There is one particular modern genre that is strongly connected with the history of Italian filmmaking: the genre of “the yellow ones,” in Italian: “gialli”. The countless movies, dime novels, detective stories and murder mysteries in Italy are subsumed under that title, similar to “pulp” novels, and crime fiction that got their name from the […]
Film Noir and Los Angeles: Urban History and the Dark Imaginary by Sean W. Maher (2022)
Movies of the film noir genre, shot in the US, usually had two favorite locations when it came to large cities and a setting that would breathe the air of crime, provide sinister plots, gunmen and desperate main characters: the pictures were either set in New York City or Los Angeles. As with Los Angeles, […]
21st Century Retro: “Mad Men” and 1960s America in Film and Television by Debarchana Baruah (2021)
Revivals of cultural and retrospectively oriented tendencies in music, fashion and design have been around for a long time. Many contemporary American and European TV productions successfully revisit the 1940s, 1950s and very often the 1960s. The shows differ greatly in their amount of historical correctness and the many important events that influence the protagonists […]
Space Exploration on Film by Paul Meehan (2022)
With science-fiction movies as part of everyday film culture as stream, DVD or in theaters today, we may forget the humble beginnings of the genre, and with respect to countless technical obstacles of space missions could wonder how films, some almost a century ago, confronted these problems in their times. Paul Meehan’s title stresses “science […]
Suzuki Seijun and Postwar Japanese Cinema by William Carroll (2022)
When in 1967 Japanese low-budget director Seijun Suzuki was fired by the Nikkatsu production company, it seemed to be the end of a so far fantastic career in the movies. Between 1956 and 1967 Suzuki made forty films there; some of these were quite successful. While for Nikkatsu Studios, it obviously was just another personnel […]
The Self and Community in Star Trek: Voyager by Susan M. Bernardo (2022)
The three chapters that author Bernardo has created for the book at hand all have their focal point on varying ideas of identity formation, on being either rooted to the past, a memory, in a sense of location, narrative or strong emotional ties – be they human or even Borg in origin. In this Star […]
Soft Electronics: Iconic Retro Designs from the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s by Jaro Gielens (2022)
With revolutionary design that met usability, the long sixties left their mark on product design, especially for home appliances and products for everyday use. The many items collected here in Soft Electronics, more than 100, their shape and functionality, notably if considered by their use of bright signal colors such as green, beaming orange, and […]
Marvel Comics Library. Avengers. Vol. 1. 1963–1965 by Kurt Busiek and Kevin Feige (2022)
Merely six months after the last XXL version of the Marvel Comics Library edition – featuring Spiderman – arrived, Taschen is out to surprise us again. This time with an equally massive edition of the most powerful superheroes that joined forces and became THE AVENGERS. Again, the first 20 (!) comic books that feature the […]
To Boldly Stay: Essays on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine by Sherry Ginn and Michael G. Cornelius (eds.) ...
When in 1993 the first episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9) aired, it was the beginning of a very unusual show, believed by many Star Trek fans to be the best window into the Federation cosmos. After 176 episodes, set in 2369-2375 and, as such, happening almost simultaneously to the timelines of Star […]