Flick Picks 5/22/2015: American Sniper, Fifty Shades of Grey, Leviathan

Serious business, serious business and a bit of, uh...monkey business?  this week.  The top grossing film of 2014 has arrived on DVD in the form of American Sniper.  We also have the much-praised Russian film Leviathan.  Not to mention the cinematic adaptation of that publishing sensation known as Fifty Shades of Grey.  Need a stiff drink after all of that?  Understandable, much as we can't help you.  But if you need some more carefree entertainment, try the first two seasons of Inside Amy Schumer, or the final go-round of  t.v. powerhouse Glee.  

Feature Films

AMERICAN SNIPER

A major success for director Clint Eastwood, American Sniper is based on the life and autobiography of Chris Kyle, the deadliest sniper in U.S. military history.  Academy Award nominee Bradley Cooper plays Kyle, whose return to domestic life is nearly as daunting as the tense and deadly work of his military tours of duty in Iraq.  We have several copies of American Sniper in regular DVD and one in Blu-ray.

FIFTY SHADES OF GREY

Based on the novel by Dostoyevsky...er, E.L.James, Fifty Shades of Grey is now available in regular DVD and Blu-ray.

Series

ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK,SEASON TWO

Orange is apparently still the new black for the second season of the very popular Netflix series.  Learn more about what put Piper behind bars, not to mention the back stories of more the female inmates at the Litchfield Federal Prison.

GLEE, FINAL SEASON

After 121 episodes and a whopping 728 musical performances, the New Directions Glee Club and all the students and faculty at William McKinley High School have exited stage (or t.v. screen) left. Catch up with or relive the final season of Glee.

INSIDE AMY SCHUMER, SEASONS ONE & TWO

Comedian and actress Amy Schumer stars in this Comedy Central series, a mix of sketch comedy, stand-up and street interviews.  The general consensus is that the entertaining show really hits its stride in season two.  Very much one for adults, Inside Amy Schumer is the winner of a 2015 Peabody Award.  

Also new:  CALL THE MIDWIFE, SEASON FOUR

Foreign Film

LEVIATHAN

An Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language film, Leviathan has a setting in contemporary Russia, but undertones and storylines which some see as biblical.  Things are not going well for Kolya.  As a corrupt mayor eyes his property, life promises to get more difficult.  He calls upon an old army buddy and lawyer to help him, but with friends like Kolya's....A bracing satire of contemporary Russia set in the rugged and beautiful landscape along the Barents Sea.

GIRLHOOD

No, Girlhood is not a French, female remake of Richard Linklater's Boyhood.  Instead, Girlhood is thoughtful a coming-of-age story focusing on Marieme, fleeing a difficult home life in the outer suburbs of Paris to join a group of free-spirited girls.   

Classics

DAY OF THE OUTLAW

Can those perpetual adversaries -  cowboys and ranchers - unite to save a town against a gang of outlaws?  Such is the conflict in Andre de Toth's stylish western Day of the Outlaw, which stars Robert Ryan and Burl Ives.

Also new:  Alred Hitchcock's last British film, JAMAICA INN.

Documentary 

THE CASE AGAINST 8

The Case Against 8 offers a behind-the-scenes look inside the historic case to overturn California's ban on same-sex marriage.

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Flick Picks 5/15/2015: Still Alice, Mr. Turner, Selma

A one-week hiatus for Flick Picks means we have lots of new DVDs to consider .

Feature Films

STILL ALICE

Based on Lisa Genova's best-selling novel, Still Alice tells the story of 50-year-old linguistics professor Alice Howland, facing painful irony of  a life without memory and language after a diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer's.  The always excellent Julianne Moore won the Best Actress Oscar at the 2015 Academy Awards for her portrayal of Alice.

MR. TURNER

Timothy Spall has won universal acclaim for his performance as the great English painter, J.M.W. Tuner in director Mike Leigh's masterful biopic that covers the last 25 years in the life of the painter, with all his human flaws and artistic brilliance.  We have both regular DVD copies and a Blu-ray edition of Mr. Turner.  







SELMA

Director Ava DuVernay's Selma succeeds where it was most likely to fail:  creating a distinct screen persona for an indelible historical figure whom we have all seen repeatedly in news footage (or even live broadcast).  British actor David Oyelowo does the near impossible in bringing to life Martin Luther King.  The physical presence and cadence of speech are similar enough to evoke the great man, while Oyelowo avoids the trap of mere mimicry.  He's both MLK and a character in the film at hand.  Selma has a curiously British cast, with Tom Wilkinson playing President Lyndon Baines Johnson (well, okay) and Tim Roth cast as firebrand Alabama Governor George Wallace (huh?). Mainly, Selma succeeds in the smaller moments of its big story, showing the struggles behind the scenes in the civil rights movement and humanizing a towering figure in American history.



Also new...

 Jude Law plays a rogue submarine captain, searching for lost treasure in BLACK SEA.

Much more an audience favorite than critical darling, BLACK OR WHITE stars Kevin Costner as grandfather fighting for custody of a granddaughter in a drama that considers issues of both family and race.

Series

WOLF HALL

Almost universally praised, Wolf Hall is actually a six-part adaption of two Hilary Mantel novels, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies.  This British series focuses on the figure of Thomas Cromwell, chief minister to Henry VIII and a major player in the English Reformation.

We have made many other additions to our new series DVDs in the past two week, including

MURDER IN THE FIRST

HALT AND CATCH FIRE, FIRST SEASON

MYSTERY OF LORD LUCEN

SHETLAND, SEASONS ONE AND TWO

DANCING ON THE EDGE

Foreign

THE NUN

In 1760's France, a beautiful young woman from a well-to-do family is shocked when her parents send her to a convent.  Only later does she realize that she's an illegitimate child and expected to atone for her mother's sin.  Will she take her vows?  Is the cloistered existence of an abbey any place for such a young woman?

Documentary

We have plenty for documentary fans to enjoy with recent additions to our collection.  

 GATES OF HEAVEN/VERNON FLORIDA

Two early, entertaining, thought-provoking films from Academy Award-winner, Errol Morris (The Fog of War, The Thin Blue Line).  

WATCHER OF THE SKY

With his provocative question, 'why is the killing of a million a lesser crime than the killing of an individual?' Raphael Lemkin changed the course of history. An extraordinary testament to one man's perseverance, this examines the life and legacy of the Polish-Jewish lawyer and linguist who coined the term genocide.







ADELE'S WISH



You might have seen the recent film, Woman in Gold, about Maria Altman's attempt to reclaim paintings stolen from her family by the Nazis.  Now you can see the real story about the 84-year-old Los Angeles woman's attempt to wrest the Gustav Klimt paintings from the Austrian government, including the iconic, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I.





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Flick Picks 5/1/2015: Paddington, Inherent Vice, Goodbye to Language

What do Paddington and French cinema auteur supreme Jean-Luc Godard have in common?  Well...virtually nothing.  But's it fun putting the two together, knowing how stridently the cantankerous Godard has tried to distance himself from such films for the past half century.  Paddington and Godard's latest, Goodbye to Language are among the new offerings on DVD and Blu-ray this week.

A note - Flick Picks will be on hiatus (or perhaps vacation) next week.  The next posting will occur on May 15, by which time there should be all kinds new video to discuss.

Feature Films

PADDINGTON

Don't let the cute little bear in the floppy red hat fool you.  Paddington has been a favorite with critics and audiences alike in this film rendering of the beloved character from children's literature.   Follow the furry Paddington and human friends around London for numerous adventures.  The very strong human contingent is led by Lord Crawley himself, Hugh Bonneville.

We have multiple copies of Paddington in both regular DVD and Blu-ray.


INHERENT VICE

Speaking of auteurs, master filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood, The Master) meets the legendary Thomas Pynchon in this film version of the writer's novel, Inherent Vice.  As with The Master, Joaquin Phoenix stars, sporting some serious mutton chops as Larry "Doc" Sportello, sometime private detective, sometime dope enthusiast.  Some fans of Pynchon have expressed their approval at Anderson realizing the writer's rich and complex world so successfully, filming a story that most had considered unfilmmable.  The ever-reliable Josh Brolin is on hand as Doc's foil, Detective Christian F. "Bigfoot" Bjornsen, providing just some of Inherent Vice's fragrant comic relief.   Martin Short is also memorable as the fairly deranged dentist, Dr. Rudy Blatnoyd.

Also new this week:  Mark Wahlberg stars in THE GAMBLER.

Foreign Film

Three varied, interesting French language films to choose from this week.


GOODBYE TO LANGUAGE

Some say that Jean-Luc Godards's latest is the sort of film for which 3D Blu-ray was invented.  Goodbye to Language is his first foray into 3D filming.  The content may be as cryptic as ever from Godard, but his restless vitality continues to play out at the age of 84.  The library has Goodbye to Language in a Blu-ray edition that includes both 3D and two dimensional versions.

MOMMY

Mommy is the fifth feature from French-Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan, all of 26-years-old.  While that sort of precocity is really annoying to those of us who haven't accomplished much in the world, Dolan's work has won increasing acclaim.  Challenging though it may be, this "boisterous Oedipal comedy" received a 13-minute standing ovation at Cannes as was Canada's entry as Best Foreign Language Film at the 2015 Academy Awards.  A widowed mother struggles to raise her troubled teenage son, until help arrives from a mysterious new neighbor.  

LE SILENCE DE LA MER

The great Jean-Pierre Melville is perhaps best known for a series of elegant, almost meditative gangster films (Le Samourai, Le Cercle Rouge) from the 1960's and 70's.  However, his first feature is quite distinct from that later work.  Le Silence de la mer (The Silence of the Sea) is based on a clandestinely-published novel from 1942.  The story concerns the relationship between a Frenchman and his niece with a German Lieutenant living with them during the German occupation of France during World War II.  

Melville, who served in the French resistance, made two other films that dealt directly or tangentially with the French struggle during the war, both of which are in the library collection:  Leon Morin, prete (Leon Morin, Priest) and the classic L'Armee des ombres (Army of Shadows).

Documentary Film and Performing Arts

LAST DAYS IN VIETNEM

Full of amazing footage and nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 2015 Academy Awards, Last Days in Vietnam recounts the sad and chaotic final days in Saigon as American soldiers and diplomats struggle with the White House order to evacuate only American personnel.  Directed with assurance by Rory Kennedy (youngest child of Robert).

Last Days in Vietnam is currently available for checkout or reserve, but feel free to join us for a screening in the library on May 18, part of our monthly Monday Night at the Movies series.

BAG IT

Very much a story for our time, Bag It follows Jeb Berrier, "an average American guy - admittedly not a tree hugger," as tries to stop using plastic bags and understand our relationship with plastic the world over.  

Also new this week:  New DVD editions of the the operas, Wozzeck, Le Nozze di Figaro and La Cenerentola

Series

Three new series releases on DVD this week with which you can wile away the hours:
Suits, Season  4, New Tricks, Season 11, Royal Pains, Season 6

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