Film history, theory or criticism Books

Book SynopsisBecause Timothee Chalamet's eyes gleam with the light of a thousand suns. Because you'd let Zoe Kravitz get away with putting gum in your hair. And because there really should be a national monument dedicated to Gene Kelly's ass. From the tongue-in-cheek to the righteously enraged, She Found it at the Movies explores women's secret desires, teen crushes, and one-sided movie star love affairs, flipping the switch on a century of cinema's male-gaze domination. With misogyny and sexism still taking centre stage in the real world -- what can women's relationships with movies tell us about the wider landscape of sexuality, politics and culture? Featuring writers you know and love from Buzzfeed, The Guardian, and Vulture, these essays pose thoughtful questions about sex and fantasy at the cinema. Like a guilt-free chat with your smartest girlfriends, this book is a positive celebration of female sexuality at its thirstiest.Trade Review'She Found it at the Movies collapses the space between screen and body and foregrounds the reality of our very complex and always present bodies. While that space has long been dominated by so-called objectivity and clinical analysis, this collection dives into uncharted waters to explore, creating space for discussing desire instead of repressing it.' --KIVA REARDON (Editor in Chief of Cleo Film Journal and film programmer at the Toronto International Film Festival) 'At its best, a book of fiercely original writing and thinking, not only about cinema, but about ourselves.' --MARK COUSINS (Writer and filmmaker) 'She Found it at the Movies gives film criticism the vitamin-boost it needed, a female gaze bringing eroticism, sensuality and a new subversive intimacy to the critical act; the book celebrates not just desire but pleasure. Each of these essays is a seduction, leading you astray to the great seduction of the movies themselves.' --PETER BRADSHAW, Film Critic at The Guardian

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Book SynopsisWhen the film Clue came out in 1985, audiences were baffled. A movie based on a board game, with three different endings, and you had to pick which one to go see? Bad reviews compounded the problem, and instead of choosing one ending, most people stayed away entirely. Clue, outgrossed at the box office by films that had been released months earlier, quickly faded away. When it unceremoniously premiered on Showtime a year after its theatrical debut, there was no sign it was destined for anything other than obscurity, another flop bound to be forgotten. Instead, Gen Xers and millennials, raised on pop culture and cable TV in an era long before the streaming wars, discovered this zany farce about a group of six strangers locked in a remote house with a killer. The movie appealed to kids. The creepy mansion and eerie music contrasted with slapstick gags and double entendres, deflating the tension. Today, almost forty years later, Clue is the epitome of a cult classic, with midnight screenings, script readings for charity, cosplaying fans, and a stage play. “What Do You Mean, Murder?” dives deep into the making of Clue and walks fans through the movie they know and love.

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Book Synopsis

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