DVD extravaganza!

If you use our wonderful media collection here at HBPL, you know that we have some movies on VHS and others on DVD. In the past year we have stopped buying VHS media and so the DVD collection is growing. But what about those great movies that came out before DVD’s became so popular?? Well never fear!! We are at the end of our budgeting year and since we had some funds available, we have gone back, checked for the most popular titles that we only had on VHS and purchased new DVD copies of these films.
How long has it been since you have seen these wonderful titles:
12 Monkeys ; 84 Charing Cross Rd; Amadeus; Babette’s Feast; Fisher King; French Kiss; Glory; Ladyhawke; My Left Foot; Muriel's Wedding; Out of Africa; Passage to India; Princess Bride; Restoration; Roxanne; Searching for Bobby Fisher; Sophie's Choice; Swimming With Sharks; This is Spinal Tap; Twelve Chairs; Usual Suspects or When Harry Met Sally.
These are just a selection of films that we have recently been able to add on DVD. Did we get a copy of your favorite film?? When next you are at HBPL, you might want to head for the Media collection and check out the list of the great titles that are now available on DVD!

TIFF and AFI

As some of you probably know, the Toronto International Film Festival just closed last weekend. It ran from September 6th to September 15th this year and the top prize (the prestigious Audience Award) was taken by David Cronenberg’s “Eastern Promises” starring Viggo Mortensen. Fortunately, film fans won’t have to wait long to see the prize winner as it opened last Friday in limited release at the Arclight Cinemas in Hollywood. That means it will be coming to a Cineplex near you in the near future. The runner up for the Audience Award was Jason Reitman's teen-pregnancy comedy "Juno", followed by "Body of War", an Iraq War documentary directed by Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro. The big buzz films of the festival were Joe Wright's British drama "Atonement", the Coen brothers' western "No Country for Old Men", Sean Penn's fact-based drama "Into the Wild", Ang Lee's tale of espionage in 1940s Shanghai, "Lust, Caution" (which won the top prize at the Venice Film Festival last week, alongside its Toronto premiere) and the comedy "Bill",starring Aaron Eckhart and Jessica Alba. I am waiting to hear from some friends who were there to let me know the titles they particularly enjoyed and will pass it on when I hear.
In the mean time, if you feel like making the trek up to Hollywood, the American Film Institute is celebrating its 40th anniversary by simultaneously screening 11 classic films, each with a live introduction by a star or filmmaker. Among the presenters will be Jack Nicholson for "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," Julie Andrews for "The Sound of Music," Clint Eastwood for "Unforgiven" and George Lucas for "Star Wars”. The screenings are on October 3rd at the Arclight Cinemas in Hollywood (see the AFI website http://www.afi.com/ for ticket information).