Rhonda Rosen is the media librarian at the William H. Hannon Library. She works with faculty, students, and staff to support their continuity of instruction through the utilization of media resources. Over the past few weeks, we have licensed more than 50 films for students to view for their classes.
One of the many streaming video databases we offer at the William H. Hannon Library is the Swank Collection – a funny name, but a wonderful resource for streaming feature or theatrical films. “As I reviewed the film titles, I noticed that many of the titles described my life during this COVID-19 period!” says Rosen. We hope you enjoy this list, Lions. (Please note: Viewing these films requires a MyLMU login)
- Contagion: A thriller centered on the threat posed by a deadly disease and an international team of doctors contracted by the CDC to deal with the outbreak.
- Cape Fear: Sadistic ex-con Max Cady seeks revenge on the defense attorney who acted unethically in order to ensure he went to jail.
- True Grit: U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn helps a headstrong young girl find the man who murdered her father in Native American territory and fled with the family savings. When Rooster’s employer insists on accompanying the old gunfighter, sparks fly. The situation goes from troubled to disastrous when an inexperienced Texas Ranger joins the party.
- Bamboozled: A satire of black representation on TV focuses on a network exec with a hit show based on negative stereotypes.
- Badlands: Fact-based tale of a 15-year-old and her 25-year-old boyfriend who embark on a killing spree in the Dakota badlands of 1958.
- The Reader: A law student encounters his ex-lover during a Nazi war-crime trial.
- Network: Multiple Academy award winning film about a television newscaster’s mental breakdown which turns him into a celebrity when the network tries to profit from his illness.
- Better Luck Tomorrow: A group of seemingly “perfect” high-school buddies lead double lives. They fly high in a world of petty crime and material excess – a free-wheeling lifestyle that soon takes a downward spiral, leading to an unexpected, violent end.
- Life is Beautiful: An Italian Jew tries to protect his son in a Nazi concentration camp. An Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film.
- Safe: A suicidal New Jersey cage fighter (Jason Statham) protects a 10-year-old Chinese math prodigy from the Triads, the Russian mafia and corrupt cops after the little girl is forced to memorize a numerical code that could be the key to a fortune.
What ten books, music selections, works of art, or films best describe your quarantine life? Please share them with us! As always, we hope you are staying safe and staying home during this time. If you need any help accessing these resources, you can contact us online.