Spielberg's West Side Story.
The Regent in Pahiatua is back, reopening our doors on January 20 with three new films, The King's Man, West Side Story, and The French Dispatch.
Then on January 30, Tararua Cinematheque brings the wild wild west (and tacos) to the big screen!
First up is Matthew Vaughn's action/spy comedy The King's Man, a prequel to the hugely successful Kingsman series.
The film stars Ralph Fiennes (No Time to Die, The English Patient) as Orlando Oxford, creator of the spy organisation just in time for the lead up to WWI. Oxford and his team must navigate the dangerous world of Russian Bolsheviks, Vladimir Lenin, and the mystic Grigori Rasputin, played by the always funny Rhys Ifans (Harry Potter, Notting Hill).
Next, Steven Spielberg pleases crowds by bringing to life an all-new adaptation of the Sonheim/Bernstein musical classic West Side Story.
Set in 1957, this Romeo & Juliet tale tells the story of rival gangs, The Jets and The Sharks, who sing and dance and fight their way through conflict. Meanwhile, Tony (a Jet) and Maria (a Shark), sworn enemies for life, accidentally fall in love.
Critics and audiences agree it lives up to the 1961 Oscar-winning predecessor and in some ways surpasses it. The film stars Ansel Elgort (Baby Driver), newcomer Rachel Zegler as Maria, and original West Side Story star Rita Moreno as Valentina.
Quirky-as-ever Wes Anderson (Moonrise Kingdom, Grand Budapest Hotel) is at it again with his cast of usuals in The French Dispatch.
The story follows a French newspaper editor who dies suddenly and wishes via his will for the newspaper to stop publication immediately and print four, final, pre-determined stories alongside his obituary. Hilarity ensues as the four stories feature a small town tour, a passionate art collector fixated on an enigmatic prisoner's work, a chessboard revolution, and more.
Dispatch stars Benicio del Toro, Frances McDormand, Timothée Chalamet, Christoph Waltz, and regulars Bill Murray, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Willem Defoe, Owen Wilson, Edward Norton, Jason Schwartzman, Anjelica Huston and so many more.
Then on January 30, we're having tacos. Dos Locos Taco food truck will set up inside The Regent at 5.30pm and sell tacos before the Tararua Cinematheque's screening of Sergio Leone's too-cool-for-school western, Once Upon a Time in the West.
The film begins at 7pm and will feature old school Tararua advertisements, an overture by the Danish Symphony Orchestra, and a glorious 4K Cinemascope restoration of Leone's masterpiece. The film stars Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Jason Robards, and Claudia Cardinale.
Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students. Tickets sold from this and all cinematheque shows go to fund restoration efforts on The Regent.
In February, we open the critically acclaimed Princess Diana film, Spencer, Kenneth Branagh's story of growing up in Belfast, the Venus and Serena Williams biopic, King Richard, starring Will Smith, and the real-life rise and fall story of a televangelist in The Eyes of Tammy Faye.
For more information, visit www.RegentUpstairs.com.