Movies--Better than the Book? (SCPL) | Oak Park Public Library

Series

Notes

based on: Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay (1967)

Description

On Valentine's Day, 1900, a group of Australian schoolgirls set out for a picnic at Hanging Rock. Several of them disappear--

2) Binge Box: Get busy livin' or get busy dyin'

Notes

based on: Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King (1982)

Description

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A collection of DVDs all gathered into one "binge box" for a spectacular movie night. American History X: Derek Vinyard, the charismatic leader of a group of young white supremacists, lands in prison for a brutal, hate-driven murder. Upon his release, ashamed of his past and pledging to reform, Derek realizes he must save his younger brother Danny from a similar fate. A groundbreaking controversial drama about the tragic consequences of racism in...

3) The Henry James collection

Notes

based on: The Wings of the Dove by Henry James (1902)

Description

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The American: American Christopher Newman is smart, educated and rich. He is a Civil War veteran and a self made tycoon who goes to Europe to see the 'treasures and entertain' himself. He meets Claire and after the fifth meeting he asks her to marry him. The portrait of a lady: Isabel Archer is a beautiful, spirited American who is brought to Europe by her wealthy Aunt Touchett. It is expected that she will soon marry. But Isabel is resolved to determine...

4) Children of men

Notes

based on: Children of Men by P.D. James (1992)

Description

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The world's youngest citizen has just died at 18, and humankind is facing the likelihood of its own extinction. Set in and around a dystopian London fractious with violence and warring nationalistic sects, Children of Men follows the unexpected discovery of a lone pregnant woman and the desperate journey to deliver her to safety and restore faith for a future beyond those presently on Earth.

5) Die hard collection

Notes

based on: Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp (1979)

Description

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Die hard: New York City detective John McClane is in Los Angeles to spend the holidays with his estranged wife Holly. While McClane waits for Holly's office party to end, terrorists take control of the building. As their sinister leader, Hans Gruber, and his savage henchman round up hostages, McClane gets ready to blast a few rounds of his own and launch a one-man war. Die hard 2: John McClane is off-duty on Christmas Eve in the nation's capital...

6) Slaughterhouse-five

Notes

based on: Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (1969)

Description

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Billy Pilgrim has become unstuck in time. An otherwise typical soldier in WWII, without warning, he jumps back and forth in his life with no control over where he is going next. Sometimes he is an ophthalmologist at home in suburbia; deep in World War II Europe, surviving the Allied bombing of Dresden; on the planet Tralfamadore, being held captive by aliens in an intergalactic zoo--accompanied by a porn star. In the end, he learns that the many tragic...

7) Goodfellas

Notes

based on Wiseguy by Nicolas Pileggi

Description

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For as long as he could remember, Henry Hill wanted to be a gangster. So, when he was 12 years old, he started running errands for the neighborhood wiseguy and extortionist, "Paulie" Cicero. By the time he was 21, Henry had made a name for himself and had a good life by stealing and reselling cargo. Along with Jimmy "The Gent" Conway and Tommy DeVito, Henry organizes and executes heists, big and small, for their boss and protector, Paulie. He marries...

8) A simple plan

Notes

based on: A Simple Plan by Scott Smith (1993)

Description

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The American Dream. That's how three men (Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton, Brent Briscoe) size up what they've found in the snowy Minnesota woods. They've come across a downed plane with a rotting corpse inside... and over $4 million stuffed inside a duffel bag. Finders, keepers? Maybe. But first they'll need a foolproof plan. So they and the wife (Bridget Fonda) of one of the men start out with a scheme that's perfect in its simplicity... and lethal...

9) The graduate

Series

Criterion collection volume 800

Notes

based on: The Graduate by Charles Webb (1963)

Description

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"Benjamin Braddock has just finished college and is already lost in a sea of confusion and barely contained angst when he becomes sexually involved with a friend of his parents', the indomitable Mrs. Robinson, before turning his attention to her college-age daughter"--Container.

10) Great expectations

Series

Criterion collection volume 31

Notes

based on: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (1861)

Description

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In the gloom of a country graveyard, a young boy encounters an escaped convict, a chance meeting that years later leads the boy to tragedy, mystery and wealth.

11) Sex and the city: The complete third season

Notes

based on: Sex and the City by Candace Bushnell (1996)

Description

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Carrie and her friends Charlotte, Miranda and Samanta do weddings, funerals and Bat Mitzvahs; Staten Island, the meatpacking district and the Playboy Mansion.

12) All the president's men

Notes

based on: All the President’s Men by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward (1974)

Description

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In the Watergate Building, lights go on and four burglars are caught in the act. That night triggered revelations that drive a U.S. President from office. Washington reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein grabbed the story and stayed with it through doubts, denials, and discouragement. All the President's Men is their story.

13) L.A. confidential

Notes

based on LA Confidential by James Ellroy

Description

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Los Angeles, 1950. Three cops battle police corruption, a call girl, a mysterious millionaire, a tabloid journalist and the Chief of Detectives fuel a labyrinthine plot rife with mystery, ambition, romance and humor.

14) The handmaiden =: Agassi

Notes

based on: Fingersmith by Sarah Waters (2002)

Description

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A gripping and sensual tale of two women - a young Japanese Lady living on a secluded estate, and a Korean woman who is hired to serve as her new handmaiden, but is secretly plotting with a conman to defraud her of a large inheritance. Inspired by the novel Fingersmith by British author Sarah Waters, The Handmaiden borrows the most dynamic elements of its source material and combines it with Park Chan-Wook's singular vision to create an unforgettable...

15) The night manager

Notes

based on: The Night Manager by John le Carré (1993)

Description

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Jonathan Pine is working as the night manager of a Cairo hotel. He gets involved with a local woman who is the girlfriend of a local gangster. Through her relationship with the gangster she has acquired information linking illegal international arms sales with an English billionaire.

16) The talented Mr. Ripley

Series

Widescreen DVD collection

Notes

based on The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

Description

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Tom Ripley is a calculating young man who believes its better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody. He's hired to go to Italy to bring back he playboy son of a millionaire and soon is plunged into a daring scheme of duplicity, lies and murder.

17) Station eleven

Notes

based on: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (2014)

Description

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A post-apocalyptic saga spanning multiple timelines, this limited drama series tells the stories of survivors of the devastating flu as they attempt to rebuild and reimagine the world anew while holding on to the best of what's been lost.

18) The leftovers: The complete first season

Notes

based on: The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta (2011)

Description

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Two percent of the world's population has disappeared. Was it the Rapture? A mass murder? Cult suicides? Aliens? Based on Tom Perrotta's bestselling novel, the series follows Kevin Garvey, police chief and father of two in Mapletown, New York, three years after the mysterious event. As Garvey struggles to grieve for his losses, rebuild his life, and regain a sense of normalcy within the community, the world around him grows ever stranger.

19) To kill a mockingbird

Notes

based on: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960)

Description

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In a racially divided Alabama town in the 1930s, widowed lawyer Atticus Finch agrees to defend a young black man accused of raping a white woman, teaching his children valuable lessons about prejudice and empathy.

20) The painted veil

Notes

based on: The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham (1925)

Description

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Set in the 1920s. A young English couple, Walter, a middle class doctor, and Kitty, an upper-class woman, get married for all the wrong reasons and relocate to Shanghai. Kitty falls in love with someone else. When Walter discovers her infidelity, in an act of vengeance, he accepts a job in a remote village in China that is being ravaged by a deadly epidemic. He takes his wife along and their journey brings meaning to their relationship and gives them...