Film genres

Action movies, or sometimes known as actioners, usually involve a fairly straightforward story of good guys versus bad guys, where most disputes are resolved by using physical force. Action films are largely derived from crime films and thrillers, by way of westerns and to some extent war films and disaster movies. Modern Hollywood examples of the genre are usually " high concept" films where the whole movie can be easily summarized (eg. "a scientist brings dinosaurs back to life only to find them trying to dominate earth, again" for Jurassic Park). Who exactly the good guys are differs from film to film, but in Hollywood films they usually are patriotic and rather conservative (though not die-hard) Americans, whereas the bad guys are usually either criminals or agents of foreign powers. In the 1950's and '60s, they were very often Communists, which brings some action films fairly close to propaganda films. Starting in the 1970s, Communists were seen less as the predominant villains (although they were still widely present until the late '80s), and the focus turned instead to drug lords, terrorists, or some other criminal element. Action movies also tend to have a single heroic protagonist and often portray institutions such as the military or police as incompetent and limited by rules and regulations which the protagonist has no regard for. This creates the stereotypical conflict between an action hero and the establishment. Action movie"

The actuality film is a non-fiction film genre that like the documentary film uses footage of real events, places, and things, yet unlike the documentary is not structured into a larger argument, picture of the phenomenon or coherent whole. In practice, actuality films preceded the emergence of the documentary. During the era of early cinema, travelogues, newsreels, reenactments, and other short films depicting current events were just as popular and prominent as their fictional counterparts. In fact, the line between "fact" and "fiction" was not so sharply drawn as would become after the documentary came to serve as the predominant non-fiction filmmaking form. Actuality film"

Adventure films is a genre of films that contain elements of adventure. Unlike modern action films, which often take place in a modern city, often with the hero battling drug cartels or terrorists, an adventure film typically takes place in the past, often with much swordfighting or swashbuckling. The genre probably reached the peak of its popularity in Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s, when films like Captain Blood, The Adventures of Robin Hood and The Mark of Zorro were regularly being made and a number of the biggest stars, notably Errol Flynn and Tyrone Power, become closely associated with it. At the same time, lower down the scale, Saturday morning serials were often using many of the same thematic elements as adventure films. Adventure film"

Anarchic comedy (or wacky comedy) is a genre of cinema using nonsensical, stream-of-consciousness humor which often lampoons some form of authority. Films of this nature stem from a theatrical history of anarchic comedy on the stage. Jokes and visual gags fly fast and furious, usually in a non sequitur manner that eschews narrative for sheer absurdity. No subject is too sacred; no joke too silly. These movies strive for laugh-a-minute pacing and gut-busting guffaws. Though they may be hit-and-miss, the ultimate success or failure of this type of comedy depends on the overall percentage of jokes that amply tickle a viewer's funny bone. Anarchic comedy film"

An anticompilation movie is a feature film shown in a theater that has the same characters as a television serial, but does not recapitulate the storyline; nor is it a plausible, derivative, stand-alone story arc of its own. It may not have any significant plot at all, and character development is often minimal. These are commonly made in Japan for their anime television shows. Anticompilation movie"

Art film is a film genre with a loose narrative, often experimental, presented as a serious artistic work. Some films that can fall into this catagory are foreign-language films, indepdendent and non-mainstream films, as well as documentaries and short films. The producers of art films seek a niche audience rather than mass appeal and usually present their work at specialty theatres and film festivals in large urban areas. Art film provides similar kinds of cinematic illusion that one finds in classical Hollywood cinema as well as allusions to previous periods in cinematic history. However, by loosening the ties between its style and narrative concerns, it allows for increased subjective realism and authorial expressivity. Art film"

An autoethnography is a variant on the old standard documentary film. As the name suggests, it differs in that its subject is the film maker himself. An autoethnography typically relates the life experiences and thoughts, views and beliefs of the film maker, and as such it is often considered to be rife with bias and image manipulation. Unlike other documentaries, autoethnographies do not aim at objectivity. However they are nowhere near as popular as traditional documentaries. Autoethnography"

The term B-movie originally referred to a Hollywood motion picture designed to be distributed as the "lower half" of a double feature, often a genre film featuring cowboys, gangsters, or horror. In the days of the major film studios, this was official terminology that also gave rise to the practice of referring to "A-list" or "B-list" stars. (For example, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States, made a career out of acting in B-movies.) The major studios had "B-units" that made their B-movies, but there were also small studios—such as Republic Pictures and Monogram Pictures—which specialized in making B-movies. Since the "Golden Age of Hollywood" and the studio system have largely broken down, this A grade, B grade, formula has largely died with the end of the double feature and the closure of most drive-in theaters. Roger Corman specialized in producing and/or directing the kind of films which typify B-movies of the 1950s, which were the last to see wide drive-in or independent theater release. B-movie"