Film history, theory or criticism Books

Book SynopsisWhat does progress' mean? Can things get better? And how, when we are constantly battered on all sides by deepfakes, doomers and disorienting relativisms, can we make any headway at all in the face of unprecedented ecological, social and political crises? In this collection of iconoclastic essays, Slavoj Žižek disrupts the death-grip that neoliberalists, Trumpian populists, toxic self-improvement industries and accelerationists alike have established on the idea of progress. In a whirlwind tour that takes in everything from gentrification to the theory of relativity, Lacan to Lenin, Putin to Mary Poppins and Kierkegaard to the end of the world, these essays never stop asking hard questions of imagined futures. Nor does Žižek shrink from the hardest question of all: How do we free ourselves from the hypocritical, guilt-ridden dreaming in which we're enmeshed, and begin to build a better world?

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Book SynopsisThis comprehensive and in-depth study delves into the life and works of one of modern films most celebrated, successful and intriguing auteurs, Christopher Nolan.‘What is the most resilient parasite? Bacteria? A virus? An intestinal worm? An idea. Resilient…highly contagious. Once an idea has taken hold of the brain it’s almost impossible to eradicate.’  - Cobb, Inception How has Nolan become this leading director? Is he the new Kubrick? What do audiences get out of his games? Visually, he offers a steely science-fiction noir with the highlights of big stars and a magician’s flourishes, whether he is tackling Victorian London or the far reaches of outer space. In narrative terms, his films twist and turn, provoking as many questions as they answer. This book will look to crack open the magic box of Nolan’s twisting universe. As a charactTrade Review "White Lion Publishing and author Ian Nathan have put something special together with this new (oversized) book all about Christopher Nolan. It seeks to understand exactly how the filmmaker has found success and the unique storytelling process he uses. From thorough breakdowns of each of Nolan’s films and insights into how they were made, this would be an ideal gift for any movie-lover." * Cinelinx.com *"...a highly informative and insightful read into the mind of one of the most definitive mind-bending directors in cinema. It is a gloriously packaged presentation that journeys you through the filmmakers historic trajectory with poignant anecdotes, quotations and in-depth behind-the-scenes knowledge to create a fully formed comprehensive picture of the man, his cinematic style and how the works interconnect thematically as it progresses." * The Reel Vision *"The 175 page book is filled with 150 great images from Nolan’s iconic films, many of them being behind-the-scenes shots. This book offers a full-breakdown of Nolan’s films individually, as well as a insightful account of the man himself. I’m a huge Nolan fan, so this book was an easy sell for me, but it’s a fantastic book all-around. * ReelTalker.com *"Nathan serves as a literary archeologist, excavating Nolan’s films, digging into their production, their themes, and the reactions they earned...well researched and highly recommend for Nolan aficionados." * Cinema Sentries *Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION THE HYBRID KID The early days and Following (1998) THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS Memento (2000) & Insomnia (2002) THE INTIMIDATION GAME Batman Begins (2005) THE TRANSPORTED MEN The Prestige (2006) WHY SO SERIOUS? The Dark Knight (2008) HEAD SPINNING Inception (2010) THE BIG GOODBYE The Dark Knight Rises (2012) THE FIFTH DIMENSION Interstellar (2014) ON THE BEACH Dunkirk (2017) APOCALYPTIC THINKING Tenet (2020) Oppenheimer (2023) SOURCES

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Book SynopsisA journey through the otherworldly science behind Christopher Nolan’s award-winning film, Interstellar, from executive producer and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Kip Thorne.

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Book SynopsisOfficial retrospective hardback book telling the story of the making of Conan The Barbarian, including interviews with cast and crew and featuring behind-the-scenes photography from the shoot. In 1982, Robert E. Howard's iconic literary anti-hero, Conan, slashed his way from page to screen after a perilous decades-long journey. With its potent mix of epic vistas and bloody battles, Conan the Barbarian thrilled moviegoers around the world and launched the career of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Forty years after its release, this cult-classic film is celebrated in Conan the Barbarian - The Official Story of the Film, a lush hardback volume that tells the full story of how the film was made. Brand new interviews with cast and crew, as well behind-the-scenes photography from the set and concept art created for the production, give fascinating insights into the development of one of the best-loved fantasy films of the 1980s.Trade Review“Whatever your take on its glorious trash, Conan - best remembered now for its breakthrough Arnold Schwarzenegger performance as the titular fantasy warrior - earns the Titan Books treatment in this handsome hardback tome, suitable for the coffee table in your living room or your orgy chamber” **** 4 stars - Empire “The book really hits the mark” - SFX“Most fans of the world’s most famous Cimmerian and his first and best [what remake?] will find this book highly informative and rewarding, and such a lovely one to just own. A lot of effort has clearly been made to make it look as appealing as possible and be something you will just want to keep and dig into every now and again” - Horror Cult Films“If you are a lover of film or you are a fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger or even of the works of Robert E. Howard, then this is certainly a book that you will want to check out and add to your library” Blazing Minds“Makes for a great conversation piece to have around the house as it proudly sits on your coffee table. It’s a great book for movie fans in general, but would also make for a great gift for any Conan fans out there that love the movie and want to learn more about how the film evolved into its final form” SciFi Pulse“A great addition to the movie-making section of your bookshelf” SciFi Bulletin

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Book Synopsis An updated edition – with completely new chapters – of the most accessible and compelling history of the cinema yet published, and complements Mark Cousins' fascinating 15-hour film documentary The Story of Film: An Odyssey. Filmmaker and author Mark Cousins shows how filmmakers are influenced both by the historical events of their times, and by each other. He demonstrates, for example, how Douglas Sirk’s Hollywood melodramas of the 1950s influenced Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s despairing visions of 1970s Germany; and how George Lucas’ Star Wars epics grew out of Akira Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress. The Story of Film is divided into three main epochs: Silent (1885–1928), Sound (1928–1990) and Digital (1990–Present). Films are discussed within chapters reflecting both the stylistic concerns of the film-makers and the political and social themes of the time. This edition includes new text that encompasses the further-reaching scope of world cinema today, and the huge leaps in technology that have changed cinema screens forever. Film is an international medium, so as well as covering the great American films and film-makers, The Story of Film explores cinema in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australasia and South America, and shows how cinematic ideas and techniques cross national boundaries. Avoiding jargon and obscure critical theory, the author constantly places himself in the role of the moviegoer watching a film, and asks: ‘How does a scene or a story affect us, and why?’ In so doing he gets to the heart of cinematic technique, explaining how film-makers use lighting, framing, focal length and editing to create their effects. Clearly written, and illustrated with over 400 stills, including numerous sequences explaining how scenes work, The Story of Film is essential reading for both film students and moviegoers alike.Trade Review‘A truly stunning and richly rewarding Magnum Opus.’ —The Independent ‘Brilliant.’ — The New York Times ‘An achievement of unparalleled proportions.’ — The White Review ‘A romantic, fiercely intelligent re-mapping of cinema.’ —Telegraph ‘Mark Cousins is incapable of writing anything about cinema history without making it fascinating.’ — Sean Connery ‘A delicious book.’ — Irish Times ‘Mark Cousins delves deep, and his book becomes an infinite tracking shot into the mysteries of movies … and their makers.’ — Bernardo Bertolucci ‘Cousins has carved out a niche as the great chronicler of the medium.’ — Mark Kermode

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Book SynopsisThis remarkable journey through the Hammer vault includes props, annotated script pages, unused poster artwork, production designs, rare promotional material and private correspondence. Hundreds of rare and previously unseen stills help to create a rich souvenir of Hammer's legacy, from the X certificate classics of the 1950s to the studio's latest productions. This new updated edition includes an extra chapter covering the years 2010.Trade Review"Hearn probably could've killed my parents and I'd still have to tell you how awesome this book is." - Topless Robot"Five Out of Five." - SciFi Mafia"This is a truly comprehensive handbook to beat all handbooks on all things Hammer. If you love horror, you’ll really love this book." - Ain't It Cool News"Hammer's great legacy is captured in beautiful, vivid detail as never before seen..." - Comics Cavern"A treasure trove of goodies..." - Movies.com"An absolute must for fans of classic horror." - Twitch Film"The Count of coffee table books and a lavishly, lovingly compiled edition that is essential for all the hounds of Hammer." - Cool Ass Cinema"The Hammer Vault will definitely satisfy your blood lust for information on the legendary house of horror." - Cool and Collected"Bursting at the seams with tons of newly released material... the perfect coffee table book for Hammer enthusiasts." - Shock Til You Drop"There is a real wealth of material here, all of it valuable, all of it agleam." - Flixist"A tantalizing overview of Hammer Films." - Blog Critics"...a beautifully presented, truly fascinating work." - Eat Sleep Live Film"... a book that cult film fans will be dying for." - Film School Rejects"A fascinating and informative read." - Movie Morlocks"...this is wonderful publication, not just for lover of all things Hammer, but for any lover of film." -Attack from Planet B"As high as my expectations were going in, The Hammer Vault easily trumped them. As a visual document of the studio that defined horror cinema throughout the 1950s and ’60s, it’s remarkable." - High Def Digest"It is an enjoyable overview of the company’s history, but is by no means exhaustive. The real value of this books is in the images rather than the text." - The Writers Journey

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Book SynopsisThe true story of how a famous movie star and her ex-husband director were kidnapped by Kim Jong-il and forced to revitalize North Korea’s film industry The incredible-yet-true story of celebrated South Korean actress Choi Eun-hee, abducted in 1978 by North Korean secret agents on the orders of their film-crazed future leader Kim Jong-il. Six months later, filmmaker Shin Sang-ok, Choi Eun-hee’s ex-husband, is abducted in turn. Choi and Shin remain unaware of each other’s fates until they meet again at a dinner hosted by Kim Jong-il in 1983. Kim forces Choi and Shin to make films, including the infamous kaiju cult classic Pulgasari (1985), all while convincing the world that they serve North Korea willingly. Choi and Shin’s love rekindles slowly in this reunited captivity. Only at the 1986 Vienna  Film Festival do they escape, fleeing in a daring car chase to the American embassy.  

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"An exemplary book of criticism." * New Yorker *"This deep dive into three all-time great moviemakers is the perfect example of why eating your cultural vegetables can be endlessly rewarding, potentially even life-changing." * MovieMaker *“Reading Transcendental Style now, it’s impressive not just how vibrant and convincing a study of a cinematic aesthetics it is, but how prescient it feels.” * Art in America *"This is a joy to read, and all the more startling when discovering that Schrader was 24 years old when he wrote the original text." * Film Stage *"The second edition, particularly graced by Schrader’s new introduction, is especially salient not only for ongoing evaluation of Schrader’s work as critic and filmmaker, but also as a contribution from Schrader himself to the critical task of interpretation and reception of new cinema and burgeoning cinematic movements. Like any number of Schrader’s own screenplays or directed films, this volume rewards repeated visitations." * Journal of Religion & Film *"Schrader’s investigation of mid-century art cinema masters as extensions of spiritual art is worthy of our careful consideration, especially given the legacy of Yasujirō Ozu, Robert Bresson, and Carl Th. Dreyer. . . . Transcendental Style is a masterful work of structure, methodology, and art history." * Offscreen *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Rethinking Transcendental Style Introduction to the Original Edition Ozu Bresson Dreyer Conclusion Notes Selected Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Fredric Jameson, internationally recognized as a literary theorist and as America's most notable Marxist intellectual, has established a leading place in discussions of postmodernism. Jameson brings to the subject an immense range of reference both to artworks and to theoretical discussions; a strong hypothesis linking cultural changes to changes in the place of culture within the whole structure of life produced by a new phase of economic history (multinational capitalism); and a severely scholarly wish to analyze and understand, rather than praise or blame, the object of his study."—Jonathan Arac“A classic of late 20th-century Euroamerican critical thought.” -- Ned Lukacher * Choice *“An encyclopedic grasp of modern culture.” -- Stuart Hall * Marxism Today *“For anybody hoping to understand not just the cultural but the political and social implications of postmodernism . . . Jameson’s book is a fundamental, nonpareil text.” -- Gilbert Adair * Sunday Times (London) *“Fredric Jameson is America’s leading Marxist critic, a prodigiously energetic thinker whose writings sweep magisterially from Sophocles to science fiction. . . . Postmodernism is an intellectual blockbuster.” -- Terry Eagleton * Irish Times *“No one theorist illustrates the recent history of postmodernism’s history so well as Fredric Jameson.” -- Michael Bérubé * Voice Literary Supplement *“The scope and profundity of Postmodernism, covering theory, architecture, film, video, and economics, is truly staggering. . . . Brilliant . . .” -- Siauddin Sardar * The Independent *

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Book SynopsisTake a journey through the makers and shapers of celluloid history. From horror to romance, noir to slapstick, adventure to tragedy, Western to new wave, this selection gathers the greats of 20th-century cinema into one indispensable guide to movie gold. The collection is arranged chronologically and in an extra-handy format. Film entries include a synopsis, cast/crew listings, technical information, actor/director bios, trivia, and lists of awards, as well as film stills, production photos, and the original poster for each film. From Metropolis to Modern Times, A Clockwork Orange to Buñuel’s The Young and the Damned, from the blockbusters to lesser-known masterpieces, thumb through and transform a quiet evening into an unforgettable screen encounter.Trade Review“Well-researched, encyclopedic, full of fascinating facts and an ideal present for silver screen enthusiasts.” * The Sunday Post *

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Book SynopsisWinner of 3 Oscars [registered] and the highest grossing film of its time, "Jaws" was a phenomenon. This book focuses on how 26-years-old Steven Spielberg transformed Peter Benchley's best-selling novel into the classic film it became.Trade Review"The Jaws Log is like a little movie director bible. Whenever I'm having a bad day at work, I got back and read a chapter...and thank the Lord I'm not shooting on the ocean." -- -Bryan Singer, Director, The Usual Suspects, X-Men "Carl Gottlieb's work is as entertaining as the movie it is about. In fact, you have not had the full Jaws experience until you have read, make that devoured, this wonderful book." -- -Rod Lurie, Director, The Contender "Like Jonah writing from the belly of the whale, Carl Gottlieb's journal of the process of making Jaws comes from the unique perspective of one of the major players in the collaboration that resulted in Spielberg's classic movie." -- -John Landis, Director, The Blues Brothers

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Book SynopsisTHE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERThese rollicking gabfests bring together nearly everyone who made the series a creative and cultural landmark' New York TimesEssential for fans, with a revelation on every page' KirkusWelcome to the Family.Michael Imperioli, who played the inimitable Christopher, and Steve Schirripa, the lovable Bobby Bacala who together host the hit podcast Talking Sopranos lay bare the secrets of The Sopranos. In these pages you'll find where all the bodies are buried: the stories behind the stories, the backstage gossip, and, most important, the love, trust, camaraderie and friendship that a group of actors and their crew discovered together.Woke Up This Morning is the essential companion to the seminal series, whether you're a first-time viewer or a longtime fan. Read it and you'll become a member of the family.You got a problem with that? A spectacular tell-all about the making of the Emmy-winning hit television series' Publishers WeeklyFor Sopranos fans this one iTrade Review‘I will be reading and rereading Woke Up This Morning ….These rollicking gabfests… bring together nearly everyone, on screen and off, who made the series a creative and cultural landmark. The freely offered admiration expressed by so many for their missing comrade and unofficial cast captain, Gandolfini, makes these stories about playing tough guys all the more tender’ New York Times ‘Ever wished you could hang out with the cast and crew of The Sopranos and just listen to them trade stories? … There are plenty of tantalizing bits of trivia—Tony was Tommy Soprano in the pilot script; producers wanted Lorraine Bracco to play Tony’s wife, but she said she would only consider playing Melfi, the psychiatrist—but this isn’t just a trivia collection. Mostly it’s about friends and colleagues getting together to pay tribute to one another and to a series that rewrote many of the rules of television. Love and respect for the show’s star, the late James Gandolfini, permeates the book, as does admiration for the show’s creator, David Chase, who started with a vague idea about a crook and his mother and built it into something that’s almost Shakespearean in its thematic scope. For Sopranos fans this one is an absolute must-read’ Booklist ‘Essential for fans, with a revelation on every page … Devotees will revel in the stroll into series minutiae’ Kirkus Reviews ‘A spectacular tell-all about the making of the Emmy-winning hit television series … What makes this sing is the passion and energy brought by Imperioli and Schirripa and its indelible tribute to the late James Gandolfini. As Aida Turturro (Janice Soprano) recalls, 'He was there for you no matter what.' This is the ultimate book on The Sopranos, made by the people who lived it’ Publishers Weekly

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Book SynopsisThe definitive, behind-the-scenes story of the making of The Godfather.

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Book SynopsisDive into the fascinating world of movie make-up effects with this stunning illustrated oral history of the art form. Masters of Make-Up Effects is a celebration of make-up artists and acclaimed make-up effects from the world of film and television. Authors Howard Berger and Marshall Julius have gleaned untold stories from the sets of cult classics (Planet of the Apes, An American Werewolf in London, The Thing), fan-favourite film and TV franchises (Star Trek, Star Wars, Harry Potter and the MCU) and modern blockbusters like Dune to chart the fascinating evolution of an industry.Lavishly illustrated with hundreds of behind-the-scenes photos, many of which have never before been seen in print or on social media, it showcases some of the most iconic make-up effects of all time, while revealing how they came to be in the artists' own words.Featuring a foreword by Guillermo del Toro, an afterword by Seth MacFarlane, and contributions from more than 50 make-up effects legends, as well as iconic actors including Doug Jones, Robert Englund, James McAvoy and Doug Bradley, and directors Mick Garris and John Landis, Masters of Make-Up Effects is the most complete book on movie make-up history ever assembled, and a must read for cinema fans everywhere.Table of ContentsForeword by Guillermo del Toro • Hall of Fame • What Dreams are Made of • Breaking In • The Seed of Invention • The Monster Club • Featured Creatures • The Gore the Merrier • They're Alive! • Making Faces • To Glue or Not to Glue • Teamwork Makes the Dream Work • Let's Do the Time Warp • Reel Lives • War Stories • Lessons Learned • Afterword by Seth MacFarlane.

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Book SynopsisFrom the very first book publication in 1920 to the recent film release of Death on the Nile, this investigation into Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot celebrates a century of probably the world's favourite fictional detective.This book tells his story decade-by-decade, exploring his appearances not only in the original novels, short stories and plays but also across stage, screen and radio productions.Poirot has had near-permanent presence in the public eye ever since the 1920 publication of The Mysterious Affair at Styles. From character development, publication history and private discussion concerning the original stories themselves, to early forays on to the stage and screen, the story of Poirot is as fascinating as it is enduring.Based on the author's original research, review excerpts and original Agatha Christie correspondence, Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World is a lively and accessible history of the character, offering new information and helpful pieces of context, that will delight all Agatha Christie fans, from a new generation of readers to those already highly familiar with the canon.Trade Review‘Delightful, detailed and compulsively readable.’ MARK GATISS ‘What a magnificent book! An essential component of every Poirot fan's book collection. I couldn't put it down.’ SOPHIE HANNAH ‘Exhaustively and entertainingly surveys the book, stage, radio, magazine and film appearances of that fussy little Belgian.’ MICHAEL DIRDA, WASHINGTON POST 'This quirky, trivia-filled look at a touchstone of detective fiction will have Christie fans young and old in heaven.' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Although Andre Bazin died shortly before the onset of what we now regard as the modern cinema, our understanding of this cinema wouldn't be the same without him. He's also one of the most scrupulous humanists and polemicists we've had, on a par with George Orwell, and these essays map out the busy highways we're all still navigating." - Jonathan Rosenbaum, film critic for the Chicago Reader"

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Book SynopsisRobert McKee''s screenwriting workshops have earned him an international reputation for inspiring novices, refining works in progress and putting major screenwriting careers back on track. Quincy Jones, Diane Keaton, Gloria Steinem, Julia Roberts, John Cleese and David Bowie are just a few of his celebrity alumni. Writers, producers, development executives and agents all flock to his lecture series, praising it as a mesmerizing and intense learning experience. In Story, McKee expands on the concepts he teaches in his $450 seminars (considered a must by industry insiders), providing readers with the most comprehensive, integrated explanation of the craft of writing for the screen. No one better understands how all the elements of a screenplay fit together, and no one is better qualified to explain the magic of story construction and the relationship between structure and character than Robert McKee.

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Book SynopsisThe ultimate guide to the famous productions of Irwin Allen, legendary producer of The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno, featuring over 2,000 exclusive images.

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Book SynopsisA minute-by-minute analysis of Gus Van Sant film, Gerry (2002). Blending film criticism with creative nonfiction, each book in the Timecodes series focuses on one film, exploring it minute by minute beginning with minute one, and ending with the final minute before the closing credits. In the canon of director Gus Van Sant's films, Gerry (2002) stands out as a singular work, a boldly experimental film that nonetheless is accessible, darkly humorous, and profound. Gerry: Minute by Minute is a non-traditional critical study of this film, a bold, impressionistic series of vignettes that circle around questions which are highly specific to Gerry itself but which are also universal: what is it about certain works of artfilms, books, paintings, musicthat attach themselves to us so that we carry them with us on our journey through life? What does it mean to walk with these works inside us, as if they are a part of us? The book's structure unfolds chronologically along with the film, with on

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Book SynopsisDiscover everything you''ve ever wanted to know about Star Wars in this complete history of the most famous franchise in movie history.Painstakingly researched and superbly illustrated, Star Wars Year By Year: A Visual History, New Edition presents a unique Star Wars timeline-the full history of the amazing Star Wars phenomenon as you''ve never seen it before.This stunning visual journey features trivia and cultural cornerstones from director George Lucas'' early life through to the iconic movie stills, comic books, novels, toys, video games, and theme parks that have spawned from five decades of seminal film making. Fully updated and expanded, this edition encompasses all nine episodes of the original, prequel, and sequel trilogies, along with the standalone movies Rogue One and Solo, and the acclaimed television series, The Mandalorian. Produced in full collaboration with Lucasfilm and written by renowned Star Wars experts, Star Wars Year by Year: A Visual History, New Edition is ideal for Star Wars fanatics and newbies alike. & 2021 Lucasfilm Ltd.

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Book SynopsisFor many, Blue Velvet is David Lynch's masterpiece. It represents a unique act of cinema: an 80s Hollywood studio film as radical, visionary and cabalistic as anything found in the avant-garde; a mysteriously symbolic and subterranean 'cult' movie that nevertheless has recognisable stars and was broadly distributed; a genre piece with the ambience of a fearsome, hyper-composed nightmare; an American 'art film' by Hollywood's only reputable 'art film' director. Michael Atkinson’s intricate and layered reading of the film shows how crystallises many of Lynch’s chief preoccupations: the evil and violence underlying the surface of suburbia, the seedy by-ways of sexuality, the frightening appearance of the adult world to a child's eyes, presenting it as the definitive expression of the traumatized innocence which characterizes Lynch's work. In his afterword to this new edition, Atkinson situates Blue Velvet within a culture that has changed drastically in the 35 years since its release, and in doing so, he considers the film's lasting significance as it slowly turns from contemporary phenomenon to an interpretable artifact.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments 2021 Foreword 'Blue Velvet' Notes Credits Bibliography

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Book SynopsisAuster''s tale of obsession from the author of contemporary classic The New York Trilogy: ''a literary voice for the ages'' (Guardian)The Book of Illusions, written with breath-taking urgency and precision, plunges the reader into a universe in which the comic and the tragic, the real and the imagined, and the violent and the tender dissolve into one another.One man''s obsession with the mysterious life of a silent film star takes him on a journey into a shadow-world of lies, illusions, and unexpected love. After losing his wife and young sons in a plane crash, Vermont professor David Zimmer spends his waking hours mired in grief. Then, watching television one night, he stumbles upon a lost film by silent comedian Hector Mann, and remembers how to laugh . . .Mann was a comic genius, in trademark white suit and fluttering black moustache. But one morning in 1929 he walked out of his house and was never heard from again. Zimmer''s ob

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Book Synopsis'Defamiliarizes' the reader with eleven different films. This book argues that critics often use cut-and-dried methods and choose films that easily fit those methods. It also argues that neoformalism, on the other hand, encourages the critic to deal with each film differently and to modify his or her analytical assumptions continually.

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Book SynopsisExplore the physics behind the world of Star Wars, with engaging topics and accessible information that shows how we’re closer than ever before to creating technology from the galaxy far, far away—perfect for every Star Wars fan!Ever wish you could have your very own lightsaber like Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi? Or that you could fly through space at the speed of light like Han Solo and Poe Dameron? Well, those ideas aren’t as outlandish as you think. In The Physics of Star Wars, you’ll explore the mystical power of the Force using quantum mechanics, find out how much energy it would take for the Death Star or Starkiller Base to destroy a planet, and discover how we can potentially create our very own lightsabers. The fantastical world of Star Wars may become a reality!Trade Review"When you think of the science behind Star Wars, what do you think of? In this new book you can delve into the science of the galaxy far, far away and maybe get some answers." * Geek Girl Authority *"Patrick Johnson … breaks down the Star Wars franchise into its constituent parts, and offers scientific explanations, grounded in reality, for just about every detail … .A compulsive pleasure to read." * VICE *"Gets a fun conversation about physics brewing in the zeitgeist, but also might neatly explain everything that’s weird about the Star Wars galaxy. The wonderful thing about Johnson’s way of thinking is that nearly every quibble we might have about the science mistakes or fallacies inherent to Star Wars could have a neat explanation." * Inverse.com *"A stellar read …. a deep dive into the real science behind the world of Star Wars. You can really tell how big a fan the author is, which makes for an extra fun read. By comparing the galaxy to our own, the author makes it very accessible and even more interesting. If you’re interested in this book and don’t have a science background, you’ll still enjoy it … .A fun, educational read." * Hypable *"As part of his mission to communicate science to nonscientists, physicist Patrick Johnson uses the fictional world of Star Wars to explore real-life science. The book is divided into categorized topics … followed by an analysis of the physics involved in the Star Wars universe compared with current science and technology here on Earth. Aimed at a general audience, The Physics of Star Wars could stimulate some thought-provoking discussions." * Physics Today *

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Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE SALTIRE SOCIETY NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARDLooking can be an act of empathy or aggression. It can provoke desire or express it. And from the blurry, edgeless world we inhabit as infants to the landscape of screens we grow into, looking can define us.In The Story of Looking, filmmaker and writer Mark Cousins takes us on a lightning-bright tour - in words and images - through how our looking selves develop over the course of a lifetime, and the ways that looking has changed through the centuries. From great works of art to tourist photographs, from cityscapes to cinema, through science and protest, propaganda and refusals to look, the false mirrors and great visionaries of looking, this book illuminates how we construct as well as receive the things we see.Brilliant and eclectic, The Story of Looking is a photo album and an art gallery, a road movie and a visual grammar: once you've read it, you'll never see things the same way again.Trade ReviewA wide-ranging history of looking, you will gaze at it in wonder -- Ian Sansom * * Guardian * *A history of the human gaze . . . Illuminating . . . Roams freely across history, art, film, photography, science and technology . . . Indispensable as a reference book * * Observer * *Bloody genius -- CHRISTOPHER DOYLEIntriguing and beautiful . . . [A] gloriously haphazard intellectual scrapbook . . . Wide-ranging, deep-seeing and clever * * Scotland on Sunday * *An attempt to catalogue how and why we look, what we look at and how our social and cultural surroundings shape what we see . . . the result is, by turns, learned, often surprising . . . Fascinating * * Glasgow Sunday Herald, Arts Books of the Year * *Brilliant . . . His taste is eclectic and his judgments precise and persuasive * * New York Times * *Extraordinary . . . Visually ensnaring and intellectually lithe * * Telegraph on The Story of Film * *Dazzling in its breadth and intelligence . . . A hugely impressive work by a uniquely talented storyteller * * Guardian on A Story of Children and Film * *

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Book SynopsisFrom the very first book publication in 1920 to the upcoming film release of Death on the Nile, this investigation into Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot celebrates a century of probably the world's favourite fictional detective.This book tells his story decade-by-decade, exploring his appearances not only in the original novels, short stories and plays but also across stage, screen and radio productions. The hardback edition includes more than 400 illustrations.Poirot has had near-permanent presence in the public eye ever since the 1920 publication of The Mysterious Affair at Styles. From character development, publication history and private discussion concerning the original stories themselves, to early forays on to the stage and screen, the story of Poirot is as fascinating as it is enduring.Based on the author's original research, review excerpts and original Agatha Christie correspondence, Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World is a lively and accessible history of the character, offering new information and helpful pieces of context, that will delight all Agatha Christie fans, from a new generation of readers to those already highly familiar with the canon.Trade Review‘Delightful, detailed and compulsively readable.’ MARK GATISS ‘What a magnificent book! An essential component of every Poirot fan's book collection. I couldn't put it down.’ SOPHIE HANNAH ‘Exhaustively and entertainingly surveys the book, stage, radio, magazine and film appearances of that fussy little Belgian.’ MICHAEL DIRDA, WASHINGTON POST 'This quirky, trivia-filled look at a touchstone of detective fiction will have Christie fans young and old in heaven.' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

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Book SynopsisCelebrate 100 years of wonder and discover the story of Disney in this beautifully illustrated coffee table book featuring imagery from the Disney archives.Take a walk through the Disney Museum and discover the story behind the company that changed the face of film and animation as it celebrates its centenary year.This large-format book showcases rarely-seen imagery from Disney. Marvel at concept drawings from the early stages of films, travel through the golden age of animation, get a glimpse behind Frozen, see the original Disney Parks, read about Disney firsts and more.Chronicling the fascinating history of Disney, this book is a must-have addition to the shelf for fans of animation, film and all things Disney.Includes images from:The Animation Research Library is entrusted to conserve and protect the artistic heritage of Walt Disney Animation Studios. The ARL is the repository for over 65 million pieces of physical art, as well as a rapidly-growing collection of born-digital artwork - currently estimated at 5 petabytes - created over the almost 100-year history of Disney animation.The Walt Disney Archives was established by company co-founder Roy O. Disney, who determined that significant assets and documents relating to the history of The Walt Disney Company should be gathered and preserved, and that the recollections of key employees should be documented. Founded by Chief Archivist Emeritus Dave Smith in 1970, the Archives team has curated millions of historic items, assisted in the research and review of hundreds of scholarly and documentary works, and produced numerous public exhibits.

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Book SynopsisIn the thirty years since its release, The Crow has become the ultimate cult movie, with a dedicated worldwide following, two sequels, and a persistent fascination owing to the tragedy that came to define its legacy, in which star Brandon Lee was killed in a strange on-set accident during the last days of filming.In this fully revised and updated edition, author Bridget Baiss tells the full story of The Crow, from the initial adaptation of James O'Barr's graphic novel, through its production and Lee's death, to its final, triumphant release and enduring appeal. Drawing on unprecedented access to the film's cast and crew, including new interviews and research conducted since the release of the first edition, this is a fascinating and revealing look at the troubled making of a modern classic.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“A swift and elegant introduction to Spielberg’s life and work.”—David Denby, New Yorker"'Everything about me is in my films,' Spielberg once said. Yet in this compact study of a sprawling career, Haskell comes close to presenting a unified theory of a director who entertains multitudes, and contains them too."—Victoria Segal, Sunday Times"A superbly readable portrait of the man through his movies . . . this meeting of the minds of the critic and the director turns out to be exceptionally fruitful."—Kate Muir, Times (London)"The exploration here is lively, the critic is deeply informed, and she approaches her mandate with a calmness of inquiry that is a gift often bestowed on the outsider anthropologist impervious to tribal influences."—Lisa Schwarzbaum, New York Times Book Review"Luckily, Molly Haskell is far too wise a critic to be flummoxed by Mr. Spielberg’s seemingly critic-proof oeuvre. She nails Mr. Spielberg when he needs to be nailed . . . Ms. Haskell’s great on the movies that give her something to write about, like 'Duel,' 'Jaws,' and 'Empire of the Sun.'"—Scott Eyman, Wall Street Journal"This fascinating critical study and close reading of the movies, written by a prominent feminist film critic, focuses on the evolution of Spielberg’s Jewish identity."—New York Times Book Review, Editors' Choice"As Haskell delves into her subject, however, she discovers the influences and challenges that shaped this outsize figure in American mainstream cinema, including his denied, then embraced Jewish faith, and comes up with a compelling and remarkable figure."—Sarah Jilani, Times Literary Supplement"In a long nomadic career of film writing, the feminist critic Molly Haskell has never wild about Spielberg, her taste steeped in the great auteurs, her signature a coolly playful rigour. Unexpectedly, this makes her the perfect biographer for a director with a life-long weakness for treacle. Spielberg emerges with his credibility enhanced for having been put through the wringer."—Danny Leigh, Financial Times"Legendary movie critic Haskell weaves Spielberg’s entire body of work through her captivating narrative, providing a poignant study of him as a person and a filmmaker."—Publishers Weekly"Haskell’s discussion of the childlike wonder inherent to many of the director’s films and her eloquent defense of some of his riskier, less successful movies is particularly valuable. . . . Recommended for readers of film criticism or commentary."—Library Journal"[Haskell] takes Spielberg’s statement that 'everything about me is in my films' and provides a fascinating portrait of the man and his entire oeuvre, illustrating just how entwined they are. She reveals that this extraordinarily gifted individual would translate 'not only his childhood but whatever he was feeling and experiencing at any given time' into his films."—Anne Joseph, Jewish Chronicle"Haskell has turned out a brilliant, almost exemplary book: in 200-odd pages it manages to precis the key facts of Spielberg’s off-camera life and distill the essence and flow of his evolving, shifting cinematic achievements . . . an excellent critical biography of a great film director, and is warmly recommended."—Andrew Pulver, Jewish Renaissance"This unlikely match of biographer and subject gives [Haskell’s]study the tension and snap of a good romantic comedy. . . . An essential volume on an artist whose aversion to interviews has shortened the shelf of worthwhile studies on him."—Guy Lodge, The Observer"An arresting set of connections, linking the stresses of childhood and adolescence with the defining themes of his expensive output, ultimately taking a view on Spielberg as a more personal filmmaker than many of his contemporaries . . . a filmmaker this refreshing volume make you keen to reassess, or perhaps indeed visit for the first time with new eyes."—Trevor Johnson, Sight & Sound"Molly Haskell, one of our most essential authorities on the movies, has written a fascinating, witty, acutely discerning book about a subject that would seem, at first glance, odd. But what a spectacular match it proves to be! Spielberg is given his proper due, and Haskell outdoes herself."—Phillip Lopate, author of American Movie Critics"Steven Spielberg and Molly Haskell—the great producer-director of modern film and one of the most intelligent and sensitive film writers we have ever had. The result is as rich and intriguing as the meeting of Elliott and E.T. We know the Spielberg films, or we think we do, until they come under the cool yet warming gaze of Ms. Haskell. As a result, we are the more fascinated with Spielberg and the more encouraged by the principle of essential and enlightening film commentary."—David Thomson, author of A Biographical Dictionary of Film"Molly Haskell’s writing is always thought provoking and rife with insight. She skillfully argues that Hollywood’s most commercially successful film maker has, over a forty-five-year career, produced a series of highly personal films that give voice to the director’s inner conflicts and longings. This persuasive re-think will no doubt intrigue fans and, in fact, anyone who has ever watched a Spielberg movie. A must for anyone interested in a serious look at popular cinema."—Joseph Egan, author of The Purple Diaries"This is a wonderful book, at once personal and critical, eloquent and vivacious. The book vibrates with a productive tension between the writer and her subject."—Morris Dickstein, author of Dancing in the Dark and Why Not Say What Happened

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Book SynopsisPlants have played key roles in science fiction novels, graphic novels and film. John Wyndham’s triffids, Algernon Blackwood’s willows and Han Kang’s sprouting woman are just a few examples. Plants surround us, sustain us, pique our imaginations and inhabit our metaphors – but in many ways they remain opaque. The scope of their alienation is as broad as their biodiversity. And yet, literary reflections of plant-life are driven, as are many threads of science fictional inquiry, by the concerns of today. Plants in Science Fiction is the first-ever collected volume on plants in science fiction, and its original essays argue that plant-life in SF is transforming our attitudes toward morality, politics, economics and cultural life at large – questioning and shifting our understandings of institutions, nations, borders and boundaries; erecting and dismantling new visions of utopian and dystopian futures.Trade Review“Science fiction teaches us to ‘be-with others better.’ This is the core argument of Plants in Science Fiction, captured in one of its chapters and suffused throughout. Readers will come away with a profound and challenging understanding of what it means to be human, as well as a deep appreciation for the critical function of science fiction in a threatened world.” -- Eric Otto, Florida Gulf Coast University“Plants in Science Fiction demonstrates that science fiction and ecocriticism have much to say to each other. By considering ‘speculative vegetation,’ of course, we learn much about our own lives in the present moment on Earth.’ -- Scott Slovic, Editor-in-Chief, ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and EnvironmentTable of ContentsContributors Introduction - Katherine E. Bishop Abjection Weird Flora: Plant Life in the Classic Weird Tale - Jessica George ‘Bloody unnatural brutes’: Anthropomorphism, Colonialism and the Return of the Repressed in John Wyndham’s The Day of the Triffids - Jerry Määttä Botanical Tentacles and the Chthulucene- Shelley Saguaro Affinity Between the Living and the Dead: Vegetal Afterlives in Evgenii Iufit's and Vladimir Maslov’s Silver Heads - Brittany Roberts Vegetable Love: Desire, Feeling, and Sexuality in Botanical Fiction - T. S. Miller Alternative Reproduction: Plant-time and Human/Arboreal Assemblages in Holdstock and Han - Elizabeth Heckendorn Cook Accord Sunlight as a Photosynthetic Information Technology: Becoming Plant in Tom Robbins’s Jitterbug Perfume - Yogi Hale Hendlin The Question of the Vegetal, the Animal, the Archive in Kathleen Ann Goonan’s Queen City Jazz - Graham J. Murphy Queer Ingestions: Weird, Vegetative Bodies in Jeff VanderMeer’s Fiction - Alison Sperling The Botanical Ekphrastic and Ecological Relocation - Katherine E. Bishop Selected Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisSam Rohdie's insightful and compelling analysis of Luchino Visconti's 1960 epic of modern urban life provides reveals the film as one of the greatest masterpieces of Italian cinema. Rocco tells the story of a family of peasants uprooted from their village in southern Italy, and forced to battle for existence in the industrial metropolis of Milan. Though fascinated by the social reality of modern Italy, Visconti had by this time thrown off the influence of the neorealist movement. He had developed a style all his own, enriched by his experience of directing opera for the stage. As a result, the characters in Rocco are no longer held in check by the naturalistic conventions of neorealism. Instead, they erupt on the screen with all the emotional power of heightened melodrama. The violent sexuality projected by stars Alain Delon, Annie Girardot, Claudia Cardinale and the rest of Visconti's impressive cast was too much for the Italian censors, who cut several scenes. Rohdie discusses the film in terms of its 'passionate splendid realism', arguing that these two apparently opposing moods are held in balance rather than contradiction in the film, part of 'the very condition of the film's power - and grace.'Table of ContentsForeword to the 2020 Edition Acknowledgements Introduction Rocco and His Brothers Notes Credits Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThelma & Louise, directed by Ridley Scott and written by Callie Khouri, sparked a remarkable public discussion about feminism, violence, and the representation of women in cinema on its release in 1991. Subject to media vilification for its apparent justification of armed robbery and manslaughter, it was a huge hit with audiences composed largely but not exclusively of women who cheered the fugitive central characters played by Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis. Marita Sturken examines Thelma & Louise as one of those rare films that encapsulates the politics of its time. She discusses the film's reworking of the outlaw genre, its reversal of gender roles, and its engagement with the complex relationship of women, guns adn the law. The insights of director Scott, screenwriter Khouri as well as Davis and Sarandon are deployed in an analysis of Thelma & Louise and the controversies it sparked. This is a compelling study of a landmark in 1990s American cinema. In her foreword to this new edition, Sturken looks back on the film's reception at the time of its release, and considers its continuing resonances and topicality in the age of #MeToo.Table of ContentsForeword to the 2020 Edition Acknowledgments Thelma & Louise Notes Credits

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Book SynopsisSingle Lives is a collection of singleness studies essays from the interdisciplinary humanities that explores the last two hundred years of literature and popular media by, about, and for single women in the US and the UK. Independent women have always been a center around which social anxieties and excitement coalesced. Moving between the family home and domestic independence, between household and public labor, and between celibacy and a range of sexual relations, the single woman remains a literary and cultural focus, as she has been from the 19th to the 21st centuries. This collection offers readers the opportunity to uncover the social, political, economic, and cultural connections between the "singly blessed" women and "bachelor girls" of the 19th and early 20th century and "all the single ladies" of the 21st century. Essays read singleness across genre and field, offering new approaches to studying modern and contemporary single women in literature, film, and history. Authors engage scholarship from wide ranging fields of social history, women's studies, queer theory, and Black feminism. The collection reads familiar texts against the grain, rethinking archival resources, revisiting familiar figures, and exploring new sources: cookbooks, ephemera, personal documents, recovered film histories, and forms of domestic space and labor.This is a book for scholars of gender and sexuality, social history, feminist film and media scholars, and literary historians, and reflects the urgent contemporary interest in single women as a political, economic, and cultural force. Trade Review"Single Lives, focusing on a wide range of British and American texts from the nineteenth to the present century, makes a timely feminist intervention into ongoing critical conversations about the representation of women’s singleness. This engaging interdisciplinary collection, which foregrounds diverse embodiments of singleness, revisits familiar figures, and promotes expanded methods and sources to better understand single women’s lived experiences, promises to greatly enrich the field of singleness studies." -- Anthea Taylor * author of Celebrity and the Feminist Blockbuster *"Drawing from wide-ranging disciplines and spanning a century of British and American history, Single Lives offers an original and engrossing analysis of how the figure of the single woman stands as an implicit challenge to the norm of the patriarchal nuclear family." -- Kathleen Rowe Karlyn * author of The Unruly Woman: Gender and the Genres of Laughter *"Single Lives, focusing on a wide range of British and American texts from the nineteenth to the present century, makes a timely feminist intervention into ongoing critical conversations about the representation of women’s singleness. This engaging interdisciplinary collection, which foregrounds diverse embodiments of singleness, revisits familiar figures, and promotes expanded methods and sources to better understand single women’s lived experiences, promises to greatly enrich the field of singleness studies." -- Anthea Taylor * author of Celebrity and the Feminist Blockbuster *"Drawing from wide-ranging disciplines and spanning a century of British and American history, Single Lives offers an original and engrossing analysis of how the figure of the single woman stands as an implicit challenge to the norm of the patriarchal nuclear family." -- Kathleen Rowe Karlyn * author of The Unruly Woman: Gender and the Genres of Laughter *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Situating Single Lives by Katherine Fama and Jorie Lagerwey Part I: Singles Studies: Archives and Methods Chapter 1: Searching for Singles: Archival Approaches for Singleness Studies and Black Women’s Collections by Andreá N. Williams Chapter 2: Reclaiming Single Women’s Work: Gender, Melodrama, and the Processes of Adaptation in The Best of Everything by Jennifer S. Clark Chapter 3: Recovering Single Biography: Jane Armstrong Tucker, Illness, and the Single Life by Elizabeth DeWolfe Part II: Familiar Figures: Representing and Reforming the Single Woman Chapter 4: Becoming Single: Gidget “Betwixt and Between” by Pamela Robertson Wojcik Chapter 5: F. Scott Fitzgerald and “The Sinking Ship of Future Matrimony:” The Unmarried Flapper in Literature and on Screen by Martina Mastandrea Chapter 6: Neither Betwixt nor Between: Divorced Mothers in the United States, 1920-1965 by Kristin Celello Chapter 7: Serves One: Exploring Representations of Female Singleness in American Cookbooks by Ursula Kania Part III: Singles at Home: Domestic Labors Chapter 8: Feeling “Like a Queen:” Later-Life Single Women at Home in Modern American Short Fiction by Katherine Fama Chapter 9: “Spinsters’ Rest?”: The Discomforts of Home in British Women’s Short Stories of the 1920s to the 1940s by Emma Liggins Chapter 10: All the Single Nannies: Reforming Elite Domesticity and the Cultural Imaginary by Ann Mattis Afterword by Benjamin Kahan Acknowledgements Notes on Contributors Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisA screenwriter, novelist, labor leader, Hollywood insider, and feminist, Mary C. McCall Jr. was one of the film industry's most powerful figures in the 1940s and early 1950s. J. E. Smyth tells McCall's remarkable story for the first time.

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Book SynopsisMakes an excellent case for Parrott as an unjustly forgotten historical figure.TheNew YorkerRemind[s] us of the brazenly talented women sidelined by convention.New York Times The riveting biography of Ursula Parrottbest-selling author, Hollywood screenwriter, and voice for the modern woman. Credited with popularizing the label ex-wife in 1929, Ursula Parrott wrote provocatively about divorcées, career women, single mothers, work-life balance, and a host of new challenges facing modern women. Her best sellers, Hollywood film deals, marriages and divorces, and run-ins with the law made her a household name. Part biography, part cultural history, Becoming the Ex-Wife establishes Parrott's rightful place in twentieth-century American culture, uncovering her neglected work and keen insights into American women's lives during a period of immense social change. Although she was frequently dismissed as a woman's writer, reading Parrott's writing today makes it clear that she was a trenchant philosopher of modernityher work was prescient, anticipating issues not widely raised until decades after her decline into obscurity. With elegant wit and a deft command of the archive, Marsha Gordon tells a timely story about the life of a woman on the front lines of a culture war that is still raging today.Trade Review"As Marsha Gordon argues in her engaging new biography, Becoming the Ex-Wife, the novel 'offers a strong case for the protections of marriage and the dangers of being an unattached woman.' . . . In her biography, Gordon makes an excellent case for Parrott as an unjustly forgotten historical figure: a sociological flash point, a beneficiary of feminism and victim of patriarchy who got her enemies mixed up." * The New Yorker *“Why did a once-transfixed reading public turn away, and why is Parrott so often now eliminated from a pantheon of popular urban “working girl” writers that includes Helen Gurley Brown, Candace Bushnell, Nora Ephron, Dorothy Parker and, perhaps most comparably, Jacqueline Susann? . . . A reissue of Ursula Parrott’s racy novel “Ex-Wife,” and a new biography of its author, remind us of the brazenly talented women sidelined by convention. . . . [Gordon] surfaces plenty of colorful period detail: passport photos of everyone looking mussed and truculent in that Jazz Age way; correspondence from exasperated agents, editors and lovers; even an adorable 'mapback' version marked with key locations in 'Ex-Wife.'” * The New York Times *“[V]igorous, entertaining, and well-researched . . . [Gordon’s] biography salvages and reconstructs Parrott’s many remains, rescuing an important American voice and cultural figure from near oblivion. . . . The result is a clear, full, yet unlabored portrait of Parrott, written in agile, accessible prose. Gordon’s tone is warm but unsentimental (as was Parrott herself), occasionally displaying a subtle and welcome bit of cheek or zing befitting her subject." * Los Angeles Review of Books *“[R]igorous . . . an enlightening companion to the novel" * The Baffler *"Marsha Gordon’s Becoming the Ex-Wife: The Unconventional Life and Forgotten Writings of Ursula Parrott is a thoroughly researched, sympathetic, but not uncritical portrait of a woman who achieved exceptional commercial success as a writer and who was, for a while, 'the most famous divorcée in the United States.'" -- Joyce Carol Oates * The New York Review of Books *"Gordon’s biography . . . is good on Parrott’s significance for an understanding of American life – and women’s lives, in particular – in the interwar period, with its glancing insights into alcoholism and abortion. Keenly supported by examples from the writings, Gordon also shows how her subject’s life was often too strange for any kind of fiction." * Times Literary Supplement *"Parrott led a scandalous, glamorous, sometimes lonely life in the public eye, and Gordon, professor and director of the film studies program at North Carolina State University, has done the world a great service by bringing her back into the spotlight." * Washington City Paper *"In Becoming the Ex-Wife, Marsha Gordon sheds welcome light on this remarkable and troubled writer, who knew too well how hard it was to be a modern woman who wanted sexual freedom and a career of her own choosing. In this well-researched and fascinating biography, Parrott emerges as a star who should be remembered alongside Jazz Age icons like Dorothy Parker and the Fitzgeralds.” * Newcity Lit *"[O]ffers an in-depth look at Parrott’s complicated and sometimes scandalous life." * Walter Magazine *"Parrott is forgotten and Faulkner is famous. This is so much more than a matter of quality, which is why we need biography. . . . Marsha Gordon makes a compelling case for Parrott’s artistry and continuing relevance. . . . Ms. Gordon does something else that is quite shrewd: She has a concluding chapter, after Parrott has died, which concentrates on her subject’s literary legacy. The story of Parrott’s life is over, but her writing lives on, even if we don’t yet know it." * The New York Sun *"Marsha Gordon’s new biography of the best-selling author Ursula Parrott, Becoming the Ex-Wife, rescues this important author’s life from obscurity, . . . Both Gordon’s biography, and the 2023 publication of a McNally Edition of Parrott’s 1929 novel Ex-Wife have garnered a lot of well-deserved attention. . . . In Becoming the Ex-Wife, it is clear Gordon mined all the archives and saved what she could of this fascinating and accomplished woman’s life from obscurity.” * Biblio *"There are certain books which catch you completely by surprise. Marsha Gordon’s Becoming the Ex-Wife is one of those books. . . . Gordon does an excellent job of telling Parrott’s story because she balances her admiration with the right amount of critical eye. . . . If you can accept that a human can be both good and bad in various measures while finding their life story interesting, then you will enjoy this book immensely.” * History Nerds United *"Gordon’s biography . . . is good on Parrott’s significance for an understanding of American life – and women’s lives, in particular – in the interwar period, with its glancing insights into alcoholism and abortion. Keenly supported by examples from the writings, Gordon also shows how her subject’s life was often too strange for any kind of fiction." * Times Literary Supplement *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations A Note on Name Usage Introduction: "Maxims in the Copybook of Modernism" 1 • The Limited Life of a Dorchester Girl 2 • At Radcliffe: "A Pushy Lace-Curtain Irish Girl from Dorchester" 3 • First Husband, Lindesay Parrott: "Strange Moments of Tenderness and Pretty Constant Dislike" 4 • Modern Parenting 5 • Greenwich Village: The Path to Becoming a "Self-Sufficient, Independent, Successful Manager of Her Own Life" 6 • Hugh O’Connor: High Felicity on the "Road of No Rules" 7 • New Freedoms in the "Era of the One-Night Stand": The Ex-Wife Is Born 8 • Ursula Goes to Hollywood 9 • Second Husband, Charles Greenwood: "The Stupidest Thing I Ever Did in My Life" 10 • "Extravagant Hell" 11 • The Business of Being a Writer 12 • Third Husband, John Wildberg: The Faint Resemblance of Stability 13 • "The Monotony and Weariness of Living" 14 • Fourth Husband, Alfred Coster Schermerhorn: "Two Catastrophes Should Be Enough" 15 • Saving Private Bryan: The United States vs. Ursula Parrott 16 • Her "Breaks Went Bad" 17 • "Black Coffee, Scotch, and Excitement" Afterword: Remembering a "Leftover Lady" Acknowledgments Chronology Notes Published Writings of Ursula Parrott Bibliography Index

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Book Synopsis'A blast' - Ian Rankin'A lively celebration of 1980s action stars' - The Times'Hugely entertaining' - Edgar WrightNow with BONUS MATERIAL, from the editor of Empire magazine this is the behind-the-scenes story of the golden age of the action movie, the stars who ruled 80s and 90s Hollywood and the beloved films – from Die Hard to The Terminator – that made them famous.Charting Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s carnage-packed journey from enmity to friendship against the backdrop of Reagan’s America and the Cold War. It also reveals the untold stories of the colourful characters, from Steven Seagal to Bruce Willis, who ascended in their wake. These invincible action heroes used muscle, martial arts or the perfect weapon to save the day, becoming pop-culture titans.Drawing on candid interviews with the action stars themselves, plus their

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Book SynopsisFirst published in 1969, Signs and Meaning in the Cinema transformed the emerging discipline of film studies. Remarkably eclectic and informed, Peter Wollen's highly influential and groundbreaking work remains a brilliant and accessible theorisation of film as an art form and as a sign system. The book is divided into three main sections. The first explores the work of Sergei Eisenstein as film-maker, designer and aesthetician. The second, which contains a celebrated comparison of the films of John Ford and Howard Hawks, is an exposition and defence of the auteur theory. The third formulates a semiology of the cinema, invoking cinema as an exemplary test-case for comparative aesthetics and general theories of signification. Wollen's Conclusion argues for an avant-garde cinema, bringing post-structuralist ideas into his discussion of Godard and other contemporaries. Published as part of the BFI Silver series, this fifth edition features a new foreword by film theorist David Rodowick and brings together material from the four previous editions, inviting the reader to trace the development of Wollen's thinking, and the unfolding of the discourse of cinema.Table of ContentsForeword to the 5th Edition.- D. N. Rodowick.- Introduction.- 1: Eisenstein's Aesthetics.- 2: The Auteur Theory.- 3: The Semiology of the Cinema.- Conclusion (1972).- Appendices.- The Writings of Lee Russell: New Left Review (1964–7).- Conclusion (1969).- Style and Aesthetics (1969).- Pantheon Directors (1969).- Afterword (1997): Lee Russell Interviews Peter Wollen.- Booklist (1972).- Acknowledgments (1969).- Editorial Note (2013).- Index.

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Book SynopsisSCOTT BUKATMANis a cultural theorist and Professor of Film and Media Studies at Stanford University. His research explores how popular media such as film, comics and animation mediate between new technologies and human perceptual and bodily experience.

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Book SynopsisMovie Movements: Films That Changed the World of Cinema is a one-stop guide to the major movements that have shaped our sense of what cinema is and can be. It introduces the reader to definitions of the founding concepts in Film Studies such as authorship and genre, technological impacts and the rise of digital cinema, social influences and notions of the avant-garde, and cinema's emergence as a major art form that reflects and shapes the world. It explores, in concise and clear sections, how major works from the classic French realist La Regle de Jeu to the dazzling animation of Norman McLaren and the memorial documentary of Shoah, were conceived, developed and produced, and eventually received by the public, critics and film history. Offering a concise overview of a vast and compelling subject, it's a book for both the film enthusiast and the Film Studies student.Trade ReviewA tsunami of film noirs and isms * Total Film *Intelligent but very readable...a good coffee table book for any film buff -- Charlene Lydon * Film Ireland *James Clarke's Movie Movements is part of the Kamera book series, which are helpful guides to random cinema-related phenomena -- Charlene Lydon * Film Ireland *

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Book SynopsisThis BFI Film Classics study of Tokyo Monogatari/Tokyo Story (1953) reveals the making, meaning and legacy behind Ozu Yasujiro’s masterpiece. Ozu's moving family drama is universally acknowledged as one of the most significant Japanese films ever made. In its complex portrait of human motivation and lively sense of social space, it offers a profound and poignant insight into the generational shifts of post-war Japan. Alastair Phillips provides an in-depth analysis of the film and its key locations - the city of Tokyo, the town of Onomichi and the coastal resort of Atami - with a discussion of its representation of Japanese society at a time of great cultural change. Drawing upon Japanese and English language sources, he situates the film within various contemporary critical and industrial contexts and examines the multiple international dimensions of Tokyo Story's long after-life to understand its enormous contribution to global film culture.Trade ReviewGenerations the world over have pondered the complex beauty of Tokyo Story. Alastair Phillips pulls back the veil of awe that has come to surround the film over the years to reveal the making, meaning, and legacy of Ozu’s masterpiece. -- Michael Crandol, author of Ghost in the Well: The Hidden History of Horror Films in JapanThis is Alastair Phillips’s personal and professional cinematic journey from Tokyo to Onomichi. In this concise BFI volume, Phillips provides a detailed textual, socio-historical, and biographical analysis on Ozu Yasujiro and his masterwork. -- Daisuke Miyao, University of California, San Diego, USAAlastair Phillips’ Tokyo Story, a volume included in the continuing BFI Film Classics series … contains one of the most comprehensive and detailed discussions on this film. This is achieved not only through a close analysis of the entire text but also by examining every step of the filmmaking process from preproduction to reception, both in Japan and worldwide. This thorough approach, aided by several supporting primary sources in Japanese, makes this small volume a unique contribution to contemporary Ozu studies. -- Woojeong Joo * Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema *Table of Contents1. Openings and Journeys 2. Tokyo Stories 3. Tokyo 4. Onomichi 5. Tokyo Story in Japan 6. Tokyo Story in the World 7. Coda Credits Notes Bibliography and Filmography

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Book SynopsisThis revised and updated new edition provides a comprehensive introduction to the history of cinema in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, as well as to disaporic and transnational Chinese film-making, from the beginnings of cinema to the present day. Chapters by leading international scholars are grouped in thematic sections addressing key historical periods, film movements, genres, stars and auteurs, and the industrial and technological contexts of cinema in Greater China.Trade ReviewChinese cinema’s unprecedented growth in the last decade invites new considerations about the state of this vibrant industry. In this expanded second edition, The Chinese Cinema Book addresses important developments in digital technology, documentary filmmaking, and censorship, propaganda and film policy, as they relate to one of the fastest growing cinemas in the world. -- Olivia Khoo, Associate Professor, School of Media, Film and Journalism, Monash University, AustraliaThe Chinese Cinema Book is sure to be a standard textbook for Chinese cinema studies. It systematically explores the rich and kaleidoscopic history of Chinese cinemas and covers key and up-to-date theories in the field. A must-read for anyone interested in Chinese cinema studies. -- Yongchun Fu, Associate Professor of Zhejiang Unviersity Ningbo Institute of Technology, China.Substantially updated, with four new chapters alongside many other contributions from leading scholars, this new edition of The Chinese Cinema Book will be an essential resource for all researchers and teachers of Chinese film. As China looks poised to become the world’s largest film market, this volume’s comprehensive and illuminating approach to Chinese cinema from its earliest moments to the digital epoch is more valuable than ever. -- Margaret Hillenbrand, Associate Professor of Modern Chinese Literature and Culture, University of Oxford, UK.Comprehensive, authoritative and a great read. * Linda Mitchell, Seminar Tutor, Cardiff University, UK *Table of ContentsIntroduction“The Coming of Age of Chinese Cinemas Studies” Song Hwee Lim, Chinese University of Hong Kong, China, and Julian Ward, University of Edinburgh, UK Preface to Revised Edition Song Hwee Lim, Chinese University of Hong Kong, China, and Julian Ward, University of Edinburgh, UK Section I: Territories, Trajectories, Historiographies Chapter 1, “Transnational Chinese Film Studies” Chris Berry, King’s College London, UK Chapter 2, “National Cinema as Translocal Practice: reflections on Chinese LFI Historiography”Yingjin Zhang, University of California, San Diego, USA Chapter 3, “Cinemas of the Chinese Diaspora” Gina Marchetti, Hong Kong University, China Chapter 4, “Six Chinese Cinemas in Search of a Historiography” Song Hwee Lim Section II: Early Cinema to 1949 Chapter 5, “Shadow Magic and the Lost Decades in Chinese Film History” Zhiwei Xiao, California State University, San Marcos, and Xuelei Huang, University of Edinburgh, UK Chapter 6, “The Making of a National Cinema: Shanghai Cinema of the 1930s” Laikwan Pang, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China Chapter 7, “Wartime Cinema: Reconfiguration and Border Navigation” Yiman Wang, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA Chapter 8, “Chinese Filmmaking on the eve of the Communist Revolution” Paul Pickowicz, University of California, San Diego, USA Section III: The Forgotten Period – 1949-1980 Chapter 9, “The Remodelling of a National Cinema: Chinese film of the Seventeen Years (1949-1966)” Julian Ward, University of Edinburgh, UK Chapter 10, “Liminal Cinema: PRC Film Genres of the New Era” Michael Berry, University of California, Los Angeles, USA Chapter 11, “Healthy Realism in Taiwan, 1964-1980: Film Style, Cultural Policies and Mandarin Cinema” Guo-Juin Hong, Duke University, USA Chapter 12, “The Hong Kong Cantonese Cinema: Emergence, Development and Decline” Stephen Teo, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Section IV: The New Waves Chapter 13, “The Fifth Generation: A Re-assessment” Wendy Larson, University of Oregon, USA Chapter 14, “Taiwan New Cinema Movement and Its Legacy” Tonglin Lu, University of Montreal, Canada Chapter 15, “The Hong Kong New Wave: A Critical Reappraisal” Vivian P. Y. Lee, City University of Hong Kong, China Chapter 16, “Transnational Chinese-Language Auteurism: Time, Place, Gender” James Udden, Gettysburg College, Pennsylvania, USA Section V: Stars, Auteurs and Genres Chapter 17, “Dragons Forever: Chinese Martial Arts Stars” Leon Hunt, Brunel University, UK Chapter 18, “The Contemporary Wuxia Revival: Genre Evolution and the Hollywood Transnational Factor” Kenneth Chan, University of Northern Colorado, USA Chapter 19, “Independent Documentary in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong”Luke Robinson, University of Sussex, UK Section 6: Industry, Market and TechnologyChapter 20, “Contemporary Mainstream PRC Cinema”Yomi Braester, University of Washington, USA Chapter 21, “The Urban Generation: Underground and Independent Films from the PRC” Jason McGrath, University of Minnesota, USA Chapter 22, “Censorship, Propaganda, and Film Policy” Matthew Johnson, Taylor’s University, Malaysia Chapter 23, “Alternative Ways of Seeing: Post-Digital Detours in Chinese Cinema” Paola Voci, University of Otago, New Zealand Afterword“Liquidity of Being” Rey Chow, Duke University, USA Appendix 1Book-length Studies of Chinese Cinemas in the English Language Compiled by Wan-Jui Wang, Louise Williams, Li Pin, and Song Hwee Lim Appendix 2Chinese Film Titles Appendix 3Chinese Names Appendix 1 Book-length Studies of Chinese Cinemas in the English Language Compiled by Wan-Jui Wang, Louise Williams, Li Pin, and Song Hwee Lim Appendix 2Chinese Film Titles Appendix 3Chinese Names

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Book SynopsisEthan and Joel Coen's The Big Lebowski was released in 1998 to general bafflement. A decade on, it had become a cult classic and remains so over 20 years later, inspiring a thriving circuit of 'Lebowski Fests' during which costumed devotees gather at bowling alleys and guzzle White Russians. Beyond its superabundance of deliciously quotable lines, how has the movie inspired such remarkable affection? And why does its critical stock continue to rise? The film's unlikely anchor is Jeff Bridges' career-best performance as Jeffrey Lebowski, a fully-baked 1960s radical turned Venice Beach drop-out known to his friends as 'the Dude'. Mistaken for an identically-named grandee whose young trophy wife is in trouble, the Dude finds himself embroiled in an impossibly convoluted kidnap plot involving pornographers, nihilists and threats to his 'johnson'. Worst of all, it conflicts with his bowling commitments. In part an irreverent pastiche of Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep (as filmed by Howard Hawks), The Big Lebowski is also a jukebox of film history, littered with playful references to everything from Hitchcock and Altman to Busby Berkeley. This riot of addled quotations reflects the film's Los Angeles setting, a discombobulated world inhabited by flakes, phonies and poseurs with put-on identities. Like many Coen films, the movie plays havoc with the conventions of the crime genre and the absurdities of classical American 'heroism'. But it's also that rare thing: a comedy that gets richer, funnier and more affecting with each viewing. Beneath its breakneck pacing and foul-mouthed ribaldry, the Dude's story offers disarmingly humane lessons in the value of simple things: friendship, laughter and bowling. In their foreword to this new edition, the authors reflect on Lebowski's cult status and its contemporary resonances as a film about gentle non-conformity and friendship in an increasingly polarized world. The new edition also includes an interview with the Coens, revealing the origins of the name 'Jeffrey Lebowski'.Trade ReviewTerrific stuff, intellectually engaging, visually appealing, and shot through with wit and insight. -- Time Out LondonBeautifully lucid. -- Little White LiesCompact and deliciously readable. -- Offscreen.comIs it an important book? That depends. Do you think The Big Lebowski is an important film? If the answer is an unhesitating 'yes,' run, don't walk. -- January magazineTable of ContentsAcknowledgements Foreword to the 2020 edition Introduction 1. The Mix-tape Movie 2. Out of the Past 3. What Makes a Man? 4. The Religion of Laughter Notes Credits Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThe Marx Brothers are universally considered to be classic Hollywood’s preeminent comedy team and Duck Soup is generally regarded as their quintessential film. A topical satire of dictatorship and government in general, the movie was a critical failure and box-office let-down on its initial release in 1933. J. Hoberman's study of the film traces its reputation history, from the initial disappointment of its release, to its rise to cult status in the 1960s when the Marx’s anarchic, anti-establishment humor seemed again timely. Hoberman places Duck Soup, alongside analogous comedies—Dr. Strangelove (1964), the Beatles films, Morgan! (1966), The President’s Analyst (1967) and The Producers (1968). It attained canonical stature as a touchstone for Woody Allen and would be recognized by the Library of Congress in the 1990s. Hoberman's analysis provides a historical and political context as well as an in-depth production history, drawing on primary sources and emphasizing director McCarey’s prior work along with the Marx Brothers as well as the situation at Paramount, a substantial synopsis, and an account of the movie’s initial reception, concluding with its subsequent elevation to comic masterpiece.Trade ReviewA lively, personal, but also extremely informative and well-researched study of a Marx Brothers classic. -- Steven Cohan, Syracuse University, USATable of Contents1.My True Confession 2.Serious Marxian Attributes 3.Making Duck Soup 4. The Movie 5.“Absurd Without Being Funny” 6.“Je suis marxiste, tendance Groucho” 7.Who Are You Going to Believe—Me or Your Own Eyes? Notes Credits Bibliography

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Book SynopsisTHE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERWho made the phone call that got HBO to launchthe show? What's the significance of all those eggs? And, what the hell ever happened to the Russian? In Woke Up This Morning, Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripahave all the answers and they're revealing where all the bodies are buried.Inspired by the incredibly successful Talking Sopranos podcast, The Sopranos stars Michael Imperioli (Christopher Moltisanti) and Steve Schirripa (Bobby Baccalieri) finally reveal all the Soprano family secrets in a surprising, funny, and honest new book. Woke Up This Morning is the definitive behind-the-scenes history of the groundbreaking HBO series that became a worldwide cultural phenomenon, ushered in a new Golden Age of Television, and to this day continues to be one of the most binged shows of all time.Michael and Steve tell all the incredible stories that The Sopranos fans have been waiting to hear for over twenty years. The book covers the entire history of The SopranTrade Review‘I will be reading and rereading Woke Up This Morning ….These rollicking gabfests… bring together nearly everyone, on screen and off, who made the series a creative and cultural landmark. The freely offered admiration expressed by so many for their missing comrade and unofficial cast captain, Gandolfini, makes these stories about playing tough guys all the more tender’ New York Times ‘Ever wished you could hang out with the cast and crew of The Sopranos and just listen to them trade stories? … There are plenty of tantalizing bits of trivia—Tony was Tommy Soprano in the pilot script; producers wanted Lorraine Bracco to play Tony’s wife, but she said she would only consider playing Melfi, the psychiatrist—but this isn’t just a trivia collection. Mostly it’s about friends and colleagues getting together to pay tribute to one another and to a series that rewrote many of the rules of television. Love and respect for the show’s star, the late James Gandolfini, permeates the book, as does admiration for the show’s creator, David Chase, who started with a vague idea about a crook and his mother and built it into something that’s almost Shakespearean in its thematic scope. For Sopranos fans this one is an absolute must-read’ Booklist ‘Essential for fans, with a revelation on every page … Devotees will revel in the stroll into series minutiae’ Kirkus Reviews ‘A spectacular tell-all about the making of the Emmy-winning hit television series … What makes this sing is the passion and energy brought by Imperioli and Schirripa and its indelible tribute to the late James Gandolfini. As Aida Turturro (Janice Soprano) recalls, 'He was there for you no matter what.' This is the ultimate book on The Sopranos, made by the people who lived it’ Publishers Weekly

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