Flick Picks 5/13/14: Her, Orange is the New Black

New on DVD at the library this week

ENTERTAINMENT: There are many terms that people use to label director Spike Jonze's work in film: visionary, original and genius are a few. Most importantly for a moviegoer, Jonze's films like Being John Malkovich, Adaptation and Where the Wild Things Are can be called entertaining. His latest cinematic venture Her stars Joaquin Phoenix as a shy writer who falls in love with his operating system (voiced by Scarlett Johansson). Ultimately, once you get beyond its strange premise the film is a sweet love story. We've got it on DVD and Blu-ray.

SERIES: The made-for-Netflix series Orange is the New Black is loosely based on the women's prison memoir of the same name and has been hailed as one of the most entertaining series in recent years. Also this week we've got season 4 of the rude and crude Danny McBride series Eastbound and Down and season 2 of the adventures of Wyoming sheriff Longmire.

DOCUMENTARIES: Another visionary director, Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), gives us Is the Man Who is Tall Happy?, an animated version of a series of conversations with Noam Chomsky. Animation allows Gondry to help explain some of Chomsky's more complex ideas about the emergence of language. Also this week, in 2009 Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen co-starred in a hit West End production of Waiting for Godot. The candid Theatreland brings us the entire process of this play's creation, from planning to production.

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

Monday at the Movies
We will be screening Cutie and the Boxer on Monday, May 19 at 1:00 pm. Cutie and the Boxer is about an 80-year-old "boxing" painter Ushio Shinohara and his wife and de facto assistant, Noriko who seeks her own recognition through her "Cutie" illustrations, which depict their chaotic 40-year marriage. This film captures two lives united by a dedication to art-making for a touching meditation on the eternal themes of love and sacrifice. The movie is 82 minutes and is rated R. It will screen at the Glencoe Woman's Club at 325 Tudor Court and is free of cost and open to everybody.

Teacher Appreciation Week

Last week was Teacher Appreciation Week and while you've probably already shown your child's teacher how much you appreciate what they do you might want to take a look at one of our documentaries showing the challenges facing educational systems in America and elsewhere.

• American Teacher follows four teachers and looks at the challenges that they face as they try to decide whether to continue in the profession.
• The director of An Inconvenient Truth offers up another controversial film with Waiting for "Superman", which offers up challenges to teachers' unions and lauds charter schools.
• The stresses that children must face in today's schools while facing standardized testing are the focus of Race to Nowhere.
• The Lottery looks at four lower income New York families who have entered their children into a competitive lottery for admission to a charter school, the results of which could dramatically improve their lives.
• The French To Be and to Have gives us a unique and touching look at a one-room schoolhouse in rural France.