The New Biographical Dictionary Of Film: Sixth Edition

Description

With more than 100 new entries, from Amy Adams, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Cary Joji Fukunaga to Joaquin Phoenix, Mia Wasikowska, and Robin Wright, and completely updated, here from David Thomson--"The greatest living writer on the movies" (John Banville, "New Statesman");"""Our most argumentative and trustworthy historian of the screen" (Michael Ondaatje)--is the latest edition of "The New Biographical Dictionary of""Film," which topped "Sight & Sound"'s poll of international critics and writers as THE BEST FILM BOOK EVER WRITTEN.3/7

Reviews

"Opinionated, slightly cranky, vastly entertaining, endlessly informative. Of all the reference books I have, this is always the hardest to put down."--Philip Pullman "The single most stunningly informative, learned and provocative book I've encountered about the movies...The breadth of Thomson's research and his skill in writing about that knowledge will take your breath away, whether you are a scholarly aficionado or a weekend filmgoer."--William W. Starr, "The State" (Columbia, SC) "Thomson's love for the medium is proprietary, possessive, suffused with an academic's breadth of knowledge and a fan's mad crushes. He is by turns analytical and ardent, dryly appalled and moistly enthralled-and his book deserves a home on whatever flat surface is available between you and your DVD player."--Mark Harris, "Entertainment Weekly""Even more seductive than the last edition . . . One of the most influential books on cinema ever written." --Henry Cabot Beck, "New York Daily News""And now, [The Biographical Dictionary of Film]""stands before us again, as grand and eccentric as Samuel Johnson's dictionary, or one of the madder, more imaginary encyclopedias you'll find in the pages of Borges . . . Mr. Thomson is, I think, the last of the great film writers, up there with Graham Greene and Pauline Kael-not least because he has the courage to wonder aloud whether film is greatness' proper medium . . . [He] is here to sing the multiplex blues-sitting there, at the back to the cinema, amid the torn velour and spilled Pepsi-but this book is the most beautiful of torch songs, and more than bright enough to light up the gloom."--Tom Shone, "New York Observer""Thomson has demonstrated wit and originality beyond a reasonable doubt . . . in the latest edition of his deservedly treasured reference work, the book's third and biggest revision since it first appeared in 1975, Thomson proves anew that he is irreplaceable. . . . [The Ne