For Throwback Thursday (do we have to use the hashtag if it’s on a blog?), here’s a neat piece of film history. In December 1976, the first trailer for Star Wars was released, about half a year before the movie. Episode Nothing supplied some context in a recent blog post explaining why it looks so […]
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Kanopy Highlights: Social justice documentaries
Still from Concerning Violence About a year ago, we rolled out Kanopy, a streaming service that includes hundreds of films from the Criterion Collection and more. We’re happy to see classes and students taking advantage of this great video resource, and we want to spotlight some of the most popular titles from this collection. This […]
Continue readingCome learn about Boyz n the Hood, “a film that changed America”
The AU Library’s ongoing Books that Shaped America series has highlighted some critical pieces of literature from American history. And now, finally, movies are getting their turn, too! Tomorrow, communication librarian Derrick Jefferson will host a discussion of Boyz n the Hood, John Singleton’s 1991 film about youth life in South Central LA. We’re excited […]
Continue readingA new lost Méliès was discovered… after it was mislabeled
A Trip to the Moon, not Match de Prestidigitation First there was the lost Hitchcock film. Then, the lost Laurel and Hardy sequence. Now, film conservationists have found a long-list film by Georges Méliès, one of the pioneers of cinema. Méliès was one of the pioneers of film as an art form, especially in the […]
Continue readingHalloween nears! Check out our horror movie collection
Halloween weekend is but two weeks away, and like most film nerds, we’re ready for horror movie season. Because it would be weird to watch Halloween in April, right? Almost 100 years have passed since Nosferatu and some of the earliest feature-length horror films, and they’re still as terrifying as ever. If you’re looking for […]
Continue readingHow the West was whitened
The Western genre is having something of a mini-comeback between Westworld and The Magnificent Seven. (Or, maybe we all just love Yul Brynner?) This year’s trips to the Old West look a little different than in the past, specifically the actors. Our collective imagined memory of the Western looks white, middle-aged, and male. But if […]
Continue readingRIP Andrezj Wajda, a voice for Poland in film
Yesterday, Polish director Andrezj Wajda died at age 90. He was among the most distinguished Polish filmmakers of his generation or in general: his accolades include a Palme d’Or for his labor rights film Man of Iron and a 1999 honorary Oscar for his lifetime body of work. As with Man of Iron, many of […]
Continue readingRolling Stone declares The Sopranos the greatest TV show
Alright, everyone gather ’round, we have another Top 100 list to fight over. This time, Rolling Stone put together its list of what it considers the greatest television shows of all time . The top of the list is pretty much what you’d expect – The Sopranos, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Simpsons, et al. […]
Continue readingSee The Accountant early and for free, with director Q&A!
We have more passes to see movies in advance this week – with a Q&A with the director! This time around, we have passes for a preview screening of The Accountant, the new Ben Affleck-fronted thriller with a title that doesn’t suggest that all. You’d normally have to wait until this hits theaters to see […]
Continue readingWhat does Netflix’s shrinking library mean for film history literacy?
Even with our collection of 14,000 DVDs, we’ll all admit to watching things on Netflix and Hulu all the time. Streaming subscriptions are convenient, and we’re realizing that it’s their primary way that many incoming students watch movies and television now. But we’re concerned about how that narrows what movies and television people can watch. […]
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