Film theory & criticism Books

THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO THE ULTIMATE INTERGALACTIC BATTLEFIELD Like many a great epic, "Star Wars" is rooted in a rich history of armed conflict. Now, for the first time, the facts, figures, and fascinating backstories of major clashes and combatants in the vast "Star Wars" universe have been doc...

The definitive reference guide to a space fantasy phenomenon. The Star Wars universe, much like our own, is constantly expanding. In the ten years since the publication of the Star Wars Encyclopedia, a lot has happened in that galaxy far, far away: four new feature films, a host of official orig...

The second edition of Mark Kermode's "Exorcist" volume has now been updated and expanded, and its publication completes a journey of discovery begun by the author in 1997. This edition documents the deletion and recovery of key scenes that have now been re-integrated into the film to creat...

SEX AND THE CITY 2: THE OFFICIAL COMPANION BOOK is the ultimate keepsake for fans of the fabulous four. Packed with juicy behind-the-scenes details as well as interviews with the stars, producers, cast and crew members, and celebrity cameos such as Miley Cyrus, Liza Minelli and Penelope Cruz. S...

It is the most eagerly awaited comics-to-film adaptation of them all. The graphic novel that changed an industry is now a film, directed by Zack Snyder (300), and Watchmen: The Official Film Companion is the essential guide to this cinematic event. Featuring exclusive interviews with the cast and cr...

The "Millennium Falcon" is a legendary spaceship, made famous by its adventures under the command of smugglers Han Solo and Chewbacca, who made numerous special modifications to transform the beat-up Corellian light freighter into one of the fastest ships in the galaxy. This Haynes Manual traces the...

For more than forty years, generations of movie lovers have relied upon Leonard Maltin to help them decide what to watch. Comprehensive, trustworthy, and the most established guide on the market, "Leonard Maltin's 2012 Movie Guide" includes: more than 10,000 DVD and 14,000 video listings; an updated...

Meet the Bounty Hunters! Features all the dangerous bounty hunters, plus other new characters, vehicles, locations, weapons, equipment, great storylines and explosive moments. Packed full of new animation, character poses and fascinating facts from seasons one and two of the TV series, perfe...

The definitive "New York Times" bestseller that has "essentially cornered the movie guide market" ("New York Times Book Review") In the age of Netflix, even just browsing the seemingly infinite selection of movies on DVD can be overwhelming. With hundreds of new films...

After the 1973 success of American Graffiti, filmmaker George Lucas made the fateful decision to pursue a longtime dream project: a space fantasy movie unlike any ever produced. Lucas envisioned a swashbuckling SF saga inspired by the Flash Gordon serials classic American westerns, the epic cinema o...

Navigate the Star Wars universe as you never have before–with this fully illustrated, full-color guide that maps the entire galaxy. You know the planets–from Alderaan and Corellia to Tatooine and Zonama Sekot–and the star systems, from the Deep Core to the Outer Rim. But now, fo...

More than thirty years ago, filmmaker George Lucas realized a longtime dream, creating a swashbuckling sf saga inspired by vintage Flash Gordon serials, classic American westerns, the epic cinema of Japanese auteur Akira Kurosawa, and mythological heroes. Its original title: The Star Wars. The rest ...

"Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2010" is the ultimate source for movies, movie reviews, and much more. For nearly 25 years, Roger Ebert's annual collection has been recognized as the preeminent source for full-length critical movie reviews, and his 2010 yearbook does not disappoint. The yea...

As the official photographer on the set of Watchmen, Clay Enos was there at every stage of production as director Zack Snyder filmed the adaptation of the legendary graphic novel. As well as his day-to-day duties making sure there was a visual record of the production, Enos also made time to work on...

The ultimate book for film lovers. Film critic, Sale of the Century and Mastermind winner Hamish McCouall spent several months in darkened rooms watching films to produce this brilliant and unusual selection. It encompasses short films, feature films, documentaries and digifilms. Yes, The Lor...

This book is a celebration of how far the New Zealand film industry has come in the last 30 years of making home-grown movies. This has been a time when film has leapt ahead as an industry and gained recognition from the home audience - and from international audiences too. It is illustrated through...

Paris, summer 1946. This moment marks an important event in cinema history, not of production but of exhibition. For this was the summers when, after the hiatus of the Second World War, French critics were again given the opportunity to view films from Hollywood. The films they saw, including The Ma...

From the team who brought you "The Empire Film Guide", here are all the obscure, indecent and downright bizarre facts and figures that were not considered sensible for a practical film guide. Discover which country translated "GI Jane" as Satan Female Soldier, which Hollywood hea...

This is the first biography of the cinematic hero Charlie Chan, whose character was inspired by the real-life story of Chang Apana, a bullwhip-wielding, five-foot-tall Chinese-American immigrant detective whose raids on opium dens and gambling parlours made him a legend. Emerging against the backdro...

Sure, everyone knows that Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's father, but how many people really know the secret of Darth Vader's paternal lineage? Everyone's heard of Jedi Knights such as Obi Wan Kenobi and Mace Windu, but what about Plo Koon, Ti Shaak, and that snake-haired blue lady - what was her na...

This text explores the four-year interval between 1930 and 1934 when the commandments of the Production Code Administration were violated with impunity in a series of wildly unconventional films, a time when censorship was lax and Hollywood made the most of it. More unbridled, salacious, and just pl...

"Film Noir: From Berlin to Sin City" explores the murky world of a genre responsible for many of film's most enduring images. Mark Bould discusses problems of definition and the often ambiguous nature of film noir and looks at modern films that could be called neo-noir. Iconic and enduring, film noi...

"Monster in the closet" is a history of the horrors film that explores the genre's relationship to the social and cultural history of homosexuality in America. Drawing on a wide variety of films and primary source materials including censorship files, critical reviews, promotional materials, fanzine...

Coinciding with the 30th anniversary of "The Empire Strikes Back," this lavish, fully illustrated book offers an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at the making of arguably the greatest of the "Star Wars" films. Includes never-before-published photos, design sketches, paintings, ...

FRACTURED EYE is new large-format annual film journal, edited by well-known authors Stephen Barber and Jack Hunter, who between them have produced around 50 books on global cinema and cultural history. FRACTURED EYE does not concern itself with either "mainstream" or "cult" cinema, but rather takes ...

Tired of the usual boring, dry movie discussion? "The Comedy Film Nerds Guide to Movies" is something new. 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...

From Kirk Douglas, Hollywood royalty and bestselling author of "The Ragman's Son "and "My Stroke of Luck, "comes the candid story of the making of "Spartacus," the blockbuster film that broke the blacklistOne of the world's most iconic movie stars, Kirk Douglas has distinguished himself as a produce...

Arguing that today's viewers move through a character's brain instead of looking through his or her eyes or mental landscape, this book approaches twenty-first-century globalized cinema through the concept of the "neuro-image." Pisters explains why this concept has emerged now, and she elaborates it...

This collection focuses on children and adolescents in Latin American and Spanish cinema from 1960 to the present as witnesses and objects of the spectatorial gaze. The carefully chosen essays survey the representation of the past and the definition of gender and class identity as experienced by you...

'Don't Look Now', released in 1973, confirmed director Nicolas Roeg as one of the most stylish and innovative British directors of the postwar period. Adapted from a short story by Daphne du Maurier, it is both a complex study of how people come to terms with grief and a chilling tale of murder set ...

The Wizard of Oz "was my very first literary influence," writes Salman Rushdie in his account of the great MGM children's classic. At the age of ten he had written a story, "Over the Rainbow," about a colorful fantasy world. But for Rushdie "The Wizard of Oz" is more than a children's film, and more...

'Went the Day Well?' is one of the most unusual pictures Ealing Studios produced, a distinctly unsentimental war film made in the darkest days of World War II, and nothing like the loveable comedies that later became the Ealing trademark. Its clear-eyed view of the potential for violence lurking jus...

Il Conformistais a much admired film, considered by many to be Bertulocci's greatest and a classic of Italian and European cinema, yet it remains slightly obscure for viewers. What exactly is its title 'The Conformist' meant to emanate? What is Bertulocci saying about the relationship between fascis...

Sixty years after its release, Singin' in the Rain remains one of the best loved films ever made. Yet despite dazzling success with the public it never received its fair share of critical praise. Gene Kelly's genius as a performer is there for all to see. Acknowledged less often is his innovatory co...

Snow White has been re-evaluated along a number of lines since its heralded release in the late 1930s. Disney's interpretation of the doomed princess has reached out to a number of audiences, including the general viewing public, film historians and scholars, film technicians and animators, and educ...

In the 1992 Sight and Sound poll, critics and film-makers voted Vertigo the fourth greatest film of all time. Yet in it Hitchcock abandoned his trademark suspense, allowing the central mystery to be solved well before the end. What remained was a study in sexual obsession, as James Stewart's Scottie...

Taxi Driver is one of the major films of the 1970s, which established Martin Scorcese's reputation as a prominent American director. Robert de Niro plays Travis Bickle, Vietnam veteran and cab driver, who finally goes over the edge. Technically thrilling though it is, 'Taxi Driver' is profoundly dis...

Blade Runner has proved to be one of the most enduring and influential films of the 1980s. An adaptation of Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, the film combines film noir with science fiction to create a groundbreaking cyberpunk vision of urban life in a future at once unca...

'Citizen Kane's' unchallenged reputation as one of the greatest films in all cinema is matched only by the accumulation of critical commentary that surrounds it. What more can there be to say about a masterpiece so universally acknowledged? As Laura Mulvey shows in a fresh and original reading, the ...