The Great Courses on Sale – Last Chance!

Just a reminder that the CVS Midwest Tape sale on educational videos from the Great Courses is in its final days! Take advantage of this opportunity to add these popular, in-depth lessons to your library’s DVD collection at a discounted rate. Sale prices are good only through May 31. SmartBrowse ‘The Great Courses – Sale’ on our website to see the full selection of included titles, and order now!

The Great Courses on Sale!

Great news for libraries and patrons! Through the month of May, CVS Midwest Tape is offering a number of popular DVDs from the Great Courses at a discounted price. With titles including A Visual Guide to the Universe, The Great Tours: England, Scotland, and Wales, How to Play Piano, and many, many more, this is a perfect opportunity to strengthen your library’s collection of educational videos. These in-depth lessons and lectures are presented by award-winning professors and experts in a wide variety of fields, and they will appeal to patrons who are lifelong learners. Visit our website and SmartBrowse ‘The Great Courses – Sale’ to see all titles that are discounted—sale prices are good through May 31, 2021!

The Mandalorian Returns

This Friday, October 30, sees the return of the hit Star Wars series The Mandalorian for a second season. Set five years after Return of the Jedi and the fall of the Galactic Empire, the incredibly popular first season starred Pedro Pascal as the titular bounty hunter as he came across “the Child” (popularly known as “Baby Yoda”) and took him under his protection. The star-studded first season included Carl Weathers, Gina Carano, Giancarlo Esposito, Werner Herzog, and Nick Nolte as a variety of allies and adversaries, with direction from show creator Jon Favreau, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Taika Waititi, among others. The music (available on hoopla) earned an Emmy Award for composer Ludwig Göransson.

Everyone knows about the Star Wars movies, of course, with six of them appearing in the top 20 grossing films of all time. Recently, though, the saga has taken to the small screen to expand its universe, primarily through animation. Starting in 2008, The Clone Wars showed the Jedi and other heroes as they fought to defend the Old Republic. Rebels took over in 2014 and followed a ragtag band of friends as they struggled to put together a coalition that could take a stand against the Empire’s tyranny. Resistance began in 2018 and ran for two seasons alongside the sequel trilogy. The Mandalorian is the first live-action Star Wars series, but there are plenty more on the horizon. Diego Luna is returning to reprise his role as Cassian Andor from Rogue One in an upcoming show, and Ewan McGregor is once again donning the Jedi robes of Obi-Wan Kenobi for a new limited series as well.

Star Wars is always popular with fans and library patrons, and the return of The Mandalorian is likely to bring renewed interest. Click the links above for the movies and TV shows, and be sure to visit our website for soundtracks, audiobooks, and plenty more related content.

In Memoriam: Chadwick Boseman

Written by Jon Williams

The entertainment world was stunned last weekend by the passing of actor Chadwick Boseman after a long private battle with colon cancer. He was 43.

Boseman got an early start on a career in film and television. He got a degree in directing from Howard University, where Phylicia Rashad was one of his teachers and Denzel Washington was a benefactor. He began on the small screen with bit parts in shows like Law & Order, CSI:NY, and ER. In 2008 he appeared in his first big-screen role in The Express. However, he stayed mostly on television for the next few years, landing recurring and regular roles on the shows Lincoln Heights and Persons Unknown (both currently unavailable), one more one-shots on shows like Castle and Justified (Season 2 unavailable).

His star rocketed to the top for good with his first starring role. In 2013, he played Jackie Robinson, the first African-American player in Major League Baseball, in 42. (Coincidentally, the day he passed, August 28, was the date MLB celebrated Jackie Robinson Day this year.) He then went on to play other Black icons: James Brown in 2014’s Get on Up, and Thurgood Marshall, the first Black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, in 2017’s Marshall.

While Boseman achieved praise for portraying each of those larger-than-life, real figures from American history, the greatest portion of his fame came from his role as a fictional king. T’Challa, the superhero Black Panther, was created by Marvel Comics in 1966; Boseman brought him to the silver screen in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War. The character got his own standalone adventure in 2018’s Black Panther, detailing T’Challa’s coronation as King of Wakanda and the first threat to his rule. Boseman played him again in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Black Panther (#4), Infinity War (#5), and Endgame (#2) are currently three of the top five grossing films of all time at the domestic box office.

Chadwick Boseman’s final film role was in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, based on a play detailing a recording session for blues musician Ma Rainey; release plans for the movie are still up in the air. In the meantime, make sure to have his work available for patrons who want to celebrate this phenomenally talented actor. Click on the links above, or SmartBrowse his name on our website to find more.

Cameron Back for More Terminator

Written by Jon Williams

Terminator: Dark Fate is in theatres now, and is available for pre-order on DVD and Blu-ray. This big-budget blockbuster is a blast from the past, a unique entry in a franchise that has been entertaining audiences for 35 years.

The Terminator, the first film in the series, was a sensation from the moment in hit theatres in 1984. It starred Arnold Schwarzenegger in the titular role of an emotionless cyborg mercenary sent from the future to assassinate Sarah Connor before she can have a son who will grow up to lead the human resistance against their machine overlords. Hailed by fans and critics alike, it spawned a 1991 sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, in which Schwarzenegger’s cyborg is once again sent back in time, this time reprogrammed to protect Sarah and her young son against a more advanced Terminator model capable of shifting its shape. Another smashing success, this is the highest-grossing movie of Schwarzenegger’s career to date.

These first two Terminator films were written and directed by James Cameron, who has had quite a career in the film industry, to say the least. After the success of The Terminator, he helped Sylvester Stallone write the screenplay for Rambo: First Blood Part II, then went on to write and direct the sci-fi hits Aliens and The Abyss. He followed up T2 with True Lies, an action thriller starring Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis. Then in 1997 came Titanic, the tale of doomed romance aboard the doomed ship starring Leonard DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. That film won 14 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and it held the record for highest-grossing film of all time until 2010, when it was overtaken by Avatar—another Cameron film.

While Cameron may have turned his attention to these other acclaimed projects after T2, the franchise did not wither in his absence. In 2003, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines showed how Skynet, the artificial intelligence ruling the machines, managed to rise to power despite the events of the first two movies. Then the series came to the small screen with The Sarah Connor Chronicles, a show that ran for two seasons with Lena Headey starring as Sarah Connor as she protects and trains her son John for his role in the future. Terminator Salvation brought the franchise back into theatres, showing the struggles of John Connor (Christian Bale) as the leader of the human resistance. Then in 2015, Terminator Genisys brought Emilia Clarke into the series as Sarah Connor in a past that has been fractured by time travel.

Genisys was planned to be the new direction for the franchise until James Cameron returned to the fold. He provided the story for Dark Fate, which reunites Schwarzenegger’s Terminator and Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor in a movie that serves as a direct sequel to T2. The films and TV show produced in the interim are now considered to be part of an alternate timeline. At present, future films are planned to follow on from Dark Fate.

James Cameron has made some of the most groundbreaking and popular cinema of all time. Keep his movies on your shelves using the links above, or SmartBrowse on our website for more. Also, make sure your comics-loving patrons know there is plenty of Terminator content for them to enjoy on hoopla digital as well!

Get Ready for Joker

Written by Jon Williams

Batman is one of the oldest and most beloved superheroes, having now been around for 80 years. Now, though, his most famous nemesis is stepping into the spotlight. Joker launches into theatres this weekend with plenty of buzz, looking to thrill audiences and break box office records. Here is a look at how the character has evolved throughout its various iterations over the years.

The Joker is nearly as old as the Caped Crusader himself. He made his first appearance in the premiere issue of Batman early in 1940, and the two have been fighting ever since. The original origin story holds that he fell into a vat of chemical waste, altering his appearance and driving him insane. This has changed often, due ostensibly to the mercurial nature of the character. In the comics he has been by turns a vicious murderer and a mischievous prankster. Patrons interested in these exploits will find a wide range of classic and contemporary comics from DC on hoopla digital.

This iconic villain remained a page-only creation for more than two and a half decades. He came to the screen for the first time when he was played by Cesar Romero in the classic television show that began in 1966, as well as the movie that accompanied it. The series featured camp over grit, and the Joker in this version was impish rather than violent. He came to animation in 1968 in The Adventures of Batman, voiced by Ted Knight, who reprised the role in 1972 when Batman teamed up with the Mystery, Inc. crew for The New Scooby-Doo Movies. In 1977, The New Adventures of Batman saw the Joker voiced by Lennie Weinrib, and in 1985 he was voiced for one episode of The Super Powers Team by legendary voice actor Frank Welker.

Being aimed more or less at kids, those iterations of the Joker were generally lighthearted in nature. Things began taking a darker turn with Tim Burton’s 1989 take on Batman, which saw Jack Nicholson portray the Joker as a twisted gangster intent on taking out the population of Gotham City. Mark Hamill provided what many consider the definitive voice of the animated Joker beginning in 1992 with Batman: The Animated Series and continuing for years through several animated projects and video games, including the movies Mask of the Phantasm (1993) and Return of the Joker (2000), and even up through recent outings like The Killing Joke.

After Nicholson’s incredible performance and with Hamill holding down the fort on the animated side, the Joker wasn’t seen again in live-action form until 2008. In The Dark Knight, the middle film of Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed Batman trilogy, Heath Ledger made it worth the wait with a powerhouse performance that earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Unfortunately, it was a posthumous award, as the actor tragically passed away shortly before the film’s release.

Since then, however, focus has returned to the Joker, with a variety of big names playing him. He was portrayed by Jared Leto in 2016’s Suicide Squad along a team of super villains, with Harley Quinn and Deadshot among them. This movie has a sequel in development as well as several planned spinoffs, so fans will be seeing this version of the Joker again. In 2017’s animated Lego Batman Movie, he was voiced by comic actor Zach Galifianakis. And now, in Joker, he’s played by Joaquin Phoenix in an unhinged performance that is already drawing raves.

Batman vs. the Joker is a rivalry that has stood the test of time. Visit our website for plenty of Batman media across all our formats, and point your patrons toward hoopla for comics and more they can enjoy immediately on all their devices.