| Contents: |
Preface -- Introduction: the way we live now -- Trends. Conglomerate aesthetics: notes on the disintegration of film language ; Pirates on the ipod: the soul of a new screen ; Spectacle: the passion of the Christ, Avatar, Endless summer- digital all the time -- Independent glories. Capturing the Friedmans, Sideways, Capote, The squid and the whale, The diving bell and the butterfly, There will be blood, The hurt locker, Winter's bone -- Stars. Joan Crawford ; Fallen idols: movie stars today -- Genres. High school movies ; Chick flicks ; Romantic comedy gets knocked up: The slacker-striver comedy -- Directors. Otto Preminger: the balance of terror ; Victor Fleming: the director the auteurists forget ; Pedro Almodóvar: in and out of love ; Clint Eastwood: the longest journey ; The Coen Brothers: a killing joke ; Quentin Tarantino: Pulp fiction, Kill Bill: vol. 1, Inglourious basterds ; David Fincher and The social network -- Two critics. James Agee ; Pauline Kael: a great critic and her circle -- An opening to the future? Mumblecore ; Terrence Malick's insufferable masterpiece ; Rise of the planet of the apes. |