New and Featured DVDs for 12/30/11:

Come and check out these and some of the other new DVDs and materials (or at least new to us) added to our library collection…

FICTION:

The Other Guys

Takers

The Box 

2009, directed by Richard Kelly. Based on a short story by the brilliant writer, Richard Matheson, who was responsible for a lot of great, classic episodes of The Twilight Zone, and in fact Matheson’s original story that this movie is based on, “Button, Button” was previously adapted into an episode of the newer version of The Twilight Zone in the 80s.  The film stars Cameron Diaz, Frank Langhella, and James Marsden, and looks a little silly, but also fun. I really enjoyed Richard Kelly’s first film, Donnie Darko, but didn’t care much for his follow up film, Southland tales, so I’m really curious how this will turn out. Check out the trailer below:

The Kids Are All Right

Hopscotch

The Conspirator

Absolutely Fabulous: Complete Series 1

Videodrome

The King’s Speech

2010, directed by Tom Hooper. This movie was the big winner at last year’s Oscars, taking home the Best Picture prize, as well as Best Director for Hooper, Best Screenplay for David Seidler, and Best Actor for Colin Firth, who plays King George VI.

Broadcast News

1987, directed by James L. Brooks. Starring Holly Hunter, Albert Brooks, and William Hurt. This is one of the best and smartest romantic comedies that I’ve ever seen and I really wish that they still made movies like this.

2001: A Space Odyssey

Joe Versus The Volcano

In The Mood For Love

2000, directed by Wong Kar-wai and starring the ever glamorous Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung. I’ve got to warn you: This is one of my favorite movies of all time and I will hype it endlessly. Set in Hong Kong in 1962, it’s the story of a man and a woman who become neighbors and friends and not long after realize that they’re spouses are having an affair together. They develop a longing and an affection for each other but refuse to give in to the same temptation that their married partners succumbed to. The plot sounds horribly sad, but it’s also beautiful, and much credit is owed to cinematographer Christopher Doyle’s visuals. You could literally take any frame from this film and hang it on your wall as art.

NON-FICTION:

Guns, Germs, And Steel

March On! The Day My Brother Martin Changed The World And More Stories About African American History

Grizzly Man

Soundtrack For A Revolution

The September Issue

Ken Burn’s Prohibition

This 2011 television documentary by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick has been highly anticipated amongst several of our library patrons so I hope that everyone gets a chance to look at it. It apparently draws very heavily from a book by Daniel Okrent called Last Call: The Rise And Fall Of Prohibition, which we also have. Check out the trailer below:

Life After People

Doomsday 2012: The End Of Days

America: The Story Of Us

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Please note that DVDs could be checked out between the time they end up on the blog and when you come to check them out. If you don’t see the items you’re looking for then please come up to the front desk and we’ll put your name on the reserve list for when the item returns.

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Previous New/Featured books:

12/27/11.

12/23/11.

12/19/11.

12/17/11.

12/16/11.

12/15/11.

The end of the world as we know it.

This year only has a few more days left in it and then 2012 will take over. We’ve been hearing about the Mayan long calendar and many other potential doomsday scenarios or prescriptions for global change (such as Terence McKenna’s Timewave Zero) and it seems like our pop culture mindset has been very interested in ideas like the “apocalypse” for the past few years. The nice thing is that pretty much all of these prophesies of doom which will most likely not come to pass aren’t even scheduled to come to pass til December of 2012 (either on the 22nd or 23rd, so Armageddon survival tools will be the big Christmas gift item a year from now, I predict) so there’s plenty of life on Earth left to enjoy.

And the nice thing about the apocalypse is that it makes for fascinating history and for some really great fiction. If you’re interested in brushing up on the coming year’s end times scenarios, we have The Complete Idiot’s Guide To 2012 by Synthia Andrew and Colin Andrews at the library, as well as 2012: The Return Of Quetzalcoatl by Daniel Pinchbeck.

And on DVD we have both non-fiction items, such as Doomsday 2012: The End Of Days and After Armageddon, both from the History Channel, and fiction such as Roland Emmerich’s 2012, starring John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Danny Glover, Thandie Newton, and Woody Harrelson.

Talk about some light reading/viewing for holidays, right?

Don’t let the doom and gloom get you down. And if we don’t see you before then, we hope you have a very Happy New Year’s and we’ll see you in 2012