Batman. Edward Scissorhands. Beetlejuice. Sleepy Hollow. Ed Wood. Big Fish. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Tim Burton has directed some of the most stylistically rich films of the past 40-plus years, inspiring generations of artists and giving a voice to society's outsiders with a compelling mix of heart, humor, and the macabre. Drawing from a childhood love of Godzilla and monster movies, this illustrator-turned-filmmaker has consistently funneled his quirky interests into visually detailed, emotionally resonant experiences that, while not always successful, are always distinctly his. In Loners and Rebels: The Films of Tim Burton, critic and historian Edwin Arnaudin offers the most up-to-date look at the director’s body of work, including chapters on Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and the first two seasons of Wednesday. Through a complete film-by-film analysis, Arnaudin presents insightful looks at Burton’s promising early short films, his meteoric but well-deserved rise to fame in the 1980s, and the various ups and downs that have defined his fascinating, resilient career. A mentee of the late critic and film scholar Ken Hanke, author of the first Burton biography, Arnaudin complements his own findings with those of the top reviewers from across the filmmaker’s career, exploring how Roger Ebert, Manohla Dargis, and others perceived his evolving output. Astute yet wholly accessible, Loners and Rebels appeals to cinephiles and casual viewers alike and marks the book-length arrival of a rising film scholar.
