MOVIE WARS How Hollywood And The Media Limit What Films We Can See Jonathan Rosenbaum Contrary to what a number of disillusioned critics have written and what appears to be the pervading conventional wisdom, Jonathan Rosenbaum believes that cinema is very much alive and well. The problem is, he feels, that all too often we just do not get the opportunity to see the best of it. In Movie Wars, America's leading film critic explores the production, distribution and promotion of mainstream contemporary cinema and how, at every turn, the industry treats the viewer with contempt. Using examples such as Miramaxís buying of films solely to keep them out of the hands of competitors with no intention of distributing them, the American Film Instituteís narrow championing of Hollywood studio product in their ëBest 100 Filmsí list, and the mainstream mediaís unquestioning acceptance of the Hollywood PR machine, Movie Wars is a damning critique of corporate cinematic culture and a no-holds-barred call to arms for those looking for life outside the multiplex. Jonathan Rosenbaum is film critic for The Chicago Reader, author of Placing Movies: The Practice of Film Criticism (1995), Movies as Politics (1997) and the BFI Modern Classic on Dead Man (2000), as well as a frequent contributor to Film Comment and Cineaste and Film Quarterly. September 2002 192 pages 978-1-903364-60-4    £15.99 (pbk) "Jonathan Rosenbaum is the best film critic in the United States - indeed, he's one of the best writers on film of any kind in the history of the medium." James Naremore