BU Libraries Cinema Blog
October 03, 2008
Ken Jacobs on Tank.tv
Tank.tv, an online gallery and a showcase for innovative work in film and video, is featuring the work of Distinguished Professor Emeritus Ken Jacobs. The show, simply entitled Ken Jacobs, is curated by Mark Webber and runs from October 1 to November 30, 2008. Clips from many of Jacob's films can be seen on the site.
Posted by chailey at
September 23, 2008
Where can I play my videos?
Most films in the Libraries are on DVD, but there is still a large number of older titles that are in VHS format. Although most computers on campus are capable of playing DVDs, VHS players are not as accessible. The Newcomb Reading Room has a Multimedia Room that has equipment that can play both DVD and VHS formats. The Newcomb Reading Room is across from the Library Gourmet Bean Kiosk.
Posted by chailey at
July 17, 2008
Superheroes on Film
Films about superheroes have been especially popular in the past few decades. Just in the past year, there have been features on the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, the Hulk, and Batman. Selected book titles on this ever growing genre are listed below. Special Collections titles can only be used in the Library.
The art of Batman Begins: shadows of the dark knight Special Collections Rogg Collection (Oversize)(*) PN1997.2.B38 V39 2005
The art of Superman Returns Special Collections Rogg Collection (Oversize)(*) PN1997.2.S87 W35 2006
The art of X-Men, the Last Stand: from concept to feature film Special Collections Rogg Collection (Oversize)(*) PN1997.2.X145 A78 2006
Batman & Robin: the making of the movie Special Collections Rogg Collection (Oversize)(*) -- PN1997.B316 S56 1997
Batman Begins: the official movie guide Special Collections Rogg Collection (Oversize)(*) PN1997.2.B38 K35 2005
Batman Returns: the official movie book Special Collections Rogg Collection (Oversize)(*) PN1997.B273 S56 1992
Batman unmasked: analysing a cultural icon P96.B37 B76 2000
Caught in the web: dreaming up the world of Spider-Man 2 Fine Arts Collection PN1997.2.S69 V38 2004
Dick Tracy: the making of the movieSpecial Collections Rogg Collection (Oversize)(*) PN1997.D493 B66 1990
Fantastic Four: the making of the movie Special Collections Rogg Collection (Oversize)(*) PN1997.2.F36 F36 2005
The making of Judge Dredd Fine Arts PN1997.J7938 K55 1995
The making of Superman, the Movie Fine Arts PN1995.9.S77 P48 1978
The Making of the Crow Fine Arts PN1997.C769 B35 2000Q
Spiderman confidential: from comic icon to Hollywood hero PN6728.S6 G767 2002
Superman Returns: the official movie guide Special Collections Rogg Collection (Oversize)(*) PN1997.2.S87 S87 2006
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July 14, 2008
Summer time--Blockbuster Films
Summer is the time that the Hollywood studios typically pin their hopes on "event" films with wide commercial appeals. The rough definition of a summer blockbuster is one that makes over 100 million dollars (though if the film itself costs much more than that to make, the definition may not apply). Billy Jack 1971, is considered by many people to be the first summer blockbuster film, though Jaws 1975 is also often mentioned as well. The following are books that discuss the blockbuster phenomenon and summer movies.
Screening difference : how Hollywood’s blockbuster films imagine race, ethnicity, and culture Fine Arts PN1995.9.E95 G5613 2007
Directed by Steven Spielberg : poetics of the contemporary Hollywood blockbuster Fine Arts PN1998.3.S65 B83 2006
Now in theaters everywhere : a celebration of a certain kind of blockbuster Special Collections Rogg Collection PN1995 .T789 2006
The way Hollywood tells it : story and style in modern movies Fine Arts PN1993.5.U6 B656 2006
Movie blockbusters Fine Arts PN1993.5.A1 M68 2003
Spectacular narratives : Hollywood in the age of the blockbuster Fine Arts TR858 .K6 2000
Titanic : anatomy of a blockbuster Fine Arts PN1997.T54 T58 1999
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March 28, 2008
Video/DVD Relocation
Bartle Library videos and DVDs have moved from the Bartle Library Circulation Desk to the Newcomb Reading Room on the other side of the Library building. The Newcomb Reading Room is located across from the Coffee Kiosk.
Posted by chailey at
February 19, 2008
Film Soundtracks Online
The Libraries have recently subscribed to the NAXOS Music Library database. Naxos Music Library is the most comprehensive collection of classical music available online. The database contains some film soundtracks, primarily classical. There are entries for James Horner, Bernard Herrmann, and John Williams, as well as many compilations. The database also contains music in contemporary jazz, world music (including a specific collection of Chinese music), folk music and a small collectioon of pop and rock. The database offers access to over 250,000 (and growing) tracks of music to the campus community. While listening, you can read notes on the works being played as well as biographical information on composers or artists in Naxos's extensive database. Tracks in NML are *NOT* downloadable to any device.
The database is available 24/7 to the entire University community via the internet, thus greatly increasing the access to recorded music in the Libraries' collection of vinyl, tape and CD audio recordings.
Posted by chailey at
November 27, 2007
Multiple Region DVDs
The Libraries now have two computers that can play multi-region DVDs (i.e., non-U.S.). They are located in the Media Room inside of the East Reading Room just off of the Bartle Library lobby.
Posted by chailey at
November 19, 2007
New York City and Film
New York City's place in film and in film history has become the subject of a number of books. The Libraries' have the following materials on this theme.
Books
City that never sleeps : New York and the filmic imagination Fine Arts PN1995.9.N49 C58 2007
Street smart : the New York of Lumet, Allen, Scorsese, and Lee Fine Arts PN1995.9.N49 B63 2005
Scenes in the city : film visions of Manhattan before 9/11 Fine Arts PN1995.9.N49 G76 2003
Celluloid skyline : New York and the movies Fine Arts PN1995.67.N7 S26 2001
DVDs
Picturing a metropolis : New York City unveiled (DVD) -- PN1995.9.E96 U57 2005 v.5
Posted by chailey at
October 04, 2007
The Myth of the West--Western Films
The Western, once the most popular genre of American film, has fallen on lean times lately. However, new westerns are still being produced, if much more rarely than before. This fall, for example, there's 3:10 to Yuma and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. The following are a few of the Libraries' holdings in this most American of genres.
Videos/DVDS
1939 Stagecoach (Ford) DVD PN 1997 .S7338 1997
1946 My Darling Clementine (Ford) DVD PN 1997 .M889 2004
1948 Fort Apache (Ford) DVD PN 1997 .F675 2007
1948 Red River (Hawks) DVD PN 1997 .R369 1998
1952 High Noon (Zinnemann) DVD PN 1997 .H4563 2000
1964 Fistful of Dollars (Leone) DVD PN 1997 .F53 2007
1966 The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (Leone) DVD PN 1997 G66 2007
1969 The Wild Bunch (Peckinpah) DVD PN 1997 .W536 2006
1971 McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Altman) DVD PN 1997 .M4232 2002
1992 Unforgiven (Eastwood) DVD PN 1997 .U46 2002
1995 Dead Man (Jarmusch) DVD PN 1997 .D432 2000
Books This is a selective list of recent works. For a complete listing, use the subject terms "western films" in the catalog.
Cowboy Imperialism and American Film Fine Arts PN1995.9.W4 A53 2007
The American Western PS374.W4 M38 2007
The Landscape of Hollywood Westerns: Ecocriticism in an American Film Genre Fine Arts PN1995.9.W4 L32 2006
The West in Early Cinema: After the Beginning Fine Arts PN1995.9.W4 V47 2006
Cowboys as Cold Warriors: the West and U.S. History Fine Arts PN1995.9.W4 C65 2004
Horizons West: Directing the Western from John Ford to Clint Eastwood Fine Arts PN1995.9.W4 K58 2004
Westerns in a Changing America: 1955-2000 Fine Arts PN1995.9.W4 L694 2004
Invisible Natives: Myth and Identity in the American Western Fine Arts PN1995.9.I48 P69 2002
Posted by chailey at
July 31, 2007
Michelangelo Antonioni, 1912-2007
Another groundbreaking master of cinema died this week. Michelangelo Antonioni started making films in the 1950s, but gained his fame with L'Avventura and other films he directed in the 1960s. Here are some selected library holdings by and about Antonioni.
DVD/VHS
L'Avventura (DVD) PN 1997 .A953 2001
Red Desert (VHS) PN 1997 .D45453 1999
Books
The Cinema of Economic Miracles: Visuality and Modernization in the Italian Art Film Fine Arts PN 1998 .P367 R47 2002
My Time with Antonioni: Diary of an Extraordinary Experience Fine Arts PN 1997 .P33 W4613 2000
The Films of Michelangelo Antonioni Fine Arts PN 1998.3 .A58 B78 1998
The Architecture of Vision: Writings and Interviews on Film Aesthetics Fine Arts PN 1998.3 A58 A5 1998
Antonioni: the Poet of Images Fine Arts PN 1998.3 .A58 A77 1995
Antonioni or, the Surface of the World Fine Arts PN 1998 .A3 A654 1985
Posted by chailey at
July 30, 2007
Ingmar Bergman, 1918-2007
Ingmar Bergman, one of the giants of twentieth century cinema, died on July 30. The Library owns a number of Bergman's films on DVD and he is the subject of many books. A few are listed below.
DVD/VHS
Fanny and Alexander PN 1997 .F327 1999 (VHS)
Persona PN 1997 .P464 1991 (VHS)
The Seventh Seal PN 1997 .S436 1998 (DVD)
The Virgin Spring PN 1997 .J864 2006 (DVD)
Wild Strawberries PN 1997 .S63 1993 (VHS)
Books
Ingmar Bergman: A Reference Guide Fine Arts PN 1998 .A3 B46832 2005
Ingmar Bergman: Magician and Prophet Fine Arts PN 1998.3 .B47 G47 1999
Strindberg, Ibsen, and Bergman: Essays on Scandinavian Film and Drama PT 9816 .S694 1998
Gender and Representation in the Films of Ingmar Bergman Fine Arts PN 1998.3 .B47 B63 1997
Ingmar Bergman: an Artist's Journey: on State, On Screen, In Print Fine Arts PN 1998.3 B47 I54 1995
Between Stage and Screen: Ingmar Bergman Directs Fine Arts PN 1998.3 B47 T67 1995
Images: My Life in Film Fine Arts PN 1998.3 B47 A3 1994
The Best Intentions: A Novel PT 9875 .B533 G6413 1993
Bergman on Bergman: Interviews with Ingmar Bergman by Stig Bjorkman, Torsten Manns, Jonas Sima
Fine Arts PN 1998.3 B47 A5 1993
Posted by chailey at
July 10, 2007
Videos & DVDs--Our Whole Collection
You may notice that infoLINK, the BU Libraries' catalog, has a new look. We recently updated the library catalog software. One of the new features is the Video/DVD List button at the top of the page. We added this new feature for patrons who wish to see our entire video/DVD holdings. It was possible to do this in the prior version of infoLINK, but required many steps.
Posted by chailey at
January 25, 2007
It is Oscar Time!
With the announcement this week of this year's Oscar nominees, it may be worthwhile to look at the various resources covering this sometimes coveted, sometimes derided, award. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science has their own website. The site contains information on the current nominations and a database of all the past nominees and winners. The Libraries have many books that cover the history of the awards. Some titles include:
Oscar Fever: the History and Politics of the Academy Awards
Emanual Levy
Continuum, 2001
Fine Arts PN 1993.92 .L48 2001
70 Years of the Oscar: the Official History of the Academy Awards
Robert Osborne
Abbeville Press, 1999
Fine Arts PN 1993.92 .O82 1999
Behind the Oscars: the Secret History of the Academy Awards
Anthony Holden
Simon & Schuster, 1993
Fine Arts PN 1993.92 .H65 1993
The Libraries' Awards page lists other major cinematic awards.
Posted by chailey at
December 13, 2006
Criticism or Review?
Many people are confused about the difference between film criticism and film reviews. A film "review" is published when a film is distributed to the public (though there may be a delay in the case of a foreign film that opens later in the United States). Film reviews are published on blogs, online, in magazines and in newspapers, and are time sensitive. Film criticism, on the other hand, is a scholarly discussion of a particular film or films which may be published years after the film's original release. Criticism is generally published in academic journals. There is some criticism which falls in grey area, such as some of Roger Ebert's book writings where he takes another look at films he has reviewed and re-evaluates them.
Criticism of current and older films is quite easy to find (see the Cinema database list). However, older film reviews can be a little more difficult, due to the lack of online coverage of older resources. The Libraries have collected volumes of print reviews for both Variety (Ref PN 1995 .V34) and the New York Times (Ref PN 1995.N512). In addition, there is online coverage of the Times available in the New York Times Historical Backfile and the Libraries will soon have complete online coverage of the London Times as well.
Posted by chailey at
November 28, 2006
Robert Altman 1925-2006
Robert Altman, widely viewed as one of the United States' most creative film directors, died on November 20th. The Libraries have DVD or video versions of most of Altman's films. A listing of Altman's films and a selection of books relating to his body of work are listed below.
Films
California Split (DVD) PN1997 .C342 2004
Company (DVD) PN1997.2 .C66 2004
Gosford Park (DVD) PN1997.2 .G67 2002
The Long Goodbye (DVD) PN1997 .L6745 2002
M*A*S*H (DVD) PN1997 .M369 2004
McCabe and Mrs. Miller (DVD) PN1997 .M4232 2002
Nashville (Video) PN1997 .N37 1991
The Player (DVD) PN1997 .P5257 1997
Books
Altman on Altman
David Thompson, ed.
Faber and Faber
2006
Fine Arts PN 1993.3 .A48 A3 2006
The Nashville Chronicles: the Making of Robert Altman's Masterpiece
Jan Stuart
Simon & Schuster
2000
Fine Arts PN 1997 N332 S78 2000
Robert Altman, Hollywood Survivor
Daniel O'Brien
Continuum
1995
Fine Arts PN 1998.3 A48 O37 1995
Robert Altman, Interviews
David Sterritt
University Press of Mississippi
2000
Fine Arts PN 1998.3 A48 A5 2000
Robert Altman, Jumping off the Cliff: Biography of a Great American Director
Patrick McGilligan
St. Martin's Press
1989
Fine Arts PN 1998.3.A48 M44 1989
Robert Altman's America
Helene Keyssar
Oxford University Press
1991
Fine Arts PN 1998.3 A48 K49 1991
Robert Altman's Subliminal Reality
Robert T. Self
University of Minnesota Press
2002
Fine Arts PN 1998.3 A48 S45 2002
Posted by chailey at
November 08, 2006
Help! I don't have a VCR!
There are VCR and DVD players available in Bartle Library in the Media Resource Room. This room is located in the East Reading Room, which is to the left of the Bartle Circulation Desk.
Posted by chailey at
November 07, 2006
How do I Find Movies in the Libraries?
It is relatively easy to find out whether the Libraries own a particular film. Simply use infoLink, the Libraries' catalog, and type in the title of the film. Film directors, as opposed to screenwriters, are considered to be the "author" of a film. Thus, if you want to see whether the library owns any Kurosawa or Tarantino films, just do an author search under the director's name. You will need the call number to check out a DVD or video from the Circulation Desk. DVDs and videos circulate for two weeks.
Posted by chailey at
October 03, 2006
infoLINK enhacements
If you use the Libraries' catalog, infoLINK, you'll notice something different. Many recent titles will include the book cover image. Click on this image and there will be links to a book summary, an enlargement of the book cover, the table of contents, an excerpt or first chapter, and a review (not all books have all of these elements). For an example, type "detecting men" in the catalog.
Posted by chailey at
September 27, 2006
Finding Genre Films
Films (and books about films) have subject headings assigned to them. Many film genres can be searched by subject. Go to infoLINK, the Libraries' catalog and do a subject search under the subject heading. If you don't know the subject heading, try a keyword search. The following are some sample subject headings for different types of films.
Adventure Films
Detective and Mystery Films
Documentary Films
Experimental Films
Film Noir
Musical Films
Western Films
If you just need a list of films that cover various subjects, try the Internet Movie Database and use the Plots or Keywords option under the Search the IMDB box.
Posted by chailey at
September 03, 2006
How do I find Films in Korean? (or Persian, or German, or Hindi...)
To find non-English language films in the catalog, go to infoLink, then click on Advanced Search. At the bottom of the Advanced Search screen, there is an Expert Search button. This will take you to a search box, with directions, for how to find a list of foreign language films. The search requires typing in wfm=vm and wln=(first three letters of language). Here are some examples:
wfm=vm and wln=kor (For Korean language films)
wfm=vm and wln=per (For Persian/Farsi language films)
wfm=vm and wln=ger (For German language films)
wfm=vm and wln=hin (For films in Hindi)
wfm=vm and wln=ita (For films in Italian)
Posted by chailey at
August 14, 2006
Why doesn't the Library have any Adam Sandler movies?
There are many popular films that are not purchased by the Libraries. The film collection is aimed towards research and teaching, rather than just entertainment. Thus, the Libraries film collection is a mixture of Hollywood, art-house, documentary, and avant-garde titles.
Posted by chailey at
August 03, 2006
Welcome to the Libraries' Cinema Blog
Welcome to the Library Cinema Blog for Binghamton University. This blog will post Cinema related Library news, including new additions to the collections, database searching, and various other queries. If you have questions related to Cinema, feel free to contact the librarians at the Information Commons Desk in Bartle Library, or, contact the Cinema Bibliographer, Colleen Hailey, at chailey@binghamton.edu
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