The Complete Idiot's Guide to Movies, Flicks and Film

Are you kidding me one star guy?!? I used this book in my American Lit. term paper, and I thought it was fantastic! And I'm a heavy reader! It gave me everything I needed for an easy A, and I enjoyed reading it too.

A great introduction to the entire world of film -- not just Hollywood, but a host of world cinemas from European to Latin American to African and Near Eastern. The examples used are well explained and are always pertinent to the points at hand. My favorite chapters were one on film theory (which made obscure concepts accessible to the beginner) and one that used all the concepts introduced in the book to explain the German silent film "Nosferatu." I had just seen the new movie "Shadow of the Vampire," which is based on the making of "Nosferatu"; this book made me understand for the first time what a complex piece of art that early movie is. I highly recommend this book as an affordable intro to film criticism that, while accessible and fun to read, does not talk down to its audience.