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Fun City Cinema

New York City and the Movies that Made It
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( 73 ratings, 13 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Fun City Cinema explores the rise, fall, and rebirth of New York City as seen through ten iconic films spanning a century, from The Jazz Singer (1927) to Frances Ha (2012). The book serves as a visual history, illustrating how these films captured the city's grittiness and grandeur, creating 'accidental documentaries' of its evolving character. It features historical photos, production materials, still-frames, and original interviews with notable filmmakers like Martin Scorsese and Greta Gerwig.
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Format: Hardback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Fun City Cinema is perfect for film enthusiasts, cultural historians, and readers fascinated by New York City's evolving identity through the lens of cinema.

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"A visual history of 100 years of filmmaking in New York City, featuring exclusive interviews with NYC filmmakers."--Provided by publisher.

A visual history of 100 years of filmmaking in New York City, featuring exclusive interviews with NYC filmmakers

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Fun City Cinema gives readers an in-depth look at how the rise, fall, and resurrection of New York City was captured and chronicled in ten iconic Gotham films across ten decades: The Jazz Singer (1927), King Kong (1933), The Naked City (1948), Sweet Smell of Success (1957), Midnight Cowboy (1969), Taxi Driver (1976), Wall Street (1987), Kids (1995), 25th Hour (2002), and Frances Ha (2012).

A visual history of a great American city in flux, Fun City Cinema reveals how these classic films and legendary filmmakers took their inspiration from New York City's grittiness and splendour, creating what we can now view as "accidental documentaries" of the city's modes and moods.

In addition to the extensively researched and reported text, the book includes both historical photographs and ephemera, as well as still-frames, behind-the-scenes photos, and production materials from each film. Original interviews with Noah Baumbach, Larry Clark, Greta Gerwig, Walter Hill, Jerry Schatzberg, Martin Scorsese, Susan Seidelman, Oliver Stone, and Jennifer Westfeldt are also featured.

Extensive "Now Playing" sidebars spotlight a handful of each decade's additional films of note.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Stephanie Zacharek of TIME praises the book for illuminating a 'third New York' that exists in cinema, reflecting the city's transformations from the skyscraper era to post-9/11. Publishers Weekly highlights Bailey's impressive cinematic knowledge combined with historical context, describing the work as an exhilarating and entertaining tour that cinephiles will appreciate as a preservation of cultural moments.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781419747816

Publisher: Abrams

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 28 October 2021

Country: United States

Imprint: Abrams

Illustration: 300 color photographs

Contributors:

  • Foreword by Matt Zoller Seitz

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 229.0mm

Height: 276.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 352

About the Author

Jason Bailey is a film critic and historian. A graduate of the Cultural Reporting and Criticism program at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, and the former film editor of Flavorwire, his work has appeared in the New York Times, Vulture, Slate, VICE, the Atlantic, Salon, the Guardian, Rolling Stone, The Playlist, The Dissolve, and Crooked Marquee. He lives in the Bronx with his wife and two daughters. Fun City Cinema is his fifth book.

Matt Zoller Seitz is an editor at large for RogerEbert.com; the TV critic for New York magazine; the author of The Wes Anderson Collection, The Wes Anderson Collection: The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Oliver Stone Experience, and Mad Men Carousel; and the coauthor of The Sopranos Sessions. He is based in Cleveland, Ohio, and New York City.

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