“It’s a cracking good murder mystery that, by the time the final twist kicks in, transforms into a moving meditation on memory and justice.” — Dana Stevens, Slate.

“An absorbing story of the unlikely intersection of an unrequited love affair and an unresolved crime, this taut thriller features some bravura cinematic moments and memorable performances from an exceptionally attractive cast of players.” — Ann Hornaday, Washington Post.

Movies screen at 7 p.m. sharp, Thursdays, at the Empire Theatres Studio 10, 325 Prince Street, Sydney. Tickets  cost $9 each, $6 for students, $80 for a transferrable season pass to all 13 films. There is no extra charge for seniors. Box office opens 5:30 p.m., Thursday, June 9, in the Empire lobby. Click the icons above to view the trailer, reviews, complete cast information, and the official film website. Check out the rest of the Fall 2010 season.

The bewildered comic has searched the ends of the earth and the depths of black culture to find out who put that question into his little girl’s head. The result is GOOD HAIR, an exposé of comic proportions that only Chris Rock could pull off.

GOOD HAIR takes n insightful and entertaining but serious look at how black hairstyles impact the activities, pocketbooks, sexual relationships, and self-esteem of black people. Ice-T, Kerry Washington, Nia Long, Paul Mooney, Raven Symoné, Maya Angelou, and Reverend Al Sharpton all candidly offer stories and observations, as Rock struggles to respond to his daughter’s question. He discovers that black hair is a big business that doesn’t always benefit the black community.

GOOD HAIR plays one show only, Thursday, April; 15, at the Empire Theatre Studio 10, 325 Prince Street, Sydney. It is the last movie in our Winter 2010 season. Thanks for your support. See you September 9.

After many stints in youth detention, illiterate, 19-year-old Malik, a French Arab, begins a six year sentence in an adult prison where rival Corsican and Muslim gangs are at war. Malik has no known friends or enemies inside; He just hopes to serve his time without incident. The Corsican boss, a sadistic mafioso named César Luciani, has other plans. He co-opts Malik into a serious criminal act. The innocent Malik can think of no alternative but to cooperate. This doesn’t sit well with the other Corsicans, who see Malik as a dirty Arab; nor with the Muslims, who now mistrust him. But from these unpromising beginnings, Malik fashions a remarkable career, inside and outside the prison.

UN PROPHÈTE plays one show only, 7 p.m., April 8, at the Empire Theatres Studio 10, 325 Prince Street, Sydney. It is the second-to-last film of our winter-spring season.

Julianne Moore plays George’s closest friend Charley, a 48 year old beauty wrestling with her own questions about the future. Complicating matters further is a young student, Kenny, who stalks George, believing him to be a kindred spirit.

A SINGLE MAN is a romantic tale of love interrupted, and the isolation that is part of the human condition. It plays one show only, 7 p.m., Thursday, April 1, at the Empire Theatre Studio 10, 325 Prince Street, Sydney.

Check out the trailer:

Stand-up comedian Mo’Nique’s startling Oscar-winning turn as a the main character’s abusive mother will chill you to the bone. More surprisingly, because you won’t have heard as much about it, is newcomer Gabourey Sidibe’s utterly convincing portrait of Precious herself. And just for good measure, Mariah Carey is superb portraying a weary but sympathetic social worker.

Some of you are reluctant to see Precious because you have heard it’s too grim. You may have the wrong impression. The story is certainly grim – relentlessly so -  but except for harsh words, the gross abuse at the heart of the story is merely described and alluded to, never shown on screen.

These performances are piece of movie history you should not miss.

Controversy-courting director Michael Haneke earned the Palm d’Or at Cannes last year for this arresting drama set just before World War I. In a small German village, a number of unexplained accidents beset the schoolchildren and their parents. Though they at first appear coincidental, it begins to seem that they are not, in fact, accidents at all. Shot in spectacular black and white by cinematographer Christian Berger.

For a complete list of all 200 films shown by at film series since 2003, click here [.pdf file].

The White Ribbon plays one show only, 7 p.m., Thursday, March 18, at the Empire Theatre Studio 10, 325 Prince Street, Sydney.

A key element of the movement is to deed all Tolstoy’s writings to the Russian people, so they enter the public domain upon his death. The Countess, however, is not so keen on renouncing her inheritance. She uses her formidable powers of seduction on her husband’s main disciple, who she believes was responsible for getting Tolstoy to signing the new will. With Paul Giamatti, Kerry Condon, James McAvoy.

The Last Station plays one show only, 7 p.m., Thursday, March 11, at the Empire Theatre Studio 10, 325 Prince Street, Sydney.

THE WHITE STRIPES: UNDER GREAT WHITE NORTHERN LIGHTS documents the band’s thrilling 2007 cross-Canada tour, with special emphasis on the 10th Anniversary concert at the Savoy Theatre. This is an insightful, behind-the-scenes look at one of the world’s hottest bands during a moment of triumph that just happened to take place in Cape Breton.  9:30 p.m., March 4, Empire Theatre, 325 Prince St., Sydney. $10; ($5 with film series season pass). View trailer.

AN EDUCATION, our regular feature, has been nominated for three Oscars: Best Motion Picture, Best Screenplay, and Best Actress. Carey Mulligan stars as an Oxford-bound London teen whose life veers off course when she meets a charming playboy nearly twice her age. With Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, Sally Hawkins, and Emma Thompkins. 7 PM, Empire Theatre, Sydney. $9; students $6. View trailer.

Now comes A SERIOUS MAN, nominated for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay Oscars. The Coen Brothers channel their suburban Minneapolis childhood to tell the story of a university professor suffering the trials of Job. His wife is leaving him for his insufferable best friend; his  daughter is demanding a nose job; his students are cheating; and someone is sending poison pen letters about him to the tenure committee.

These are the funny, quirky Coens of Fargo and Raising Arizona, not the menacing Coens of No Country for Old Men. Says the Los Angeles Times:

“Writer-directors Joel and Ethan have seized the opportunity afforded by the Oscar-winning success of No Country for Old Men, to make their most personal, most intensely Jewish film, a pitch-perfect comedy of despair that, against some odds, turns out to be one of their most universal as well.”

This is your only chance to see this Coen Brothers Oscar nominee on the big screen in Cape Breton.

This odd quartet intersects with Hitchcockian menace. Animated with Spanish desire, BROKEN EMBRACES is laced with entrapment, voyeurism, and films within films. It’s is a riveting, entertaining indulgence. No one does melodrama so consistently well as Almodóvar, and with Cruz in his sights, he obviously has much to live for.

This is not a movie about the intricacies of football (read: soccer), but about the social context in which the game is played and the personalities who shape it. The result is a lively slice of social history in which Sheen outdoes himself as the manic, cocky coach with a strange, cruel passion for the most popular sport in the world.

Directed by Werner Herzog, Cage cuts loose with an over-the-top performance that the Toronto Star calls “his best work in years.” His character, Terence McDonagh, is a fearless and intuitive detective strung out on coke, OxyContin, and whatever else is handy. He reigns over the beautiful city’s ruins with authority and abandon, accompanied by a beautiful prostitute (played by Eva Mendes).

“Like a jumpy, coke-fueled Pied Piper, Cage takes viewers to the very precipice of depraved self-abasement, while preserving just enough self-conscious humor to keep from tumbling in.”  — Washington Post

A father and his son, “the Man” and “the Boy,” wander through a post-apocalyptic American landscape after some unspecified disaster has killed off most of humanity. A parable of mankind’s penchant for self-destructiveness, The Road imagines a future in which men are pushed to the worst and the best they are capable of—a future in which a father and his son are sustained by love.

“In this haunting portrait of America as no country for old men or young, Hillcoat — through the artistry of Mortensen and Smit-McPhee — carries the fire of our shared humanity and lets it burn bright and true.”  – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone.

The Road plays one show only 7 p.m., Thursday, January 28, at the Empire Theatres Studio 10, Sydney.