DVD Review: News of the World (2)

News of the World

based on the novel by Paulette Giles (DVD News)

 

I am generally not a fan of Tom Hanks, but this movie was superb, mainly because of Hanks’ acting abilities and the depth of the story presented. The story is set five years after the Civil War in rural Texas. Poverty is the norm and everyone is hurting as they try to rebuild their lives and their villages. Captain Jefferson Kidd travels across the country bringing news to areas without access to what is going on in the rest of the world. While traveling across the plains of Texas, he runs into an abandoned child, a 10-year-old German girl who was raised by the Kiowa people after her parents were killed. The girl only speaks Kiowa, so Captain Kidd and the girl have to learn how to communicate with one another. The girl, Johanna, is being transported across Texas to her only living relatives, an aunt and uncle, also of German descent. It falls to Captain Kidd to transport her to her aunt and uncle. Through many trials, both Captain Kidd and Johanna learn things about themselves and their need for each other as they heal from the tragedies in their past.

 

(Also available in traditional print format.)

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Patriot starring Mel Gibson, Hacksaw Ridge starring Andrew Garfield, or Harriet starring Cynthia Erivo.)

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film ) | ( official News of the World film web site )

 

See also: Scott C.’s review of this film in the June 2021 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!

 

Recommended by Kim J.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

DVD Review: News of the World

News of the World

based on the novel by Paulette Giles (DVD News)

 

My wife is a huge fan of the Paulette Giles novel, News of the World, upon which this film is based, and was looking forward to seeing the movie, despite it being released in 2020, during which movie theaters were closed. And, in spite of the fact that she thought Tom Hanks was miscast in the central role. So, I was pleased to see the libraries finally get the DVD, so that we could see the film. We ended up watching it the week after the 2021 Oscars ceremony, in which it was a multiple-nominee (though it didn’t take home any statues).

 

A grizzled Hanks stars as Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, a former publisher who lost his business when he was called into service for the South in the Civil War. Since the war, he has made his living traveling from town to town, throughout the south, sharing dramatic readings of news stories from the many small town, big city and foreign newspapers he is able to acquire. On his travels, he comes across an abandoned pre-teen girl amidst the wreckage of another traveler’s wagon and camp. Paperwork he locates there indicates she was kidnapped as a little child, when her parents were killed, and has been raised by the Kiowa tribe — she appears not to know English, and is hostile to the concept of being returned to her surviving caucasian family members, which is her fate. Circumstances force Captain Kidd to take on the responsibility of transporting her into South Texas to reunite her with an aunt and uncle. The odd couple bond as they face multiple challenges, including bad weather, post-war prejudices, violent rogues and the loss of almost all of their traveling supplies. But they also learn that sometimes “family is more than just blood ties”.

 

I thought the performances in News of the World were superb, including both Hanks and young German actress Helena Zengel as Johanna. Having just started to read the novel, I can see that the writer/director, Paul Greengrass, took several liberties with the original plot — condensing or excising some elements of the story to make it more cinematic. I would agree that Captain Kidd should have been played by an older less-well-known actor, perhaps someone better recognized as a “character actor,” rather than the “leading man” Tom Hanks. None-the-less, I thought this was a marvelous film, very atmospheric, and an excellent addition to the classic Western genre of film-making.

[Also available in traditional print format.]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official News of the World film web site ]

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

New Booklist on BookGuide: Westerns on Film and Television (a DVD booklist)

New DVD Booklist

We've had several requests recently from customers for a list of all the Western films and TV series that the libraries have on DVD. While searching in our online catalog will ultimately take you to most of the titles you'll find on this "Booklist", we thought we'd make it a little easier to find all these Westerns in one single location. Thus -- this "Westerns on Film and Television" DVD list was created. This is a "snapshot" of most (hopefully all) of the Westerns on DVD in the Lincoln City Libraries collection. As the descriptive information on the page indicates, there are also additional titles available only via our Hoopla digital service (not on DVD), which are not included on this DVD list.

Whether you're a fan of the classics -- the films of John Wayne, James Stewart and Clint Eastwood -- or more modern fare, or you want to revisit western series like Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, The Adventures of Brisco County Jr., The Magnificent Seven, or more -- you'll find plenty to browse through in this list.

At the time this list was "published" on our website, all titles included were owned by the Lincoln City Libraries!

Check out the list of recommended viewing at the following link: 

Westerns on Film and Television (a DVD booklist)

News of the World by Paulette Jiles

News of the World
by Paulette Jiles

72-year-old Captain Jefferson Kidd, out of Georgia and living in Texas, veteran of three wars, a former printer by trade, a widower with grown children who live a long distance away, and nowadays a professional “news reader”, finds himself in an unusual and potentially dangerous situation. He has been implored by a trusted acquaintance to take over the delivery of a white girl, recently “rescued” by the Army from a Kiowa band, to her only known German relatives. 10-year-old Johanna is at turns wild and wary, not understanding why she has been separated from what she considers her family since being taken captive four years earlier. As their unlikely journey from north to south Texas plays out through bad weather, bad people, and bad fortune, the two disparate souls bond through necessity and acceptance, ultimately creating a crisis for the “Kepdun” and “Chohenna” at the intended conclusion. An excellent, evocative yet also plain-spoken, novel, I kept picturing it as a wonderful Western movie or series such as Lonesome Dove or The Cowboys. The fact that it uses historical bases for the characters and situations makes it even more fascinating.

[ official News of the World web site ] | [ official Paulette Jiles web site ]

Recommended by Becky W.C.
Walt Branch Library

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Crossfire Trail by Louis L'Amour

Crossfire Trail
by Louis L'Amour

A L'Amour western of an injustice that one man attempts to correct. Rafe was shanghaied and spent a year at sea. While a shipboard-prisoner, he meets four men, also shanghaied into the crew, who become his friends. The oldest one was beaten and eventually died but not before giving Rafe the deed to his ranch to give to his wife and daughter. Rafe and the others escape the ship and make their way to Wyoming where they learn the wife has died, and the daughter is now engaged to the man who holds the mortgage. Shady dealings about the father's death, and now it turns out there's oil on that land...Interesting characters, men of a moral code, bad guys, and a good, basic western. Also made into a tv-movie starring Tom Selleck and Mark Harmon, which the library owns on DVD. -- recommended by Charlotte K. - Bennett Martin Public Library [ see Charlotte's Reviewer Profile and more of her reviews ]

[Also available in book-on-cd, DVD and Large Print formats.]

[ official Crossfire page on the official Louis L'Amour web site ]

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Big Sky Country

Big Sky Country
by Linda Lael Miller

A good ol' modern cowboy romance. This is the first book of three in a new series that takes place in Parable, MT. Sheriff Slade Barlow, the illegitimate son of a wealthy rancher, was never acknowledged by his father, and lived a hardscrabble life with his single mother. He's stunned to learn he's inherited half of the entire estate - which doesn't set well with his half-brother Hutch. Re-enter Joslyn Kirk who left town in shame due to her stepfather swindling many of the townfolk out of their life savings. Now a software designer she's recently sold her highly successful company and has secretly begun paying them back. Sparks fly between Slade and Joslyn. We meet memorable, likeable characters that make this series and town come alive. A nice romance, a quick easy read, a couple of love scenes. How can you not like a cowboy romance with characters named Slade and Boone? [If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Book #2 is Big Sky Mountain; Book #3, Big Sky River, is due out in Dec.] -- recommended by Charlotte K. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[Also available in book-on-cd, downloadable E-book and Large Print formats.]

[ official Big Sky Country page on the official Linda Lael Miller web site ]

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Cowboys & Aliens (graphic novel)

Cowboys & Aliens
by Fred Van Lente, Andrew Foley, Luciano Lima, Luciano Lars and J. Wilson, and Silvio Spotti [741.5 Van]

Having been mildly entertained by the hodge-podge film Cowboys & Aliens in the summer of 2011, I was intrigued to actually read the graphic novel that served as inspiration for that film. I ended up far more impressed by the graphic novel than by the film. They resemble each other in only broad strokes -- both deal with humans in the wild west encountering a small alien invasion force and their efforts, with the assistance of one rebellious alien, to prevent the invaders from summoning additional reinforcements. Where the film introduces human conflicts with a cattle baron and an amnesiac central hero, the graphic novel is much more of a straight adventure story, with a traditional heroic cowboy trying to save the day. I'm not a fan of the art in the graphic novel, which varies from quite good to atrocious, but the flow of the action and the storytelling was good. If you haven't seen the film, the book will make even more sense. I recommend this -- as both science fiction, western and graphic storytelling. [If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the feature film, starring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford.] -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library [ view and subscribe to Scott's monthly booklist newsletter - It's All Geek to Me! ]

[ Wikipedia page for movie ] | [ official Cowboys & Aliens graphic novel web site ]

See more books like this on our Graphic Novels booklist

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide

website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month.