Violent Screen: A Critic's 13 Years on the Front Lines of Movie Mayhem (Expedition) - Softcover

Hunter, Stephen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0385316526 ISBN 13: 9780385316521

Publisher: Delta (imprint of Dell Publishing), 1996

Synopsis

Violent Screen Baltimore Sun movie critic Stephen Hunter takes aim at 13 years (1981-94) of popular movies, from film noir to teenage slashers, gangster flicks to sci-fi pics, and examines the current, and often violent, culture of modern cinema. Organized by topic, this book is a fascinating chronicle of today's increasingly violent and alienating culture. Full description

About this title

From the Publisher

Here are the reviews:
The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 24, 1996 Stephen Hunter is a first-rate movie reviewer for the Baltimore Sun, as is richly evident in his collection of critiques, Violent Screen: A Critic's 13 Years on the Front lines of Movie Mayhem (Bancroft Press, $19.95). He tours those familiar genres - film noir, westerns, war, horror, wiseguys. The Baltimore Sun, Nov. 12, 1995 "Cowherd, Hunter, Olesker Between Covers" (a review by Michael Pakenham) "Violent Screen: A Critic's 13 Years on the Front Lines of Movie Mayhem," by Stephen Hunter. Bancroft Press. 305 pages. $19.95 These volumes, now coming on the market, contain much of the best work of three of the Baltimore Sun's staff writers. It should be obvious without further elaboration that the editors of this newspaper believe that work to be of a high level of professional excellence. Why else publish the stuff? Read individually, most of these essays are simply first-rate, enduring journalism. Taken together, they present a rich and nourishing portrait of a city and region and of a major contemporary art form as seen through Baltimore eyes. Hunter's book is comprised of his reviews of 100 films that he cites as the most important made since he began as the Sun's regular film critic in 1982. The arrangement and emphasis of the book focus on violence, in films and in contemporary society, but the sweep of titles and of subjects is virtually all-inclusive. Hunter has published more than a half-dozen novels, including Dirty White Boys, Point of Impact, and The Day Before Midnight. This is the first published collection of his criticism. Baltimore Magazine, November 1995 "Spotlight: Books" Some Baltimore Industries may be on their last legs, but our essay-writing industry is hot, hot, hot. This month, four local scribes publish new collections of opinion. With seven novels to his credit, Sun film critic Stephen Hunter is an old hand at book authorship, but Violent Screen from Bancroft Press is his first essay collection. The book includes the most trenchant of Hunter's reviews of violent movies, categorized by type of violence -- cowboys, gangsters, cops, batterers, etc. "My feelings about violence are very powerful," says Hunter, whose own father was murdered. "It seems to provoke my imagination in an odd way." The book was in progress before Bob Dole denounced Hollywood and turned the public eye on the impact of violence in film and on TV. But, Hunter says that debate was bound to begin again sooner or later. "Every 20 years, we go through an orgy of self-examination about the secret attractions of violence," says Hunter. How will it come out this time around? "I believe in the power of the market," says Hunter. "These cycles of violence come and go, and they die when nobody wants to see them anymore." Library Journal Review (a Review by Carol J. Binkowski, Bloomfield, N.J.) Hunter, Stephen. Violent Screen: A Critic's 13 Years on the Front Lines of Movie Mayhem. Bancroft Pr., P.O. Box 65360, Baltimore, MD 21209. November 1995. c303 p. ISBN 0-9635376-4-4. $19.95 Film Since long before Robert Dole's condemnation of Hollywood, on-screen sex and violence as well as their companion issue, censorship, have been the focus of hot debate. Critics" views on these issues are often enlightening, and two books present many thought- provoking perspectives on the artistic, historic, social and cultural aspects of the subject -- ultimately proving that there are no simple criteria on the cinematic front. Violent Screen offers pithy reviews and articles solely from the engaging pen of Hunter (Dirty White Boys, LJ 10/15/94). He categorizes by genre, thus creatively organizing a virtual laundry list of sex and violence: film noir, outlaws, sexual obsession, horror, westerns, war, action-adventure, race, and domestic violence, to name a few. And, many of the summary articles have provocative social/historical angles (e.g., "Changing Film Images of Vietnam"). Covering the gamut from Philadelphia to Rambo to Blue Velvet, both works will delight cineaste and casual browser alike and either contains enough grist for several years of debate on the subject. Both are well recommended for circulating libraries with cinema collections. Publisher's Weekly, Oct. 23, 1995 Short Subjects(Rights Column by Paul Nathan) Stephen Hunter, a novelist, and movie critic of the Baltimore Sun, has something to contribute to the debate on whether violence on film begets violence in life. Bancroft Press, specializing in Baltimore authors, has set Nov. 30 publication for Hunter's Violent Screen: A Critic's 13 Years on the Frontlines of Movie Mayhem. NBN News Breaking Now Violent Screen: A Criticâs 13 Years on the Frontlines of Movie Mayhem (Bancroft), a book written by very popular movie critic (for Baltimore Sun) and novelist (Dirty White Boys) Stephen Hunter, is shipping this month and has sold to Dell for paperback.

From the Back Cover

In this book, his first as movie critic, Hunter does what no one else has done - identified the most important or notorious 100 movies released since 1982, organized them by topic, and analyzed them for how they uniquely deal with, and what they say about, violence. Because it deals with a subject on the minds of many Americans and American politicians, Violent Screen is thus extraordinarily timely. Yet, as a serious book by a serious reviewer, it is timeless, too. It's also entertaining. Hunter's movie-reviewing is rife with energy, humor, sharp-edged analysis, and intensity. He's a man who loves the movies so much he can't walk away from a reviewing job at a daily newspaper despite earning substantial sums on each of the novels he now writes. His first book of non-fiction will appeal to the millions of film and video lovers whose idea of entertainment is a regular trip to the movie theater or the video store, and whose idea of a good discussion is one centering on a recent or important movie they've seen at home or in a theater.

Edition details

• Publisher: Delta (imprint of Dell Publishing)
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0385316526
• ISBN 13: 9780385316521
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 416