Kategoria BISAC: Performing Arts >> Film - Guides & Reviews

For some of us, moviegoing is an occasional pleasure. Kevin Murphy made it his obsession, and he did it for you.

Mr. Murphy, known to legions of fans as Tom Servo on the legendary TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000, went to the movies every day for a year. That's every single day, people. For a whole fricken' year. And not only did he endure, he prevailed -- for this is the hilarious, poignant, fascinating journal of his adventures: the first book about the movies from the audience's point of view.

Kevin went to the multiplex, sure. But...

From Mouse to Mermaid, an interdisciplinary collection of original essays, is the first comprehensive, critical treatment of Disney cinema. Addressing children's classics as well as the Disney affiliates' more recent attempts to capture adult audiences, the contributors respond to the Disney film legacy from feminist, marxist, poststructuralist, and cultural studies perspectives. The volume contemplates Disney's duality as an American icon and as an industry of cultural production, created in and through fifty years of filmmaking. The contributors treat a range of topics at issue in...

Movie trailers--those previews of coming attractions before the start of a feature film--are routinely praised and reviled by moviegoers and film critics alike: "They give away too much of the movie." "They're better than the films." "They only show the spectacular parts." "They lie." "They're the best part of going to the movies." But whether you love them or hate them, trailers always serve their purpose of offering free samples of a film to influence moviegoing decision-making. Indeed, with their inclusion on videotapes, DVDs, and on the Internet, trailers are more widely seen and...

Do you know what films have given us the following quotes?
"What we have here is a failure to communicate."
"Excuse me while I whip this out."
"Would somebody get this walking carpet out of my way?"
"I don't know why they call this stuff Hamburger Helper, it does just fine by itself."

And how are you at movie trivia?
In The Blues Brothers why are Jake and Elwood "puttin' the band back together"? In Airplane , which dinner was poisioned: the fish or the chicken? True or False: Diane Keaton won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her...

Since moving to New York City over a decade ago, Quentin Crisp has brought his love of the cinema and his notorious wit together in a series of essays on films and film stars. A veteran film-goer of seventy years who has kept a vigilant eye on changing Hollywood styles and the public tastes that follow, Mr. Crisp discusses both films and stars with his typical panache and dexterity and leads his readers with polite madness to a clear, straightforward moral, proving himself to be an unexpected champion of good sense. Along the way Mr. Crisp shares his personal encounters with the likes of...

Want to look further than the nearest mega-plex?
At last, a guide for you.

A.O. Scott
Stephen Holden
Caryn James
Dave Kehr
Peter M. Nichols

If just trudging to the latest Hollywood blockbuster doesn't appeal to you, The Best DVDs You've Never Seen, Narrowly Missed or Almost Forgotten is the perfect companion. Inside, the film critics of The New York Times have made their top choices for those movies that are unjustly obscure, overlooked or just plain forgotten.

* Newly updated reviews of 500 films---all available on...

In the early 1980s, serious American independent films including "Stranger Than Paradise," "Blood Simple," and "She's Gotta Have It" attracted ever-widening audiences, culminating with Steven Soderbergh's award-winning "sex, lies, and videotape." This film, which won the Cannes Film Festival's top award and took more than $30 million at the box office in the United States alone, capped a remarkable decade for off-Hollywood filmmakers. "Outsider Features" takes an in-depth look at 10 of the most successful independent feature films made during this decade, from John Sayles's seminal and...

This new volume in the Greenwood Press series Reference Guides to the World's Cinema discusses the films and personalities of the Canadian cinema. This guide encompasses the diverse output of both the English and French Canadian communities and includes 175 films and 125 filmmakers and actors. Alphabetically arranged entries discuss important films, actors, directors, shorts, and a number of experimental films. With few exceptions, films are included only if their production company was incorporated in Canada. Similarly, filmmakers and actors represent people who have worked primarily in...

Many of our favorite films began as plays--some as well known as Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, and some not so well known as You've Got Mail's origin, a 1937 play Parfumerie by Miklos Laszlo. Video Versions identifies nearly 300 films and their theatrical origins, providing readers with an overview of the films and highlighting similarities and differences to the source plays. Perfect for teachers, students, and anyone interested in theater and film, it is the most complete resource available for video versions of plays.

Each entry provides: the...

Written by a knowledgeable film critic and Korean War scholar, this is the only guide exclusively devoted to the study of Hollywood and television films based on the Korean War, 1950-1953. It opens with eight short essays, discussing the appeal of the war film genre, government and filmmaker cooperation, the isolation of Korean War films from other war films, why John Wayne didn't make a Korean War film, the other actors who did, the plots of Korean War films, television and Korean War films, and the myths resulting from films. Eighty-four films are then discussed in alphabetically...

This volume adds Sweden and Finland to the growing list of countries included in Greenwood Press' "Reference Guides to the World's Cinema" series. Both well known and other important but less known persons and films are included in the reference work which spans the silent film era to the 1990s. The volume is divided into two sections, one devoted to the Swedish entries and the other to the Finnish entries. An introduction to each section overviews the developments and trends in that particular country's film industry.

Scholars of European film studies and of Scandinavian studies will...

There are over fifty Chan films and an additional three Spanish language Chan films. This guide reviews the forty-four extant Chan films. Entries, alphabetically arranged, include a unique annotated cast list, a comparative rating system, production information, analysis and plot synopsis, a performance critique, and a collection of Chan sayings, which vary from film to film. An introduction discusses the history and literary origins of the Chan films and the formulaic devices common to the films.

Film scholars and fans of the Charlie Chan films will appreciate the extensive...

The endurance of the Frankenstein narrative as a modern cinematic myth is undeniable. Its flexibility has produced classic and contemporary horror film-most notably the Universal films of the thirties-but it has also resulted in unusual hybrids, such as musical horror-comedy ("The Rocky Horror Picture Show"), hyperbolic parody ("Flesh for Frankenstein"), and science fiction (the "Alien" and "Terminator" series). This sourcebook provides a complete guide to all of the story's filmic incarnations-including essential information such as cast, creative personnel, and plot summaries-and also...

Global in scope and a practical tool for students and teachers of history, Filmography of World History: A Select, Critical Guide To Feature Films That Engage The Past includes description and analysis of over 300 historical films. A companion to Grant Tracey's Filmography of American History, this critical reference book selects movies that represent aspects of world history from the middle ages through the twentieth century. These films adopt as their subject a wide range of historical events, people and societies of Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe and Canada, and Latin...

When viewers think of film noir, they often picture actors like Humphrey Bogart playing characters like Sam Spade in "The Maltese Falcon," the film based on the book by Dashiell Hammett. Yet film noir is a genre much richer. The authors first examine the debate surrounding the parameters of the genre and the many different ways it is defined. They discuss the Noir City, its setting and backdrop, and also the cultural (WWII) and institutional (the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, and the Production Code Administration) influences on the subgenres. An analysis of the low budget and...