Kimball Film Series

The following films will be shown at Kimball Theatre at the College of the Holy Cross. All films are free and open to the public:

“School of Rock” Wed., Jan. 21: Showings at 3 and 8 p.m. Starring Jack Black and Joan Cusack. A rock star in debt becomes a substitute music teacher and has a positive effect on his students. Can he meld their talent with his, win the battle of the bands, and pay off his debts before the principal finds out?

“The Runaway Jury” Fri., Jan. 23 and Sat., Jan. 24: Showing at 7 p.m. Starring John Cusack, Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman. Jury manipulation, millions of dollars at stake, and a ruthless jury consultant who’ll stop at nothing to win are the ingredients of this John Grisham thriller.

“Step Into Liquid” Wed., Jan. 28: Showings at 3 and 8 p.m. Starring Rochelle Ballard and Layne Beachley. What’s it like to ride at the Pipeline and risk life and limb in the pounding surf? This new documentary answers this and other questions, so borrow your parents’ Beach Boy records, warm up the Victrola, and come enjoy.

“Intolerable Cruelty” Fri., Jan. 30 and Sat., Jan. 31: Showing at 7 p.m. Starring George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones. An L.A. divorce lawyer looking for a challenge finds it in a woman smart enough to pursue financial freedom through matrimony. The result is a battle of the sexes in a riotous screwball comedy with the Coen brothers touch.

“Lost in Translation” Wed., Feb. 4: Showings at 3 & 8 p.m. Starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson. In a film about the surreal dislocations of modern business travel, two Americans meet in Tokyo and spend an incredible soul-searching journey together. This sleeper hit of the fall is an early Oscar favorite.

“Brother Bear” Fri., Feb. 6 and Sat., Feb. 7: Showing at 7 p.m. In this Disney feature, a boy is transformed into a bear and is hunted by his brother. Will the creatures of the forest be able to help him survive?

“Sylvia” Wed., Feb. 11: Showings at 3 and 8 p.m. Starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Daniel Craig. Poets Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes meet, fall in love, and marry. Their initial happiness doesn’t last and the film explores her road to debilitating depression and, eventually, to suicide.

“Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World” Fri., Feb. 13 and Sat., Feb. 14: Showing at 7 p.m. Starring Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany. A great, old-fashioned sea adventure set against the background of the Napoleonic wars. Bloody sea battles filled with courage and gallantry are featured in this tremendous film.

“The Magdalene Sisters” Wed., Feb. 18: Showings at 3 and 8 p.m. Starring Geraldine McEwan and Anne-Marie Duff. In a film set in the laundry/prison where young women are sent for their sexual transgressions, we see the inhumane treatment they are subjected to and their struggle to find freedom. (These places actually existed until the mid-1990s.)

“Pieces of April” Fri., Feb. 20 and Sat., Feb. 21: Showing at 7 p.m. Starring Katie Holmes and Patricia Clarkson. A dysfunctional family, an attempt to put together a Thanksgiving dinner, and an oven that breaks down, are just some of the problems featured in this hysterical family comedy.

“Thirteen” Wed., Feb. 25: Showings at 3 and 8 p.m. Starring Holly Hunter, Evan Rachel Wood and Nicole Reed. A 13-year-old girl’s relationship with her mother is tested as she discovers drugs, sex, and petty crime in the company of her cool but troubled best friend.

“Love Actually” Fri., Feb. 27 and Sat., Feb. 28: Showing at 7 p.m. Starring Hugh Grant and Emma Thompson. Set in contemporary London, this film follows 10 intertwining love stories as they spiral around each other leading to a climax at Christmas Eve.

“Shattered Glass ” Wed., Mar. 3: Showings at 3 and 8 p.m. Starring Hayden Christensen and Chloe Sevigny. Shattered Glass tells the story of a writer for The New Republic, Rolling Stone and Harpers who loses a promising career when he is found guilty of plagiarism.

“Dirty Pretty Things” Wed. Mar. 17: Showings at 3 and 8 p.m. Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Audrey Tatou. This critically praised film explores the exploited world of London’s illegal immigrants forced to live, survive, and find love below the radar of society.

“The Matrix Revolutions” Fri., Mar. 19 and Sat., Mar. 20: Showing at 7 p.m. Starring Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss and Lawrence Fishburne. In the last of the trilogy, Neo must make one final stand against Agent Smith to protect his people and their way of life. Will Zion endure?

“House of Sand and Fog” Wed., Mar. 24: Showings at 3 and 8 p.m. Starring Jennifer Connelly and Ben Kingsley. A custody fight between an evicted house owner and the new owner, a former Iranian army colonel, leads to tragedy.

“Kill Bill” Fri., Mar. 26 and Sat., Mar. 27: Showing at 7 p.m. Starring Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu and David Carradine. In Quentin Tarentino’s latest, a woman shot and presumed dead awakes from a coma five years later and seeks violent revenge on her “killers,” leaving her boss, Bill, who pulled the trigger, for last.

“21 Grams” Wed., Mar. 31: Showings at 3 and 8 p.m. Starring Sean Penn, Naomi Watts and Benicio Del Toro. A woman seeks revenge on the man who killed her family in a superbly acted film that stresses that even a small ray of hope can have a profound effect on one’s environment.

“The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” Fri., April 2 and Sat., April 3: Showing at 7 p.m. Starring Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen and Liv Tyler. This is the last of the trilogy and the final confrontation between the forces of good and evil for the control of Middle-earth.

“Mona Lisa Smile” Wed., April 14: Showings at 3 and 8 p.m. Starring Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst and Julia Stiles. It’s 1953 and a new art professor at Wellesley wants to teach her students to exceed their limited expectations, and to challenge the paths tradition has laid out for them.

“The Missing” Fri., April 16 and Sat., April 17: Showing at 7 p.m. Starring Tommy Lee Jones and Cate Blanchett. In 1885 New Mexico, a father attempts to reconcile with his estranged daughter and help rescue his granddaughter from a band of vicious renegades in this update of John Ford’s “The Searchers.”

“Something’s Gotta Give” Wed., April 21: Showings at 3 and 8 p.m. Starring Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton and Amanda Peet. When a successful older businessman has a heart attack while visiting the mother of his latest trophy girlfriend, he must contend with his surprising feelings for her and with the competing affections of the young doctor called to take care of him.

“The Last Samurai” Fri., April 23 and Sat., April 24: Showing at 7 p.m. Starring Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe. Visually stunning, this historic epic tells the tale of a burnt-out American soldier who regains his humanity by helping a rebellious samurai in1876 Japan.

“Mystic River” Wed., April 28: Showings at 3 and 8 p.m. Starring Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon. Three boyhood friends bonded by a shared tragedy, but separated by time, are brought together when one of their daughters is murdered. This new crime makes them deal with disturbing events from their past.

“Miracle” Fri., April 30 and Sat., May 1: Showing at 7 p.m. Starring Kurt Russell. "Miracle" tells the story of the victorious 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team.

“Cold Mountain” (tentative) Fri., May 7 and Sat., May 8: Showing at 7 p.m. Starring Nicole Kidman, Jude Law and Renee Zellweger. The Civil War is nearly over and a wounded soldier undergoes a series of trials as he attempts to return to his home and his beloved.