Helen Mirren has always been a favorite of mine, ever since I discovered some old videotapes of her British crime series, Prime Suspect, on a shelf at my parent's house. The original "Prime Suspect" was from 1991, and seven were filmed, the most recent one last year (Prime Suspect: The Final Act).
This week she is in the news as the Golden Globe winner for best actress in a drama, and her work in The Queen will be here at the Eagle beginning Jan. 18. The movie also won the best screenplay award. The movie concerns Queen Elizabeth II, which is not a big topic on this side of the Atlantic, but the performance of Mirren is reason enough for all of us midwesterners to stretch a little bit.
Need another boost? The film considers the aftermath of Princess Diana's death. You can choose your reason for seeing it.
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If you are interested in the untold story of the birth of the CIA, then The Good Shepherd is the movie for you this weekend. Matt Damon, Robert DeNiro and Angelina Jolie star. We are pleased to present this 2:40 movie, which is pretty long in our ADD culture. For a theater, it's plenty long because it limits the number of times the movie can be shown in a day, so you may want to pay attention to the schedule. You can go to the theater website by clicking here.
These two very fine movies are joined by holdovers Night at the Museum, Freedom Writers, Happily N'Ever After, and The Holiday.
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Each Friday, we will post some information about Eagle Theater's schedule for the upcoming week. If you live in our trade area, you may want to subscribe to our weekly email that includes the guts of this weekly posting as well as a complete schedule and synopsis of the movies playing and coming to the theater in the near future. To join our email club, click to our website, choose Eagle Theater of Robinson and then click on the button that reads "Join the Email Club."
Until this week, we called the introduction to that newsletter our blog, but this is a more flexible format that allows reader interaction and more inside information about the theater.
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Janey Branson is our trivia winner from last week. She was the 15th correct winner who knew that Cameron Diaz starred in There's Something About Mary. If you want to win a free pass to the theater, you have to send an email to trivia@eagletheater.net and put your answer in the subject line. (Don't post the answer in the comments part of the blog!) The 18th correct answer wins this week. Ready for the question?
The likable Matt Damon has put together quite a body of film work, ranging from Mystic Pizza, the Jason Bourne films and the Ocean Eleven series. In what 1998 Steven Spielberg film did Ryan play alongside Tom Hanks, who had one of the most moving lines in all of film history ("Earn this.")? Need a hint? Nahhhhhhh. Tough it out, you maggots!