Our New Season Kicks off and We’re Dressed to the Nines!

 Spinning Reels presents The Dressmaker on September 26, 7:00 PM at the Norwood Theatre.

Spinning Reels kicks off the 2016-17 season with The Dressmaker

This wickedly comic drama stars Kate Winslet (Steve Jobs, Labor Day, Titanic) as Tilly, a worldly dressmaker returning to the Australian backwater (with all its small-town characters) that exiled her. The Dressmaker is a sumptuous, saucy, and scandalous tale of love and vengeance in the mid-1950s. It also has the most fabulous gowns this side of the red carpet!

Many THANKS to this movie’s sponsor

Rotary Club of Bracebridge

It’s a corker!

In the directorial debut from renowned Scottish- born actor Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty) is a darkly comic thriller about a downtrodden, mild-mannered Glaswegian barber whose mundane life is turned upside down when he inadvertently finds himself embroiled in a rash of serial murders.

Carlyle stars as the socially awkward Barney, whose dark fantasies become startling reality after an inadvertent murder. Rather than reporting the incident to the police, Barney turns to his hilariously fierce mother Cemolina (Emma Thompson, Sense and Sensibility, Saving Mr. Banks) for help — but Cemolina has a secret of her own, which leads to a chain of unexpected events.

A dark, bloody (and bloody hilarious) comedy of errors, The Legend of Barney Thomson shows the always wonderful Thompson stealing every scene she’s in as Barney’s indomitable mother, while director and star Carlyle demonstrates that he is just as adept behind the camera as he is in front of it. Deliciously dark and savagely funny, The Legend of Barney Thomson is sure to leave audiences in stitches.

90 minutes

A BIG THANKS to this movie’s sponsor:

The Norwood Theatre for Great Movies in Muskoka!

Not your typical love story!

Ebert says Rams is an “involving, at times curiously exciting film”.

Despite the fact that they live on neighbouring farms, Gummi  and his boastful, hard-living neighbour Kiddi have not spoken to one another in forty years, their intermittent and grudging communications carried out via letters carried by Kiddi’s dog. Their rivalry reaches its height in the valley’s annual competition for best ram, which Kiddi has won several times.

With keen observation and gently sardonic humour, Rams offers an understanding yet incisively satirical take on the Icelandic championing of independence and self-reliance, and how those otherwise admirable qualities can turn into isolationism, short-sightedness, and unyielding recalcitrance. Driven by the stellar performances of its two leads, it masterfully mixes comedy and heartbreak in its portrait of an ancient, and endangered, way of life.

93 minutes

Our THANKS to this movie’s sponsor:

Click on logo to go to Brackenrig website

Brackenrig Nursery has been the top garden center in Muskoka. We’ve been offering our gardening services and growing plants on the premises for Muskoka, Bracebridge, Port Carling and surrounding areas since 1988. We welcome the individual gardener as well as the landscaper. We have your gardening solutions ready to go!

With ‘Carol’, we take a look at the cost of love.

When you put a two time Oscar Winner like Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine, The Aviator) together with other excellent actors like Rooney Mara, Kyle Chandler, and a sensitive script set the 1950’s, you know that you’re in for something special. Carol is a film about a divorcing woman (Blanchett) who falls for a shop girl. Of course, the road of love is neither straight nor easy, and the ensuing pressures of family, society and her own expectations result in a beautifully acted work of art.

118 minutes

This movie’s sponsor

Karen Acton Royal LePage Lakes of Muskoka

A 2012 President’s Gold Winner, Karen is known for her outstanding customer service and integrity.

Here’s a film that seems as if it were ripped from the headlines

With the recent discussion of the Canadian Forces’ role in international conflicts, Hyena Road arrives on the scene to remind us that there is a personal element to all these far-off events. Writer, director, and actor Paul Gross (Due South) continues his examination of Canadian soldiers’ wartime efforts which he started with the WWI epic, Passchendaele. This Hollywood-type movie departs however,  from typical jingoism to reveal a quiet Canadian approach- understated, sincere, and very realistic.

From the natural, strong ensemble acting to the detailed, well-shot action scenes, Hyena Road drops you directly into the action, allowing the viewer to get a clearer picture of what these seemingly never-ending conflicts are about, as well as their personal cost.

120 minutes

Many THANKS to this Movie’s Sponsor:

  Catherine Nasmith Architect is a sole proprietorship specializing in heritage rehabilitation, planning, advocacy and research. She also enjoys working with clients on private residences and other small scale projects. Catherine works from offices in Toronto and Muskoka.

For more info click on Catherine’s logo

Born to be Blue- because music touches the soul

Ethan Hawke stars in Born to be Blue

Born to be Blue– a fascinating bio-pic about the legendary trumpeter Chet Baker.

Chet Baker had an incredible talent- not just for music, but for trouble. This movie reimagines Baker’s life from later on in his career when he was already acknowledged as a genius.  Ethan Hawke (Before Midnight, Boyhood) shines as he follows the score of the part truth-part fiction of this up and down life. Whether it be his addition to drugs, women or jazz, Baker searches to be the best with a fear of failure that was as great as his prodigious talent.

For more information about Born to be Blue, click on the photo

97 min.

Many thanks to our sponsor:

Bracebridge Lions Club

Each year since 1942, the Bracebridge Lions Club has donated many thousands of dollars to benefit local organizations and individuals. This is accomplished through the member efforts at local Lions fundraising events each year. Lions members enjoy getting to know and improve their community, the satisfaction of a job well done, and working with like-minded people. If you think this may appeal to you, contact us at 705.646.2394 or bracebridgelionsclub@gmail.com

Website: www.bracebridgelions.com

Bryan Cranston stars in Trumbo

Are there Lessons for Us?

Despite the fact that the United States and the Soviet Union had been allies during WWII, it wasn’t a smart move having anything to do with Communism in the late forties/early fifties- Trumbo certainly proves that point. With a magnificent and magnetic performance by Bryan Cranston (TV’s Breaking Bad) and an all-star supporting cast including such luminaries as Helen Mirren and John Goodman, we move from the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947 through its consequences for the brilliant screenwriter Dalton Trumbo. Trumbo may not be a name you’re all that familiar with, and for good reason- he was blacklisted and unable to write under his own name, ultimately winning two Oscars for The Brave One and Spartacus.

120 minutes

Click on the image for more info about Trumbo

Our THANKS to this movie’s sponsor:

Carol Howrucha and Elizabeth O’Connor

 Already had enough of Winter??

Let´s look at how the heck we got into this mess

 This Changes Everything is the new movie based on Naomi Klein’s bestseller of the same title. In the film, we go around the world to see not only the effects of climate change, but also to check in on some of the folks who are trying to do something about it. It may be hard to understand that the world is warming when it’s -20 outside, but the facts, and the people against are unstoppable- we just have to accept it as part of our battle rather than waiting for ‘them’ to take care of it.

Margaret Meade said,”Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” This movie will help you decide which side you’re on.

89 minutes

Many THANKS to this movie’s sponsor

Dr. Stuart Robson, Dentist

Committed to Dental Excellence

149 Manitoba Street, Bracebridge

(705) 645-4151