The Comedy Film Nerds Guide to Movies: Featuring Dave Anthony, Lord Carrett, Dean Haglund, Allan Havey, Laura House, Jackie Kashian, Suzy Nakamura, Greg Proops, Mike Schmidt, Neil T. Weakley, and Matt Weinhold


Graham Elwood - 2012
    Is it serious movie discussion? Is it funny? Do the writers know what the hell they are talking about? Yes, Yes, Yes, and Yes. OK, that’s too many Yes’s but you get the point.  Graham Elwood and Chris Mancini, both professional filmmakers and comedians, created Comedyfilmnerds.com to mind meld the idea of real movie talk and real funny. And they called in all of their professionally funny and filmy friends to help them. Comedians and writers who have been on everything from the Tonight Show to having their own comedy specials tell you what’s what on their favorite film genres.  While "The Comedy Film Nerds Guide to Movies" is funny and informative, each film genre is given a personal touch. All of the Comedy Film Nerds have a love of film and a personal connection to each genre.  Read about a love of film from an insider’s perspective.  "The Comedy Film Nerds Guide to Movies" is for the movie lover with a good sense of humor.

Secrets of Screen Acting


Patrick Tucker - 1993
    He explains that the actor, instead of starting with what is real and trying to portray that on screen, should work with the realities of the shoot itself, and then work out how to make it all appear realistic.Tucker has created and developed several screen acting of a courses, and this book is an extension and explanation of a lifetime of work in the field. Containing over fifty acting exercises, this book leads the reader step-by-step through the elements of effective screen acting.Refreshing in its informal approach and full of instructive anecdotes, Secrets of Screen Acting is an invaluable guide for those who wish to master the art of acting on-screen.

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.

Gods and Monsters: Movers, Shakers, and Other Casualties of the Hollywood Machine


Peter Biskind - 2004
    Biskind began as a radical journalist and film critic, excavating the likes of Rocky and Thunderbolt and Lightfoot for their hidden political subtexts in small lefty rags. Now he can legitimately describe himself - as he does in his autobiographical introduction to this book - as a "recovering celebrity journalist."" The ghosts of McCarthyism and the blacklist haunt Gods and Monsters as do the casualties of the counterculture and the New Hollywood. At the heart of the book are the likes of Martin Scorsese, Robert Redford, Terrence Malick, Sue Mengers, and uber-producer Don Simpson, all of whom Biskind portrays in great Dickensian detail, charting how they have had a simultaneously strangulating and liberating effect on the industry.

My Year of Flops: The A.V. Club Presents One Man's Journey Deep into the Heart of Cinematic Failure


Nathan Rabin - 2010
    What began as a solitary ramble through the nooks and crannies of pop culture evolved into a way of life. My Year Of Flops collects dozens of the best-loved entries from the A.V. Club column along with bonus interviews and fifteen brand-new entries covering everything from notorious flops like The Cable Guy and Last Action Hero to bizarre obscurities like Glory Road, Johnny Cash’s poignantly homemade tribute to Jesus. Driven by a unique combination of sympathy and Schadenfreude, My Year Of Flops is an unforgettable tribute to cinematic losers, beautiful and otherwise.

The Big Picture: The Fight for the Future of Movies


Ben Fritz - 2018
    In the past decade, Hollywood has endured a cataclysm on a par with the end of silent film and the demise of the studio system. Stars and directors have seen their power dwindle, while writers and producers lift their best techniques from TV, comic books, and the toy biz. The future of Hollywood is being written by powerful corporate brands like Marvel, Amazon, Netflix, and Lego, as well as censors in China.Ben Fritz chronicles this dramatic shakeup with unmatched skill, bringing equal fluency to both the financial and entertainment aspects of Hollywood. He dives deeply into the fruits of the Sony hack to show how the previous model, long a creative and commercial success, lost its way. And he looks ahead through interviews with dozens of key players at Disney, Marvel, Netflix, Amazon, Imax, and others to discover how they have reinvented the business. He shows us, for instance, how Marvel replaced stars with “universes,” and how Disney remade itself in Apple’s image and reaped enormous profits.But despite the destruction of the studios’ traditional playbook, Fritz argues that these seismic shifts signal the dawn of a new heyday for film. The Big Picture shows the first glimmers of this new golden age through the eyes of the creative mavericks who are defining what our movies will look like in the new era.

Keep Watching the Skies!: American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties


Bill Warren - 1982
    With new entries on several films, it also revisits, revises and expands the commentary on every film in the 1982 and 1986 two-volume edition. In addition to a detailed plot synopsis, cast and credit listings, and an overview of each film's critical reception, Warren delivers richly informative assessments of the films and a wealth of insights and anecdotes about their making, often drawing on remarks by the filmmakers that have emerged in the quarter century since the original edition. The book is arranged by film title, contains 273 photographs (many rare, some in color), has seven useful appendices, and concludes with an enormous index.

The Art of Star Wars: Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back


Deborah Call - 1980
    At the same time, these new editions of THE ART OF STAR WARS books will arrive in stores, packed with all-new material, including new "Special Edition" text in The Empire Strikes Back by Mark Cotta Vaz, author of the Industrial Light & Magic: Into the Digital Realm and The Secrets of Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire.

The Lord of the Rings: The Art of the Fellowship of the Ring


Gary Russell - 2002
    This official publication contains 500 exclusive images, from the earliest pencil sketches and conceptual drawings to magnificent full-color paintings that shaped the look of the film. All the principal locations, costumes, armor and creatures are covered in stunning detail, including concepts, storyboards and images that did not make it into the final film.As well as a wealth of sketches, paintings and digital images, The Art of The Fellowship of the Ring contains photographs showing how the creative process was realized and a number of stills from the film. Contributors include Alan Lee and John Howe, the two artists who inspired Peter Jackson's vision of Middle-earth and who worked with him to bring his trilogy to the big screen. They and a dozen other designers who created all of these diverse elements explain how they contributed to the development of the film, giving a fascinating insight into how Middle-earth was brought to life.With text compiled from exclusive interviews with director Peter Jackson, special effects supervisor Richard Taylor, designers Grant Major, Ngila Dickson, Paul Lasaine and others, this unique book celebrates the pivotal contribution made by a handful of people which help turn the first Lord of the Rings movie into an award-winning global success.

Laura Mulvey, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema


Carolina Hein - 2006
    These changes can be seen in every field of life. For instance, the way of supplying basic needs or the way how to make own life better, but also certain norms and values are quite different today. Instead of visiting a theatre in order to be entertained, people can watch TV or use the internet. If a man and a woman live together unmarried, hardly anybody will be shocked about that fact. But often certain attitudes are anchored in society and can hardly be changed. One example is the determination which individual role men and women are likely to play as members of a society and how their image appears in every culture. It is especially interesting to see how the media represent women, the so called -weaker sex-. The following pages respond with the representation of women through the years. Additionally, they deal with problems and consequences coming up because of the difference between men and women.

The Art of the Dark Knight: With Complete Script


Craig Byrne - 2008
    Batman Begins was a successful re-boot of the popular Batman franchise, and The Dark Knight sequel takes the fresh perspective further, developing the highly anticipated, raw cat-and-mouse game between our superhero Batman and his twisted arch-nemesis The Joker. Celebrated stars include Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Gary Oldman, returning as Batman, Alfred, Lucius Fox, and Lieutenant Gordon, respectively; and new additions Heath Ledger as The Joker, as well as Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Aaron Eckhart. The Art of the Dark Knight is the ultimate companion book to the movie, showcasing production ephemera including storyboard art, character sketches, Nolan’s original shooting script, still photos, and even personal behind-the-scenes material created by the Nolans and Crowley during the movie. The Art of the Dark Knight is certain to appeal to diehard and new fans alike.

The Making of Jurassic Park


Don Shay - 1993
    Now you can go behind the scenes for a rare, inside look at the making of the movie. Learn the story behind the story--the road from novel to screenplay; Watch as the finest f/x team in movie history pooled their talents to create the lifelike dinosaurs; Read exclusive interviews with Steven Spielberg, Michael Crichton, and the key actors, and so much more!

The Music of The Lord of the Rings Films: A Comprehensive Account of Howard Shore's Scores (Book and Rarities CD)


Doug Adams - 2010
    Howard Shores Academy Award-winning score for The Lord of the Rings has been hailed as some of the greatest film music ever written. Sweeping in scope, it is an interpretation of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth as music---an operatic tapestry of cultures,

The Art of the Matrix


Lana Wachowski - 2000
    An intimate journey into the mind's eyes of the two brothers who wrote and directed one of 1999's most unusual and successful movies of the year (over $170 million in the US and Canada; $350 million worldwide)--The Matrix grew out of the Wachowskis' fascination with ideas that challenge perceptions of reality, and the way that mythology and the Internet informed culture. It tells the story of a computer hacker Keanu Reeves) in the 22nd century who joins a band of freedom fighters (led by Laurence Fishburne) struggling against evil computers that control the earth. To sell their amazing script to Warner executives, the talented Wachowski brothers employed tom comic book professionals to visualize their script in the form of storyboards. This unique book will include the complete storyboards created for 219 scenes by Steve Skroce and others, the Wachowskis' complete shooting script, many of their original sketches, several gatefolds of Geof Darrow's intricate conceptual designs, annotations by Skroce and Phil Oosterhouse, and a section on scenes cut before filming, annotated, wioth script pages and storyboards. A must for all science fiction, cyberspace, comic book, and Matrix fans!This unique volume includes:• The shooting script by writers/directors Larry and Andy Wachowski• Black & white storyboards (600+) by Steve Skroce• Color storyboards by Tani Kunitake and Collin Grant• Conceptual drawings by Geof Darrow, presented in four double-sided gatefolds• Color renderings of Geof Darrow• Conceptuals by Warren Manser• Three storyboard sequences cut before filming• 32-page color album of memorable stills and poster• Commentary by the artists about their work on the film, interviewed especially for this book• Thumbnail sketches by the Wachowski Brothers• Introduction by Zach Staenberg, Oscar "RM" -winning Film Editor• Scene notes by Phil Oosterhouse• Deleted script excerpts• Film credits

Eaten Alive!: Italian Cannibal and Zombie Movies


Jay Slater - 2002
    Jay Slater explains how the myth of the Haitian walking dead (zombies) merged with legends of third-world cannibalism to create such gruesome zombie cult films as Cannibal Holocaust, an acknowledged influence on The Blair Witch Project.