Marx Reloaded

Did you know, May 5th would have been the 200th birthday of Karl Marx.

From our streaming collection, we recommend Marx Reloaded.

Our summary:

A cultural documentary that uses some of the central ideas of 19th century German socialist and philosopher Karl Marx to try to make sense of the global financial crisis of 2008-09. This crisis prompted the U.S. government to spend more than 1 trillion dollars in order to rescue its banking system from financial meltdown. But can the largest financial losses in history really be put down to the natural risks and uncertainties of the free market? Or is there another explanation as to why the crisis happened and what its implications are for the future of our society, our economy, for our whole way of life?

For true beginners, there's always the classic Marx for Beginners comic!

It's Buster Keaton's Birthday!

Celebrate by checking out one of our quietly awesome streaming databases, Silent Film Online!


via GIPHY

Happy Birthday Peter Lorre

To celebrate Peter Lorre's birthday (June 26, 1904), here are some of BFI's 10 essential Peter Lorre performances from our collection. (THOSE EYES!!)

• M (HU DVD 56): Drama based on the actual case of the Dusseldorf murderer of children who is hunted by police, but is caught and tried by the city’s criminals.
• The Man Who Knew Too Much (HU DVD 3521): In this heart-pounding suspense story, spies kidnap a young girl, in an attempt to prevent her parents from revealing what they know about an assassination plot. The action takes you from the Swiss Alps to Britain’s Albert Hall and London’s East End.
• Stranger on the Third Floor (HU DVD 6404): A reporter provides eyewitness testimony that helps sentence a small-time loser to the electric chair for murder. When the reporter himself is fingered in a second murder, he realizes both crimes are the work of a furtive stranger - but will anyone believe him?
• The Maltese Falcon (HU DVD 130): After the death of his partner, private eye Sam Spade is dragged into a quest for a priceless statuette.
• Arsenic and Old Lace (HU DVD 5380): An easy going drama critic discovers that his kind and gentle Aunts Abby and Martha have a bizarre habit of poisoning gentlemen callers and burying them in the cellar.
• Beat the Devil (HU DVD 4564): Adventure story set aboard a steamer bound for Africa. The passengers attempt to outfox each other for illegal control of a piece of land they think has uranium on it.

Didn't make the BFI list, but we also have:
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and Casablanca!

Happy Birthday Kirk Douglas!

December 9th was the 100th birthday of Kirk Douglas.

According to TCM:

"The archetypal Hollywood movie star of the postwar era, Kirk Douglas built a career with he-man roles as soldiers, cowboys and assorted tough guys in over 80 films. His restless, raging creations earned him three Academy Award nominations for Best Actor and one Golden Globe win for his portrayal of Vincent van Gogh in "Lust for Life" (1956). But besides his lasting mark as a seething strong man with a superhero-like head of hair and the most famous dimpled chin this side of Shirley Temple, Douglas was a Tinseltown innovator and rebel. As one of the first A-listers to wrest further control of their career by founding an independent production company, Douglas also effectively ended the 1950s practice of blacklisting Hollywood talent suspected of communist ties when he insisted on crediting famed screenwriter Dalton Trumbo for his script adaptation of "Spartacus" (1960). Douglas maintained his position as a perennial favorite - often opposite fellow tough guy Burt Lancaster - in Westerns and World War II films until the early 1970s, when changing tastes edged the timeworn genres into the wings. He began a second career as a writer and focused on the philanthropic efforts of The Douglas Foundation, occasionally surfacing throughout the 1980s and 1990s to portray irrepressible old firecrackers in made-for-TV movies and the occasional feature."

Unfamiliar with his work? Check out one of his films from the Media Services Home Use Collection:

20,000 leagues under the sea - HU DVD 10179

Arrangement - HU DVD 2212

Bad and the beautiful - HU DVD 7257

Champion - HU DVD 211

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral - HU DVD 7576

Is Paris burning? - HU DVD 12861

Last train from Gun Hill - HU DVD 7569

Lonely are the brave - HU DVD 12168

Lust for life - HU DVD 5808

Out of the past - HU DVD 2403

Paths of glory - DVD 3271

Seven days in May - HU DVD 326

Spartacus - HU DVD 3272

Strange love of Martha Ivers - HU DVD 11357

Hitchcock turns 113

It would be remiss not to mention Alfred Hitchcock's birthday, which passed by yesterday. The legendary director, who needs no introduction, would have turned 113.

Celebrate the big 1-1-3 by enjoying a deep cut of his filmography at Media Services:

Happy Birthday Tim Burton!!

It's Tim Burton's birthday! Check out some of these titles available for check out from the Media Services Home Use Collection.

9 - HU DVD 7049
Alice in Wonderland – HU DVD 7719
Alice in Wonderland – HU BLU-RAY 7719
Batman – HU DVD 4701
Batman Returns – HU DVD 4702
Big Fish – HU DVD 4712
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – HU DVD 7094
Edward Scissorhands – HU DVD 3928
Ed Wood – HU DVD 1006
Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure – HU DVD 6516
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street – HU DVD 4111
Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas – HU DVD 4711

Happy Birthday to Al (63), Chris (68), and Ewan (40)!

Today is the birthday of Al Gore, Christopher Walken and Ewan McGregor. Check out one of these films in honor of their birthday!
Ewan McGregor

The Ghost Writer—HU DVD 8010

The Men Who Stare at Goats—HU 7125

Pillow Book – HU DVD 8037

Star Wars Episode I: Phantom Menace—HU DVD 1640

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones—HU DVD 1641

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith—HU DVD 1642

Big Fish – HU DVD 4712

Trainspotting—HU DVD 1002

Black Hawk Down—HU DVD 346

Moulin Rouge—HU DVD 297

Shallow Grave—HU DVD 1910

Emma—HU DVD 2820

Life Less Ordinary—HU DVD 5318

Velvet Goldmine—HU DVD 687

Christopher Walken

Hairspray —HU DVD

Batman Returns— HU DVD 4702

The Milagro Beanfield War— HU DVD 2167

Catch me if you Can— HU DVD 698

Basquiat— HU DVD 5830

Pulp Fiction— HU DVD 1244

Scotland, PA— HU DVD 2435

Deer Hunter— HU DVD 1706

Heaven’s Gate— HU DVD 4307

Annie Hall – HU DVD 126

Al Gore

An Inconvenient Truth — DVD 2360

Happy Birthday, Juliette!!

Today, March 9, is the birthday of french actress, Juliette Binoche. Unfamiliar with her work? Check out one of her films from the Media Services Home Use Collection.

Window of Saint-Pierre — HU DVD 269

The Night is Young — HU DVD 435

Caché — HU DVD 2063

Three Colors, Blue — HU DVD 2137

Bee Season — HU DVD 3079

Paris Je T’Aime — HU DVD 3378

Unbearable Lightness of Being — HU DVD 4078

English Patient — HU DVD 4749

The Lovers on the Bridge — HU DVD 4200

Flight of the Red Balloon – HU DVD 4931

Code Inconnu — HU DVD 5146

Chocolat — HU DVD 7736

Happy Birthday, Kirk!

Today, Kirk Douglas turns the ripe old age of 94. Many of his classic films are available here in Media Services for Home Use.

Ace in the Hole – HU DVD 2976
Arrangement – HU DVD 2212
Bad and the Beautiful – HU DVD 7257
Champion – HU DVD 211
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral – HU DVD 7576
Lust for Life – HU DVD 5808
Last Train from Gun Hill – HU DVD 7569
Out of the Past – HU DVD 2403
Paths of Glory – HU DVD 3271
Seven Days in May – HU DVD 326
Spartacus – HU DVD 3272

Happy Birthday Cheryl Hines!

Today Cheryl Hines turns 45 years old. She is most well known for her role as Cheryl David, Larry David's wife on Curb Your Enthusiasm. If you haven't seen this TV show, it's a must see; especially for Seinfeld fans. Also, check her out in the 2007 film, Waitress (written and directed by Adrienne Shelley).

Curb Your Enthusiasm: Complete First Season- HU DVD 5211, 5212
Curb Your Enthusiasm: Complete Second Season- HU DVD 5213, 5214
Curb your Enthusiasm: The Complete Third Season - HU DVD 5215, 5116

Waitress - HU DVD 3641