Films @ Ragtag

Exploring the comedic twists and emotional turns in one couple's journey across contemporary America, Away We Go is the new movie from Academy Award-winning director Sam Mendes (American Beauty). Longtime (and now thirtysomething) couple Burt (John Krasinski) and Verona (Maya Rudolph) are going to have a baby. The pregnancy progresses smoothly, but six months in, the pair is put off and put out by the cavalierly delivered news from Burt's parents (Jeff Daniels and Catherine O'Hara) that the folks are moving out of Colorado - thereby eliminating the expectant couple's main reason for living there. So where might Burt and Verona best put down roots to raise their impending bundle of joy? The couple embarks on an ambitious itinerary to reconnect with old friends and families, and to evaluate cities. Co-written by husband-and-wife novelists Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida and co-starring Allison Janney. "Strikes an artful balance between satirical comedy and heartwrenching drama... Krasinski and Rudolph project terrific chemisty..." (Claudia Puig, USA Today)

Woody Allen's 39th feature film, Whatever Works, follows Boris Yellnikoff (Larry David) leaving an eccentric upper class existence to explore a more bohemian lifestyle in New York's Lower East Side.  Boris finds himself falling for a young runway named Melody (Evan Rachel Wood) and romantic complications develop.  Supporting cast includes Patricia Clarkson, Ed Begley, Jr. and Michael McKean.

On the lonely roads of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, two men forge an improbable friendship that will change both of their lives forever. Solo is a Sengalese cab driver working to provide a better life for his young family. William is a tough Southern good ol' boy with a lifetime of regrets. But despite their differences, both men soon realize they need each other more than either is willing to admit. Winner of the Venice Film Festival's prestigious FIPRESCI International Critics Prize, internationally acclaimed filmmaker Ramin Bahrani's (Chop Shop) Goodbye Solo deftly explores the passing of a generation as well as the rapidly changing face of America.

A social-political thriller in the tradition of the American western, Sin Nombre is the gripping and dramatic story of a young Honduran woman who joins her father and uncle on the dangerous odyssey across Latin America en route to the United States. Along the way she crosses paths with a teenaged Mexican gang member who is on the run from his own violent past. Together they must rely on faith, trust and street smarts if they are to survive their increasingly perilous journey towards teh hope of new lives. Sin Nombre received the 2009 Sundance Film Festival dramatic competition's Directing and Cinematography Awards.

Just when you thought the rock opera was comfortably behind us, never to return, R. Kelly released Trapped in the Closet, a hilariously grandiose R&B adventure of infidelity and murder. The plot is an emotional roller-coaster, with each additional character having slept with at least two others. Bad rhyming is a staple, with elements of the plot added solely for the purpose of creating rhymes (in the director's commentary, R. states that he gave the main character a Baretta because he "needed a rhyme for dresser"). Come sing along to this groundbreaking, Grammy-nominated, winningly earnest gangsta saga in its full entirety (chapters 1-22). Suggested donation of $5.

Our Musical Classics series goes to summer camp! Ginger Rogers stars alongside Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in this adaptation of the Broadway play about young Romeos and Juliets who escape the grit and grind of Depression-era New York City for the canoeing and canoodling of Camp Kare-Free. Co-starring Lucile Ball, Jack Carson, and Red Skelton in his film debut.