New and Featured DVDs for 02/07/12:

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 Orphanage

Fish Tank

Lord Of War

Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves

Attack Of The Block

2011, directed by Joe Cornish. This British science fiction action film about a group of urban youths taking on an alien invasion is already a cult classic. Roger Ebert gave the film 3 stars and one of our patrons assured me the other day that this movie is a lot of fun.

Premonition

Brief Encounter

1945, directed by David Lean. Based on the play by Noël Coward, the film stars Trevor Howard and Cecilia Johnson and challenged the traditional ideas of British suburban life when a bored housewife finds real, passionate love outside of her marriage and has to deal with the powerful emotions that come with such a revelation.

The Man Who Would Be King

O Brother, Where Art Though?

The Shining

1980, directed by Stanley Kubrick. Stars Jack Nicholson and loosely adapts Stephen King’s novel. Jack Nicholson, a family trapped in a hotel isolated by a snowstorm, the dangerous of alcoholism, psychic kids, and some very, very malevolent ghosts.  Stanely Kubrick was at the top of his game here and this is not just a horror/thriller classic, but one of the scariest movies ever.

Braveheart

The Eiger Sanction

Speed Racer

NON-FICTION:

Freakonomics

2010. The classic and bestselling book by economist Steven D. Levitt and journalist Stephen J. Dubner gets a very interesting documentary adaptation, featuring six different directors – including Super Size Me‘s Morgan Spurlock and Jesus Camp‘s Rachel Grady – bringing its various segments to life, all featuring a look at human behavior  and why we do the things we do through an interesting bit of research that combines economics and sociology. This is a fun and interesting movie. And you should all check out the Freakonomics blog.

Ultimate Factories: Coca-Cola

Hitler’s Museum: The Secret History Of Art Theft During World War II

Freedom Riders

Ghost Ships

Crazy Love

2007, directed by Dan Klores and Fisher Stevens. A morbidly fascinating story that proves that not only is the truth stranger than fiction, but that you really do only hurt the one you love. You can read reviews for the documentary in The San Francisco Chronicle and Peter Traver’s review in The Rolling Stone, and check out the trailer below:

Hoop Dreams

Howard Hughes: The Real Aviator

Waiting For “Superman”

2010, directed by Davis Guggenheim. This powerful, passionate documentary deals with the failures of the American education system and focuses on several children hoping to get a better education via participating in a lottery to gain admission to high performing charter schools. Some reviews point out that the film could be a strong point in a revolution to reform our education system while others point out that the documentary is highly critical and not entirely representative of teacher’s unions. But it definitely makes for compelling viewing.

* * *

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.

* * *

Previous New/Featured DVDs:

12/30/11.

* * *

Previous New/Featured books:

02/02/12.

01/27/12.

12/27/11.

12/23/11.

12/19/11.

12/17/11.

New and Featured Books: Lisbeth Salander.

The American film version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, based on Stieg Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander/Millennium novels, is due to be released this Tuesday, December 20, and it’s easily one of the most anticipated movies of this year, let alone this holiday season. The film, directed by David Fincher, and starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara, has a lot of hype and good buzz surrounding it, as well as a lot to live up as far as expectations.

The novels by Larsson have been among our most requested items this past year (and the year before), but I wanted to remind you as well that we also have the novels in audio format and that we also have the two original Swedish film adaptations of the books, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire. To me, the first of the Swedish movies is okay, but just okay, and the second one, The Girl Who Played With Fire, is somewhat less than “just okay,” but for a lot of us, they’ve been decent holdovers while we waited for the new film version of the story.

Normally I wouldn’t hype the remake of a film, but I will happily make an exception here just because I didn’t think the original Swedish movie was a good adaptation at all, let alone a particularly great movie. I’d actually say that just the trailer that you see above for Fincher’s film was more successful on both counts than the original movie version. But maybe I’m biased in that I really like David Fincher’s work, as well as Daniel Craig, wwhom I didn’t use to like, but who won me over with his portrayal of James Bond and some of the other films he’s done in the past few years.

And Rooney Mara (who was in Fincher’s The Social Network as well as the remake of Nightmare On Elm Street) looks extremely promising in the very unique role of hacker heroine Lisbeth Salander.

Interesting side note: The stars of the original Swedish movies, Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace, both have movies out this week as well. Rapace is in Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows (and will appear in Ridley Scott’s upcoming Alien pseudo-prequel Prometheus) and Nyqvist is the villain in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.

Larsson’s novels are hardly high art but if you haven’t read them yet, now is a good time to start for a good mystery/thrill ride.

And if you get a chance to see it, let us know what you think of the new movie.

* * *

Please note that books 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.