Looking for something special to watch Memorial Day weekend? It's the right time to catch Clink Eastwood's recent Flags of Our Fathers or one of these other classic WWII films--my personal top ten (in abc order): Das Boot, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Casablanca, From Here to Eternity, The Great Escape, The Longest Day, Patton, Saving Private Ryan, The Train, Tora, Tora, Tora!. Which titles would make your top ten list?

Duke

Saddle up, pardner and celebrate the original dudester's 100th birthday this Saturday, May 26th. John Wayne started in movies in 1926 and starred in some of the best American movies ever made, especially when the Duke teamed up with John Ford. Don't miss The Searchers, Red River and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. Your favorite?

Part secret agent, part talent scout - Chuck Barris has lived a life most of us only dream about. Host of The Newlywed Game, The Dating Game, and The Gong Show, and a one-hit wonder with the 1962 hit "Palisades Park," Barris also wrote Confessions of a Dangerous Mind: The Unauthorized Autobiography, ("a remarkably well-crafted and entertaining book" Publishers Weekly) which includes a dubious "confession" of his double life as a decorated CIA assassin. (The book was later made into the 2003 film directed by George Clooney). Barris' most recent effort is the novel The Big Question.) Bang a gong with one of the more inventive minds of the television era next Tuesday, May 22, at 7:00 p.m. in the Downtown Multi-Purpose Room.

Away from Her, a film by twenty-something, first-time director Sarah Polley is based on the story The Bear Came Over the Mountain in Alice Munro’s Carried Away : A Selection of Stories. Starring Julie Christie as Fiona, a woman whose Alzheimer’s disease devastates a long-standing marriage, it is a film not to be missed.

Jindabyne, starring Laura Linney and Gabriel Byrne as a married couple, is based on Raymond Carver’s short story So Much Water So Close to Home, found in his Short Cuts: Selected Stories. This Carver classic opens with the discovery of a dead body on the river by a group of sport fishermen and the effects of one questionable decision made on their families and the Jindabyne community. This Australian import was filmed around New South Wales.

Both films open nationally early May. Check your local listings.

Former Ann Arborite and U-M creative writing teacher Charles Baxter has a short novel coming out next year, “Soul Thief,” about a person who slips into someone else’s personality. And a film based on Baxter’s novel The Feast of Love is due to be released in September, according to StarTribune.com. The article says Baxter, who lives in Minneapolis, is turning 60 next week. Happy birthday!

Among the most popular foreign titles recently purchased by the Library are three Hindi language films, Baabul (not to be confused with Babel), Don, and Khosla Ka Ghosla; and the Spanish hit Volver. Currently on order--and also on demand--are: The Aura (Spanish) and The Petit Lieutenant (French).

To find other foreign language films in our collection, use the language as your keyword choice (e.g. "Italian language") and choose "DVD" under Material Field.

The movie adaptation of C.S. Lewis' Prince Caspian is schedule to come out on May 16, 2008. Be sure to check out our wide selection of Narnia books as you get ready for next year's movie release.

daniels

A rave review from none other than Ben Brantley of the New York Times for Jeff Daniels performance in the Broadway play, Blackbird, "a drama that promises to be the most powerful of the season." The New York Times is available full-text online via the AADL Research database page.

Forget your average documentaries. Documentaries + funny = mockumentaries. Christopher Guest has directed and co-written his way to perfecting the mockumentary. His latesty knee-slapper is For Your Consideration. The movie is about an indie movie that is being filmed and a buzz begins about one of the performers as a possible Oscar nominee. The film revolves around how the Oscar buzz effects the other members of the cast and production crew. More mockumentaries from Guest's hands, and also available at the library, are Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and Waiting For Guffman. For extra fun, check out This Is Spinal Tap. Guaranteed laughs!

On February 22, 1934, Frank Capra's film, "It Happened One Night" was released. This screwball comedy starring Claudette Colbert as a spoiled heiress and Clark Gable as a cocky reporter was the first film to sweep the the Academy Awards which, by the way, are presented this Sunday, February 25 at 8 p.m. on ABC. The movie became a standard for other romantic comedies of the period like "Bringing Up Baby" with Katherine Hepburn and "Mr. and Mrs. Smith with Carole Lombard. And Capra became known as a master of the comedy genre.