Avast! Today marks International Talk Like a Pirate Day, a holiday on which you do exactly as described. Frankly, we’ll take any excuse to dress up like pirates and speak in a raspy voice. There’s still time to celebrate this dubious holiday. Come visit Media Services and pick up one of these tarrrrrific pirate-related movies, […]
Continue readingTag Archives: timely things
September 11 in film and footage
Today marks the eleventh anniversary of the September 11 attacks. This is an appropriate and somber time to reflect on how we got here, what happened, and where we’re going. To that end, the Media Services collections include many films about the attacks, including a number of creative responses by filmmakers and footage from the […]
Continue readingFilm screenings on- and off-campus this Friday
We’re heading into the second weekend of the semester. Hopefully the workload hasn’t piled up too much, because the weather is still pleasant enough for a few movie screenings. On campus tomorrow, the AU Student Government will show The Hunger Games in the Tavern at 10 PM. The Hunger Games will kick off Artemas Ward […]
Continue readingDC Shorts Film Festival opens tomorrow
For the second time in a week, two significant film festivals are kicking off. Perhaps the most significant is the Toronto International Film Festival, which opens tomorrow and will premiere a number of film on the radar for the upcoming award season. More interestingly for the audience of this blog, the DC Shorts Film Festival […]
Continue readingControversial documentary re-ignites a political crisis
This past Tuesday, Israeli courts absolved the state of responsibility for the death of Rachel Corrie, an American peace activist who was killed during the demolition of Palestinian homes in Gaza. Tempers have flared around the case, alternately framing Rachel Corrie as either a victim of circumstance or a political casualty. In 2008, filmmaker Simone Bitton […]
Continue readingTwo film festivals with very different audiences
Today marks the start of the Venice Film Festival, the oldest international film festival. Though smaller than notable rivals such as Cannes and Sundance, the Venice Film Festival is getting attention this year by premiering new movies from award magnets Paul Thomas Anderson and Terrence Malick. Some might call it the start of the Oscar […]
Continue readingShark Week begins!
Discovery Channel’s annual Shark Week extravaganza has officially begun. Often maligned but never ignored, sharks are one of the most feared and most misunderstood creatures of the seas. Their appearances on screen are among the most memorable, from the sublime blockbuster Jaws to… well, Shark Attack 3 (above). If your looking for supplemental Shark Week […]
Continue readingTake to the stars with Cosmos
Tonight, NASA will attempt to land the Curiosity rover on Mars to investigate whether the red planet once housed life. It’s a risky and hilariously expensive ($2.5 billion!), but the rover is part of an important mission to discover whether or not we are alone in the universe. Nobody has explored that goal in popular […]
Continue readingIf you like Total Recall… Philip K. Dick on screen
The remake of the 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger hit Total Recall opens in theaters tomorrow, but it’s not just a redux of a schlocky movie – it’s also a readaptation of the original short story, “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale,” by science fiction visionary Philip K. Dick. Even though he saw rousing success in […]
Continue readingAlternative programming: The Olympics on film and television
The thirtieth Olympiad is well underway. If you don’t feel like watching gymnastics this evening, take the night off and check out one of these gold-quality videos from our collection. One Day in September — DVD 450Monty Python’s Flying Circus: Olympic Hide-and-Seek Final — HU DVD 771Olympia — DVD 1663Munich — HU DVD 2172Tokyo Olympiad […]
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