Movie News
The Movie Committee has announced that movies are now showing every Saturday evening at 7 p.m In the Auditorium and on Tuesdays twice a month.
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Tuesday, April 14: The Librarians
The efforts of librarians to combat book banning and censorship in Texas, Florida, and elsewhere. An Independent Lens documentary.
2025 1 hr 32 min (PBS)
Saturday, April 18: Rental Family
Philip is a struggling American actor who lives alone in Tokyo. He is hired by a rental agency to play different roles in people’s lives. The film explores themes of loneliness and connection. With Brendan Fraser.
2025 PG-13 1 hr 43 min (Amazon rental, Hulu)
Saturday, April 25: The Sixth Sense
Bruce Willis plays a child psychologist whose patient (Haley Joel Osment) claims he can see and talk to the dead. With Toni Collette. Directed by M. Night Shyamalan.
1999 Psychological thriller PG-13 1 h 47 min (Amazon rental)
Tuesday, April 28: The Secret Agent
In the midst of a military dictatorship, Marcelo, a former technology teacher, is on the run across Brazil trying to find his son. He relocates to Recife to begin his life again. Embedding himself in the resistance movement, Marcelo is being hunted by assassins. Written and directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho; with Wagner Moura.
2025 R 2 hr 40 min (Portuguese with subtitles; Amazon rental, Hulu)
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Saturday, May 2: Persepolis
A hand-drawn animated film by Marjane Satrapi that tells the partly autobiographical story of an outspoken Iranian girl growing up during the Islamic Revolution. Based on her graphic novel. (Amazon)
2007 Animated feature PG-13 1 hr 36 min
Saturday, May 9: The Choral
During World War I, Dr. Henry Guthrie (Ralph Fiennes) takes over a British choral society that's lost most of its men to the army. He recruits a group of townspeople for a performance of Edward Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius.
2025 Drama R 1 hr 53 min (Amazon)
Tuesday, May 12: All That’s Left of You
A Palestinian film about three generations of a family dispossessed of their house and orchard beginning in the 1948 Nakba through the early 2020s. Directed by Charmien Diab, who also stars, together with three related actors: Mohammad, Saleh, and Adam Bakri.
2025 Historical drama R 2 hr 25 min (Amazon)
Saturday, May 16: Midnight Run
Bounty hunter Jack Walsh (Robert De Niro) is hired to locate a mob accountant named "The Duke" (Charles Grodin) and bring him to Los Angeles. Directed by Martin Brest
1988 Dark comedy R 2 hr 2 min (Amazon)
Saturday, May 23: State and Main
A film company arrives in Waterford, VT, after having to leave New Hampshire, allegedly because a town lacked an old mill, but rather because the movie’s star has a weakness for junior high school girls. Written and directed by David Mamet; with William H. Macy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Alec Baldwin.
2000 Comedy R 1 hr 45 min (Amazon)
Saturday, May 30: Love is Strange
After nearly four decades together, Ben (John Lithgow) and George (Alfred Molina) finally are able to get married. But George loses his job as a result, and the couple must sell their apartment and temporarily live apart. Written and directed by Ira Sachs.
2014 Romance/Drama R 1 hr 34 min (Amazon)
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The Movie Committee always appreciates feedback. Thank you to all the residents who have suggested movies for future showings. These suggestions are always welcome.
Streaming Movies
Many residents prefer to watch movies at home for a variety of reasons, or they miss a particular movie because they have other plans for that night.
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Almost all the movies now shown at Broadmead are available from streaming services. (See the end of this post for the services used for this month’s movies.)
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For most services you sign up on your computer or phone. Newer TVs have the apps for Amazon and Netflix already on them and may have others as well. Of course you can also use Roku and similar devices.
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Amazon rentals are the major source of our movies. You need an Amazon account but you don’t need Prime to rent movies. The Prime service includes a number of new movies; they are available free for a limited period of time and then they move to rentals. Oppenheimer, for example, is now free on Amazon Prime, and costs $6 as a rental. At the end of January, Amazon is raising the cost of a Prime subscription if you want to see movies without ads.
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Most Amazon rentals are $4 to $6, except when the movies are brand new and popular. (They can be as much as $20 at first, but after a while the price drops.) You have 48 hours to watch a rented movie once you start to stream it.
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Kanopy is a free service sponsored by libraries and has increased the number and depth of its offerings. You sign up online using your Baltimore County library card. Kanopy has always regulated the number of movies you can watch each month. It used to be 15 movies; they have now moved to a different method. You get 45 “tickets” a month, and each movie “costs” 2 to 4 tickets. Again, once you start streaming, you have a limited time to complete the movie.
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Netflix is a subscription service with various levels: ads, no ads, etc. There are no restrictions on the number of movies you watch or a limited time in which to complete them. But Netflix doesn’t carry many older movies and its focus is shifting to series.
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An excellent source for locating movies is the website www.JustWatch.com.
JustWatch - The Streaming Guide All your streaming services in one app.
It tells you which streaming services are carrying the movie and the cost (not always accurate, but close). I use JustWatch to track movies that are still playing in theaters. I’m then notified when they become available for streaming.
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The Voice movie listings will now indicate the streaming source (if available) for each movie.
Movie Reviews
For those looking for movie reviews, most major movies are reviewed on the Roger Ebert site, which has a rotating group of reviewers. The reviews give a detailed plot summary. Four stars is the highest rating.
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Wikipedia has entries for most movies. In addition to a very detailed plot summary (including spoilers), the entries give the production history, cast, summary of critical reviews, and awards for which the movie was nominated or won.
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The Guardian, one of the few major newspapers without a pay wall, also has reviews.
If you have access to the New York Times, their reviewers are excellent, and their recommendations are noted as “Critics’ Choice.”
Movie History
For those interested in movie history, MIT, in its Open Courseware program, has a series of recorded lectures by David Thorburn, with an associated list of suggested films. The lectures include some movie clips. Thorburn has a very animated style of lecturing. His approach is particularly interesting because he places cinema in the context of society and points to connections with the other arts. His lectures are carried on YouTube, so you can view them on your TV, but you have to search for them. You can find information about the lectures at https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/21l-011-the-film-experience-fall-2013/video_galleries/lecture-videos-notes/
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