Shelton Cinema Showtimes for Friday, December 32nd, 2020

Avengers: Infinity War
7:00am* 3:00pm 10:00pm 12:00am**
*Note that 7 am is the goal but usually we can’t get the movie rolling until 8.
**Note that the latest showing starts at midnight, but the theater will more than likely be open until 1 or 2.
Plot Description:
Jennalyn is obsessed with movies, particularly the Marvel franchise. She made her parents watch all 18 movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) leading up to Infinity War, and when Spiderman turned into dust, it was the first time she was actually moved to tears by a fictional story. She went home that night feeling empty and clutching onto her Avengers shirt and wondering how in the world she was ever going to be able to wait a whole year to know what happened. Then there was her tennis coach, who loved the Avengers and whispered theories to her so that her teammates wouldn’t hear spoilers. She never heard from him after the season, but had a feeling that he was gone before the next movie came out; she had heard rumors of the tumor. Despite this he was so happy and talked about the Hulk and made the team run laps with a big smile on his face, laughing when they complained, and letting Jennalyn play in a match early so she could leave to go see this movie because at that time everything in her life revolved around Iron Man and Doctor Strange.

Groundhog Day
9:00am 10:00am 11:00am 12:00pm*
*Note that there will not be breaks between movies, so make sure to hurry to the appropriate theater and save a seat so you can sneak a quick bathroom break in
Plot Description:
Ah, a classic. Jennalyn loves this movie because her dad loves this movie, and they used to watch it nearly every year around February 2nd. Sometimes she feels like Phil Connors, stuck in the same routine every day, classes starting at nine and repeating every hour until one. Then it’s homework and scavenging through her cupboards for a college-student meal and wasting the day away. It always annoyed her how every year, the groundhog predicted more and more and more winter. It’ll always be cold and the same, cold and the same.
Last year the groundhog predicted an early spring. Maybe it’s a sign. Or maybe Jennalyn should learn to not trust groundhogs.

White Christmas
12:24am
Plot Description:
This movie was played annually at Jennalyn’s house, often on Christmas Eve after new pajamas were opened but before Santa Clause came, and the kids huddled around the T.V. drinking hot chocolate from their reindeer-themed mugs. Jennalyn got bored with all the random dancing and singing when she was younger, but the part that always stuck with her is the end, when the General walks in and there are his troops, clapping and cheering and singing for him. She’s never cried at this movie, but she’s sure felt stirrings in her heart and the bits of pressure in her head where tears consider coming out before the feeling fades after a few moments.
There’s something about the type of love in this movie, not friend love or romantic love, but love between a man that used to be a leader and those he once led. It’s Jennalyn with her AP Bio teacher Sophomore year in high school who was smart and kind and made her feel capable, and her Senior-year Government teacher who was open and honest and made her feel noticed, and her JV tennis coaches who, even though they moved on each season, still helped her smile or feel dedication and pride. It’s that moment after months of practice with the hard-core Marching Band lady when Jennalyn and the youth in her church performed in front of thousands of people and after when she ran off the floor grinning and feeling the heart-stirrings and tear-pressure and being full to the brim with pride and happiness like a Turkey stuffed on Thanksgiving. It’s clapping for a professor who wears the same blue shirt each Thursday when he finishes his last lecture of the semester, and realizing she’ll miss her friends and even the class despite the anxiety and late nights and early mornings it evoked. It’s being in a team with a leader and finishing together after going through it all, failures or successes and everything in-between.

Brave
10:52am 2:42pm
Plot Description:
Jennalyn adores a cute Disney or Pixar film, and she’s a sucker for romance. She enjoyed the narrative of this movie, but to be honest, was pretty disappointed at first that there was a lack of a classic love story. It’s definitely not her favorite Disney/Pixar movie; it’s probably not even in the top ten.
Today Jennalyn sees this movie a little differently. Merida is not the average, pretty princess. She is neither delicate nor simple, elegant nor traditional. Her hair is crazy and curly just like Jennalyn’s, and she enjoys riding and feeling the wind blow in her face and climbing to the top of mountains. Now Jennalyn sees this movie and feels a love story--not romantic, but between family, and within oneself. She still loves a classic fairy tale, but perhaps Merida’s journey explores something that is often left untouched but that is at least equally important. Perhaps it’s best to first learn to love what’s within, to let the wind blow your crazy hair and be messy and live for yourself so that you can live for others.

Avengers: Endgame
Showing all day on repeat
Plot Description:
It was a long year between Infinity War and this movie, but it also went faster than a banana turns brown. Jennalyn suspects that her tennis coach got to see it before anyone else. She wonders if there is an infinite selection of free movies in heaven, from the Lumiere Brothers’ first family films to the 4D movies from the year 3045 when you can play anything you'd like with your mind chip.
Jennalyn hates to admit why she loves movies so much, why she loves stories so much, but she knows. She knows that when her own life isn’t exciting or fun or romantic, or when she is sad or just plain lonely, she turns on a movie to transport herself to a different place where characters have lives and she connects.
The year between the Avengers movies, driving tests were taken and passed, friendships that she had nourished since 2nd grade faded into dust just like Tom Holland, and colleges accepted her. The day she saw the movie was one of the happiest of her life, because she drove to the school she loved and the siblings she loved and was in a theater with the nerdiest kids who appreciated the story she loved just as much or more than her. This was the second movie that made her cry, but she cried out of joy and relief.
Jennalyn thinks that maybe her tennis coach didn’t see the movie after all, because maybe they just don’t watch movies in heaven. If heaven is perfect, and she likes to think that it is, perhaps life will be so exciting, so eventful, and so joyful that she’ll never want to turn away, even for 3 hours and 2 minutes.
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