Entertainment

The Palace Theatre has enjoyed good crowds for our November run of grown-up movies, including “Gone Girl,” rated R, starring Ben Affleck, which plays through Thursday, November 20.  Tickets are already selling for “The Judge,” with Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall, which opens Friday. DECEMBER We anticipate GREAT crowds in our future.

Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tinman, Lion, the Munchkins, and Glinda, as well as the Great and Powerful OZ and his gloriously green Ozian subjects, are anxiously awaiting opening night at the Vinton-Shellsburg High School Auditorium. And yes, Toto, too! We hope you’ll join us Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, November 7, 8, 9, at 7 pm, 7pm, and 2 pm respectively.

Denzel Washington is Robert McCall in “The Equalizer,” rated R, playing the Palace Friday, November 7 through Thursday, November 13 at 7 pm, and Monday, November 10 at 2 pm. News to me, but not our faithful Wednesday night volunteers, the first Equalizer was a 1980s TV series about a former CIA officer who helps desperate people in need of his well-honed deadly skills.

With this week’s war adventure horror film, the Palace begins a four-week run targeting our adult audience. Although rated PG-13, “Dracula Untold” skirts the edge of an R rating. This movie is not for the meek of heart. Playing Friday, October 31 through Thursday, November 4 at 7 pm, with a SPECIAL HALLOWEEN LATE SHOW at 9 pm, and a regular Monday Matinee 2 pm screening, “Dracula Untold” runs 94 fast-paced minutes.

One of the first murder investigations in Iowa history to be solved with forensic investigation will be highlighted on TV on Oct. 31 (the program had originally been scheduled for Oct. 24). The Travel Channel's series "Mysteries at the Museum" sent a camera crew to Vinton in February to talk to local historians about how Benton County authorities used forensics to determine that the victim of a Walford store fire was not the owner, Frank Novak, but another man.

Dear Edwina JR. is a delightful children’s theatre musical for a general audience. ACT I is pleased to present four performances on December 5, 6, and 7 at the Palace Theatre in Vinton, as our Christmas card to the community. Dear Edwina is about a spunky young girl, Edwina Spoonapple, who aspires to be an advice columnist.  In her weekly Dear Edwina Show, which she produces with a cast of her friends, she always has advice for every problem sent her way.

  Vinton-Shellsburg High School Drama Dept will present The Wizard of Oz on November 7 and 8 at 7 pm, and November 9 at 2 pm, in the VSHS Auditorium.  Tickets are $5 and may be purchased at the door. Under the direction of Marcy and Gerald Horst, the high school cast includes Caleb Kruckenberg as Scarecrow, Daniel Janssen as Tinman, Logan Murray as Lion, Lily Horst as Dorothy, Abby Scheel as Wicked Witch, Celia Turner as Glinda, Muriel Glynn as Auntie Em, Kyle Jorgensen as Uncle Henry, and Jordan Schoettmer as the Wizard, as well as several Oz Chorus Members, and 16 Middle School Munchkins.

Part two of the “Dolphin Tale” saga opens Friday, October 17 and plays the Palace through Thursday, October 23 at 7 pm every night, as well as Monday, October 20 at 2 pm. Winter, the Dolphin with the amazing prosthetic tail is back, and with him the Nelsons, the Hasketts, and Dr. Cameron McCarthy (Morgan Freeman). However, Winter and company are faced with a new and daunting problem.

Old school action movie fans rejoice – “Expendables 3” storms the Palace Friday, October 10 through Thursday, October 16 at 7 pm (NO SHOW ON TUESDAY), and Monday, October 13 at 2 pm. Please note: The Palace is open on Monday, October 13 for both shows, 2 pm and 7 pm. This weeks’ Livewire ad was incorrect, my error not theirs.

“When the Game Stands Tall” comes to the Palace appropriately during the height of football season, running Friday, October 3 through Thursday, Oct 9 at 7 pm, and Monday, October 6 at 2 pm. This Christian-influenced sports film stars Jim Caviezel (well -rehearsed for this role by portraying Jesus in “The Passion of Christ”) as Bob Ladouceur, the real life, soft-spoken coach, notorious for leading his Catholic high school football team to more than 150 straight wins, over a span of more than ten years.