DVDs out on Tuesday August 4th...

"Adult Beginners" - one moment Jake (Nick Kroll, TV's "Parks and Recreation") is starting up a major financial venture - the next he is taking care of his pregnant sister and her family in suburbia! - also starring Rose Byrne, Joel McHale and Bobby Cannavale

"Child 44" - in the former Soviet Union, it is close to impossible to hunt down a serial killer of children when the nation denies the attrocity's existence within its borders - based on the novel by Tom Rob Smith and starring Tom Hardy ("Locke"), Gary Oldman and Noomi Rapace ("The Drop")

"Far From the Madding Crowd" - this time it is Carey Mulligan as Thomas Hardy's unforgettable heroine Bathsheba Everdene, weighing the romantic overtures of three different men - also starring Matthias Schoenaerts ("Suite Francaise") and Michael Sheen ("Admission") - note: Bathsheba's last name inspired the "Everdeen" surname used in Suzanne Collins' "Hunger Games" series

"Insurgent" (Divergent Series) - in a world of factions both within and without, Tris Prior (Shailene Woodley) must battle enemies inside and outside herself in order to save her loved ones - based on the best seller by Veronica Roth with an ail-star supporting cast including Kate Winslet, Octavia Spencer, Zoe Kravitz, Tony Goldwyn, Ashley Judd and Naomi Watts

"Into the Grizzly Maze" - what is the worst that can happen when two brothers reunite in Alaska? Try a relentless bear! - stars James Marsden, Billy Bob Thornton and Piper Perabo (TV's "Covert Affairs")

"Madame Bovary" - what can a small-town doctor's wife do to get into high society? When you're Gustave Flaubert's Emma, anything is possible! - stars Mia Wasikowska ("The Double"), Rhys Ifans ("Serena"), Paul Giamatti and Laura Carmichael (TV's "Downton Abbey") - note: Miss Wasikowska joins a distinguished list of actresses who have portrayed Emma Bovary in films and television including Pola Negri, Jennifer Jones, Nyree Dawn Porter, Francesca Annis, Isabelle Huppert and Frances O'Connor

"Orphan Black: Season Three" - from BBC America - Tatiana Maslany stars as Sarah Manning, street hustler assuming the identity of a suicide victim who looks like her only to find they are clones! Why? Sarah must find that out before an assassin picks her off.

"Ride" - Oscar winner Helen Hunt stars in and wrote the screenplay to this saga of a mother traveling cross-country to California where her son is dropping out of college to become a surfer- also starring Luke Wilson and Brenton Thwaites ("The Giver")

"True Story" - Michael (Jonah HIll) is a disgraced former New York Times writer who learns that captured murderer Christian (James Franco) was apprehended using his name - more than restoring a reputation is at stake in trying to get at the reason why - also starring Felicity Jones ("The Theory of Everything") and Gretchen Mol (TV's "Boardwalk Empire")

"The White Storm" - from China - the last time these narcotics officers faced Southeast Asia's biggest drug lord, a lifelong friend was murdered - will it be at a cost again?

"A La Mala" - from Mexico - budding actress Maria Laura suddenly finds a new profession as a professional flirt testing the faithfulness of fiancées - but what happens when she falls for her latest target?

"The Affair: Season One" - from Showtime - lives and perspectives intertwine in Montauk as a schoolteacher dependent on a wealthy father-in-law meets a waitress fighting back from tragedy - Golden Globe Winner for Best TV Drama and Best Actress in a TV Drama (Ruth Wilson) - also starring Dominic West ("Pride") and Maura Tierney (TV's "The Good Wife")

The Man Booker Prize Long List Released...!

These are just a few of the titles nominated for the 

2015 Man Booker Long List.

Click here to read more about these books!

Other titles are: 

    

The short list will be announced on Tuesday, September 13th.

I can't wait!

DVDs out on Tuesday, July 28th...

In no particular order...

"Camp X-Ray" - that is the military nickname for Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, and it is to the controversial detention center that new soldier Cole (Kristin Stewart) is assigned instead of in Iraq

"The Crimson Field: Season One" - from the BBC as seen on PBS - Oona Chaplin ("The Longest Ride") leads the cast in this saga based on true events of a hospital in northern France during the first World War

"Cut Bank" - this is the town in Montana that Dwayne (Liam Hemsworth) wants out of at all costs - when he films a murder, Dwayne thinks it is his escape ticket - NOT SO FAST! - all-star supporting cast includes Bruce Dern, John Malkovich, Oliver Platt, Billy Bob Thornton and Teresa Palmer ("Warm Bodies")

"Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem" - from Israel - more to the point, it is the structure of divorce in that nation which is on trial - winner of seven Israeli FIlm Academy Awards including Best Film

"House of Cards: The Complete Third Season" - from Netflix - never a dull moment with the Underwoods - Frank is now President, and Claire is Ambassador to the United Nations - with all this pressure, something's gotta give! - winner of seven Primetime Emmy Awards and starring Kevin Spacey (Golden Globe Winner, Best Actor in a Drama) and Robin Wright

"The Lazarus Effect" - medical researchers have finally discovered how to bring the dead back to life- what they don't count on is what the once dead bring back with them! - stars Mark Duplass (TV's "The Mindy Project") and Olivia Wilde ("Better Living Through Chemistry")

"Masterpiece: Poldark: Season One" - as seen on PBS (after a near four-decade absence) - they thought Ross died in the American Revolutionary War - the woman he loves is engaged to his cousin, and Ross' s father is dead - now Ross Poldark is back in Cornwall, and the neighborhood will never be the same - based on the novels by Winston Graham and starring Aidan Turner ("The Hobbit" movie series) and Eleanor Tomlinson ("Jack the Giant Slayer")



"Danny Collins" - inspired by true events - an aging rocker (Al Pacino) is moved to change his professional and personal life when his manager (Christopher Plummer) finds a letter written forty years ago by John Lennon - also starring Annette Bening, Jennifer Garner, Bobby Canavale and Nick Offerman (TV's "Parks and Recreation")

"The Gunman" - years ago mercenary sniper Terrier (Sean Penn) killed a high Congolese official - now after years in hiding, Terrier is back in The Congo to find he's an assassin's target! - also starring Javier Bardem, Mark Rylance and Idris Elba ("Thor: The Dark World")

"The Water Diviner" - it is 1915 and Australian farmer Joshua Connor (Russell Crowe) is in Turkey searching for his three sons who all fought in the Battle of Galipoli - an Istanbul hotel owner (Olga Kurylenko, "The November Man") may hold the key to that mystery

"Aftermath" - the dark gangster comedy which proves conclusively that NO ONE has it all! - stars Anthony Michael Hall, Elisabeth Rohm (TV's "Law and Order"), Tony Danza and the final movie appearance of Chris Penn

Happy Sunday...

Going to see "Southpaw" and need some more Jake Gyllenhaal in your life...?

Well we certainly have plenty of his movies to get you over the hump until his next movie shows up!

The movies in our collection are featured below 

but if you STILL need more, 

check out this interview from the Huffington Post.

  

  

   

We also have: "The Good Girl", "Love and Other Drugs" and "October Sky".

E.L. Doctorow...

E. L. Doctorow, the Bronx-born writer whose vivid novels were mostly set in and around New York City encompassing 150 years of American history died July 21 in Manhattan at age 84. 

Doctorow rocketed to national fame in 1975 with "Ragtime," an intoxicating portrayal of America as it moved into the twentieth century. Six years later came a movie version of "Ragtime" highlighted by the last theatrical film appearance of screen legend James Cagney. A 20-year old Eilzabeth McGovern snagged an Oscar nomination for her portrayal in that film of the notorious professional beauty Eleanor Nesbitt. Today, Miss McGovern has won new renown as Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham on the TV series "Downton Abbey."

But back to Edgar Lawrence Doctorow, given his first name in tribute to Edgar Allan Poe. Doctorow's childhood in the 1930s is weaved into the narrative of his 1985 work "World's Fair."

His first foray into literature came working for Columbia Pictures as a script reader and summarizer of novels for possible adaptation into cinema. Such experiences inspired his first novel,  "Welcome to Hard Times," a Western parody published in 1960.

Throughout the Sixties while developing his own style Doctorow labored as a book editor to various literary giants. At New American Library he dealt with Ayn Rand and Ian Fleming. As editor in chief at Dial Press, Doctorow would influence the publications of such names as James Baldwin, Norman Mailer and William Kennedy.

During his lifetime Doctorow would teach creative writing at New York University, Yale University Drama School, Princeton University, Sarah Lawrence College and the University of California at Irvine. Among the honors he would receive were the National Humanities Medal, the National Book Critics Circle Award and both a competitive and honorary National Book Award. Doctorow's output in later years included frequent essays found in The Nation magazine.

Merrick Library is proud to include in its Book collection the following works of E.L. Doctorow:

All the Time in the World: New and Selected Stories

Andrew's Brain

Billy Bathgate (1930s New York)

The Book of Daniel (Cold War era)

City of God

Creationists: Selected Essays

Homer and Langley

Lives of the Poets: Six Stories and a Novella

The March (Civil War; also on CD at Merrick Library)

Sweet Land Stories

The Waterworks

World's Fair

More DVDs out this week...!

"The Nun" - from France - travel back to 1760 when an illegitimate girl could be sent to a convent to "pay for her mother's sins" (and/or when the family could not afford her) - witness Suzanne's reaction to the cruelty she receives behind cloistered walls - stars Pauline Etienne (winner, Magritte (Belgium) Award for Best Actress) and Isabelle Huppert ("Amour")

 

"Still Life: A Three Pines Mystery" - from Canada - a popular murder victim in a peaceful town not without its dark secrets - those are just some of the obstacles Inspector Armand Gamache (Nathaniel Parker) and his crew must encounter on their way to a solution - based on the novel by Louise Penny

"The Way He Looks" - from Brazil - Leonardo is an independent blind teenager aiming to become an exchange student - a new arrival at school might however change his plans!

Lisbeth Salander is coming back this September...!

Lisbeth Salander is back: 

first plot details of 

The Girl in the Spider's Web 

released!  

The sequel to Stieg Larsson’s best-selling Millennium Trilogy, 

written by David Lagercrantz, 

will see the super hacker 

taking on the 

US National Security Agency.

Click here to read the Guardian UK piece regarding 

this thriller coming out 

September of 2015.

Movie lovers...!

There are forty (40!) movies coming out this year based on books!  

Of course we'll have them as soon as they hit DVD status 

but in the meantime, check out these titles

before you see the movie!

We've got 'em and a few are shown below...

Click here to read this great link from popsugar.com