Action/Spectacle Cinema: A Sight and Sound Reader [Paperback]

Jose Arroyo (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0851707572 | ISBN-13: 978-0851707570 | Publication Date: January 22, 2008

This work asserts that popular films dismissed as "popcorn" movies should be taken seriously. The volume includes case studies of such key figures as John Woo and a range of articles that focus on some of the most successful films of the 90s like "Titanic" and directors like Tarantino.

Editorial Reviews

Review

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

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.

Product Details

• Paperback: 196 pages
• Publisher: British Film Institute (January 22, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0851707572
• ISBN-13: 978-0851707570
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,660,365 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting Look at a "New" Genre, August 12, 2002

By 

Michael Samerdyke (Big Stone Gap, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Action/Spectacle Cinema: A Sight and Sound Reader (Paperback)

This book is a collection of essays and reviews from SIGHT AND SOUND that cover the Big Loud Action Movies of the Nineties. There is some repetition, and some of the pieces fail, but on the whole, I enjoyed this book.

I enjoyed it because it offered intelligent commentary on movies like "Last of the Mohicans," "Heat" (with DeNiro and Pacino), "Silence of the Lambs," "Titanic," "Hook," "Saving Private Ryan," etc. In other words, movies that I had seen. I appreciated that someone found something intelligent to say about these films, instead of acting as if the only Nineties movies worth seeing were Iranian.

I look forward to futher Sight and Sound genre volumes, and I wish that Sight and Sound were more available in the USA.