After a summer hiatus, Flick Picks has returned. To accompany the agreeable weather, autumn is usually a good time for filmgoers, as studios tend to release what they feel are some of their best films in advance of the award season. We can also expect a very solid crop of DVD releases this fall - feature films, documentaries and series alike. Not that the summer blockbusters were a complete waste of time. Both Mad Max: Fury Road and the latest Mission Impossible were refreshing oases in a typical summer desert of bombastic and forgettable fare. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation is coming soon. In the meantime, we have Mad Max: Fury Road in both regular DVD and Blu-ray.
Feature Films
Romance is the order of the day, or the week, even if such things don't always end happily....
THE AGE OF ADALINE
I'LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS
Welcome back, Blythe Danner. If you haven't yet had the pleasure, remind yourself what a welcome presence is Ms. Danner on screen. In the bittersweet I'll See You in My Dreams, Danner plays a long-time widow, tempted to emerge from the comfortable confines of her life through the friendship of a charming young pool man and a romantic interest in the form of Sam Elliot. But start to finish, this is about the ageless appeal of Blythe Danner. Also new:
A LITTLE CHAOS
This period romance is the second film directed by veteran English actor Alan Rickman. Kate Winslet plays a landscape artist romantically entangled while building a garden at Louis XIV's Palace at Versailles.
MADAME BOVARY
Mia Wasikowska takes on another literary classic (after very much reviving the title heroine in Jane Eyre) in this handsome adaption of Gustave Flaubert's novel.
QUEEN AND COUNTRY
Twenty eight years after his appealing and autobiographical Hope and Glory, director John Boorman has given us the very entertaining sequel, Queen and Country. Callum Turner plays Boorman' s alter ego, dealing with rigid superiors during his 1950's basic training and occasionally straying into the nearby town to pursue a young man's fancy.
Series
EMPIRE, SEASON ONE
Terence Howard and Taraji Henson star in this Fox series in which family members via for control of a hip hop and entertainment empire.
GOTHAM, SEASON ONE
Featuring characters from DC Comics Batman franchise, this Fox series focuses on the James (later commissioner) Gordon and Bruce Wayne.
AQUARIUS, SEASON ONE
David Duchovny stars in this period police drama. As the title of the series would suggest, it's the Summer of Love. But not all is peace and love in Los Angeles in the late 60's. Duchovny's fictional LAPD detective is trying to track down a missing teenage girl, only to find that she is living with Charles Manson's "family." The appearance of the notorious Manson is one example of the mix of real characters and fictional story lines in Aquarius.
Also new:
RED ROAD, SEASON TWO
MISS FISHER'S MURDER MYSTERIES, SEASON THREE
MODERN FAMILY, SEASON SIX
MIKE AND MOLLY, SEASON FIVE
GREY'S ANATOMY, SEASON ELEVEN
Documentary
IRIS
The great documentarian Albert Maysles died this past March. The highlights of a long and venerable careeer include Salesman, Gimme Shelter and the original Grey Gardens (all made with his brother David, who died in 1987). With the posthumously-released Iris, Albert Maysles goes fairly gently into that good night of documentary film with his portrait of 93-year-old fashion icon Iris Apfel. A charming 80 minutes is pretty well guaranteed, whether you're a fashion maven or not.
MAGICIAN: THE ASTONISHING LIFE AND WORK OF ORSON WELLES
2015 is the centenary of Orson Welles' birth (not so far north of us in Kenosha, Wisconsin). With Chuck Workman's documentary you can better familiarize yourself with the great director and his colorful life.
The Glencoe library has many films directed and/or starring Orson Welles, including...
THE STRANGER
THE THIRD MAN
THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI
ME AND ORSON WELLES
We also have Richard Linklater's charming, generally fictional evocation of Welle's early career in the Mercury Theater, featuring an uncanny performance from English actor Christian McKay as Welles.
Foreign
THE FAREWELL PARTY
Nominated for Best Picture at the Orphir Awards (The Israeli Oscars), The Farewell Party is a sometimes sad, sometimes funny meditation on aging and death. When a group of friends in a Jerusalem retirement home help a friend who's terminally ill, others begin to ask for their help. "I can't recall any film ever making me laugh and cry in complete comic and dramatic balance like "The Farewell Party." -- Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune.
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