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The Contender is a 2000 political drama film written and directed by Rod Lurie. It stars Gary Oldman, Joan Allen, Jeff Bridges and Christian Slater. The film focuses on a fictional United States President (played by Bridges) and the events surrounding his appointment of a new Vice President (Allen). Second-term Democratic U.S. President Jackson Evans (Jeff Bridges) must select a new vice president following the sudden death of the current VP. The obvious choice seems to be Virginia Governor Jack Hathaway (William Petersen), who is hailed as a hero after he recently dove into a lake in a failed attempt to save a drowning girl. The president opts not to choose Hathaway, claiming that the administration cannot afford another Chappaquiddick.   The President instead decides that his "swan song" will be helping to break the glass ceiling. He nominates Laine Hanson (Joan Allen), a talented Democratic senator from Ohio. Standing in her way is Republican Congressman Shelley Runyon (Gary Oldman) of Illinois, who believes she is unqualified for the position, and backs Hathaway for the nod. His investigation in her background turns up an incident where she was apparently photographed participating in a drunken orgy as part of a sorority initiation.   The confirmation hearings begin in Washington, D.C., and Runyon, who chairs the committee, quickly addresses Hanson's alleged sexual imbroglio. Hanson refuses to address the incident, neither confirming nor denying anything, and tries to turn the discussion towards political issues. Anticipating that Hanson would deem her personal past "none of anyone's business," Runyon starts rumors in the media saying that the sexual escapade in college was done in exchange for money and favors, making it prostitution. Meanwhile, a woman testifies in front of the committee saying that Hanson engaged in a relationship with her then-husband prior to their divorce. Though she is said to be not guilty of adultery, her reputation is further tarnished.   Clasificación [ CM DVD 00531] Disponible en DVD, 4 Piso BJB)  

The Lady Eve is a 1941 American screwball comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges which stars Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda. Jean Harrington (Barbara Stanwyck) is a beautiful con artist. Along with her equally larcenous father, "Colonel" Harrington (Charles Coburn) and his partner Gerald (Melville Cooper), she is out to fleece rich, naive Charles Pike (Henry Fonda), the heir to the Pike Ale fortune ("The Ale That Won for Yale"). Pike is a woman-shy snake expert just returning from a year-long expedition up the Amazon. Though surrounded by ladies desperate for his attention, Charles is putty in Jean's hands.   But even the best laid plans can go astray. First, Jean falls hard for Pike and shields him from her card sharp father. Then, when Pike's suspicious minder/valet Muggsy (William Demarest) discovers the truth about her and her father, Pike dumps her. Furious at being scorned, she re-enters his life masquerading as the posh "Lady Eve Sidwich", niece of Sir Alfred McGlennan Keith (Eric Blore), another con man who's been swindling the rich folk of Connecticut. Jean is determined to torment Pike mercilessly, as she explains, "I've got some unfinished business with him—I need him like the axe needs the turkey."   When Pike meets "Eve", he is so bewildered he constantly trips and falls over himself. Although Muggsy tries to convince him "she's the same dame", Pike reasons that Jean would never come close to his home without at least disguising herself, so he concludes the resemblance is only a coincidence. After a brief courtship, they marry, and on the train to their honeymoon, "Eve" begins to confess her past, dropping name after name after name of old boyfriends and lovers. Pike finally gets fed up and jumps off the train.   Clasificación [ CM DVD 00530] Disponible en DVD, 4 Piso BJB)

The Insider (en España El dilema, en Hispanoamérica El informante) es una película dirigida por Michael Mann en 1999. El argumento versa acerca del mercado del tabaco, que mueve sumas multimillonarias, y acerca de las polémicas estrategias y artimañas utilizadas por las empresas tabaqueras a la hora de comercializar los cigarrillos. La película está basada en un caso real en el que Brown & Williamson, una de las principales tabacaleras del mundo, fue condenada por la justicia estadounidense por añadir sustancias adictivas al tabaco que incrementaban el poder adictivo del mismo.   El centro del argumento se refiere a la decisión de una compañía tabacalera de añadir a los cigarrillos cumarina, una sustancia que incrementa la adicción del consumidor a los cigarrillos. La cumarina es moderadamente tóxica para el hígado y los riñones, con una dosis letal 50 (LD50) de 275 mg/kg. La Occupational Safety and Health Administration considera a la cumarina como un compuesto carcinogénico específico del pulmón.1 El compuesto fue prohibido como en cigarrillos en 1997 y está listado en EE. UU. por la FDA entre las sustancias cuya adición directa para uso en alimentos con destino al consumo por humanos está prohibida.   Clasificación [ CM DVD 00529] Disponible en DVD, 4 Piso BJB)

The Searchers (en Argentina, en Chile y en México, Más corazón que odio; en España, Centauros del desierto) es una película estadounidense de 1956 basada en la novela de Alan Le May, dirigida por John Ford y con John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Natalie Wood y Ward Bond como actores principales. Ethan (John Wayne) regresa a su casa después de haber estado en la guerra y al poco tiempo toda su familia es asesinada por los comanches, y su sobrina raptada. Jura rescatar a su sobrina y matar a todos los indios que hayan intervenido en estos actos criminales. Durante cinco largos años persigue a los comanches, acompañado de su sobrino Martin (Jeffrey Hunter). Clasificación [ CM DVD 00528] Disponible en DVD, 4 Piso BJB)

Los mejores años de nuestra vida (The Best Years of Our Lives) es una película estadounidense de 1946 dirigida por William Wyler y con Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo y Dana Andrews en los papeles principales. Está basada en la novela de 1945 Glory for Me, de MacKinlay Kantor (1904 – 1977).   La película obtuvo varios premios cinematográficos estadounidenses y europeos, entre ellos siete Premios Óscar, incluidos los de mejor película, director, actor (Fredric March) y actor secundario (Harold Russell).   En 1989, fue incluida entre las obras cinematográficas que conserva el National Film Registry de la Biblioteca del Congreso de Estados Unidos por ser consideradas «cultural, histórica o estéticamente significativas».   Tres hombres que regresan a su ciudad de la guerra realizan juntos la etapa final del viaje y entablan amistad. Cada uno se encuentra, a su manera, con dificultades para adaptarse de nuevo a una vida normal.   Clasificación [ CM DVD 00527] Disponible en DVD, 4 Piso BJB)  

Contempt (French: Le Mépris) is a 1963 film directed by Jean-Luc Godard, based on the Italian novel A Ghost at Noon by Alberto Moravia. American film producer Jeremy Prokosch (Jack Palance) hires respected Austrian director Fritz Lang (playing himself) to direct a film adaptation of Homer's Odyssey. Dissatisfied with Lang's treatment of the material as an art film, Prokosch hires Paul Javal (Michel Piccoli), a novelist and playwright, to rework the script. The conflict between artistic expression and commercial opportunity parallels Paul's sudden estrangement from his wife Camille Javal (Brigitte Bardot), who becomes aloof with Paul after he leaves her alone with Prokosch, a millionaire playboy.   While founded on Alberto Moravia's story of the progressive estrangement between a husband and wife, Godard's version also contains deliberate parallels with aspects of his own life: while Paul, Camille, and Prokosch correspond to Ulysses, Penelope, and Poseidon, respectively, they also correspond in some ways with Godard, his wife Anna Karina (his choice of female lead), and Joseph E. Levine, the film's distributor. At one point Bardot dons a black wig, which gives her a resemblance to Karina. Michel Piccoli also bears some resemblance to Brigitte Bardot's ex-husband, the filmmaker Roger Vadim.   Also notable in the film is a discussion of Dante – particularly Canto XXVI of Inferno, about Odysseus' last fatal voyage beyond the Pillars of Hercules to the other side of the world – and Friedrich Hölderlin's poem, "Dichterberuf" ("The Poet's Vocation").   Clasificación [ CM DVD 00526] Disponible en DVD, 4 Piso BJB)  

Vampiros, de John Carpenter (también conocida como John Carpenter's Vampires) es una película de western-horror dirigida por John Carpenter en 1998. Adaptada vagamente de la novela Vampire$ de John Steakley, la película está protagonizada por James Woods como Jack Crow, líder de un grupo de cazavampiros de la iglesia católica. La trama se centra en el esfuerzo de Crow de prevenir que una cruz centenaria, caiga en las manos de Valek, un maestro vampiro.   El film se caracteriza por su fuerte estética de Western y alusiones al fuerte liderazgo masculino. La película tuvo dos secuelas: Vampires: Los Muertos (2002) que está protagonizada por Jon Bon Jovi y Vampires: The Turning (2005).   El protagonista Jack Crow, interpretado por James Woods es el jefe de un grupo de cazadores de vampiros, contratados por el Vaticano. Estos llegan a Nuevo México para buscar al vampiro Valek, interpretado por Thomas Ian Griffith, que es un vampiro que lleva vivo desde el siglo XIV.   Crow tiene la ayuda para la misión de Montoya (Daniel Baldwin), de una prostituta llamada Katrina (Sheryl Lee), que ha sido mordida por Valek y del padre Guiteau (Tim Guinee) que ha sido enviado por el Vaticano para colaborar en su muerte.   Clasificación [ CM DVD 00895 ] Disponible en DVD, 4 Piso BJB)

M (German: M – Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder — "M – A city looks for a murderer") is a 1931 German drama-thriller film directed by Fritz Lang and starring Peter Lorre. It was written by Lang and his wife Thea von Harbou and was the director's first sound film. A group of children are playing an elimination game in the courtyard of an apartment building in Berlin[5] using a chant about a child murderer. A woman sets the table for dinner, waiting for her daughter to come home from school. A wanted poster warns of a serial killer preying on children, as anxious parents wait outside a school.   Little Elsie Beckmann leaves school, bouncing a ball on her way home. She is approached by Hans Beckert, who is whistling "In the Hall of the Mountain King" by Edvard Grieg. He offers to buy her a balloon from a blind street-vendor. He walks and talks with her. Elsie's place at the dinner table remains empty, her ball is shown rolling away across a patch of grass, and her balloon is lost in the telephone lines overhead.   In the wake of Elsie's death, Beckert sends an angry letter about his crimes to the newspapers, from which the police extract clues using the new techniques of fingerprinting and handwriting analysis. Under mounting pressure from city leaders, the police work around the clock. Inspector Karl Lohmann instructs his men to intensify their search and to check the records of recently released psychiatric patients to look for those with a history of violence against children. They stage frequent raids to question known criminals, disrupting underworld business so badly that Der Schränker ("The Safecracker") calls a meeting of the city's criminal bosses. They decide to organize their own manhunt, using beggars to watch and guard the children.   The police discover two clues corresponding to the killer's letter in Beckert's rented rooms. They wait there to arrest him.   Clasificación [ CM DVD 00525] Disponible en DVD, 4 Piso BJB)  

Zero Kelvin (Norwegian: Kjærlighetens kjøtere) is a 1995 Norwegian film starring Stellan Skarsgård, an actor known to English-speaking audiences from his roles in such films as Good Will Hunting.   In 1920s Oslo, Henrik Larsen (Gard B. Eidsvold), an aspiring poet, leaves his girlfriend (Camilla Martens) to spend a year as a trapper in Greenland, where he is teamed with a sailor (Stellan Skarsgård) and a scientist (Bjørn Sundquist). The men are trapped in a tiny hut, as the arctic winter sets in, and a complex and intense love/hate relationship develops between the poet and the sailor – both who are more similar to one another than either would like to admit. Their conflict plays out in isolation amidst stunningly bleak arctic scenery, filmed in Svalbard.   Clasificación [ CM DVD 00896 ] Disponible en DVD, 4 Piso BJB)

El león en invierno (The Lion in Winter) es una película británica de 1968 dirigida por Anthony Harvey. Narra las circunstancias políticas del Reino de Inglaterra a fines del siglo XII para decidir la sucesión del rey Enrique II. Enrique II, rey de Inglaterra (Peter O'Toole), celebra la fiesta de Navidad de 1183 y ordena que su esposa, Leonor de Aquitania (Katharine Hepburn), salga del encierro donde la tiene desde hace diez años.   En el castillo de Chinon (hoy en día Francia), donde Enrique vive con su amante Alais (Adela de Francia), reúnen a sus tres hijos, el mayor y valiente Ricardo (Anthony Hopkins), futuro Ricardo I de Inglaterra, Corazón de León, el manipulador Geoffrey (John Castle), futuro Godofredo II de Bretaña, y el joven Juan (Nigel Terry), futuro Juan I de Inglaterra (Juan sin Tierra), para decidir quién le sucede en el trono.   Entre Leonor y Enrique surgirá una disputa por la sucesión del trono: Ricardo es el preferido de su madre y Juan el de su padre.   El rey Felipe II de Francia (Timothy Dalton) visita al rey inglés para solucionar el problema de su hermana Alais (Adela de Francia), prometida como futura esposa de quien sea el futuro rey inglés, y convertida ya en amante de Enrique II.   Clasificación [ CM DVD 00524] Disponible en DVD, 4 Piso BJB)