ReFocus: The Films of Spike Jonze

ReFocus: The Films of Spike Jonze
Author: Wilkins Kim Wilkins
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2019-07-29
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1474447643

ReFocus: The Films of Spike Jonze is the first collection of essays on this important and original contemporary filmmaker. It looks at his ground-breaking work in both features and short forms, exploring the impact of his filmmaking across a range of philosophical and cultural discussions. Each of Jonze's feature films, from Being John Malkovich (1999) to Her (2013), is discussed at length, focusing on issues of authorship, narration, genre and adaptation. As well as the textual aspects of Jonze's feature films, the contributors consider his work in music videos and shorts - investigating his position as a filmmaker on the blurred boundaries between studio and independent modes of production.

Beastie Boys

Beastie Boys
Author: Spike Jonze
Publisher: Rizzoli Publications
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2020-04-08
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0847868389

The first book of photography to be published by the Academy Award-winning film director and photographer Spike Jonze. Will appeal to every fan of Beastie Boys and golden-era hip hop, as well as photography and Spike Jonze's own focused audiences. Spike Jonze and Beastie Boys met for the first time in Los Angeles in 1991, when Jonze went out to photograph the band for the cover of Dirt magazine. A connection formed between the three MCs and the young photographer, which has lasted throughout their careers. Almost thirty years later--published to coincide with the release on Apple+ of a new documentary, Beastie Boys Story--this book collects for the first time more than two hundred of Spike Jonze's personal photographs of his time spent with the group. Edited and with an afterword by Jonze, and including new writing by Mike Diamond and Adam Horovitz themselves, this book shows an intimate look at the greatest act of the hip-hop generation in their truest colors as only a close friend could see them--from performing live onstage to writing together at Mike's apartment; getting into character for a video to dressing up as old men to hit the basketball court; recording music in the studio to goofing around on the streets of New York. From the music video for "Sabotage" to the cover of the Sounds of Science album, Spike Jonze is responsible for some of the most iconic images of the band ever made. But here, the emphasis is on the candid, the unexpected, and the real--just pictures of friends who like making stuff together.

There are Many of Us

There are Many of Us
Author: Spike Jonze
Publisher: McSweeney's
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2010
Genre: DVD-Video discs
ISBN: 9781934781975

Filled with gorgeous photography, behind-the-scenes ephemera, and funny, inspiring interviews, There Are Many of Us celebrates the uniquely spontaneous making of Spike Jonze's new movie I'm Here. The book includes an original CD soundtrack as well as a DVD of the 30-minute movie, I'm Here, with special bonus content. I'm Here--which opened the 2010 Sundance Film Festival--is a boy-meets-girl love story, set in LA, experienced by robots.

ReFocus: The Films of Spike Jonze

ReFocus: The Films of Spike Jonze
Author: Kim Wilkins
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2019-07-29
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1474447635

This book looks at Spike Jonze's ground-breaking work in both features and short forms, exploring the impact of his filmmaking across a range of philosophical and cultural discussions

Best. Movie. Year. Ever.

Best. Movie. Year. Ever.
Author: Brian Raftery
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2020-03-31
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1501175394

From a veteran culture writer and modern movie expert, a celebration and analysis of the movies of 1999—“a terrifically fun snapshot of American film culture on the brink of the Millennium….An absolute must for any movie-lover or pop-culture nut” (Gillian Flynn). In 1999, Hollywood as we know it exploded: Fight Club. The Matrix. Office Space. Election. The Blair Witch Project. The Sixth Sense. Being John Malkovich. Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. American Beauty. The Virgin Suicides. Boys Don’t Cry. The Best Man. Three Kings. Magnolia. Those are just some of the landmark titles released in a dizzying movie year, one in which a group of daring filmmakers and performers pushed cinema to new limits—and took audiences along for the ride. Freed from the restraints of budget, technology, or even taste, they produced a slew of classics that took on every topic imaginable, from sex to violence to the end of the world. The result was a highly unruly, deeply influential set of films that would not only change filmmaking, but also give us our first glimpse of the coming twenty-first century. It was a watershed moment that also produced The Sopranos; Apple’s AirPort; Wi-Fi; and Netflix’s unlimited DVD rentals. “A spirited celebration of the year’s movies” (Kirkus Reviews), Best. Movie. Year. Ever. is the story of not just how these movies were made, but how they re-made our own vision of the world. It features more than 130 new and exclusive interviews with such directors and actors as Reese Witherspoon, Edward Norton, Steven Soderbergh, Sofia Coppola, David Fincher, Nia Long, Matthew Broderick, Taye Diggs, M. Night Shyamalan, David O. Russell, James Van Der Beek, Kirsten Dunst, the Blair Witch kids, the Office Space dudes, the guy who played Jar-Jar Binks, and dozens more. It’s “the complete portrait of what it was like to spend a year inside a movie theater at the best possible moment in time” (Chuck Klosterman).

The Orchid Thief

The Orchid Thief
Author: Susan Orlean
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2011-07-20
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0307795292

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK A modern classic of personal journalism, The Orchid Thief is Susan Orlean’s wickedly funny, elegant, and captivating tale of an amazing obsession. Determined to clone an endangered flower—the rare ghost orchid Polyrrhiza lindenii—a deeply eccentric and oddly attractive man named John Laroche leads Orlean on an unforgettable tour of America’s strange flower-selling subculture, through Florida’s swamps and beyond, along with the Seminoles who help him and the forces of justice who fight him. In the end, Orlean—and the reader—will have more respect for underdog determination and a powerful new definition of passion. In this new edition, coming fifteen years after its initial publication and twenty years after she first met the “orchid thief,” Orlean revisits this unforgettable world, and the route by which it was brought to the screen in the film Adaptation, in a new retrospective essay. Look for special features inside. Join the Random House Reader’s Circle for author chats and more. Praise for The Orchid Thief “Stylishly written, whimsical yet sophisticated, quirkily detailed and full of empathy . . . The Orchid Thief shows [Orlean’s] gifts in full bloom.”—The New York Times Book Review “Fascinating . . . an engrossing journey [full] of theft, hatred, greed, jealousy, madness, and backstabbing.”—Los Angeles Times “Orlean’s snapshot-vivid, pitch-perfect prose . . . is fast becoming one of our national treasures.”—The Washington Post Book World “Orlean’s gifts [are] her ear for the self-skewing dialogue, her eye for the incongruous, convincing detail, and her Didion-like deftness in description.”—Boston Sunday Globe “A swashbuckling piece of reporting that celebrates some virtues that made America great.”—The Wall Street Journal

Global Cinematic Cities

Global Cinematic Cities
Author: Johan Andersson
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2016-09-13
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0231850999

Cinema and audiovisual media are integral to the culture, economy and social experience of the contemporary global city. But how has the relationship between cinema and the urban environment evolved in the era of digital technology, new media and globalization? And what are the critical tools and concepts with which we can grasp this vital interconnection between space and screen, viewer and built environment? Engaging with a rapidly transforming urban world, the contributions to this collection rethink the 'cinematic city' at a global scale. By presenting a global constellation of screen cities within one volume, the book encourages juxtapositions and comparisons across the North and South to capture the global city and its dynamics of exchange, hybridity, and circulation. The contributions examine film and screen cultures in a range of locations spanning five continents: Antibes, Beijing, Buenos Aires, Busan, Cairo, Caracas, Copenhagen, Jakarta, Kolkata, Lagos, Los Angeles, Malmö, Manila, Mumbai, Nairobi, Paris, Seoul, Sète, and Shanghai. The chapters address topics that range across the contemporary film and media landscape, from popular cinema, art cinema, and film festivals to serial television, public screens, multimedia installations, and video art. Contributors: Chris Berry, Yomi Braester, Jinhee Choi, Pei-Sze Chow, Thomas Elsaesser, Malini Guha, Jonathan Haynes, Will Higbee, Igor Krstic, Christian B. Long, Joanna Page, Lawrence Webb.

Rebels on the Backlot

Rebels on the Backlot
Author: Sharon Waxman
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 450
Release: 2013-02-19
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0062287508

“Admirably reported . . . Waxman unearths juicy anecdotes that’ll keep film fans cackling and turning the pages.” — Salon.com “Riveting tales of Hollywood hubris . . . a fun read.” — Entertainment Weekly “Vivid . . . fascinating . . . delightful . . . [Waxman’s] background as a hard news reporter serves her well.” — New York Times Book Review “A behind-the-cameras fireball of wicked insider revelations . . . Love it!” — Liz Smith, syndicated columnist “[Waxman’s] thorough reporting results in a compulsively readable chronicle of the decade’s auteurs and their work.” — Premiere “Enjoyably dishy.” — Variety “Addictively readable . . . fascinating” — Miami Herald “A lively book with gossipy and readable stories about some obsessive guys who are as much rascals as rebels.” — Los Angeles Times Book Review “Terrific . . . wildly informative and readable about the plight of the biggest young talents in modern movies” — Buffalo News “[Rebels on the Backlot] makes a case for creating a new film canon of this late ‘90s renaissance.” — Pittsburgh Tribune “Waxman perceptively depicts the vocabulary of the new Hollywood . . . well-written . . . recommended.” — Library Journal “Hums along on detail and gossip, adding up to a template for making it in contemporary Hollywood.” — men.style.com “Up-close, often gossipy” — The Hollywood Reporter “Fascinatingly candid” — Minneapolis Star Tribune

Stillness of Solitude

Stillness of Solitude
Author: Michelle Devereaux
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2019-07-03
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 147444606X

Michelle Devereaux explores the underlying philosophical and aesthetic Romantic connections between a selection of seven films from four popular filmmakers: Wes Anderson, Sofia Coppola, Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman.