Movie Mondays

  • Movie Mondays: Terrifying Television

    Last week’s Movie Mondays column highlighted three recent supernatural thrillers. This week, we’re taking a look at three creepy, sinister TV series to watch under our dark, rainy skies this fall. Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: Supernatural Thrillers

    Looking for a new horror film for Halloween and beyond? Here are three supernatural thrillers that rely on dread, thrills and scares rather than explicit blood and gore. The Conjuring (2013) follows real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), who are called to examine the strange goings-on in an old farmhouse bought… Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: Hispanic Heritage Month

    September 15 – October 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month. To celebrate, here are some notable Hispanic DVDs released this year. Bless Me, Ultima (2013) is a film adaptation of the classic and controversial young adult novel by Rudolfo Anaya set in New Mexico during World War II. Antonio (Luke Ganalon) is a boy who… Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: Criterion classics

    The Criterion Collection has been bringing films – classic and contemporary – from all genres to audiences since 1984. This year’s releases feature some prescient science fiction, sumptuous dramas, screwball comedies, and some of the best European and Asian cinema. Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: the hoopla about hoopla

    hoopla is the Library’s newest streaming video and music service. The video collection contains an eclectic mix of more than 3,000 films and television shows, from classics to the occasional new release. You can check out 20 videos per month, for 72 hours each, and watch videos on your computer, tablet or smartphone. Best of all,… Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: At Sea

    Jen’s recent post on nautical fiction got me thinking of films set at sea. Not swashbucklers like Master and Commander and Pirates of the Caribbean, or blockbusters like Titanic and Jaws, but more modest tales that take place on the water. Kon-Tiki (2012) tells the true story of  Thor Heyerdahl’s successful crossing of the Pacific. In 1947, Heyerdahl (Pål Sverre… Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: Seattle loves BBC!

    This week’s Movie Monday column is switching things up to discuss TV again, specifically BBC. It’s no secret that Seattleites love all things BBC, and Seattle posted the highest ratings in the country for the season 3 premiere of Downton Abbey. Two other programs – Call the Midwife and Bletchley Circle – have been popular enough that… Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: Workplace Comedies for Labor Day

    The last thing most people want to think about on Labor Day is work. Fortunately, the workplace has been the setting for some of Hollywood’s funniest and most incisive comedies. Here are four funny films that take place at work. 9 to 5 (1980) follows three secretaries – Judy Bernly (Jane Fonda), Violet Newstead (Lily Tomlin) and Doralee… Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: Graduation Day

    Graduation is a major rite of passage whether it be from high school or college. These films capture the momentous occasion and the sometimes confusing, anticlimatic aftermath of such life transitions. Dazed and Confused (1993): Richard Linklater’s cult classic film follows a group of high school students on the last day of school as they… Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: Gritty Brits

    As Sinéad O’Connor sang in the ’90s, “England’s not the mythical land of Madame George and roses,” but the seductive pull of Downton Abbey and its celebration of wealth and landed gentry may have given us rose-colored glasses about merry old England. These films remind us that the United Kingdom is diverse, gritty and much more interesting than… Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: Scandals on Screen

    Scandals fascinate us. The characters are fearless and their actions are audacious; best of all, you can’t wait for them to get their comeuppance. Here are three classic films that deftly deal with some of the most complex and notorious scandals of the twentieth century. Robert Redford’s Quiz Show (1994) looks at one of the biggest… Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: Love it or Hate it?

    Have you ever read a movie review or had a conversation with a friend and wonder afterwards: “how could they like that movie?” Or, “I love that movie; how can they hate it?” Here are a half dozen examples of films that have polarized film critics and audiences through the years. Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: Movies for Summer Nights

    As we head into the dog days of summer, two new films – The Kings of Summer and The Way Way Back – celebrate how the season often plays a significant role in the movies. Here are a half dozen films that take place in summer – the sweet, the silly and the steamy. Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: Chewing the scenery

    “Chewing the scenery,” an American phrase coined in the late 19th century, refers to dramatic, theatrical overacting. Watching performers chew the scenery can be excruciating, except when it’s an excellent actor or actress working with top-notch material – then it’s fun. Here are four films – two with dysfunctional workplaces, two with disintegrating marriages – that feature actors at the… Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: Looking for a new TV series?

    Today’s Movie Monday column is focusing on television. Why? Because many people regard the past ten years as a new Golden Age of television. From Six Feet Under and The Sopranos, through The Wire and to Breaking Bad and Mad Men, both critics and the public see the writing contemporary on cable TV programs as… Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: Cinema with Style

    There are some movies that stay with me because of the way they look. While there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the performers, directors or screenwriters in the following films, it’s the details — cinematography, color, costume design — that contribute to the unforgettable style of each of the these three films. The opening credits for Drive (2011) are written in… Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: Coming-of-age films with an edge

    I recently saw Mud (2013) – easily one of the best movies of the year, so far – and was struck by its multiple layers. It’s a thriller that stars Matthew McConaughey in the title role as a fugitive living on a remote island, hiding from bounty hunters and pining for the love of his life,… Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: Where to go after SIFF!?

    Alas, the 2013 Seattle International Film Festival has come to an end, so where will you track down more great movies this summer? The Seattle Public Library, that’s where! Few of this year’s films are yet available, but SPL does have some from last year’s Golden Space Needle Award Winners. Three that I recently enjoyed… Continue reading