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Retro trip starring The Golden Girls TV show comes to Houston theaters

Can you identify these four Golden Girls by name?

Courtesy photo

A movie theater experience that's rife with '80s nostalgia is coming to town: The Golden Girls, the vintage TV series, is coming to the big screen.

"Forever Golden! A Celebration of the Golden Girls" will be a two-night experience featuring five episodes from the TV series, screening at movie theaters nationwide, including several theaters around Houston.

For those who've miraculously never seen a re-run of the show — which airs continuously on the Hallmark channel and is also available for streaming on Hulu — the series follows Miami homeowner Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan), joined by Rose Nylund (Betty White) and Dorothy Zbornak (Bea Arthur), brought together by an ad for roommates posted by Blanche in a grocery store. The three are joined by Dorothy's feisty Sicilian mother, Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty).

It premiered in September 1985 and ran for seven seasons with 180 half-hour episodes.

The release says that this special event will feature some of the series' most memorable episodes, as follows:

"The Engagement" (Pilot aired - September 14, 1985) – The pilot centers on Blanche who has fallen in love, raising the possibility that her boarders will have to move out in the event of a marriage. Of course the wedding is called off when Blanche discovers that she has become involved with a bigamist and finds comfort and love from her dearest friends.

"The Flu" (aired Mar. 1, 1986) – A week before an awards ceremony, Blanche, Dorothy and Rose each come down with a nasty flu, which compounds their arguing over who will win a prestigious award.

"The Way We Met" (aired May 10, 1986) – One night after watching Psycho, the girls find it hard to sleep so they stay up and reminisce about how they all came to live with one another.

"Ladies of the Evening" (aired Oct. 4, 1986) – The house is fumigated and the girls move into a Miami Beach hotel. Previously, Blanche had won three tickets to see the opening of Burt Reynolds new movie and passes to the party held afterwards where they could meet him. However, on the evening of the opening, the hotel is raided and they mistaken as prostitutes. Dorothy, Blanche, and Rose are dragged off to jail.

"Grab That Dough" (aired Jan. 23, 1988) – Sophia manages to get tickets for the ladies to be contestants on their favorite game show, Grab That Dough. Enroute, the airline loses their luggage and they are forced to sleep in the lobby of the hotel that "lost" their room reservations. To top it off, their purses get stolen. Arriving on the set, Blanche and Dorothy team up with the Kaplan Brothers, returning champions, because Rose and Sophia are "dead weight." To their surprise, Rose and Sophia answer all the questions correctly.

"There’s a reason The Golden Girls was nominated and won so many comedy awards. It's just that funny," says Ray Nutt, Fathom Events CEO. "This celebration of the hilarious show is a treat for existing fans as well as a whole new generation to experience this classic sitcom."

Fathom is a distributor of content to movie theaters in North America owned by AMC Entertainment Inc., Cinemark Holdings, Inc., and Regal Cinemas, a subsidiary of the Cineworld Group. The company delivers a wide variety of programming and experiences to cinema audiences in all of the top U.S. markets and to more than 45 countries.

"Forever Golden! A Celebration of the Golden Girls" will play in movie theaters on Tuesday, September 14 and Tuesday, September 21 at 7 pm. Tickets are $16.24 and can be purchased online at www.FathomEvents.com or at participating theater box offices. A complete list of theater locations is available on the Fathom Events website (participating theaters are subject to change).

It'll appear at the following movie theaters on Tuesday, September 14:

Regal Greenway Grand Palace Stadium 24, 3839 Weslayan St.
Regal Houston Marq*E Stadium 23, 7600 Katy Freeway
Memorial City Mall, 310 Memorial City Mall
AMC First Colony 24, 3301 Town Center Boulevard S.
Cinemark 19 Katy, 1030 W. Grand Parkway N.
Star Cinema Grill - Richmond, 22125 FM 1093
Regal Grand Parkway 22, 7301 Grand Parkway
Cinemark Rosenberg 12, 3420 Vista Dr.
The Woodlands Mall, 1600 Lake Robbins Dr.
Cinemark Spring-Klein & XD, 21440 Kuykendahl Rd.
Regal Lone Star 19, 24720 State Highway 249

For a complete list of theater locations and screening locations for Tuesday, September 14 and 21, visit the Fathom Events website (participating theaters are subject to change).

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Movie Review

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck square off in Netflix crime thriller The Rip

Photo by Claire Folger/Netflix

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon in The Rip.

For as closely tied together as Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are, it might come as a surprise how few times they’ve led a movie together. They’ve appeared alongside each other in Good Will Hunting, The Last Duel, and Air, but the only time they were on equal footing in a story was Kevin Smith’s Dogma. So the fact that they are the two true stars of the new Netflix movie The Rip makes it a rare opportunity for the longtime friends to square off against each other.

Damon and Affleck play Lt. Dane Dumars and Detective Sgt. J.D Byrne, respectively, the two highest ranking members of a Miami police department squad that specializes in drug and drug money raids. A tragedy to begin the film already has the team — which includes Detectives Mike Ro (Steven Yeun), Numa Baptiste (Teyana Taylor), and Lolo Salazar (Catalina Sandina Moreno) — on edge, with the FBI and DEA breathing down their neck.

Going off a tip, Dumars gathers the team to raid a house in nearby Hialeah that is supposed to have a stash of a relatively small amount of money. But when they get to the house occupied only by Desiree Molina (Sasha Calle), they discover close to $20 million. The team, required by law to count the money on site, must not only fight the urge to skim a little off the top for themselves, but also worry about the Cartel and other agencies that might want a slice of the pie.

Written and directed by Joe Carnahan, the film is a surprisingly effective crime thriller made even better by its high-quality cast, which also includes Kyle Chandler as a DEA agent. The story is designed for the audience to not know who’s trustworthy until the last possible second, and the various twists and turns it takes are well done, with barely a hint of narrative cheating.

Taking place entirely at night, the mood is set right from the start, with the only surprise being that Carnahan didn’t add in rain for extra effect. He keeps things tense with a number of subtle elements, including having the house located in a seemingly deserted cul-de-sac. This allows for the characters to remain on high alert at all times, with anything out of the ordinary — an unexpected noise, a flashing light, etc. — adding to the stress of the situation.

The only element that could have used a bit more of a punch-up is the characterization. The story is set up to cast suspicion on almost everybody, making it tougher to understand exactly what type of person each of them is. As the two leads, more time is spent with Dumars and Byrne, leaving everyone else with slightly underwhelming arcs. It’s to the credit of the actors that everyone else below Damon and Affleck is still compelling.

Damon and Affleck play their sometimes friendly, sometimes adversarial roles well, showing an ease together that’s a result of their friendship and the acting skills they’ve honed over 30+ years. Taylor, an Oscar hopeful for One Battle After Another, and Oscar nominee/Emmy winner Yeun have a pedigree that elevates their supporting roles. Chandler, Moreno, and Calle each get just enough to demonstrate why they were cast in their respective roles.

Damon and Affleck have had their individual ups and downs throughout their careers, but when they choose to work together, the results are usually good-to-great, as they are in The Rip. It’s a different take on a crime thriller that features a story that will keep viewers guessing until the very end.

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The Rip is now streaming on Netflix.

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