{"product_id":"essential-cinema-on-the-necessity-of-film-canons-9780801878404","title":"Essential Cinema: On the Necessity of Film Canons","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn his astute and deeply informed film reviews and essays  Jonathan Rosenbaum regularly provides new and brilliant insights into the cinema as art  entertainment  and commerce. Guided by a personal canon of great films  Rosenbaum sees  in the ongoing hostility toward the idea of a canon shared by many within the field of film studies  a missed opportunity both to shape the discussion about cinema and to help inform and guide casual and serious filmgoers alike. In Essential Cinema  Rosenbaum forcefully argues that canons of great films are more necessary than ever  given that film culture today is dominated by advertising executives  sixty-second film reviewers  and other players in the Hollywood publicity machine who champion mediocre films at the expense of genuinely imaginative and challenging works. He proposes specific definitions of excellence in film art through the creation a personal canon of both well-known and obscure movies from around the world and suggests ways in which other canons might be similarly constructed. Essential Cinema offers in-depth assessments of an astonishing range of films: established classics such as Rear Window  M  and Greed; ambitious but flawed works like The Thin Red Line and Breaking the Waves; eccentric masterpieces from around the world  including Irma Vep and Archangel; and recent films that have bitterly divided critics and viewers  among them Eyes Wide Shut and A.I. He also explores the careers of such diverse filmmakers as Robert Altman  Ral Ruiz  Frank Tashlin  Elaine May  Sam Fuller  Terrence Davies  Edward Yang  Hou Hsiao-hsien  and Orson Welles. In conclusion  Rosenbaum offers his own film canon of 1 000 key works from the beginning of cinema to the present day. A cogent and provocative argument about the art of film  Essential Cinema is also a fiercely independent reference book of must-see movies for film lovers everywhere.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45651885948981,"sku":"ByrdShop_0801878403","price":57.54,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780801878404.jpg?v=1781843873","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/essential-cinema-on-the-necessity-of-film-canons-9780801878404","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}