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Staff Picks 2020: TV, Movies & Music
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Knives out /
Wes's Pick and Deanna's Pick:
A tribute to mystery mastermind Agatha Christie and a fun, modern-day murder mystery where everyone is a suspect. When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey is found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday, the inquisitive and debonair Detective Benoit Blanc is mysteriously enlisted to investigate. From Harlan's dysfunctional family to his devoted staff, Blanc sifts through a web of red herrings and self-serving lies to uncover the truth behind Harlan's untimely death.
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High Fidelity
Laura's Pick:
A fan of music, pop culture and Top Five lists runs a local record store in her hometown. An adaptation of Nick Hornby's novel "High Fidelity".
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First cow /
Jess's Pick:
Set in the 1820s Pacific Northwest, a cook and a Chinese immigrant come up with a scheme to strike it rich involving a wealthy businessman's prized dairy cow
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Ophelia /
Jess's Pick:
In a story based on Shakespeare's Hamlet, Ophelia tells of her life in the court at Elsinore, her love for Prince Hamlet, and her escape from the violence in Denmark
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Plot against America /
Jess's Pick:
A working class Jewish family in New Jersey watches as Charles Lindbergh rises to power in the United States and feels the impact of his presidency on the nation
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I Know This Much Is True
Laura's Pick:
Middle-aged Dominick Birdsey recounts his troubled relationship with Thomas, his paranoid schizophrenic twin brother, and his efforts to get him released from an asylum.
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Normal People
Laura's Pick:
Follows Marianne and Connell, from different backgrounds but the same small town in Ireland, as they weave in and out of each other's romantic lives.
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We Are Who We Are
Laura's Pick:
Two American teenagers come of age while living on an American military base in Italy.
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Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution
Laura's Pick:
Down the road from Woodstock, a revolution blossomed at a ramshackle summer camp for teenagers with disabilities, transforming their lives and igniting a landmark movement.
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The Social Dilemma
Laura's Pick:
Explores the dangerous human impact of social networking, with tech experts sounding the alarm on their own creations.
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Lingua Franca
Laura's Pick:
Olivia, an undocumented Filipino transwoman, works as a caregiver to Olga, an elderly Russian woman, in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. When Olivia runs out of options to attain legal status in the US, she becomes romantically involved with Alex, Olga's adult grandson, in the pursuit of a marriage-based green card.
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Altered Carbon
Danny's Pick:
SThis series, apparently based on a book series by Richard K. Morgan, which I have not read yet. Altered Carbon is a cyberpunk noir set in a world where people can store their brain's data on computer chips and switch between cloned bodies at will, even across interstellar distances. Assuming they can afford it, of course. This is excellent science fiction, grounded in a familiar mystery plot."
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Enola Holmes
Glynis's Pick:
When Enola Holmes-Sherlock's teen sister-discovers her mother missing, she sets off to find her, becoming a super-sleuth in her own right as she outwits her famous brother and unravels a dangerous conspiracy around a mysterious young Lord.
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Discovery of witches /
Glynis's Pick:
Follows the adventures of Diana Bishop, a brilliant historian and witch, who forms an alliance with geneticist and vampire Matthew Clairmont after discovering a bewitched manuscript in Oxford's Bodleian Library
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Rocketman /
Vickie's Pick:
Presents a musical fantasy film about the life of English rock musician Elton John, featuring many of his songs
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Call the midwife
Lisa's Pick:
Follows a group of midwives in the East End of London in the early 1960s
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Grace and Frankie
Lisa's Pick:
Two women who have always been rivals are shocked when their husbands announce that they are in love with one another and are leaving their wives
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Stranger Things, Vol. 1 (OSC)
Lisa's Pick:
When a young boy disappears, his mother, a police chief and his friends must confront terrifying supernatural forces in order to get him back.
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The Umbrella Academy
Lisa's Pick:
A family of former child heroes, now grown apart, must reunite to continue to protect the world.
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Unorthodox
Lisa's Pick:
Story of a young ultra-Orthodox Jewish woman who flees her arranged marriage and religious community to start a new life abroad.
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Avatar: The Last Airbender
Lisa's Pick:
Live-action adaptation of the animated series centering on the adventures of Aang and his friends, who fight to save the world by defeating the Fire-Nation
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Tudors:
Deanna's Pick:
The Tudors presents the rarely dramatized, tumultuous early years of King Henry VIII's nearly 40 year, omnipotent reign (1509-1547). In addition to his famous female consorts and 20+ year marriage to Catherine of Aragon to the infamous dalliance with Anne Boleyn, the series delves in to Henry's most notable political relationship and the deconstruction of the Roman Catholic Church in England.
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Portrait of a lady on fire /
Jeff's Pick:
Set in 1760 France, Marianne arrives at an isolated seaside estate to secretly paint the wedding portrait of H©♭lo©¯se, a young woman who has recently left the convent and is about to enter a chattel marriage
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Expanse
Jeff's Pick:
TV Series. In a future where humanity has colonized the solar system, a conspiracy is unraveled that threatens peace across the system
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Kajillionaire
Laura's Pick:
Con-artists Theresa (Debra Winger) and Robert (Richard Jenkins) have spent 26 years training their only daughter, Old Dolio (Evan Rachel Wood), to swindle, scam, and steal at every opportunity. During a desperate, hastily conceived heist, they charm a stranger (Gina Rodriguez) into joining their family, only to have their entire world turned upside down.
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And then we danced /
Laura's Pick:
Merab, a young male dancer living in conservative Tbilisi, hopes for a spot in the National Georgian Ensemble, but his dreams are disrupted by the arrival of a new male dancer
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KIND
Laura's Pick:
2020 Album from Thanya Iyer
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Punisher /
Jeff's Pick:
2020 Album from Phoebe Bridges
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