March-April 2016 VOL. 31 THE VIDEO REVIEW MAGAZINE FOR LIBRARIES NO. 2 IN THIS ISSUE The Danish Girl | ALA Notables | The Brain | Spotlight on Fitness | Emptying the Skies | The Mama Sherpas | Chi-Raq | Top Spin scene & he d BAKER & TAYLOR’S SPECIALIZED A/V TEAM OFFERS ALL THE PRODUCTS, SERVICES AND EXPERTISE TO FULFILL YOUR LIBRARY PATRONS’ NEEDS. Le n more about Bak & Taylor’s Scene & He d team: ELITE Helpful personnel focused exclusively on A/V products and customized services to meet continued patron demand PROFICIENT Qualified buyers ensure titles are available and delivered on time DEVOTED Nationwide team of A/V processing staff ready to prepare your movie and music shelf-ready specifications SKILLED Supportive Sales Representatives with an average of 15 years industry experience KNOWLEDGEABLE Full-time staff of A/V catalogers, backed by their MLS degree and more than 43 years of media cataloging expertise 800-775-2600 x2050 [email protected] www.baker-taylor.com Spotlight Review The Danish Girl is taken aback. Married for six years, Einar enjoys a lusty conjugal life with Gerda—un- HHH1/2 til, one day, she asks him to don stockings, Universal, 120 min., R, DVD: $29.98, Blu-ray: tutu, and satin slippers to fill in for a miss- ing model. Sensing his delight in posing in Publisher/Editor: Randy Pitman $34.98, Mar. 1 Eddie Redmayne feminine finery, she suggests Einar attend a Associate Editor: Jazza Williams-Wood followed up his Os- party, masquerading as a cousin named Lili. Copy Editor: Kathleen L. Florio car-winning turn as What neither of them expects is that demure Lili will attract amorous attention. And then Editorial Assistant: Christopher Pitman astrophysicist Stephen Hawking in The Theory Gerda’s erotically charged portraits of Lili sell, bringing Gerda fame and fortune. When Graphic Designer: Carol Kaufman of Everything with an- the couple move to cosmopolitan Paris, Lili other amazing transformation and Oscar Marketing Director: Anne Williams grows more confident with experimentation, nomination here—becoming Lili Elbe, one puzzling his boyhood friend/crush (Matthias of the first identifiable individuals to undergo Schoenaerts), who develops romantic feelings Contributing Writers sex-reassignment surgery. The year 2015 toward Gerda. Eventually, Lili turns to an un- witnessed the Supreme Court’s landmark Kathleen C. Fennessy, Reviewer, derstanding German doctor (Sebastian Koch) legalization of same-sex marriage, Caitlyn Amazon.com who will attempt risky and revolutionary Jenner’s transgender transition, and the gender-reassignment surgery. Adapted from Susan Granger, SSG Syndicate huge success of Amazon’s Transparent TV David Ebershoff’s titular 2000 novel, and Donald Liebenson, Reviewer, series. Back in 1926 in Denmark, however, sensitively directed by Tom Hooper, this is Entertainment Weekly, Amazon.com the transgender concept frustrated and be- highly recommended. (S. Granger) Maureen Puffer-Rothenberg, Librarian, wildered psychiatrists, who labeled it perver- Valdosta State University, GA sion. When renowned landscape artist Einar VL at PLA Stephen Rees, Librarian, formerly with Wegener (Redmayne) starts to wear makeup Bucks Co. Free Library, Levittown, PA and clothing belonging to his ambitious-but- Video Librarian will be exhibiting at the struggling portrait-painter wife Gerda (Oscar Public Library Association conference in Frank Swietek, Associate Professor nominee Alicia Vikander), Copenhagen’s Denver from April 6-8. Please drop by our of History, University of Dallas, TX traditionally tolerant artistic community booth (#1454) to say hello! Additional Contributors: TABLE OF CONTENTS Sean Axmaker Carson Block Video Newsbriefs 4 Relationships & Sexuality 66 Charles Cassady Books Into Movies 6 Food & Spirits 66 Ted Fry Phil Hall Mixed Media 8 Beauty & Fashion 67 Tom Keogh Video Movies 16 Computers & Technology 67 Lisa Martincik TV on Video 49 Sports, Games & Recreation 68 Phil Morehart Key to Star Ratings 54 Crafts, Arts & Hobbies 68 Michael Sandlin Video Reviews 54 The Arts 68 Video Librarian (ISSN: 0887-6851) is pub- Children’s 54 History & Current Events 70 lished bi-monthly by Video Librarian, 3435 NE Nine Boulder Dr., Poulsbo, WA ALA-ALSC Notable Videos 2016 56 Travel & Geography 72 98370. Subscriptions: $64 for one year in the United States; $69 (US) in Canada Psychology & Self-Help 59 Biography 72 (includes GST); $86 elsewhere. Address all correspondence to Video Librarian, 3435 NE Religion & Philosophy 59 ALA-VRT Notable Videos 2016 74 Nine Boulder Dr., Poulsbo, WA 98370. Peri- odicals Postage Paid at Poulsbo, WA and at Social & Political Issues 60 Series Update 75 additional mailing offices.POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Video Librarian, Teen Issues 62 Japanese Anime 76 3435 NE Nine Boulder Dr., Poulsbo, WA 98370. Copyright © 2016 by Randy Pitman. Education 62 Music/Dance 77 All rights reserved. Telephone/Fax/E-mail Law & Crime 62 Distributor Addresses 82 Subscriptions: (800) 692-2270 Nature, Math & Science 63 Title Index 84 Editorial: (360) 626-1259 Advertising: (800) 265-7965 Health & Fitness 64 Advertiser Directory 84 Fax: (360) 626-1260 E-mail: [email protected] Spotlight on Fitness 65 Final Frame 86 Web: www.videolibrarian.com Childbirth & Parenting 66 MARCH/APRIL 2016 3 VIDEO LIBRARIAN NEW Video Newsbriefs D CU L LT R U O Ken Burns’s “Jackie Robinson” soundtrack of the R era, and first-per- E W Doc Coming April 12 from PBS son stories of the Distribution protests, poetry slams, and com- Coinciding with the TV premiere, munity meetings MEDIA PBS Distribution will release Ken Burns’s that drove a na- Jackie Robinson (DVD: $24.99, Blu-ray: tional campaign Inspire Curious Minds $29.99) on April 12. Directed by Ken that brought about Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMa- WorldCultureMedia.com meaningful social hon, the documentary tells the story of change. Telling the Jack Roosevelt Robinson, who rose from story of the grassroots movement that humble origins to break baseball’s color proclaimed “the personal is political,” barrier. Born in 1919 to tenant farmers while also spotlighting the women who in rural Georgia and raised in Pasadena, dared to voice their anger, She’s Beautiful CA, Robinson confronted institutional When She’s Angry features commentary racism long before he integrated Major from activists and writers including League Baseball. In 1949, Robinson Chude Pam Allen, Judith Arcana, Nona began to speak out, challenging oppos- Willis Aronowitz, and Fran Beal. Deliv- ing players, arguing with umpires, and ering a fine tribute to past bravery and talking to the press, while also playing determination, the film also serves as a some of the best baseball of his career, and winning that year’s National League warning and urgent rallying cry to the MVP award. After his sports career was next wave of those determined to ensure over, Robinson continued to use his equal rights for all. fame to further the Civil Rights move- ment, voicing his views through a widely “Bicycle Thieves” and “The read newspaper column in the New York Post, raising money for the NAACP Manchurian Candidate” on and Martin Luther King Jr.’s Southern Criterion Collection’s March Christian Leadership Conference, and campaigning vigorously for candidates Slate he believed would work to improve the This March, Criterion presents an in- lives of African Americans. The docu- teresting variety of world cinema titles. mentary features extensive interviews Slated for March 8 is late French New with Robinson’s widow, Rachel, and Wave director Jacques Rivette’s debut, their surviving children, Sharon and 1961’s Paris Belongs to Us (DVD: $29.95, David; President Barack Obama and Blu-ray: $39.95), which follows a young First Lady Michelle Obama; former literature student (Betty Schneider) and Dodgers teammates Don Newcombe, a loose-knit group of twentysomethings Carl Erskine, and Ralph Branca; writers in Paris. Coming March 15 is John Frank- Worlds Together Series Howard Bryant and Gerald Early; and enheimer’s iconic 1962 Cold War para- celebrities Harry Belafonte, Tom Brokaw, noia thriller The Manchurian Candidate All new Worlds Together Cuba, and Carly Simon. Featuring Oscar-win- (DVD: 2 discs, $29.95; Blu-ray: $39.95), Ecuador and Colombia in Spanish ner Jamie Foxx as the voice of Jackie a razor-sharp adaptation of the novel by and English celebrate culture, history, Robinson, the film is narrated by Keith Richard Condon that stars Frank Sinatra, food, geography and people. Closed- David and features original music by Laurence Harvey, and Angela Lansbury. captioned. Free Teacher’s Guide. 25 Wynton Marsalis. Arriving March 22 is Edward Yang’s inti- min. Ages 10+. $29.95 each mate 1991 Taiwanese epic A Brighter Sum- V3212 Colombia 978-1-60480-156-9 Music Box Films Doc “She’s mer Day (DVD: 3 discs, $29.95; Blu-ray: 2 V3213 Cuba 978-1-60480-157-6 discs, $39.95), based on the true story of a V3214 Ecuador 978-1-60480-158-3 Beautiful When She’s Angry” young teenager’s (Chen Chang) fall from V3215 Tibet 978-1-60480-108-8 innocence into juvenile delinquency. V3202 Ethiopia 978-1-60480-106-4 Arriving March 1 for Women’s Slated for March 29 is Les Blank’s ex- V3203 East Africa 978-1-60480-107-1 History Month V3201 W. Africa 978-1-60480-105-7 hilarating 1974 free-form documentary In celebration of Women’s History A Poem Is a Naked Person (DVD: $29.95, Education Fever in Korea Month, Music Box Films will release Blu-ray: $39.95), showcasing the life V1912 978-1-604-80163-7 $149 PPR She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry (DVD: and career of legendary Rock and Roll $29.95) on March 1. Offering an in- Hall of Famer Leon Russell. Also bowing Preview and sightful, rousing, and often humorous March 29 is the Blu-ray debut of Italian purchase online at account of the birth and rise of the director Vittorio De Sica’s 1948 landmark women’s liberation movement in the film Bicycle Thieves (Blu-ray: $39.95), an WorldCultureMedia.com late 1960s up through its contemporary Oscar-winning Italian neorealist classic [email protected] manifestations in the new millennium, set in poverty-stricken postwar Rome director Mary Dore’s film combines that centers on a man searching for his rarely-seen archival footage, a classic stolen bicycle.