Science Fiction Film (Genres in American Cinema)

Science Fiction Film (Genres in American Cinema) Review

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This study examines one of the most enduring and popular genres of Hollywood cinema, suggesting how the science fiction film reflects attitudes toward science, technology, and reason as they have evolved in American culture over the course of the 20th century. Telotte provides a survey of criticism and an overview of the history of the genre, from its earliest literary manifestations to the present. He offers in-depth readings of three key films;Robocop, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and THX 1138, each of which typifies a particular form of science fiction fantasy.

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• Screening Space: The American Science Fiction Film
• The Science Fiction Film Reader
• Cinema Genre
• Blade Runner (BFI Modern Classics)
• The Matrix (BFI Modern Classics)

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Jun 30, 2011 05:40:35

A Little Solitaire: John Frankenheimer and American Film

A Little Solitaire: John Frankenheimer and American Film Review

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Think about some commercially successful film masterpieces--The Manchurian Candidate. Seven Days in May. Seconds. Then consider some lesser known, yet equally compelling cinematic achievements--The Fixer. The Gypsy Moths. Path to War. These triumphs are the work of the best known and most highly regarded Hollywood director to emerge from live TV drama in the 1950s--five-time Emmy-award-winner John Frankenheimer.

Although Frankenheimer was a pioneer in the genre of political thrillers who embraced the antimodernist critique of contemporary society, some of his later films did not receive the attention they deserved. Many claimed that at a midpoint in his career he had lost his touch. World-renowned film scholars put this myth to rest in A Little Solitaire, which offers the only multidisciplinary critical account of Frankenheimer's oeuvre. Especially emphasized is his deep and passionate engagement with national politics and the irrepressible need of human beings to assert their rights and individuality in the face of organizations that would reduce them to silence and anonymity.

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Jun 28, 2011 20:04:09

Q & A: The Working Screenwriter: An In-the-Trenches Perspective of Writing Movies in Today's Film Industry

Q & A: The Working Screenwriter: An In-the-Trenches Perspective of Writing Movies in Today's Film Industry Review

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Ever dream of being the next William Goldman or Robert Towne-or making that record-breaking spec sale like Shane Black? While that might not happen for a majority of us, there's still plenty of good news. After all, your true goal is having those ideas in your head end up on the silver screen and make a comfortable living...right? Q & A: The Working Screenwriter provides an in-the-trenches perspective from 16 screenwriters who broke the barriers, overcame the odds, and gained entry to the amazing, often exasperating, yet always exciting world of writing for the movies. Join Katherine Fugate (Carolina, The Prince and Me), Brent Maddock (Tremors, The Wild Wild West, Short Circuit), John Rogers (The Core), David J. Schow (The Crow, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3), Neal Marshall Stevens (Thirteen Ghosts), Stephen Susco (The Grudge, The Grudge 2) and 10 other talented wordsmiths as they give first-hand insight into why they write, what keeps them motivated, how they got their scripts written-and ultimately optioned and/or sold. These writers impart a wealth of real-world experience that will truly inspire and encourage any budding screenwriter and help position them firmly on the road to becoming...a working screenwriter. If you want to stir your creative juices, bolster your confidence, and gain a better understanding of what it takes to become a working screenwriter in today's film industry, you'll find Q & A: The Working Screenwriter essential reading. Foreword by David Trottier, Author of The Screenwriter's Bible

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• The 101 Habits Of Highly Successful Screenwriters: Insider's Secrets from Hollywood's Top Writers
• Romancing the A-List: How to Write the Script the Big Stars Want to Make
• Created by: Inside the Minds of Tv's Top Show Creators
• Save the Cat! Strikes Back: More Trouble for Screenwriters to Get into ... and Out of
• The Screenwriter's Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script

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Jun 27, 2011 12:23:05

American Film Cycles: Reframing Genres, Screening Social Problems, and Defining Subcultures

American Film Cycles: Reframing Genres, Screening Social Problems, and Defining Subcultures Review

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A series of movies that share images, characters, settings, plots, or themes, film cycles have been an industrial strategy since the beginning of cinema. While some have viewed them as "subgenres," mini-genres, or nascent film genres, Amanda Ann Klein argues that film cycles are an entity in their own right and a subject worthy of their own study. She posits that film cycles retain the marks of their historical, economic, and generic contexts and therefore can reveal much about the state of contemporary politics, prevalent social ideologies, aesthetic trends, popular desires, and anxieties.

American Film Cycles presents a series of case studies of successful film cycles, including the melodramatic gangster films of the 1920s, the 1930s Dead End Kids cycle, the 1950s juvenile delinquent teenpic cycle, and the 1990s ghetto action cycle. Klein situates these films in several historical trajectories--the Progressive movement of the 1910s and 1920s, the beginnings of America's involvement in World War II, the "birth" of the teenager in the 1950s, and the drug and gangbanger crises of the early 1990s. She shows how filmmakers, audiences, film reviewers, advertisements, and cultural discourses interact with and have an impact on the film texts. Her findings illustrate the utility of the film cycle in broadening our understanding of established film genres, articulating and building upon beliefs about contemporary social problems, shaping and disseminating deviant subcultures, and exploiting and reflecting upon racial and political upheaval.

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Jun 26, 2011 06:09:22

The Film Anthologies Index

The Film Anthologies Index Review

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The Film Anthologies Index is a bibliographical resource essential to any person or institution interested in the study of film. No publication or database currently indexes the contents of these important anthologies. There are over 600 anthologies (by both multiple and single authors) in English that have been published through 1991. These anthologies contain over 10,000 stand-alone pieces that (1) reprint articles from their original source, (2) select exceerpts from book-length publications, and (3) include original essays appearing only in a specialized anthology. Without "The Film Anthologies Index", the researcher would have no guide to the valuable contents between the covers of these anthologies. Much more than just a guide to the contents of anthologies, the main section consists of 6,563 numbered entries that alphabetically list by author the contents of each piece found in the anthologies. (You could find, for example, all pieces written by a particular author which have appeared in the anthologies.) Additionally, every author entry refers the user to all the anthologized sources which contain each specific piece. (For example, Robert Warshow's landmark essay on "Movie Chronicle: The Westerner" can be found in 9 different anthologies or that selected essays by Sergei Einstein appear in over 50 separate anthologies.) Without "The Film Anthologies Index" there would be no way to systematically locate these buried treasures. The final section of "The Film Anthologies Index" consists of an extensive listing of all film titles, individual names, specific genres, countries, periods, studios, etc. as well as all key words and phrases that appear in the titles of the included pieces There are approximately 7000 topics covered in this section. The user-friendly layout of this reference source makes it both a comprehensive resource for everyone from the casual movie-goer who wants a deeper understanding of the medium to the dedicated film scholar who is pursuing material on a specific topic. Since anthologies are a major source of film information and scholarship, the foundation volume of "The Film Anthologies Index" will be update periodically to keep pace with the ever-expanding needs of the user.

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Jun 25, 2011 01:18:42

Advanced Characterization Techniques for Thin Film Solar Cells

Advanced Characterization Techniques for Thin Film Solar Cells Review

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Written by scientists from leading institutes in Germany, USA and Spain who use these techniques as the core of their scientific work and who have a precise idea of what is relevant for photovoltaic devices, this text contains concise and comprehensive lecture-like chapters on specific research methods.

They focus on emerging, specialized techniques that are new to the field of photovoltaics yet have a proven relevance. However, since new methods need to be judged according to their implications for photovoltaic devices, a clear introductory chapter describes the basic physics of thin-film solar cells and modules, providing a guide to the specific advantages that are offered by each individual method.

The choice of subjects is a representative cross-section of those methods enjoying a high degree of visibility in recent scientific literature. Furthermore, they deal with specific device-related topics and include a selection of material and surface/interface analysis methods that have recently proven their relevance. Finally, simulation techniques are presented that are used for ab-initio calculations of relevant semiconductors and for device simulations in 1D and 2D.

For students in physics, solid state physicists, materials scientists, PhD students in material sciences, materials institutes, semiconductor physicists, and those working in the semiconductor industry, as well as being suitable as supplementary reading in related courses.

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• Chalcogenide Photovoltaics: Physics, Technologies, and Thin Film Devices

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Jun 24, 2011 00:10:29

Jean Vigo (French Film Directors)

Jean Vigo (French Film Directors) Review

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Jean Vigo is one of the legendary figures of world cinema, whose films L'Atalante and Zéro de conduit still inspire young audiences today.
 
Film historian Michael Temple explores Vigo's intense career and asks why it has had such a long-lasting impact on film culture, not just in France, but also for generations of filmmakers, critics and moviegoers around the world.
 
Each film is examined under four headings: 
- Social and political context
- The making of the film, from conception to release 
- Detailed analysis of narrative structure, main stylistic features and dominant themes
- The reception of the film and its critical reputation
 
Accessibly written, this will be essential reading for students, teachers, film enthusiasts, and researchers, indeed for anyone who is interested in the cinema as a living art form.

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Jun 22, 2011 22:20:05

Amphoto's Complete Book of Photography: How to Improve Your Pictures with a Film or Digital Camera

Amphoto's Complete Book of Photography: How to Improve Your Pictures with a Film or Digital Camera Review

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This indispensable reference guide gives amateur photographers everything they need to know to take their photography to the next level no matter what kind of camera they use - from low end and high end point and shoot cameras to SLRs (single lens reflex), traditional, and digital cameras. Designed to be as comprehensive as it is easy to use, this book is organized into the genres most popular with both amateur and professional photographers - sports and action, travel, pets, zoos, wildlife, close-up and macro, flowers, landscape, aerials, and underwater. Activities are color-coded so that readers can skip around to exercises specific to their camera level, and instructive, yet attractive "before" and "after" photographs give the reader solid, visual comparisons to the tricks and techniques necessary to go from taking "nice" pictures to "wow" images.

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• The Step-By-Step Photography Workshop
• Bryan Peterson's Understanding Photography Field Guide: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera
• Learning to See Creatively: Design, Color & Composition in Photography (Updated Edition)
• Basic 35mm Photo Guide: For Beginning Photographers
• Composition Photo Workshop

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Jun 20, 2011 17:49:57

Star Wars on Trial: Science Fiction And Fantasy Writers Debate the Most Popular Science Fiction Films of All Time (Smart Pop series)

Star Wars on Trial: Science Fiction And Fantasy Writers Debate the Most Popular Science Fiction Films of All Time (Smart Pop series) Review

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** COMPLETELY UNAUTHORIZED **

 

Debates on the authenticity of the Star Wars franchise and the hero-or-villain status of George Lucas are at the heart of these essays by bestselling science-fiction authors. The incredible popularity of the movies has led to the formation of strong emotions within the science fiction community on the strengths and flaws of the films, exemplified here by David Brin's attacks and Matthew Woodring Stover's defense of the movies. This intense examination of the epic works addresses a broad range of issues—from politics, religion, and the saga's overall logic to the impact of the series on bookshelf space as well as science-fiction film. The question Is George Lucas a hero for bringing science fiction to a mass audience or a villain who doesn't understand the genre he's working for? is discussed before a final "Judge's Verdict" on the greatness—or weakness—of the franchise is reached.

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• Star Wars and Philosophy (Popular Culture and Philosophy)
• Contacting Aliens: An Illustrated Guide to David Brin's Uplift Universe
• Red Inferno: 1945: A Novel
• Earth
• Boarding the Enterprise: Transporters, Tribbles, And the Vulcan Death Grip in Gene Rodenberry's Star Trek (Smart Pop series)

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Jun 18, 2011 09:28:02