Thursday, June 19, 2014

Flick Picks 6/17/14: The Lego Movie, Grand Budapest Hotel, House of Cards season 2

New on DVD at the library this week:
ENTERTAINMENT: EVERYTHING IS AWESOME when it comes to new DVDs at the library this week! The Lego Movie not only succeeds as a clever and entertaining animated film but also takes us in new directions for the last part of the movie. It's a rarity in that it keeps the kids happy while also triggering nostalgia and resonating emotionally with parents. The figures are voiced by Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks and Liam Neeson and we've got it in DVD and Blu-ray. Also this week, Wes Anderson's newest colorful project The Grand Budapest Hotel is a clever follow-up to his Oscar-nominated hit Moonrise Kingdom, with a cast that includes Ralph Fiennes, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Owen Wilson, Bill Murray, and many more. The Grand Budapest Hotel tells of a hotel concierge's relationship with a boy at a European hotel in the early part of the twentieth century. It's available in DVD and Blu-ray.

Every once in a while Nicolas Cage gets to sink his teeth into a quality role and remind us of what an excellent actor he can be. Director David Gordon Green's Joe is one of these instances. In Joe, Cage plays a Mississippi ex-con who ends up becoming the protector for a troubled 15-year-old boy. Adult World features Emma Roberts as a recent college graduate who wants to become a famous poet, and decides to spend her time hanging with "punk poet" John Cusack and working at an adult bookstore. Toby Stephens stars in the British sci-fi flick The Machine, which shows what happens when the government steals an inventor's artificial intelligence creation and attempts to turn her into a weapon.

French director Arnaud Desplechin's Jimmy P. features Benicio Del Toro as an illness-plagued World War II vet and Native American and familiar French face Mathieu Amalric as an anthropologist who tries to cure him. Finally, if you're already sick of hearing the song Everything is Awesome then instead of The Lego Movie you might want to show the kids Ernest and Celestine, a charming animated family film about the relationship between a bear and a mouse.

SERIES: The hottest series in the library right now is probably House of Cards and season 2 of Kevin Spacey's Washington D.C. adventures arrives this week! We've also got a bunch of new British imports this week starting with The Escape Artist, a miniseries featuring David Tennant as a lawyer who has a skill for freeing high profile clients from tricky legal situations. The lightweight Death in Paradise follows a British cop who is sent to the Caribbean to investigate the murder of a fellow officer. The gritty series DCI Banks is the follows up the premiere Aftermath, focusing on the inspector of the title and his assistant as they try to (surprise!) solve crimes. The professional and personal lives of two very different female constables in Manchester are the focus of Scott & Bailey. Finally, this week also brings us season 10 of the British unsolved crimes show New Tricks.

SUBTITLED: Based on a true story, a successful Korean lawyer takes on the case of a teenager falsely accused of a crime in The Attorney.

DOCUMENTARIES: Fans of the visually stunning Koyaanisqatsi and its sequels will be thrilled to know that director Godfrey Reggio is back with a look at humans' relationship with technology in the dreamlike Visitors.

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

Father's Day Films
Father's Day has passed but you can still celebrate it with these looks at onscreen dads. Some of them are models of fatherhood...and some, not so much.
  • The relationship between widower Atticus Finch and his daughter Scout is the centerpiece of the classic To Kill a Mockingbird.
  • Kevin Costner gets one last chance to play catch with his departed father in Field of Dreams.
  • Will Smith is a salesman who struggles with homelessness while raising a son in The Pursuit of Happyness.
  • In Pixar's animated Finding Nemo, a father desperately searches for his son who is stolen from the ocean and imprisoned in a fish tank.
  • Would you be willing to wear a dress in order to spend time with your kids? Robin Williams is, in the classic comedy Mrs. Doubtfire.
  • Spencer Tracy is the Father of the Bride of the title who nervously awaits his daughter's wedding, while trying to pay for it as well.
  • OK, Homer Simpson might not be the ideal father but his relationship with his kids is the center of the long-running series The Simpsons. The Simpsons Movie follows Homer's attempt to save the town of Springfield from the Environmental Protection Agency, which seeks to destroy it.

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