Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Tomorrow Never Dies  is one of my favorite James Bond films, with plenty of suspense to keep you on the edge of your seat.  Media tycoon Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce) has positioned his satellites to provoke a war between Great Britain and China– and his media empire is primed to reap huge financial rewards by [...]

Read Full Post »

Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)

I was sad to hear that the legendary movie producer/director John Hughes passed away last month. He was most famous for his teen movies of the 1980s, including The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, but his best comic movie by far is Planes, Trains and Automobiles. It is the travel misadventure movie of [...]

Read Full Post »

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

Anyone who enjoys a good sci-fi flick won’t want to miss this classic from the Fifties.  It has a great story about flying saucers, a giant robot and a beautiful woman (what more could you want?).  But it has lots of other stellar qualities that raise it well above the campy outer-space movies that [...]

Read Full Post »

Tell No One, by Harlan Coben

Today, we hear from Circulation Services staffer Mandy Malone, who offers us thrills and chills for the summer.
I was familiar with the suspense thrillers of author Harlan Coben through my work at the library, but it wasn’t until I saw French director Guillaume Canet’s adaptation of Coben’s 2001 novel Tell No One that I decided [...]

Read Full Post »

Valkyrie (2008)

This movie is about the most extensive plot to assassinate Adolph Hitler, the one that came the closest to actually killing him. Since most people will actually know what resulted from such a famous historical event, a movie like this needs to show us what it was like for the conspirators to make it worth our while [...]

Read Full Post »

The Librarian: Quest for the Spear (2005)

It was bound to happen sooner or later. A blog sponsored by a public library would eventually have to have a review of the movie The Librarian: Quest For the Spear. I may be putting my professional credibility on the line, but I have seen this movie several times and never fail to laugh at [...]

Read Full Post »

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

I recently saw the new Star Trek movie and I liked how the new set of actors emulate the original cast of Star Trek. It’s a throwback to the old days, as it attempts to tell how James T. Kirk and the other crew members got their start. It’s a bonus to have Leonard Nimoy [...]

Read Full Post »

The Great Debaters (2007)

This inspiring movie is based on the true story of Melvin B. Tolson, a professor at historically black Wiley College in Texas, who, in 1935, at the height of the Jim Crow era, started the school’s first debate team.
Tolson, played by Denzel Washington (who also directed), recruits four students, including the future civil rights leader James L. Farmer Jr.  He drills them [...]

Read Full Post »

Inside Man (2006)

In this thriller from director Spike Lee, a well-organized group of thugs led by Dalton Russell (Clive Owen) robs a bank in New York City. They don’t seem to be in a hurry to leave, and they release smoke canisters, which is sure to attract attention. The police soon arrive, led by Detective Keith Frazier [...]

Read Full Post »

Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

I’m a big fan of Peter Sellers, but only recently discovered this movie on one of the classic movie channels. I was instantly hooked on this great dark comedy of the Cold War era. The plot is set in motion when an insane U.S. general instigates war with the Soviet Union by sending a wing [...]

Read Full Post »