Film Art

In this adventure, which would have played well in one of his own films, Schmuel Goldfisz left the Warsaw ghetto in 1895. He walked 300 miles to the Oder River, where he paid someone to row him across, smuggling him out of the Russian empire into Germany, past border patrols to another long walk to Hamburg. The gleam in his eye was America, "a far-away country, a vision of paradise." Schmuel Goldfisz became Samuel Goldwyn, one of the producers who created the Hollywood film industry.

Warner Bros. Studio is best known as a media conglomerate with a broad range of intellectual property, spanning movies, TV shows, and streaming content. Despite popular interest in the origins of this empire, the core of the Warner Bros. saga cannot be found in its commercial successes. It is the story of four brothers—Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack—whose vision for Hollywood helped shape the world of entertainment.

When artists and athletes age, what happens to their work? Does it ripen or rot? Achieve a new serenity or succumb to an escalating torment? As our bodies decay, how do we keep on? In this beguiling meditation, Geoff Dyer sets his own encounter with late middle age against the last days and last works of writers, painters, footballers, musicians, and tennis stars who’ve mattered to him throughout his life. Throughout, he stresses the accomplishments of uncouth geniuses who defied convention, and went on doing so even when their beautiful youths were over.

Every so often, an inspiring book comes along that helps the reader reform their approach to art and life, and "A TREASURY OF ART––Undiscovered Works" is one of those. The author, Rick Schmidt, was graced by ACTOR VIN DIESEL who read and utilized his how-to, “Feature filmmaking at Used-Car Prices” (Viking Penguin Books), to kick-start his career. So somehow, the contents of Schmidt’s tomes seem to generate positive energy to the readers, with maybe even success and $ to follow–– count in WRITER/DIRECTOR KEVIN SMITH as well, who created CLERKS with Schmidt’s book. TREASURY ...

Ever since horror leapt from popular fiction to the silver screen in the late 1890s, viewers have experienced fear and pleasure in exquisite combination. Wheeler Winston Dixon's A History of Horror is the only book to offer a comprehensive survey of this ever-popular film genre. Arranged by decades, with outliers and franchise films overlapping some years, this one-stop sourcebook unearths the historical origins of characters such as Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolfman and their various incarnations in film from the silent era to comedic sequels.

Want to know how to write a script that people will remember, and can catch the attention of producers and other above-the-line talent? (Don't worry about agents; they don't want to talk to you). Nail your dialogue. Really. Now I know you've heard all the maxims: Film is a Visual Medium; You Can Either Write Dialogue or You Can't. And they both sound very logical. And esteemed writers, such as David Mamet, have been preaching them for years. But, in my not so humble opinion, they're both total bullcrap.

Blake Snyder, uno de los guionistas de más éxito de Hollywood, ofrece una pintura ágil, divertida y franca de la trastienda de la industria cinematográfica. ¡Salva al gato! hace referencia a una de sus infalibles teorías para lograr que las ideas resulten más atractivas y cualquier guión más satisfactorio y, sobre todo, susceptible de venderse. Se trata de un término acuñado por el propio Snyder en alusión a una escena, absolutamente ineludible, en que el público va a conocer al protagonista de la película por primera vez y éste hace algo

Jane Austen was born in Steventon, England, in 1775, where she lived for the first 25 years of her life. Her father, George Austen, was the rector of the local parish, and provided most of her education in their home. She began to write while in her teens and completed the original manuscript of Pride and Prejudice First Impressions, between 1796 and 1797. Pride and Prejudice was published in January 1813, two years after Sense and Sensibility, her first novel.

For more than two decades, Ash Ketchum, has been chasing his dream of becoming a Pokémon master. The Psychology of Pokémon guides gamers on a real-world quest of self-discovery so that they can Catch ‘em All. And, as part of this examination, psychologists, clinicians, video game researchers, professors, and enthusiasts unravel the mysteries of the Pokémon series.

Few could explain, let alone seek out, a career in criticism. Yet what A. O. Scott shows in Better Living Through Criticism is that we are, in fact, all critics: because critical thinking informs almost every aspect of artistic creation, of civil action, of interpersonal life. With penetrating insight and warm humor, Scott shows that while individual critics - himself included - can make mistakes and find flaws where they shouldn't, criticism as a discipline is one of the noblest, most creative and urgent activities of modern existence.

Even by the standards of the 1970s, even compared to Jar-Jar Binks, the legendary 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special is a peerlessly cringeworthy pop-culture artifact.

Jayne Mansfield as you’ve never known her. Jayne Mansfield is a legend.She appeared in twenty-nine movies as an actress and she was also a musician and a comedienne. Her I.Q. was reputed to be 163. She was the mother of five, including Mariska Hargitay, the star of the hit TV show Law and Order.Now Frank Ferruccio, film historian and personal friend of the Mansfield children, shares more of his behind-the-scenes stories from Jayne’s life. Following up on his first biography of Jayne, Diamonds to Dust, The Life and Death of Jayne Mansfield, this newest work fills in many of the missing ...

Movies (And Other Things) is a book about, quite frankly, movies (and other things). One of the chapters, for example, answers which race Kevin Costner was able to white savior the best, because did you know that he white saviors Mexicans in McFarland, USA, and white saviors Native Americans in Dances with Wolves, and white saviors Black people in Black or White, and white saviors the Cleveland Browns in Draft Day? Another of the chapters creates a special version of the Academy Awards specifically for rom-coms, the most underrated movie genre of all.

In this intimate and often surprising personal portrait, Joseph McBride challenges the conventional wisdom that Welles' career after Citizen Kane, widely regarded as the greatest film ever made, fell into a long decline. The author shows instead how Welles never stopped directing radical, adventurous films and was always breaking new artistic ground as a filmmaker. McBride is the first author to provide a comprehensive examination of the films of Welles's artistically rich yet widely misunderstood later period in the United States (1970–1985).

When Dave Hickey was 12, he rode the surfer's dream: the perfect wave. And, like so many things in life we long for, it didn't quite turn out - he shot the pier and dashed himself against the rocks of Sunset Cliffs in Ocean Beach, which just about killed him. Fortunately, for Hickey and for us, he survived, and continues to battle, decades into a career as one of America's foremost critical iconoclasts, a trusted, even cherished no-nonsense voice commenting on the all-too-often nonsensical worlds of art and culture.

The never-before-published edition of Francis Ford Coppola's notes and annotations on The Godfather novel by Mario Puzo reveals the story behind one of the world's most iconic films. In this one-of-a-kind audio production, Coppola provides listeners with unfiltered access to his creative process in his own voice. Featuring notes from eight scenes - handpicked by Coppola himself - The Godfather Notebook is a must-listen for fans of the 1972 film.

The choice is yours, and you'll have to live with the consequences for at least the rest of your life. Will you take the blue pill - skip this audiobook and go on thinking of The Matrix as just a movie? Or will you take the red pill - listen to this book, and find out just how far down the rabbit-hole goes?

An unflinching confrontation of humanity’s dark side, Brian De Palma’s crime drama film Scarface gave rise to a cultural revolution upon its release in 1983. Its impact was unprecedented, making globe-spanning waves as a defining portrait of the gritty Miami street life. From Al Pacino’s masterful characterization of Tony Montana to the iconic “Say hello to my little friend,” Scarface maintains its reputation as an unwavering game changer in cult classic cinema.

From her starring roles as a skeptical child in the perennial classic Miracle on 34thStreet and a troubled adolescent in Rebel Without a Cause to mature roles in Splendor in the Grass and West Side Story, actress Natalie Wood transfixed the world with her hypnotic brown eyes. Yet behind the beautiful façade lurked a fragile, sparkling, generous, funny woman traumatized by her childhood and beset by personal demons.

A first-time-ever exploration of the 290 songs from the entirety of Twin Peaks, sure to entice fans of the David Lynch-Mark Frost's cult classic that revolutionized TV, with brand-new interviews with Frost and several of the key composers and musicians involved.