Filmmaker Pocket Essentials (Three-book set): Jackie Chan | George A. Romero | Steven Soderberg (Non-mint)

The Pocket Essentials series started in 1999 as a niche list providing inexpensive pocket guides to interesting areas of history, film, literature and philosophy.

This three-book set includes the following titles:

Jackie Chan

Michelle Le Blanc &  Colin Odell 
Softcover | 11 x 0.7 x 17.7 cm | 96 pp
2000 | 9781903047101

Jackie Chan is adored by more fans than Stallone, Schwarzenegger or Willis and yet until the smash hit films Rush Hour and Rumble In The Bronx he was virtually ignored in America and the UK. Jackie Chan - martial artist, comedian and stuntman learnt his trade from the harsh world of the Peking Opera School, progressing from child actor to head stuntman and eventually lead in kung fu movies. But it was only when he began to direct that the real Jackie Chan was born.

His work is a unique blend of visual comedy, breathtaking stunts and electrifying fights. And Chan performs all of his own stunts, no matter how crazy, or dangerous. In the course of his career Jackie has broken almost every bone in his body and come within a hair's breadth of death... just to keep us entertained. He is the Ultimate Action Hero.

What's in this book? As well as an introductory essay, each of his films is reviewed and analysed, and there is a handy reference section listing all the weightier (and more
expensive) books and media material about Jackie Chan.

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George A. Romero

Tom Fallows & Curtis Owen
Softcover | 11 x 0.7 x 17.7 cm | 160 pp
2008 | 9781842432822

With 1968's Night of the Living Dead Romero unleashed the modern zombie onto cinemas, annihilating their voodoo roots and resurrecting them as passed away friends and dead loved ones. Its sequel, the 'zombies in a mall' masterpiece, Dawn of the
Dead, took Romero's apocalyptic nightmare further. Its frank depiction of bloodshed changed horror cinema forever and paved the way for such recent offerings as Shaun of the Dead and 28 Days Later.

Yet there is more to Romero than just the living dead. He reinvented the vampire in Martin, took on the American military in The Crazies and has collaborated with horror legend Stephen King on both Creepshow and The Dark Half. Even today films like Land of the Dead have proven Romero to be a fearless anti-establishment filmmaker. He's a maverick, a man who frequently directs outside of the Hollywood mainstream, allowing his films to work as both chilling frightfests and impassioned comments on the American psyche.

This Pocket Essential examines Romero's work up to and including Diary of the Dead, and explains why filmmakers Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese often refer to him as horror's greatest living director.

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Steven Soderberg

Jason Wood
Softcover | 11 x 0.7 x 17.7 cm | 96 pp
2002 | 9781903047828

Soderbergh burst onto the independent scene with his provocative, multi-award winning feature debut Sex, Lies and Videotape in 1989. With the film world at his feet he seemingly committed critical and commercial hara-kiri by directing Kafka, a black and white film about the life of writer Franz Kafka that fell foul of both studios and audiences. The critics liked it though and they were to stay with him through a lean period that produced increasingly personal, cine-literate projects which very few people saw.

Out of favour in Tinseltown, Soderbergh continued to plough his own furrow, producing numerous notable Indie pics along the way. Though disillusioned with his craft, it was arguably during this period that he produced some of his best work.Thankfully the head honchos at Universal had kept Soderbergh's number on speed dial and when a director was needed to give a little sparkle to Out Of Sight, Soderbergh got the call. Back in the big time on Erin Brockovich and Traffic, but very much on his own terms, the rest as they say is history for the self-proclaimed luckiest bastard you ever saw.

PLEASE NOTE: This is a NON-MINT item. NON-MINT books are new but are either ex-display copies or warehouse marked - minor cosmetic imperfections such as scuffs, marks, or minor dents in most cases only to the covers.