{"title":"David Thomson","description":"\u003cp\u003eDavid Thomson's work spans a rich tapestry of genres, weaving together sharp insights into \u003cstrong\u003earts and culture\u003c\/strong\u003e with the suspenseful twists of \u003cem\u003ecrime and thriller\u003c\/em\u003e narratives. His storytelling often explores the nuances of cinema and storytelling itself, inviting readers to engage deeply with how stories unfold both on and off the screen.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith a keen eye for historical detail and contemporary relevance, Thomson's books also touch on \u003cstrong\u003epolitics and current affairs\u003c\/strong\u003e, offering thought-provoking perspectives alongside captivating fiction. Whether delving into past intrigues or modern mysteries, his writing provides a compelling blend of education and entertainment.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"how-to-watch-a-movie-by-david-thomson-9781781250440","title":"How to Watch a Movie","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom one of the most admired critics of our time, brilliant insights into the act of watching movies and an enlightening discussion about how to derive more from any film experience.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSince first publishing his landmark \u003ci\u003eBiographical Dictionary of Film\u003c\/i\u003e in 1975 (now in its sixth edition), David Thomson has been one of the most trusted authorities on all things cinema. Now, he offers his most inventive exploration of the medium yet: guiding us through each element of the viewing experience, considering the significance of everything from what we see and hear on screen—actors, shots, cuts, dialogue, music—to the specifics of how, where, and with whom we do the viewing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith customary candour and wit, Thomson delivers keen analyses of a range of films from classics such as \u003ci\u003ePsycho\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eCitizen Kane\u003c\/i\u003e to contemporary fare such as \u003ci\u003e12 Years a Slave\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eAll Is Lost,\u003c\/i\u003e revealing how to more deeply appreciate both the artistry and manipulation of film, and how watching movies approaches something like watching life itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDiscerning, funny and utterly unique, \u003ci\u003eHow to Watch a Movie\u003c\/i\u003e is a welcome twist on the classic proverb: Give a movie fan a film, she'll be entertained for an hour or two; teach a movie fan to watch, her experience will be enriched forever.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46546970673388,"sku":"9781781250440","price":30.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/5205023482822.jpg?v=1749859585"},{"product_id":"connecticut-by-david-thomson-9780857305640","title":"Connecticut","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe third novel in David Thomson's series inspired by movie genres - an enchanting yet haunting celebration of screwball romantic comedies.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1985, with the acclaimed \u003ci\u003eSuspects\u003c\/i\u003e, and then in 1990 with the exhilarating \u003ci\u003eSilver Light\u003c\/i\u003e, David Thomson delivered unprecedented fictions in which the characters were figures from film noir and the Western. Now a trilogy is completed with \u003ci\u003eConnecticut\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhy \u003ci\u003eConnecticut\u003c\/i\u003e? Because that lovely, liberal state has been set aside as the resting place for every disturbed person in the nation! At first, this seems like an opportunity for meeting up with the merry ghosts of Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Carole Lombard, William Powell and Margaret Sullavan. We get glimpses of \u003ci\u003eBringing Up Baby, My Man Godfrey\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Lady Eve\u003c\/i\u003e. But then the wild comedy darkens as we realise that \u003ci\u003eConnecticut\u003c\/i\u003e itself is on the edge of a demented and cruel war that challenges all its inmates to keep seeing the comic side of mishap and madness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe trilogy is revealed not just as a set of dazzling stories. But a commentary on how far we have all been steered towards delightful but dangerous fantasies by the movies. Aren't we all screwball now? Is \u003ci\u003eConnecticut\u003c\/i\u003e safe to visit?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for David Thomson:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A fascinating novel. With its rich, handsome prose, this is a book to savour' -\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Quite probably, \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eSuspects\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e is the most elaborate and witty piece of fan fiction ever' - \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eIndependent\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A dazzling work of narrative invention' - \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eVillage Voice\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Thomson's intricate, hypnotic history\/romance about the Old West and how we have come to perceive it...Masterly' - \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eLA Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46829853573356,"sku":"9780857305640","price":27.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/5981933482493.jpg?v=1758264482"},{"product_id":"suspects-by-david-thomson-9780857305107","title":"Suspects","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNoah Cross, Norma Desmond, Norman Bates, Harry Lime – these are a few of nearly a hundred names that inhabit the mind of the narrator as he starts to compose short biographies of some of the most famous characters in the history of film noir.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHe sketches in whole lives, lives as intense as the dreams put up on the screen. Then these characters start to meet each other outside the films as if they were real people with real needs and passions. The book is becoming a novel. The names and faces are familiar to us – Jake Gittes from \u003ci\u003eChinatown\u003c\/i\u003e, Laura Hunt and Waldo Lydecker from \u003ci\u003eLaura\u003c\/i\u003e, Rick and Ilsa from \u003ci\u003eCasablanca\u003c\/i\u003e – but is it true that Noah Cross and Norma Desmond were lovers in the twenties, that she and Joe Gillis had a son who grew up to be Julian Kay in \u003ci\u003eAmerican Gigolo\u003c\/i\u003e?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFor the narrator is not merely the author. Married to the sister of Laura Hunt, he has a mission to carry out, a lost family link to find, a thread to pull so that nearly all these disparate characters come together to form a kind of society.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSuspects\u003c\/i\u003e is the most inspired of commentaries on film noir and the forms of Hollywood storytelling. It is, in its way, a biographical dictionary, but it is also a dazzlingly original work of fiction, so full of America, of an old man's dread of loss and failure, and of a simultaneous love and rage for these movies that you may find its impossible world as real and as touching as any you have ever inhabited.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eUltimately an examination on how movies affect the way we think and how film not only shapes our perceptions and our memories but in some ways comes to stand in for them, \u003ci\u003eSuspects\u003c\/i\u003e can be read as an unsettling examination of identity and the construction of self through the medium of narratives, or simply as a fascinating take on movie fandom. Either way, it's fabulous.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Quite probably, \u003ci\u003eSuspects\u003c\/i\u003e is the most elaborate and witty piece of fan fiction ever' – \u003ci\u003eIndependent\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A dazzling work of narrative invention' – \u003ci\u003eThe Village Voice\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A work whose power is incremental, whose shadow-America is elaborated step by step' – \u003ci\u003eStrange Horizons\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47363004727532,"sku":"9780857305107","price":32.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/5976603482493.jpg?v=1772911122"},{"product_id":"remotely-by-david-thomson-9780300261004","title":"Remotely","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA leading film critic on the evolving world of streaming media and its impact on society\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe city at night under lockdown, a time of plague and anxiety. It is an exciting new age of television, the light that flutters in every cell in the city. But no one seems to be asking: \u003cem\u003eWhat is the endless stream doing to us?\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eRemotely\u003c\/em\u003e, the most innovative writer on film and screens asks what happened to us as we sought consolation under lockdown by becoming a society of bingeing creatures. From \u003cem\u003eCandid Camera\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eI Love Lucy\u003c\/em\u003e to \u003cem\u003eOzark\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eSuccession\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eChernobyl\u003c\/em\u003e, David Thomson and his wife, Lucy Gray, wander through shows old and new, trying to pin down the nature and justification for what we call “entertainment.” Funny, mysterious, and warm, at last here is a book that grasps the extent to which television is not just a collection of particular shows—hits and misses—but a weather system in which we are lost pilgrims searching for answers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47383971987692,"sku":"9780300261004","price":47.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/24607783482294.jpg?v=1773392256"},{"product_id":"silver-light-by-david-thomson-9780857305022","title":"Silver Light","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom 1865 to 1950, the multi-faceted world of the American West, its rich, colourful characters, and its many faces—historical, mythic, and cinematic—are captured in the story of a reclusive, elderly photographer and her friend, a writer of Western comic books.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTwo characters dominate the novel's foreground: a Georgia O'Keeffe-like figure, photographer Susan Garth, shrewd, cantankerous, reclusive, and still self-reliant at 80, and her longtime friend Bark Blaylock, a western writer\/filmmaker who may be Wyatt Earp's son. A subplot involves James Averill, a wealthy Easterner who sees his philandering as a frontiersman's quest for knowledge. As the time frame shuttles between 1950 and the late 1800s, we meet Susan's father, a gentlemanly cattle rancher who reads Thomas Hardy, and serves as a springboard to the Old West of Bat Masterson, Geronimo and Billy the Kid. The cast includes Willa Cather, Montgomery Clift, Charles Ives, Judge Roy Bean and numerous characters smuggled in from such movies as \u003cem\u003eThe Man Who Shot Liberty Valance\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eMcCabe and Mrs. Miller\u003c\/em\u003e. \u003cem\u003eSilver Light\u003c\/em\u003e artfully juxtaposes the brimming frontier of legend against a construct of the West as a constricted wilderness of the soul.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'A fascinating novel. With its rich, handsome prose, this is a book to savor' — William Hjortsberg,\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'Thomson's intricate, hypnotic history\/romance about the Old West and how we have come to perceive it... Masterly' \u003c\/strong\u003e—\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'Thomson's rangy metafictional collage blends figures from history and legend as well as characters from Hollywood films in an endlessly inventive cinematic meditation on the American West' \u003c\/strong\u003e—\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47383999578348,"sku":"9780857305022","price":32.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/5975753482493.jpg?v=1773393754"},{"product_id":"murder-and-the-movies-by-david-thomson-9780300220018","title":"Murder and the Movies","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA renowned movie critic on film’s treatment of one of mankind’s darkest behaviours: murder\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"[Thomson's] analysis of death in Hitchcock movies is gorgeous. His restlessness is palpable. There is an anxiety in this brief, hurried book that suits these political and medical times.\"—Lisa Schwarzbaum, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIncluded in the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e's \"Best Books to Give\" holiday list, 2020\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHow many acts of murder have each of us followed on a screen? What does that say about us? Do we remain law-abiding citizens who wouldn’t hurt a fly? Film historian David Thomson, known for wit and subversiveness, leads us into this very delicate subject. While unpacking classics such as \u003ci\u003eSeven\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eKind Hearts and Coronets\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eStrangers on a Train\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Conformist\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Godfather\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Shining\u003c\/i\u003e, he offers a disconcerting sense of how the form of movies makes us accomplices in this sinister narrative process.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBy turns seductive and astringent, very serious and suddenly hilarious, \u003ci\u003eMurder and the Movies\u003c\/i\u003e admits us into what Thomson calls “a warped triangle”: the creator working out a compelling death; the killer doing his and her best; and the entranced reader and spectator trying to cling to life and a proper sense of decency.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47426053472492,"sku":"9780300220018","price":44.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780300220018.jpg?v=1774768007"},{"product_id":"disaster-mon-amour-by-david-thomson-9780300246940","title":"Disaster Mon Amour","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA deep—and darkly comic—dive into the nature of disasters, and the ways they shape how we think about ourselves in the world\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs anyone in the news business knows, audiences swell with the scale of disaster; humans have always been drawn to the rumours of our own demise. In this darkly comic book, noted film historian David Thomson examines iconic disasters, both real and fictional, exposing the slippage between what occurs and what we observe. Demonstrating how disasters become yet another commodity for our consumption, Thomson shows how digital culture sates our desire to witness chaos while suffering none of its aftereffects.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThrough classic movies such as \u003ci\u003eSan Andreas\u003c\/i\u003e; eyewitness responses to real disasters such as the Aberfan coal mining disaster and the coronavirus pandemic; and media portrayals of disasters throughout history, Thomson pulls back the curtain to reveal why we love watching disaster unfold—but only if it happens to others.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47430599704812,"sku":"9780300246940","price":40.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780300246940.jpg?v=1774558997"},{"product_id":"the-big-sleep-by-david-thomson-9781839021596","title":"The Big Sleep","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Big Sleep\u003c\/em\u003e: Marlowe and Vivian practising kissing; General Sternwood shivering in a hothouse full of orchids; a screenplay, co-written by Faulkner, famously mysterious and difficult to solve. Released in 1946, Howard Hawks' adaptation of Raymond Chandler reunited Bogart and Bacall and gave them two of their most famous roles. The mercurial but ever-manipulative Hawks dredged humour and happiness out of film noir. 'Give him a story about more murders than anyone can keep up with, or explain,' David Thomson writes in his compelling study of the film, 'and somehow he made a paradise.'\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhen it was first shown to a military audience, \u003cem\u003eThe Big Sleep\u003c\/em\u003e was coldly received. So, as Thomson reveals, Hawks shot extra scenes, 'fun' scenes, to replace one in which the film's murders had been explained, and in so doing left the plot unresolved. Thomson argues that, if this was accidental, it also signalled a change in the nature of Hollywood cinema: '\u003cem\u003eThe Big Sleep\u003c\/em\u003e inaugurates a post-modern, camp, satirical view of movies being about other movies that extends to the New Wave and \u003cem\u003ePulp Fiction\u003c\/em\u003e.'\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing PTY Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47432819638508,"sku":"9781839021596","price":29.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781839021596.jpg?v=1774766364"},{"product_id":"the-returned-by-david-thomson-9781509526918","title":"The Returned","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSince 2012, hundreds of men and women have left Western countries to join jihadist groups fighting in Syria. Many are still there, many have been killed, but some have chosen to return to their countries of origin. French Journalist David Thomson met some of those who came back. Bilel, Yassin, Zoubeir, and Lena each has a different profile and story.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSome have returned disgusted by the violence of the Syrian battlefields, or the terrorist attacks that have struck across Europe; they try to become forgotten, living under extreme surveillance. Others return seriously wounded or psychologically destroyed. Others still are in jail, a breeding ground for broader radicalisation. And some have come back to continue to carry out jihad in Europe. In utmost secrecy, David Thomson gathered their testimonies and recounts them in this remarkable and revealing book, \u003cem\u003eThe Returned\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith ISIS losing ground on all fronts, the steady flow of jihadists returning to Europe represents one of the greatest challenges facing countries across the continent. This nuanced analysis of the social, religious, political, familial, and psychological factors that push people to violent extremism is more necessary now than ever. It will be essential reading for all those seeking to understand how we might address this threat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47455804096748,"sku":"9781509526918","price":37.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/7149hy-jwIL._SL1500.jpg?v=1774799584"},{"product_id":"a-light-in-the-dark-by-david-thomson-9781780228280","title":"A Light in the Dark","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn little more than a century of cinema—\u003ci\u003eBirth of a Nation\u003c\/i\u003e was one hundred years old in 2015—our sense of what a film director is, or should be, has shifted in fascinating ways. A director was once a functionary; then an important but not decisive part of an industrial process; then accepted as the person who was and should be in charge, because he was an artist and a hero. But the world has changed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn a nutshell, the change takes the form of a question: Who directed \u003ci\u003eThe Sopranos\u003c\/i\u003e or \u003ci\u003eHomeland\u003c\/i\u003e? Hardly anyone knows, because we don't tend to read TV credits and the director has returned to a more subservient and anonymous role. Directors now try to be efficient, the deliverers of profitable films, and are often involved as producers, like Steven Spielberg.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDavid Thomson's brilliant \u003ci\u003eA Light in the Dark\u003c\/i\u003e personalises each chapter through an individual: Jean Renoir, Howard Hawks, Jean-Luc Godard, Alfred Hitchcock, Luis Buñuel, Orson Welles, Fritz Lang, Jane Campion, Stephen Frears, and Quentin Tarantino. 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David Thomson, one of our most respected and insightful writers on movies and theatre, answers this question with intelligence and wit. In this fresh and thought-provoking essay, Thomson tackles this most elusive of subjects, examining the allure of the performing arts for both the artist and the audience member while addressing the paradoxes inherent in acting itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHe reflects on the casting process, on stage versus film acting, and on the cult of celebrity. The art and considerable craft of such gifted artists as Meryl Streep, Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando, Daniel Day-Lewis, and others are scrupulously appraised here, as are notions of 'good' and 'bad' acting.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThomson’s exploration is at once a meditation on and a celebration of a unique and much beloved, often misunderstood, and occasionally derided art form. He argues that acting not only matters but is essential and inescapable, as well as dangerous, chronic, transformative, and exhilarating, be it on the theatrical stage, on the movie screen, or as part of our everyday lives.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47471938928876,"sku":"9780300195743","price":49.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/c36033a03577adbc9afd38962526aacf.jpg?v=1775692595"},{"product_id":"the-fatal-alliance-by-david-thomson-9780063041417","title":"The Fatal Alliance","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“A marvellous bombshell of a book, by one of our most formidably knowledgeable and insightful writers on film, it is filled with surprises and witty asides. Though Thomson is quick to pounce on the hypocrisies and historical omissions of some of these war movies, there is nothing compromised about his own daredevil judgments. We are in the hands of a master critic\/essayist.”—Phillip Lopate\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom one of the greatest living writers on film, a magisterial look at a century of battle depicted on screen, and a meditation on the twisted relationship between war and the movies.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eThe Fatal Alliance\u003c\/em\u003e, the acclaimed film critic David Thomson offers us one of his most provocative books yet—a rich, arresting, and troubling study of that most beloved genre: the war movie. It is not a standard history or survey of war films, although Thomson turns his typically piercing eye to many favourites—from \u003cem\u003eAll Quiet on the Western Front\u003c\/em\u003e to \u003cem\u003eThe Bridge on the River Kwai\u003c\/em\u003e to \u003cem\u003eSaving Private Ryan\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut \u003cem\u003eThe Fatal Alliance\u003c\/em\u003e does much more, exploring how war and cinema in the twentieth century became inextricably linked. Movies had only begun to exist by the beginning of World War I, yet in less than a century, had transformed civilian experience of war—and history itself—for millions around the globe. This reality is the moral conundrum at the heart of Thomson’s book.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWar movies bring both prestige and are so often box office blockbusters; but is there something problematic at how much moviegoers enjoy depictions of violence on a grand scale, such as \u003cem\u003eApocalypse Now, Black Hawk Down\u003c\/em\u003e, or even \u003cem\u003eStar Wars\u003c\/em\u003e? And what does this truth say about us, our culture, and our changing sense of warfare and the past?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Arotahi Agency","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47599426863340,"sku":"9780063041417","price":80.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780063041417-the-fatal-alliance.jpg?v=1777977992"},{"product_id":"a-sudden-flicker-of-light-by-david-thomson-9780241843345","title":"A Sudden Flicker of Light","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom cinema's most distinguished historian and critic comes a masterful assessment of the whole sweep of movie history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe movies traded on the liberation of secret desires—drive that car as fast as you can; turn your humble abode into a palace; conquer all the mean spirits in the world; be as free and winsome as the Tramp yet as rich as Charlie ... Every lowlife can be a Corleone.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEvery flicker of light has its shadow. In this masterful reassessment of the whole arc of movie history, David Thomson, film's wisest and most penetrating critic, shows us how cinema has entranced and transported us, but also profoundly changed us.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the earliest days of the first picture shows to the screens of today, Thomson glories in the great movies. Sharp, arresting readings of films from \u003cem\u003eMetropolis\u003c\/em\u003e to \u003cem\u003eRear Window\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eThe Godfather\u003c\/em\u003e to \u003cem\u003eAnora\u003c\/em\u003e can be found in these pages. Yet there is unease, too, at how cinema suckered us into a fantasy neverland that only looks like life. Hungry for spectacle and happy endings, submitting to voyeurism and villainy, we have let films change the way we experience reality; a habit of passivity that may have even betrayed our culture and our politics.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs Thomson says, \u003cem\u003eThis is our history, and our show.\u003c\/em\u003e The result of a lifetime of immersion and reflection, this book is a reckoning and a testament from a writer who sees like no other.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47976649130220,"sku":"9780241843345","price":70.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780241843345-a-sudden-flicker-of-light.jpg?v=1784694109"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.live\/collections\/david-thomson.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}