Media Madness

Holiday movies 2007

Happy Holidays everyone!  Holidays mean gift giving and celebrations with family and friends. The holiday season is also the biggest selling time for new DVD releases. This December is no exception.  The library is pleased to have acquired many of these new blockbusters for our patrons.

The holidays can be especially exciting for little children and parents will enjoy having these titles to entertain them:  The Pixar Short Films Collection is thirteen films for all ages delightfully animated by the makers of Monsters, Inc., and Toy Story.  Pixar has been making short films for decades and these originals all illustrate the terrific combination of music and “humanized” objects that led to the full length blockbusters we’ve come to love.  Kids will also enjoy Thomas and Friends’ Ultimate Christmas with nine episodes of seasonal favorites with Thomas, Percy and friends saving the Island of Sodor from the scary Jack Frost.  Your little ones will also enjoy the antics of bunnies Max and Ruby in A Merry Bunny Christmas.  Older children will enjoy their favorite cartoon dog in Chill Out Scooby-Doo!, Barbie’s The Nutcracker, Hannah Montana: Life’s What You Make It,  Backyardigans : the Super Secret, and the Rescuers Down Under.

As always there are plenty of DVDs for adults with action, special effects and adventure galore.  Ocean’s Thirteen and Transformers are just two of the blockbusters hits we have in circulation.  Other action hits are on order and should be available in mid December:  Pirates of the Caribbean – At World’s End, The Bourne Ultimatum, 1408, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and TV series hits, Sopranos Season 6, Parts I and II, Lost: Season 3 and Season Six of 24.  Musicals are also popular again this year and we can sing along with the two disc special edition of Hairspray starring John Travolta and a delightful newcomer Nikki Blonsky. 

Speaking of singing, the holidays bring new compact discs full of holiday cheer.  Henrietta Public Library is pleased to bring you new Christmas CDs by Josh Groban, Noel, Luis Villegas’ Guitarras De Navidad, Mannheim Steamroller’s Christmas Song, and for kids: Yo, it’s Christmas by the Yo-Yo Kids. 

Sharing old movies with your children and teens is the topic of a new book by film critic Ty Burr entitled: The Best Old Movies for Families: a Guide to Watching Together.  Burr has divided the book into chapters on the best films for different age levels, and by genres.  Many of the DVDs suggested are the results taken from actual screenings with the author’s two girls at various ages.  Some movies “clicked” with the girls to the astonishment of the author, i.e. Mutiny on the Bounty, the original with Clark Gable and Charles Laughton.  They were fascinated with Captain Bligh and his biting commands!

Many of the films discussed in this book are here at the Henrietta Public Library in DVD or video.  I checked out a few that I had missed.  The screwball comedy of Bringing Up Baby starring Cary Grant and the beautiful Kate Hepburn was a hilarious romp of spontaneity and fresh dialogue. The chemistry between Grant and Hepburn as they tromp around the Connecticut countryside in search of “Baby” will appeal to adults; kids will love the slapstick of the plot and Baby!  Some of the other comedies of the 1930s, in terrific black and white, include It Happened One Night with Carole Lombard and Clark Gable, Modern Times with Charlie Chaplin, or My Man Godfrey also with Carole Lombard.  The plots of these films are just as madcap if not more so than a Woody Allen or Jack Black flick.

As I write this the snow is falling and the wind is howling, come on in and check out a CD or DVD, cuddle up in a chair and relax!

Happy Holidays again to everyone!!