Written by Kirk Baird, film critic and Detroit Film Critics Society member
The Iron Lady
Meryl Streep won her third Best Actress Oscar (out of 17 nominations) for her role as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. Streep’s towering performance is dead-on; it’s not so much an impersonation as it is a well-researched and nuanced interpretation of the steadfast conservative British Prime Minister, both on the job and in her less steely moments at home.
Some may quibble with director Phyllida Lloyd’s narrative structure: building a film around a present-day Thatcher whose dementia conjures imagined conversations with her dead husband (Jim Broadbent, who steps out of Streep’s considerable shadow), while casually rummaging through milestones in her life to share via flashback. Conventional filmmaking flaws be damned; this is Streep’s movie all the way. And the greatest actress of her generation delivers with a magnificent turn.
Not to Miss Documentaries
German filmmaker Werner Herzog released two great documentaries in 2011: Cave of Forgotten Dreams and Into the Abyss. The latter, which releases today, is the better of the two. It's a politically balanced examination of capital punishment, focusing on two convicted murderers—one serving a life sentence, the other a death-row inmate only days before his execution—and the lives they affected.
Inspiration for Hugo
It’s wonderful to see tributes to pioneering filmmaker Georges Melies—first with Martin Scorsese’s Hugo and now with the limited edition Blu-ray of A Trip to the Moon Restored. You could make a movie about how Melies’ short film A Trip to the Moon, the first science-fiction movie, was painstakingly restored beginning in 1999 from a lost, hand-colored print discovered nearly two decades ago. And in fact, the filmmakers did just that, including a documentary detailing the restoration process, The Extraordinary Voyage, in this two-disc Blu-ray set.
Celebrate 1970s TV
Season 3 of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery offered some of the best frights on TV and provided work for a young director named Steven Spielberg. Another new release, Logan’s Run: The Complete Series, takes the premise of the Michael York-Jenny Agutter 1976 film of 23rd Century fugitives from a doomed and dystopian city and (pun intended) runs with it.
Also, to get you primed for Dark Shadows’ big-screen treatment in May, the cult TV soap opera of the same name is being released in several DVD packages, including 25 collections as well as several best-of sets.
Written by Kirk Baird, film critic and Detroit Film Critics Society member
With the Wrath of the Titans hitting theaters last week, patrons' interest in Greek mythology may pique. Be sure to display these other great DVDs based on Greek mythology in your library.
- Ulysses (1954): Based on Homer’s The Odyssey, Ulysses stars Kirk Douglas as the unlucky king and his doomed voyage as he tries to return home to his wife after the decade-long Trojan war.
- Helen of Troy (1955): Famed filmmaker Robert Wise (The Day the Earth Stood Still, West Side Story, The Sound of Music) directed this loose adaptation of Homer’s first epic, The Iliad. While the 1955 film is out of print, check out the 2003 miniseries of the same name.
- Jason and the Argonauts (1963): Jason (Todd Armstrong) leads a perilous quest to find the legendary Golden Fleece, but the real star of the film is the special effects by the legendary Ray Harryhausen.
- Clash of the Titans (1981): Harryhausen co-produced this stop-motion effects extravaganza based on Greek hero Perseus (Harry Hamlin) and his battles with Medusa and other mythological creatures to save the girl, Princess Andromeda (Judi Bowker), from the giant Kraken. The film was remade in 2010.
- Hercules (1997): Disney left the medieval world of castles and princesses in distress for this animated ancient Greece romp that focuses on a young Hercules as a god-turned-mortal looking for a heroic deed to restore his immortal powers. Features the voices of Tate Donovan, Danny DeVito, and James Woods.
- Troy (2004): Brad Pitt is legendary warrior Achilles and Eric Bana his rival Hector in Wolfgang Peterson’s (Das Boot, The Perfect Storm) more flesh-and-blood take on the Trojan War—one that omits the gods and instead leaves mortals to their own fate.
Any we missed? What's your favorite Greek mythology tale?
Several new releases debut in the top spots of the Fiction and Nonfiction lists. Meanwhile, Madonna and Lionel Richie top the CD chart, forcing us all to wonder if we've tumbled back into the 80s.
DVD
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
- The Sitter
- Hop
- The Descendants
- Immortals
- Alvin & the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked
- Jack and Jill
- Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
- Tower Heist
- Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
CD
- Madonna, MDNA
- Lionel Richie, Tuskegee
- Adele, 21
- Shinedown, Amaryllis
- The Hunger Games: Songs from District 12 and Beyond
- One Direction, Up All Night
- Katy Perry, Teenage Dream
- The Used, Vulnerable
- Bruce Springsteen, Wrecking Ball
- Now 41
Fiction Books
- Lover Reborn, J.R. Ward
- Guilty Wives, James Patterson and David Ellis
- Betrayal, Danielle Steel
- Stay Close, Harlan Coben
- Elegy for Eddie, Jacqueline Winspear
- Lone Wolf, Jodi Picoult
- Kill Shot, Vince Flynn
- The Thief, Clive Cussler and Justin Scott
- Private Games, James Patterson and Mark Sullivan
- Defending Jacob, William Landay
Nonfiction Books
- Drift, Rachel Maddow
- The Big Miss, Hank Haney
- Imagine, Jonah Lehrer
- The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg
- American Sniper, Chris Kyle with Scott McEwen and Jim DeFelice
- Killing Lincoln, Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard
- Wild, Cheryl Strayed
- Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson
- Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand
- Quiet, Susan Cain
Today is our Toledo Mud Hens' opening day, and we're pretty excited. To celebrate the beginning of baseball season , and therefore summer ( warm up soon! please!), film critic Kirk Baird has put together a great list of baseball-themed films for your to display at your library.
- Bull Durham (1988): Writer-director Ron Shelton’s masterpiece, an ode to the great game, features terrific turns by Kevin Costner as career minor leaguer “Crash” Davis, a catcher with smarts, but not enough talent; Tim Robbins as Calvin “Nuke” LaLoosh, a pitcher with fire in his arm and mush in his head; and Susan Sarandon as small-town baseball groupie Annie Savoy who can’t choose between the two.
- Field of Dreams (1989): The second of Costner’s baseball classics, it’s the fantastical story of an Iowa corn farmer compelled to build a baseball field in the middle of nowhere, and the lives it touches. And just like that, the lasting meme “Build it and they will come” was born.
- Eight Men Out (1988): Writer-director John Sayles fields an impressive cast (John Cusack, Charlie Sheen, D.B. Sweeney) for the true story of the Chicago Black Sox scandal, when underpaid players took bribes to deliberately throw the 1919 World Series. This fascinating drama offers a far more empathetic view of the players than history, which has vilified them and their deeds for decades.
- A League of Their Own (1992): With men serving overseas during World War II, our national pastime grounded to halt until a group of athletic women took up bats, balls, and baseball mitts to keep the game alive. Gina Davis stars as ace catcher and power hitter Dottie Hinson; Tom Hanks is the drunken but lovable manager; and Madonna and Rosie O’Donnell are a pair of star players.
- The Bad News Bears (1976): Buttermaker (Walter Matthau) is a former Major League Player-turned pool cleaner. He drinks too much. Smokes too much. And curses too much. He makes the perfect Little League baseball coach. Buttermaker teams up with his ex-girlfriend’s teenage daughter (Tatum O’Neal), who has a rocket for an arm, to change the baseball fortunes of the perennially bad Bad News Bears. A comedy that’s unabashedly non-politically correct, The Bad News Bears proved to be the blueprint for underdog films. (See Slap Shot, The Mighty Ducks, and Little Giants.)
- The Pride of the Yankees (1942): Gary Cooper was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as legendary baseball player Lou Gehrig. A classic biopic of a beloved baseball player’s life cut tragically short by disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis aka Lou Gehrig’s Disease), the drama features several real-life New York Yankees teammates as themselves, including Babe Ruth. And who can forget the famous farewell address to players and fans by “the luckiest man on the face of the planet”?
- The Natural (1984): Robert Redford stars as a once-promising baseball pitcher whose career is derailed by tragedy. He claws his way back to the majors and with his special bat, makes a comeback for the ages. The cast is loaded—Robert Duvall, Glenn Close, Kim Basinger, Barbara Hershey, Joe Don Baker, Richard Farnsworth, and Wilford Brimley—and director Barry Levinson delivers a roaring crowd-pleaser featuring an iconic score by Randy Newman.
- Major League (1989): The Cleveland Indians are a down-on-their-luck franchise, and the new owner wants to make things even worse so she can relocate the team to another city. She assembles a group of past-their-prime veterans and quirky misfits to ensure a losing season. Then the team—led by the catcher Jake Taylor (Tom Berenger) and pitcher Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn (Charlie Sheen)—begins winning. This comedy classic spawned two sequels: Major League II (1994) and Major League: Back to the Minors (1998).
- The Jackie Robinson Story (1950): The triumphs and pitfalls of the first black Major League Baseball player is chronicled in this biopic by the man who knew the story best, Jackie Robinson. Not only did Robinson play himself, he provides a better than you’d expect performance as well.
- The Sandlot (1993): In this funny and touching film, friendship and adventure are key themes in a nostalgic look at a group of neighborhood boys in 1962 Los Angeles bonded by baseball and a baseball-eating dog known as “The Beast.”
- Bang the Drum Slowly (1973): Robert DeNiro gained his first acting accolades—followed quickly by his role later that year in Mean Streets—as a terminally ill baseball catcher. Michael Moriarty plays the team’s star pitcher who befriends him and helps him through the season.
- The Stratton Story (1949): A hunting accident costs star pitcher Monty Stratton (Jimmy Stewart) his leg. But Stratton refuses to give up the game he loves, and fights to play on with an artificial wooden leg. Based on a true story, the drama won an Oscar for its screenplay.
And let's not forget these great baseball documentaries:
- Baseball (1994, 2010): Famed documentarian Ken Burns focuses on America’s National Pastime in this acclaimed PBS series. At nearly 19 hours long, this remarkable documentary is exhaustive in historic details and rich in insight. In 2010, Burns revisited his film with a two-part update entitled “The Tenth Inning,” which addressed baseball’s major stories since his first film: steroids, a strike, and a league championship for the ages.
- The Lost Son of Havana (2009): Luis Tiant was 20 when he left Cuba in 1961 to play professional baseball in the United States. A pitcher with an arsenal of weapons to confound batters, Tiant played in the big leagues for 19 seasons. More than 45 years after he left Cuba, Tiant, accompanied by a documentary film crew, made an emotional return to his former home and family.
- When It Was a Game (1991, 1992, 2000): HBO’s acclaimed trio of documentaries features mostly color home movie footage of classic-era baseball games and its iconic players from the 1920s through the 1960s.
The following flicks might not be the ones you immediately think of when it comes to baseball movies. But they're definitely worth checking out.
- 61* (2001): Roger Maris, Mickey Mantel, and the story of their electrifying home run race.
- The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Movie Kings (1976): A comedy about Negro League-era baseball starring Billy Dee Williams, James Earl Jones, and Richard Pryor.
- Damn Yankees! (1958): Based on the Broadway musical about a Washington Senators fan who makes a pact with the Devil to help his team win.
- The Pride of St. Louis (1952): The story of famed pitcher “Dizzy” Dean.
- Fear Strikes Out (1957): Anthony Perkins stars in this true story of a baseball player who battled mental illness.
- Chasing 3000 (2008): Two brothers drive cross-country to see Roberto Clemente get his 3000th hit.
- Cobb (1994): Tommy Lee Jones gives life to baseball legend and polarizing player Ty Cobb.
- The Bronx is Burning (2007): This critically-praised ESPN mini-series examines the 1977 New York Yankees, its roller-coaster regular season, and winning the World Series.
- For the Love of the Game (1999): Kevin Costner plays an aging pitcher who flashes back through his life while playing his final game.
- The Rookie (2002): Dennis Quaid plays a Texas high school baseball coach given one final opportunity to make it in the big leagues.
- The Slugger’s Wife (1985): Neil Simon’s story of a baseball phenomenon whose career year begins to fade with his relationship troubles.
- Soul of the Game (1996): Three Negro League stars—Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, and Jackie Robinson—compete to be the first African American in Major League Baseball.
- This Old Cub (2004): Filmmaker Jeff Santo explores the life and career of his father, Chicago Cubs great Ron Santo.
Happy Opening Day!
Written by Karan Davey, CD Marketing Specialist
This past weekend was full of Award Shows, for kids, for country enthusiasts in the U.S., and for the music industry in Canada. It was fun to catch all the music artists receiving awards as well as performing at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards, The ACM American Country Music Awards, and the annual Juno Awards in Canada.
The night was full of green slime at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards. Hosted by Will Smith, the show featured a myriad of performances from Katy Perry to the new UK boy band New Direction. Big Time Rush, Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, and LMFAO walked off with Nickelodeon's blimp-shaped award in the music categories. First lady Michelle Obama presented singer Taylor Swift with the Big Help Award for all her charity work over the past year.
Taylor Swift continued her busy weekend by attending another award show, The ACM American Country Music Awards. For the second consecutive year, she won the Entertainer of the Year Award, which was the last award of the evening. Earlier, Miranda Lambert and Lady Antebellum also repeated wins for Female vocalist and Vocal Group of the Year categories. American idol winner, Scotty McCreery, took home the New Artist of the Year prize while Reba McEntire and Blake Shelton once again hosted the award show.
The Juno Awards, Canada’s biggest night in music, was hosted in Ottawa, Ontario. William Shatner served as the master of ceremonies, singing his opening monologue while playing a Les Paul guitar. Nickelback opened the show with fancy pyrotechnics, and a relatively unheard of group from last year, The Sheepdogs, won three awards. Feist was the big winner of the night, snagging three awards including the coveted Artist of the Year and Adult Alternative Album of the Year for her album Metals.
Definitely a big weekend! And we've got collections for all three shows. Click the links below to browse now.
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