Bernardo Bertolucci and Stephen Hillenburg

This week saw the death of two artists, giants in their respective fields. On Monday, Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci died at age 77. Bertolucci rose to fame with the 1973 release of Last Tango in Paris, a controversial film that was earned an X rating after extensive cuts. One of these scenes depicted a middle […]

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Rotoshopping Is Creepy And Cool

There’s a really specific look to rotoshopped movies that sits right in that uncanny valley for animation. They’re just slightly too real, and so they look really creepy. The two films best known for this, A Scanner Darkly (HU DVD 2416) and Waking Life (HU DVD 364), are just unbearably creepy. So what is rotoshopping? […]

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Enjoy Some Lovely Stop Motion

This insanely cool video by Renana Aldor and Kobi Vogman explains the process of Lost-Wax casting. The video was made for the Israel Museum in Jerusalem and you can read more about it here: http://directorsnotes.com/2016/05/02/kobi-vogman-renana-aldor-hadrian-bronze-casting/   If you’re now in the mood for fantastic stop motion films, check out Kubo and the two strings (HU DVD […]

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10 years of LAIKA

Over the weekend, I was completely blown away by LAIKA’s Kubo and the Two Strings (HU DVD 13637). As an animation studio, LAIKA creates some of the grandest and unique worlds in film. Kubo is an incredible accomplishment, and an example of the offbeat humor, powerful storytelling, and, of course, artistic prowess LAIKA has come to […]

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Take a vacation to the worlds of Studio Ghibli

Ghibli films are notoriously immersive and transporting. From the forests of Princess Mononoke, to Yubaba’s bath house in Spirited Away, the worlds of Studio Ghibli are complex, beautiful, and utterly real. How is this feat accomplished? Here’s one take: Even if you’re not an anime fan, after watching Asher Isbrucker’s video essay, you might be inspired […]

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New Acquisitions – September 2016

With the first week of classes almost in the bag, we have the Labor Day weekend to look forward to. And with a tropical storm possibly bearing down on us, what better way than to escape a long, stormy weekend than grabbing a few movies? We’re continuing to add new films to our collection that […]

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New Acquisitions – August 2016

One month left in summer! Everyone panic! Well, don’t actually panic. We’re getting everything set for the fall semester, and we’re stocking up on more new acquisitions. As before, we’re in the process of replacing as many of our VHSes with DVDs as possible. But we’re also plugging other holes in our collection. We’ve added […]

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