Parks, a multi-talented artist, first gained recognition as a photographer for Life Magazine, often focussing on individuals dramatically affected by living in poverty. He also directed two films of historic interest. His first feature, The Learning Tree (VHS 4291), was based on his autobiography and was among the first 25 films selected for the National […]
Continue readingMasters of Cinema: Your guide to high-brow cinema on DVD
A group of five contributors with a predilection for serious world cinema sustain this highly-informative site. Bresson, Dreyer, Ozu, and Tarkovsky are among their favorites. Foremost it’s a blog of important and often esoteric DVD releases but it also hosts several good articles focussing primarily on topics related both to cinema and the DVD medium. […]
Continue readingThe J Marimba Ponies
I couldn’t resist noting this guilty pleasure – my favorite piece of streaming video from the last couple of weeks. The Ponies perform the Sabre Dance. For those old enough to remember, this piece of music, composed by Aram Khachaturian, was used on the Ed Sullivan show to accompany spinning plate acts and more recently […]
Continue readingSuggested viewing: This Divided State – DVD 1678
When filmmaker Michael Moore is invited to speak at Utah Valley State College, local residents and conservative students pull out all the stops to try to pre-empt the engagement. Neither protests, threats, bribery, or a last-ditch speech by Fox News commentator Sean Hannity can sway the determined student government leaders though. Driven by their plain-spoken […]
Continue reading2006 Independent Spirit Awards this weekend
Best Documentary nominees with Media Services call numbers. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005) – DVD 1700 Grizzly Man (2005) – DVD 1682Romántico (2005) – Not yet released on video La Sierra (2005) – DVD 1585Sir! No Sir! (2005) – Not yet released on videolink
Continue readingPBS Frontline Online
PBS currently has fifty-four complete Frontline programs freely-available for streaming on their website. The 2006 releases available include: The Insurgency, The Meth Epidemic, and Country Boys. Frontline World is considered a separate series and that too has many programs freely-available online – about seventy currently. 2006 releases include Columbia: The Coca-Cola Controversy, Brazil: Jewel of […]
Continue readingMidnightEye – Japanese Cinema
If you’re interested in keeping up on everything related to Japanese cinema, be sure and check out MidnightEye.com. This website contains a wealth of information from interviews with contemporary directors, to thoughtful book and movie reviews, to in-depth feature articles. For example, the latest Round-Up covers four of Akira Kurosawa’s early social drama films. Japanese […]
Continue readingMedia Services Forms Online
Did you know that you can submit a video purchase recommendation online? In fact, all media services paper forms now have electronic versions. They cover: Videotape Rental/Borrowing Requests, Media Purchase Recommendations, Media Reserves Materials Deposit Forms, Restrict media from outside use forms (for AU Faculty), Student Check Out Authorizations, and proxy authorizations.link
Continue readingObit: Dennis Weaver, 81
Most widely known for television roles on Gunsmoke, Gentle Ben, and McCloud, Weaver also delivered riveting performances in two extraordinary films. In Orson Welles’s Touch of Evil (1958, DVD 163), he is unforgettable as the quaking-in-his-boots night manager of the desert motel where Janet Leigh is being held captive by Mercedes McCambridge and her gang. […]
Continue readingForgotten classic: A Day with Timmy Page
Aspiring filmmakers can probably learn a thing or two from young auteur Timmy Page. From the paneled basement of his home in Connecticut, he explains how he came to be a movie producer/director, his philosophy of film making, his view of other more established film makers (Charlie Chaplin, etc.), and the art of plot development. […]
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