Showing posts with label film studies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label film studies. Show all posts

Representing: Hip Hop Culture and the Production of Black Cinema Review

Representing: Hip Hop Culture and the Production of Black Cinema
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Representing: Hip Hop Culture and the Production of Black Cinema ReviewI highly recommend this book. It is very enjoyable and informative reading that is right on target for insight into the Black Urban Culture, the rise of Hip Hop and it's influence on Black produced American film. It was used as a main text for a Rap and Black Cinema university course successfully. Although very sociology based, it was understood by college students of other majors who appreciated the book's honesty of a much maligned topic.Representing: Hip Hop Culture and the Production of Black Cinema OverviewIn this engaging and provocative book, S. Craig Watkins examines two of the most important developments in the recent history of black cinema—the ascendancy of Spike Lee and the proliferation of "ghettocentric films." Representing explores a distinct contradiction in American society: at the same time that black youth have become the targets of a fierce racial backlash, their popular expressive cultures have become highly visible and commercially viable."Watkins is at his most sophisticated and persuasive when he explains the surprising success of hyper-talented, entrepreneurial, and energetic black artists."—Archon Fung, Boston Book Review

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The Comic Mind: Comedy and the Movies Review

The Comic Mind: Comedy and the Movies
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The Comic Mind: Comedy and the Movies ReviewAlthough I have browsed through this book many times in the library of the University of Canterbury, the only section I had a copy of was the one on comic plots. Being in the process of writing a study of the top-grossing comedies and the ways in which their plots enhance their psychological appeal, I was interested to see if the most popular ones confirmed to the plots as set out by Gerald Mast. This proved to be the case, although the vast majority follow his plots numbers one and seven.
My reason for obtaining my own copy of the book was to see if I could find further elucidation on some of the plots he describes. To date, I have not, although I suspect I may do as I continue reading the book.
The book is written in clear, easy-to-understand prose, unlike many books of this type, and plenty of examples are given - a few of them even from the films I am writing about!
In conclusion, this book is a welcome addition to my library, especially as I no longer have to face the parking hassles at the university whenever I wish to refer to it!The Comic Mind: Comedy and the Movies OverviewAlthough books on the comedies of the silent era abound, few have attempted to survey film comedy as a whole—its history and evolution, how the philosophical visions of its greatest artists and directors have shaped its traditions, and how these visions have informed both the meaning and manner of their work.Blending information with interpretation, description with analysis, Mast traces the development of screen comedy from the first crude efforts of Edison and Lumière to the subtlety and psychological complexity of Annie Hall. As he guides the reader through detailed discussions of specific films, Mast reveals the structures, the values, and the cinematic techniques which have appeared and reappeared in comic cinema.The second edition of The Comic Mind treats the comic developments of the 1970s in terms of the traditions of film comedy set forth in the first edition, including a discussion of the evolution of Jacques Tati and the emergence of Mel Brooks and Woody Allen as the two greatest American comic stylists of the seventies."The most comprehensive study of film comedy yet written in English. . . .The book's extensive index with references to companies from which 16mm prints of many of the cited films may be rented will be of great value to the film teacher and audiovisual librarian."—Choice

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America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry Review

America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry
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America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry ReviewThe National Film Registry is a fascinating endeavour. It collects, in the Library of Congress, what it deems the most important films in our history. NOT the best, necessarily (some of them are downright awful... Elia Kazan's "Wild River", anyone?); not necessarily the most famous (I'll wager there isn't a movie buff alive who won't find at least one or two films he/she's never heard of before). Even being a full-length film isn't required,(any number of 7 minute cartoons and, from earlier days, brief snippets like "The Kiss"). All that IS required is that the film, in some way or other, has contributed something unique to the history and/or art of film. What have each of the films in this book, the first 500 selections, contributed? THAT is what this marvelously readable compendium is all about! Indeed, I can't imagine ANY film fan worthy of the name who WOULDN'T want to read this.America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry Overview

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Republic of Images: A History of French Filmmaking (Harvard Film Studies) Review

Republic of Images: A History of French Filmmaking (Harvard Film Studies)
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Republic of Images: A History of French Filmmaking (Harvard Film Studies) ReviewI'm writing this because I notice this book is rated lower than the Lanzoni book on the same national cinema. I find this utterly perturbing, not because of whatever merits or demerits the Lanzoni book may have, but because Alan Williams book is a true breakthrough in the field of French film studies. It is a model of historical research, filled with a respectful love of its subject. Williams does not play favorites, he is inclusive, yet utterly readable and fair, without ignoring somewhat marginal figures. He can deliver in one or two paragraphs the essentials of a filmmaker's career. Even when Williams is subjective his comments are dead on. His story unfolds and unfolds, from 17th-century theater to the 1980's. He provides the theory as it develops. The only knock one could have on it is that it stops early, having of course been published in 1992.Republic of Images: A History of French Filmmaking (Harvard Film Studies) Overview

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Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies (Henry Holt Reference Book) Review

Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies (Henry Holt Reference Book)
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Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies (Henry Holt Reference Book) ReviewWhen you're both a student of history and a movie buff, as I am, it can be difficult to sit and watch a film that presumes to have an accurate historical context without fighting the urge to evaluate it and pick holes in it. And I'm not the only one. This is a collection of analytical essays, most of high quality, by experts (not all of them historians) analyzing and critiquing individual films: Stephen Jay Gould on _Jurassic Park,_ Antonia Fraser on _Anne of the Thousand Days,_ Thomas Fleming on _1776,_ Dee Brown on _Fort Apache,_ William Manchester on _Young Winston,_ and numerous others. Sticking to those films about which I have some knowledge of the historical events they claim to portray, most are right on the money. James McPherson, commenting on _Glory,_ points out that while the context and general atmosphere are very well done, and the costuming and so on are exact, there are still deliberate historical errors for the sake of drama; none of the soldiers in Col. Shaw's 54th Massachusetts were ex-slaves, for instance, all of them having been recruited from among the state's free black population. And Catherine Clinton does an excellent job taking the wind out of _Gone with the Wind_'s mythical sails. There's a great deal of good information and criticism here and it's a compliment to say that nearly any of these essays will start an argument.Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies (Henry Holt Reference Book) Overview

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Michael Caine - Acting in Film: An Actor's Take on Movie Making (The Applause Acting Series) Revised Expanded Edition Review

Michael Caine - Acting in Film: An Actor's Take on Movie Making (The Applause Acting Series) Revised Expanded Edition
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Michael Caine - Acting in Film: An Actor's Take on Movie Making (The Applause Acting Series) Revised Expanded Edition ReviewIf you like movies, this book is a great read. If you're interested in acting in movies, it's an essential read. If you're interested in moviemaking (behind the camera), it's still an essential read: buy extra copies to pass around on the set, especially if you're a struggling filmmaker and you have a cast of friends who've never acted before.
As a teacher, Caine is as straightforward as he is as an actor. You watch his performances and you're seeing an actor who understands that less is more. You read this book and you're listening to an instructor who understands the same thing. Every anecdote he tells about films he's been in and stars he's worked with is not just namedropping, it's ALWAYS relevant to whatever helpful point he's making about the craft of film acting. And to him it is very much a craft, not an art. The art takes care of itself; it happens mysteriously, but it can only happen if you nail the craft first. No arty-flighty book about acting theory or the Method, this is a working-class, meat-and-potatoes manual that anyone can relate to, much like its author.Michael Caine - Acting in Film: An Actor's Take on Movie Making (The Applause Acting Series) Revised Expanded Edition OverviewA master actor who's appeared in an enormous number of films, starring with everyone from Nicholson to Kermit the Frog, Michael Caine is uniquely qualified to provide his view of making movies. This new revised and expanded edition features great photos throughout, with chapters on: Preparation, In Front of the Camera - Before You Shoot, The Take, Characters, Directors, On Being a Star, and much more."Remarkable material ... A treasure ... I'm not going to be looking at performances quite the same way ... FASCINATING!"- Gene Siskel

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The Way Hollywood Tells It: Story and Style in Modern Movies Review

The Way Hollywood Tells It: Story and Style in Modern Movies
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The Way Hollywood Tells It: Story and Style in Modern Movies ReviewLike the author's other works, this is a highly meticulous and empirical study of the way contemporary Hollywood films function. Paying close attention to selected films by intensive frame analysis, Bordwell calls into question many contemporary "sibboleths" concerning the status of "post-Hollywood" which he reveals as having more connections with its classical counterpart than most critics believe. His attention to fine detail and references to "American Cinematographer" and screenwriting manuals reveal that he has really done his homework. He challenges his contemporaries to do likewise before they engage in problematic "post" judgements whether they be on the realm of postmodernism, post-colonialism, and post- anything which may become academic equivalents of those formerly fashionable platform shoes or flared trousers that often date episodes of the 1970s British cop series THE SWEENEY.
The references to contemporary Hong Kong cinema and analysis of films such as Johnny To's A HERO NEVER DIES are also valuable components of this book. Like DRAGNET's Sergeant Joe Friday, Bordwell insists that we supply facts based on viewing the evidence ourselves. We should not ignore important empirical aspects before we begin to make meanings that may eventually prove to be non-substantial. Those who choose to avoid the well-researched findings of this book should be issued with speeding tickets and forced to attend a scholarly version of "community service" or "boot camp" involving the detailed viewings of as many films as possible, reading interviews with film directors, and studying important journals such as AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER. This is equally important for those newly converted "film experts" in English Departments of postmodernist persuasion who recently discover Laura Mulvey's 1975 essay on "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" and regard it as a "gospel" truth which remains unaltered today! These feelings are more akin to non-linguistic theological studies and not the highly textual, linguistic based explorations of biblical and near eastern studies that relay on studies in pre-semitic studies, Canaanite, Aramaic, and Arabic studies to reveal key empirical structures influencing "holy writ."
This is another indispensable work by an important scholar that every serious professor and student should learn from even if it only involves better interpretation and a more professional "making of meaning."
The Way Hollywood Tells It: Story and Style in Modern Movies OverviewHollywood moviemaking is one of the constants of American life, but how much has it changed since the glory days of the big studios? David Bordwell argues that the principles of visual storytelling created in the studio era are alive and well, even in today's bloated blockbusters. American filmmakers have created a durable tradition--one that we should not be ashamed to call artistic, and one that survives in both mainstream entertainment and niche-marketed indie cinema. Bordwell traces the continuity of this tradition in a wide array of films made since 1960, from romantic comedies like Jerry Maguire and Love Actually to more imposing efforts like A Beautiful Mind. He also draws upon testimony from writers, directors, and editors who are acutely conscious of employing proven principles of plot and visual style. Within the limits of the "classical" approach, innovation can flourish. Bordwell examines how imaginative filmmakers have pushed the premises of the system in films such as JFK, Memento, and Magnolia. He discusses generational, technological, and economic factors leading to stability and change in Hollywood cinema and includes close analyses of selected shots and sequences. As it ranges across four decades, examining classics like American Graffiti and The Godfather as well as recent success like The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, this book provides a vivid and engaging interpretation of how Hollywood moviemakers have created a vigorous, resourceful tradition of cinematic storytelling that continues to engage audiences around the world.

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How to Read a Film: Movies, Media, and Beyond Review

How to Read a Film: Movies, Media, and Beyond
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How to Read a Film: Movies, Media, and Beyond ReviewWhile not as concentrated, pragmatic, or reader-friendly as the title might suggest, Monaco's book is still the best comprehensive one-volume introduction to the aesthetics, politics, economics, theory, phenomenology, and industry of film. It's best seen as complementary to more basic introductory texts and detailed histories. Readers with a theoretical bent are most likely to appreciate its unique strengths.How to Read a Film: Movies, Media, and Beyond OverviewRichard Gilman referred to How to Read a Film as simply "the best single work of its kind." And Janet Maslin in The New York Times Book Review marveled at James Monaco's ability to collect "an enormous amount of useful information and assemble it in an exhilaratingly simple and systematic way." Indeed, since its original publication in 1977, this hugely popular book has become the definitive source on film and media.Now, James Monaco offers a special anniversary edition of his classic work, featuring a new preface and several new sections, including an "Essential Library: One Hundred Books About Film and Media You Should Read" and "One Hundred Films You Should See."As in previous editions, Monaco once again looks at film from many vantage points, as both art and craft, sensibility and science, tradition and technology. After examining film's close relation to other narrative media such as the novel, painting, photography, television, and even music, the book discusses the elements necessary to understand how films convey meaning, and, more importantly, how we can best discern all that a film is attempting to communicate. In addition, Monaco stresses the still-evolving digital context of film throughout--one of the new sections looks at the untrustworthy nature of digital images and sound--and his chapter on multimedia brings media criticism into the twenty-first century with a thorough discussion of topics like virtual reality, cyberspace, and the proximity of both to film. With hundreds of illustrative black-and-white film stills and diagrams, How to Read a Film is an indispensable addition to the library of everyone who loves the cinema and wants to understand it better.

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Marketing to Moviegoers: A Handbook of Strategies Used by Major Studios and Independents Review

Marketing to Moviegoers: A Handbook of Strategies Used by Major Studios and Independents
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Marketing to Moviegoers: A Handbook of Strategies Used by Major Studios and Independents ReviewMarketing is not only a powerful force in the movie business, but a financially formidable one as well. Consider: it cost $98 million ON AVERAGE to make and market and studio film in 2004, with marketing costs accounting for about $35 million. This book examines the entire process in fascinating detail that I can vouch for. I personally have over 30 years experience covering the film business for trade publications Variety, Moving Pictures and The Hollywood Reporter. "Marketing To Moviegoers" covers creative strategies, marketing placements, test screenings, the tortuous process of producing trailers, billing, media buying, the role of "free" publicity, and on and on. It's all here, crystallized in accessible terms with nary a trace of Hollywood insider gobbledygook. "Marketing To Moviegoers" is sorely needed since the press and other books give short shrift to the job of how to lure theater ticket buyers "into the tent."
Frank SegersMarketing to Moviegoers: A Handbook of Strategies Used by Major Studios and Independents Overview

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