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.

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!



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.


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.