• Navigate

  • Blog Home

Search



Perplexing Plots: Popular Storytelling and the Poetics of Murder

New York: Columbia University Press, 2023.
512 pages.
[go to Amazon]



On the History of Film Style

Second edition, 2018.
353 pages (pdf online)



Reinventing Hollywood: How 1940s Filmmakers Changed Movie Storytelling

Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017.
592 pages.
[go to Amazon]



The Rhapsodes: How 1940s Critics Changed American Film Culture

Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2016.
176 pages.
[go to Amazon]



Christopher Nolan: A Labyrinth of Linkages

Second edition, 2019.
71 pages (pdf online)



Pandora’s Digital Box: Films, Files, and the Future of Movies

First edition, 2012.
237 pages (pdf online)



Planet Hong Kong

Second edition, 2011.
299 pages, 441 color illustrations (pdf online)



The Frodo Franchise: The Lord of the Rings and Modern Hollywood

by Kristin Thompson. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007.
400 pages, 6 × 9 inches, 12 color illustrations; 36 b/w illustrations.
[go to Amazon | go to The Frodo Franchise blog]



Film Art: An Introduction

Textbook written with Kristin Thompson and Jeff Smith. Twelfth edition, New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2019.
[go to Amazon]



Film History: An Introduction

Textbook written with Kristin Thompson (first-named author). Fourth edition, New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2018.
[go to Amazon]

• Syndicate

  

  Subscribe to this site's RSS feed.

  Desktop Reader Bloglines Feedly Live Netvibes Yahoo!

Readers’ Favorite Entries

• PANDORA’S DIGITAL BOX: The Blog Series
• ASTEROID CITY adrift in the cosmos
• Calm that camera!
• Streaming media: All you can eat, until it eats you
• Thompson/Bordwell online books now available for free
• Historical film colors: A guest entry from Barbara Flueckiger
• Repost: Our daily barbarisms: Leo Hurwitz's STRANGE VICTORY (1948)
• When worlds collide: Mixing the show-biz tale with true crime in ONCE UPON A TIME . . . IN HOLLYWOOD
• Kindest, E.: A memoir of Edward Branigan
• The Criterion Channel: The best news for film culture you will hear today (and probably all year)
• Nolan book 2.0: Cerebral blockbusters meet blunt-force cinephilia
• The ten best films of ... 1928
• Venice 2018: Welles and THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND
• LA LA LAND: Singin' in the sun
• How LA LA LAND is made
• ARRIVAL: When is Now?
• It's all over, until the next time
• A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY: Yang and his gangs
• FILM ART: The eleventh edition arrives!
• Open secrets of classical storytelling: Narrative analysis 101
• The waning thrills of CGI
• Harry Potter and the Twelve-Year Boyhood
• BIRDMAN: Following Riggan's orders
• Say hello to GOODBYE TO LANGUAGE
• Gone Grrrl
• ADIEU AU LANGAGE: 2 + 2 x 3D
• MOONRISE KINGDOM: Wes in Wonderland
• THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL: Wes Anderson takes the 4:3 challenge
• Understanding film narrative: The trailer
• GRAVITY, Part 2: Thinking inside the Box
• GRAVITY, Part 1: Two characters adrift in an experimental film
• THE GRANDMASTER: Moving forward, turning back
• Mixing business with pleasure: Johnnie To's DRUG WAR
• David Koepp: Making the world movie-sized
• Pandora's digital box: End times
• Scoping things out: A new video lecture
• All play and no work? ROOM 237
• Roger Ebert
• Donald Richie
• A hobbit is chubby, but is he off-balance?
• What next? A video lecture, I suppose. Well, actually, yeah....
• News! A video essay on constructive editing
• The wayward charms of Cinerama
• Nolan vs. Nolan
• TINKER TAILOR: A guide for the perplexed
• HUGO: Scorsese's birthday present to Georges Méliès
• Down in front! Notes from the Raccoon Lodge
• You are my density
• A variation on a sunbeam: Exploring a Griffith Biograph film
• Do not forget to return your 3D glasses
• Capellani trionfante

• Categories

  • 1910s cinema
  • 1940s Hollywood
  • 3D
  • Actors
  • Actors: Fairbanks
  • Actors: Hart
  • Actors: Lloyd
  • Agee
  • Anderson
  • Animation
  • Animation: Aardman
  • Animation: Pixar
  • Art cinema
  • Asian cinema
  • Awards
  • B films
  • Books
  • Color in film
  • Comic strips and cartoons
  • Covid-19 cinema
  • Criterion Channel
  • Critics: Agee
  • Critics: Bazin
  • Critics: Farber
  • Critics: Ferguson
  • Critics: Shklovsky
  • Critics: Tyler
  • David Bordwell
  • Digital cinema
  • Directors: Almodovar
  • Directors: Altman
  • Directors: Anderson, Paul Thomas
  • Directors: Anderson, Wes
  • Directors: Andersson
  • Directors: Angelopoulos
  • Directors: Ann Hui
  • Directors: Antonioni
  • Directors: Bahrani
  • Directors: Bauer
  • Directors: Baumbach
  • Directors: Benning
  • Directors: Bergman
  • Directors: Bong Joon-ho
  • Directors: Borzage
  • Directors: Byrne
  • Directors: Cameron
  • Directors: Capellani
  • Directors: Capra
  • Directors: Ceylan
  • Directors: Chaplin
  • Directors: Chazelle
  • Directors: Clair
  • Directors: Coens
  • Directors: Cohen
  • Directors: Coppola
  • Directors: Cronenberg
  • Directors: Cuarón
  • Directors: Curtiz
  • Directors: Dardennes
  • Directors: Davies
  • Directors: De Palma
  • Directors: Demy
  • Directors: Desplechin
  • Directors: Disney
  • Directors: Dreyer
  • Directors: Duvivier
  • Directors: Eisenstein
  • Directors: Epstein
  • Directors: Erlingssohn
  • Directors: Fassbinder
  • Directors: Fei Mu
  • Directors: Fellini
  • Directors: Feuillade
  • Directors: Fincher
  • Directors: Fleischer, Richard
  • Directors: Ford
  • Directors: Forsyth
  • Directors: Gerwig
  • Directors: Gioli
  • Directors: Godard
  • Directors: Green
  • Directors: Griffith
  • Directors: Guerin
  • Directors: Hawks
  • Directors: Herzog
  • Directors: Hitchcock
  • Directors: Hong Sangsoo
  • Directors: Hou Hsiao-hsien
  • Directors: Huston
  • Directors: Iosseliani
  • Directors: Jackson
  • Directors: Jacobs
  • Directors: Jia Zhang-ke
  • Directors: Johnnie To Kei-fung
  • Directors: Johnson, Rian
  • Directors: Kazan
  • Directors: Keaton
  • Directors: Kiarostami
  • Directors: Kieslowski
  • Directors: King Hu
  • Directors: Kitano
  • Directors: Koepp
  • Directors: Kore-eda Hirokazu
  • Directors: Kubrick
  • Directors: Kuleshov
  • Directors: Kurosawa Akira
  • Directors: Kwapis
  • Directors: Lang
  • Directors: Lau Kar-leung
  • Directors: Leone
  • Directors: Liu Jiayin
  • Directors: Lloyd, Harold
  • Directors: Loznitsa
  • Directors: Lubitsch
  • Directors: Lumet
  • Directors: Mangold
  • Directors: Mankiewicz
  • Directors: Mann
  • Directors: Martel
  • Directors: Méliès
  • Directors: McTiernan
  • Directors: Mendoza
  • Directors: Menzies
  • Directors: Miike Takashi
  • Directors: Miyazaki Hayao
  • Directors: Mizoguchi Kenji
  • Directors: Morris
  • Directors: Murnau
  • Directors: Naruse Mikio
  • Directors: Nolan
  • Directors: Oliveira
  • Directors: Ophüls
  • Directors: Ozon
  • Directors: Ozu Yasujiro
  • Directors: Pabst
  • Directors: Panahi
  • Directors: Payne
  • Directors: Petzold
  • Directors: Preminger
  • Directors: Pudovkin
  • Directors: Ray, Nicholas
  • Directors: Ray, Satyajit
  • Directors: Renoir
  • Directors: Resnais
  • Directors: Rivette
  • Directors: Rossellini
  • Directors: Ruiz
  • Directors: Schamus
  • Directors: Schrader
  • Directors: Scorsese
  • Directors: Scott (Tony)
  • Directors: Shimizu Hiroshi
  • Directors: Sirk
  • Directors: Sjöström
  • Directors: Soderbergh
  • Directors: Sorkin
  • Directors: Spielberg
  • Directors: Stahl
  • Directors: Sturges
  • Directors: Suleiman
  • Directors: Suo Masayuki
  • Directors: Tarantino
  • Directors: Tarr
  • Directors: Tati
  • Directors: Truffaut
  • Directors: Tsai Ming-liang
  • Directors: Tsui Hark
  • Directors: Varda
  • Directors: Vertov
  • Directors: von Sternberg
  • Directors: von Trier
  • Directors: Waititi
  • Directors: Walsh
  • Directors: Weber
  • Directors: Weerasethakul
  • Directors: Welles
  • Directors: Wong Kar-wai
  • Directors: Woo
  • Directors: Wyler
  • Directors: Yang
  • Directors: Zahler
  • Directors: Zhang Yimou
  • Documentary film
  • DVDs
  • Experimental film
  • Fans and fandom
  • Festivals
  • Festivals: Cinédécouvertes
  • Festivals: Cinema Ritrovato
  • Festivals: Ebertfest
  • Festivals: Hong Kong
  • Festivals: Torino
  • Festivals: Vancouver
  • Festivals: Venice
  • Festivals: Wisconsin
  • Film and other media
  • Film archives
  • FILM ART (the book)
  • Film comments
  • Film criticism
  • Film Franchises
  • Film genres
  • Film history
  • Film industry
  • Film music
  • Film piracy
  • Film scholarship
  • Film technique
  • Film technique: Cinematography
  • Film technique: Editing
  • Film technique: Music
  • Film technique: Performance
  • Film technique: Screenwriting
  • Film technique: Sound
  • Film technique: Staging
  • Film technique: Widescreen
  • Film technology
  • Film theory
  • Film theory: Cognitivism
  • FilmStruck
  • Formalism
  • Global film industry
  • Hollywood: Artistic traditions
  • Hollywood: The business
  • Independent American film
  • Internet life
  • Is there a blog in this class?
  • Little stabs at happiness
  • Movie theatres
  • Narrative strategies
  • Narrative: Suspense
  • National cinemas: Africa
  • National cinemas: Australia
  • National cinemas: Austria
  • National cinemas: Central America
  • National cinemas: China
  • National cinemas: Denmark
  • National cinemas: Eastern Europe
  • National cinemas: France
  • National cinemas: Germany
  • National cinemas: Greece
  • National cinemas: Hong Kong
  • National cinemas: Hungary
  • National cinemas: Iceland
  • National cinemas: India
  • National cinemas: Iran
  • National cinemas: Israel
  • National cinemas: Italy
  • National cinemas: Japan
  • National Cinemas: Latin America
  • National cinemas: Mexico
  • National cinemas: Middle East
  • National cinemas: New Zealand
  • National cinemas: Philippines
  • National cinemas: Poland
  • National cinemas: Romania
  • National cinemas: Russia and USSR
  • National cinemas: South America
  • National cinemas: South Korea
  • National cinemas: Spain and Portugal
  • National cinemas: Sweden
  • National cinemas: Taiwan
  • National cinemas: Thailand
  • National cinemas: Turkey
  • National cinemas: UK
  • New media: Technology
  • PANDORA'S DIGITAL BOX: The Blog Series
  • People we like
  • PERPLEXING PLOTS (the book)
  • PLANET HONG KONG: backstories and sidestories
  • Poetics of cinema
  • Readers' Favorite Entries
  • Screenwriting
  • Silent film
  • Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image
  • Sometimes . . .
  • Special effects and CGI
  • Streaming
  • Tableau staging
  • Television
  • The Frodo Franchise
  • The Rhapsodes: American film critics of the 1940s
  • The Ten Best Films of…
  • UW Film Studies
  • Virtual Reality

• Go Back In Time

  • June 2026
  • March 2026
  • February 2026
  • January 2026
  • October 2025
  • March 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007
  • July 2007
  • June 2007
  • May 2007
  • April 2007
  • March 2007
  • February 2007
  • January 2007
  • December 2006
  • November 2006
  • October 2006
  • September 2006

• • also visit:

    • Arts & Letters Daily
    • Bourne Cinema Conspiracy
    • Butterflies and Wheels
    • Chicago Reader on Film
    • Christoph Huber's FOLLOWING FILM
    • Cine-Files
    • Cinemawriter (Jay Antani)
    • Cinemetrics
    • Cinephiled
    • Cinephobia
    • Continuity Boy
    • Critic after Dark: Noel Vera
    • DaveKehr.com
    • David Poland: The Hot Blog
    • Fandor Keyframe (David Hudson)
    • Film Studies at UW–Madison
    • Film Studies for Free
    • Filmmaker Magazine
    • FilmStruck/Criterion Channel
    • FredCamper.com
    • Gary Giddins’ website
    • Girish Shambu
    • Glenn Kenny's Some Came Running
    • Greenbriar Picture Shows
    • Harvard Film Archive
    • Harvey Deneroff’s site
    • Henry Jenkins’ Blog
    • Hong Kong Hustle
    • Ivo Blom on film and painting
    • James Naremore: News and Writings
    • Jan-Christopher Horak's "Archival Spaces" blog
    • JJ Murphy on independent cinema
    • Jonathan Rosenbaum
    • JustTV (Jason Mittell)
    • Mark Schilling on Japanese film
    • Michael Barrier on animation
    • Midnight Eye: The Latest and Best in Japanese Film
    • Mike Grost’s Classic Film and Television
    • More than Meets the Mogwai
    • Movie City News
    • MUBI Notebook
    • Nick Redfern on empirical film research
    • Only the cinema
    • Oswald Iten on color in animation
    • Parallax View: Sean Axmaker & co.
    • Paul Ramaeker's blog: The Third Meaning
    • Random Pictures
    • Reid Rosefelt on Social Media for Filmmakers
    • Robert Horton on film
    • RogerEbert.com
    • Screen Slate
    • Self-Styled siren
    • The Bioscope
    • The Golden Rock on Asian movies and popular culture
    • Thomas Elsaesser site
    • Timeline: Visual Effects, Computer Graphics, Computer Animation
    • VFX World
    • Virginia Wright Wexman on enjoying film festivals
    • Yvonne Teh
    • Zigzigger: On the Audiovisual and Beyond

• • Log in

hamlet-and-ophelia-500

Sunday | April 27, 2008    open printable version

Last Modified: Sunday | April 27, 2008 @ 17:13    open printable version

This entry was posted on Sunday | April 27, 2008 at 5:13 pm and is filed under . Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

Comments are closed.