Month: October 2015

Alternative programming: How about a different holiday?

From The Native Americans We probably don’t need to recap the reasons why Columbus Day has lost favor in the past few years. Ask your favorite history professor or the ghost of Howard Zinn. But, if you’re looking for more material about the real history of Columbus’s expeditions and the lives of Native Americans we … Continue reading “Alternative programming: How about a different holiday?”

From The Native Americans

We probably don’t need to recap the reasons why Columbus Day has lost favor in the past few years. Ask your favorite history professor or the ghost of Howard Zinn.

But, if you’re looking for more material about the real history of Columbus’s expeditions and the lives of Native Americans we are happy to supply you with a few relevant videos. Many groups are pushing to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous People’s Day, so we’d like to tear down the old history narrative at the same time as celebrating the people who should really get the credit for being here first.

Rather than listing individual titles this time, we’ll point you to our Indigenous Peoples of the Americas filmography. The general filmography list has some stirring videos about historical narrative and revisionism, but you’ll most likely want to look at the U.S. / Canada page, which focuses on both the effect of Europe’s expeditions and current Native American life and media portrayals.

That list includes many streaming titles, so you can watch them instantly from your device of choice. It’s certainly a better way to spend an hour than continuing to observe this very strange holiday.

DC’s most genuinely spooky place becomes a landmark

If you’re an AU student who has made the trek to Georgetown, you’ve probably encountered the Exorcist steps, the legendary staircase famously used in a climactic scene from the bone-chillingly terrifying film The Exorcist. It’s in an unassuming spot – behind a gas station on M Street – but it has for decades served as … Continue reading “DC’s most genuinely spooky place becomes a landmark”

If you’re an AU student who has made the trek to Georgetown, you’ve probably encountered the Exorcist steps, the legendary staircase famously used in a climactic scene from the bone-chillingly terrifying film The Exorcist. It’s in an unassuming spot – behind a gas station on M Street – but it has for decades served as a beacon for local horror and movie fans.

At long last, the DC local government has decided to honor the Exorcist steps by making them an official city landmark. The commemoration ceremony will be held on October 30th at 6pm, right in time for Halloween. Public attendees are welcome and are invited to mingle beforehand with writer William Peter Blatty and author William Friedkin. (Bring something for them to autograph!)

American University and the School of Communications appear to be co-sponsoring this event, though we couldn’t find anything official about that. Either way, it’s still unlikely that you’ll be able to go to the invitation-only screening of The Exorcist that follows the ceremony. But certainly head down to see a piece of DC movie trivia become DC history.

Snag an armload of Criterion titles for half-off today!

Like an Arby’s selling piles of loose beef, the Criterion Collection has opened the floodgates on their store and is selling their entire DVD and Blu-ray stock for 50% off for the next 24 hours. This is a fantastic sale that every film buff should consider taking advantage of. The Criterion Collection sells the definitive … Continue reading “Snag an armload of Criterion titles for half-off today!”

Like an Arby’s selling piles of loose beef, the Criterion Collection has opened the floodgates on their store and is selling their entire DVD and Blu-ray stock for 50% off for the next 24 hours.

This is a fantastic sale that every film buff should consider taking advantage of. The Criterion Collection sells the definitive home video restorations of hundreds of classic films, everything from 20s silents to one of last year’s Oscar nominees. They have a formidable storefront, and if you’ve ever wanted to start your own film library, this is the best place to jump in and pick up a few great titles. DVDs that might normally cost $40 are selling for $20, which is a steal considering the extra content and commentary packed onto each disc.

If you’re having trouble figuring out what to buy, check out Criterion’s sale dashboard, which tracks the most popular films as well as which ones have almost run out. As of this writing, there’s only a few copies of Videodrome left. Go go go!

(To get the 50% discount, use the promo code SUZY when checking out.)

New Acquisitions – October 2015

Spooky season is here – and not just because of Halloween. A hurricane might be hitting us soon, and we’re not feeling a weekend of overcast, rain, and wind. As with nearly any other circumstance, we see this as a prime opportunity for movie-watching… at least until the power goes out. So we present to … Continue reading “New Acquisitions – October 2015”

Spooky season is here – and not just because of Halloween. A hurricane might be hitting us soon, and we’re not feeling a weekend of overcast, rain, and wind. As with nearly any other circumstance, we see this as a prime opportunity for movie-watching… at least until the power goes out.

So we present to you another round up of new DVDs from the last few weeks. Our two biggest names are the box office-annihilating Furious 7 and Divergent sequel Insurgent. On the critical acclaim front, you should probably see the devastating, Marion Cotillard-fronted Two Days, One Night and the Oscar-winning Edward Snowden documentary Citizenfour. Television fans could consider HBO’s stealth hits Hello Ladies and The Jinx. And if none of that strikes you, surely everyone has a soft-spot for I Am Big Bird.

Follow the link for a full list of what we have this month…

Home Use Collection:

Tokyo Story – HU BLU 696
Tokyo Story – HU DVD 696
My Beautiful Launderette – HU DVD 3451
Justified, Season 6 – HU DVD 6220
Portlandia, Season 5 – HU DVD 7575
Scandal, Season 4 – HU DVD 8866
Hana Suku Minato = Port of Flowers – HU DVD 9946
Ikite iru Magoroku = The Living Magoroku – HU DVD 9947
Rikugun = Army – HU DVD 9948
Osone-ke Ashita = Morning for the Osone Family – HU DVD 9950
Summer Interlude – HU DVD 12327
The Black Stallion – HU DVD 12328
Hello Ladies – HU DVD 12329
Hello Ladies: The Movie – HU DVD 12330
Woman in Gold – HU DVD 12331
The Bridge – HU DVD 12332
Rich Hill – HU DVD 12333
Insurgent – HU DVD 12399
Tito and Me – HU DVD 12442
Slow West – HU DVD 12455
The Salt of the Earth – HU BLU 12456
The Salt of the Earth – HU DVD 12456
Two Days, One Night – HU DVD 12457
As Above, So Below – HU BLU 12458
As Above, So Below – HU DVD 12458
The Man Who Knew Too little – HU DVD 12472
Mom and Dad – HU DVD 12473
Jud Suss – HU DVD 12474
Private Parts – HU DVD 12475
The Out-of-Towners – HU DVD 12476
F*ck: A Documentary – HU DVD 12477
Roots, Rock, Reggae: Inside the Jamaican Music Scene – HU DVD 12478
Girlhood – HU DVD 12479
Magick Lantern Cycle – HU BLU 12481
Magick Lantern Cycle – HU DVD 12481
Citizenfour – HU DVD 12484
Bessie – HU DVD 12485
Far from the Madding Crowd – HU DVD 12487
A Perfect Murder / Murder by Numbers / Murder in the First – HU DVD 12488
Mr. Angel – HU DVD 12493
Us and the Game Industry – HU DVD 12494
Pinky and the Brain, Vol. 1 – HU DVD 12495
The Jinx – HU DVD 12496
Flirting with Disaster – HU DVD 12497
High Art – HU DVD 12498
Don Juan DeMarco – HU DVD 12499
The Decline of Western Civilization – HU DVD 12500
El Rapto – HU DVD 12501
I Am Big Bird – HU DVD 12506
Children of the Revolution – HU DVD 12506
A Cat in Paris – HU DVD 12507
Atlantic City – HU DVD 12508
Bring it On – HU DVD 12509
Frances – HU DVD 12510
Boiler Room – HU DVD 12511
Used Cars – HU DVD 12512
The Muse – HU DVD 12513
The War of the Roses – HU DVD 12514
Midnight Run – HU DVD 12515
Sunshine State – HU DVD 12516
Slums of Beverly Hills – HU DVD 12517
The Cooler – HU DVD 12518
Go – HU DVD 12521
Drumline – HU DVD 12522
The Station Agent – HU DVD 12527
Roger Dodger – HU DVD 12528
The Dancer Upstairs – HU DVD 12529
Tin Men – HU DVD 12530
Internal Affairs – HU DVD 12531
Tango – HU DVD 12532
Los Hermanos Muerte / Pedro Parmano – HU DVD 12535
Donnie Brasco – HU DVD 12536
Lolita – HU DVD 12538
Sweet Revenge: Turning the Tables on Processed Food – HU DVD 12539
Richard Pryor: Icon – HU DVD 12540
The Search for Robert Johnson – HU DVD 12542
The Landlord – HU DVD 12543
Midnight Ramble – HU DVD 12554
The Fringe Dwellers – HU DVD 12564
The Wild Party – HU DVD 12565
Every Man for Himself – HU DVD 12567
Web Junkie – HU DVD 12568
Hollywood Ending – HU DVD 12569
Furious 7 – HU DVD 12574
The Beverly Hillbillies, Vol. 1 – HU DVD 12575
I Am Sam – HU DVD 12585
The Day After Tomorrow – HU DVD 12586
How to Make an American Quilt – HU DVD 12587
Deep Impact – HU DVD 12588
Valley Girl – HU DVD 12589
Lords of Dogtown – HU DVD 12590
The Poseidon Adventure – HU DVD 12591
Outbreak – HU DVD 12592
2012 – HU DVD 12593
Volcano – HU DVD 12594
The Beginning or the End – HU DVD 12596
The Secret Life of Bees – HU DVD 12597
The Quiet Earth – HU DVD 12598

In-Library Titles:

Broken Pots, Broken Dreams – DVD 12537
Tomorrow We Disappear – DVD 12423