Coming Attractions*

Early Wednesday Matinees Begin July 9th.

By popular request, especially from those of you living in Sequim and Port Angeles, the Rose will begin early Wednesday matinees for July and August.

The Singing Revolution - starts July 11
Directed by: James Tusty and Maureen Castle
Narrated by: Linda Hunt
94 min.
View the Trailer: www.singingrevolution.com

If feature filmmakers had dared to invent the inspiring story of The Singing Revolution, they likely would be dissed by cynical critics as simplistic at best, schmaltzy at worst. Documentarians James Tusty and Maureen Castle take an unaffectedly straightforward approach to telling what narrator Linda Hunt aptly describes as "the story of how culture saved a nation," detailing how, in the tiny and frequently occupied country of Estonia, resistance to Soviet rule was expressed and encouraged through folk songs during the post-WWII era.

For most of the 20th century, Estonia has been dominated by the Soviet Union, with the exception of a period during WWII in which it suffered the invasion by the Nazis. Becoming a Soviet satellite country after the war, it eventually declared its independence in 1991, beginning a wave that ultimately would herald the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

That spirit of resistance is exemplified by the Laulupido Song Festival, founded in 1869. During the 1969 edition, about 30,000 singers gathered together to sing "Land of My Fathers, Land That I love," which like all nationalistic songs, had been banned by the Soviets.

The film provides a detailed narrative of the events that have overtaken the country in the past century and the ways in which music helped fuel its struggle for independence. Using copious amounts of fascinating archival footage as well as extensive interviews with numerous figures associated with the movement, it provides an uplifting depiction of vitally important political ends achieved via nonviolent means. (Excerpted from Variety and The Hollywood Reporter)

"Imagine the scene in Casablanca in which the French patrons sing La Marseillaise in defiance of the Germans, then multiply its power by a factor of thousands, and you've only begun to imagine the force of The Singing Revolution"-The New York Times

The Dark Knight - starts July 18
Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Aaron Eckhart
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and some menace
View the Trailer: www.thedarkknightmovie.com

Heads up: A thunderbolt is about to rip into the blanket of bland we call summer movies. The Dark Knight, director Christopher Nolan's stunner of a follow-up to 2005's Batman Begins, is a potent provocation decked-out as a comic book movie. Feverish action? Check. Dazzling spectacle? Check. Devilish fun? Check. But Nolan is just warming up. There's something raw and elemental at work in this artfully imagined universe. Striking out from his Batman origin story, Nolan cuts through to a deeper dimension. How can a conflicted guy in a bat suit and a villain with a cracked, painted-on clown smile speak to the essentials of the human condition? Just hang on for a shock to the system.

Everything gleams like sin in Gotham City, and the bad guys seem jazzed by their evildoing. But it's what's going on inside the Bathead that pulls us in. Bale is electrifying as a fallibly human crusader at war with his own conscience.

I can only speak superlatives of Ledger, who is mad-crazy-blazing brilliant as the Joker. No plastic mask for Ledger; his face is cracked with moldy makeup that highlights the red scar of a grin, the grungy hair and the yellowing teeth of a hound fresh out of hell. The Joker represents the last completed role for Ledger, who died in January at 28 before finishing Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. It's typical of Ledger's total commitment to films as diverse as Brokeback Mountain and I'm Not There that he does nothing out of vanity or the need to be liked.

Gary Oldman is so skilled that he makes virtue exciting as Jim Gordon, the ultimate good cop and as such a prime target for the Joker. Eckhart earns major props for scarily and movingly portraying the DA's transformation into the dreaded Harvey Two-Face.

No fair giving away the mysteries of The Dark Knight. It's enough to marvel at the way Nolan - a world-class filmmaker, be it Memento, Insomnia or The Prestige - brings pop escapism whisper-close to enduring art. The haunting and visionary Dark Knight soars on the wings of untamed imagination. It's full of surprises you don't see coming. And just try to get it out of your dreams. (Excerpted from the Rolling Stone review by Peter Travers)

"Prepare to Be Wowed"-Rolling Stone

*schedule subject to change.