
Talking Pictures
How to Watch Movies
Basic Books · Print & ebook · November 6, 2018
A veteran film critic offers a lively, opinionated guide to thinking and talking about movies -- from Casablanca to Clueless Whether we are trying to impress a date after an art house film screening or discussing Oscar nominations among friends, we all need ways to look at and talk about movies.
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- Who it’s for
- Readers who want to evaluate movies beyond dialogue and performances
- Themes
- Evaluating movies, Film production and craft, Representation in film
- Genres
- Film History, Film Guides & Reviews, Film Direction & Production
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A veteran film critic offers a lively, opinionated guide to thinking and talking about movies -- from Casablanca to Clueless Whether we are trying to impress a date after an art house film screening or discussing Oscar nominations among friends, we all need ways to look at and talk about movies. But with so much variety between an Alfred Hitchcock thriller and a Nora Ephron romantic comedy, how can everyday viewers determine what makes a good movie?
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In Talking Pictures, veteran film critic Ann Hornaday walks us through the production of a typical movie -- from script and casting to final sound edit -- and explains how to evaluate each piece of the process. How do we know if a film has been well-written, above and beyond snappy dialogue? What constitutes a great screen performance? What goes into praiseworthy cinematography, editing, and sound design? And what does a director really do? In a new epilogue, Hornaday addresses important questions of representation in film and the industry and how this can, and should, effect a movie-watching experience. Full of engaging anecdotes and interviews with actors and filmmakers, Talking Pictures will help us see movies in a whole new light-not just as fans, but as film critics in our own right.
Who it’s for
- Readers who want to evaluate movies beyond dialogue and performances
- Viewers interested in how filmmaking choices shape a movie
Where it sits
| Film History | 68% |
|---|---|
| Film Guides & Reviews | 43% |
| Film Direction & Production | 26% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Film & Cinema
- Film Guides & Reviews
- Film History
- Authors
- Ann Hornaday
- Publisher
- Basic Books
- Published
- November 6, 2018
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Evaluating movies · Film production and craft · Representation in film
- Reading lane
- Film & Cinema