Everyone has probably imagined a fictional conversation between history’s greatest leaders, thinkers, or artists. It’s a classic hypothetical situation, but unless you’re in a science fiction story, you can’t assemble centuries of historical figures together. Film is still a young medium, though, and many of the greatest filmmakers are still active. That meeting-of-the-minds can actually […]
Continue readingThis year’s Oscars remind about the importance of cinematography
This year’s Oscar nominations are out, with the usual mix of surprises (Mad Max!) and disappointments (whitewashing across the board). But the one incontestable standout out on the list is the Achievement in Cinematography award. 2016’s lineup might be one of the most competitive races ever. It’s too easy to lump cinematography in with the […]
Continue reading25 years ago, an Islamophobic film dented the public imagination
On this week in 1991, MGM released Not Without My Daughter, a drama film about a woman and her daughter held captive in Iran. It was hacky, received poor reviews, and generally flopped. It also carried the unusual, regrettable status as being one of the only American films about Iran at the time. For years, […]
Continue readingIn the latest casuality of physical film, the Air and Space Museum goes digital
The transition from physical to digital projection has been a long time coming, even if Tarantino has tried his best to keep the format around. This Sunday, another stalwart – the IMAX theater at the National Air and Space Museum – retired their 70mm projector. When Star Wars: The Force Awakens debuted last month, so […]
Continue readingRemembering Bowie on film
Like everyone, we’re shocked and saddened by the death of David Bowie, rock god extraordinaire and cultural icon. Bowie was a true renaissance man who dabbled in music, performance, games, and yes, film. Attempting to quantify all his contributions to the arts is a fool’s errand, but we want to at least acknowledge some of […]
Continue readingNeed inspiration to watch more this year? Track it like Soderbergh
Several of us might have made New Year’s resolutions to watch new things – to see more films in theaters, maybe, or to stop streaming The West Wing on loop. There’s always that pull to be a more responsible, cultured consumer of entertainment, but committing to a quality movie or television show every week can […]
Continue readingForget Pink Floyd. Watch The Wizard of Oz alphabetically
Supercuts, mashups, and re-edits of popular films are ubiquitous now, and we’ve made a point of only sharing the most interesting of them. We suspect it’ll be difficult to top the absurdity of Of Oz the Wizard, an alphabetical re-cut of The Wizard of Oz. Filmmaker Matt Bucy broke down the 1939 classic apart based […]
Continue readingNational Film Registry’s 2015 picks include Top Gun and sneezing
Every year, the National Film Registry in the Library of Congress picks 25 notable films for permanent preservation, ensuring that everyone will have long-term access to these works. Every year includes a mixture of historical items and more current movies, like last year’s selection of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and the first film with an […]
Continue readingNew Acquisitions – December 2015
Oh, hello! You caught us right in the middle of turning off the lights and locking things up the library closes up for winter break. But before we speed off, we wanted to leave you with a big stack of DVDs you can look forward to checking out when you’re back. Everyone looking for new […]
Continue readingThe definitive Star Wars remaster came from fans, is super illegal
George Lucas’s remastering the original Star Wars trilogy has gone down as perhaps the most controversial decision in film history. Even without discussing the merits of the changes made (many of which stand out like a sore thumb or detract from the original meaning), Lucas’s permanent alterations to the films’ negatives effectively erased the original […]
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