What I've been watching:

Wallander
These three episodes are from the books by Swedish mystery writer Henning Mankell. They are dark & brooding & do a tremendous job of recreating the novels on screen. Branagh is excellent as Wallander, the scenery stark but beautiful. I highly recommend this DVD.

A Secret
Based on an autobiographical novel, this coming-of-age tale in which a boy learns of his family's fate as a result of the Nazi's occupation of France is a fascinating story. Unforgettable!

Jesse Stone DVD’s: Stone Cold, Night Passage, Death in Paradise, Sea Change and Thin Ice
Theses films are from the books by Robert Parker. Jesse Stone is a flawed hero who says very little but sees a lot. Unlike Parker’s character Spencer, Stone is dark & gloomy, but Paradise, Mass. is in good hands with Jesse Stone in charge.

He’s Just Not That Into You
Cute, lightweight film about the difficulties of communication as a single, young woman in the 21st
century.

New to the library:

12
Set in contemporary Moscow where 12 men must decide the fate of a young man accused of murdering his step-father. Consigned to a makeshift jury room, one by one each man takes center stage to confront, connect, and confess while the accused awaits a verdict and revisits his heartbreaking journey through war in flashbacks.

Education of Charlie Banks
Charlie Banks, a 16-year old who is a socially responsible upper west-sider, witnesses charismatic blue collar sociopath 18-year old Mick Leary brutally beat two unwitting suburban jocks at a high school party. Mick is a west village neighborhood buddy of Charlie's best friend. Soon, Charlie's conscience gets the better of him. Telling only his parents, he reports Mick to the police. Several years later, Charlie is in college and Mick visits the campus for a weekend. The two begin a game of cat and mouse. Nice one moment, and threatening the next, Mick keeps Charlie guessing. But Mick stays longer and begins a strange course of assimilation, donning borrowed cashmere and reading Charlie's books and auditing his classes. Soon Charlie begins to wonder if the intellectual caress of higher education can redeem even someone seemingly as far gone as Mick.

Grey Gardens
This film is based on the life stories Edith "Big Edie" Bouvier Beale and her daughter, Edith "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale who are the eccentric aunt and first cousin of Jackie Onassis. They were raised as Park Avenue débutantes, but withdrew from New York society. They took shelter at their Long Island summer home called 'Grey Gardens.' As their wealth and contact with the outside world dwindled, so did their grasp on reality. They were reintroduced to the world when international tabloids learned of a health department raid on their home. At that point, Jackie swooped in to save her relatives.

I.O.U.S.A.
I.O.U.S.A. tells the story of America in debt. Faced with key deficits in budget, savings, trade and leadership, increased foreign competition and ballooning financial obligations, the federal government is critically overextended. With the economy already in shambles, 78 million baby boomers are now expecting retirement benefits from their indebted federal government. Weaving together archival footage, economic data and candid interviews with Warren Buffett, Alan Greenspan, Paul O'Neill, Robert Rubin, Alice Rivlin and Paul Volcker, along with David Walker of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation and Robert Bixby of the Concord Coalition, the film offers a vivid and alarming profile of America's financial status.

Knowing
In 1959, as part of the dedication ceremony for a new elementary school, a group of students is asked to draw pictures to be stored in a time capsule. One mysterious girl fills her sheet of paper with rows of apparently random numbers instead. Fifty years later, a new generation of students examines the capsule's contents and the girl's cryptic message ends up in the hands of Caleb. But it is Caleb's father, professor John Koestler, who makes the startling discovery that the encoded message predicts with pinpoint accuracy the dates, death tolls and coordinates of every major disaster of the past 50 years. With the reluctant help of the daughter of the now-deceased author of the prophecies, John's increasingly desperate efforts take him on a race against time until he finds himself facing the ultimate disaster and the ultimate sacrifice.

Secrets
While studying at a women's religious seminary in Safed, Naomi and her new friend explore the complexities of a religious lifestyle in a vibrant environment of youth, rebellion, and desire as they befriend a beautiful, mysterious older woman.

Stranded
Survivors of the 1972 plane crash in the Andes Mountains share their stories of the crash and how they lived by turning to cannibalism in the extreme conditions.

Thousand Years of Good Prayers
A Chinese man who travels to America to see his divorced daughter remarry cannot complete his journey when he realizes a generational and geographical divide has developed between them.

Two Lovers
After Leonard moves back into the home he grew up in to mend a broken heart, he meets two women in quick succession. Michelle is a mysterious and beautiful neighbor. Sandra is the lovely and caring daughter of a businessman who is buying out his family's dry-cleaning business. Leonard is forced to make an impossible decision, between desire and the comfort of love, or risk falling back into the same darkness that nearly killed him.

400 Years of the Telescope
This film features interviews with leading astrophysicists and cosmologists from the world's renowned universities and observatories, who explain concepts ranging from Galileo's act of revealing the cosmos with a simple telescope, to the latest discoveries in space, including startling new ideas about life on other planets and dark energy - a mysterious vacuum energy that is accelerating the expansion of the universe

Great White Odyssey
Two world-renowned shark experts pursue a 12-foot great white shark.

Armchair Pilates
Have a seat and learn the routine of stretching, strengthening and breathing that works the arms, legs, and torso to leave you feeling strong, stretched and streamlined, without leaving the chair. This is a gentle workout that can be performed by all ages and ability levels.

Titanic: How it really sank
The sinking of the Titanic was far more than a simple accident. It was a tragedy that could have been prevented. It was the result of a long chain of mistakes, a fatal series of avoidable human errors that sent the Titanic and more than half of her passengers to their watery graves.

Standing with Stones
There are about 1,000 stone circles in the British Isles. If you include other megalithic monuments such as stone rows, long barrows, cairns, cists, standing stones, and others, the number runs to tens of thousands. Yet most people can name only one: Stonehenge. This DVD is a unique travelogue in which presenter Rupert Soskin and director Michael Bott discover the wealth that is Megalithic Britain. More than two years in the making, this broadcast-standard film, written and presented by explorer and naturalist Soskin, takes you from the tip of Cornwall to the Scottish Isles on an unforgettable journey through the landscape of our ancient past.

Visions of Greece
Includes two programs: Visions of Greece, which covers the most famous cities and sites, and Visions of Greece: Off the beaten path, which features rarely visited locales. Also includes nearly an hour of bonus footage not seen on PBS.

World War II: Behind Closed Doors
Joseph Stalin - the supreme leader of the Soviet Union - was a tyrant responsible for the death of millions. He also had some unlikely relationships during the Second World War. This ambitious series uses exclusive evidence gained from the actual conversations and secret meetings Stalin conducted.

New this week:

The Butterfly Tattoo
A chance meeting at an Oxford party leaves seventeen-year-old Chris with hope for a summer romance - and no premonition of trouble. Busy with his job and soon in love, he misses all the signs of danger. Before he knows it, he's caught in the sinister web of a criminal whose desire for revenge crushes those who stand in his way. From the book The White Mercedes by Philip Pullman, this teenage romance thriller should appeal to fans of Twilight.

Confessions of a Shopaholic
‘"Shopaholic" is about a woman searching for happiness in the places that are absolutely right for her: Prada, Gucci, Macy's, Barneys, Saks and on down the avenue.’—Roger Ebert. Isla Fisher is very funny as the shopaholic making for a fun film to watch.

Crossing Over
Crossing Over is a multi-character canvas about immigrants of different nationalities struggling to achieve legal status in Los Angeles. The film deals with the border, document fraud, the asylum and green card process, work-site enforcement, naturalization, the office of counter terrorism and the clash of cultures. Harrison Ford, Ray Liotta and Ashley Judd star.

The International
An Interpol agent attempts to expose a high-profile financial institution's role in an international arms dealing ring. Clive Owen and Naomi Watts star in this slow-burn thriller.

Jesse Stone : Thin Ice
“Perhaps the best Jesse Stone so far, Jesse Stone: Thin Ice expertly creates tension not only from its intricate, multi-layered plot, but also from its tension-grounded characterizations. It's an exciting, suspenseful film trapped inside a melancholic, morbid, emotionally-shaky drama, and that's a neat trick. Selleck is letter-perfect as the troubled, self-destructive Stone; he just keeps getting better and better. These Jesse Stone films are about as good as it gets for made-for-TV films; they stack up with anything you can find in the theatres, and I eagerly await the next installment. I high, highly recommend Jesse Stone: Thin Ice.”—Paul Mavis, www.dvdtalk.com.

Phoebe in Wonderland
The fantastical tale of a little girl who won't - or can't - follow the rules. Confounded by her clashes with the rule-obsessed world around her, Phoebe seeks enlightenment from her unconventional drama teacher, even as her brilliant but anguished mother looks to Phoebe herself for inspiration. “Let (Patricia) Clarkson and (Elle) Fanning take you to the rabbit hole of seductive enchantment that defines this movie. And don't ask what to do — jump.”—Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

The Rape of Europa
The story of Nazi Germany's plundering of Europe's great works of art during World War II and Allied efforts to minimize the damage. “A startling documentary”—Roger Ebert.

Waltz with Bashir
“Waltz with Bashir is a devastating animated film that tries to reconstruct how and why thousands of innocent civilians were massacred because those with the power to stop them took no action.”—Roger Ebert “… Waltz with Bashir, submitted for Oscar consideration by Israel as both foreign-language film and animated feature, is hallucinatory brilliance in the service of understanding the psychic damage of war.”—Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

New to the library on June 10th

August Evening
August Evening follows an aging undocumented farm worker named Jaime and his young, widowed daughter-in-law, Lupe, as their lives are thrown into upheaval. (Spanish)

Gran Torino
Walt Kowalski is a widower who holds onto his prejudices despite the changes in his Michigan neighborhood and the world around him. Walt is a grumpy, tough-minded, unhappy old man, who can't get along with either his kids or his neighbors. He is a Korean War veteran whose prize possession is a 1972 Gran Torino he keeps in mint condition. When his neighbor, Thao, a young Hmong teenager, becomes pressured by his gang member cousin to steal Walt's Gran Torino, Kowalski sets out to reform the youth. Drawn against his will into the life of Thao's family, Walt is soon taking steps to protect them from the gangs that infest their neighborhood. This is a tremendous film with an outstanding performance by Eastwood.

Last of the Mohicans
In 1757, during the French and Indian War, half-sisters Cora and Alice Munro set out to join their father, the British Commander of Fort William Henry. After they are betrayed by Magua, the sisters are rescued by Hawkeye whose efforts to lead them to safety are aided by the noble Mohican Uncas, the last of this tribe. This BBC version is the most faithful to the book by James Fennimore Cooper.

Nobel Son
On the eve of Barkley Michaelson's father receiving the Nobel Prize, Barkley is kidnapped and the requested ransom is the $2,000,000 in Nobel Prize money. When his father refuses to pay it starts a venomous tale of familial dysfunction, lust, betrayal and ultimately revenge.

Reversible Errors
Arthur Raven is a successful corporate lawyer whose world is turned upside-down when he is assigned to draft the final appeal of a potentially innocent inmate as he is nearing his execution date. Based on the book by Scott Turow.

Second in Command
An official has just been appointed as Second in Command to the U.S.Ambassador at an American Embassy in a small, turbulent Eastern European nation. When local insurgents attempt a coup d'etat, the nation's President takes refuge inside the embassy. This is a better than average Jean-Claude Van Damme movie.

Secret
A young boy who has a vivid imagination dreams up a brother for himself and a better past for his family. On his 15th birthday he finds his dreams shattered when he uncovers a shocking secret that ties his family to the Holocaust. (French)

Shampoo (1975)
George is one of L.A.'s most desirable men, a Beverly Hills hairdresser who makes all his female clients look, and feel, better than ever. Encouraged by his girlfriend Jill to open his own salon, George approaches conservative businessman Lester for financing. Unbeknownst to Lester, George is sleeping with his wife, his mistress and his teenage daughter. “Beatty says he approached Towne to do a modern version of the classic restoration comedy called The Country Wife… Here in the updated "Shampoo", Beatty and Towne make the hero an assumed-to-be-gay hairdresser (instead of impotent) and the results are inspired bedroom farce mixed with social satire.”—imdb.com

Taking Chance
This is the remarkable true story of one soldier's death in battle, another soldier's journey of discovery and a nation's reverence and gratitude toward its war dead. After hearing of the heroic death of a young Marine in Iraq, veteran officer Lt. Colonel Michael Strobl volunteers to escort the remains of Lance Corporal Chance Phelps back to his hometown in Wyoming. As Strobl crosses America's heartland, he will find himself on an unexpectedly emotional journey into the soul of a country mourning not only Chance, but all of our country's fallen heroes.

Timecrimes
A man accidentally finds a time machine and travels back in time where he is involved in a mystery filled with murders, terror, and another version of himself. (Spanish)

Wallander
Three new crime dramas based on the best selling books by Henning Mankell - Sidetracked, Firewall, and One Step Behind follow Inspector Kurt Wallander, a disillusioned everyman, as he struggles against a rising tide of violence in southern Sweden.

What I've been watching

Last Chance Harvey
This was a nice albeit lightweight story of two rather sad & lonely people who meet in London, become friends & finally fall in love. I’m a sucker for middle-aged romances & am also an Emma Thompson fan so I found this film to be enjoyable. Plus, I have to admit that Dustin Hoffman has a very cute smile!

Gran Torino
The story is of a miserable old man who comes to terms with his immigrant infiltrated neighborhood. This is a great film! Clint Eastwood’s performance is spectacular! If he never acts in another film this is a tremendous swan song. This one got my vote for best film of last year.

Cape of Good Hope
This South African story of intersecting lives takes place around an animal shelter. I’ve never seen a film with so many likeable characters! I truly enjoyed spending time with them.

The Hitch-Hiker
This is one tough film. Two men on a trip pick up a hitchhiker who happens to be a notorious killer. We, the viewer, suffer the fear, the victimization, along with the men. It is an intense experience. William Talman’s performance is very creepy!

The Lost City
16 years in the making, this film is Andy Garcia’s homage to the Cuba he loved and lost. It depicts the Cuban revolution by looking at the effect on one family, on the music and on the culture of the country. Very romantic with great music!

Shampoo
The 1970’s were a great decade for films & this is one of the comedies that made it great. Warren Beatty plays a hairdresser
hoping to get his own salon who hustles to satisfy: 1) his customers in the salon & at home, 2) the man he hopes to borrow money from, 3) his girlfriend & 4) his ex-girlfriend. Fast-moving & very 70’s.