New Releases - Week of 1/17/12

New to Our Shelves This Week:

The Ides of March
George Clooney directs and stars in this political drama about a presidential hopeful and his campaign team. Ryan Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei, and Paul Giamatti also star.

Abduction
Twilight's werewolf goes action hero while trying to figure out his true identity.

Toast
Food plays a pivotal role in nine-year-old Nigel Slater's life, in this late-60s-set British film.

Thurgood
Laurence Fishburne's one-man show about the country's first African-American Supreme Court Justice.

Special Treatment
A prostitute and a psychiatrist discover they have more in common, personally and professionally, than they realized. Isabelle Huppert (The Piano Teacher; I Heart Huckabees; The Story of Women) stars.

Mysteries of Lisbon
Raul Ruiz's final film is an adaptation of a 19th century Portugese novel. Read Margot Harrison's enticing review of it here.

Caterpillar
The limits of a severely injured soldier's wife's devotion are put to the test in this Japanese drama.

Dirty Girl
An 80s-set coming-of-age flick starring Juno Temple, Jeremy Dozier, Milla Jovovich, and William H. Macy.

Killing Bono
Two young Irish bands. One becomes U2. The other one... doesn't.

Age of Heroes
Based on the British 30 Commando unit (the precursor to the SAS), this WWII actioner stars Sean Bean and James D'Arcy.

Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star
Yep.

Kevin Hart: Laugh at My Pain

Eat This New York
Documentary following two aspiring restaurateurs.

The Forgotten Bomb
An examination of both the history as well as the current state of nuclear weaponry.

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New Releases - Week of 1/10/12

New to our shelves this week:

Moneyball
Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing; The Social Network) and Steve Zaillian (Searching for Bobby Fischer; Schindler's List) adapt Michael Lewis's best-selling book about Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland A's, and his shift towards a statistic-based, sabermetric approach to baseball. Directed by Bennett Miller (Capote; The Cruise) and starring Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Chris Pratt, and Robin Wright.

Higher Ground
The directorial debut of Vera Farmiga (The Departed; Up in the Air) follows the journey of a young woman in the 70s who finds faith and community in a pentecostal sect, but soon comes to question her beliefs and path.

Killer Elite
Jason Statham, Clive Owen, and Robert DeNiro star in a remake of Sam Peckinpah's 1975 action thriller.

There Be Dragons
Don't be misled: there are no actual dragons in this drama about a journalist investigating one of his father's former comrades in the Spanish Civil War who is now being vetted for sainthood. Directed by Roland Joffé (The Killing Fields; The Mission).

What's Your Number?
Anna Faris is the lead in this rom-com about exes.

The Man From London
Lauded Russian directed Bela Tarr adapts Georges Simenon's novel. Tilda Swinton stars.

Film Socialisme
Godard.

An Idiot Abroad
Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant send titular idiot Karl Pilkington around the world.



Boardwalk Empire - 1st Season
Another superlative series from HBO. Steve Buscemi stars as "Nucky" Thompson, Treasurer of Atlantic City, equal parts politician and gangster, who is forced to contend with new Prohibition laws as well as the accompanying rise of organized crime. Also stars Kelly Macdonald, Michael Pitt, Michael Shannon, and Michael Stuhlbarg.

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New Releases - Week of 1/3/12

New to Our Shelves This Week:

Contagion
Steven Soderbergh's tensely structured viral-infection thriller will leave you wary of subways and beernuts, but don't let that stop you from checking out the film! A great cast includes Kate Winslet, Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Laurence Fishburne, John Hawkes, Bryan Cranston, and Jude Law.


The Guard
A sharp, profane comedy written and directed by John Michael McDonagh (brother of playwright/filmmaker Martin McDonagh). Stars Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle.


Mildred Pierce
Kate Winslet takes on the titular role first made famous by Joan Crawford in 1945, in this five-part HBO mini-series helmed by Todd Haynes (Far From Home; I'm Not There) and also featuring Guy Pearce, Melissa Leo, James LeGros, and Brian F. O'Bryne.

Puncture
A lawyer takes on the medical supplies cartel. Read Margot Harrison's review of it here.

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark
Katie Holmes and Guy Pearce headline this remake of the 1973 fright flick.

I Don't Know How She Does It
Or Why.

Shark Night
Don't know about you, but my interest in this one would increase dramatically if it was called Shark Knight.

Justified - 2nd Season

Talking Heads: Chronology
A new compilation of previously-unreleased early footage (from 1975 to 1983 - plus a song from their 2002 induction into the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame) that shows the progression and development of the band. In the words of David Byrne:

"This was very much a live band—at least until the late 80s. The initial recordings emerged out of what we played live, what worked in that context and how we refined our skills playing together. For a lot of musicians in the digital era this is not always the case. These days, the record often comes first and then how it is staged comes later. ... With each iteration of Chronology, you can pretty plainly see what came before as well as a hint of what was to come—all easy to spot in retrospect, of course. There are some fashion don’ts as well as some prescient looks—but what you really get is a sense of how tight this band was. Of course, there is more footage to be found from these sources but I thought to myself, “How many versions of the same songs can one view?” I think the sampler approach gives the viewer a sense of the musical and performative changes we were going through, but without the possibly tedious repetition."

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