Flick Picks 3/4/14: 12 Years a Slave, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

New on DVD at the Library This Week

ENTERTAINMENT: 12 Years a Slave picked up some big awards at this year's Oscars, walking away with Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress (Lupita Nyong'o) and Best Adapted Screenplay (John Ridley). It tells the true story of a free man in the mid-1800s who was kidnapped and made to work as a slave only to be freed years later. It's not an easy film to watch as it captures the brutal world that these slaves had to endure. It stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbinder and Brad Pitt and we've got it on DVD and Blu-ray. We move from the past to the future as the saga of Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) continues in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Following her big win in the previous film, Katniss goes on a victory tour only to learn that rebellion is in the air. It's available in DVD and Blu-ray. In Spike Lee's remake of the Korean film Oldboy, Josh Brolin is a man who was kidnapped and eventually set free after 20 years of confinement and tries to discover the reason for this predicament. Finally, the late Paul Walker tries to keep his ventilator-dependent newborn daughter alive during the horrors of Hurricane Katrina in the thriller Hours.

SERIES: It's both sad and exciting when we face a new Doctor Who regeneration. Doctor Who: Time of the Doctor gives us both an epic story and the end of the Matt Smith Doctor Who, while bringing the Peter Capaldi Doctor Who onboard. Mr. and Mrs. Murder is an Australian comedy about a pair of crime scene cleaners who decide to use their accumulated knowledge to investigate mysteries.

DOCUMENTARIES: Provocateur Oliver Stone offers up the companion to the recent book Untold History of the United States, which offers a critical examination of the United States' growth as a military power in the 20th Century. Anne Hathaway, Cate Blanchett and more contribute to Girl Rising, about the 10x10 organization that seeks equality in education for girls around the world. Learn about Iranian politics from the perspective of a journeyman basketball player in The Iran Job, which follows American Kevin Sheppard's acceptance of a contract with an Iranian basketball team. Reportero shows what life is like for the media in Tijuana, Mexico where many reporters have been killed or vanished in the wake of their drug wars.

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

Academy Award Winners

There was a great crop of movies nominated this year but unfortunately they couldn't all get the gold statuette. Here are this year's big winners, as well as those from the last few years for you to revisit!

Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave
Argo (2012)
The Artist (2011)
The King's Speech (2010)

Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron - Gravity
Ang Lee - Life of Pi (2012)
Michael Hazanavicius - The Artist (2011)
Tom Hooper - The King's Speech (2010)

Best Actor in a Leading Role: Matthew McConaughey - Dallas Buyers Club
Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln (2012)
Jean Dujardin - The Artist (2011)
Colin Firth - The King's Speech (2010)

Best Actress in a Leading Role: Cate Blanchett - Blue Jasmine
Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady (2011)
Natalie Portman - Black Swan (2010)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Jared Leto - Dallas Buyers Club
Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained (2012)
Christopher Plummer - Beginners (2011)
Christian Bale - The Fighter (2010)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Lupita Nyong'o - 12 Years a Slave
Anne Hathaway - Les Miserables (2012)
Octavia Spencer - The Help (2011)
Melissa Leo - The Fighter (2010)