• Pennsylvania Avenue Branch   
  daily from Wednesday, May 01, 2013 to Friday, May 31, 2013

• Teens
 

In Skyfall, Bond’s loyalty to M is tested as her past come back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.

Directed by Sam Mendes, 2012, Rated PG-13; 143 minutes.

• Pennsylvania Avenue Branch   Wednesday, May 29, 2013 (5:00 p.m.)

• Teens
 
• Adults
 
• Seniors
 

• Orleans Street Branch   Saturday, Jun 01, 2013 (2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.)
    Meeting Room

• Whole Family
 

Young Victor conducts a science experiment to bring his beloved dog Sparky back to life, only to face unintended, sometimes monstrous, consequences.

Voices by: Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Martin Short
Directed by Tim Burton, 2012, Rated PG; 87 minutes.

• Pennsylvania Avenue Branch   Monday, Jun 03, 2013 (5:00 p.m.)

• Kids: Six to Twelve
 
• Teens
 

• Central Library   Saturday, Jun 08, 2013 (2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.)
    Wheeler Auditorium

• Whole Family
 

The U.S. is invaded by a foreign body called the “People’s Liberation Army.” When their family is captured, two brothers assemble a ragtag group of high school students and begin to fight back. Jed, a war hero, is able to train this group who are soon transformed into sharp shooting, camouflaged, freedom fighters known as the "Wolverines." They must summon the courage to overcome impossible odds and unify a town against the greatest threat this country ever faced.

Directed by Dan Bradley, 2010, Rated PG-13.

• Pennsylvania Avenue Branch   Monday, Jun 10, 2013 (5:00 p.m.)

• Teens
 
• Adults
 

In 19th-century France, Jean Valjean, who for decades has been hunted by the ruthless policeman Javert after he breaks parole, agrees to care for factory worker Fantine's daughter, Cosette. The fateful decision changes their lives forever. Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway Universal Pictures; Directed by Tom Hooper;
2012, PG-13, 158 min.

Light refreshments will be provided.

• Reisterstown Road Branch   Wednesday, Jun 12, 2013 (4:30 p.m.)

• Teens
 
• Adults
 
• Seniors
 

My Name is Nobody plays on the classic western idea of the aging gunfighter dogged by young wannabes longing to provoke a duel and inherit the title of "fastest gun alive." My Name is Nobody has the aging Jack Beauregard (Henry Fonda) wanting to leave the country so as not to have to defend his title. "Nobody" (Terrence Hill) idolizes Beauregard and wants him to go out in a blaze of glory, rather than slip quietly away. This creates situations which parody American westerns (especially those of Sam Peckinpah), as well as producer Sergio Leone's own spaghetti westerns. Leone said that, "For me, the interesting thing about My Name is Nobody was that it confronts a myth with the negation of that myth. I do not see this as destructive at all. On the contrary. The moral of this adventure attempts to show that people never attack a nobody: in the West as in life, the only person who is taken into account is the man who is thought to be unbeatable."

(Directed by Tonino Valerii and Sergio Leone, 1973, Italy, 117 min., color, Rated PG)

For More Information:

Movie Review Query Engine

• Central Library   Saturday, Jun 15, 2013 (10:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.)
    Wheeler Auditorium

• Adults
 
• Seniors
 

Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Revolutionary Road, Road To Perdition) stylishly directs this latest installment in the long-running James Bond franchise (23 films since 1962's Dr. No). Skyfall stars "Blonde Bond" Daniel Craig (Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace) as Ian Flemming's secret agent 007.

After Bond's latest assignment goes wrong, MI6 agents around the world are suddenly exposed and his boss "M" (Judi Dench) is directly targeted by bitter former agent-turned-supervillain "Silva" (Javier Bardem). With M's authority now challenged by new Intelligence chief Gareth Mallory (Ralph Fiennes), it's left to Bond, field agent Eve (Naomi Harris), and new Bond Girl "Severin" (Berenice Marlohe), former Bond family groundskeeper Kincaid (Albert Finney), and tech whiz kid Q (The Hour's Ben  to track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.

(Directed by Sam Mendes, 2012, 143 min., Rated PG-13)

Watch the trailer:

See also:
Skyfall Official Site
Skyfall (IMDb)

• Central Library   Saturday, Jun 15, 2013 (2:00 p.m.)
    Wheeler Auditorium

• Adults
 
• Seniors
 

• Pennsylvania Avenue Branch   Monday, Jun 17, 2013 (5:00 p.m.)

• Kids: Six to Twelve
 
• Teens
 

• Herring Run Branch   Monday, Jun 17, 2013 (5:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.)

• Teens
 
• Adults
 
• Seniors
 

Every year about one hundred of Islam’s best young students from around the world come to Cairo for the International Holy Koran Competition. Many are in their late teens, some as young as seven. Koran by Heart follows the progress of three scholars, a girl and two boys, all ten years old, as they compete against students who, in some instances, are nearly twice their age.
Directed by Greg Barker, produced by HBO documentary films, 2011, 90 minutes. 

This film is provided as part of the Bridging Cultures Bookshelf: Muslim Journeys, which is a project of the National Endowment for the Humanities, conducted in cooperation with the American Library Association. Support was provided by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York. Additional support for the arts and media components was provided by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art.

• Reisterstown Road Branch   Tuesday, Jun 18, 2013 (6:00 p.m.)

• Whole Family
 

With just a compass and a road map to guide them, Amelia Earhart and 19 other brave pilots defied convention by taking to the skies and racing across the country for the first Women's National Air Derby. Facing cultural stereotypes, mechanical failures, threats of sabotage, navigational challenges and endless chicken dinners, the women became pioneering legends in aviation.

Breaking Through the Clouds captures the women's personalities and portrays the drama of the race, stressing the importance the derby made for women, aviation and the country as a whole. Following the screening of this award-winning documentary, producer and director Heather A. Taylor will moderate the conversation with the audience.

• Central Library   Saturday, Jun 22, 2013 (2:00 p.m.)
    Wheeler Auditorium

• Teens
 
• Adults
 
• Seniors
 

• Pennsylvania Avenue Branch   Monday, Jun 24, 2013 (5:00 p.m.)

• Teens
 
• Adults
 

This award-winning documentary follows five competitors who sprint, leap, and swim for gold at the National Senior Olympics. You'll meet a 100-year-old tennis champion, an 86-year-old pole vaulter, and some rough-and-tumble basketball grandmothers as they discover the resilience of the human spirit and triumph over the limitations of age.

Age of Champions premiered to a standing ovation at the prestigious Silverdocs Film Festival and has been shown at more than 700 venues around the world.The Washington Post called the film "infectiously inspiring."

Producer Keith Ochwat of the Documentary Foundation will moderate the post-screening discussion.

• Central Library   Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 (10:00 a.m.)
    Wheeler Auditorium

• Adults
 
• Seniors
 

• Pennsylvania Avenue Branch   Monday, Jul 01, 2013 (2:00 p.m.)

• Kids: Six to Twelve
 
• Teens
 

The new journey begins when Sean Anderson receives a coded distress signal from a mysterious island where no island should exist — a place of strange life forms, mountains of gold, deadly volcanoes, and more than one astonishing secret. The secret is rumored to involve Sean's missing grandfather, Alexander Anderson. Unable to stop him from going, Sean's new stepfather joins the quest. Together with a helicopter pilot and his beautiful, strong-willed daughter, they set out to find the island, rescue its lone inhabitant and escape before seismic shock waves force the island under the sea and bury its treasures forever.

Dwayne Johnson, Josh Hutcherson, Vanessa Hudgens
Directed by Brad Peyton, 2012, 94 minutes, Rated PG.

Watch the Trailer:

• Central Library   Saturday, Jul 06, 2013 (2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.)
    Wheeler Auditorium

• Whole Family
 

• Pennsylvania Avenue Branch   Monday, Jul 08, 2013 (2:00 p.m.)

• Teens
 

• Orleans Street Branch   Tuesday, Jul 09, 2013 (6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.)
    Meeting Room

• Teens
 
• Adults
 
• Seniors
 

(Directed by Alan Crosland, 1928, 80 minutes, 16mm, silent)

The Pratt is proud to partner with the Maryland Historical Society for this special screening of Glorious Betsy, an extremely rare silent film about the real-life romance between Baltimore socialite Elizabeth Patterson and Napoleon’s brother Jerome Bonaparte. Though the original Warner Brothers film featured several talking sequences, the Vitaphone sound discs containing the recorded dialogue have been lost, and only a handful of 16mm silent prints are known to exist (including the copy in the Library of Congress). Luckily, the Maryland Historical Society -- in conjunction with its current “Woman of Two Worlds: Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte and Her Quest for an Imperial Legacy” exhibition running June 9, 2013 to June 9, 2014 -- has been able to track down one of the few remaining prints of this historically significant film, as well as a pianist who will provide a live musical soundtrack accompaniment to today’s screening.

Glorious Betsy was based on the 1908 play of the same name by Baltimore native Rida Johnson Young and was nominated for (but did not win) an Academy Award for Best Writing, Adaptation in 1929. (The ill-fated Patterson-Bonaparte romance was later remade as the 1936 talkie Hearts Divided, starring Marion Davies as Betsy, Dick Powell as Jerome and Claude Rains as Napoleon.) Starring silver screen beauty Dolores Costello as Elizabeth Patterson and Conrad Nagel as Jerome Bonaparte, it recounts how Jérôme, posing as a teacher on a visit to Baltimore, wins the love of the society girl and marries her in 1803. But his furious brother, Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, refuses to let Betsy land in France, has their marriage annulled, and sends her back to Baltimore. On the eve of his arranged wedding to the Princess of Würtemburg, Jérôme escapes and returns to Elizabeth shortly after the birth of their son.

In real-life, Elizabeth Patterson continued to act like a member of the imperial family despite her rejection by Napoleon and abandonment by her husband. She never remarried and continued to call herself Madame Bonaparte even after her official divorce in 1812. She moved to Europe after Napoleon’s fall in 1815, later returning to Baltimore where she died in 1879 at age 94. She is buried as Elizabeth, “wife of Jerome Bonaparte,” in Green Mount Cemetery, where her epitaph reads: “After life’s fitful fever she sleeps well.”

Attendees are encouraged to visit the Maryland Historical Society to see the film’s real life inspiration in the MdHS collection of Betsy’s personal effects, including stunning jewelry, tiaras, gowns, and more.

Watch a film clip from Glorious Betsy.
 

See also:
“Woman of Two Worlds: Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte and Her Quest for an Imperial Legacy”(MdHS)

• Central Library   Saturday, Jul 13, 2013 (2:00 p.m.)
    Wheeler Auditorium

• Adults
 
• Seniors
 

The Searchers is not only ranked at the very top of the western genre, it is usually ranked among the greatest films ever made. It has influenced artists as diverse as Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver), Steven Spielberg (Star Wars ), Jean-Luc Godard (a code name in Weekend), and Buddy Holly (the source of the title for his song "That'll be the Day").

In Ethan Edwards, John Wayne had the greatest and most complex role of his life; an anti-hero, a loner, a racist, who searches obsessively for his niece, the sole remaining member of his family, who has been kidnapped by the Indians.

Directed by John Ford, 1956, U.S., 119 min., color, unrated.

"The Searchers manages to be both a rousing adventure movie and a melancholy film poem exploring the American values at the heart of the Western genre." Ed Lowry, International Directory of Films and Filmmakers, 1990

Ethan Edwards, fierce, alone, a defeated soldier with no role in peacetime, is one of the most compelling characters Ford and Wayne ever created (they worked together on 14 films). Roger Ebert, Great Films

For more information:

Turner Classic Movies

Movie Review Query Engine

The Searchers trailer

• Central Library   Saturday, Jul 13, 2013 (10:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.)
    Wheeler Auditorium

• Adults
 
• Seniors
 

The filmmaking duo behind The Hurt Locker takes on the hunt for -- and the killing of -- Osama bin Laden in this Annapurna Pictures production that tracks SEAL Team Six, the special-ops team who eventually brought down the terrorist leader. Animal Kingdom's Joel Edgerton heads up the cast.

Starring Chris Pratt, Jessica Chastain, Joel Edgerton
Directed by Mark Boal, 2012, Rated R; 157 minutes

Shown with English subtitles

• Pennsylvania Avenue Branch   Monday, Jul 15, 2013 (2:00 p.m.)

• Adults
 
• Seniors
 

• Orleans Street Branch   Tuesday, Jul 16, 2013 (6:00 a.m. - 7:15 p.m.)
    Meeting Room

• Teens
 
• Adults
 
• Seniors
 

Sigourney Weaver plays a warden at Camp Green Lake with an unusual method of discipline. The camp makes all of its wards dig large holes under the guise of building character. The real reason is a plan to find a buried treasure left in the desert long ago.

Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight, Patricia Arquette, Tim Blake Nelson
Buena Vista Pictures; Directed by Andrew Davis
Rated PG; 2003

Shown with English subtitles

• Pennsylvania Avenue Branch   Wednesday, Jul 17, 2013 (2:00 p.m.)

• Kids: Six to Twelve
 
• Teens
 

• Reisterstown Road Branch   Friday, Jul 19, 2013 (12:00 p.m.)

• Teens
 
• Adults
 

• Reisterstown Road Branch   Saturday, Jul 20, 2013 (2:00 p.m.)

• Kids: Six to Twelve
 
• Teens
 
• Adults
 

• Pennsylvania Avenue Branch   Monday, Jul 22, 2013 (2:00 p.m.)

• Teens
 

• Reisterstown Road Branch   Tuesday, Jul 23, 2013 (6:00 p.m.)

• Adults
 
• Seniors
 

• Pennsylvania Avenue Branch   Monday, Jul 29, 2013 (2:00 p.m.)

• Teens
 

• Pennsylvania Avenue Branch   Monday, Aug 05, 2013 (2:00 p.m.)

• Whole Family
 

The U.S. is invaded by a foreign body called the “People’s Liberation Army.” When their family is captured, two brothers assemble a ragtag group of high school students and begin to fight back. Jed was a war hero and he is able to train this group of who are soon transformed into sharp shooting, camouflaged, freedom fighters known as the "Wolverines." They must summon the courage to overcome impossible odds and unify a town against the greatest threat this country ever faced.

Rated PG-13; 93 minutes; 2010

• Reisterstown Road Branch   Monday, Aug 05, 2013 (2:00 p.m.)

• Teens
 
• Adults
 

When an evil spirit known as Pitch lays down the gauntlet to take over the world, the immortal Guardians must join forces for the first time to protect the hopes, beliefs and imagination of children all over the world.

Animated Feature: Voices by: Hugh Jackman, Alec Baldwin, Chris Pine
Directed by Peter Ramsey, 2012, Rated PG; 97 minutes

Watch the Trailer:

• Central Library   Saturday, Aug 10, 2013 (2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.)
    Wheeler Auditorium

• Whole Family
 

• Reisterstown Road Branch   Saturday, Aug 10, 2013 (2:00 p.m.)

• Kids: Six to Twelve
 
• Teens
 
• Adults
 

• Pennsylvania Avenue Branch   Monday, Aug 12, 2013 (2:00 p.m.)

• Whole Family
 

• Orleans Street Branch   Tuesday, Aug 13, 2013 (5:30 p.m.)
    Meeting Room

• Adults
 
• Seniors
 

• Orleans Street Branch   Tuesday, Aug 13, 2013 (4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.)
    Meeting Room

• Adults
 
• Seniors
 

Directed by Wes Anderson, 2012, 94 minutes

Set on an island off the New England coast in the summer of 1965, the latest cult comedy from director Wes Anderson (Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums) tells the story of two unlikely 12-year-old sweethearts -- newcomers Jared Gilman (as Sam the oddball Boy Scout) and Kara Hayward (as Suzy the book- and French pop music-loving introvert) -- who fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As their parents (Bill Murray and Frances McDormand), the Boy Scouts (including Edward Norton and Jason Schawartzman), and various local authorities (Bruce Willis, Tilda Swinton) try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing off-shore -- and the peaceful island community is turned upside down in more ways than anyone can handle. As usual, Anderson, working with co-writer Roman Coppola, delivers a clever script (some think it should have won  the Oscar!) and an ultra-hip soundtrack featuring everything from Benjamin Britten classical music to Hank Williams country and Francoise Hardy French pop songs.

• Central Library   Saturday, Aug 17, 2013 (2:00 p.m.)
    Wheeler Auditorium

• Adults
 

The third film in director Eric Rohmer's series "Comedies and Proverbs," Pauline at the Beach concerns five vacationers and a local girl at a Normandy beach: 15 year-old Pauline (Amanda Langlet), her flirtatious older cousin Marion (Arielle Dombasle); two men, Pierre and Henri, teenaged Sylvain, and local Louisette.

We observe all the machinations, confusion, and misunderstandings through the eyes of Pauline, possibly the most mature of the vacationers, as they explore and act upon their ideas about love, the major preoccupation of most of Rohmer's oeuvre.

Directed by Eric Rohmer, 1983, France, 94 min., color, in French with English subtitles. Rated R.

"effortlessly witty, effervescent." Vincent Canby, New York Times"

"Pauline, who is the moral center of the film, doesn't carry tales. She listens to Marion deceiving herself and switching from one attitude to another as she tries to manipulate Henri. Pauline take in what people say and what they do; she doesn't add to the talk with what she has heard." Pauline Kael, State of the Art

For more information:

Internet Movie Database

Pacific Film Archives

Trailer

• Central Library   Saturday, Aug 17, 2013 (10:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.)
    Wheeler Auditorium

• Adults
 
• Seniors
 

• Pennsylvania Avenue Branch   Monday, Aug 19, 2013 (2:00 p.m.)

• Kids: Six to Twelve
 
• Teens
 

• Reisterstown Road Branch   Wednesday, Aug 21, 2013 (5:30 p.m.)

• Teens
 
• Adults
 

This piece of magical animation from Walt Disney may indeed be their best one yet. A talented crew of more than 600 artists, painters, designers and technicians worked more than three years to bring this spectacular story of the heroic lion Simba to the silver screen. A who’s who of Hollywood voices that includes Mathew Broderick, Jeremy Irons, Whoopi Goldberg and James Earl Jones, brings all of the colorful characters to life. 

• Orleans Street Branch   Thursday, Aug 22, 2013 (2:00 p.m.)
    Meeting Room

• Kids: Six to Twelve
 
• Whole Family
 
• Teens
 
• Adults
 
• Seniors
 

• Pennsylvania Avenue Branch   Monday, Aug 26, 2013 (5:00 p.m.)

• Teens
 
• Adults
 

• Pennsylvania Avenue Branch   Monday, Oct 07, 2013 (5:00 p.m.)

• Teens
 
• Adults
 

While undergoing a bitter custody battle, Dahlia and her daughter move into a dilapidated old apartment. Dahlia soon discovers her husband isn't the only threat as the water in this haunted apartment begins to act on its own with sinister intentions.

Jennifer Connelly, Ariel Gade, Shelley Duvall, John C. Reilly
Touchstone Pictures; Directed by Walter Salles
Rated PG-13; 105 minutes; 2005

Shown with English

• Pennsylvania Avenue Branch   Wednesday, Oct 16, 2013 (5:00 p.m.)

• Teens
 
• Adults
 

• Pennsylvania Avenue Branch   Monday, Oct 21, 2013 (5:00 p.m.)

• Teens
 
• Adults
 

• Pennsylvania Avenue Branch   Monday, Oct 28, 2013 (5:00 p.m.)

• Teens
 
• Adults