Reviews of books for the now long gone Bookmunch site.
- Film Books You Can’t Live WithoutThe Cinema Book ed Pam Cook The world of academic film theory can be a daunting one for those more used to “Making of” books, a matter not aided by the wealth of material…
- Antonioni and Film Noir
Taschen 2003 , 192 pages , £9.99 , PBs Bitesize: Two more releases from the new Taschen series of film books, handsomely produced and reasonably priced. Film Noir by Alain Silver & James Ursini… - Motion Picture Purgatory – Rick Trembles
FAB Press 2004 , 192 pages , £9.99 , PB Canadian caustic cartoon cinema criticism collection. Film reviews generally fall into one of two categories – those that have a picture of the film… - Behind the Mask of the Horror Actor – Doug Bradley
Titan Books 2004 , 288 pages , £10.99 , PB Bitesize: An illustrated guide to the faces behind the monsters’ masks and the people who made them. Doug Bradley has a face you’ll recognise… - The Art of Destruction: The Films of the Vienna Action Group – Stephen Barber
Creation Books 2004 , 160 pages , £11.99 Bitesize: Shock theatrics on film – wallow in the degrading art of the Vienna Action Group. So, you think you’re pretty rock ‘n’ roll do you?… - The Hollywood Dodo – Geoff Nicholson
Serpents Tail 2004 , 288 pages , £11.99 , PB Bitesize: A time tripping tale of movies, porn and extinct birds… Tubby doctor Henry Cadwallader is accompanying his ungrateful daughter Dorothy to America in… - Spooky Encounters: A Gwailos Guide to Hong Kong Horror – Daniel O’Brien
Critical Vision , 192 pp , $17.95 , PB Bitesize: A spiritually uplifting tome, but not in the self-help sense. . . As is generally the case the world over, the horror genre (bar… - Sunshine on Putty: The Golden Age of British Comedy from Big Night Out to The Office – Ben Thompson
Fourth Estate , 459pp , PB , Bitesize: Faithful, if dogged, review of 90’s Brit comedy . If ever there was a book with a confrontational title then this is it. Sunshine on Putty…. - Taschen Complete Films Series – VariousTaschen 2003 , 192 pages , £9.99 , PBs Bitesize: Excellent new Taschen series shoots straight into the number one spot of the “new film books we must own” list . . . Benedikt…
- John Wayne: The Man Behind the Myth – Michael Munn
Robson Books 2003 , 288 pages , £16.95 , HB Bitesize: Get off yr horse . . . “John Wayne was a faggot” “The hell he was” – from Repo Man (Alex Cox) “He’s… - Screened Out: Playing Gay in Hollywood from Edison to Stonewall – Richard Barrios
Routledge , 320 pages , £19.99 , HB Bitesize: Fascinating history of gay and lesbian representation in Hollywood films. Screened Out is the history of gay and lesbian representation in Hollywood films from the… - I’m a Born Liar: A Fellini Lexicon – Damian Pettigrew
Harry N. Abrams, Inc. , 176 pages , , HB Bitesize: An idiosyncratic guide to an idiosyncratic guy. Fellini, that flamboyant idiosyncratic director of what’s now called ‘world’ cinema (i.e. anything that isn’t Hollywood…… - The Cinema of Terrence Malick: Poetic Visions of America – Hannah Patterson (Editor)
Wallflower Press , 208pp , £9.99 , PB Bitesize: A collection of essays about an enigmatic American director. Terrence Malick’s reputation in cinema is as enigmatic as it is enviable. Reclusive (cue: lots of… - Untorn Tickets – Paul Burke
Flame 2003 , 352 pages , £6.99 , PB Bitesize: The (Reasonably) Majestic. For those of us not old enough to remember, there was a time before popcorn multiplex movie theatres, when cinemas were… - The Museum of Doubt – James Meek
Canongate , 320 pages , £10 , PB The Museum of Doubt is an eclectic collection of short stories that are disturbing, funny, whimsical and disturbing, all linked by Meek’s surreal style and skewed… - Children of Albion Rovers – Irvine Welsh, Alan Warner, Gordon Legge, James Meek, Laura Hird, Paul Reekie
Canongate , 240 pages , £5.99 , PB “Mind you, novels are all shite to me . . . Novels are all padding – they’re clearly objectionable.” P Reekie Scottish fiction crashed onto a… - Spielberg, Truffaut and Me – Bob Balaban
Titan Books 2002 , 176 pp , £10.99 , PB Bitesize: Fascinating excerpts from the production diary of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Hot on the tails of the oh-so-successful Jaws, Steven Spielberg… - The Light’s on at Signpost – George MacDonald Fraser
Harper Collins , 352 pages , £9.99 , HB Bitesize: Flashman author pins you in a corner and tells you what’s wrong with the world!! People, it has rightly been said, should be allowed… - Are You Talking to Me?: A Life Through the Movies – John Walsh
Harper Collins 2003 , 320 pages , £16.99 , HB Bitesize: Film Diary of a Nobody. Film biographies traditionally deal with people involved in the creation of film – of actors and directors, or… - The Pocket Essential Hal Hartley – Jason Wood
Pocket Essentials , 96 pp , £3.99 , PB Bitesize: A guide to one of America’s most underrated filmmakers. Why isn’t Hal Hartley more famous? He belongs to that fascinating group of American independent… - Heartbreak and Vine: The Fate of Hardboiled Writers in Hollywood – Woody Haut
Serpent’s Tail 2002 , 318 pages , £12.00 , PB What would happen if, as a writer of hardboiled fiction (for the uninitiated this is like tough detective stuff or other machismo and slang… - You Can Be A Movie Extra – Rob Martin
Titan Books 2002 , 144 pages , £6.99 , PB So you’ve decided to be a big-shot movie star and live a life of luxury and adulation for the rest of your days? Wake… - The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations – Tony Reeves
Titan Books 2003 , 415 pages , £16.99 , HB Bitesize: Hugely entertaining compendium of film location paraphernalia! Ever wanted to know where they filmed your favourite film? Then this is the book to… - The Pocket Essential Spike Lee – Darren Arnold
Pocket Essentials , 96 pages , £3.99 , PB Spike Lee’s work comes intrinsically linked with the man himself – opinionated, outspoken and independent. If he has never produced a blockbuster hit (the nearest… - The Pocket Essential Roger Corman – Mark Whitehead
Pocket Essentials , 96 pages , £3.99 , PB Bitesize: Meet Roger Corman – one of the originals . . . Roger Corman is one of the legends of low budget and exploitation cinema;… - Sam Spiegel. The Biography of A Hollywood Legend – Natasha Fraser-Cavasson
Little Brown , 480 pages , £16.99 , HB Bitesize: Barnstorming biography of one of the men who made Hollywood! These days Hollywood is run, in the main, by faceless corporations all aiming to…