Author Archive for: ‘Josh Nelson’

Knockout: The Boxer and Boxing in American Cinema

Leger Grindon, Knockout: The Boxer and Boxing in American Cinema University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, 2011 ISBN: 978-1-60473-988-6 324 pp US$55.00 (hb) (Review copy supplied by University Press of Mississippi) Dating back to the late nineteenth century the figure of the pugilist has occupied a consistent presence within American cinema. Yet despite the regularity with which boxing films are released, …

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The Oriental Obscene: Violence and Racial Fantasies in the Vietnam Era

Sylvia Shin Huey Chong, The Oriental Obscene: Violence and Racial Fantasies in the Vietnam Era Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2012 ISBN: 978-0-8223-4854-2 US$26.95 (pb) 364pp (Review copy supplied by Duke University Press) Despite almost forty years having passed since the withdrawal of ground troops from the country and the subsequent political work aimed at healing the hearts and …

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David Lynch

Justus Nieland, David Lynch University of Illinois Press, Chicago, 2012 ISBN: 978-0-252-07851-4 US$22.00 (pb) 194 pp (Review copy supplied by University of Illinois Press) The films of David Lynch have long been something of a catchall for scholarly analysis; easily moulded to suit a variety of interpretations and critical possibilities. Justus Nieland is quick to acknowledge this malleability in his …

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Michael Winterbottom (British Film Makers)

Brian McFarlane and Deane Williams, Michael Winterbottom (British Film Makers). Manchester and New York, Manchester University Press, 2009 ISBN: 978-0-7190-7422 6 AU$89 (hb) 152pp (Review copy supplied by Footprint Books) Michael Winterbottom has good reason to feel like an unsung figure of contemporary British cinema. Despite his prolific output (eighteen films in the last fifteen years), eclectic use of genre and …

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Terry Gilliam (British Film Makers)

Peter Marks, Terry Gilliam (British Film Makers) Manchester University Press, Manchester UK, 2009 ISBN: 978-0-7190-7032-7 US$84.95 (hb) 274 pp. (Review copy supplied by Manchester University Press) Published as part of the Manchester University Press series dedicated to British filmmakers, Peter Marks’ Terry Gilliam opens into a critical debate over national cinema and identity. For the Minnesota-born Gilliam, his classification as …

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Scorsese by Ebert

Roger Ebert, Scorsese by Ebert. Chicago and London, The University of Chicago Press, 2008 ISBN: 978-0-226-18202-5 Au$25.00 (hb) 297pp (Review copy supplied by Footprint Books http://www.footprint.com.au/) Scorsese by Ebert opens with a prophetic claim that the Chicago Sun-Times film critic made in 1973, where he declared that, “in ten years Martin Scorsese will be a director of world rank”. I can imagine at …

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On Michael Haneke, Brian Price and John David Rhodes (editors)

Detroit, Wayne State University Press ISBN: 978-0-8143-3405-8 US$29.95(pb) 304pp (Review copy supplied by Wayne State University Press) Introducing their edited collection of work on Michael Haneke, Brian Price and John David Rhodes describe the director as “one of the most innovative filmmakers of this or any other moment of film history” (p. 8). This type of declaration, common to many …

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