Flick Picks 11/4/2014: Maleficent, Hercules, A Most Wanted Man

New on DVD This Week at the Library

ENTERTAINMENT: Have you ever wondered just what would cause a perfectly normal fairy to become evil? Maleficent offers the back story behind Sleeping Beauty and it turns out that there was a good reason for the title character's black heart. Angelina Jolie eats up the scenery as Maleficent herself while Elle Fanning is the coma-cursed beauty. We've got it on DVD and Blu-ray. Next, we've got another new look at an iconic tale as one of Hollywood's biggest (in size and name) stars, Dwayne Johnson (aka The Rock), labors through the tale of Hercules. Action expert Brett Ratner directs while Ian McShane and John Hurt costar. Philip Seymour Hoffman's final lead role is in the well-reviewed adaptation of John Le Carre's espionage thriller A Most Wanted Man, in which Germans and Americans race to discover the true identity of a Chechen/Russian immigrant.

The newest entry in Disney's hit Planes series arrives this week in Planes. Fire and Rescue, the gripping story of a racing plane that makes a career shift into firefighting. Mad Men's Elisabeth Moss is starting to carve out an interesting film career while Mark Duplass continues his quest to appear in every single independent film. The One I Love stars both of them in a strange little film about a couple that goes on vacation in an attempt to save their marriage, after which things start to get weird... Exhibition is also a very different film but in a much quieter way. A couple decides to sell their beautiful modernist London house and the movie brings us their shared history, with the house featured as a third character.

SERIES: The second season of HBO's The Newsroom arrives this week, as Jeff Daniels tries to deliver all the news that's fit to view. Also available this week is season 5 of FBI con man show White Collar.

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

Let's Get Political!

How did your candidates do this week? Did they win big? Celebrate with a political film! Did they get sent home? Drown your sorrows with a film about politics!

• Henry Fonda stars in Advise and Consent, a classic detailed look at a man's nomination to the post of Secretary of State.
• The tale of the investigation that led to Richard Nixon's downfall unfolds in All the President's Men.
• You think you had bad candidates to choose from? At least you didn't have The Manchurian Candidate on your ballot!
• How do you succeed in life? Surround yourself with different personalities who have different goals, as Lincoln did.
• Small-town innocent James Stewart gets elected U.S. Senator in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
• Oscar winner for best picture All the King's Men tells the story of the political rise of self-made southern lawyer Willie Stark, 
• In the Loop takes a profane look at English and U.S. politics, and is a spinoff of the British series The Thick of It.
• Don't forget the great political TV series that are now available like House of Cards and Veep!