Flick Picks 8/27/13: The Great Gatsby, Epic

New DVDs and Blu-rays at the Library This Week
Early warning: Season 2 of Homeland comes out in two weeks. There are already lots of holds on it so please get your hold on it asap!

ENTERTAINMENT: Director Baz Luhrmann brings his unique touch to The Great Gatsby, a colorful adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. Tobey Maguire is Nick Carraway, a writer who befriends Leonardo DiCaprio's Jay Gatsby in 1920s New York. If you are looking for a straightforward presentation of the novel then you will be shocked since this film's whirling, music-filled sensibility is more akin to Luhrmann's previous takes on Romeo and Juliet and his Moulin Rouge. We've got it on DVD and Blu-ray. Also this week, the kids (and anyone else who loves a fun animated fantasy) will want to check out Epic, the story of a teenage girl who gets transported to a magical forest where she must band together with a crew of creatures to save the world. Our indie pick this week Mira Nair's adaptation of Mohsin Hamid's popular novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Kiefer Sutherland, Kate Hudson and Liev Schreiber star in the story of the attempt to find out how a young Pakistani professor could have become involved in a kidnapping plot in post-9/11 America.

SERIES: This week you've got a choice between the charming ladies and gentlemen of Seattle Grace Hospital in Grey's Anatomy (season 9), the rotting denizens of The Walking Dead (season 3), or the brilliant minds of the modern Sherlock Holmes mystery series Elementary.

DOCUMENTARIES: Fans of the iconic Bergdorf Goodman department store won't want to miss Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf's, which interviews designers and fans while allowing us to get a rare look behind the scenes.

SUBTITLED: The true story of Thor Heyerdahl's 1947 101-day trip across the Pacific Ocean on a raft is dramatized in the exciting Norwegian import Kon-Tiki.

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

Back to School
Now that the kids are out of the house you can celebrate with one of these entertaining flicks about our children and their educational system!

• It's always worth having a reunion with John Hughes! All the cliques bond for a day in the The Breakfast Club while Molly Ringwald experiences high school angst and ends up at Glencoe Union Church in Sixteen Candles. And let Ferris Bueller's Day Off serve as a warning for when your kids declare themselves to be sick!
• Though filmed in Highland Park, Glencoe was the setting for Joel Goodson's den of iniquity in Risky Business.
• Far away from the North Shore, Friday Night Lights follows a small-town Texas high school football team.
• Your chills will be multiplyin' as you hang with Grease's Sandy and Danny.
• If kids think that they've got it tough then show them a town where dancing is outlawed in either the original or remake of Footloose.
• Maggie Smith is the teacher in 1930s Scotland who teacher her students about life in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

Flick Picks 8/20/13: Amour, Boardwalk Empire Season 3, The Good Wife Season 4

New This Week on DVD at the Library:

SUBTITLED: One of the most powerful and well-reviewed movies of the year - Amour - arrives on DVD this week. This French language film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including best picture, and took home the award for best foreign language film. It's about an elderly couple that faces challenges when the wife suffers multiple strokes. Austrian Director Michael Haneke is known for powerful, challenging films and this one is no exception.

ENTERTAINMENT: The new entertainment film this week is an indie pick called Shadow Dancer which stars Clive Owen as an MI-5 officer who enlists a woman to spy on her IRA populated family in Belfast during the 1990s. Gillian Anderson is also on-board in this tense thriller.

SERIES: Lots of new episodes come out this week with season 3 of HBO's gangster drama Boardwalk Empire leading the pack. There's also a 4th season of the legal drama The Good Wife, a 4th season of the warm family comedy Parenthood, season 2 of primetime soaper Revenge, season 3 of the Melissa McCarthy showcase Mike and Molly, and a 5th season of the BBC supernatural drama Being Human.

DOCUMENTARIES: No Place on Earth tells the startling story of the discovery of an underground cave in the Ukraine that housed a number of Jewish families for a year and a half during the Holocaust. Also, after watching the provocative Sushi: The Global Catch you might end up thinking twice before popping that unagi in your mouth. This film shows how the popularity of sushi might end up causing the collapse of all fish species.

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

Next round of Monday at the Movies and Talking Pictures
We've got the lineup for our next three months of Monday Night at the Movies and Talking Pictures programs. Mark your calendars!

Monday Night at the Movies:
9/16 - Mud
10/21 - What Maisie Knew
11/18 - Stories We Could Tell

Talking Pictures:
9/20 - To Rome With Love
10/7 - Parental Guidance
11/7 - Match Point
12/4 - Love Actually

Also, don't forget the upcoming Talking Pictures screening of The Invention of Lying on 8/22. All Monday Night at the Movies programs screen at 1:00 and 7:00 at the Woman's Library Club at 325 Tudor Ct. and Talking Pictures screenings take place at 1:00 in the Hammond Room of the library. All of our movie screenings are free and open to anyone.

Flick Picks 8/13/13: Olympus Has Fallen, Emperor, The Company You Keep

New on DVD This Week at the Library

ENTERTAINMENT: The first of the year's attack on the White House films comes to DVD this week. For those playing at home, Olympus Has Fallen is the one starring Gerard Butler as the Secret Service agent intent on stopping the North Koreans from killing the president (Aaron Eckhart) and threatening our way of life. Antoine Fuqua, who also directed Training Day and Brooklyn's Finest, helms this one. If your adrenaline is not already maxed out, this week also sees the release of The Company You Keep, with Robert Redford directing and starring as a former 60s radical forced to go underground when outed by reporter Shia LaBeouf. Fans of historical dramas will want to pick up Emperor, which follows General MacArthur (portrayed by Tommy Lee Jones) in the days following the Japanese surrender in World War II as he tries to decide the best way for the country to move forward.

On the lighter side this week, The Big Wedding might not win any Oscars but with a cast that features Robert De Niro, Susan Sarandon, Katherine Heigl, Diane Keaton, Amanda Seyfried and Robin Williams it's certainly worth checking out. It's a romantic comedy in which various family members must try to get along when the kids decide to get hitched. The Hot Flashes brings together a group of middle-aged former high school basketball champions to try to take on the current champions, in the name of charity. It stars Brooke Shields, Daryl Hannah, Wanda Sykes and New Trier graduate Virginia Madsen.

SERIES: The hilarious Mindy Kaling's Emmy-nominated Fox series The Mindy Project comes to DVD this week. Also out this week are season 2 of the always headline-grabbing Girls, season 2 of the made-in-Britain and shown-on-Cinemax military action show Strike Back, season 2 of the Laura Dern HBO comedy-drama Enlightened and the 5th and final season of the cop drama Southland.

SUBTITLED: The Italian dark comedy Reality follows a fishmonger obsessed with joining the reality show Big Brother (and it's also a great showcase for Naples). Chilling in more ways than one, the Icelandic The Deep tells the based on a true story of a fisherman trying to survive in freezing waters after his boat collapses.

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

Monday Night at the Movies
The succinctly titled No will screen at 1:00 and 7:00 on Monday, August 19th at the Women's Library Club  at 325 Tudor Ct. This film follows brash young Chilean advertising executive Rene Saavedra (Gael Garcia Bernal) as he leads the campaign against extending Augusto Pinochet's term for another 8 years. The film is rated R and runs for 110 minutes. All Monday Night at the Movies screenings are free and open to everyone.

Talking Pictures
Join Susan Benjamin for a screening of the film The Invention of Lying on Thursday, August 22nd at 1:00. This film is directed by, written by and stars Ricky Gervais in the comic story of a world in which lying doesn't exist, until one man learns how to do it for his own benefit. All Talking Pictures screenings take place in the Hammond Room of the library and are free and open to the public.

Flick Picks 8/6/13: Oblivion, The Place Beyond the Pines, The Sapphires

New on DVD at the library this week!

ENTERTAINMENT: There's something for everyone in this week's batch of feature film releases! The Tom Cruise sci-fi extravaganza Oblivion leads the pack of new releases in DVD and Blu-ray. Set in 2077, after the Moon has been destroyed and Earth has been rendered uninhabitable, Cruise has two weeks left to patrol the skies before he can settle down with the remaining earthling settlers on a base on Saturn's moon Titan. However, he soon meets up with a woman who challenges everything he knows about Earth's past. Meanwhile, the atmospheric and ambitious The Place Beyond the Pines features Ryan Gosling as a bank robber who crosses paths with cop Bradley Cooper. Their conflict leads to repercussions that span generations. We've got it on DVD and Blu-ray.  For something a little lighter, try The Sapphires, which follows an Australian aboriginal girl group trying to make it big in the 60s with help from their manager Chris O'Dowd. The combination of great music, a good-time vibe and the always entertaining O'Dowd makes this one a winner.

You read the book when you were a teen so why not catch the movie now? On the Road stars Kristen Stewart and features cameos by the likes of Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst and Amy Adams as it follows Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty on their trip across America. Despite a cast that includes Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams and Javier Bardem, To the Wonder did not garner anywhere near the attention that director Terence Malick's previous film The Tree of Life received. In this film, a couple moves to Oklahoma after meeting in France and struggles with their relationship. The Scapegoat is a made-for-BBC film starring Matthew Rhys in the adaptation of the Daphne du Maurier novel about a man who takes the place of his doppelganger, a troubled businessman.

Finally, in our indie pick for the week, 1976 Wales is the setting for the heartwarming Hunky Dory, a film that follows a teacher (Minnie Driver) as she tries to create the best school musical ever. This delightful film from the producers of Billy Elliot features the music of David Bowie, ELO, The Beach Boys and many other great bands.

SERIES: Did you catch the news that Peter Capaldi will be taking the reins as the newest Doctor Who? Luckily his showcase role in The Thick of It as an assistant to a bumbling minister in the UK government is finally arriving on DVD. It's darkly comedic, profane and served as the basis for the very entertaining film In the Loop. Fans of Showtime's Shameless will want to pick up the first two seasons of the UK series that served as the inspiration, and which is also called Shameless.

This week also brings us new seasons of the Showtime historical drama The Borgias (season 3), yet another season (22) of the seemingly endless Midsomer Murders as well as the 4th season of the metacomedic Community, and season 2 of the musical theater drama Smash.

SUBTITLED: Late Chilean director Raoul Ruiz's final film is the dreamlike Night Across the Street, which follows an office worker on the verge of retirement who finds himself lost in real and imagined memories.

DOCUMENTARIES: Whether or not you've seen the Paradise Lost series that tracks the conviction and future release of the "Memphis 3", you'll want to catch West of Memphis, which covers the story of the three teenagers convicted for murder. It was co-produced by Hobbit and Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson and ties together the information from the three Paradise Lost documentaries to offer a fresh look at the case.

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

Movies on the Green
Join us on Friday the 9th at dusk on Wyman Green to enjoy a screening of the 1971 musical Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, starring Gene Wilder. In case of rain the screening will be held in the council chambers in Village Hall. Movies on the Green is co-sponsored by The Glencoe Chamber of Commerce, Glencoe Youth Services, Glencoe Public Library, Friends of the Glencoe Public Library, Glencoe Park District, and the Village of Glencoe.

Get smart about art!

Did you enjoy the Glencoe Festival of Art last weekend? Perhaps seeing all those great works has given you a thirst to learn more about the ones hanging in museums? We've got some great art DVDs to help you out!

• Simon Schama's Power of Art demonstrates the history of visual representation through the ages by focusing on eight iconic pieces of art.
• Great Courses brings us the Museum Masterpieces series, with DVDs that focus on The National Gallery in London, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Louvre.
• The classic Sister Wendy DVDs are always worth revisiting, or checking out for the first time!
• The Landmarks of Western Art series covers art by historical era, with episodes on The Renaissance, Baroque, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism and more.
• The Great Artists series brings us episodes on impressionists such as Degas, Monet and Seurat.

Flick Picks 7/30/13: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

New on DVD at the Library

ENTERTAINMENT: Once again proving the rule that any movie franchise can be enhanced by the addition of The Rock (Dwayne Johnson), G.I. Joe: Retaliation brings the Joes back to fight the Cobra organization as well as members of the U.S. government who want to bring them down. Channing Tatum returns while Bruce Willis enlists for this ride and we've got it in both DVD and Blu-ray.

DOCUMENTARIES: Wimbledon has ended so you have time to watch the movie about the sisters whom you can recognize even without seeing the last name: Venus and Serena.

SUBTITLED: The leisurely paced Old Dog feels like a documentary as it tells the story of a Tibetan man who sells his mastiff in mainland China (where mastiffs have become trendy), which his outraged father then retrieves.

Concerts on DVD!

It's been another wonderful summer for live music in Chicago and if you can't make it to Lollapalooza or if it's been too cool for the lawn at Ravinia we've got some live music DVDs to keep you rocking in the comfort of your living room!

• Paul McCartney is still touring but the concert film Rockshow captures him and his band Wings at their peak, in 1976.
• The cast of Glee bring their take on popular songs by the likes of Journey, Queen and Katy Perry to the stage in Glee: The Concert.
• Hear how Adele's incredible voice sounds on a concert stage in Adele: Live at the Royal Albert Hall.
• Director Martin Scorcese captures The Band's final concert in The Last Waltz, which also features guest appearances by Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and more.
• Get a peek at Bob Dylan's formative years in The Other Side of the Mirror: Bob Dylan Live at the Newport Folk Festival 1963-65.
• Blind Faith bandmen Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood reunite and play the hits in Live from Madison Square Garden.
• Some of the best performances at induction ceremonies such as those by Bruce Springsteen and Mick Jagger, Eddie Vedder (with The Doors) and Prince covering George Harrison are compiled in Rock and Roll Hall of Fame + Museum Live. We also carry the Hall of Fame's 25th Anniversary Concerts.
• Neil Young's annual charitable Bridge School Concerts bring together a variety of musicians, including David Bowie, Bob Dylan and Tom Petty, many of whom jam with Young.