A week and a half ago, film distributor William Becker died. His name is not a recognizable one, and his quiet work at Janus Films and the Criterion Collection left a massive imprint on how we consume visual media. As the co-owner of Janus Films starting in 1965, Becker oversaw the importation of many influential […]
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RIP Wes Craven, master of horror
We wanted to start this semester off with a list of all the exciting titles we added recently, but we first need to acknowledge the very sad death of Wes Craven, horror director and producer extraordinaire whose slasher films defined and later deconstructed the genre. Wes Craven is best known, of course, for his creation […]
Continue readingIn honor of Rowdy Roddy Piper, a look back on They Live from Slavoj Zizek
Rowdy Roddy Piper’s death last Friday leaves a very unusual hole in the film world. Though he made occasional guest appearances in TV shows and movies – usually either playing himself or a similarly hard-knuckled character – Piper is best known even beyond his wrestling career as the star of They Live (HU DVD 9020), […]
Continue readingRIP James Horner
We’re shocked and saddened by news of the untimely death of James Horner, Academy Award-winning composer of classic soundtracks for films including Apollo 13, Titanic, Braveheart, The New World, and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Horner was a world-class composer whose works are among the best in film; he was still an active […]
Continue readingWho was Marion Barry? This HBO documentary is a good primer
Today marked the passing of Marion Barry, DC political legend and one of the country’s most controversial mayors. To describe his decades of public involvement as tumultuous would be an understatement; Barry weathered multiple scandals and a high-profile arrest yet remained enormously popular among his constituents, serving four non-consecutive terms and continuing to serve as […]
Continue readingThe many works of Mike Nichols, EGOTer and prolific director
Mike Nichols, EGOT-winning director of The Graduate, died yesterday at age 83. For an acclaimed and decorated filmmaker, Nichols kept a comparatively low profile in the entertainment world, but he leaves behind an impressive lineup of truly great films and television productions, including Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Primary Colors, Working Girl, Angels in America, […]
Continue readingA eulogy for the Saturday morning cartoon
Yesterday marked the largely unheralded end of a television tradition: the Saturday morning cartoon. For nearly fifty years, network channels devoted a significant portion of their Saturday programming to children’s animated programs, but with the end of The CW’s “Vortexx” block, no major broadcast networks is airing cartoons on Saturday anymore. After years of criticism […]
Continue readingRobin Williams: a funnyman and performer of unparalleled range
We couldn’t let this week pass without acknowledging the unfortunate and far too early death of comedian Robin Williams. We can only add to the immense outpouring of grief over Williams’s death. Many retrospectives have focused on his terrific stand-up comedy and his ability to make us laugh – rightly so – but he was […]
Continue readingRemembering Lauren Bacall, icon of classic Hollywood
Lauren Bacall, one of the last stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood, died yesterday at age 89. Bacall ranks among the greatest screen icons of the 30s and 40s, starring alongside legends including Spencer Tracy, Katherine Hepburn, John Wayne, Rock Hudson, and – most famously – her husband Humphrey Bogart. She was an enduring […]
Continue readingRemembering Dick Smith, acclaimed makeup artist
On this blog, we usually memorialize the deaths of notable directors and actors. But today, we pay tribute to the life of Oscar-winning makeup artist Dick Smith, whose work ranks among the most memorable and iconic in film history. You probably don’t know Dick Smith and couldn’t pick him out of a lineup, but his […]
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