Emily’s Picks
DVD: Ever After
Maybe my favorite adaptation of Cinderella, this movie has everything you could want from a fairy tale retelling: a great cast (especially Drew Barrymore as a spunky and active heroine), splendid costumes, lots of humor and heart, and of course a sweeping love story!
CD: Greatest Hits: Sound and Vision by Blondie 
This “greatest hits” album lives up to its name by including all ten of the iconic rock band’s US chart-toppers, and several of their UK hits as well. All the best songs from their Parallel Lines album are here, along with classics such as “The Tide is High,” “Call Me,” and “Maria.”
Jessie’s Picks
DVD: Independence Day
“Massive spaceships appear in Earth’s skies and wonder turns to terror as the ships blast destructive beams of fire down on cities all over the planet. The world’s only hope lies with a determined band of survivors.”
Audiobook: Shoot to Thrill 
by P.J. Tracy
“When Minneapolis homicide cops are called to a derelict stretch of the Mississippi River, they see a bride, facedown, dead in the water. But it’s not long before the Monkeewrench Crew discovers a frightening link between the unlucky bride and the latest, most horrific use of the Internet yet.”
John’s Picks
DVD: Non-Stop
Liam Neeson at his best in this intense action thriller! A US Air Marshall must identify the individual threatening to kill a passenger every 20 minutes for ransom. So many twists & turns you’ll be left guessing (probably incorrectly) along with Bill Marks (Neeson).
CD: This Land by Gary Clark Jr.
The winner of the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album. Clark is a master on the guitar, and he’s evolving into a leading figure in the industry with a unique blend of blues and rock.
Kim’s Picks
DVD: War and Peace
Sergei Bondarchuk directs and stars as Pierre in this epic of epics based on Leo Tolstoy’s historical novel that follows several segments of Russian society during Napoleonic times. Stupendous battle scenes depict Austerlitz and Borodino, and the grand balls may only be topped by those in The Leopard
(1965). Tender and life-altering moments for the young and vibrant Natasha contain equal pleasures.
Audiobook: 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari
Harari has written three best-selling books in the past few years, all of which expand the reader’s mind: this, Homo Deus, and Sapiens. In 21 Lessons Harari makes what should be self-evident: put on the back burner the age-old question about the meaning of life. Priority number one must be, “how do we stop suffering?”
Mary’s Picks
DVD: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Fun, action packed adventure based on the video game. With great costumes and sets, this fantasy will keep you entertained all the way through.
CD: La Vie en Rose Original Soundtrack 
This soundtrack to the 2007 Edith Piaf biopic, La Vie en Rose features not only iconic Piaf songs but is also filled out by pieces from the original score that convey the feelings and themes of the film.
Stephanie’s Picks
Libby Audiobook: The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
“A supernatural thriller set in South Carolina in the ’90s about a women’s book club that must protect its suburban community from a mysterious stranger who turns out to be a real monster”
CD: Jaime by Brittany Howard
“Jaime is the name of Brittany Howard’s sister, a sibling who died from a rare cancer when she 
was 13 years old. Howard began reckoning with the enduring ramifications of her loss when she started writing a memoir, an exercise that eventually led to her 2019 solo debut Jaime. Running a tight 35 minutes but containing a lifetime’s worth of drama and insight, Jaime is bracing in its adventure and generosity. Trace elements of Americana can be heard… but Jaime could never be mistaken for an Alabama Shakes album. It’s too funky and too fluid in how it embraces noise, art, and soul… Jaime plays the way memories do: specific facts get lost to a truth that gets larger as years pass, where the familiarity can be reassuring yet melancholy. Howard’s embrace of all the mess of life gives Jaime its sustenance. Her audacity is apparent upon the first listen, but subsequent spins are profound and nourishing.”
All quoted material from catalog.ccls.org.
1950 classic 
rolling. In Nightmare, he played con man Stan Carlisle and Gray his wife who eventually had enough and stood up to him: “Wait a minute, mister. You’re not talking to one of your chumps. You’re talking to your wife. You’re talking to somebody who knows you red, white and blue, and you can’t fool me anymore. There’s only one way I can stop you from doing this thing, and that’s to leave you.”
Although it wasn’t on the same scale or have the same prestige as her earlier movies, The Sleeping City (1950) with Richard Conte was a good crime drama set in a hospital. Once more Gray had the best lines, a monologue: “Blemishes are hid by night and every fault forgiven. The world should live by night. Dark draws people together. They can feel the need for each other. But the world gives the night to the sick, keeps for itself daylight and lets men look into faces filled with fear and hatred. Are you filled with fear and hatred?”
others, Gray can in retrospect be labeled a B-movie queen of the 50s. See: Apache Drums, Copper Sky, Las Vegas Shakedown (“Nothing happens to school teachers.”), Star in the Dust, Destination 60,000, The Vampire, Hell’s Five Hours, 
floozie Jeannie, she confronted Hugh Marlowe: “What do you know about women like me? Do you think I chose this kind of life?”
was the first ever gay play (and subsequently Hollywood film) to reach a mainstream audience. This film explores how the play and film came to be made.
making a baby.
them, Steven goes on another crime spree.
A sweeping and deeply romantic gay love story, based on the final novel by E.M. Forster. Maurice, a young upper-class man in Edwardian England, must come to terms with his homosexuality and his feelings for a schoolmate in a time when such a love is not only unheard of, but illegal. All the cutting social commentary and lush, breathtaking romance of a Jane Austen story, with an LGBT twist for Pride month!
Fun and over-the-top, this installment in the series is part car movie and part heist movie. The characters are what set 
Raymond, and The Office. This lineup of comedic all-stars included Kevin James, Leah Remini, Patton Oswalt, and of course, the late Jerry Stiller who’s eccentric character, Arthur Spooner, added so much to the storyline. Stiller once commented that this role tested him more than any other. No longer competing in the primetime, this series is certainly deserving of a fresh look.
review. It did make money, however, and nowadays is reckoned something of a mini-masterpiece, an opaque or at least translucent piece of moviemaking applauded by master director Fritz Lang (Metropolis, The Big Heat). Film historian Tim Lucas provides sharp commentary that illuminates the shenanigans involving composites (read cyborgs) who Vincent Price contends will become a super race, “but not an evil super race.” Side-note: Price was born on May 27, while two other stars of the film, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, were born on May 27 and May 26, respectively. How deliciously weird is that?
unsung movie soundtrack composer of Hollywood’s Golden Age is Victor Young even though in his time he was reckoned the greatest and most prolific of melody makers. Among his 22 Academy Award-nominated scores include those for My Foolish Heart, Around the World in 80 Days, Samson and Delilah, Shane, East of Eden, The High and the Mighty, and Written on the Wind. The Uninvited (1944) featured Young’s popular and award-nominated tune, “Stella by Starlight.” As this roster demonstrates, he was adept at composing for films in various genres. These movies and more are represented on this CD.
Eugenio Derbez creates a surprisingly likable and almost heartwarming comedic character, his delivery is priceless. This movie is pretty silly, but really made me laugh.
Raw and honest, funny yet uncomfortable to watch at times, Young Adult is the story of a writer of teen literature who returns to her small hometown to relive her glory days and attempt to reclaim her happily married high school sweetheart.
by Clare Mackintosh 
trapped there.
and she played them, or most of them, beautifully, and got good notices, and was liked.”
lines the bloom of poetry and the immediacy of ordinary life.” Terrence Rafferty’s reappraisal of the film for The Criterion Collection praised the actress: “18-year-old Jean Simmons is the loveliest, most heartbreaking Ophelia you’ll ever see.”
Even if he’d been fired, Mitchum’s mantra was always “Baby, I don’t care.” One wonders if his relationship with Simmons was similar to the compatible one he shared with Deborah Kerr with whom as with Simmons he made three films. He always let Kerr have first billing.
and the Lion, Desiree, The Egyptian, and 
publicity shots for her entire career.) The Grass is Greener (1960) was a modern comedy of manners but hardly appealing to a mass audience despite the world-beating cast of Cary Grant, Simmons, Kerr and, if you can believe it, Robert Mitchum.
