Artist and film aficianado Jim Robbins will lead a discussion of "Zero Dark Thirty" following the 5:10 p.m. showing at Tacoma's Grand Cinema on Sat., Feb. 9.[1]  --  COMMENT:  "Zero Dark Thirty" is an important film that has a 94% "fresh" rating.  --  According to Metacritic, "Zero Dark Thirty" is the best-reviewed film of 2012.  --  Already the director of the award-winning film "The Hurt Locker," this time Kathryn Bigelow and writer Mark Boal present a version of the search for Osama bin Laden by a team of intelligence and military operatives.  --  The film has been nominated for five Academy Awards (ceremony Feb. 24, 2013):  Best Picture, Best Actress (Jessica Chastain -- allegedly a favorite for the award), Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound Editing, and Best Film Editing, as well as for four Golden Globe awards.  --  The film has been a center of controversies over (1) whether its release date was calculated to influence the 2012 presidential election, (2) whether the Obama administration had improperly furnished access to classified information to the filmmakers, and, most importantly, (3) whether the film in effect presents a justification of torture.  --  Among those who have argued that the film is more or less pro-torture are Glenn Greenwald, Frank Bruni, Jesse David Fox, Emily Bazelon, Peter Maass, Jane Mayer, Greg Mitchell, and Alex Gibney, Sen. John McCain, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and Sen. Carl Levin.  --  Among those who have defended the film against these charges are Spencer Ackerman,  Glenn Kenny, and Andrew Sullivan.  --  As for the filmmakers, screenwriter Boal has protested that accusations that the film is pro-torture are "preposterous," and director Bigelow has insisted that the film is "deeply moral."  --  A probing discussion Saturday evening at the Grand is guaranteed....
1.

WHAT: Discussion of "Zero Dark Thirty," directed by Kathryn Bigelow
WHO: Jim Robbins, Tacoma Film Club
WHEN: Saturday, February 9, 2013 -- following the 5:10 p.m. showing.  (The running time of "Zero Dark Thirty" is 157 minutes.) 
WHERE: The Grand Cinema, 606 S. Fawcett, Tacoma, WA 98402

http://www.grandcinema.com/events.php