Here, have an R2-D2 bird

We’ve been posting here a bit less frequently while we handle start-of-the-semester business, but  with the understandably rising national stress levels, we wanted to send out the week with something positive. So, please enjoy this bird that sounds like R2-D2. Happy Friday!

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New Acquisitions – June 2016

There has been an acquisition. Have you felt it? (We have other things this month, too, like Out 1, a twelve-hour odyssey by recently deceased French New Wave director Jacques Rivette. Follow the link to see what else we added.) Home Use Collection: Star Wars: Episode VII, The Force Awakens – HU DVD 1647Star Wars: […]

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The 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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Star Wars was probably not “brutalizing children” in 1983

With its Disney-fication complete, the Star Wars series has become embraced (or begrudgingly accepted) as a family-friendly sci-fi adventure series. That wasn’t always the case. Not that the series was ever adult or hyper-violent – it was meant for kids! – but at least a few cultural critics still objected. Specifically, watch this bizarre, recently […]

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Yep, it’s Star Wars Week

As almost every human being on the continent is aware, Star Wars: The Force Awakens hits theaters this Friday (with some early showings Thursday). We recognize cultural critical mass when we see it, so we’re dedicating this week of blog posts to the juggernaut movie franchise. We realize that Star Wars exhaustion has also reached […]

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How big movie franchises are bypassing the critics

Last year, we mentioned the idea of a post-plot movie, where property-driven movies transcend the need for strong narrative drive. Bryan Bishop at The Verge has noticed an odder, more troubling trend: the post-critic movie. Films have historically depended on advance screenings for critics to generate positive buzz. This is especially true for smaller or […]

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