Films, cinema Books

Book SynopsisAcclaimed artist Andrew DeGraff has created beautiful hand-painted maps of all your favorite films, from King Kong and North by Northwest to The Princess Bride, Fargo, Labyrinth, Pulp Fiction, even The Breakfast Club - with the routes of every major character charted in meticulous cartographic detail. Follow Marty McFly through the Hill Valley of 1985, 1955, and 1985 once again as he races Back to the Future. Trail Jack Torrance as he navigates the corridors of The Overlook Hotel in The Shining. And of course you ll join Indiana Jones on a globe-spanning journey from Nepal to Cairo to London on his quest for the famed Lost Ark. Each map is presented in a large 11x14 format, with key details enlarged for closer inspection. The paintings are accompanied by illuminating essays by film critic A.D. Jameson, who speaks to the unique geographies of each film. This beautifully designed atlas is an essential reference for anyone who loves great art and great films.Trade Review“Artist Andrew DeGraff has found a way to transport you directly into the terrain of your favorite films with gorgeous hand-painted maps.”—Slash Film“[DeGraff’s] maps reveal our favorite films as dynamic, complex organisms—simultaneously aging and timeless—and give fans an imaginative new route into the films they love.”—Playboy“Visually stunning.”—Esquire “This one-of-a-kind atlas is a must for both film buffs and art lovers.”—Parade“The cartographically inclined won't be able to resist this collection of maps charting Marty McFly's coming and goings in Hill Valley, Indiana Jones's globetrotting, and more from 35 iconic films.”—Town & Country “These maps aren't drawn to scale, but what they lack in rigorous precision they more than make up for in color, clarity and crazily detailed thoroughness.”—Glen Weldon, Pop Culture Happy Hour“An essential reference for cinephiles, fans of great films, and anyone who loves the art of mapmaking.”—Tor.com“DeGraff infuses his array of blockbusters and pop classics with detail-oriented warmth.”—Film Comment “Charted in meticulous detail.”—IndieWire“A unique gift for the movie lover in your life.”—Hypable“A treasure …[Cinemaps] will entice movie fans across generations with its visual tidbits and analytical essays.”—Geeks of Doom“If you haven’t already rushed out to buy this book, then I suggest you get on that.”—All Geek to Me

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Book SynopsisA guide to noir films and their California settings, illustrating how the films use LA's diverse cityscape and architecture to convey a unique vision of urban corruption and existential fatalism. Dozens of noir and neo-noir films are featured, including classics such as Crimson Kimono, Double Indemnity, Kiss Me Deadly, Sunset Boulevard and Touch of Evil. Recent films like Mulholland Drive and Pulp Fiction have also made the list. More than 150 photographs, many of which appear for the first time, further illustrate the rich and constantly changing City of Angels.

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Book SynopsisA work of cinematic archaeology unearthing titbits of the history of Los Angeles and the early film industry hidden within Chaplin's timeless films. Combines movie images with archival photographs, vintage maps, contemporary photographs and scores of then-and-now comparison photos to conjure the silent movie era from an entirely new perspective. Includes not only Chaplin's classic films, but his lesser-known short movies and early work, highlighting both the genius of the man and the evolution of the city that provided the backdrop for his art.

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Book SynopsisFrom American Beauty (overrated) to The Night of the Hunter (masterpiece), this collection of Peter Rainer's film critiques spans the course of his illustrious 30-year career, which dates back to the early 1980s. Rainer covers films both well-known and obscure and writes in depth about many film auteurs - Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock, the Coen Brothers, Mike Leigh - and up-and-comers, such as Sofia Coppola and Paul Thomas Anderson. The careers of actors ranging from Marlon Brando and Jessica Lange to Robert De Niro are also given an extensive examination.Trade ReviewRainer on Film is the finest collection of film criticism in recent years -- literate, surprising, entertaining and a work to be treasured for years to come. The care with which he renders his opinions is exemplary and so is the grace with which he states them. I rarely disagree with Rainer and when I do I find myself arguing with myself and often enough changing my mind to my definite advantage. He is one of the very few critics who must be conjured with.—Richard Schickel, film critic and historian, author of Elia Kazan: A Biography“No one is better than Peter Rainer at establishing the intersection of politics and popular culture. Reading these reports on our movie culture of the last thirty years allows us to sharpen our memories and emotions in a sweet blend of happiness and regret.” —David Denby, The New Yorker“With this compilation of reviews and essays, [Rainer] encourages us to revisit the highs and lows of the past thirty years—from the emergence of Curtis Hanson, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Spike Jonze to the quixotic careers of Marlon Brando and even Eddie Murphy.” —Leonard Maltin, Indiewire.com"Rainer has one of the major attributes of a good film reviewer, which is a sense of visual context and a memory of it—as he watches a film by, say, Steven Spielberg, he does not just retain and describe strong imagery but relates it to images in other films. He reacts instantly—his reviews are good on the sheer excitement of the movies -- but artfully, even it seems, to a tight deadline. The arguments he immediately marshals against the overrated 'American Beauty' are well organized. He is tough-minded about pretension and emotional falseness....Rainer on Film meets the prime requirement of any collection of film reviews—once you have read it, you want to go and watch the films again."—Times Literary Supplement"Since Rainer, who is currently president of the National Society of Film Critics and film critic for The Christian Science Monitor, writes elegant prose, dipping into his sentences is always fun even when you might argue with his conclusions."—Aljean Harmetz, Indiewire.com“This is at once an archive, a reference, and a contemporary collection of late 20th-century film criticism. An excellent resource for film studies scholars, this will also appeal to movie fanatics and pop culture readers.”—Shannon Marie Robinson, Library Journal“Mr. Rainer has proved time and again to be an insightful and forthright critic, and this collection will be a valuable reference for any movie buff.”—The Christian Science Monitor“The measure of such a critic . . . lies in his power to engage a reader or listener in thoughtful and meaningful ways, to stimulate argument, to make one feel that what he has to say is worth paying attention to and being taken seriously, as well as to entertain. Measured by such criteria, Rainer stands tall.”—William Wolf, WolfEntertainmentGuide.com“Persuasive, gracefully nuanced, unblinkingly honest verdicts on individual triumphs and failures. You’ll understand my wholehearted salute to Peter’s sturdy talent when you feast on the addictive pleasure of Rainer on Film.” —Guy Flatley, Moviecrazed.com“Rainer’s sharp, perceptive criticism . . . is marked by a passion for film, an encyclopedic knowledge of his subject, and a maverick sensibility.”—Steven Rea, The Philadelphia Inquirer“At its core, this is a history of contemporary cinema; an insightful reflection on the evolution of the industry and the filmmakers who helped shape it.”—Carley Johnson, Directors Guild of America“[Rainer on Film] is insightful, comprehensive, sometimes scathing, and often hilarious. It covers a lot of ground, and it’s all great running turf for any movie buff.” —Neil Pond, AmericanProfile.com

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Book SynopsisSTAR POWER! establishes a new wave of Acting. It speaks to current and relevant issues that creative Actors are grappling with: How do I “BE” authentic and respond from my truth and still BE the character? How do I respond spontaneously and still fulfill the Director's vision? How do I bring my rich inner imaginative world out to be visible in the material world? What is the the“IT” factor? It’s STAR POWER! STAR POWER! engages the Actor in new possibilities, helping them develop their Authentic Self and define their Individual Signature. As an acting coach, it is Ms. Shurin’s job to transform good actors into “brilliant” ones. This is a book about Ms Shurin’s new discoveries on how to create an Individual Signature for the actor. The combination of “Individual Signature”, becoming that “brilliant actor” and having the the “commitment” to become a star is the missing link. Actors of all levels of experience will find interesting interviews from industry professionals and fellow Actors confirming these principles. STAR POWER! works. It is the future of acting. Ms. Shurin has recently found that these same principles benefit anyone in any profession: attorneys, doctors, salespeople, parents, teachers, students, politicians and more. She hopes these life-altering principles will be used for the betterment of humanity.

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Book SynopsisClaudette Colbert's mixture of beauty, sophistication, wit, and vivacity quickly made her one of the film industry's most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1930s and 1940s. Though she began her career on the New York stage, she was beloved for her roles in such films as Preston Sturges's The Palm Beach Story, Cecil B. DeMille's Cleopatra, and Frank Capra's It Happened One Night, for which she won an Academy Award. She showed remarkable prescience by becoming one of the first Hollywood stars to embrace television, and she also returned to Broadway in her later career. This is the first major biography of Colbert (1903-1996) published in over twenty years. Bernard F. Dick chronicles Colbert's long career, but also explores her early life in Paris and New York. Along with discussing how she left her mark on Broadway, Hollywood, radio, and television, the book explores Colbert's lifelong interests in painting, fashion design, and commercial art. Using correspondence, interviews, periodicals, film archives, and other research materials, the biography reveals a smart, talented actress who conquered Hollywood and remains one of America's most captivating screen icons. Bernard F. Dick is professor of communication and English at Fairleigh Dickinson University and is the author of Hal Wallis: Producer to the Stars; Engulfed: The Death of Paramount Pictures and the Birth of Corporate Hollywood; Forever Mame: The Life of Rosalind Russell (University Press of Mississippi); and other books.

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Book SynopsisThe fan magazine has often been viewed simply as a publicity tool, a fluffy exercise in self-promotion by the film industry. But as an arbiter of good and bad taste, as a source of knowledge, and as a gateway to the fabled land of Hollywood and its stars, the American fan magazine represents a fascinating and indispensable chapter in journalism and popular culture.Anthony Slide's Inside the Hollywood Fan Magazine provides the definitive history of this artifact. It charts the development of the fan magazine from the golden years when Motion Picture Story Magazine and Photoplay first appeared in 1911 to its decline into provocative headlines and titillation in the 1960s and afterward. Slide discusses how the fan magazines dealt with gossip and innuendo, and how they handled nationwide issues such as Hollywood scandals of the 1920s, World War II, the blacklist, and the death of President Kennedy. Fan magazines thrived in the twentieth century, and they presented the history of an industry in a unique, sometimes accurate, and always entertaining style.This major cultural history includes a new interview with 1970s media personality Rona Barrett, as well as original commentary from a dozen editors and writers. Also included is a chapter on contributions to the fan magazines from well-known writers such as Theodore Dreiser and e. e. cummings. The book is enhanced by an appendix documenting some 268 American fan magazines and includes detailed publication histories.

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