Flick Picks 7/9/13: Admission, The Host, Dead Man Down

New This Week!

ENTERTAINMENT:  It's hard to imagine a better comedic couple than Tina Fey and Paul Rudd and Admission teams them up and lets them do what they do best. The film is about a Princeton admissions officer (Fey) who reconnects with a former college acquaintance (Rudd) who is a teacher who feels that one of his unconventional students is Princeton material. It was directed by Paul Weitz who also brought us About a Boy and Being Flynn. Also this week, the Stephenie Meyer book that's not part of the Twilight series comes to your home entertainment system. The Host stars Saoirse Ronan in the sci-fi tale of humans who must resist alien invaders that want to invade their bodies. We've got it on DVD and Blu-ray.

Colin Farrell is the man looking for revenge against the mob and Noomi Rapace is also looking for her own brand of vengeance in Dead Man Down, the first American film for the director of the original Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. The controversial Spring Breakers, which features young stars Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez and Ashley Benson in more mature roles, brings us the story of four girls who become involved with a rapper (James Franco) while on vacation in Florida. Debauchery, decadence and violence ensue. Our indie pick this week is the feel-good comedy Boy, a film set in rural New Zealand about a kid who idolizes Michael Jackson and his soon-to-be released from prison father. It's both hilarious and insightful about Kiwi culture.

SERIES: This week brings us a third season of the hipster comedy Portlandia.

DOCUMENTARIES: Six former heads of Shin Bet - the agency charged with running Israel's war on terror - are interviewed in the fascinating The Gatekeepers.

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

Monday Night at the Movies
Our next Monday Night at the Movies program will feature the film Happy People: A Year In The Taiga, a documentary by Werner Herzog and Russian co-director Dmitry Vasyukov about indigenous people living in the heart of the Siberian Taiga.  The film lasts 94 minutes and is unrated. All Monday Night at the Movies films screen at 1:00 and 7:00 at the Women's Library Club at 325 Tudor Ct. Admission is free.

Movies on the Green
On Friday, July 12th the movie The Lorax will be shown as part of the Movies on the Green series. All Movies on the Green films are screened on Wyman Green and begin at dusk.

Filmic College Knowledge

This week sees the release of Admission and Spring Breakers, two different looks at college kids. We also had a great turnout at our college essay program so it seems like a good time to look at some of the great movies that are set in the world of higher education.

• Sorority girl Reese Witherspoon leaves Los Angeles for Harvard Law School in Legally Blonde.
• The classic coming-of-age film The Graduate follows recent graduate Benjamin Braddock as he decides what to do with his life.
• Based on the Michael Chabon book, Wonder Boys details the various complications entering the life of English professor Michael Douglas.
• Ronald Reagan is the Gipper for whom Pat O'Brien implores the Notre Dame football team to win in Knute Rockne, All American.
• Colin Hanks dreams of going to Stanford and brother Jack Black tries to help in the comedy Orange County.
• Good Will Hunting features Matt Damon as a janitor at MIT with a gift for mathematics and a love of apples.
• Some kids party in college while others, as in the case with The Social Network, invent Facebook.