Movies & Television

oscars.com

This year Oscars show signs of progress. People with disabilities are very much the least represented groups in the film and tv industry. But three films featuring disabilities are up for major nominations. For Best Picture (Sound of Metal),  Actor in a Leading Role (Riz Ahed, Sound of Metal), Actor in a Supporting Role (Paul Raci, Sound of Metal), Documentary (Crip Camp), and Short Film Live Action, (Feeling Through) are all hoping to take home a golden statue in their category. Though they are not yet on dvd, here are the Oscar-winning films in our collection that feature disabilities. 

Renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, who falls deeply in love with fellow Cambridge student Jane Wilde. Once a healthy, active young man, Hawking received the diagnosis of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis at 21 years of age. With Jane fighting tirelessly by his side, Stephen embarks on his most ambitious scientific work, studying the very thing he now has precious little of: time. Eddie Redmayne won for Best Actor. 

Not all broken hearts come from love triangles, shattered promises, or deep secrets from the past. In some books, the broken heart comes from it being stabbed. With a knife. Watch your back (and your front), ladies and gentlemen.

If you love a little bit of murder with a little bit of romance, then the titles below might just be for you.

Everyone says Lord Ian Mackenzie is crazy-and possibly a murderer-but a young widow longing for passion is determined to bare the truth about the dashing and darkly charming Scotsman.

Also available in: e-book | e-audiobook

Korede is bitter. How could she not be? Her sister, Ayoola, is many things: the favorite child, the beautiful one, possibly sociopathic. And now Ayoola's third boyfriend in a row is dead.

Korede's practicality is the sisters' saving grace. She knows the best solutions for cleaning blood, the trunk of her car is big enough for a body, and she keeps Ayoola from posting pictures of her dinner to Instagram when she should be mourning her "missing" boyfriend. Not that she gets any credit.

Korede has long been in love with a kind, handsome doctor at the hospital where she works. She dreams of the day when he will realize that she's exactly what he needs. But when he asks Korede for Ayoola's phone number, she must reckon with what her sister has become and how far she's willing to go to protect her.

"On Monday February 15th, people traveled across the country and stood in a block-long line to pay respects to Cicely Tyson at a public viewing. Tyson was the first Black woman to have a recurring role in a dramatic television series, the 1963 drama 'East Side, West Side.' Her performance as a sharecropper’s wife in the 1972 movie 'Sounder' cemented her stardom and earned her an Oscar nomination. She went on to win two Emmy Awards for playing the 110-year-old former slave in the 1974 television drama 'The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman' and another Emmy 20 years later for 'Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All.'" - Los Angeles Times

Celebrate Tyson's life on screen and in print with these selections from the library. 

Just as I am : a memoir by Cicely Tyson

This list is part of our Best of 2020 series. 

In 1969 Los Angeles, where everything is changing, TV star Rick Dalton and his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth make their way around an industry they hardly recognize anymore.

Available as a Blu-ray/DVD combo

Warner Bros. Pictures presents Oscar nominee Joaquin Phoenix in the title role, alongside Oscar winner Robert De Niro, and the film is directed, produced and co-written by Oscar nominee Todd Phillips. The film centers around the iconic arch nemesis and is an original standalone story not seen before on the big screen. Phillips's exploration of Arthur Fleck, a man disregarded by society, is not only a gritty character study but also a broader cautionary tale.

Available on Blu-ray or DVD

Masterpiece (aka Masterpiece Theatre, Masterpiece Mystery) turns 50 this year. Celebrate with our wide collection of Masterpiece movies and series, located in the TV section, and books throughout Fiction and Nonfiction. Cheers!

The official Downton Abbey cookbook by Annie (Food historian) Gray

In 1963, Apted was a 22-year-old Cambridge law student from southeast England who aspired to be a filmmaker. He found a job as a researcher for a TV documentary called Seven Up! ...The documentary evolved into a pioneering social experiment. Every seven years, the filmmakers checked in with the children as they aged. Over nine episodes, the subjects — originally 14 of them — found careers, experienced heartbreak and success, got married and divorced and in some cases, died. - NPR

You can find all episodes of Apted's "UP" series at the library as well as his other critically-acclaimed films.

Also available in: e-video

The latest installment of ITV's landmark documentary series returns to visit the people whose lives have been followed since they were just seven-years-old. The original '7 Up' was broadcast in 1964 as a one-off World in Action Special featuring children chosen from different backgrounds to talk about their hopes and dreams for the future...Director Michael Apted, who has since moved to Hollywood to direct films including 'The World Is Not Enough' and 'Gorillas in the Mist', has returned every seven years to chart the children's progress through life.

The life of the "Queen of Country Music" from her backwoods Appalachia home to the Grand Ole Opry and super stardom.

The holiday season is upon us and because of the ongoing Covid pandemic it's going to look and feel different for a lot of us. You can still take a little escape or get into the holiday spirit with the viewing of  some classic Christmas film like It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, or A Christmas Carol.

Others may require something more from their holiday fare this year. They might be looking for something that harkens back to when Christmas was a spookier time where people used to share ghost stories around the fire. Or perhaps they're looking for a little supernatural darkness to contrast with the holiday lights. Or maybe they're just in the mood to watch the action filled exploits of brave heroes who are out to insure that there is peace on earth and good will towards men during the holiday season.

If you're one of those people we're here to help with our suggestions for 12 holiday themed or set films in the library's physical or digital collections. In today's installment we'll kick this Yuletide movie party off with bang by recommending six action films

Die Hard (1988)

It wouldn't be a celebration of holiday themed action movies without Die Hard; one of the greatest action movies of all time. This spectacular film is probably already part of many people's holiday season viewing traditions, and if not it should be! It's got incredible action, a charismatic hero, and one of the best on screen villains ever in Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman).

Available via DVD

"Breaking from the James Bond mold, he turned the spy novel into high art as he explored the moral compromises of agents on both sides of the Iron curtain." (New York Times)

From page to screen, check out the library's selection of works by this master of dark, emotional intrigue.

The spy who came in from the cold by 1931- John Le Carré
Tinker, tailor, soldier, spy by 1931- John Le Carré
Also available in: video

With 2020 being the year that it has been, we have probably all dreamed of another time before all this bit of crazy that has invaded our lives. Here are some fun ways to immerse yourself in some different times and different places.

Fun to Read

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Movies & Television