Thursday, December 27, 2012

Flick Picks 12/24

This week and next week are going to be slow for new releases but there are some noteworthy titles coming out that you'll want to place holds on:

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis star in the mind-blowing time travel action flick Looper, available on DVD and Blu-ray.

David Cronenberg's strange but watchable adaptation of Don DeLillo's Cosmopolis, starring Robert Pattinson, should be interesting way to start your new year.

Season 3 of the Western-esque series Justified arrives, as U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens takes on a new arrival from Detroit.

Season 6 of the British cop show Trial and Retribution also comes to DVD this week.

Flick Picks will see you again in January with loads of new DVDs including season 3 of Downton Abbey, which arrives towards the end of the month! Be sure to get your holds in for this one! Have a great New Year's holiday!!!
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Monday, December 17, 2012

Flick Picks 12/17

New This Week!
ENTERTAINMENT: Just in time for winter break there are LOTS of new films being released this week. Clint Eastwood directs and stars in Trouble With the Curve, in which he plays a major league pitching scout who is starting to lose his vision. Amy Adams plays his daughter who is reluctantly brought in to help her father while Justin Timberlake plays his protege. We have this on DVD and Blu-ray.

The well-reviewed Richard Gere comeback vehicle Arbitrage also arrives this week. Gere plays a hedge-fund manager whose financial empire is threatened, driving him to desperate methods to protect his fortune and family, including his wife Susan Sarandon. It's available on DVD and Blu-ray. Also, the audience favorite bike messenger thriller Premium Rush, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who is truly proving himself to be one of our best young actors) comes out this week on DVD and Blu-ray. The big budget Total Recall, starring Colin Farrell in the Arnold Schwarzenegger role, comes to DVD and Blu-ray this week as well.

There are a couple of family friendly films arriving this week. The latest installment in the hit Diary of a Wimpy Kid series comes to town this week, as Dog Days' Greg Heffley tries to survive summer. Meanwhile, teen (and adult!) Glee fans will want to watch the Anna Kendrick vehicle Pitch Perfect, a PG-13 musical comedy about a college a capella group.

There are also a number of films coming out this week that you might have missed at the theaters. Sleepwalk With Me stars comedian and NPR celebrity Mike Birbiglia in a series of vignettes based on his comedy material. It won the Sundance Film Festival audience award. Spike Lee returns with a controversial look at growing up in Brooklyn called Red Hook Summer. Academy Award winning director William Freidkin and Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Tracy Letts team up with the ultra-violent Killer Joe in which Matthew McConaughey plays a Texas cop who is hired by a father and son in a small town to murder the mother. Finally, Liberal Arts is a love story starring the wonderful Elizabeth Olsen as a college student who falls for an older man whose life peaked when he attended her university 15 years earlier.

SERIES: Season 1 of Showtime's House of Lies is the newest must-see series that you'll want to place a hold on asap. It's a dark comedy starring Don Cheadle and Kristen Bell as management consultants who will do anything for their clients. The second season of Showtime's Shameless, the raucous Chicago-set William Macy comedy about a poor family trying to survive, is released this week as well. The fifth season of David Duchovny's Californication has also arrived.

SUBTITLED: If you are a fan of Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring then you'll want to see The Well-Digger's Daughter. Daniel Auteuil, who starred in the earlier films, directs and stars in a remake of Marcel Pagnol's 1941 film of the same name, and it was Pagnol's source material that Florette and Manon were based upon.

All of our new releases and upcoming are always available through Bibliocommons!

Mike's Films You Might Have Missed
Damsels in Distress
One of the most pleasurable aspects of my job is picking out little Hollywood, foreign and documentary films that you might have missed in the theaters and bringing them to your attention. Take a chance on a film that you might not have heard of and you might find a real gem. In the case of subtitled and documentary films it doesn't cost a dime! Also, please ask at the reference, reader's advisory and circulation desks because chances are that somebody has seen the films that you are curious about.

So spend this vacation enjoying your home and your family and most importantly, watching lots of great DVDs! Here are some of my favorite DVDs from the year (ignoring blockbusters and concentrating on smaller entertainment, subtitled and documentary films):

Entertainment:
The Hunter
Subtitled:
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Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Flick Picks 12/10

New This Week!
ENTERTAINMENT: The surprise comedy hit of the year Ted comes to DVD and Blu-ray this week. Ted stars Mark Wahlberg as a man whose best friend is his living teddy bear. Seth MacFarlane, who created Family Guy, is the writer, director and voice of Ted and on the heels of this film's success and his funny Saturday Night Live hosting gig he will be emceeing the 2013 Oscars. The movie is profane, foul-mouthed, hilarious and surprisingly moving.

The latest film in the Bourne saga - The Bourne Legacy - also arrives this week. It stars Jeremy Renner as another graduate of the secret government program that created Jason Bourne. Also out this week is Ice Age: Continental Drift which follows Manny, Diego, Sid and Scrat on a high seas iceberg adventure where they run up against pirates! It's the fourth film in the successful Ice Age franchise and is available on DVD and Blu-ray. Finally, director Christopher Nolan (Memento, The Dark Knight trilogy) is one of our most gifted filmmakers so we are excited that his first film, the Memento-esque Following, arrives on DVD for the first time!

SERIES: Lena Dunham's controversial HBO hit Girls comes to DVD this week following a group of twentysomething women living in New York City who try to navigate personal relationships and careers. It's sexually frank and vividly entertaining and Dunham is a real talent worth keeping tabs on.

SUBTITLED: Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos follow up his unusual Oscar nominated Dogtooth with Alps, the tale of an organization that impersonates the deceased in order to help mourners get over their loss.

DOCUMENTARY: If you truly love movies then you will want to pick up the 15 part opus The Story of Film: An Odyssey. It starts at the dawn of film, ends in today's digital age and is filled with clips of the greatest films of all time.

Next week we will be getting hit by a blizzard of new releases so stay tuned! You can always see all of our current and upcoming DVD and Blu-ray releases in Bibliocommons.

Special Monday at the Movies Event!
Next week we will host an extra special Monday Night at the Movies of Mulberry Child where Jian Ping, the subject of this documentary, will be present at the 7:00 showing on December 17th! We will also be showing the film at 1:00 but Ms. Ping will not appear at that screening. All of our Monday Night at the Movies screenings are held at the Women's Library Club at 325 Tudor Ct.

Celebrate Monday Night at the Movies Anytime
We've enjoyed another wonderful year of Monday Night at the Movies features! We began the season with a drama about religious faith (Higher Ground) and are wrapping things up with a fascinating documentary about a woman's return to China (Mulberry Child). In the months between we enjoyed films about art, food, chimps and many fascinating people. If you missed any Monday Night at the Movies picks please check out these lists in Bibliocommons. You'll find all of our films back to 2003 (the year the program began) for you to take home.


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Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Flick Picks 12/3

New This Week!
ENTERTAINMENT: The second highest grossing film of the year comes to DVD this week and it's also the second highest grossing superhero movie of the year! In The Dark Knight Rises, Bruce Wayne once again dons the bat outfit to protect Gotham from Bane. Batgirl is also along for the ride. It's a superhero flick but it's not for the kids as Christopher Nolan gives us a dark vision of a bleak society. It stars Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman and we've got it on DVD and Blu-ray.

Adults who are looking for something a little milder will want to pick up Hope Springs, starring Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones as a couple who try to spice up their marriage. The Odd Life of Timothy Green is the story of a couple wanting to start a family who find an unusual child on their doorstep one night. It stars Jennifer Garner and Joel Edgerton. Beasts of the Southern Wild was the surprise hit of the summer, with an unknown cast in the story of a young Louisiana girl's quest to find her mother.

SERIES: The eight-hour epic miniseries adaptation of Ken Follett's World Without End, which follows the story of four siblings in medieval England, arrives this week. Also out this week, is the third season of Eastbound and Down with loudmouth baseball pitcher Kenny Powers back from Mexico and headed to a Florida minor league team.

SUBTITLED: Unforgivable is a moody French thriller, set in Venice, in which a crime writer hires a detective to look into his new wife's past.

Holiday Movies
It's December so we've brought the holiday movies out! You can grab Eight Crazy Nights to get your Adam Sandler fix for Hanukkah (and we've got some educational kids movies about Hanukkah as well). Of course there's no shortage of Christmas movies, in all genres:



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Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Flick Picks 11/26

New This Week!
ENTERTAINMENT: The saga of Agents J (Will Smith) and K (Tommy Lee Jones) continues with Men in Black III, as Agent J heads back in time to pair up with a young Agent K (Josh Brolin) and save the world. We've got the film in DVD and Blu-ray. Another supernatural release this week is ParaNorman, an animated kids' flick from the makers of Coraline. In it, young Norman sees dead people and saves his town from an ancient curse!

The Shia LaBeouf gangster film Lawless arrives this week, as three brothers in depression-era America try to keep providing quality moonshine while a ruthless federal agent (Guy Pearce) gets in their way. Also this week, Sparkle is a remake of the 1976 fictional tale of a girl group from Detroit who face challenges on their way to the top. Besides great music it also features Whitney Houston in her final film role.

SERIES: The HBO show Luck went off the air before it finished its first season due to on-set controversies, which is unfortunate since it was a well-reviewed show with a great cast. Created by David Milch of Deadwood fame, it stars Dustin Hoffman, Nick Nolte and Dennis Farina as various down-and-out characters whose stories revolve around a racetrack.

Anti Black Friday Films
Black Friday! Cyber Monday! SALES, SALES, SALES!!! Is the consumerism around the Thanksgiving holiday starting to drive you crazy? Why not check out one of these thought-provoking documentaries as an antidote?

  • Maxed Out - Tells about the national nightmare that is excessive consumer debt.
  • Capitalism: A Love Story - Michael Moore covers the recent financial crisis in his typical provocateur fashion.
  • The Greatest Movie Ever Sold - Morgan Spurlock covers brands, advertising and product placement while using them to produce his movie.
  • Manufactured Landscapes - A beautifully shot film showing the effects of industry and manufacturing on our surroundings.
  • No Impact Man - A man attempts to go for a year with as limited an environmental impact as possible.
  • The Queen of Versailles - This recently released DVD follows a billionaire family as they try to weather the financial crisis.

Talking Pictures
This week our Talking Pictures film is Fair Game, starring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn in the story of Valerie Plame. It will screen at the library on Wednesday the 28th at 1:00 pm and will be followed by a discussion led by Susan Benjamin.
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Monday, November 19, 2012

Flick Picks 11/19

New This Week!
ENTERTAINMENT: It's a holiday week so it's a quiet one for new releases. Luckily we've got a movie that's got enough superstar firepower to fuel 10 blockbusters. Expendables 2 stars Sylverster Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Jean Claude Van Damme and the former governor of California Jerry Brown Arnold Schwarzenegger in the story of...oh, who cares? Lots of stuff gets blown up by guys with huge biceps! It's perfect for your post-Thanksgiving feast!

DOCUMENTARIES: Ken Burns returns with a four hour documentary about The Dust Bowl, covering the drought of the 1930s. Also available is The Island President which covers the challenge of the Maldives, which is slowly sinking under the ocean. Both of these films are fascinating looks at our relationship with our land and environment!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and be sure to check out lots of DVDs!



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Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Flick Picks 11/12

New This Week:
ENTERTAINMENT: Pixar offers its first fairy tale this year with Brave, the story of a young girl who is determined to forge her own path. It brings together the best of Pixar's creative imagination with its parent company Disney's skill at forging a princess tale. If you're looking for something a little more adult in its sensibilities, we've got the sci-fi comedy The Watch, which stars Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and Jonah Hill as suburbanites who are determined to protect their neighborhood from aliens.

We've also got some great picks for those of you who are looking for a smaller, quirkier film. 2 Days in New York tells the story of a journalist (Chris Rock) and his French photographer girlfriend (Julie Delpy) whose family decides to come to the United States to visit. Delpy wrote and directed this sweet, charming comedy. Welcome to the Dollhouse director Todd Solondz returns with Dark Horse, another dark, uncomfortable comedy about relationships. Finally, Natural Selection stars the wonderful Rachael Harris as a devout Christian housewife who learns that her dying husband has an illegitimate son and sets out to bring him to visit his father.

SERIES: The only series coming out this week is a welcome one for you Doctor Who fans. Series seven, part one of Matt Smith's portrayal comes out this week, with part two due to follow next year.

DOCUMENTARY: A family builds its 90,000 square foot dream home and then the real estate market collapses, causing them to adjust their lifestyle. This is the story behind The Queen of Versailles, one of the best reviewed documentaries of the year. You might be disgusted or sympathetic (or possibly even both) as you follow one family's idea of the American dream.

SUBTITLED: Even the Rain is set in Bolivia where a filmmaker played by Gael Garcia Bernal gets involved with protests against a corporation that is attempting to control their water supply. It's based a true part of Bolivian history.

PERFORMING ARTS: The recent revival of Stephen Sondheim's The Company stars Neil Patrick Harris, Patti LuPone, Stephen Colbert, Jon Cryer and Christina Hendricks in the story of five married couples as viewed by one single friend.

You can see all of our recently acquired and upcoming DVDs and Blu-rays in Bibliocommons.

Get Cooking With DVDs
Are you looking for ideas for Thanksgiving, Hanukkah or Christmas meals? We've got lots of inspiring DVDs for trying something new! Of course they're also fun to watch any time of year.

Monday at the Movies
Our upcoming Monday Night at the Movies has been changed from what was listed in our last Excerpts newsletter. We will be showing Herb and Dorothy, the true story of a postal worker and librarian who amassed a collection of modern art worth millions in a cramped, Manhattan apartment. It will screen on Monday, November 19th at 1:00 and 7:00 at the Women's Library Club, 325 Tudor Ct.


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Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Flick Picks 11/5

New This Week!
ENTERTAINMENT: It might have only been the third biggest superhero movie of the summer but who doesn't love Spider-man? The Amazing Spider-Man starts at the beginning of the story as Peter Parker gains his powers and learns responsibility while defending New York City from The Lizard. It stars Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone and is available on DVD and Blu-ray.

Yes, we're at the time of year for Christmas movies and the one that we've got this week is a cut above many of the other holiday DVDs. The talented crew at Aardman Animations bring us Arthur Christmas, which tells the tale of Santa Claus' youngest son's attempt to help out his father when a child's present is accidentally left undelivered, despite a computerized and modernized North Pole. Also being released this week is Your Sister's Sister, starring Emily Blunt in the tale of a man, his female best friend and her sister, all of whom end up at a cabin with personal issues to work out. It's a small romantic flick set in the Pacific Northwest. Finally, Trishna is Michael Winterbottom's adaptation of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Ubervilles set in India and starring Frieda Pinto.

SERIES: Call the Midwife is the delightful new BBC series about midwives in London in the 1950s. Our other UK import this week is set 2 of Vera, starring Brenda Blethyn as Ann Cleeves's detective Vera Stanhope.

SUBTITLED: I Wish is a sweet Japanese film about a child who wishes to bring his divorced and geographically separated family back together by wishing on a new bullet train. Also this week, Corpo Celeste follows a woman's attempt to find and understand religion upon returning to Italy after years in Switzerland.

DOCUMENTARY:  Looking for a darkly comic take on the African blood diamond industry? The Danish documentary The Ambassador will leave you both laughing and shocked as you view the filmmaker Mads Brugger's attempt to pose undercover as a diplomat in order to expose corruption in a war-torn nation. Despite the often comedic tone, one never forgets that Brugger had to risk his life in order to gather this film's footage. Last Call at the Oasis is the latest ecological documentary call to arms, this time studying the global water crisis.

You can find all of our upcoming videos in Bibliocommons.

Videos in Honor of Veterans
Many of us have veterans in our lives and we've got quite a few DVDs that will help you pay tribute to the work and sacrifices that they have made for our country. Here are some titles that will help you remember the meaning of Veterans Day.

America at War is an A&E network documentary that covers 200 years of American warfare, from the American Revolution to Iraq. Ken Burns' The War, while not a comprehensive documentary on World War II, is a moving documentary that focuses on how four Americans were affected by World War II. Ken Burns brings World War II even closer to home in Remembering Chicago and World War II, which tells Chicago's role in transportation and basic training. WWII in HD makes the war come alive with high quality color film as well as journals and other accounts. We also have Vietnam in HD. Vietnam: A Television History is an Emmy award winning series about that controversial war. Finally, Operation Homecoming uses firsthand accounts by soldiers in Iraq to create an honest look at the human side of the war.

Refuge: Stories of the Selfhelp Home
Did you miss our special showing of Refuge: Stories of the Selfhelp Home? We've got it on DVD for you to put on hold. It tells about some of the remaining Holocaust survivors who live in Selfhelp Home in Chicago.
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Monday, October 29, 2012

Flick Picks 10/29

New this week!
ENTERTAINMENT: Before you vote for president, make sure you cast your vote for this week's DVD release The Campaign. Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis star as congressional candidates who are not afraid to get down in the mud. The Campaign is hilarious, timely and you can choose DVD or Blu-ray. A couple of small films are also available this week as well. Safety Not Guaranteed tells the story of journalists who investigate a man who is looking for a partner in time travel. It's a sweet and quirky romantic comedy. Ruby Sparks is another unusual film about a novelist played by Paul Dano who writes about his ideal woman only to see her come to life.

SERIES: There's something a little different from the BBC America as Copper, their first original scripted series, arrives on DVD this week. Copper is about an Irish-American cop in 1860s New York City who is investigating the truth about the disappearance of his wife and the death of his daughter.

SUBTITLED: Polisse is a French police procedural about a team working for the Child Protection Unit of the Parisian police. It won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for 13 Cesar Awards.

DOCUMENTARY: First Position is a well-reviewed documentary that follows six young ballet dancers as they compete in the Youth America Grand Prix, the world's most prestigious ballet competition.

You can find all of our new and upcoming releases in Bibliocommons.

Modern Horror for Halloween
Last week we listed a number of classic horror flicks that would be perfect for Halloween viewing. We certainly did not want to neglect all of the more recent horror films that are scary, well-made and fun to watch any time of year! Here's a list of some of our favorites:
  • The Silence of the Lambs - Not the first Hannibal Lecter film but the first one that most people saw, and probably the best.
  • Alien - Of all the films in the Alien franchise, the first remains the most horrific.
  • 28 Days Later - Among the best and earliest of the films in the current zombie wave.
  • The Sixth Sense - Not necessarily scary, but certainly spooky.
  • Let Me In - A remake of a Swedish vampire film that manages to do everything right.
  • The Cabin in the Woods - The most recent film on this list, it combines horror, humor and monsters to create a delightful mix!
  • The Descent - A claustrophobic take on monsters attacking a cave expedition.
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Monday, October 22, 2012

Flick Picks 10/22

New this week!
ENTERTAINMENT: Magic Mike comes home this week and despite its saucy subject matter of male strippers it's a well-made film for both sexes! Director Steven Soderbergh always brings a unique creative touch to his films and this one is no exception. It stars Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey and is available on DVD and Blu-ray. Also this week, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World stars Steve Carrell, Keira Knightley and a great supporting cast full of recognizable faces in the story of a man's search for companionship as an asteroid dooms the earth. Take This Waltz is the moving new film from actress/director Sarah Polley. It tells the story of a woman (Michelle Williams) who begins to feel dissatisfaction with her marriage. Finally, if the kids are anxious for more backstory on Tinker Bell, you'll want to pick up The Secret of the Wings.

SERIES: It's not Downton Abbey but if you've got the English class drama itch, season 2 of the updated Upstairs Downstairs is available this week. Also new is season 1 of The Kingdom, which stars Stephen Fry as a country solicitor who is searching for clues to his brother's death.

DOCUMENTARY: New this week, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide follows several celebrities/advocates including Meg Ryan, Eva Mendes and George Clooney as they try to bring attention to the problems faced by women around the world. It was inspired by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's bestselling book.

CLASSICS: There's a real treat for cinephiles this week as Stanley Kubrick's first feature film Fear and Desire hits DVD this week. Once thought lost, Fear and Desire is a fictitious war story that is essential to anyone interested in learning more about Kubrick's filmic roots. Another obscure gem arriving this week is John Schlesinger's 1971 film Sunday Bloody Sunday, starring Peter Finch and Glenda Jackson as two Londoners sharing a male lover. Rarely seen, its subject matter truly puts it ahead of its time.

Find all new and upcoming DVDs on Bibliocommons!

Try classic horror for Halloween
Old-school horror films are always entertaining when the ghouls and goblins start going from door to door (and any other time of the year as well!) We've got some great spooky choices from our classic movie collection to get you in the Halloween mood. None of these cost anything to check out. And by the way...BOO!

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Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Flick Picks 10/15

New This Week!
ENTERTAINMENT: On an island off of New England, two 12 year olds fall in love and decide to run away in Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson's latest quirky comic film. Some Anderson regulars return and there are some new faces as well in a cast that includes Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, Tilda Swinton and Edward Norton. Critics are calling it his best film, which is amazing considering that he has created other fabulous films including Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums and The Darjeeling Limited. We've got it on DVD and Blu-ray.

Our other big releases this week include that madcap group of exotic animals that return to wreak havoc in Europe in Madagascar 3. And speaking of wreaking havoc, Adam Sandler returns home to meet (and corrupt) his son Andy Sandberg in That's My Boy. Finally, if you're looking for something a little bit out of the mainstream, Last Ride stars the talented Hugo Weaving as a father who is forced to take his 10 year old son on the run after committing a heinous crime.

SERIES: There's only one American series coming out on DVD this week but it's a biggie. Yes, Don Draper and crew return for more retro fun in season 5 of Mad Men.

SUBTITLED: The Forgiveness of Blood is about a carefree Albanian teenager who becomes involved in a village dispute that threatens his life. Also, another great, unusual French thriller arrives in Nobody Else But You, which tells the story of an author's attempt to uncover the truth behind a local beauty's suicide.

PERFORMING ARTS: Director Jonathan Demme captures introspective interviews and solo live performances in Neil Young: Journeys.

You can find all of our new and forthcoming DVDs in Bibliocommons!

Remembering the Holocaust
On Sunday, October 21st at 3:00 at we will be screening the film Refuge: Stories of the Selfhelp Home, which tells about the last generation of Holocaust survivors in Chicago. We have a number of outstanding, powerful documentaries about Holocaust survivors in our collection that are also worth your time.

  • Last Stop Kew Gardens profiles an area in the heart of New York City that became the American home for Holocaust survivors.
  • Shanghai Ghetto is the story of thousands of Jews who escaped the Nazis by heading to Shanghai.
  • Steal a Pencil for Me shows how a concentration camp prisoner attempts to keep his emotional strength by writing love letters.
  • A Small Act tells of a Holocaust survivor who became a sponsor of a young Kenyan student.
  • Into the Arms of Strangers is about the 10,000 children rescued from the Holocaust and brought to Great Britain.
There are many more well made Holocaust documentaries available in Bibliocommons.


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Thursday, October 11, 2012

Flick Picks 10/8

New This Week!
ENTERTAINMENT: This week's new releases will blow your mind and your speakers. Prometheus was one of the most talked about and controversial movies of the summer. A prequel to the Alien franchise, Prometheus follows a group of space explorers as they attempt to find the origins of humanity. Director Ridley Scott has created a visually stunning film that is available on DVD and Blu-ray. If sci-fi is not your cup of tea you might enjoy Rock of Ages, based on the rock and roll stage show. Tom Cruise leads and all-star cast in a film that works in a bit of plot in-between extravagant recreations of hair metal classics.

Also available this week is The Raven, starring John Cusack in a fictionalized account of Edgar Allan Poe as a murder investigator. The Giant Mechanical Man is a charming indie love story starring The Office's Jenna Fischer as a a woman who falls in love with a street performer and struggles to make the relationship work and overcome her meddling sister. Finally, if you're an animation fan or francophile you'll want to see A Cat in Paris, a beautiful hand-drawn film that earned an Oscar nomination for best animated feature.

SERIES: Our sole tv release this week is the seventh season of the long-running forensic investigator show Bones.

You can find all of our new releases in our Bibliocommons catalog.

It's Opera Season!
We've been anxiously tapping our toes, playing our cds and waiting for the new season of Lyric Opera. And now it's finally here! But if you can't make a show, need a refresher or want an encore then we offer DVD performances of most of the shows. Here's the list:

Elektra
Simon Boccanegra
Werther
Don Pasquale
Hansel and Gretel
La Boheme
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Rigoletto
A Streetcar Named Desire
Oklahoma!

Monday at the Movies
The Kid With a Bike is the story of a troubled 11-year old boy, abandoned by his father, whose search for his stolen bike brings him into the life of a kind hairdresser. It was the winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and a Golden Globe nominee for Best Foreign Language Film. We'll be showing The Kid With a Bike on October 15th at 1:00 and 7:00 at the Women's Library Club at 325 Tudor Court.

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Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Flick Picks 10/1

New This Week!
ENTERTAINMENT: This week, Tim Burton rehabilitates another old television show with his tongue-in-cheek remake of Dark Shadows. Johnny Depp stars as vampire Barnabas Collins, waking from his eternal slumber in 1972. He joins up with his remaining descendants (including Michelle Pfeiffer and Jonny Lee Miller) and combats his former lover who entombed him in the first place. It dances between funny and dark in what can only be described as a Burtonesque way. We've got it on DVD and Blu-ray. Also out this week is People Like Us, starring Chris Pine and Elizabeth Banks as estranged siblings who reconnect when their father dies.

SERIES:
There are two brand new British imports this week for you to explore. Vexed is a British take on the buddy cop series, with two bickering police officers investigating a variety of cases. A darker series is Kidnap and Ransom which revolves around a brash kidnapping negotiator who uses unconventional tactics to bring victims home.

The acclaimed new Emmy-nominated series New Girl, starring Zooey Deschanel, also arrives on DVD this week as does season 7 of How I Met Your Mother. Finally, if you can't get enough of slaves to fashion Edina and Patsy, you'll want to pick up the brand new Absolutely Fabulous: 20th Anniversary Specials. It contains three brand new episodes including one that takes on the 2012 Olympics.

SUBTITLED: Free Men tells the little known story of a Mosque in Paris that sheltered Jews in World War II. It's suspenseful and gritty as it tells a truly unique piece of history.

Be sure to check out Bibliocommons for all of our upcoming releases!

Can't Get Enough of Politics?
The Ides of March, shown at our most recent Talking Pictures program, is one of the best political thrillers we've seen in recent years. After you watch the debate, you just might be hungry for some more movies about American politics. Here are some of the best that we carry:

The Manchurian Candidate - stars Frank Sinatra as a political candidate who becomes brainwashed to be an assassin.
All The President's Men - the classic true story of the reporters who dug up the Watergate scandal.
Absolute Power - Clint Eastwood directed and stars in this thriller about a reporter who sees a crime involving the president. Based on a David Baldacci book.
All the King's Men - Based on the real-life Louisiana governor Huey Long, this tells the story of a politician's rise to power.
Thirteen Days - the story of the Cuban Missile Crisis from the perspective of one of his aides.
The Contender - following the death of the vice-president, a female senator is nominated as his replacement. Her political enemies try to bring her down with a sex scandal.
Advise and Consent - Henry Fonda is the newly nominated secretary of state who must first survive the nomination process, in the process of which much dirt is dug up.

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Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Flick Picks 9/24

New this week!
ENTERTAINMENT: Iron Man! Thor! The Hulk! Captain America! Throw 'em in a blender and what do you have? A superhero smoothie that has also become the highest grossing movie of 2012! Directed with a sure hand and sense of humor by Joss Whedon, The Avengers is a big-budget extravaganza that never forgets that it's supposed to be fun. We have it on DVD and Blu-ray. For something a little bit more low-key try Damsels in Distress, the latest from Metropolitan and Last Days of Disco director Whit Stillman. It's a literate, urbane comedy about the interactions between a group of young women at an Ivy League college.

SERIES: The long-awaited FX series American Horror Story finally premieres on DVD this week. Jessica Lange won a Golden Globe award for her portrayal of the neighbor of the haunted house that welcomes new residents Dylan McDermott and Connie Britton. It was co-created by Ryan Murphy who also had a hand in the creation of Glee. Season 2 of the hipster comedy series Portlandia is also out this week.

There also some quality offerings for fans of British television. The Crimson Petal & The White is a four-part BBC series that approaches Gothic melodrama in tone as it follows a Victorian prostitute as she searches for a better life. Among the exciting cast are Gillian Anderson and Richard E. Grant. Also out this week are 3 episodes of the Kenneth Branagh Wallander series as well as season 8 of the detective drama New Tricks.

SUBTITLED: Arriving from France this week is Goodbye First Love, about a young girl who falls in love with an older boy who then leaves to travel through South America. Eight years later he returns to a much more fully formed woman and their relationship resumes. Or if a bad taste comedy is more of your style, try the Danish film Klown which follows two friends in their raunchy adventures through the Danish countryside.

All of our upcoming releases can be found in Bibliocommons.

Primetime Emmy Winners
It's the time of the year when the best of television is honored! We own many of the winners so this is a great excuse to try a new show! Here are the multiple award winning shows that we own (number of awards in parentheses).

Homeland (6)
Game of Thrones (6)
Modern Family (5)
Hatfields & McCoys (5)
Boardwalk Empire (4)
Frozen Planet (4)
Great Expectations (4)
Downton Abbey (3)
American Horror Story (2)
George Harrison: Living in the Material World (2)

Talking Pictures Program
At our October 3rd Talking Pictures program we'll be screening The Ides of March, followed by a discussion led by Susan Benjamin. The Ides of March stars George Clooney as a presidential candidate and Ryan Gosling as his idealistic press secretary. The program takes place at 1:00.
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Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Flick Picks 9/17

New This Week!
ENTERTAINMENT: There are lots of fun little films coming out this week, some of which may have missed your radar. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is the real charmer of the bunch, telling the story of British retirees who decide to move to India. The place they choose to live is the hotel of the title, which is more rundown than advertised. With an all-star British cast of Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson, Maggie Smith and Bill Nighy you are sure to find something to enjoy in this fun film!

If you need something a little more intense you might want to try The Cabin in the Woods, which takes the well worn genre of kids being stalked by a killer in a desolate location and turns it on its head. Joss Whedon, who recently achieved big screen success with The Avengers, produced this film and kept it creative, fun and loyal to the horror/slasher genre.

Also this week, Hysteria is a romantic comedy starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and Hugh Dancy in the story of one of the most important inventions of the 19th century. Detachment stars Adrien Brody as a burned out teacher who becomes a role model to students at an urban high school. Finally, if you enjoyed the quirky and charming Jeff, Who Lives at Home, you might also like Do-Deca-Pentathalon, which was also directed by the same Duplass brothers. It is a comedy about a pair of brothers who compete in their own 25 event Olympics.

SERIES: The third season of the beloved series Modern Family is our one arrival this week.

SUBTITLED: The Italian film We Have a Pope is an insightful gentle comedy about a Cardinal who is promoted to Pope despite not wanting the job. He calls in an unusual psychiatrist to help him work through his doubts. The Salt of Life follows an Italian retiree as he tries to liven up his love life outside of his marriage. It's from the same director as Mid-August Lunch, so if you liked that sweet comedy you should also give this one a try!

PERFORMING ARTS: Katy Perry: Part of Me is an entertaining profile of the popular singer's life, with concert footage as well. The preteens are sure to enjoy it while their parents might even be pleasantly surprised to find out that there is some depth on display here.

All of our new and upcoming releases can be found in Bibliocommons.

Monday Night at the Movies
We will be showing the French language film Monsieur Lazhar at our next Monday Night at the Movies program, on September 24th at 1:00 and 7:00. It tells the story of an Algerian immigrant who takes over for a popular elementary school teacher in Montreal. Our Monday Night at the Movies are screened at the Women's Library Club at 325 Tudor Court.


Great Courses on DVD
Many of you enjoy listening to our Great Courses series of lectures on CD while you are driving or working out. Unfortunately, when it comes to art lectures you are missing out by not being able to see the works being discussed. We've now solved that problem by offering a number of art-related Great Courses on DVD. Here's what's available:
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