Blog Posts by Subject: Film

Werner Herzog's singular, uncompromising career in filmmaking spans over four decades and has included feature films, documentaries, and even two works (Little Dieter Needs to Fly and Rescue Dawn) that offer, respectively, a nonfiction and fictional retelling of the same event.

Regardless of genre, each of his films seems preoccupied with the place of humans within the natural world and the instability of both fiction and reality. Herzog strives for a concept he has termed "ecstatic truth," which is "mysterious and elusive, and can be reached only through fabrication and imagination and sylization." (Herzog on Herzog, p. 

In the month of February, many great DVD movies are coming to the Library. Reserve titles now using the Library's new BiblioCommons catalog. Highlights include remnants of the waning teen glistening vampire craze, Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part I. Harold, Kumar, White Castle burgers, and Christmas Adventure? Count me in. And the world has been asking for a Johnny English sequel for what feels like an eternity. There are way better DVDs than these on our BiblioCommons list, so get a jump start ahead of the rest, and reserve these February DVD releases now!

Wonderland isn’t technically lost — it was never made, but I found a rare script for this would-be film musical in the Betty Comden Papers. Betty Comden and Adolph Green were the two halves of the longest-running writing partnership in Broadway history. They met in 1933 at New York University and first worked together in the late 30s, writing sketches for the comedy group the Revuers, in which both also performed. They continued writing lyrics and scripts together until Green’s death in 2002. They are known for their lyrics to great Broadway shows like On the Town, Wonderful Town, and Bells are Ringing. 

A thing of beauty is a joy forever... — Keats

(quoted in opening night program, B. S. Moss' Coliseum Theatre, 1920)

The end of 2011 also brought the quiet demise of the last movie theater in Washington Heights, Coliseum Cinemas. Known to most residents as the RKO Coliseum, the large theater, occupying the entire corner of 181st and Broadway, has been a fixture of the neighborhood for over 90 years. As the community now debates the future of the Coliseum and nostalgia starts to kick in, let’s open this theater's historical file, found among the rich collections of the Billy Rose Theatre Division at the New York Public 

According to the Chinese Lunar Calendar, 2012 is the Year of the Dragon. In the Chinese zodiac, the dragon is equivalent to the Aries in Western tradition.

January 23, 2012 to February 9, 2013 will mark the Year of the Dragon. According to tradition, the dragon is the fifth animal in the Chinese zodiac and symbolizes loyalty — it is noble, gentle, and intelligent, but also tactless, stubborn, and dogmatic. Those born on 2012, 2000, 1988 or any 12-year multiple are born into the Year of the Dragon and may share these personality traits. Interestingly, the dragon as a legendary creature also appears in many Western folk traditions.    

It is the beginning of a new calendar year.
A time for reflection.
A time for resolution.
A time for hope.

In this next installment of the Lower East Side Heritage Film Series, we celebrate and reflect on the rebirth of a derelict East Sixth Street tenement building in Alphabet City. Producer and director Josephine Hayes Dean documents the toils and tribulations of its future residents into something that would become a home for their hopes and dreams.

The teens in our Teen Advisory Group have been involved in several recent brainstorming sessions to pick out their favorite books, music, and movies that were released this year. Their selections included all kinds of stuff — funny, weird, and thought-provoking — even stuff that will make you want to dance. 

In the month of January, many great DVD movies are coming to the Library. Reserve titles now using the Library's new Catalog. Highlights include box office hits such as Moneyball, Drive and Real Steel. Indulge some of your guilty pleasures in January with Shark Night, and Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star. Catch up on some premium TV with Boardwalk Empire. Get a jump start ahead of the rest, and reserve these January DVD releases now!

In the late 1800s Harvey Wilcox and his wife Daeida purchased 160 acres in the rolling California hills for a housing subdivision. They called it Hollywood. In 1911 the first filmmakers arrived from New Jersey; in Hollywood they could shoot outdoors without electrical lighting for over 100 days each year. Others from the east coast soon followed, coming not only for the sunny climate but to escape the clutches of the Motion Pictures Patents Company, or the Edison Trust, which licensed Thomas Edison's patents and often violently enforced their monopoly on cameras, projection equipment, and film distribution. By the time the Trust was successfully prosecuted and dissolved 

Few people in the West have heard international superstar Akon's new hit. But tens of millions throughout the rest of the world have been dancing to Chammak Challo for weeks. Why? Because the catchy tune is the musical centerpiece of the latest Bollywood sci-fi blockbuster Ra. One, whose (super) hero is no other than Shahrukh Khan, the most popular actor in the (rest of) the world. That Akon, a Senegalese, sings in Hindi will come as a surprise to many, but not to Africans. They have been singing Bollywood tunes in Hindi for 60 years.

Pedro Almodóvar is a Spanish director who has carved a name for himself out of the strange and captivating narratives in his films. With over 20 years as a director and writer, Almodóvar has cajoled audiences with his arresting combination of conflict while simultaneously remaining enjoyable and entertaining. He is a director who can both delight and disturb, because he is willing to be earnest and deliver the end of the film whether it is what we had hoped for or not. Almodóvar not only directs; he is also the writer, and it is apparent that he understands the importance of dialogue and visual treats to support the narrative.

Did you miss CBGB?
I did. Well, I should say I missed it in its heyday.

By the time I landed in New York City, the iconic establishment was just a tired bar living off the fumes of its former glories. Listen, I am certainly glad to have made the pilgrimage a handful of times and experienced it well before John Varvatos moved in, but the energy and congregation of locals that helped cultivate a movement of music that still resonates to this day was long gone. All that remained were the aromatics of misguided booze, beer, and smokes... and, of course, their infamous urinals. So before the tears (of regret or nostalgia) begin to well up, we have a way to relive this vibrant 

Action!

Cameras are rolling.....

Damn it! Jenn-it!

In the month of December, many great DVD movies are coming to the Library. Reserve titles now using the Library's new Catalog. Highlights include box office hits such as The Hangover Part II, Cowboys & Aliens, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Have a date night in December with Friends With Benefits, and Midnight in Paris. Horror and thriller fans will enjoy Fright Night, Contagion, Final Destination 5, and Apollo 18. Get a jump start ahead of the rest, and reserve these December DVD releases now!

What do The Rolling Stones, The Supremes, The Beach Boys, Elvis Presley, The Velvet Underground, and Woodstock have in common?  They were cultural symbols and products of the Sixties. The Sixties gave birth to a popular culture in film and music that reflected and influenced the decade's social upheavals: the rise of Cold War politics, civil rights movements, student protests, and the Vietnam war all profoundly affected American society and culture. 

In the spirit of Halloween, I decided to avoid the typical horror films of vampires, zombies, ghosts, werewolves, ghouls, the Devil, Frankenstein, witches, masked murderers, psycho killers, aliens, predators, possessed dolls, haunted houses, undead creatures, serial murderers, paranormal activities and the likes and just settle with a different film that most people would not associate the holiday with — I re-watched one of my favorite films: Spirited Away (for the fifth time since it debuted in 2001) directed by Hayao Miyazaki. (Don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan of horror films but I am a bigger fan of Miyazaki's films.)

The Lower East Side Heritage Film Series is returning to Seward Park Library for its second season. To celebrate, we will project Hester Street from 16mm reels.

Most New Yorkers, when asked to name NYC landmarks, will conjure up the familiar array of iconographic symbols that make up our city: the Statue Liberty, the Empire State Building, Times Square, the Ground Zero Memorial, etc. — but having grown up in Washington Heights, I can’t help but place the George Washington Bridge among the great monuments of Gotham pride. Ever since its completion in 1931, this stunning suspension bridge has remained a sight that never gets old, one which seems so in harmony with its surroundings, and whose effortless beauty belies a remarkable feat of engineering.

Forget everything you have learned and remember nothing that you have forgotten.

After barely passing Earth Science and failing Chemistry due to a combination of attendance and attention deficits, my guidance counselor thought it best for me to take a sequence of business classes so I could graduate high school. Because of this I never took a physics class. My path through college didn't wind through a physics class either. Anything I know about physics I've learned from Hollywood.