Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Flick Picks 12/24/13: Don Jon

New on DVD and Blu-ray at the library this week!
The next two weeks are slow ones for new releases but there are still a few interesting ones for you to get your hands on!

ENTERTAINMENT: The biggest release of the next two weeks is Joseph Gordon-Levitt's directorial debut, the comedy Don Jon. In Don Jon, which Gordon-Levitt also wrote, he plays a handsome porn addict who becomes romantically involved with the more old-fashioned Scarlett Johansson. Tony Danza has a surprisingly welcome supporting role as Gordon-Levitt's father and Julianne Moore also stars.

SUBTITLED: A pair of young siblings support themselves by stealing the ski equipment of the wealthy visitors of the Swiss ski resort beneath which they live in Sister. Eventually they get drawn into some darker crimes.

DOCUMENTARIES: Love, Marilyn takes a new look at the woman whom we seem to never get enough of by featuring dramatic readings from the likes of Marisa Tomei and Uma Thurman of Marilyn Monroe's own personal papers and writings. Also, start your new year off by pondering humankind's relationship with the honeybee in More Than Honey.

HAVE A WONDERFUL, FILM-FILLED HOLIDAY SEASON AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!




Thursday, December 19, 2013

Flick Picks 12/17/13: The Lone Ranger, Elysium, Prisoners

New at the library this week on DVD and Blu-ray
ENTERTAINMENT: They call him The Lone Ranger but he actually has a sidekick so maybe he's not so lonely after all! Gore Verbinski, the director of the Pirates of the Caribbean films, brings us a new version of the Lone Ranger tale, complete with explosions, special effects and Johnny Depp as native American partner Tonto. In this version, we learn the origin of The Lone Ranger (played by Armie Hammer) and follow him as he seeks revenge. It's available on DVD and Blu-ray. Meanwhile, the rich aren't like other people...because they live in a massive spaceship! Matt Damon is a man from a ravaged earth who must break into the orbiting satellite in order to cure a fast-moving disease in Elysium, which is available on DVD and Blu-ray. Jodie Foster is trying to keep him from succeeding. Hugh Jackman is a father who takes the law into his own hands when his daughter and her friend go missing in the morally complex Prisoners, available on DVD and Blu-ray.

Another week, another Robert De Niro movie (or so it seems) as he joins Michelle Pfeiffer and Tommy Lee Jones in The Family, a comedy about a mafia boss, his wife and kids, who move to France while under the witness protection program. They soon end up reverting to their old ways. It took a while for the second Percy Jackson movie to be made but Sea of Monsters is finally here. In this adaptation of the popular young adult fantasy series, the son of Poseidon and friends set off after The Golden Fleece and its healing powers. The thriller Ain't Them Bodies Saints is a throwback to some of the smaller, gritty films of the seventies. It stars Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara and Ben Foster in the story of Texas outlaws on the run. The HBO dramatization Muhammed Ali's Greatest Fight takes a look at Ali's attempt to be classified as Conscientious Objector to the Vietnam War and features a great cast that includes Christopher Plummer, Frank Langella and Ed Begley Jr. Some Girl(s) is an adaptation of a Neil LaBute play and features Adam Brody as a writer who drives cross country to meet up with ex-lovers. Our indie pick of the week is Museum Hours which is about two strangers who connect in Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Art Museum.

SERIES: We have new seasons of some of our more popular TV series arriving this week, with season 7 of the sly action series Burn Notice, season 4 of the Kentucky cop show Justified and season 3 of the Chicago-based family comedy-drama Shameless.

PERFORMING ARTS: Will The Sound of Music Live! make you forget the Julie Andrews film version? Possibly not, but kudos to Carrie Underwood, Stephen Moyer and the rest of the crew for trying something new by bringing the stage adaptation to television!

DOCUMENTARIES: One Direction is one of the hottest music groups around. Find out what makes them tick while also enjoying concert footage in the Morgan Spurlock directed One Direction: This is Us! For something a little darker, learn more about the concussion crisis in profession sports in the Frontline special League of Denial.

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

Best DVDs of 2013:
Looking for something interesting to watch over the holidays? One of the things that I enjoy most about my job is the ability to bring interesting feature films, foreign films, documentaries, etc. to the community. You might have missed them in the theatre, or they may not have been widely released, but the library is a great chance to find a hidden gem for free or a very low cost. And don't forget that every film that is shown at our Monday at the Movies program is available on DVD as well. I can't guarantee that they'll all be Oscar winners but who knows what kind of pleasant surprise might be awaiting you in some obscure little feature! - Mike

Here are the feature film and documentary (D) and subtitled (S) DVDs that I enjoyed most over the year:
Boy
The Central Park Five (D)
Clear History
Django Unchained
Dredd
The East
Evocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie (D)
The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec (S)
Flight
Game Change
Happy People (D)
Hara-Kiri (S)
Holy Motors (S)
How to Survive a Plague (D)
The Last Gladiators (D)
Last Ride
Looper
The Master
Mel Brooks: Make a Noise (D)
Mud
Nobody Else But You (PouPouPiDou) (S)
Oslo, August 31st (S)
The Other Dream Team (D)
Passion
The Place Beyond the Pines
A Separation (S)
Skyfall
Somebody Up There Likes Me
Sound City (D)
Spring Breakers
Stoker
Teddy Bear (S)
This is the End
The Well-Digger's Daughter (S)
What Maisie Knew

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Flick Picks 12/10/13: Despicable Me 2, Fast and Furious 6, Doc Martin series 6

New DVDs and Blu-rays at the library this week!
ENTERTAINMENT: The formerly villainous Gru must leave his comfortable life caring for his three daughters and many minions in order to discover which supervillain has stolen a secret laboratory in Despicable Me 2. Steve Carell returns to voice Gru and Kristen Wiig joins the cast of this fun sequel. We've got it on DVD and Blu-ray. Also this week, the late Paul Walker stars in Fast and Furious 6, which provides nonstop action as the gang (which includes Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez and new addition Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) must prevent a superweapon from being stolen. It's available on both DVD and Blu-ray.

Naomi Watts and Robin Wright are two lifelong friends who become romantically involved with each other's sons in Adore, an adaptation of a Doris Lessing short story. British director Ken Loach returns with The Angels' Share, a charming and uplifting comedy about a petty criminal who becomes a new father and decides to turn over a new leaf. Director Billy Bob Thorton's Jayne Mansfield's Car brings together John Hurt, Kevin Bacon and Robert Duvall in a comedy-drama set in a small Alabama town in 1969, where a death brings together two very different sides of a family. Our indie pick this week is the dark British comedy Sightseers, in which a caravanner must deal with various complications that threaten to send him over the edge as he tries to show his girlfriend the best of Britain.

SERIES: There are lots of Doctors to be found in the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special: The Day of the Doctor. Besides the current and previous Doctor Who, we also get to meet a new Doctor (John Hurt) and revisit many previous incarnations. Plus, there are some Zygons as well! Doc Martin may not have a sonic screwdriver or Tardis but you love him and his idiosyncrasies anyway! Series 6 of Doc Martin arrives this week.

SUBTITLED: Alain Resnais brings us the unique You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet, which brings a fantastic class of French theatrical actors to the reading of a playwright's will. A video of a performance of Eurydice with a group of young actors is revealed, prompting the older actors to again step into the roles. Theatre lovers will eat this one up.

All of our current and upcoming DVDs and Blu-rays can be found in our Bibliocommons catalog.

Monday Night at the Movies
Our next Monday Night at the Movies program is This is Martin Bonner, a quiet film that follows its title character in Reno, Nevada, where he has relocated to start a new life as a counselor for newly released prisoners. The film will be screened at 1:00 and 7:00 on Monday, December 16th at the Glencoe Woman's Club, 325 Tudor Ct. All of our movie programs are free and open to anyone.

Holiday Videos are Available!
Our holiday videos are now available on a cart in front of our subtitled video section! All of our holiday videos circulate for 1 week. Some highlights? Various versions of A Christmas Carol, Bill Murray's hilarious Scrooged, the classic Miracle on 34th Street, the raunchy Bad Santa and of course, It's a Wonderful Life. All of our holiday DVDs can be found here.

Also, if you're looking for a great gift, please consider a library movie rental gift card, which will give you 10 movies rentals for only $9!!! Truly a gift that all ages can appreciate!

Monday, December 2, 2013

Flick Picks 12/3/13: The Wolverine, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Smurfs 2

New on DVD and Blu-ray at the library
ENTERTAINMENT: Hugh Jackman dons the adamantium yet again for The Wolverine, which takes the X-Man of the title to Japan where he must protect the daughter of a man whose life he once saved. The Asian setting for the film makes it a unique addition to the seemingly endless stream of superhero flicks while talented director James Mangold keeps the action moving. Also this week, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones is the latest young adult book to hit the big screen, telling the story of half-angels in modern day New York who must protect our world from being overrun by demons. If you are seeing little blue men it's probably not because you haven't recovered from your Thanksgiving celebration but rather the family's screening of Smurfs 2, in which Neil Patrick Harris must fly to Paris to rescue our kidnapped heroes! Finally, this week's indie pick is Drinking Buddies, a low-key comedy-drama set in a Chicago brewery where four friends (Olivia Wilde, Ron Livingston, Anna Kendrick and Jake Johnson) try to figure out just exactly what they mean to each other.

DOCUMENTARIES: You probably haven't heard of Freda Kelly but she was the secretary for and friend of the Beatles, and in Good Ol' Freda she tells her story. Sir Nicholas Winton, an Englishman who rescued 669 Jewish Czech and Slovak children, is profiled in Nicky's Family.

SUBTITLED: A Canadian obstetrician living in Jerusalem and working in a Palestian refuge camp tries to build bridges between the two in Inch'Allah. The erotic Italian psychological thriller The Future tells the story of two boys who attempt to rob a former Mr. Universe (Rutger Hauer) by enlisting the help of a seductive young woman.

All of our current and upcoming DVDs can be found in Bibliocommons.

Food on DVD
Peggy Wolff's talk about her book Fried Walleye and Cherry Pie: Midwestern Writers on Food takes place Thursday night at 7:30 and it may leave you inspired. Luckily we are here to help with these great food related DVDs!