Eyes Wide Shut
Michel Chion - 2002
To appreciate this, though it is necessary to look at what happens on the screen without bringing preconceptions to bear.
Quentin Tarantino: The Man and His Movies
Jami Bernard - 1995
The first comprehensive biography of the writer/director of the Academy Award-winning "Pulp Fiction" who, in only a few short years, took the film industry by storm and became a critical and commercial phenomenon.
Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words
Randall Munroe - 2015
Explore computer buildings (datacenters), the flat rocks we live on (tectonic plates), the things you use to steer a plane (airliner cockpit controls), and the little bags of water you're made of (cells).
We Don't Need Roads: The Making of the Back to the Future Trilogy
Caseen Gaines - 2015
During their journey to realize their dream, they encountered unprecedented challenges and regularly took the difficult way out.For the first time ever, the story of how these two young filmmakers struck lightning is being told by those who witnessed it. We Don’t Need Roads includes original interviews with Zemeckis, Gale, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Huey Lewis, and over fifty others who contributed to one of the most popular and profitable film trilogies of all time.With a focus not only on the movies, but also the lasting impact of the franchise and its fandom, We Don’t Need Roads is the ultimate read for anyone who has ever wanted to ride a Hoverboard, hang from the top of a clock tower, travel through the space-time continuum, or find out what really happened to Eric Stoltz after the first six weeks of filming. So, why don’t you make like a tree and get outta here – and start reading! We Don’t Need Roads is your density.
The Psychology of Superheroes: An Unauthorized Exploration
Robin S. RosenbergSiamak Tundra Naficy - 2008
Exposing the inner thoughts that these reclusive heroes would only dare share with trained professionals, heady experts give detailed psychoanalyses of what makes specific superheroes tick while answering such questions as "Why do superheroes choose to be superheroes?" "Why is there so much prejudice against the X-Men" "mutants?" "What makes Spider-Man so altruistic?" and "Why are supervillains so aggressive?" Additionally, the essays tackle why superheroes have such an enduring effect on American culture.Includes:- The positive psychology of superheroes by Christopher Peterson and Nansook Park- The social psychology of the Justice league of America by Wind Goodfriend- Superman's personality by Robin S. Rosenberg- Anti-heroism in the continuum of good and evil by Michael Spivey and Steven Knowlton- Positive psychology of Peter Parker by Robert Biwas-Diener- Prejudice lessons from the Xavier Institute by Mikhail Lyubansky- When I grow up I want to be a superhero by Bryan J. Dik- Is there a superhero in all of us? by Peter A. Hancock and Gabriella M. Hancock- Mind-reading superheroes by William J. Ickes- An appetite for destruction by Chuck Tate- The stereotypical (Wonder) woman by Chuck Tate- What would Freud say? by Andrew R. Getzfeld- Coming to terms with bizarro by Siamak Tundra Naficy- Coping with stress ... the superhero way by Stephanie R. deLusé- Arkham Asylum by Bradley J. Daniels- The incredible Hulk by Christopher J. Patrick and Sarah K. Patrick- Gender typicality and extremity in popular culture by Kerri L. Johnson, Leah E. Lurye, and Jonathan B. Freeman- Cracking the superhero's moral code by Peter DeScioli and Robert Kurzban.
An Illustrated History of Filmmaking
Adam Allsuch Boardman - 2018
Investigate everything from set design to costumes to the development of the camera itself, in this immersive guide featuring exquisite illustration by Adam Allsuch Boardman.
Hollywood Be Thy Name: The Warner Brothers Story
Cass Warner Sperling - 1993
The first family biography of Hollywood's Warners draws on letters and interviews to follow four brothers from their immigrant beginnings to their position as prime shapers of American entertainment, capturing the excitement and tension of Hollywood's evolution.
99 Classic Movies for People in a Hurry
Thomas Wengelewski - 2009
Get the low down on: Citizen Kane, Psycho, The Seventh Seal, Gone With the Wind, Dirty Dancing, Jaws, Bagdad Café, Rocky, Yojimbo, The Guns of Navarone, Jailhouse Rock, The Big Blue, Rebel Without a Cause, Taxi Driver, The Shawshank Redemption, The Misfits, among many others.
The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood
Sam Wasson - 2020
and Fosse comes the revelatory account of the making of a modern American masterpiece Chinatown is the Holy Grail of 1970s cinema. Its twist ending is the most notorious in American film and its closing line of dialogue the most haunting. Here for the first time is the incredible true story of its making.In Sam Wasson's telling, it becomes the defining story of the most colorful characters in the most colorful period of Hollywood history. Here is Jack Nicholson at the height of his powers, as compelling a movie star as there has ever been, embarking on his great, doomed love affair with Anjelica Huston. Here is director Roman Polanski, both predator and prey, haunted by the savage death of his wife, returning to Los Angeles, the scene of the crime, where the seeds of his own self-destruction are quickly planted. Here is the fevered dealmaking of "The Kid" Robert Evans, the most consummate of producers. Here too is Robert Towne's fabled script, widely considered the greatest original screenplay ever written. Wasson for the first time peels off layers of myth to provide the true account of its creation.Looming over the story of this classic movie is the imminent eclipse of the '70s filmmaker-friendly studios as they gave way to the corporate Hollywood we know today. In telling that larger story, The Big Goodbye will take its place alongside classics like Easy Riders, Raging Bulls and The Devil's Candy as one of the great movie-world books ever written.Praise for Sam Wasson:"Wasson is a canny chronicler of old Hollywood and its outsize personalities...More than that, he understands that style matters, and, like his subjects, he has a flair for it." -
The New Yorker
"Sam Wasson is a fabulous social historian because he finds meaning in situations and stories that would otherwise be forgotten if he didn't sleuth them out, lovingly." - Hilton Als
Miyazakiworld: A Life in Art
Susan J. Napier - 2018
The story of filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki's life and work, including his impact on Japan and the world A thirtieth‑century toxic jungle, a bathhouse for tired gods, a red‑haired fish girl, and a furry woodland spirit—what do these have in common? They all spring from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki, one of the greatest living animators, known worldwide for films such as My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, and The Wind Rises.
My Autobiography
Charlie Chaplin - 1964
In this, one of the very first celebrity memoirs, Chaplin displays all the charms, peculiarities and deeply-held beliefs that made him such an endearing and lasting character.Re-issued as part of Melville House’s Neversink Library, My Autobiography offers dedicated Chaplin fans and casual admirers alike an astonishing glimpse into the the heart and the mind of Hollywood’s original genius maverick.Take this unforgettable journey with the man George Bernard Shaw called “the only genius to come out of the movie industry” as he moves from his impoverished South London childhood to the heights of Hollywood wealth and fame; from the McCarthy-era investigations to his founding of United Artists to his “reverse migration” back to Europe, My Autobiography is a reading experience not to be missed.
Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road
Kyle Buchanan - 2022
The story of this modern classic spanned nearly two decades of wild obstacles as visionary director George Miller tried to mount one of the most difficult shoots in Hollywood history.Production stalled several times, stars Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron clashed repeatedly in the brutal Namib Desert, and Miller’s crew engineered death-defying action scenes that were among the most dangerous ever committed to film. Even accomplished Hollywood figures are flummoxed by the accomplishment: As the director Steven Soderbergh has said, “I don’t understand how they’re not still shooting that film, and I don’t understand how hundreds of people aren’t dead.”Kyle Buchanan takes readers through every step of that moviemaking experience in vivid detail, from Fury Road’s unexpected origins through its outlandish casting process to the big-studio battles that nearly mutilated a masterpiece. But he takes the deepest dive in reporting the astonishing facts behind a shoot so unconventional that the film’s fantasy world began to bleed into the real lives of its cast and crew. As they fought and endured in a wasteland of their own, the only way forward was to have faith in their director’s mad vision. But how could Miller persevere when almost everything seemed to be stacked against him?With hundreds of exclusive interviews and details about the making of Fury Road, readers will be left with one undeniable conclusion: There has never been a movie so drenched in sweat, so forged by fire, and so epic in scope.
Iron Man: Extremis
Warren Ellis - 2006
It's the beginning of a new era for Iron Man, and he must face up to a new era of terrifying technologies that threaten to overwhelm fragile mankind! He must find out what Extremis is - and, more importantly, he must figure out who has unleashed it and what its emergence means for the world.Collecting: Iron Man 1-6
Wonder Woman: Amazon. Hero. Icon.
Robert Greenberger - 2010
Wonder Woman is the most popular female super hero of all time and a cultural icon. During her existence, she has served in the army, renounced her powers at the height of the feminist movement, and helped launch Gloria Steinem’s Ms. magazine. She has been—and continues to be—a trailblazing role model to girls and women and an integral part of the cultural zeitgeist. Loosely chronological, Wonder Woman explores idiosyncratic creator William Moulton Marston’s interest in ideas of a "new woman" for the twentieth century; costume and character story changes over the decades; the influence on all other female comic book characters since her inception; and how Wonder Woman is still powerful and relevant in today’s comic book renaissance. The book contains more than 250 Wonder Woman illustrations, including covers, interior comic art, and sketch treatments, beginning with her inception in the early 1940s to present-day treatments of the character. Celebrated artists include Alex Ross, Jim Lee, George Perez, and Brian Bolland, to name only a few. The book will also feature rare covers and pin-up posters created for past special-edition comic books. Wonder Woman is certain to appeal to fanboys and fangirls, collectors, and newcomers to the comic book genre alike.
Stanley Kubrick, Director: A Visual Analysis
Alexander Walker - 1971
The result is a frame-by-frame examination of the inimitable style that infuses every Kubrick movie, from the pitch-perfect hilarity of Lolita to the icy supremacy of 2001: A Space Odyssey to the baroque horror of The Shining. The book's beautiful design and dynamic arrangement of photographic stills offer a frame-by-frame understanding of how Kubrick constructed a film. What emerges is a deeply human study of one remarkable artist's nature and obsessions, and how these changed and shifted in his four decades as a filmmaker.