Search results matching tag 'films'

MST3K's Giant Gila Monster

wag.mado@evpl — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 15:00:00 GMT

The next installment in the Bad Movie Night saga is the 1959, low budget monster movie, The Giant Gila Monster. This Mystery Science Theater version is hilarious from start to finish as a giant lizard is on the loose, terrorizing an entire town of inept residents. This movie has one of my personal favorites, the “knee up” scenes!

Tell all your friends and come join us for fun and laughs on Thursday, August 9 at 6:00 PM in Central Library’s Browning Events Room B.

Crazy Heart

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 19:10:00 GMT

Jeff Bridges gives an Oscar-worthy performance in his latest, Crazy Heart, in which he plays Bad Blake, a musician who has seen better times. The movie begins with Bad's tour taking place in dive bars located in bowling alleys and small towns. It is during one of these trips that he comes across journalist, Jean, played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. A single-mom, Jean is reluctant to get involved with Bad, but their casual fling develops into something more. Bad becomes attached to both Jean and her four-year-old son, and we discover that Bad has a grown son he never knew. Colin Farrell comes into the story as Tommy Sweet, Bad's former protégé, who is willing to give Bad another chance, but only if his ego will allow it. Between his growing relationship with Jean and opening for Tommy on tour, it seems Bad's life is turning around.

Then a fateful event occurs when Bad is drunk (as he often is throughout the movie), that causes him to lose everything he has recently gained. Enter his favorite bartender and friend, played by Robert Duvall, who helps Bad get back on track. With great performances by the entire cast and music by T-Bone Burnett, this movie is worth checking out. Definitely worth the hype it received during the Oscars.

Winter Holiday movies

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:39:00 GMT

During the few days I had off over the holidays, I was able to catch a lot of movies. Some in the theater (Avatar- excellent!; Sherlock Holmes- pretty good), but even more at home. Two movies that I had been waiting to come out on DVD did so right before I left on vacation.

500 Days of Summer stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt (loved him in 3rd Rock from the Sun) and Zooey Deschanel. Tom (Gordon-Levitt) is a greeting card writer who believes in fate and one true love. Enter the new girl at work (Deschanel), who Tom believes to be is soul mate. Unfortunately, Summer does believe in much of anything, but especially relationships. The movie bounces back and forth throughout their relationship's beginning, middle, and end. Quirky romance, great soundtrack. Highly recommended.

The creator of Office Space is back with his newest movie, Extract. This time we are introduced to happy business owner, Joel, who is content with his extract business, his wife, and his life. A freak on-the-job accident, however, throws Joel's life into a spin. Jason Bateman stars as business owner, Joel, Ben Affleck as his slacker best friend, Kristen Wiig as Joel's bored wife, and Mila Kunis plays a con artist in the middle of it all. I love Office Space (who doesn't?), so I had high expectations for Extract. I really wanted to love it, but it falls short for me.

Central's anniversary celebration SUNDAY features mini-golf, Book Cart Drill Team, & more!

professor.knowsitall@evpl — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:59:00 GMT

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Starting with a press conference on Thursday, September 17, we've been honoring Central Library's 5th anniversary with some special events. Our Film Festival wraps up this afternoon with a showing of Citizen Kane. On Saturday, we'll be hosting a Poetry Festival.

On Sunday, party with us at Central Library's Anniversary Celebration! There will be activities & entertainment for all ages to enjoy.

How many times have you had the urge to play mini-golf in the library? Satisfy that urge on Sunday, when we'll have 18 holes of mini-golf set up in Central's stacks (on the 1st & 2nd floors)! And don't worry...there won't be any water hazards. Get your golf game on from 1-5pm.

Enjoy some food & music in the café garden from 1-4:30pm. We'll be grilling hot dogs & hamburgers!

Over 20 cakes will be on display in the lobby from 1-3:30pm as part of our Cake Decorating Contest. Vote for your favorite! Winners will be announced shortly before 4pm, and the cakes (& punch) will be served from 4-5pm.

Nothing will prepare you for our Book Cart Drill Team's first public performance at 2:30pm in the lobby! With epic choreography & drama, the team will recreate a famous battle from literature (& a recent movie trilogy). With book carts.

We'll also have a scavenger hunt & appearances by literary actors (can you guess who they are?) throughout the celebration.

There will be something for everyone at Sunday's Anniversary Celebration. Hope to see you then!

Easy Virtue

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:55:00 GMT

I am a huge fan of Colin Firth. I might question his decision to make films such as What a Girl Wants, but he easily redeems himself with performances in Love Actually, Then She Found Me, and now Easy Virtue. In this movie, Firth plays the distant father and husband of an English family living in a crumbling estate. Firth’s character returned home after wandering around Europe following WWI as part of the Lost Generation. He now hides in his family’s shed repairing an old motorcycle and avoiding his family and their problems. He pops up throughout the movie with sardonic wit and repressed feelings.

Easy Virtue was adapted from a Noel Coward play set in the late 1920s. Jessica Biel plays American racecar driver, Larita, who steals the heart of English heir, John (played by Ben Barnes). The two marry and head to the family's English estate. Larita faces the scorn of her new mother-in-law who had plans for her son to marry the wealthy neighbor girl. Kristin Scott Thomas does an excellent job as the mother fighting against her daughter-in-law for her son's attention and affection. Larita's only allies come in the form of the family's servants and father-in-law (Firth). Once her past scandals come to surface, however, Larita must decide if she will stay with John or leave him and his family behind.

I loved the music, costumes, and actors in Easy Virtue. This movie slipped my attention before landing on the library shelves, so I guess many others may have missed it as well. Check it out- highly recommended.

Sunshine Cleaning

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:24:00 GMT

Rose and Norah were little girls when their little mother died. They both came in from playing in the yard to find their mom dead in the bathroom, an apparent suicide. As the two girls grow up, that day shapes their lives. Rose is a single mother working hard as a house cleaner to raise her son, while having an affair with her married high school sweetheart. Norah is a party girl. She doesn't have a boyfriend, drinks all the time, and can't hold a job. Their father is a quirky man always looking for a get-rich-quick scheme.

After Rose's son is expelled from school and a reunion with her high school friends approaching, Rose convinces Norah to start a crime scene cleaning business with her. Hilarity ensues as the two women struggle to learn the ropes of cleaning up grisly crime scenes, but there is an underlying seriousness as well. With their new business taking off, both Rose and Norah have to come to grips with what happen to their mother all those years ago and figure out what they want out of their own lives.

Fans of Little Miss Sunshine will like this movie with the quirky characters, humor, but a serious storyline as well. I laughed out loud and cried a few times as well. Highly recommended.

Classic Film Series Continues Thursday Evening with 6:00PM Screening of "Stormy Weather"

potentate@evpl — Tue, 19 May 2009 20:51:00 GMT

We're expecting a crowd Thursday evening at 6:00 as the Library's Classic Film Series continues with a screening of the 1943 musical with an all-star, African-American cast, "Stormy Weather." Starring Lena Horne, Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, and Bill Robinson. In 2001, Stormy Weather was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Come a little early for popcorn and a preview, and stay late for discussion!

Trekkers get social

googler@evpl — Tue, 12 May 2009 22:09:00 GMT

If you're one of the many who saw the new Star Trek movie this past weekend, you might be wondering if you can connect with other fans online. Well, in these days of the social web, of course you can.

Looks like the Facebook group might be the primary destination for you Trekkers, Trekkies, and Trekfen -- the page has some 2500 members. Both the wall and the discussion board are very active.

The official page on MySpace was created well before the movie's release, and still has a very large and active community. And it may well be the first place to hear about the anticipated sequel.

Star Trek Online is the website devoted to the multiplayer online role-playing game that's currently being developed. Even if you don't intend to join the game, you may well enjoy the discussion forums.

Ning is an online platform where people can create their own social networks, and there are several there devoted to Star Trek. The largest is TrekSpace, which has a library of photos, videos, and a very active discussion forum.

TrekUnited was originally formed to save the television series "Star Trek: Enterprise" (unsuccessfully), and has grown into one of the largest ST websites, with a lively message board.

And for Twitter users, consider contributing to the Star Trek group at Tweetworks, because they need all the contributors they can get!

"Who Watches the Watchmen?"

PotionsMaster@evpl — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 14:36:00 GMT

I did. Last night, actually. I'm usually all over graphic-novels-turned-movies because I like to see how the film industry interprets the books and how accurate the sets are. On this one, I was going to wait to see the movie until I had read the novel, but at the urging of a Watchmen-loving friend, I was lured to the grandeur that the film claimed to give it and saw the celluloid version first. "The movie will be more interesting to you if you don't know what's happening," he said, "The movie is the book practically frame for frame."

The opening was well done to hook a person in; it's not every day that you see someone get hurled through a window off a tall building. After that big of a bang to start off with, I thought that's what the rest of the movie was going to be like, but it then did flashbacks to explain the Watchmen's origins. While interesting, it started to drag out a bit as it set up the rest of the doomsday plot. It is set in an alternative universe where Nixon has been elected for 5 consecutive terms (scary thought all on its own without the 'end of the world' threat), America has won the Vietnam War, and Cold War is very much about to become a reality. After the Masked Vigilante golden era, people dressing up and fighting crime are banned and outlawed. That provides some problems for the Watchmen.

The fight scenes, on the other hand, were everything you'd expect from Zack Snyder; especially after 300. Those are what made it worth sitting through the history lesson in the beginning. I didn't quite understand where the super strength of the Watchmen came from, with the exception of Dr. Manhattan. They seemed to be like Batman on superhero juice, every day Joes with an unusual amount of power packed into their punch.

All in all, I liked the movie. The fight scenes were glorious, but I wouldn't spend money to see it on IMAX; you'll get the same effect on any size screen. I'm glad I saw it before reading the book, though I hear tell that a giant squid is missing from the movie. It gave me more of a reason to sit through the 163 minute long film. My friend was right on that point. However, my friend had also told me, "You'll never guess who the bad guy is." As soon as I saw the costumes, I had to shake my head and smile. I don't know as much about comics as some people, but I do know one truth.

Bad guys almost always wear purple.

The Spirit of the Beehive

wag.mado@evpl — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 01:07:00 GMT

Thanks to a recommendation by my friend, I watched a stunning film this weekend. Set in a Castilian village somewhere in early 1940's rural Spain, this movie has won international acclaim as a masterpiece - labeled one of the greatest Spanish films of the 1970's. On the surface, it is a coming of age story in which six-year-old Ana, played by Ana Torrent, tries to make sense of the world after seeing a young girl die in the classic 1931 film, Frankenstein. However, the movie is chock-full of symbolism and is also a commentary on life at the conclusion of the Spanish Civil War. The cinematic photography shot by Luis Cuadrado (who was going blind while the film was being made) is stark and breathtaking. Each scene seems to stay in your memory as a snapshot. As with many foreign films, the pace is hauntingly slow and the dialogue is sparse, adding to the intense feeling and emotion of the storyline. Isabel Telleria plays the innocent Ana's older sister Isabel, and has a menacing side to say the least. Together, these beautiful little girls bring this powerful story to life.

The Spirit of the Beehive (1973) was written and directed by Victor Erice and is one of only three movies he made over a 20 year period. The other two films, The South (1982) and The Quince Tree Sun (1992) are also highly regarded.

Treat yourself to The Spirit of the Beehive. It now ranks among my top ten favorite foreign films.