The annual Oscars have been announced.  There were certainly surprises with the award for Best Actress to Olivia Coleman being one of the biggest.  As local movie goers know, a great number of the Oscar nominated films never come to our local cinema or are there for only a brief time.  Luckily, DVDs can make up for that problem.

 

The library has a very large collection of over 8,000 that ranges from classic films such as “Casablanca” to HBO series such as “The Sopranos” as well as the newest releases.  Since our conference room was refitted with a theater system, we have been showing some of the critically acclaimed films that movie goers never had a chance to see.  Last week, over 23 people came to see “Bohemian Rhapsody,” the biopic about Queen headliner, Freddie Mercury.   And last Friday, we showed “A Star is Born,” and were handing out Kleenex to people leaving.

               

We have scheduled an on-going series of films for March.  On Tuesday, March 5, at 1 p.m. patrons can watch Oscar nominated Best Actress Melissa McCarthy, and Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Richard E. Grant, in “Can You Every Forgive Me?” about writer Lee Israel’s turn to deception when she can no longer make a living.

               

On Thursday, March 7 at 1 p.m., viewers can enjoy the high-powered acting of Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie in this historic tale of the confrontation between two queens in “Mary, Queen of Scots.”

 

On Friday, March 8, Willem Dafoe’s Oscar nominated performance as painter Vincent van Gogh in “At Eternity’s Gate,” will be shown at 1 p.m.

 

Olivia Colman won for Best Actress for her performance as Queen Anne in “The Favourite;” both Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz were nominated for Best Supporting Actress.  It was also nominated for seven other Oscars.  It will be shown on Monday, March 11^th at 1:00 p.m.

The winner of Best Picture, “Green Book” starring Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali about a working class Italian American bouncer who becomes the driver of an African-American classical pianist on a tour of venues through the 1960s American South is scheduled for Monday, March 18^th at 1 p.m.

 

“First Reformed,” nominated for best Original Screenplay about a minister of a small congregation in upstate New York grappling with tragedy and mounting despair will be shown on Thursday, March 21.

 

 Oscar winner for Best Documentary Feature, “Free Solo,” is a riveting account of Alex Honnold’s free solo climb of Yosemite’s 3,000 ft. high El Capitan Wall and should astonish viewers on March 22 at 1 p.m.