Super Bowl XLIV in High-Def!...

Join us at Living Room Sunday, Feb. 7 beginning at 3:00 pm for Super Bowl XLIV in high definition! Come watch the New Orleans Saints taken on the Indianapolis Colts on the big screen or in the lobby on the flat screens for FREE! We’ll begin broadcasting at 3:00 pm and have a special menu of Super Bowl fare including chili and cornbread, nachos, buffalo chicken wings, miniburgers, banana cream pie and plenty of beer!

To reserve space for this event please call 971.222.2005.

Classics in HD – Stanley Kubrick’s FUL...

Stanley Kubrick’s classic film about the Vietnam war, Full Metal Jacket, begins this Friday, January 29 in high definition at Living Room! The film plays as part of our Classics in HD Series and is scheduled for a full week run. Kubrick is a favorite among Living Room patrons and Full Metal Jacket is the fourth Kubrick film we’ve exhibited in the Classics Series. You have a week to catch the film in glorious high-def!

For his first film since 1980′s The Shining, legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick turned his attention to this adaptation of Gustav Hasford’s The Short Timers, creating a harrowing Vietnam War picture that was one of the last of the slew of war films being made in this period in the late 1980s.

Full Metal Jacket is widely described as a two-act film, the first being a gripping look at Marine basic training and madness, and the second covering more conventional battleground territory. As with any Kubrick film, though, it has more on its mind than typical war sentiments, as it is a vital addition to his body of work illustrating the poisoning of the human spirit and the cruelty that men are capable of.

Watch the trailer HERE.

Coco Before Chanel: A Review...

Coco Before Chanel is a biopic about the legendary fashion designer Coco Chanel. Born simply “Gabrielle”, the infamous designer was a fighter from the beginning. With unflinching resolve, she allowed nothing to deter her from success. Not her lower socio-economic status, or the fact that for a woman in her position, success was unthinkable. She was one of the original feminists, and certainly one of the best-dressed feminists!
Director Anne Fontaine certainly made an excellent selection in casting Audrey Tatou as Coco Chanel, for I fear that any other choice would have resulted in a film with much less depth.
With impeccable costume choices and a talented supporting cast, Coco Before Chanel packs a hefty thematic punch. However, it should be noted that there is an undeniable undercurrent of melancholy throughout this film. Without giving too much away, it’s difficult to decipher whether or not our heroine should be regarded as a woman who simply refused to settle, or a woman who chose to forsake love in order to throw herself into her work. I’ll leave such interpretations to you, moviegoers.
Regardless of your conclusions, it’s safe to say that this is an enjoyable film with talented actors, beautiful sets, and smart costume choices.

Best of British Indie Cinema – THE LONG DAY ...

Beginning Friday, January 22 Living Room presents a special engagement of Terence Davies’ The Long Day Closes in high-definition as part of our Best of British Independent Cinema Series! Terence Davies, whose films include Distant Voices, Still Lives; The Neon Bible; and The House of Mirth is considered by some to be the greatest living British filmmaker.

Terence Davies‘ lyrical hymn to childhood revisits the same territory as Distant Voices, Still Lives, this time focusing on his own memories of growing up in a working-class Catholic family in Liverpool.

Eleven-year-old Bud (a heartbreaking performance from Leigh McCormack) finds escape from the greyness of ’50s Britain through trips to the cinema and in the warmth of family life. But as he gets older, the agonies of the adult world; the casual cruelty of bullying, the tyranny of school and the dread of religion, begin to invade his life.

Time and memory blend and blur through Davies’ fluid camerawork; slow tracking shots, pans and dreamlike dissolves combine to create the world of Bud’s imagination and the lost paradise of his childhood.

THE MISSING PERSON Starts Friday!...

The Missing Person is modern film noir in the spirit of Raymond Chandler shot with a gorgeous, desaturated color palette and grimy, moody lighting. A beautifully evocative film, The Missing Person is presented in high definition at Living Room beginning January 15.

The Los Angeles Times says, “It’s a great-looking movie, with an evocative use of music and, in rugged-yet-sensitive Michael Shannon, has an actor whose forceful, focused presence is the film’s sturdy linchpin.“

The Oregonian writes about Michael Shannon’s performance, “Shannon does the noir act devilishly well.”

The Portland Mercury calls the film, “Seedy, beautiful, and poignantly funny.”

A sardonic, gin-soaked detective contends with an odd cast of characters while tailing a mysterious, middle-aged man traveling with a Mexican boy from Chicago to Los Angeles in writer/director Noah Buschel’s twisting neo-noir mystery. John Rosow is a Chicago gumshoe whose skill for cracking a case often comes with a price; he has a penchant for getting in over his head, but he never loses his cool. Contacted by influential lawyer Drexler Hewitt and asked to shadow a man Rosow collects his cash and instructions from Hewitt’s gruff assistant Miss Charley, and sets out on his latest assignment. Upon arriving in Santa Monica, however, Rosow is caught off guard to learn that his objective has been updated. He is now to bring the man back to New York. For his efforts, Rosow will receive the tidy sum of a half-a-million dollars. Later, as Rosow attempts to track down his target, a Segway-riding LAPD officer and a cab driver with extensive knowledge of the Catholic saints offer some helpful clues to the man’s whereabouts as meddling FBI agent close in and a sensual femme fatale follows his every move.

Watch The Missing Person trailer HERE.



Super Bowl Super Big?...

We’re mulling over the idea of opening up a screen or two for the public to come in and watch the Super Bowl on February 7th.  There would be no charge for admission to see the pigskin tossed around in high definition on the big screen.  Let us know if you’re interested in attending either by commenting here or sending an e-mail to info@livingroomtheaters.com.  If you have a bunch of friends who you’re likely to bring, tell us how many people you can gather to join us!  Keep an eye here to find out the details for Super Sunday.

Free Ticket to Advance Screening of The Missing Pe...

Please click on the link below,  print your ticket, and bring it with you to the screening on Jan. 12.

The Missing Person – Free Advance Ticket

Free tickets to THE MISSING PERSON!...

Living Room is giving blog readers a chance to see the upcoming The Missing Person for free!

The Missing Person is modern film noir in the spirit of Raymond Chandler shot with a gorgeous, desaturated color palette and grimy, moody lighting. A beautifully evocative film, The Missing Person is presented in high definition at Living Room beginning on January 15.

Download your ticket HERE.

A sardonic, gin-soaked detective contends with an odd cast of characters while tailing a mysterious, middle-aged man traveling with a Mexican boy from Chicago to Los Angeles in writer/director Noah Buschel’s twisting neo-noir mystery. John Rosow is a Chicago gumshoe whose skill for cracking a case often comes with a price; he has a penchant for getting in over his head, but he never loses his cool. Contacted by influential lawyer Drexler Hewitt and asked to shadow a man Rosow collects his cash and instructions from Hewitt’s gruff assistant Miss Charley, and sets out on his latest assignment. Upon arriving in Santa Monica, however, Rosow is caught off guard to learn that his objective has been updated. He is now to bring the man back to New York. For his efforts, Rosow will receive the tidy sum of a half-a-million dollars. Later, as Rosow attempts to track down his target, a Segway-riding LAPD officer and a cab driver with extensive knowledge of the Catholic saints offer some helpful clues to the man’s whereabouts as meddling FBI agent close in and a sensual femme fatale follows his every move.

Watch The Missing Person trailer HERE.

Best of British Indie Cinema – TRUE NORTH...

In addition to our regular programming, Living Room offers a couple of ongoing series: Classics in HD (see North By Northwest) and the Best of British Independent Cinema. As part of the British Indie Cinema series, True North begins a run on Friday, January 8.

True North is poignant, moving and timely film. A group of Scottish fisherman grapple with the terrible cost of human trafficking in this morally resonant, deeply-felt drama.

After another unsuccessful fishing run from Britain, the Scottish trawler Providence docks in Ostend, Belgium. Desperate to pull his skipper father (Gary Lewis) out of looming debt prior to assuming control of the boat, first mate Sean (Martin Compston) follows a lead from deckhand Riley (Peter Mullan) and strikes a lucrative deal with a shady businessman (German vet Hark Bohm) to smuggle some 20 Chinese immigrants in the forward cargo hold during their return trip. In a decision that will prove fateful, Sean decides to hide the presence of the refugees from not only the ship’s cook (Steven Robertson), but from his father as well.

TRUE NORTH begins Friday, January 8 at Living Room.

BAD LIEUTENANT, A SERIOUS MAN – Best of 2009...

Hey Living Room Blog Readers,

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, which is playing right now at the theater, was not only named THE best film of 2009 by Oregonian film critic Stan Hall but appeared on ALL of the top ten lists of local print media film critics! Stan calls the film, “maniacally brilliant, almost indescribably out there Werner Herzog-Nicolas Cage black comedy.”

The Oregonian’s Mike Russell puts Bad Lieutenant on his top ten list stating that Nick Cage “hasn’t been this much fun to watch in years.”

Shawn Levy of the Oregonian listed the film in his honorable mention for the year writing, “Nicolas Cage tearing himself and the screen apart with merry madness.”

Erik Henriksen of the Portland Mercury calls the film “bugshit insane and hilarious and amazing.”

And Willamette Week’s Aaron Mesh puts the film on his top ten list as well.

Also playing right now at the theater is Joel and Ethan Coen’s A Serious Man, which made a few top ten list in the Oregonian and in the Portland Mercury. Film Critic Shawn Levy writes, “the Coens have reached a mastery well beyond anything most artists can aspire to, and they have a personal signature that is at once inscrutable, alluring and intoxicating”

Have any of you blog readers seen these films? Let us know what you think in the comments. There’s still time to see both these amazing films!