The revised and enlarged edition of 1972 is the most concise, lucid and inspiring introduction to thinking about film ever written.

Packaged in a metal tin just like a reel of film, The Film Book is full to bursting with interesting stats, facts and figures and is essential reading for any film buff. Bachlin was a Marxist, and this was the first rigorous analysis of the industry I’d discovered that made real sense to me. Each volume offers an argument for the work's 'classic' status, together with discussion of its production and reception history, its place within a genre or national cinema, an account of its technical and aesthetic importance, and in many cases, the author's personal response to the film.Here I have to declare an interest, in both senses: an enduring love of the Western, and a role in editing the much-expanded second edition of 2004. And if it was as puzzling in its way as some of the films seemed at the time, then that only intrigued me more, as any introduction to so important a subject should. The one true advance from pop criticism into academic thought, yet that still relates to pop, pleasure and real life. Or Dan Talbot’s eclectic Film: An Anthology (1966), a stirring alternative to Ernest Lindgren and Paul Rotha, which first introduced me to writings by Manny Farber, Parker Tyler, Gilbert Seldes and Erwin Panofsky.

It includes every film-making school from across the globe, behind-the-scenes shots, profiles of 100 influential directors, and lists dozens of the greatest movies ever made! Constance Wu and Henry Golding lead the romantic comedy about a Chinese American woman who travels to Singapore to meet her boyfriend's family. introduced me to a different way of thinking about film and Christian Metz’s [two-volume] Essais sur la signification au cinéma (Klincksieck, 1968 and 1972) took things to a whole new level – even if the air up there was sometimes a little too thin to breathe. Andra Day was nominated for an Academy Award for best actress for her portrayal of legendary singer Billie Holiday in this biographical film, which was based in part on Johann Hari's book about the history and impact of drug criminalization.In a small New England town, a group of unlikely friends find themselves caught in the clutches of a mysterious shape-shifting killer who takes the form of whatever you fear most. It leaves out Phyllis Calvert and includes Audie Murphy, which enrages me, but I read it from cover to cover.

The highest-rated movie on IMDb, this classic is parodied (and homaged) all over the place, a favorite of both fans and critics. It includes every film-making school from across the globe, behind-the-scenes shots, profiles of 100 influential directors, and lists more than 100 of the greatest movies ever made! The trilogy of teen romantic comedy books by Jenny Han turned Netflix movies are popular for a reason. Which ought to rule out The Invention of Morel, the inspiration for Resnais’ Last Year at Marienbad. For US critics of a certain age this is the most obvious choice, but there is no overestimating the impact its English-language exploration of auteur theory had on serious filmgoers and critics.This long-unfindable book (now revived in a new edition) brings together essays that can stand alongside those of Borges, Barthes and just about anyone who helped shape it. Meryl Streep plays the coldest, scariest, most intimidating boss at the fictional fashion magazine Runway. The Parade’s Gone By is the most accessible of Brownlow’s great books about silent film, though I could as easily have picked The War, the West and the Wilderness and Behind the Mask of Innocence. From box office hits and cult classics to romcoms and thrillers, this is your go-to guide to movies, directors, genres, styles, and just about anything else cinema. It’s an informative delight to read and look at and the kind of thing that gives passionate enthusiasm a good name.