Action/Spectacle Cinema: A Sight and Sound Reader - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0851707572 ISBN 13: 9780851707570

Publisher: British Film Institute, 2000

Synopsis

Often dismissed as 'High Concept' or 'popcorn', movies, this most popular of contemporary genres can and should, this book asserts, be taken seriously on its own terms. In doing so, questions of aesthetics are foregrounded and evaluative criteria are explored. This volume investigates relations between contemporary action cinema and television, cartoons, comics, special effects, and Theme Parks as well as the connection between related types of cinema such as neo-noir and the serial killer film.

This first in a new series of Sight and Sound Readers includes case studies of such key figures as John Woo and Arnold Schwarzenegger and a wide range of articles that focus on some of the most successful films of the 90s (Speed, Jurassic Park, Titanic) and some of the most important directors (Cameron, Spielberg, Bigelow, Tarantino, Mann).

About this title

About the Author:

José Arroyo is lecturer in Film Studies at the University of Warwick and has written on Spanish and Canadian Cinema.

Contributors are drawn from the industry, academia and journalism and include Martin Barker, Manohla Dargis, Richard Dyer, Larry Gross, J. Hoberman, Nick James, B. Ruby Rich, Jonathan Romney, Yvonne Tasker, Amy Taubin and others.

Review:

"Funky and alive . . . subversive . . . a top read."--"Cinema Papers

About this edition

• Publisher: British Film Institute
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0851707572
• ISBN 13: 9780851707570
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288
• Editor: Arroyo Jose