Synopses & Reviews
Over the past decade, as digital media has expanded and print outlets have declined, pundits have bemoaned a andldquo;crisis of criticismandrdquo; and mourned the andldquo;death of the critic.andrdquo; Now that well-paying jobs in film criticism have largely evaporated, while blogs, message boards, and social media have given new meaning to the saying that andldquo;everyoneandrsquo;s a critic,andrdquo; urgent questions have emerged about the status and purpose of film criticism in the twenty-first century.and#160;
and#160;In Film Criticism in the Digital Age, ten scholars from across the globe come together to consider whether we are witnessing the extinction of serious film criticism or seeing the start of its rebirth in a new form. Drawing from a wide variety of case studies and methodological perspectives, the bookandrsquo;s contributors find many signs of the film criticandrsquo;s declining clout, but they also locate surprising examples of how criticsandmdash;whether moonlighting bloggers or salaried writersandmdash;have been able to intervene in current popular discourse about arts and culture.
and#160;In addition to collecting a plethora of scholarly perspectives, Film Criticism in the Digital Age includes statements from key bloggers and print critics, like Armond White and Nick James. Neither an uncritical celebration of digital culture nor a jeremiad against it, this anthology offers a comprehensive look at the challenges and possibilities that the Internet brings to the evaluation, promotion, and explanation of artistic works.and#160;
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Review
andquot;A significant and impressive work on the cutting edge of current critical discussion on the digitization of film...the sheer scope of Dixon and Foster's knowledge is dazzling.andquot;
Review
andquot;The paradigm shift from analog to digital media has completely changed the way Hollywood produces and distributes its business. 21st-Century Hollywood presents a perfect snapshot of the new digital present.andquot;
Review
andquot;Dixon and Foster give readers an enjoyable, informative tour through popular productions and the business models and cultures that surround and impact them. The informal prose and diverse subject matter make this volume--in contract to a great deal of film criticism--appealing to a wide-range of audiences. Recommended.andquot;
Review
andquot;Wheeler's observations illustrate how paranoia, as constructed through the lens of film noir, proves more relevant than ever. A wonderful addition to the literature on film noir and film genres. Highly recommended.andquot;
Review
andldquo;Displays a true cinephileandrsquo;s fascination with the gunslingers and femmes fatales of film noir, and the dark, uneasy world they inhabit. Wide-ranging and packed with compelling detail, this work will be an invaluable addition to the bookshelves of fans, academics, and completists alike.andquot;
Review
andquot;Dixon is recognized as an eminent film scholar and the current title is an impressive addition to his oeuvre. This book certainly has solid scholarship, but it is also a book that once picked up is hard to put down. Essential.andquot;
Review
andquot;Dixon is a deft and knowledgable guide, leading us from silent ghouls to Universal's monsters. Interspersed throughout this catalogue are nuggets of surprising information.andquot;
Review
andquot;This is an excellent survey of horror movies. The author, a veteran film historian, takes the reader back to the beginning, when, in the first three decades of the twentieth century, such directors as Georges Melies, F. W. Murnau, and Paul Wegener were defining not only the look of a genre but also cinema itself. The period between 1930 and the late 1940s saw the rise of the classic Universal Studios charactersandmdash;Frankenstein's monster, Dracula, the Wolf Man, the Mummyandmdash;and the actors who played them: Karloff, Lugosi, Chaney Jr. By the end of the 1940s, horror was dying, 'killed by a plethora of poorly made sequels.' But never fear: the period between the late 1940s and 1970 saw a massive resurgence, due in part to gimmicks (such as 3-D); low-budget quickies from the likes of Roger Corman, the wizard of the B movie; and the stylish resurrection of the classic Universal monsters by Britain's Hammer Film Productions. This survey, which takes the reader right up to the present, is full of fascinating information and is delivered in an accessible manner. Required reading for horror fans.andquot;
Review
andquot;Dixon surveys the development of the horror genre from the earliest Frankenstein and Dracula films through the decades of classics by Hammer studios, William Castle, Roger Corman, and Val Lewton. Dixon covers movies seldom found in other histories and more modern, international titles such as Wolf Creek, Black Water, and Grudge. The endurance of horror, trends like remakes and sequels, and such popular franchises as Child's Play and Halloween are also discussed. In the final chapter, Dixon analyzes the decline of modern horror owing to desensitized audiences, graphic gore, violence, and lack of solid plot lines or character development. Lists of the best horror websites as well as the 50 movies covered round out this volume. This concise overview is an informative and entertaining read. Recommended.andquot;
Review
andquot;In less than 250 pages, Wheeler Winston Dixon manages to cover the trends and sub-genres of film horror from 1896 to 2009. Bonuses include a list of top horror sites, a list of fifty classic films, and a pretty wonderful bibliography. Well written and well researched and offering an enjoyable overview of more than one hundred years of cinema, A History of Horror is a quick, delightful read.andquot;
Review
andquot;No mere catalog of titles, Dixon's account explores all aspects of the genre: literary underpinnings, themes, and transformations, including much on actors and directors. Dixon's mind-priming volume will enhance spine-tingling late-night viewings.andquot;
Review
andquot;A breathtaking panorama, written with wit and candor, showing how the horror film has shaped cinema from the origins of the genre until now.andquot;
Review
andquot;Rich with excellent illustrations and clever anecdotes, this book will appeal to fans of horror as well as film students and scholars interested in a readable overview of the history of the genre.andquot;
Review
andquot;This is the film history book we've been waiting for.andquot;
Review
andquot;A Short History of Film is a comprehensive and detailed overview of the last 100 years of international film history. It will prove to be a useful reference tool for all students of film, both in and out of the classroom.andquot;
Review
andquot;A new history of international film at an affordable price. Nothing like those text book prices for a change. Includes perspectives on women and minorities in film along with innovations in technology, genres, studios, and conglomerates.andquot;
Review
andquot;With the goal of offering 'a fast paced tour' of movie history, Dixon and Foster have produced a study in the tradition of Paul
Rotha's The Film till Now. The authors touch all the bases--they address new trends in international moviemaking, technologies, and critical theory and the emergence of new national and ethnic cinemas--and relate film history to social history. Each new technique, style, school, trend, and newly visible ethnic or feminist group takes its place in the larger history, and Dixon and Foster make it all accessible to the neophyte reader without ever breaking the pace. Uncommonly well-reproduced stills and a topically organized bibliography enhance the discussion. Highly recommended.andquot;
Review
andquot;This excellent introduction stands out in a crowded field with its lively, accessible writing, broad coverage, and particular focus on traditionally marginalized figures in film history...the most striking aspect of the book is the coverage of women, African Americans, and Third World filmmakers, which strongly complements its solid coverage of American and European film. Illustrations abound, and even the best-versed cineaste will find new films to track down after reading the breezy, enthusiastic analysis in this book. Highly recommended for all collections, this text would also make an excellent textbook for introductory film-studies courses.andquot;
Review
andquot;This is a great and highly important volume for film studies as a discipline and cultural and media studies more generally.andquot;
Review
andquot;Everett assembles a coterie of capable scholars to investigate changes in society, popular culture, and stardom during the 1990s. Several chapters shine with insight. Everett's chapter on the talents of the iconoclastic Johnny Depp delights as it instructs. Recommended.andquot;
Review
andldquo;There is nothing like this series. Screen Decades firmly situates American cinema in the realms of material culture, popular culture, cultural narrative, reception analysis, and industrial history.andrdquo;
Review
andquot;Corrigan offers ten essays that chronologically define the major historical events of the past decade and reveal how popular cinema can reflect cultural change. This is a thoughtful, probing look into recent history, a book that can serve as an effective primary or supplemental text for classes in media studies or interdisciplinary classes combining history, media, and social studies. Recommended.andquot;
Review
andldquo;Dixon has an encyclopedic knowledge of film history, and a subtle and well-honed aesthetic sense. He rescues important films from oblivion, and finds fresh angles of approach to films that are already familiar.andquot;
Review
andquot;Dixon covers the entire history of black and white movies in one volume, and talks about the films and cinematographers who created these films, and often got little credit for their work. Fascinating and compelling, this is essential reading for anyone who loves movies.andquot;
Review
andquot;Wheeler Winston Dixonandrsquo;s colorful study of black-and-white cinema reaffirms yet again his unfailing expertise as a critic, historian, and dazzlingly fine writer. Indispensable for students, scholars, and movie buffs alike.andquot;
Synopsis
21st-Century Hollywood introduces readers to the global transformations of today's movies and describes the decisive roles that Hollywood is playing in determining the digital future for world cinema. It offers clear, concise explanations of a major paradigm shift that continues to reshape our relationship to the moving image. Filled with numerous detailed examples, the book will both educate and entertain film students and movie fans alike.
Synopsis
They are shot on high-definition digital camerasandmdash;with computer-generated effects added in postproductionandmdash;and transmitted to theaters, websites, and video-on-demand networks worldwide. They are viewed on laptop, iPod, and cell phone screens. They are movies in the 21st centuryandmdash;the product of digital technologies that have revolutionized media production, content distribution, and the experience of moviegoing itself.
21st-Century Hollywood introduces readers to these global transformations and describes the decisive roles that Hollywood is playing in determining the digital future for world cinema. It offers clear, concise explanations of a major paradigm shift that continues to reshape our relationship to the moving image. Filled with numerous detailed examples, the book will both educate and entertain film students and movie fans alike.
Synopsis
Noir. A shadow looms. The blow, a sharp surprise. Waking and sleeping, the fear is with us and cannot be contained.
Paranoia.Wheeler Winston Dixon's comprehensive work engages readers in an overview of noir and fatalist film from the mid-twentieth century to the present, ending with a discussion of television, the Internet, and dominant commercial cinema. Beginning with the 1940s classics, Film Noir and the Cinema of Paranoia moves to the "Red Scare" and other ominous expressions of the 1950s that contradicted an American split-level dream of safety and security. The dark cinema of the 1960s hosted films that reflected the tensions of a society facing a new and, to some, menacing era of social expression. From smaller studio work to the vibrating pulse of today's "click and kill" video games, Dixon boldly addresses the noir artistry that keeps audiences in an ever-consumptive stupor.
Synopsis
Ever since horror leapt from popular fiction to the silver screen in the late 1890s, viewers have experienced fear and pleasure in exquisite combination. A History of Horror, with rare stills from classic films, is the only book to offer a comprehensive survey of this ever-popular film genre. Chronologically examining over fifty horror films from key periods, this one-stop sourcebook unearths the historical origins of legendary characters and explores how the genre fits into the Hollywood studio system and how its enormous success in American and European culture expanded globally over time.
Synopsis
The 1940s was a watershed decade for American cinema and the nation. Shaking off the grim legacy of the Depression, Hollywood launched an unprecedented wave of production, generating some of its most memorable classics, including Citizen Kane, Rebecca, The Lady Eve, Sergeant York, and How Green Was My Valley. In 1942, Hollywood joined the national war effort with a vengeance, creating a series of patriotic and escapist films, such as Casablanca, Mrs. Miniver, The Road to Morocco, and Yankee Doodle Dandy.
With the end of the war, returning GIs faced a new America, in which the country had been transformed overnight. Film noir reflected a new public mood of pessimism and paranoia, in such classic films of betrayal and conflict as Kiss of Death, Force of Evil, Caught, and Apology for Murder, depicting a poisonous universe of femme fatales, crooked lawyers, and corrupt politicians.
With the threat of the atom bomb lurking in the background and the beginnings of the Hollywood Blacklist, the 1940s was a decade of crisis and change. Featuring essays by a group of respected film scholars and historians, American Cinema of the 1940s brings this dynamic and turbulent decade to life. Illustrated with many rare stills and filled with provocative insights, the volume will appeal to students, teachers, and to all those interested in cultural history and American film of the twentieth century.
Synopsis
New York, more than any other city, has held a special fascination for filmmakers and viewers. In every decade of Hollywood filmmaking, artists of the screen have fixated upon this fascinating place for its tensions and promises, dazzling illumination and fearsome darkness.
The glittering skyscrapers of such films as On the Town have shadowed the characteristic seedy streets in which desperate, passionate stories have played out-as in Scandal Sheet and The Pawnbroker. In other films, the city is a cauldron of bright lights, technology, empire, egotism, fear, hunger, and change--the scenic epitome of America in the modern age.
From Street Scene and Breakfast at Tiffany's to Rosemary's Baby, The Warriors, and 25th Hour, the sixteen essays in this book explore the cinematic representation of New York as a city of experience, as a locus of ideographic characters and spaces, as a city of moves and traps, and as a site of allurement and danger. Contributors consider the work of Woody Allen, Blake Edwards, Alfred Hitchcock, Gregory La Cava, Spike Lee, Sidney Lumet, Vincente Minnelli, Roman Polanski, Martin Scorsese, Andy Warhol, and numerous others.
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Synopsis
The history of international cinema is now available in a concise, conveniently sized, and affordable volume. Succinct yet comprehensive, A Short History of Film provides an accessible overview of the major movements, directors, studios, and genres from the 1880s to the present. More than 250 rare stills and illustrations accompany the text, bringing readers face to face with many of the key players and films that have marked the industry.
Beginning with precursors of what we call moving pictures, Wheeler Winston Dixon and Gwendolyn Audrey Foster lead a fast-paced tour through the invention of the kinetoscope, the introduction of sound and color between the two world wars, and ultimately the computer generated imagery of the present day. They detail significant periods in world cinema, including the early major industries in Europe, the dominance of the Hollywood studio system in the 1930s and 1940s, and the French New Wave of the 1960s. Special attention is also given to small independent efforts in developing nations and the corresponding more personal independent film movement that briefly flourished in the United States, the significant filmmakers of all nations, censorship and regulation and how they have affected production everywhere, and a wide range of studios and genres. Along the way, the authors take great care to incorporate the stories of women and other minority filmmakers who have often been overlooked in other texts.
Compact and easily readable, this is the best one-stop source for the history of world film available to students, teachers, and general audiences alike.
Synopsis
Now that well-paying jobs in film criticism have largely evaporated, while blogs, message boards, and social media have given new meaning to the saying that andldquo;everyoneandrsquo;s a critic,andrdquo; urgent questions have emerged about the criticandrsquo;s status and purpose. In Film Criticism in the Digital Age, ten scholars from across the globe, as well as critics and bloggers, come together to consider whether we are witnessing the extinction of serious film criticism or seeing the seeds of its rebirth in a new form.and#160;
Synopsis
In the 1990s, American civil society got upended and reordered as many social, cultural, political, and economic institutions were changed forever. Pretty People examines a wide range of Hollywood icons who reflect how stardom in that decade was transformed as the nation itself, signaling significant changes to familiar ideas about gender, race, ethnicity, age, class, sexuality, and nationality.
Synopsis
For over a century, movies have played an important role in our lives, entertaining us, often provoking conversation and debate. Now, with the rise of digital cinema, audiences often encounter movies outside the theater and even outside the home. Traditional distribution models are challenged by new media entrepreneurs and independent film makers, usergenerated video, film blogs, mashups, downloads, and other expanding networks.
Reinventing Cinema examines film culture at the turn of this century, at the precise moment when digital media are altering our historical relationship with the movies. Spanning multiple disciplines, Chuck Tryon addresses the interaction between production, distribution, and reception of films, television, and other new and emerging media.Through close readings of trade publications, DVD extras, public lectures by new media leaders, movie blogs, and YouTube videos, Tryon navigates the shift to digital cinema and examines how it is altering film and popular culture.
Synopsis
Black and White Cinema is the first study to consider black-and-white film as an art form in its own right, providing a comprehensive and global overview of the era when it flourished, from the 1900s to the 1960s. Including over forty stills that give us a unique glimpse behind the scenes, Wheeler Winston Dixon introduces us to the masters of this art, including directors, set designers, and award-winning cinematographers like James Wong Howe, Freddie Francis, and Sven Nykvist.and#160;
Synopsis
From the glossy monochrome of the classic Hollywood romance, to the gritty greyscale of the gangster picture, to film noirandrsquo;s moody interplay of light and shadow, black-and-white cinematography has been used to create a remarkably wide array of tones. Yet today, with black-and-white film stock nearly impossible to find, these cinematographic techniques are virtually extinct, and filmgoersandrsquo; appreciation of them is similarly waning. and#160;
and#160;
Black and White Cinema is the first study to consider the use of black-and-white as an art form in its own right, providing a comprehensive and global overview of the era when it flourished, from the 1900s to the 1960s. Acclaimed film scholar Wheeler Winston Dixon introduces us to the masters of this art, discussing the signature styles and technical innovations of award-winning cinematographers like James Wong Howe, Gregg Toland, Freddie Francis, and Sven Nykvist. Giving us a unique glimpse behind the scenes, Dixon also reveals the creative teamsandmdash;from lighting technicians to matte paintersandmdash;whose work profoundly shaped the look of black-and-white cinema. and#160;
and#160;
More than just a study of film history, this book is a rallying cry, meant to inspire a love for the artistry of black-and-white film, so that we might work to preserve this important part of our cinematic heritage. Lavishly illustrated with more than forty on-the-set stills, Black and White Cinema provides a vivid and illuminating look at a creatively vital era.
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Synopsis
Depictions of sex, violence, and crime abound in many of today's movies, sometimes making it seem that the idyllic life has vanished-even from our imaginations. But as shown in this unique book, paradise has not always been lost. For many years, depictions of heaven, earthly paradises, and utopias were common in popular films.
Illustrated throughout with intriguing, rare stills and organized to provide historical context, Visions of Paradise surveys a huge array of films that have offered us glimpses of life free from strife, devoid of pain and privation, and full of harmony. In films such as Moana, White Shadows in the South Seas, The Green Pastures, Heaven Can Wait, The Enchanted Forest, The Bishop's Wife, Carousel, Bikini Beach, and Elvira Madigan, characters and the audience partake in a vision of personal freedom and safety-a zone of privilege and protection that transcends the demands of daily existence.
Many of the films discussed are from the 1960s-perhaps the most edenic decade in contemporary cinema, when everything seemed possible and radical change was taken for granted. As Dixon makes clear, however, these films have not disappeared with the dreams of a generation; they continue to resonate today, offering a tonic to the darker visions that have replaced them.
About the Author
MATTIAS FREY is a senior lecturer in film at the University of Kent. He is the author of
Postwall German Cinema: History, Film History, and Cinephilia and co-editor of
Cine-Ethics: Ethical Dimensions of Film Theory, Practice, and Spectatorship.
and#160;CECILIA SAYAD is a senior lecturer in film at the University of Kent. She is the author of Performing Authorship: Self-Inscription and Corporeality in the Cinema and O Jogo da Reinvenandccedil;andatilde;o, a Portuguese-language study of Charlie Kaufmanandrsquo;s filmography.and#160;and#160;
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Arnold Schwarzenegger: Corporeal Charisma
2. Jodie Foster: Feminist Hero?
3. Denzel Washington: A Revisionist Black Masculinity
4. Julia Roberts: Cultural Phenomenon
5. Leonardo DiCaprio: King of the andldquo;Worldandrdquo;
6. Antonio Banderas, Andy Garcia, and Edward James Olmos: Stardom, Masculinity, and andldquo;Latinidadesandrdquo;
7. Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise: The Box Office and andldquo;True Masculinityandrdquo;
8. Angela Bassett and Halle Berry: African American Leading Ladies
9. Michael Douglas: An Ordinary Man
10. Pierce Brosnan: Licensed to Sell
11. Johnny Depp and Keanu Reeves: Hollywood and the Iconoclasts
In the Wings
Works Cited
Contributors
Index