Flick Picks 1/14/14: Lee Daniels' The Butler, Enough Said, Riddick, Carrie

New at the Library This Week on DVD!

ENTERTAINMENT: One of the most highly acclaimed films of 2013 comes to DVD this week in the Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey vehicle Lee Daniels' The Butler. The Butler uses the tale of the title character, who serves eight presidents over three decades, to tell its real story of how American society changed between the 1950s and the 1980s. It also features Robin Williams as Dwight D. Eisenhower, James Marsden as John F. Kennedy, Liev Shreiber as Lyndon B. Johnson, John Cusack as Richard Nixon and Alan Rickman as Ronald Reagan. Also this week, the late James Gandolfini shines alongside Julia Louis Dreyfus in the romantic comedy Enough Said. If action is your cup of tea then you'll want to see Vin Diesel's latest addition to his Riddick saga, which features the title character fighting off bounty hunters and alien creatures on a deserted planet. Horror fans will want to check out the remake of Carrie, which features the always interesting Chloe Grace Moretz as the telekinetic teenager who you don't want at your prom.

The powerful Fruitvale Station won the Grand Jury Prize for dramatic film at the Sundance film festival as it follows a day in the life of a 22-year-old African American who ends up getting shot by officers at a subway station. If that film isn't disturbing enough for you then we also have Blue Caprice, telling the true story of the relationship between the two men who became the Beltway snipers, killing 10 people in 2002. Our indie pick this week is Short Term 12, which features Brie Larson as a supervisor at a home for troubled children who tries to get a young girl to open up.

SUBTITLED: The colorful Pedro Almodovar returns with I'm So Excited, a hilarious look at flight attendants who must deal with a mid-air emergency. Terraferma is about an elderly Italian fisherman who takes in a family of illegal North African immigrants. Two disparate stories - one set in Paris and one in Montreal - are connected by the subject of love in the dizzying Cafe de Flore. The Austrian Paradise: Hope tells the story of an overweight 13 year old who is sent to a diet camp and experiences first love.

DOCUMENTARIES: Three of Richard Nixon's aides kept Super 8 footage of their time in the White House and it is on display in Our Nixon, after being filed away by the FBI for 40 years.

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

Talking Pictures
Our next Talking Pictures program is Flight, with Denzel Washington. It will be screened in the library's Hammond Room on Thursday, January 16 at 1:00 and will be followed by a discussion led by Susan Benjamin. All of our film programs are free and open to everyone.

Monday Night at the Movies
Our next Monday Night at the Movies screening will take place on Monday, January 20 at 1:00 and 7:00 and will feature the film Twenty Feet From Stardom. Twenty Feet from Stardom chronicles some of the unsung heroines of American popular music over the last 50 years and the perils of trying making the transition from backup singer to star. Long-time music luminaries like Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen, Bette Midler and David Bowie attest to the irreplaceable contribution of these often overlooked artists. The film is 89 minutes long as is rated PG-13. All of our film programs are free and open to everyone.

Golden Globes

Beyond the comedy, fashion (good, bad and ugly) and strange behavior that they offer, the Golden Globe Awards are increasingly being seen as a weather vane for the Oscars. Here's a list of last night's winners, with links to our library's catalog.

Motion Pictures
Best Drama - 12 Years a Slave
Best Musical/Comedy - American Hustle
Best Director - Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity)
Best Actress in a Drama - Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
Best Actor in a Drama - Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyer's Club)
Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy - Leonardo Di Caprio (The Wolf of Wall Street)
Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy - Amy Adams (American Hustle)
Best Supporting Actress - Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle)
Best Supporting Actor - Jared Leto (Dallas Buyer's Club)
Best Screenplay - Spike Jonze (Her)
Best Foreign Language Film - The Great Beauty
Best Animated Feature - Frozen

Television
Best TV Comedy or Musical - Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Best TV Drama - Breaking Bad
Best Actress in a TV Drama - Robin Wright (House of Cards)
Best Actress in a TV Comedy - Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation)
Best Actor in a TV Drama - Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad)
Best Actor in a TV Comedy - Adam Samberg (Brooklyn Nine-Nine)
Best Miniseries or TV Movie - Behind the Candelabra
Best Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie - Elisabeth Moss (Top of the Lake)
Best Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie - Michael Douglas (Behind the Candelabra)
Best Supporting Actress in a TV Show, Miniseries or TV Movie - Jacqueline Bisset (Dancing on the Edge)
Best Supporting Actor in a TV Show, Miniseries or TV Movie - Jon Voight (Ray Donovan)