See Rings two days early!

There are many, many reasons you might want a break this week. So we have one for you – free passes to see the upcoming movie Rings two days early!

The American remake of The Ring came out 15 years ago, back when most people probably had the means to watch a cursed videotape. This time around, it looks like Samara's video has ended up on YouTube. That's probably way more efficient for cursing people. Although there are plenty of cursed videos on the internet already.

We have passes to see this movie tomorrow night, Wednesday, February 1st, at 7pm in Friendship Heights. We only have physical passes this time, so you'll have to swing by the Media Services desk in the library to grab one. As always, keep in mind that advance screenings are intentionally overbooked. Show up early to guarantee a seat.

See The Accountant early and for free, with director Q&A!

We have more passes to see movies in advance this week – with a Q&A with the director!

This time around, we have passes for a preview screening of The Accountant, the new Ben Affleck-fronted thriller with a title that doesn't suggest that all. You'd normally have to wait until this hits theaters to see whether a movie about an accountant could actually be exciting, but you can see it for free on Thursday, October 6th, at 7pm in Friendship Heights. Stick around afterwards for the Q&A with director Gavin O'Connor.

We only have physical copies of these passes, so you'll need to swing by in person at the Media Serviecs desk to pick these up. As always, remember that these events are intentionally overbooked, so get there as early as you can to ensure that you get a seat.

See Queen of Katwe for free TOMORROW!

One of the great perks of living in a major city is getting to see movies before they come out. This week, we have free passes to see Queen of Katwe, the upcoming biopic about Ugandan chess player Phiona Mutesi, weeks before it hits theaters! The screening is tomorrow, Monday, September 12th, as 7pm in Friendship Heights.

To redeem your pass, visit SeeItFirst.net and enter the code 625515. You can redeem a pass for one or two people. These screenings are always intentionally overbooked to ensure a full house, so plan to show up early to ensure you get a seat.

See Sacha Baron Cohen's new movie early and for free!

Sacha Baron Cohen rose to fame for his prank documentary characters like Ali G and Bruno, but in recent years, he's chosen to hone his character-building in self-produced scripted movies like The Dictator. Cohen has been out of the limelight for about four years since The Dictator – the longest he's gone without portraying one of his many characters. His next film, The Brothers Grimsby, will hopefully be a return to form.

The Brothers Grimsby won't hit American theaters until the middle of March, but we have advance passes to see it early, one week from now!

The film will screen at 7pm on Wednesday, March 2nd, at the AMC Mazza Gallerie in Friendship Heights. Grab your passes online via this link. As is the case with all advance screenings, this preview of The Brothers Grimsby will be intentionally overbooked, so show up early to ensure that you get a seat.

Cohen is a gifted former, so we hope this one is good. We'll find out next week!

Need a finals break? See The Danish Girl on Thursday!

Welcome to finals week! We know it might be a rough time of year, so best of luck.

We're kicking off this hellacious week with a little present: advance passes to see The Danish Girl on Thursday, December 10th at 7pm in Friendship Heights. The story of transgender woman Lili Elbe is fascinating and timely, and Eddie Redmayne's performance has garnered major attention (and some controversy). No one has won back-to-back acting awards since Tom Hanks for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump; could Redmayne be next?

You can see for yourself weeks before the film expands to a larger national release – what better study break? You can pick up passes in person at Media Services or online. Remember to show up early: passes don't guarantee admission, and these screenings typically fill up early.

Hopefully you can make time this week to head to the movies. If not, we hope to at least see you at the library's Final Perk event on Wednesday!

See Leonardo DiCaprio's next big (award-winning?) film early!

November and December are the peak release months for prestige films. Academy Award nominees are announced in January, and the big hopefuls have a habit of popping up right before the deadline. We've been fortunate enough to share passes to a few of these movies, but we're saving the biggest for the end of the semester...

We have advance passes to see The Revenant, director Alejandro González Iñárritu's upcoming frontier movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio! The Revenant is in serious contention for Best Picture, and DiCaprio is an early favorite to win Best Actor – potentially his first Oscar. And you can see it almost a month before everyone else. Lucky you!

(Plus, there will be a Q&A afterwards with supporting actor Will Poulter!)

We have only 40 admit-two passes to give away for this screening on Thursday, December 3 at 7pm at the Georgetown Loews 14. Follow this link to redeem your pass before they're gone. This screening will no doubt be packed, so you'll need to arrive way in advance of the 7pm start time to ensure that you get a seat. Passes don't guarantee that you'll get in!

Snag a pass now so you can lord it over your family for Thanksgiving! Or, because it's an incredibly exciting movie that you can see weeks early for free before it becomes a hot topic.

See The Night Before a week early! (Yes, Christmas in November, sorry.)

So here's the deal: we absolutely do not want to contribute to the early glut of pre-Thanksgiving Christmas and holiday celebration. Thanksgiving is a great holiday, and November deserves to be its own month. That said, holiday-themed movies are coming out early this year, and since we have advance passes to one, we are obliged to promote it. (Also because it's an exciting one!)

Our advance passes this time are to see The Night Before, an upcoming, R-rated Seth Rogen comedy about a group of manchildren celebrating their last raucous Christmas party together before they grow up. Joseph Gordon-Levitt co-stars as one of Rogen's friends, a great casting choice that might counterbalance Rogen's usual antics. The movie opens on November 20th (too soon!), but we have passes to see it on Monday, November 16th at 7:30pm (even sooner!).

The movie screens at the Regal Stadium 14 in Gallery Place on Monday. Grab your passes from this link or in-person at the Media Services desk. As usual, remember that these passes don't guarantee that you'll get in; show up early to ensure that you get a seat.

(Hopefully this will be our last holiday season-themed post for a few weeks... but at least we did it in the service of something funny!)

Grab more passes for two weeks of free advance movies

Our steady stream of advance passes for films continues this week with two new release movies that you can see before they hit theaters! If you need a pre- or post-Halloween film happening, we have you covered.

First up is My All American, an Aaron Eckhart-fronted drama about the University of Texas's football team from the writer of Hoosiers. We have no clue if it's any good, but that's some good sports movie pedigree. This one is at 7pm on Thursday, October 29th at the AMC in Friendship Heights. Grab passes here.

A little further down the road, we also have passes for Brooklyn, the story of an Irish immigrant in the 1950s played by Saoirse Ronan. Early reviews from film festivals are very positive (with some Oscar talk, of course), so you might want to see this one before Ronan breaks out. This screening will be at 7:30pm on Tuesday, November 3rd at the Georgetown Loews theater. Early birds can get their passes via Fox Searchlight.

Of course, as we always need to warn that these events are intentionally overbooked to ensure that there's a full house. Arrive early at these screenings to get a seat.

See the acclaimed Room for free on Wednesday!

Although there are some big film-related things afoot on Wednesday, you might be looking towards the future rather than the past. And right now in the movie world, the future looks bright for Room, the claustrophobic Brie Larson-fronted drama that has made waves in limited release. The film currently has a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes and has garnered some early Oscar discussion. Room hits more theaters this weekend, but you can see this serious award contender before anyone else in the city on Wednesday!

We have passes to a pre-wide-release screening of Room for Wednesday, October 21st at 7pm at the AMC Mazza Gallerie in Friendship Heights. Visit our page on Gofobo to redeem your pass before they run out (limited quantity this time). As is always the case with pre-release screenings, show up early to ensure that you get a seat; these events are always intentionally overbooked, and your pass only guarantees you a place in line.

Given the extremely positive buzz, we expect this one to be packed, so show up as far in advance as you can. Maybe even at... exactly 4:29 pm! Great Scott! (Sorry, but October 21st is a special day, and we can't get over that. You really should see Room though.)

See a documentary about Malala early – and for free!

We continue to get advance screening passes for upcoming films, and we're very excited about this next one. We suspect the AU community will be interested in seeing He Named Me Malala, a documentary about Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani education activist and the youngest ever Nobel Prize laureate. Based on what we've seen in the trailer and read it descriptions, it sounds like this will offer a touching glimpse of Malala's family life that we rarely see.

He Named Me Malala opens in limited release next Friday, but we have passes to see the film before it opens on Tuesday, October 6th at 7pm. The screening will take place at the AMC Loews 14 in Georgetown, which is just a quick ride from any number of buses on Wisconsin Avenue.

You can pick up passes online or grab them in person. Please keep in mind that as with all advance screenings, this event will be intentionally overbooked. Show up early to ensure that you get a seat.

Chinese cancer rom-com Go Away Mr. Tumor comes to America – for free!

In 2011, Xiong Dun started an irreverent webcomic about her cancer diagnosis that gained millions of followers before she died a year later. Her comic was adapted into a romantic comedy movie this year, and although it was a success when it was released in China last month, it hasn't yet come out in the United States. You can be one of the first in the country to see it!

It's unclear when the film will be publicly released in the United States, but we're giving away passes to see it at a private screening at the National Geographic Society on Thursday, September 24th at 6:30pm. Variety liked the movie and compared it favorably to thematically similar movies like The Fault in Our Stars and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, so why not give it a shot? (Assuming you can get past the papal security downtown.)

You can pick up the passes at the Media Services desk in the AU Library (or grab them online here). Please remember as usual to show up early for this screening: the organizer intentionally overbooked this event, so you'll need to get in line if you want to see it.

We hope you'll attend! Again, we have no idea when the movie will actually come out in the United States, so this is your best (and cheapest) chance to watch it.

See a free movie in advance on Wednesday and help a Tenleytown charity

We often share free advance movie passes, and we're excited to something a little differently with them this time. We have passes for you to see 99 Homes, an Andrew Garfield-led drama about eviction and homeless – and proceeds from the event are going to a local charity.

To promote 99 Homes, filmmaker Broad Green Pictures started the 99 Good Deeds Program, a charitable effort that holds benefit screenings of the film for small non-profit organizations fighting homelessness. This screening of 99 Homes supports Friendship Place, a homelessness group founded in Tenleytown. (In fact, you've probably walked past one of their locations if you've ever gone north on Wisconsin Avenue near the Safeway.)

The screening will be held this Wednesday, September 9th at 7:30pm at the Mazza Gallerie in Friendship Heights. Passes can theoretically be redeemed online at broadgreen.ticktbox.com, but the link hasn't been working for us. But we do have a bunch of physical passes you can pick up at the Media Services desk in the library.

Remember the usual caveats: this event is intentionally overbooked, and a pass does not guarantee entry. Arrive in advance to ensure you get a seat!

See sci-fi drama Ex Machina with director Alex Garland

Science fiction screenwriter Alex Garland makes directorial debut in theaters today with Ex Machina, a futuristic drama starring future Star Wars co-stars Domnhall Gleeson and Oscar Isaac about artificial intelligence. The movie has mostly glowing reviews so far, which bodes well for Garland's transition from the writing desk to the director's chair. If you want to pry his mind a little, we have an opportunity for you...

Alex Garland will be at Landmark E Street Cinema next Tuesday for a special screening of Ex Machina. Although we don't have details about what will happen at this screening, we imagine there will be a Q&A or guided discussion with the director. Garland's career trajectory is putting him on the path to being a big name in science fiction film, so take advantage of this opportunity!

The event takes place at Landmark E Street Cinema on Tuesday, April 14th. Unlike many screenings that we offer passes for, you'll have to RSVP for this one. Send an email to ExMachinaDC@gmail.com in advance to indicate that you'll be attending. We'll see you there!

Внимание! Preview the next season of The Americans at the Spy Museum (21+)

We like to offer passes to upcoming film events, but even the best of those (like one in which Jake Gyllenhaal apparently took selfies with everyone in the audience) are restricted to traditional theater and Q&A settings. You may ask: do we have anything classier to offer?

Just for you, discerning patron, we're proud to announce our first-ever passes to a 21+ event and reception!

Next Tuesday, January 20th at 7pm, the Spy Museum will host an advance screening of the upcoming season of FX's acclaimed Cold War drama The Americans. The screening includes a free tour of the museum (typically $22) as well as free hors d'ourves and, yes, an open bar. This event is of course restricted to attendees over the age of 21.

(NOTE: The tickets list a different starting time, but the event does indeed start at 7pm. Don't be fooled! This is likely a KGB trick.)

Redeem your two-person pass online here. Given the age restriction, there's a small registration required before you can get your passes. You'll want to show up early, as usual, especially since this is such a swanky affair that'll undoubtedly bring out a big crowd.

Hopefully see you then, товарищ!

Get re-revenge this Thursday at a free Horrible Bosses 2 preview!

There's a scene in Horrible Bosses where Jamie Foxx's character (whose name is not repeatable here) admits to serving jail time for bootlegging a copy of Snow Falling on Cedars. We tell you this to warn you that such behavior will not be permitted at this week's free preview screening of Horrible Bosses 2!

Horrible Bosses was a runaway success in 2011, particularly because of lead Charlie Day in his first major film role. We don't know too much about the sequel, but we expect it to be at least as funny and chaotic as the original. And you can see it weeks before it hits theaters!

This free screening event happens on Thursday, November 13th, at the Regal Gallery Place Stadium 14 in Chinatown at 8pm. Unlike many of our screenings in which we give out physical passes, you can redeem these passes online through our friends at GoFobo. Keep in mind, as with every screening, that these events are intentionally overbooked, so you are encouraged to show up at least an hour or two in advance to ensure that you get a seat.

Hope to see you there! (But please leave your peanut-infected shampoo at home.)

Screenings galore! More passes available at Media Services

Based on the number of early screening promos we've been running recently, we're clearly in the midst of fall movie season. We never want to disappoint, so this week, we have two advance passes for you!

Our passes this week are to see Jake Gyllenhaal go full sleazebag in Nightcrawler on Saturday, October 25th at 9:30pm; and Nicole Kidman's spin on Memento in Before I Go to Sleep on Wednesday, October 29th at 7pm. Both screenings will take place at the AMC Loews Georgetown 14. This is one of the rare occasions on which we have a movie that screens on a weekend, so plan accordingly! Assuming you were able to make it to The Wedding Ringer on Monday, that's three free movies in two weeks. Lucky you.

Come to the Media Services desk to pick up your passes. (We're back to doing physical tickets rather than digital passes for these two films.) As usual, remember that these screenings are intentionally overbooked, and your pass does not guarantee entry. Show up early to ensure that you get a seat.

See Kevin Hart in The Wedding Ringer MONTHS before it hits theaters!

Free advance movie passes have once more returned to Media Services!

This time, we have passes to see The Wedding Ringer, an upcoming comedy in which Kevin Hart plays a for-hire best man for awkward grooms. Between Ride Along and the Think Like a Man a series, Kevin Hart has been on a hot streak, and his co-star Josh Gad is still on top after his success in The Book of Mormon. This movie doesn't normally hit theaters until January 2015, so details are scarce, but those two actors sound like a winning combination.

The screening goes down Tuesday, October 21, at the AMC Loews Georgetown at 7pm. Claim your pass online at our page on SonyScreenings.com. (We don't have physical passes for this one.) As usual, keep in mind that these screenings are intentionally overbooked, and your pass does not guarantee entry. Show up early to ensure that you get a seat.

We hope to see you there!

See Men, Women & Children, then grab the T-Shirt!

As we head into October, we're leaving behind summer blockbusters and heading straight into the prestige season, when award-contenders and major dramas are released for the discerning public. One of the more conspicuous debuts this week is Men, Women & Children, the latest film by director Jason Reitman (Up in the Air, Juno, Young Adult). Reitman has some pretty strong dramedy chops under his belt, so we have high expectations for this one. But we also have some movie swag!

We currently have a bag full of posters and T-shirts for Men, Women & Children to give away at the Media Services desk. If you're interested in this movie, enjoy Jason Reitman, or just want something to decorate your wall/body,  we encourage you to come by and pick something up! We also have a poster for Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader's indie hit The Skeleton Twins and a tote bag for summer breakout Chef.

And of course, we also have passes to see Men, Women & Children this Wednesday evening at the AMC Loews Georgetown 14. Swing by to grab a shirt and a pass. As always, remember that these advance screenings are intentionally overbooked, so show up early to ensure that you get a seat.

Simon Pegg fan? See Hector and the Search for Happiness THIS THURSDAY

We've been posting a ton about free film screenings recently, but there have just been a great number happening in the last few weeks. That's certainly not a bad thing, especially if you enjoy quality entertainment for minimal price. But it's been a while since we brought you an advance screening of an upcoming movie. Time to fix that.

We have passes to an advance screening of Hector and the Search for Happiness, an upcoming star vehicle starring Simon Pegg. A far cry from his usual dark comedies, Pegg stars as a psychiatrist who travels the world in pursuit of... well, happiness. To be frank, the movie isn't getting good reviews so far. But if you like Simon Pegg, it might be worth an opportunity to see him doing something strikingly different.

The screening goes down tomorrow night, Thursday, September 18th, at 8pm at the AMC Loews Georgetown. Pick up your advance pass in person at the Media Services desk. As always, please remember to show up early, as these screenings are intentionally overbooked and passes and do not guarantee entry.

See indie comedy Obvious Child two weeks before theaters!

Our access to advance summer movie passes continues! Sometimes we have tickets to big blockbusters, but this time around, we want to put a movie on your radar that you might not know was coming out.

Obvious Child is an upcoming comedy film that found life on Kickstarter and premiered at Sundance earlier this year. In addition to coming from a first-time director, Obvious Child boasts an impressive lineup of independent comedy names, including Jenny Slate, David Cross, and Jake Lacy. This movie doesn't premiere until June 6th, but you can see it on Thursday, May 22nd at 7pm!

To redeem an advance pass, follow the link here. As with all advance screenings, please keep in mind that your pass does not guarantee entry. These events are intentionally overbooked to ensure a full house, so be sure to show up early to ensure that you get a seat.