Now that the 2013/2014 award season has wrapped up, it’s time to catch up on all of the winning and nominated films! To alleviate the long hold lists for several of these titles, the Northgate Branch is showing some of this year’s notable and popular films on Sundays through May. Each free film screening starts at 1:30 in the Northgate Branch meeting room. I suggest you arrive early in order to get a seat, as well as a free bag of popcorn!
March 16
Enough Said
Divorced mom Eva may be falling for Albert, a sweet, funny, like-minded divorced man. Starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus (2014 Golden Globe nominee) and the late James Gandolfini in his next-to-last film role.
March 30
Captain Phillips (2014 Academy Award nominee for Best Picture)
Based on the true story of Captain Richard Phillips and the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of the US-flagged MV Maersk Alabama, which was the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred years. Starring Tom Hanks and Barkhad Abdi (2014 Academy Award nominee for Best Supporting Actor)
April 13
12 Years a Slave (2014 Academy Award winner for Best Picture)
It is 1841, and Solomon Northup, an accomplished, free citizen of New York, is kidnapped and sold into slavery. Stripped of his identity and deprived of all dignity, Northup is ultimately purchased by ruthless plantation owner Edwin Epps and must find the strength within to survive. Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor (2014 Academy Award nominee for Best Actor) and Lupita Nyong’o (2014 Academy Award winner for Best Supporting Actress).
April 27
American Hustle (2014 Academy Award nominee for Best Picture)
Brilliant con man Irving Rosenfeld, who along with his equally cunning and seductive British partner Sydney Prosser, is forced to work for wild FBI agent Richie DiMaso. Starring Christian Bale (2014 Academy Award nominee for Best Actor), Amy Adams (2014 Academy Award nominee for Best Actress), Bradley Cooper (2014 Academy Award nominee for Best Supporting Actor) and Jennifer Lawrence (2014 Academy Award nominee for Best Supporting Actress).
May 11
Dallas Buyers Club (2014 Academy Award nominee for Best Picture)
Texas cowboy Ron Woodroof’s free-wheeling life was overturned in 1985 when he was diagnosed as HIV-positive. Shunned and ostracized by many old friends and bereft of government-approved medicines, he decided to take matters in his own hands, tracking down alternative treatments from all over the world by means both legal and illegal. Starring Matthew McConaughey (2014 Academy Award winner for Best Actor) and Jared Leto (2014 Academy Award winner for Best Supporting Actor).
May 25
Gravity (2014 Academy Award nominee for Best Picture)
Dr. Ryan Stone is a brilliant medical engineer on her first shuttle mission with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky. On a seemingly routine spacewalk, the shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalsky spiraling out into the blackness. Starring Sandra Bullock (2014 Academy Award nominee for Best Actress) and George Clooney.
Film summaries provided courtesy of Bibliocommons, the Seattle Public Library catalog.
Shelf Talk 