Flick Picks 7/15/14: Rio 2, Under the Skin

New on DVD This Week at the Library

ENTERTAINMENT: The World Cup is over and if it has helped stir your quest for all things Brazilian, you'll want to visit with the colorful avian denizens of Dreamworks' Rio 2. This sequel to the 2011 hit returns Jesse Eisenberg and Anne Hathaway as the happy couple who decide to take their family on a trip to find some endangered macaws. We've got it on DVD and Blu-ray. Meanwhile, Scarlett Johansson gives a breakthrough performance in the visually stunning Under the Skin, which follows an alien as she travels through Scotland. A widow (Annette Bening) meets a man who resembles her late husband (Ed Harris) and rediscovers passion in The Face of Love. Finally, the made-for-BBC movie The Wipers Times stars Ben Chaplin in the true story of British soldiers who produced a satirical newspaper while on the front lines in the First World War.

SERIES: The Israeli series Prisoners of War, which was later adapted as the hit Showtime series Homeland, follows three soldiers released after being captured seventeen years earlier. The must-see BBC America sci-fi clone show Orphan Black returns for a second season as does the Kate Atkinson adaptation Case Histories, while western railroad drama Hell on Wheels is back for a third.

SUBTITLED: The complex relationship between an Israeli secret policeman and his young Palestinian informant is explored in Bethlehem.

All of our new and upcoming DVDs are available in Bibliocommons.

Monday Night at the Movies
We will be screening Tim's Vermeer on Monday, July 21st at the Glencoe Woman's Club at 325 Tudor Ct. Intrigued by theories that Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer used some sort of camera obscura device to achieve an almost photographic quality of detail and presentation of light, Texas-based inventor Tim Jenison sets out to replicate the work of the old master. This involves not only the incredibly exacting process of painting, but construction of the room in which Vermeer’s “The Music Lesson” is set. The amazing results of Jenison’s experiment lead to a reappraisal of the very nature of artistic genius. The film runs 80 minutes and is rated PG-13. All of our film screenings are free and open to everyone.

When the Rain Comes...

It seems like we can't go more than a couple of days without rain. Since we have the weather on our minds, we assembled a list of rain related movies, set in torrential downpours, light sprinkles or places in-between!

• It would be impossible not to start this list without the classic Gene Kelly musical Singin' in the Rain leading the way!
• It seems like nearly every romance must feature a passionate kiss in the rain and that wet kiss is certainly one of the key moments of the Ryan Gosling/Rachel McAdams flick The Notebook.
• Humphrey Bogart finds himself trapped inside a hotel with gangsters and a hurricane approaching in John Huston's Key Largo.
• Tim Robbins finally escapes from prison and walks out into the rain in The Shawshank Redemption.
• Another great kissing in the rain scene happens in Breakfast at Tiffany's after Holly finds her cat (and George Peppard too).
• The rain in the climactic battle scene in Seven Samurai turns a muddy village into a classic action setting.
• The gorgeous French musical Umbrellas of Cherbourg doesn't actually feature very much rain (though there is some beautiful snowfall at the end) but it never hurts to be prepared!