by the queens' sparkling collection of drool-worthy outfits (that also garnered an Oscar for Best Costume).

#MusicMonday, July 28
Doors 6:00 pm | Movie 6:30 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

THE ADVENTURES OF PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT (Stephan Elliot, 1994 / 104 mins / 18A) | Three drag queens travel across the Australian outback, making friends (and some foes) along the way.

Oscar-nominated Canadian filmmaker Celine Song follows up her 2023 breakout hit, the romantic drama PAST LIVES, with another thoughtful take on modern love, MATERIALISTS.

Dakota Johnson stars as a young New York City matchmaker whose lucrative business gets complicated when she finds herself torn between the perfect match and her imperfect ex. Like PAST LIVES, Song's latest offers an equally mature deconstruction of the conventional rom-com while providing its trio of swoon-worthy stars (Johnson, Pedro Pascal, Chris Evans) with some of their meatiest material yet - and reaffirming the filmmaker as something of a modern master of relationship dramas.

"I do heartily recommend you see 'Materialists,' and that you see it for what it is, not what it kinda looks like from the outside, as pitched to you by the very sort of romance-commodification salespersons that Celine Song’s movie criticizes." (The Wrap)

"'Materialists' is more bittersweet than sweet—which is what makes it so wonderful, in a wistful, elusive way." (TIME Magazine)

"[Celine] Song lays bare the tricky parts of love, holding the messiness accountable without overplaying the drama. Instead of sweet escapism, it pulls us into the gray areas of desire, power, and performance." (Chicago Reader)

"A hypnotic affair... Song's contemplative writing and ethereal relationship-setting deserve some credit. She has a knack for making even the most complicated things simple and beautiful." (Seattle Refined)

"Song resists the urge to follow any formula herself, forging questions about love and romance that can’t all be answered by the time the credits roll and the lights go up." (Salon.com)

Tuesday, July 29
Doors 6:00 pm | Movie 6:30 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

MATERIALISTS (Celine Song, 2025 / 14A / 116 mins) A young New York City matchmaker's lucrative business gets complicated as she finds herself torn between the perfect match and her imperfect ex.

Toronto comic Jacob Balshin is moving to Vancouver for two months. To celebrate his time in Vancouver, Jacob will be performing at the Rio Theatre on his last day in the city.

An award winning stand-up, Jacob was named one of Toronto’s Top 10 Influencers of 2025 by the Toronto Star and has also been featured on CBC’s New Wave of Comedy, where he has amassed millions of views online. Do not miss your chance to see one of Canada’s fastest rising stars!

(Jacob would like to note that he rented out the Rio Theatre on his own credit card. So come support a Canadian comedian who is truly trying to do this all on his own.)

Wednesday, July 30
Doors 6:30 pm | Event 7:00 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.
Early Bird (Until July 1) ? $17+ s/c

General Admission $25+ s/c | At the door $30 + s/c

Connect with Jacob on Instagram @Jacobbalshin

Al Pacino stars in William Friedkin's (THE EXORCIST, THE FRENCH CONNECTION) notorious neon-lit time capsule, CRUISING, a polarizing crime thriller that stirred controversy when it was released in 1980 due to both its depiction of the gay community and its thematic exploration of identity and sexuality.

The film follows Detective Steve Burns (Pacino) who goes undercover to infiltrate New York City's seedy subculture to lure a vicious psychopathic serial killer who is scouring New York City's gay clubs for victims out of the shadows. To do this, he is ordered to don leather attire, hang at the city's S&M joints, and keep an eye out for the killer. But as Steve becomes immersed in club-hopping, he begins to identify with the subculture more than he expected. Meanwhile, as Steve begins to behave distantly around his girlfriend, the police force's homophobia becomes apparent and the killer remains at large. With Paul Sorvino, Karen Allen, Richard Cox, Joe Spinell.

"The film is ugly and mean, but art is fundamentally a search for the truth, and when the vision starts to become unpalatable, is it suddenly right for us to complain?" (Washington Blade)

"At its best, this William Friedkin effort is an American giallo and a document of a community just before HIV/AIDS came along and demolished it." (Nashville Scene)

"William Friedkin's 'Cruising' is a work of art." (Boston Globe)

"It's a lurid, twisted film that brings you into its world and completely works you over." (San Francisco Chronicle)

"'Cruising' is a mediocre thriller but an amazing time capsule -- a heady, horny flashback to the last gasp of full-blown sexual abandon, and easily the most graphic depiction of gay sex ever seen in a mainstream movie." (Village Voice)

Wednesday, July 30
Doors 9:00 pm | Movie 9:30 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

CRUISNG (William Friedkin, 1980 / 18A / 102 mins) A police officer goes undercover in the underground S&M gay subculture of New York City to catch a serial killer who is preying on gay men.

Forget everything you thought you knew about circus. This isn’t your childhood big top, this is something curious and queer.

Vancouver Pride Week is hitting the Rio Theatre on Thursday, July 31 as co-producers April O’Peel Productions and Du Jour Marketing present CIRQUE DU SLAY, a provocative and powerful night of drag, circus, comedy, and sexiness, showcasing an all-queer, all-creative cast that'll flip your expectations upside down - and hang 'em from the ceiling.

This one-night-only event promises boundary-pushing acts from some of the most devoted and unapologetic performers in the city, including Cali Cobalt, Malandro, Batty Banks, Dame Derrière, Space Cake, Rain City Circus, and many more. From arresting aerial acrobatics to groundbreaking ground acts, this is a celebration of queer expression like no other. Expect the unexpected, and come ready to cheer, laugh, and maybe even blush.

Featuring: Cali Cobalt, Malandro, Batty Banks, Dame Derrière, Space Cake, Rain City Circus and many more!

Thursday, July 31
Doors 7:15 pm | Show 8:00 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

Early Bird Tickets $20+ s/c (Until June 30)
General Admission Tickets $30+ s/c
VIP (First two rows, centre) $40 + s/c
Squad Pass (Group of Four) $100+ s/c

For Pride this year the Rio Theatre is rolling out the rainbow carpet to welcome back Vancouver Pride & the return of Dandy's BIG GAY CABARET 2025! And whom better to be our honorable ambassador to the world and fellow Gaynadians than our very own Gayest of the Gays, Queerest of the Queers, Dandy!

Celebrate Vancouver at the most anticipated cabaret of the year! Runner up in Georgia Straight's BEST OF VANCOUVER 2023 and host of the year 2024, DANDY (tiktok star @dandyandfriends) curates a cabinet of charismatic, Queer, cabaret creators. Live singing, dance, death defying circus feats, drag, burlesque and some fun surprises. You might not be gay when you sit down, but research shows that attending this show will make you 69% gayer!. HUZZAH!

If you don't come to this show, you are homophobic! So get your tickets now, Darling.

Friday, August 1
Doors 7:15 pm | Show 8:00 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

Early Bird tickets available until July 1, SAVE $5 off each ticket!

Main Floor Assigned $30 + s/c | $35 at the door
VIP - First 4 rows $40 + s/c **VIP ticket holders also get an interactive prop bag to be used during the show!**
The 'We Are Family' 4 Pack $25 a ticket + s/c (Available online only)

But wait, there's more!

The Rio Theatre lobby and bar will be open between shows and serving up Pride inspired cocktails, mocktails and your favorite gay anthems. Don't forget to pick up a Rio Theatre Pride Edition T-shirt, check out the merch booth and pose, vogue, pose at our pride photo backdrop. Don't forget to tag us in your pics @riotheatre & @dandyandfriends

Featuring:

Ruth Ordare
Queen Kong
Melrose Twist
Jordy Matheson
 Tally Ho
Karmella "Sissy" Barr
Glimmer Rouge
&
Deviant Dancing Dandies 

---

About your Host:

Dandy (he/him) is the award-winning host made popular on TikTok for his viral videos promoting queer joy! Winner of Host of the Year 2024 for Vancouver International Burlesque Festival and awarded runner up in the Georgia Straight’s BEST OF VANCOUVER for his show Drag Attack! – you can catch him regularly on stage in his shows at the iconic Rio Theatre in Vancouver, or touring regularly this year between LA and New York City. His all new series Dandyland, which highlights businesses, organizations, and artists in the lower-mainland’s LGBT Community, premiered this Summer on Optik TV and was nominated by the Costume Designers Guild Awards for Excellence in Short Form Design 2024 thanks to already award winning, multi-talented Costume Designer, Rafaella Rabinovich

@dandyandfriends

The Rio Theatre's Friday Late Night Movie series continues on August 1, with a 25th Anniversary screening of the cult-classic fan-fave that's just in time for Vancouver Pride Weekend, the sapphic coming-of-age comedy BUT I'M A CHEERLEADER.

Megan considers herself a typical American girl. She excels in school and cheerleading, and she has a handsome football-playing boyfriend, even though she isn't that crazy about him. So she's stunned when her parents decide she's gay and send her to True Directions, a boot camp meant to alter her sexual orientation. While there, Megan meets a rebellious and unashamed teen lesbian, Graham. Though Megan still feels confused, she starts to have feelings for Graham. With Natasha Lyonne, Clea DuVall & RuPaul.

"What makes 'But I'm A Cheerleader' so emotionally affecting is that despite the cotton-candy exterior, the film never lets its audience forget that these are people undergoing a traumatic experience." (Refinery 29)

"John Waters might have made it all more flagrantly transgressive; but somehow Jamie Babbit's tone fits the pastel-coloured satire quite nicely." (London Evening Standard)

Friday, August 1
Doors 11:00 pm | Movie 11:30 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

Late Night Date Night! Friday Late Night Movies are two-for-one entry! Bring a friend, girlfriend, boyfriend, or undefined friend and be a hero.

BUT I'M A CHEERLEADER (Jaime Babbit, 1999 / 85 mins / 14A) A naive teenager is sent to rehab camp when her straitlaced parents and friends suspect her of being a lesbian.

Berlin, 1931. As Nazism rises in Germany, flamboyant American Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli, never better) sings in a decadent nightclub and falls in love with a British language teacher --whom she shares with a homosexual German baron. But Sally's small, carefree, tolerant and fragile cabaret world is about to be crushed under the boot of the Nazis as Berlin becomes a trap from which Sally's German friends will not escape in this ground-breaking, blockbuster film version of the Broadway musical Cabaret. With Michael York, Joel Grey, Helmut Griem, and Marisa Berenson.

Beautifully restored and remastered for its 50th Anniversary in 2022, CABARET was the winner of eight Academy Awards in 1972, including Best Actress (Minnelli), Best Director (Bob Fosse), and Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Grey).

"It’s hard to believe it’s half a century since Cabaret first sashayed into cinemas: in look, sound and sensibility, it still feels fresh and daring, expanding the possibilities of what musicals can do and say at every turn." (Film of the Week)

COME AND SEE - the widely acclaimed film from Soviet director Elem Klimov - is a stunning, senses-shattering plunge into the dehumanizing horrors of war. As Nazi forces encroach on his small village in present-day Belarus, teenage Flyora (Aleksei Kravchenko, in one of the screen’s most searing depictions of anguish since Renée Falconetti’s JOAN OF ARC) eagerly joins the Soviet resistance. Rather than the adventure and glory he envisioned, what he finds is a waking nightmare of unimaginable carnage and cruelty—rendered with a feverish, otherworldly intensity by Klimov’s subjective camerawork and expressionistic sound design. Nearly suppressed by Soviet censors who took eight years to approve its script, COME AND SEE is perhaps the most visceral, impossible-to-forget antiwar film ever made. Originally released as "Idi i Smorti," COME AND SEE was the winner of the Grand Prix at the 1985 Moscow Film Festival.

"“The most harrowing horror film of all time is based on a true story. The film invites us to witness the atrocities of war as seen through the eyes of a child... The young star’s face changes dramatically over the course of the film." (Jordan Peele)

"I have rarely seen a film more ruthless in its depiction of human evil." (Roger Ebert)

"'Come and See' is a paradox: a visceral freefall into barbarism, but also a controlled, sometimes contemplative descent." (Los Angeles Times)

"A disorienting and undifferentiated amalgam of almost lyrical poeticism and expressionist nightmare." (Time Out)

Saturday, August 2
Doors 6:50 pm | Movie 7:20 pm *Time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

COME AND SEE "Idi i smotri" (Elem Klimov, 1985 / 142 mins / 18A / Russian with English subs) The invasion of a village in Byelorussia by German forces sends young Florya into the forest to join the weary Resistance fighters, against his family's wishes. There he meets a girl, Glasha, who accompanies him back to his village. On returning home, Florya finds his family and fellow peasants massacred. His continued survival amidst the brutal debris of war becomes increasingly nightmarish, a battle between despair and hope.

"Now, that's a bingo!"

We felt the time was right to scalp some Nazis and speak the King's, so we're revisiting Quentin Tarantino's quasi-historical fantasy INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS on our big screen on August 2.

Set in a fantasy universe that can only ever really exist in the films of Tarantino, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS begins in German-occupied France, where young Shosanna Dreyfus witnesses the brutal execution of her family at the hand of Nazi Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz, in his Oscar-winning performance). Shosanna (Mélanie Laurent) narrowly escapes and flees to Paris, where she forges a new identity as the owner and operator of a cinema. Elsewhere in Europe, Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) organizes a group of Jewish soldiers to engage in targeted acts of retribution. Known to their enemy as "The Basterds," Raine's squad (including Eli Roth, B.J. Novak, and Samm Levine) joins German actress and undercover agent Bridget Von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) on a mission to take down the leaders of The Third Reich. Fates converge under a cinema marquee, where Shosanna is poised to carry out a revenge plan of her own. Like a WW2-era "spaghetti western," the film manages to be equal parts violent, fun and smart, with endlessly entertaining dialogue to punctuate the kind of non-linear story we've come to expect from one of cinema's most renowned filmmakers. As per usual, QT assembled an all-star cast that also includes Michael Fassbender, Mike Myers, Julie Dreyfus, and many others.

"Tarantino's tight script is playfully sharp in all languages." (The Georgia Straight)

Saturday, August 2
Doors 10:00 pm | Movie 10:30 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (Quentin Tarantino, 2009 / 153 mins / 18A) In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as "The Basterds" are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis. The Basterds, lead by Lt. Aldo Raine, soon cross paths with a French-Jewish woman who runs a movie theater in Paris which is targeted by the soldiers.

When one of the greatest filmmakers of all time adapts one of the greatest literary works of all time, the result can only be described as epic. In 1985, iconic director Akira Kurosawa adapted William Shakespeare's 'King Lear' and crafted one of - if not the - best cinematic representations of the Bard's canon with RAN. Nominated for numerous Oscars, (including Best Director for Kurosawa, who was 75 years old at the time), the film won for Best Costume Design.

In this remarkable re-imagining, olde Britain is transposed into Medieval Japan, where at the age of seventy, after years of consolidating his empire, the Great Lord Hidetora Ichimonji (Tatsuya Nakadai) decides to abdicate and divide his domain amongst his three sons. Taro (Akira Terao), the eldest, will rule. Jiro (Jinpachi Nezu), his second son, and Saburo (Daisuke Ryu) will take command of the Second and Third Castles but are expected to obey and support their elder brother. Saburo defies the pledge of obedience and is banished.

"Akira Kurosawa's sprawling, epic take on 'King Lear' should be required viewing for fans of westerns, war movies, or period films in general." (Rotten Tomatoes)

"Spectacular! Among the most thrilling movie experiences a viewer can have!" (New York Times)

"RAN remains gripping because it depicts not only the long-ago past, but also our hellish present." (The Village Voice)

"An irresistible attraction that should be viewed on the biggest screen you can find." (Observer)

"This is one of the year's major cinematic events. It's well worth leaving the house for, should that opportunity arise." (The AV Club)

Sunday, August 3
Doors 5:30 pm | Movie 6:00 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

Tickets on sale July 2

RAN (Akira Kurosawa, 1985 / 162 mins / PG / 4K / In Japanese w/ EST) Set in Japan in the 16th century (or so), an elderly warlord retires, handing over his empire to his three sons. However, he vastly underestimates how the new-found power will corrupt them, or cause them to turn on each other...and him...

Mamoru Oshii's landmark 1995 anime film GHOST IN THE SHELL is a title that has evolved into something of a cultural phenomenon, spawning sequels, remakes, and even a live action feature. The story follows a cyborg policewoman named Motoko Kusanagi, who is herself a "ghost in a shell" (meaning her living consciousness is somewhere being projected into a organic/mechanical body). She struggles with what it means to be "alive" while searching for a master hacker known as “the Puppet Master” whose motivation goes beyond merely disrupting the status quo. Full of action, pathos, and glorious vistas of a city mixing tradition and futurism, GHOST IN THE SHELL is best experienced and appreciated when viewed on the big screen.

"... a pillar of the cyberpunk movement and a testament to visual realism in animation." (Nerdist)

"A stunning feat of modern animation, GHOST IN THE SHELL offers a thoughtful, complex treat for anime fans, as well as a perfect introduction for viewers new to the genre." (Rotten Tomatoes)

"For sheer mind-expanding sci-fi strangeness this is hard to beat." (Time Out)

"Most alluring are the crumbling neon cityscapes, real world/cyberspace fusion and the musings on identity." (Total Film)

Sunday, August 3
Doors 9:00 pm | Movie 9:30 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

GHOST IN THE SHELL "Kôkaku kidôtai" (Mamoru Oshii, 1995 / 83 mins / 14 A / Japanese w/EST) In the year 2029, the barriers of our world have been broken down by the net and by cybernetics, but this brings new vulnerability to humans in the form of brain-hacking. When a highly-wanted hacker known as 'The Puppetmaster' begins involving them in politics, Section 9, a group of cybernetically enhanced cops, are called in to investigate and stop the Puppetmaster.

A stylish, subversive thriller from suspense maverick Kiyoshi Kurosawa (CURE, PULSE), concerning Yoshii, an ambitious, yet directionless, young factory worker from Tokyo who side hustles in the murky realm of black market reselling, cheating buyers and sellers alike. After swindling his way into loads of cash, Yoshii gradually attempts to disconnect from humanity, moving out of the city, shunning his girlfriend, and entrusting duties to his new, devoted assistant. Before long his life is plagued by a series of mysterious, sinister incidents that threaten to upend his success and bring about a most violent demise. A master of carefully simmering tension to a bloody crescendo, Kurosawa delivers a searing portrait of digital greed and vengeance.

"A brilliant action movie as only [Kurosawa] would think to make one." (Indiewire)

"[Kurosawa's] most unapologetically fun film to date." (Moveable Fest)

""Kurosawa’s latest film is a chilly and mystifying expression of a modern malevolence which hangs over our lives." (Empire Magazine)

Thursday, August 7
Doors 6:00 pm| Movie 6:30 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

CLOUD "Kuraudo" (Kiyoshi, Kurosawa, 2025 / 125 mins / 14A / Japanese w/EST) Yoshii, a young man who resells goods online, finds himself at the center of a series of mysterious events that put his life at risk.

When one of the greatest filmmakers of all time adapts one of the greatest literary works of all time, the result can only be described as epic. In 1985, iconic director Akira Kurosawa adapted William Shakespeare's 'King Lear' and crafted one of - if not the - best cinematic representations of the Bard's canon with RAN. Nominated for numerous Oscars, (including Best Director for Kurosawa, who was 75 years old at the time), the film won for Best Costume Design.

In this remarkable re-imagining, olde Britain is transposed into Medieval Japan, where at the age of seventy, after years of consolidating his empire, the Great Lord Hidetora Ichimonji (Tatsuya Nakadai) decides to abdicate and divide his domain amongst his three sons. Taro (Akira Terao), the eldest, will rule. Jiro (Jinpachi Nezu), his second son, and Saburo (Daisuke Ryu) will take command of the Second and Third Castles but are expected to obey and support their elder brother. Saburo defies the pledge of obedience and is banished.

"Akira Kurosawa's sprawling, epic take on 'King Lear' should be required viewing for fans of westerns, war movies, or period films in general." (Rotten Tomatoes)

"Spectacular! Among the most thrilling movie experiences a viewer can have!" (New York Times)

"RAN remains gripping because it depicts not only the long-ago past, but also our hellish present." (The Village Voice)

"An irresistible attraction that should be viewed on the biggest screen you can find." (Observer)

"This is one of the year's major cinematic events. It's well worth leaving the house for, should that opportunity arise." (The AV Club)

Friday, August 8
Doors 2:30 pm | Movie 3:00 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

RAN (Akira Kurosawa, 1985 / 162 mins / PG / 4K / In Japanese w/ EST) Set in Japan in the 16th century (or so), an elderly warlord retires, handing over his empire to his three sons. However, he vastly underestimates how the new-found power will corrupt them, or cause them to turn on each other...and him...

Guess who's back to keep Vancouver laughing... The East Van Laugh RioT is pleased to welcome the summertime return of comedian Sammy Obeid - with all-new material! We just can't keep him off our stage!

Sunday, August 10
Doors 4:00 pm | Show 5:00 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

Early Bird tickets available until May 12, midnight.

Adult Balcony (General Admission) $39 + s/c
Adult Main Floor (Assigned Seating) $48+ s/c
VIP Meet n' Greet (Rows 2-6, centre section) $65+ s/c
VVIP Meet n' Greet (Front Row, centre section) $75+ s/c
Group Ticket Pricing (Minimum 4) $43 (ea)+ s/c (online only)

---

Lebanese-Palestinian American and born in Oakland California, Sammy Obeid double-majored in Business and Mathematics at UC Berkeley and then turned down a job at Google to be a comedian.

Now the host of 100 Humans on Netflix, he’s also appeared on NBC's Last Comic Standing and America's Got Talent, as well as TBS’s Conan, and is best known for his world record of performing comedy 1,001 nights in a row, a story featured in both Time Magazine and The New York Times.

Connect on Instagram @sammyobeid
Connect on Facebook
Connect on TikTok @sammyobeidthem
Connect on X @sammyobeid

"The only way to get rid of my fears is to make films about them."

VERTIGO (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958 / 128 mins / G) A retired San Francisco detective suffering from acrophobia investigates the strange activities of an old friend's wife, all the while becoming dangerously obsessed with her.

Join us on Sunday, August 17 for a double feature that celebrates actor Robert De Niro (on his birthday!) and includes two of our favourite performances from his many collaborations with filmmaker Martin Scorsese - RAGING BULL and TAXI DRIVER.

RAGING BULL is an indisputable cinematic triumph, a black and white biopic that is often lauded as one of the greatest films of the 1980s, and frequently described as Scorsese's "magnum opus." The ambitious sports film follows the dramatic life story of Italian-American boxer Jake LaMotta (De Niro, in one of his Golden Globe and Oscar-winning performances), a former middleweight champion, whose reputation for tenacity and success in the ring was offset by his self-destructive troubled domestic life. La Motta was full of rage, sexual jealousy, and crippling suspicion - particularly towards his wife (Cathy Moriarty) and manager/brother (Joe Pesci) - which, in the end, left him destitute, alone, and seeking redemption. Also staring Nicholas Colasanto, Theresa Saldana and Frank Vincent.

"This is not a film about boxing. This is a film about the human condition and about cinema itself." - Empire Magazine

"Arguably Martin Scorsese's and Robert De Niro's finest film, Raging Bull is often painful to watch, but it's a searing, powerful work about an unsympathetic hero." - Rotten Tomatoes

Sunday, September 17
RAGING BULL
Doors 6:15 pm | Movie 6:45 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.
Single & Double Feature Film Tickets available

TAXI DRIVER
Movie 9:30 pm *As this is a double feature, this is an approximate start time.

RAGING BULL (Martin Scorsese, 1980 / 129 mins / 18A) When Jake LaMotta steps into a boxing ring and obliterates his opponent, he's a prizefighter. But when he treats his family and friends the same way, he's a ticking time bomb, ready to go off at any moment. Though LaMotta wants his family's love, something always seems to come between them. Perhaps it's his violent bouts of paranoia and jealousy. This kind of rage helped make him a champ, but in real life, he winds up in the ring alone.

TAXI DRIVER (Martin Scorsese, 1976 / 113 mins / 18A) Robert De Niro stars as Travis Bickle in this oppressive psychodrama about a Vietnam veteran who rebels against the decadence and immorality of big city life in New York while working the nightshift as a taxi driver.