Rialto Cinemas is starting two new free movies series.

The first is the Free Family Matinee, with kid-friendly movies on the first Saturday and Sunday of each month. They will show at 10 am at Rialto Cinemas Cerrito, and at 11 am at Rialto Cinemas Elmwood and Rialto Cinemas Sonoma County in Sebastopol. The films in this series will be:

• Feb. 4 – 5 Ponyo (2008)
• Mar. 4 – 5, Labyrinth (1986)
• Apr. 1 – 2, Jumanji (1995)
• May 6 – 7, The NeverEnding Story (1984)
• June 3 – 4, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
• July 1 – 2, Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown (1977)

The second series is Free Big Screen Classics, featuring films from the classic era of cinema. They will show on the second Thursday of each month at 1 pm at all three Rialto theaters (the Cerrito, the Elmwood, and the Sonoma County). The films in this series will be:

• Feb. 9 – What’s Up Doc? (1972)
• Mar. 9 – My Favorite Year (1982)
• Apr. 13 – Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
• May 11 – To Catch a Thief (1955)
• June 8 – Victor/Victoria (1982)
• July 13 – Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

More titles will be announced for both series later this year.

No admission fee will be charged for any of these screenings. Tickets will be available beginning the Friday before each screening. More information is available at rialtocinemas.com.

We’re looking forward to seeing you at the theater!

Steven Spielberg followed Jaws (1975), his first major box-office success, with this epic science fiction adventure about a disparate group of people who attempt to contact alien intelligence. Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) is an electrical lineman who, while sent out on emergency repairs, witnesses an unidentified flying object, and even has a “sunburn” from its bright lights to prove it. Neary’s wife and children are at first skeptical, then concerned, and eventually fearful, as Roy refuses to accept a “logical” explanation for what he saw and is prepared to give up his job, his home, and his family to pursue the “truth” about UFOs. Neary’s obsession eventually puts him in contact with others who’ve had close encounters with alien spacecraft, including Jillian (Melinda Dillon), a single mother whose son disappeared during her UFO experience, and Claude Lacombe (celebrated French filmmaker Franois Truffaut), a French researcher who believes that we can use a musical language to communicate with alien visitors. Lacombe’s theory is put to the test when a band of government researchers and underground UFO enthusiasts (including Neary) join for an exchange with alien visitors near Devil’s Tower, Wyoming.

Source: Yahoo! Movie Info

“Close Encounters of the Third Kind” plays on Thursday, April 10 at 7:00. All seats are $8.00. Moviegoers are advised to get advance tickets at the box office or online, as shows may sell out. Arriving early is a good idea, in order to choose your seat and also order delicious food and wine or beer.

Pre-show video. Produced by Michael DeWitt.

Have you tried The Scene? The Scene wine/food bar offers tempting food such as panini, snacks and salads–and they can all be brought to your seat in the theater.

The incomparable Judy Garland was at the top of her form in “Meet Me in St. Louis” (1944), just four years after the triumph of “The Wizard of Oz.”

In “Meet Me in St. Louis,” Vincente Minnelli, soon to be Garland’s husband, captured a vivid portrait of the innocence of American life just after the turn of the century.

Taking place over the course of a year in St. Louis, the story shows Garland, along with her brother and three sisters, in the time leading up to the big 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair.

The surfaces are glistening and nostalgic, but there is an undercurrent of change going on in the country as well as within the family. The father has announced that he is accepting a promotion to New York City, and the teenage children find this a big disruption to their romantic stirrings.

The big screen sparkles with Technicolor and Garland delivers with songs such as “The Trolley Song” and “The Boy Next Door.” Marjorie Main is reliably comical as the family maid, and Margaret O’Brien excels as the impish little sister.

“Meet Me in St. Louis” plays on Thursday, March 13 at 7:00PM–all seats are $8.00. Moviegoers are advised to get advance tickets at the box office or online, as shows may sell out. Arriving early is a good idea, in order to choose your seat and also order delicious food and wine or beer.

Have you tried The Scene? The Scene wine/food bar offers tempting food such as panini, snacks and salads–and they can all be brought to your seat in the theater.

Pre-show video. Produced by Michael DeWitt.