Blog Posts by Subject: Film

In the month of December, many great DVD movies are coming to the Library. Reserve titles now using the Library's new Catalog.

While browsing the shelves to see if we had recent Korean Dramas, I chanced upon City Hunter. This drama is definitely one of my top 10 dramas because 1) It is an action drama 2) The dad is so evil and sexy and I love great villains but most importantly is reason number 3) Lee Min Ho is the star of the show.

Before the craze of Psy's "Gangnam Style", the Korean Wave had already overwhelmed the masses and continues to spread throughout the world today. The Wave does not only include famous, catchy Korean Pop songs but also great dramas and movies that rival any Spanish soap opera I've ever watched.

I'm sure you've heard of blockbuster movies, but have you read a blockbuster book? According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary online, a blockbuster is one that is notably expensive, effective, successful, large or extravagant. For example, the Harry Potter series of books and movies were blockbusters. Other blockbusters from the past include The Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer and The Lightning Thief and other Percy Jackson and the Olympians books by Rick Riordan.

It's the spookiest time of the year, when a young man's thoughts turn to scares and gore, children beg for scraps ... 'scuse me, I mean trick-or-treat, and people everywhere unleash their inner demons. In a good way, we hope! Here's a spotlight on cool apps for all ages to enhance your Halloween fun. There are iOS and Android apps to be found here, most of the them free and all of them good fun.

In the month of November, many great DVD movies are coming to the Library. Reserve titles now using the Library's new Catalog.

In the month of October, many great DVD movies are coming to the Library. Reserve titles now using the Library's new Catalog. 

In the month of September, many great DVD movies are coming to the Library. Reserve titles now using the Library's new Catalog. 

September is a super-powered month that sees the release of this summer's biggest hit movie, The Avengers. If you're looking for a laugh, we've got you covered, with releases of The Five-Year Engagement, What to Expect When You're Expecting and Beverly Hills Chihuahua 3. September also has many TV releases such as Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock, The Office, and many more! Get a jump start ahead of the rest, and reserve these plus many more September DVD releases now!

In the month of August, many great DVD movies are coming to the Library. Reserve titles now using the Library's new Catalog. Highlights include box office hits The Hunger Games and Think Like a Man.

If you're looking for laughs, check out The Dictator, Bernie, The Five-Year Engagement Plan, and Community: Season 3. The Lorax, based on Dr. Seuss' classic book sees a DVD release in August. If you don't want to wait on the list, the Dongan Hills Branch of the NYPL will be screening The Lorax on Friday, August 10th, complete with free popcorn and prizes! Get a jump start ahead of the rest, and reserve these plus many more 

Motivated New Yorkers who want to start a career in TV and film production, but have never had the opportunity, now have a proven way to get into the business.

The "Made in NY" Production Assistant Training Program is a collaboration between Brooklyn Workforce Innovations and the New York City Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting. BWI's mission is to give unemployed and low-income New Yorkers the chance to work on New York sets and build careers in this dynamic field.

Post-WWII London, by the mid-to-late 1960s, was reimagining, rebuilding and rearranging. Its economy was strong, and nearly 30% of its population was aged 15-34. With these factors in play, and with that undefinable "something" that brings creativity and zest to a location for however brief a time, London emerged as the style capital of the world, its youth culture arising from the heady influences of new music and street fashion.

In the months of June and July, we have been seeing many great DVD movies coming to the Library. Reserve titles now using the Library's new Catalog. Highlights include big comedy releases American Reunion, Casa de Mi Padre, The Three Stooges, Project X, Jeff Who Lives at Home, Wanderlust and 21 Jump Street. June and July also offers some great family films, such as Mirror Mirror, A Thousand Words and John Carter. If you want to catch up with some critically acclaimed Television shows, the Library's got you covered, with releases of Louie, and Breaking Bad's latest seasons. Get a 

Pretend you’re just outside Tompkins Square Park. Enter the park on Avenue A, at 8th Street. Take the windy path through the park towards Avenue B. Okay, now sniff. What do you smell?

You smell dogs.

The Way it Is or Eurydice in the Avenues opens early morning summer in the Park. Three feckless dog walkers stand over the dead body of a girl in a polka-dot dress. Who else is going to find a dead body in Tompkins Square Park? Okay, drug-addicts, probably, but still. Dog walkers. Brilliant.

In February of each year, we all wait with bated breath to discover the winners of the Academy Awards. But February isn’t the only time to turn our thoughts to all things movies.

Judging from the teasers, Batman: The Dark Knight Rises promises to be another must-see summer movie, not least for the anticipation of Anne Hathaway's being cast as Catwoman. Anne has some impressive spandex to fill, however, against such feline luminaries as Julie Newmar, Eartha Kitt, and and Michelle Pfeiffer, each with her own brand of Gotham catitude. Check out our treasury of vintage images of Catwomen from NYPL's Billy Rose Theatre Division and then take a sec and scratch your vote for the most purrfect Catwoman.

Have you ever been so excited when you found out one of your favorite books was to be made into a movie only to be highly disappointed or even disgusted by the movie? You would leave the theater or turn off your DVD player wondering, “What in the world were they thinking?"

Permanent Vacation opens with a moving crowd of New Yorkers, still dressed '70s groovy. It might be a camera trick, but no one appears to be rushing. The music is slow, diffuse horn and bells. We meet 16-year-old Aloysious Christopher Parker, already dressed '80s rockabilly cool. His body is like a marionette's — all long limbs and loose joints. His voice is like an oboe, and his delivery is like slow air out of a tire. He dances to Earl Bostic's Up There in Orbit, on a toy phonograph, on the floor, in a narrow Lower East Side tenement room painted thickly yellow-white.

Don't Shhhh me!.... NOT this time.

We are about to conclude the second season of our Lower East Side Heritage Film Series and for the closer we are ALL TALK.

My favorite stories are the ones about the ordinary people who, while going about their daily lives, encounter strange and/or inexplicable events. How they behave in the midst of weirdness is more interesting than the phenomenon itself. I've always been a sucker for a well-told vampire tale. (Sorry!) Or an off-center ghost story or strange-baby story... Here, in no particular order, are a few of my favorite, wonderfully odd movies.