New Movies at the AADL!

Thu, 08/04/2016 - 2:19pm by eapearce

The AADL has just added a plethora of new movies to our collection, from more obscure older titles to films that came out just this year. Here’s a peek at some of the brand new additions:

Everybody Wants Some!!, directed by Richard Linklater, is a hilariously accurate depiction of a 1980s baseball team and their antics the week before college classes start. Freshman pitcher Jake (Blake Jenner) is excited to start college, move into the baseball house and make new friends (and meet girls, of course). Although he feels pretty cool as he rolls up to his new home in his powder-blue car, record collection in tow, Jake realizes that he has a lot to learn about where he fits in among the ranks of his teammates. A weekend of parties, disco-hopping, honky tonk bars, drinking games and, of course, baseball, puts Jake in his place… but that place turns about to be a pretty good spot to be in. Everybody Wants Some!! is the best of lighthearted fun with a killer soundtrack, surprisingly good performances from a number of previously-unknown actors, and lots of classic 80s fashion. (This blogger admits a slight bias because she loves 80s fashion, Blondie and baseball.)

The Nice Guys, starring Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling, was one of those movies that, had it tried to take itself the least bit seriously, would have been a total bust. Luckily, director Shane Black knew better, and the movie is an outrageous comedy thriller that in many places makes no sense… but it doesn’t really matter. The Nice Guys follows a pair of private eyes, down-on-his-luck, yet still prideful Holland March (Gosling) and tough guy enforcer Jackson Healy (Crowe) who somewhat inadvertently get involved in the investigation of a missing girl. The movie features mysterious fires, amateur filmmakers, unnamed thugs that attack you in the night, investigative journalism and the dramatically delivered line, “what’s good for Detroit is good for America.”

Slow West is a classic western film starring Michael Fassbender that was quietly released in 2015. The story of a 16-year-old boy searching for his lost love in the nineteenth century American West, the movie is as much a great road trip (well, trail trip) film as it is an action-packed western. Young Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee) travels to America from Scotland to search for his childhood love, Rose. Upon his arrival, he encounters a bounty hunter, Silas Selleck (Michael Fassbender), whom he hires for protection. Unbeknownst to Jay, however, Silas has his own reasons for working for the young boy. As the two travel together seeking Rose and her father, they encounter all of the typical trials and tribulations that you might see during a game of Oregon Trail, along with much, much more. Although the movie is action-packed, one of the best parts are the serene, glorious shots of the scenery that Silas and Jay travel through on their journey. It’s increasingly rare these days that true western movies are made, and Slow West is made even more of a treat for its unarguable claim of that categorization.

Want to see what other great movies we’ve just put into the collection? Click on the “New DVDs” link under the catalog search bar!