Titles Available as of July 2022
This is a selective list of streaming video holdings in the American University Library. Streaming guides are created by doing multiple keyword searches in the library catalog to capture as many titles on a topic as possible. For complete up-to-date streaming holdings, please refer to our streaming catalog.
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
At the age of 9, Abraham Lincoln witnesses his mother being killed by a vampire, Jack Barts. Some 10 years later, he unsuccessfully tries to eliminate Barts but in the process makes the acquaintance of Henry Sturgess who teaches him how to fight and what is required to kill a vampire. The quid pro quo is that Abe will kill only those vampires that Henry directs him to. Abe relocates to Springfield where he gets a job as a store clerk while he studies the law and kills vampires by night. He also meets and eventually marries the pretty Mary Todd. Many years later as President of the United States, he comes to realize that vampires are fighting with the Confederate forces. As a result he mounts his own campaign to defeat them.
A team of civilian divers on a prototype underwater oil-drilling rig are pressed into service by the U.S. navy in a rescue effort for a sunken nuclear submarine. The mission involves an uneasy blend of wonder, discovery and conflict as the navy supervisor begins to have paranoid ideas about what is in the abyss.
When commercial towing vehicle Nostromo, heading back to Earth, intercepts an SoS signal from a nearby planet, the crew are under obligation to investigate. After a bad landing on the planet, some crew members leave the ship to explore the area. At the same time as they discover a hive colony of some unknown creature, the ship's computer deciphers the message to be a warning, not a call for help. When one of the eggs is disturbed, the crew do not know the danger they are in until it is too late.
An expedition of archaeologists on Earth discover an Aztec temple hidden under the Antarctic circle, housing a host of Alien creatures. A group of five coming-of-age Predators have also come to the temple, as it has long been a training ground for their race. From there on, it's Aliens vs. Predators, with the humans caught in the middle.
When a Predator scout ship crash lands in a Colorado town. The Aliens on board escape and kill all the Predators except one. The last remaining Predator must now destroy all the Aliens as well as the horfic Pred-Alien that was spawned in the first AVP. Meanwhile the towns people are helplessly caught in the middle of the ultimate face-off between these two mythic creatures.
Marvel's legendary comic hero known as the Man Without Fear comes to the big screen. Attorney Matt Murdock is blind, but his other four senses function with superhuman sharpness. By day, Murdock represents the downtrodden. At night, he is Daredevil, a masked vigilante stalking the dark streets of the city, a relentless avenger of justice.
Based upon Marvel Comics most unconventional anti-hero, DEADPOOL tells the origin story of former Special Forces operative turned mercenary Wade Wilson, who after being subjected to a rogue experiment that leaves him with accelerated healing powers, adopts the alter ego Deadpool. Armed with his new abilities and a dark, twisted sense of humor, Deadpool hunts down the man who nearly destroyed his life.
To Greg Heffley, middle school is the dumbest idea ever invented. It's a place rigged with hundreds of social landmines, not the least of which are morons, wedgies, swirlies, bullies, lunchtime banishment to the cafeteria floor - and a festering piece of cheese with nuclear cooties. To survive the never-ending ordeal and attain the recognition and status he feels he so richly deserves, Greg devises an endless series of can't-miss schemes, all of which, of course, go awry. And he's getting it all down on paper, via a diary - "it's NOT a diary, it's a journal!" Greg insists, preferring the less-sissyfied designation - filled with his opinions, thoughts, tales of family trials and tribulations, and (would-be) schoolyard triumphs. "One day when I'm famous," writes Greg, "I'll have better things to do than answer peoples' stupid questions all day." So was born the Wimpy Kid's diary.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Rodrick Rules
In this sequel to 2010's surprise hit, Greg Heffley, the kid who made "wimpy" cool is back in an all-new family comedy based on the best-selling follow-up novel by Jeff Kinney. (Kinney's Wimpy Kid" series has thus far sold 28 million books.) As he begins seventh grade, Greg and his older brother - and chief tormentor - Rodrick must deal with their parents' misguided attempts to have them bond.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
Based on author and cartoonist Jeff Kinney's fourth Wimpy Kid book - released on October 12, 2009. The book continues right after the previous book, "The Last Straw." The book opens describing Greg's worst summer ever beginning with Greg Heffley and Rowley Jefferson going to Rowley's country club after school closes for the summer, but Greg is kicked out because he complained of even the smallest predicaments.
With a lively backdrop of superheroes, comic books, and animated comics, DRAWN TOGETHER brings together three talented artists-a Sikh, a woman, and an African American-who are challenging the racist stereotyping currently endemic in America through their work. The documentary provides the rare opportunity to explore the subjects of race, gender, and religion stereotyping through the universally popular medium of comic books and cartoons. DRAWN TOGETHER boldly encourages viewers to unlearn stereotyping, look beyond the obvious, and confront media prejudices-all through an uncommon and inherently engaging everyday source.
Funny Ladies: A Portrait of Women Cartoonists
WHY are so few women in the comics pages? That question becomes even more provocative as we watch four smart and witty role models -- Cathy Guisewite, Nicole Hollander, Lynda Barry and "Brenda Starr's" Dale Messick -- share their creative process. Viewers will find themselves looking at the comics, and the world, in a new way. Entertaining and informative, the cartoonists reveal fascinating relationships with their characters, who say or do exactly what their creators wish they could say or do in real life. Their feisty heroines speak their minds, allowing the cartoonists to explore the power of humor in storytelling. Within a few frames, the cartoonists manage to dig deep and explore a variety of subjects -- childhood dreams and torments, the disarray of domestic life, the elusive nature of self-image, and the power of friendships to restore the spirits. Viewers will see that the comics can communicate unexpected truths about politics, stereotypes, self-esteem, relationships and aging.
“First love is an intoxicating experience, but with it can come excruciating awkwardness, unrequited emotions, and confusing issues of identity. In her trademark playful style, Quebec cartoonist and animator Diane Obomsawin, a.k.a. Obom, adapts her latest graphic novel for the screen, using endearing anthropomorphic figures to tell poignant real-life stories of love.
When the Kingsman headquarters are destroyed and the world is held hostage, their journey leads them to the discovery of an allied spy organization in the US called Statesman, dating back to the day they were both founded. In a new adventure that tests their agents' strength and wits to the limit, these two elite secret organizations band together to defeat a ruthless common enemy, in order to save the world, something that's becoming a bit of a habit for Eggsy...
Based upon the acclaimed comic book and directed by Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class), Kingsman: The Secret Service tells the story of a super-secret spy organization that recruits an unrefined but promising street kid into the agency's ultra-competitive training program just as a global threat emerges from a twisted tech genius.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Sean Connery toplines THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN, based on the acclaimed graphic novel by Alan Moore (FROM HELL) and Kevin O'Neill. Described as a "period X-Men" - it's set in Victorian England - the film centers around a team of extraordinary figures from great adventure literature (including Alan Quatermain, vampiress Mina Harker from Dracula, an Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde, an American secret service agent named Sawyer, Captain Nemo and Dorian Gray), who are called to stop a villain intent on turning the nations of the world against one another. Stephen Norrington ("Blade") directs.
Set in the future, Logan and Professor Charles Xavier must cope with the loss of the X-Men when a corporation lead by Nathaniel Essex is destroying the world leaving it to destruction, with Logan's healing abilities slowly fading away and Xavier's Alzheimer's forcing him to forget. Logan must defeat Nathaniel Essex with the help of a young girl named Laura Kinney, a female clone of Wolverine.
Marmaduke, the world's most lovable Great Dane, leaps from comic strip fame (appearing in 600 newspapers in over 20 countries) to big screen stardom. In this family comedy event, the super-sized, ultra-awkward lap dog is living the good life with the Winslow family, including beleaguered dad Phil, Phil's wife Debbie, their three children, and feline pal Carlos. But when Phil uproots the clan from Kansas to California, Marmaduke finds his life turned upside-down. He must navigate the volatile Mutts vs. Pedigrees turf wars, woo the purebred of his dreams, and overcome a fall from grace from his new four-legged friends and his much put-upon family.
PATHFINDER tells the story of a young Viking boy left behind by his people in North America (which the Vikings had visited hundreds of years before Columbus). A stranger in a strange land, the boy is raised by a tribe of American Indians - the very people the Vikings had sworn to destroy. When Vikings again storm the eastern shores, waging a barbaric campaign, they slaughter the tribe that adopted the young man. Now age 25, he wages a violent personal war to stop the Viking's trail of death and destruction.
Three decades after it first shattered audiences worldwide, the animated classic about an elderly couple - voiced by Academy Award® winners Sir John Mills and Dame Peggy Ashcroft - attempting to survive the aftermath of a nuclear war. Directed by Jimmy T. Murakami, adapted by Raymond Briggs's acclaimed graphic novel, and featuring an original score with title song by David Bowie.
Based on the celebrated comic book arc, "The Wolverine" finds Logan, the eternal warrior an outsider, in Japan. There, samurai steel will clash with adamantium claw as Logan confronts a mysterious figure from his past in an epic battle that will leave him forever changed.
Based on the best-selling Marvel Comic's series, the story tells of a team of outcasts, each born with a unique genetic mutation that gives them extraordinary powers. Rejected by mankind, the X-Men soon realize that the citizens they fight to protect from evil have turned against them and they must resort to desperate actions to defend themselves against an intolerant world.
Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were archenemies, they were the closest of friends, working together, with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known. In the process, a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto's Brotherhood and Professor X's X-MEN.