Movies At Random: Elephant

Today’s random movie is Gus Van Sant’s Elephant (HU DVD 790). This 2003 film was briefly blamed for a school shooting, but otherwise was highly regarded. According to Wikipedia, the film starred mostly new or non-professional actors, which entailed much of the improvisation that gives the film its feel. Here’s our summary: Elephant takes us […]

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Movies At Random: Repulsion

Today’s random movie is Roman Polanski’s Repulsion (HU DVD 1944). This critically acclaimed film starring Catherine Deneuve is considered one of Polanski’s greatest works. Here’s our summary: Carol, who works in a beauty salon in London during the 1960s, is both repulsed and fascinated by men. She is unsure of how to handle their advances, […]

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Five Films Featuring…Clock Towers!

Did you know, a Clock Tower and a Bell Tower are considered two different kinds of towers by the highly reliable source for settling petty and pointless arguments, Wikipedia? For that reason, you won’t find Vertigo (HU DVD 14) on this list. But in any case, it’s TIME (get it??) to enjoy Five Films Featuring…Clock […]

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Movies At Random: Léolo

Today’s random movie is Léolo (HU DVD 1684)! From the Wikipedia summary: Léolo is a 1992 Canadian coming of age-fantasy film by director Jean-Claude Lauzon. The film tells the story of a young boy named Léo “Léolo” Lauzon, played by Maxime Collin, who engages in an active fantasy life while growing up with his Montreal family, […]

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Five Films Featuring…Torches!

Fun fact: the entire time I read the Chronicles of Narnia, it never occurred to me that the torch Edmund had was a flashlight. Torches of the fiery variety show up (pretty predictably) in monster-burning scenes paired with pitchforks, and also, you know, when people need light and fire is handy. But, without further ado, […]

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Wait…you tell me that it’s evolution??

I came across this really interesting article about the accent of the Beatles, and about the impact of accent on music in general: https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2018/02/06/accent-beatles-music-vocals-american-english/ The original article about the speech changes present in Beatles music argues that evolving into a new genre was matched with changes in pronunciation and other speech features. Accent, of course, […]

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Movie Posters!

I love movie posters, especially the typography on many of the older ones. So, imagine my delight to discover the Harry Ransom Center’s digital collection of movie posters. The wealth of graphic design imagination here is impressive. You can read more about the collection here: http://sites.utexas.edu/ransomcentermagazine/2018/01/18/decades-of-movie-poster-history-goes-online/ Like all ContentDM collections, I find the searching kind of […]

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Movies at Random: The Wildcat

Today’s random movie is Ernst Lubitsch’s The Wildcat (HU DVD 2900). This 1921 silent romantic comedy film was restored in 2000, and our copy features music by Marco Dalphane. Here’s our summary: The commander of a remote fort (and his lovely daughter) eagerly awaits a new lieutenant. En route, he is captured by outlaws who […]

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