Law in Popular Culture

If you are looking for resources on how lawyers have been reflected in the popular culture (novels, feature films, comics, humor, television, and more), a good place to begin is with the Law in Popular Culture Collection at the Tarlton Law Library at the University of Texas at Austin. The goal of the collection is to "provide as broad a picture as possible of the image of the lawyer in the United States and British Commonwealth," as represented by authors from Dickens to Danielle Steele. All of the collection's literary, film, TV, and graphic works either feature a lawyer as a central character or were authored by a lawyer. The collection includes digital full-text "lawyer stories," the history of the legal thriller, and bibliographies useful for research in law and literature and law in popular culture topics.
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Movie Review Intelligence

As I mentioned yesterday, now is the time to relax and have some fun. So how do you find the best movies to enjoy, and avoid the disappointing ones? Let Movie Review Intelligence sort it out. The self-described purpose of this site is to give moviegoers (of which about 81%, according to a recent survey, follow movie reviews) the most accurate and complete picture of movie reviews possible.

Movie Review Intelligence collects and analyzes movie reviews from more than 65 U.S. and Toronto media outlets, including newspapers, magazines, broadcast media and wire service publications. Percentages for positive reviews of each film are posted, as well as movie review summaries with links to the full-text reviews. Moviegoers can focus on their own geographic area or on a favorite slice of the media, such as national, film industry, or indie press reviews. Constant updates, with options for email alerts, RSS feeds, and following the site on Twitter, make this a great guide to choosing a great movie.





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Human Rights Watch International Film Festival

The 20th annual Human Rights Watch International Film Festival is scheduled from June 11 through June 25. This year, over 20 films are featured, touching human rights issues across the globe. One particularly interesting film is The Reckoning -- a documentary about the International Criminal Court.




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Obscenity Laws and The First Amendment

If you are interested in obscenity laws and the First Amendment, you might want to check out Obscene. Obscene is a documentary about Barney Rosset, the founder of Grove Press and the publisher who fought obscenity laws in order to bring classics such Lady Chatterly's Lover and Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer to the United States. Rosset is also receiving an award from the National Book Foundation.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Human Rights Watch International Film Festival

The 2008 Human Rights Watch Film Festival will be screening at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center from June 12-26. This festival features works that "help to put a human face on threats to individual freedom and dignity, and celebrate the power of the human spirit and intellect to prevail." Films are selected on the basis of artistic merit and human rights content. This year's program features films from several countries addressing a broad range of issues such as access to health care, civil war and human trafficking



Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat