Un divertido y accesible recorrido intelectual por las grandes películas del cine de ciencia ficción. ¿Qué representa Neo en  Matrix ? ¿Es  Star Trek  una especie de visión optimista, liberal y cosmo

Después del éxito de ¡Salva al gato!, una guía que se convirtió en un clásico entre guionistas profesionales y amateurs, Blake Snyder publicó en 2007 ¡Salva al gato! va al cine. Escrito con la misma agilidad y gracia que su precedente, en el el autor insiste en su teoria de que los verdaderos generos cinematograficos no son los clasicos (accion, amor, oeste, policiaco...) sino una serie de diez situaciones que se repiten en las peliculas que mas recordamos: el monstruo en casa, la lampara maravillosa, el triunfo del tonto... La estructura de un guion es para Snyder lo decisivo y existe de hecho un modelo de estructura en el que encajan la mayor parte de las peliculas que han triunfado. Este nuevo libro analiza, uno a uno, mas de cincuenta guiones de peliculas de exito (de Todos los hombres del presidente a Olvidate de mi, pasando por Toro Salvaje, Matrix, Mystic River o Fargo) que orientaran en un sentido practico al guionista profesional, y tambien a estudiantes de guion, a aficionados al cine e incluso a criticos por la capacidad de analisis que el autor muestra al revelar los secretos narrativos de esas cincuenta peliculas concretas.

Blake Snyder, uno de los guionistas de más éxito de Hollywood, ofrece una pintura ágil, divertida y franca de la trastienda de la industria cinematográfica. ¡Salva al gato! hace referencia a una de sus infalibles teorias para lograr que las ideas resulten mas atractivas y cualquier guion mas satisfactorio y, sobre todo, susceptible de venderse. Se trata de un termino acuñado por el propio Snyder en alusion a una escena, absolutamente ineludible, en que el publico va a conocer al protagonista de la pelicula por primera vez y este hace algo entrañable por ejemplo, salvar al gato- y que involucra irremisiblemente al espectador en la historia y al personaje, una escena que bajo ningun concepto puede faltar en una pelicula. Pero, sobre todo, ¡Salva al gato! muestra las herramientas que todo guionista esta obligado a dominar si acaso quiere vender su trabajo. Snyder demuestra, de forma provocadora, que solo es posible vender un guion si el protagonista salva al gato.

¿Te sientes culpable cuando te gusta una película de masas? ¿Te autoflagelas viendo cine de autor? No te preocupes, Pedro Vallín quiere curarte. Críticos culturales de plumas avinagradas han sentenciado durante decadas que el cine de Hollywood oculta un maligno instrumento de adoctrinamiento colectivo. Una perversion subliminal que aliena a las masas y les inocula la ideologia dominante. Semejante vision del cine comercial supone que la gente es imbecil. Que se la traga siempre. Entre cuencos de palomitas. Y encima, riendose. Pedro Vallin ha escrito un ensayo heretico que defiende que no, que ni los superheroes yanquis defienden la propiedad privada ni el cine de autor europeo transmite valores progresistas. Y que puestos a generalizar ocurre lo contrario: que el cine made in Hollywood es emancipador y que las producciones europeas acusan un sesgo burgues, ensimismado y autoindulgente. ¡Me cago en Godard! es un libro irreverente y con clara vocacion de incordio. Su autor no se caga solo en Jean-Luc, sino que tambien lo hace en el elitismo condescendiente del establishment cinematografico europeo, en los dogmas que identifican las peliculas estadounidenses con la derecha y en el mal llamado "placer culpable". Porque es absurdo sentirse un aliado del imperialismo por disfrutar de una pelicula palomitera (o sentirse mejor persona por dormirse frente a una mala pelicula indie).En definitiva, Pedro Vallin ha querido firmar una defensa del goce en el cine, del humor y del pensamiento autonomo, es decir, su sentencia de muerte como critico cultural de prestigio. Y los de Arpa encantados de ayudarle.

Casablanca is "not one movie," Umberto Eco once quipped, "it is movies". Released in 1942, the film won 4 Oscars, including Best Picture and featured unforgettable performances by Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. The book offers a rich account of the films origins, the myths and realities behind its production, and the reasons it remains so revered today. Through extensive research and interviews with film-makers, Noah Isenberg explores he ways in which the film continues to dazzle audiences and saturate popular culture 75 years after its release.

Vestida de azul de Antonio Giménez-Rico fue el primer documental español protagonizado por seis mujeres transexuales que se estrenó en salas comerciales. Hoy, 35 años después y con la perspectiva que da el paso del tiempo, la periodista Valeria Vegas analiza como los medios y el cine abordaban la transexualidad en una epoca verdaderamente hostil para un colectivo tan expuesto como minoritario. A traves de las circunstancias que rodearon a Eva, Loren, Tamara, Josette, Nacha y Renee, la autora indaga en aspectos como la prostitucion, el espectaculo, la exclusion social o las leyes opresoras. Sus vidas son tambien las de otras muchas mujeres para las que no siempre la democracia fue sinonimo de libertad.

Durante el siglo XIX, los philosophical toys promovieron y acompañaron el desarrollo de los estudios sobre el movimiento, oscilando entre una mera curiosidad por los efectos ópticos y una argumentaci

Sus orígenes bañolenses, el sentido lúdico del arte, la vida como una fiesta diaria, Barcelona, Cannes, Locarno, París, Nueva York… Este brindis reaviva el discurso que Albert Serra improvisó como pr

From the vengeful ghosts of J-horror to the walking dead in 28 DaysLater and World War Z, from the creepiness of Spains haunted houses to the graphic gore of the New French Extremism, horror is everywhere in the twenty-first century. This lively and illuminating book explores over 100 contemporary horror films, providing insightful and provocative readings of what they mean while including numerous quotes from their creators. Some of these films, including The Babadook, The Green Inferno, It Follows, The Neon Demon, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and The Witch are so recent that this will be one of the first times they are discussed in book form.The book is divided into three main sections: nightmares, nations and innovations. Nightmares looks at new manifestations of traditional fears, including creepy dolls, haunted houses and demonic possession as well as vampires, werewolves, witches and zombies; and also considers more contemporary anxieties such as dread of home invasion and homophobia. Nations explores fright films from around the world, including Australia, Canada, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, India, Japan, Norway, Russia, Serbia, Spain and Sweden as well as the UK and the US. Innovations focuses on the latest trends in terror from 3D to found-footage films, from Twilight teen romance to torture porn, and from body horror and eco-horror to techno-horror. Parodies, remakes and American adaptations of Asian horror are also discussed.

The Times on Cinema opens The Times and the Sunday Times vast archives of reviews and coverage of Hollywoods most treasured films. Featuring many of cinemas most revered critics, including Philip French, Dilys Powell, Tom Shone and Kate Muir, whose award-winning journalism has often determined the success or failure of a film, the book spans seven decades of film criticism. Editor and critic Brian Pendreigh also complies a selection of the most infamously scathing reviews ever to grace the pages of The Times, as well as a collection of legendary interviews with iconic actors, actresses, directors and producers, who lay bare the secrets to their successes. Featuring a range of rare film stills from The Times collection, The Times on Cinema is the first book of its kind to make use of such an extensive archive, and is the perfect gift for all cinephiles.

The original 36 Dramatic Situations was written in in French by Georges Polti in the 1850s. Polti synthesised all drama as belonging to combinations of 36 situations. In the book he illustrates each situation with examples from classical and French theatre. When Mike Figgis used the book as an aid in putting together a treatment for a film, he found that his landscape of creativity had altered quite radically and ideas came forth with relative ease.He realised that Poltis book was system of reference which could be a powerful tool for writers. So he began updating all of the references, moving the focus away from theatre and focussing primarily on cinema. In the first half, each Dramatic Situation is laid out under the 36 headings. The specific Situation is then explained more fully, followed by an example from a specific film, accompanied by an explanation of how the device is used in the film. In the second half of the book there are a series of charts which analyse 150 great films (of all genres) based on the 36 situations.

There are so many insights even hardcore Bond fans will be surprised. Indispensable. David Lowbridge-Ellis MBEOnly six men can lay claim to wearing the famous Savile Row tuxedo of James Bond; more people have stepped on the Moon. Yet, hundreds more came within an inch of winning the coveted 007 role the pinnacle for so many actors.For the first time, The Search for Bond tells the extraordinary story of how cinemas most famous secret agent was cast, featuring exclusive interviews with many of the actors who were at one time considered to play Bond, interviewed for the role, or went as far as to be screen tested. From Ranulph Fiennes to Colin Firth, their memories and stories give a fascinating insiders glimpse into the process of how the Bond producers, Broccoli and Saltzman, came up with the right man to play their famous spy.

THE Spanish peninsula, separated from France on the north by the Pyrenees, and bounded on the three remaining sides by the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, con-tains an area of 225,600 square miles, being a little larger than France. Nature has reared a very formidable barrier between Spain and France, for the Pyrenees, extending in a straight line 250 miles in length, from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean, and often rising in peaks more than ten thou-sand feet in height, offer but three defiles which carriages can traverse, though there are more than a hundred passes which may be surmounted by pedestrians or the sure-footed mule. The soil is fertile; the climate genial and salubrious; and the face of the country, diversified with meadows and mountains, presents, in rare combination, the most attractive features both of loveliness and sublimity.History does not inform us when and how this beautiful peninsulacalled Hispania by the Romansfirst became in-habited. Whether the earliest emigrants crossed the straits of Gibraltar from Africa, or came from Asia, coasting the shores of the Mediterranean, or descended from France through the defiles of the Pyrenees, can now never be known. The first glimpse we catch of Spain, through the haze of past ages, reveals to us the country inhabited by numerous barbaric tri-bes, fiercely hostile to each other, and constantly engaged in bloody wars. The mountain fastnesses were infested with robber bands, and rapine and violence everywhere reigned. The weapons grasped by these fierce warriors consisted of lances, clubs, and slings, with sabres and hatchets, of rude fashion but of keen edge. Their food was mainly nuts and ro-ots. Their clothing consisted of a single linen garment, girded around the waist; and a woollen tunic, surmounted by a cloth cap, descended to the feet. As in all barbarous nations, the hard work of life was performed by the women.The names even of most of these tribes have long since perished; a few however have been transmitted to our day, such as the Celts, the Gallicians, the Lusitanians, and the Iberians. Several ages before the foundations of Rome or of Carthage were laid, it is said that the Phoenicians, exploring in their commercial tours the shores of the Mediterranean, established a mercantile colony at Cadiz. The colonists growing rich and strong, extended their dominions and founded the cities of Malaga and Cordova. About 800 years before Christ, a colony from Rhodes settled in the Spanish peninsula, and established the city of Rosas. Other expeditions, from various parts of Greece, also planted colonies and engaged in successful traffic with the Spanish natives.Four hundred years before Christ, the Carthaginian republic was one of the leading powers, and Carthage was one of the most populous and influential cities on the globe. The Carthaginians crossed the narrow straits which separate Africa from Spain, landed in great strength upon the Spanish peninsula, and, after a short but severe conflict, subdued the foreign colonies there, brought the native Spaniards into subjection, and established their own supremacy over all the southern coast. Cadiz became the central point of Carthaginian power, from whence the invaders constantly extended their conquests. Though many of the interior tribes maintained for a time a sort of rude and ferocious independence, still Carthage gradually assumed dominion over the whole of Spain.In the year 235 B.C., Hamilcar, the father of the illustrious Hannibal, compelled nearly all the tribes of Spain to ack-nowledge his sway. For eight years Hamilcar waged almost an incessant battle with the Spaniards. Still it was merely a military possession which he held of the country, and he erected Barcelona and several other fortresses, where his soldiers could bid defiance to assaults, and could overawe the surrounding inhabitants.

The Pixels of Paul Cezanne is a collection of essays by Wim Wenders in which he presents his observations and reflections on the fellow artists who have influenced, shaped, and inspired him."How are they doing it?" is the key question that Wenders asks as he looks at the dance work of Pina Bausch, the paintings of Cezanne, Edward Hopper, and Andrew Wyeth, as well as the films of Ingmar Bergman, Michelanelo Antonioni, Ozu, Anthony Mann, Douglas Sirk, and Sam Fuller. He finds the answer by trying to understand their individual perspectives, and, in the process revealing his own art of perception in texts of rare poignancy.

Hugo Munsterbergs The Photoplay: A Psychological Study delves deep into the intricacies of early cinema and its effects on the human psyche. Published in 1916, this seminal work explores the impact of moving images on the viewers perception, attention, and emotions. Munsterberg, a pioneering psychologist, uses his expertise to analyze the visual and narrative techniques employed in filmmaking, shedding light on the psychological mechanisms at play in the cinematic experience. His insightful observations offer a groundbreaking perspective on the emerging art form, influencing generations of filmmakers and scholars to come. Hugo Munsterbergs background in psychology and interest in perception and cognition undoubtedly informed his decision to explore the psychological aspects of film in The Photoplay. As a prominent figure in the field of applied psychology, Munsterberg sought to bridge the gap between science and art, offering a unique perspective on the power of cinema as a medium of expression and persuasion. His interdisciplinary approach paved the way for a new understanding of the impact of media on individuals and society. The Photoplay: A Psychological Study is a must-read for anyone interested in the intersection of psychology and cinema. Munsterbergs groundbreaking insights continue to resonate with contemporary audiences, providing a foundation for further exploration of the psychological dimensions of visual storytelling.

In Hugo Munsterbergs groundbreaking work, The Photoplay: A Psychological Study, the author delves into the intricate relationship between the human mind and the emerging medium of cinema, exploring how the manipulation of visual and auditory stimuli can elicit emotional responses in viewers. Munsterberg analyzes the psychological effects of various film techniques such as lighting, framing, and editing, providing readers with a comprehensive understanding of the power of film as a form of visual storytelling. Written in a scholarly yet accessible style, this book offers valuable insights into the impact of cinema on individuals and society during the early 20th century. As a renowned psychologist and philosopher, Hugo Munsterbergs expertise in the field of human behavior and perception undoubtedly influenced his decision to explore the psychological aspects of film in The Photoplay. His multidisciplinary approach highlights his recognition of cinema as a powerful tool for both entertainment and psychological study, reflecting his commitment to understanding the intersection of art and science. I highly recommend The Photoplay: A Psychological Study to readers interested in the evolution of cinema and the psychological underpinnings of visual media. Munsterbergs insightful analysis offers a compelling perspective on the significance of film in shaping human emotions and perceptions, making this book a valuable resource for scholars and film enthusiasts alike.

Say Coppola and The Godfather immediately comes to mind. But Coppola isnt Corleone -- hes more than that. Hes a visionary who predicted that digital cameras - no larger than ones hand - would allow anyone to make movies. And then set up a studio, Zeotrope, to make his dreams a reality. The book presents the highs and lows of both his personal and professional life, as Coppola sets out to transform the process of making movies. Sam Wasson masterly captures the larger-than-life figure of a man who pursued a vision of the world of movies and all the wonder of what that would be.

In The Opera by R. A. Streatfeild, readers are taken on a journey through the glamorous world of opera, filled with passion, intrigue, and high-stakes drama. Streatfeilds writing style is both eloquent and engaging, allowing readers to immerse themselves in the vibrant setting of the opera house. The book is rich in detail, offering a glimpse into the lives of the opera singers, composers, and patrons who populate this captivating world. Streatfeilds exploration of themes such as artistry, ambition, and love adds depth to the narrative, making The Opera a compelling read for fans of both literature and music. R. A. Streatfeild, known for his intricate storytelling and deep understanding of human emotions, is a respected author in the literary world. His passion for music and the performing arts shines through in The Opera, as he expertly weaves together a narrative that is as enchanting as it is thought-provoking. Streatfeilds background in music and literature has undoubtedly influenced his writing, allowing him to create a book that is both intellectually stimulating and emotionally resonant. I highly recommend The Opera to anyone who appreciates a well-crafted story that explores the complexities of human relationships and the power of artistic expression. Streatfeilds masterful storytelling and richly drawn characters make this book a must-read for fans of literary fiction and opera enthusiasts alike.

Louis Le Prince invented the motion picture in 1890. He applied for, and was granted, patents in four countries. And then, a month before unveiling it to the world...he disappeared. And was never seen again. Three years later, Le Princes invention was finally made public - by a man who claimed to have invented it himself. The mans name was Thomas Edison. This book is the story of the birth of motion pictures, restoring the father of the invention to his rightful place in history.

The Innocence of Memories is an important addition to the oeuvre of Nobel Prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk. Comprised of the screenplay of the acclaimed film by Grant Gee from 2015 (by the same name), a transcript of the author and filmmaker in conversation, and captivating colour stills, it is an essential volume for understanding Pamuks work. Drawing on the themes from Pamuks best-selling books, The Museum of Innocence, Istanbul and The Black Book, this book is both an accompaniment to the authors previous publications and a wonderfully revelatory exploration of Orhan Pamuks key ideas about art, love, and memory.