Hot This Week: October 28

We close out October with another impressive batch of new titles. In movies, three new titles come in behind Toy Story 4, led by the Kumail Nanjiani/Dave Bautista comedy Stuber. The music chart sees new additions from rapper Wale and Japanese metal band Babymetal. John Grisham takes over the fiction list, with Elizabeth Strout's follow-up to Olive Kitteridge joining as well. In nonfiction, an unprecedented five new titles are led by a long-awaited memoir from musical superstar Elton John.

Movies

1. Toy Story 4 (Blu-ray | 4K)
2. Stuber (Blu-ray | 4K)
3. Crawl (Blu-ray)
4. Spider-Man: Far from Home (Blu-ray | 4K)
5. Aladdin (Blu-ray | 4K)
6. Annabelle Comes Home (Blu-ray)
7. 3 from Hell (Blu-ray | 4K)
8. John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum (Blu-ray | 4K)
9. Men in Black: International (Blu-ray | 4K)
10. X-Men: Dark Phoenix (Blu-ray | 4K)

Music

1. Post Malone, Hollywood's Bleeding
2. Taylor Swift, Lover
3. Wale, Wow...That's Crazy
4. Billie Eilish, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
5. Chris Brown, Indigo
6. SuperM, SuperM: The 1st Mini Album
7. Lizzo, Cuz I Love You
8. Babymetal, Metal Galaxy
9. Ed Sheeran, No. 6 Collaborations Project
10. Post Malone, Beerbongs & Bentleys

Fiction

1. The Guardians, John Grisham
2. Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens
3. The 19th Christmas, James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
4. The Water Dancer, Ta-Nehisi Coates
5. The Institute, Stephen King
6. Olive, Again, Elizabeth Strout
7. The Dutch House, Ann Patchett
8. The Testaments, Margaret Atwood
9. Ninth House, Leigh Bardugo
10. The Giver of Stars, Jojo Moyes

Nonfiction 

1. Me, Elton John
2. Catch and Kill, Ronan Farrow
3. Blowout, Rachel Maddow
4. The Way I Heard It, Mike Rowe
5. Home Work, Julie Andrews
6. Talking to Strangers, Malcolm Gladwell
7. The Body, Bill Bryson
8. Educated, Tara Westover
9. The United States of Trump, Bill O'Reilly
10. The Book of Gutsy Women, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton

Hot This Week: October 21

We're back to help wind down October with plenty of new titles. Four new movies are led by the latest Spider-Man/MCU blockbuster. K-pop group SuperM leads the way in music, which sees the Beatles land their reissue of the classic album Abbey Road on the chart as well. James Patterson presages the holiday season with his latest collaborative novel, while the nonfiction list sees an influx of political titles.

Movies

1. Spider-Man: Far from Home (Blu-ray | 4K)
2. Toy Story 4 (Blu-ray | 4K)
3. Annabelle Comes Home (Blu-ray)
4. Aladdin (Blu-ray | 4K)
5. John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum (Blu-ray | 4K)
6. X-Men: Dark Phoenix (Blu-ray | 4K)
7. Men in Black: International (Blu-ray | 4K)
8. Midsommar (Blu-ray)
9. Anna (Blu-ray | 4K)
10. Yesterday (Blu-ray | 4K)

CD

1. SuperM, SuperM: The 1st Mini Album
2. Post Malone, Hollywood's Bleeding
3. Taylor Swift, Lover
4. Chris Brown, Indigo
5. Billie Eilish, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
6. Brantley Gilbert, Fire & Brimstone
7. Lizzo, Cuz I Love You
8. The Beatles, Abbey Road
9. Ed Sheeran, No. 6 Collaborations Project
10. Travis Scott, Astroworld

Fiction

1. The 19th Christmas, James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
2. Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens
3. What Happens in Paradise, Elin Hilderbrand
4. Ninth House, Leigh Bardugo
5. The Institute, Stephen King
6. The Water Dancer, Ta-Nehisi Coates
7. The Dutch House, Ann Patchett
8. The Testaments, Margaret Atwood
9. Child's Play, Danielle Steel
10. The Giver of Stars, Jojo Moyes

Nonfiction 

1. Blowout, Rachel Maddow
2. Talking to Strangers, Malcolm Gladwell
3. Witch Hunt, Gregg Jarrett
4. The United States of Trump, Bill O'Reilly
5. The Book of Gutsy Women, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton
6. Tough Love, Susan Rice
7. Educated, Tara Westover
8. Inside Out, Demi Moore
9. Call Sign Chaos, Jim Mattis and Bing West
10. Over the Top, Jonathan Van Ness

Hot This Week: October 7

We head into October with a plethora of hot new titles your patrons will be looking for. The live-action version of Aladdin moves to the top of the movie list, where four new entries are led by the latest take on Shaft. Post Malone holds onto music's #1 slot, while Zac Brown Band, Blink-182, and Alabama Shakes singer Brittany Howard land new albums. Ta-Nehisi Coates takes over the fiction list with his new novel, and the nonfiction list includes new books from Demi Moore, Bill O'Reilly, and Queer Eye's Jonathan Van Ness.

Movies

1. Aladdin (Blu-ray | 4K)
2. X-Men: Dark Phoenix (Blu-ray | 4K)
3. Shaft (Blu-ray)
4. John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum (Blu-ray | 4K)
5. Anna (Blu-ray | 4K)
6. Yesterday (Blu-ray | 4K)
7. Child's Play (Blu-ray)
8. Men in Black: International (Blu-ray | 4K)
9. The Secret Life of Pets 2 (Blu-ray | 4K)
10. Ma (Blu-ray)

CD

1. Post Malone, Hollywood's Bleeding
2. Zac Brown Band, The Owl
3. Blink-182, Nine
4. Taylor Swift, Lover
5. Chris Brown, Indigo
6. Billie Eilish, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
7. Lizzo, Cuz I Love You
8. Ed Sheeran, No. 6 Collaborations Project
9. Quality Control: Control the Streets, Volume 2
10. Brittany Howard, Jaime

Fiction

1. The Water Dancer, Ta-Nehisi Coates
2. The Institute, Stephen King
3. The Testaments, Margaret Atwood
4. Lethal Agent, Vince Flynn and Kyle Mills
5. Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens
6. The Dutch House, Ann Patchett
7. The Girl Who Lived Twice, David Lagercrantz
8. Killer Instinct, James Patterson and Howard Roughan
9. Red at the Bone, Jacqueline Woodson
10. The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead

Nonfiction 

1. Inside Out, Demi Moore
2. Talking to Strangers, Malcolm Gladwell
3. The United States of Trump, Bill O'Reilly
4. Over the Top, Jonathan Van Ness
5. Permanent Record, Edward Snowden
6. Educated, Tara Westover
7. Call Sign Chaos, Jim Mattis and Bing West
8. The Only Plane in the Sky, Garrett M. Graff
9. Becoming, Michelle Obama
10. The Education of an Idealist, Samantha Power

Get Ready for Joker

Written by Jon Williams

Batman is one of the oldest and most beloved superheroes, having now been around for 80 years. Now, though, his most famous nemesis is stepping into the spotlight. Joker launches into theaters this weekend with plenty of buzz, looking to thrill audiences and break box office records. Here is a look at how the character has evolved throughout its various iterations over the years.

The Joker is nearly as old as the Caped Crusader himself. He made his first appearance in the premiere issue of Batman early in 1940, and the two have been fighting ever since. The original origin story holds that he fell into a vat of chemical waste, altering his appearance and driving him insane. This has changed often, due ostensibly to the mercurial nature of the character. In the comics he has been by turns a vicious murderer and a mischievous prankster. Patrons interested in these exploits will find a wide range of classic and contemporary comics from DC on hoopla digital.

This iconic villain remained a page-only creation for more than two and a half decades. He came to the screen for the first time when he was played by Cesar Romero in the classic television show that began in 1966, as well as the movie that accompanied it. The series featured camp over grit, and the Joker in this version was impish rather than violent. He came to animation in 1968 in The Adventures of Batman, voiced by Ted Knight, who reprised the role in 1972 when Batman teamed up with the Mystery, Inc. crew for The New Scooby-Doo Movies. In 1977, The New Adventures of Batman saw the Joker voiced by Lennie Weinrib, and in 1985 he was voiced for one episode of The Super Powers Team by legendary voice actor Frank Welker.

Being aimed more or less at kids, those iterations of the Joker were generally lighthearted in nature. Things began taking a darker turn with Tim Burton’s 1989 take on Batman, which saw Jack Nicholson portray the Joker as a twisted gangster intent on taking out the population of Gotham City. Mark Hamill provided what many consider the definitive voice of the animated Joker beginning in 1992 with Batman: The Animated Series and continuing for years through several animated projects and video games, including the movies Mask of the Phantasm (1993) and Return of the Joker (2000), and even up through recent outings like The Killing Joke.

After Nicholson’s incredible performance and with Hamill holding down the fort on the animated side, the Joker wasn’t seen again in live-action form until 2008. In The Dark Knight, the middle film of Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed Batman trilogy, Heath Ledger made it worth the wait with a powerhouse performance that earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Unfortunately, it was a posthumous award, as the actor tragically passed away shortly before the film’s release.

Since then, however, focus has returned to the Joker, with a variety of big names playing him. He was portrayed by Jared Leto in 2016’s Suicide Squad along a team of super villains, with Harley Quinn and Deadshot among them. This movie has a sequel in development as well as several planned spinoffs, so fans will be seeing this version of the Joker again. In 2017’s animated Lego Batman Movie, he was voiced by comic actor Zach Galifianakis. And now, in Joker, he’s played by Joaquin Phoenix in an unhinged performance that is already drawing raves.

Batman vs. the Joker is a rivalry that has stood the test of time. Visit our website for plenty of Batman media across all our formats, and point your patrons toward hoopla for comics and more they can enjoy immediately on all their devices.