Movies Books

I was expecting another list book where someone gave their opinion about what he or she liked. I also expected to hate the list because I usually disagree with many critics on their top 10 or 20 lists. With an extra 30 to choose from I immediately snatched this book up and was ready to argue. I was pleasantly surprised.

There is no possible way anyone could agree with all 50 movies on the list, but there are some absolute gems that normaly get missed. In addition, the author adds his 10 favorite movies, making a clear distinction between favorite and best. That is not all.

There are also two other lists that Russo compares his list to. that is pretty brave in my opinion, because there are major differences and Russo sticks to his guns with his choices. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and will be sure to flip through it again and again as movies discussed are watched in the future. I might even check out his other book. If it's half as good as this one it will be well worth it.

Highly recommended, even for the occasional movie fan.

I agree with the first review on this page. This book is awesome. I love the fact that the movies are talked about in a conversational manner. It's like the author is talking to us, not down to us. I try to see as many movies as I can and this book has given me some great new movies to see that I never had before.

I hope they strart discussing it on the internet movie databse, because he talks about their top 250 list and points out some of the positives and the flaws. All in all a great book and one that I highly recommend to anyone who likes movies.

Lawrence Grobel is a brilliant entertainment interviewer. I have admired his work and by reading "Above the Line: Conversations about the movies", his work inspires me even more. As an entertainment writer, I've always wanted to conduct my interviews like Grobel's. One thing about Grobel's style is that he's smart, he's a man who does his research and although I have never met the man, his interviews are intelligent, informative and it leaves me complete. Where magazines tend to have the typical questions that are becoming so damn repetitive in many entertainment publications (and also to short), when you read this book you can tell by his conversations with people like Harrison Ford, Sharon Stone, Oliver Stone and more that they have a certain respect for this man. I can't wait to read the next book from Grobel (which I hope there is another one) and I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves reading entertainment interviews and to those who are interviewers as well. "Above the Line" is deserving of the five stars.

Lawrence Grobel has been writing the finest interviews with the world's famous for the past twenty years. Finally, a compilation of his best work has arrived. The thing that sets Grobel apart from most interviewers is research. He makes a consistent effort to never repeat the same old tired questions. This is apparent throughout this book. I highly recommend both the Robert Evans interview and the Oliver Stone, but they're all pretty great. Be sure to check out Grobel's work each month in Movieline and Palyboy magazines as well.

i have been a fan of the battle of the alamo since i saw walt disney's davy crockett. since then i have seen every movie about the seige. this book brought back fond memories. i even fulfilled a dream of 37 years of going to bracketville to see the movie sets of the alamo. unfortunately, i was caught in the flood, and couldn't see them. i would really enjoy writing to frank thompson, we could share very similar memories. again, thanks frank for a very enjoyable book.

Being a Texas History buff, I've seen most of the films made about the Alamo. So, I was pleseantly surprised when I found this book. Thompson covers just about every motion picture made about the 13 day seige. He even covers films that are not about the Alamo directly. In some cases, the crumbling adobe mission makes only a cameo appearance. There is plenty of enjoyable reading here, with facts, trivia and lore. In addition to the lively text are photos and even cartoons that deal with Alamo films. Even if the Alamo is not your cup of tea, students of film will find plenty to hold their interest. From the first movie made in 1911 to the IMAX production; PRICE OF FREEDOM.
What is really telling is how the image of the Texas Revolution, especially the Mexican perspective has changed over the years.
Compare the MARTYRS OF THE ALAMO done in 1915 to John Wayne's 1960 epic. Hopefully this new production by Disney will be a major improvement.

This book explores the meaning and effect of movies on American audiences since 1948. Author Tom Stempel, film historian and cinema professor, researched the book by personal observations of audiences, by studying Box Office results and with a questionnaire on what audiences think and feel.

His moviegoers describe their earliest and most memorable experiences. Just as Hollywood often holds up a mirror to our society, Tom Stempel allows the audience to hold up a mirror to Hollywood.

After Psycho, no one felt comfortable in the shower. After Jaws, many people were afraid to swim in the ocean. The Exorcist scared everyone. In their own words people tell how Hollywood films helped them form and transform their personal concepts of reality and examine the meaning of their lives:

"Easy Rider was a statement of our generation. Getting on motorcycles and just riding around the country with long hair flowing in the wind was what I and so many others wanted to do."Ira Katz

"My father took me and my sisters to see The Apple Dumpling Gang. I had never seen my father happier" Angela West

"It was like some kind of religious ritual initiation...as if she were bringing me into a new secret world where special knowledge and power would be passed on from her to me." Peggy Dillery, seeing Cleopatra with her Grandmother

"The Ten Commandments had a pretty big influence on the shaping of my religious view," T. Taylor

"It was in a movie theatre that I kissed my first girl, felt my first breast, and had my first mutual touching below the waist..." Brad Long

American Audiences on movies and MovieGoing shows how movies change audiences'lives and how New Lifestyles change the movies. It reminds us how Hollywood sees itself as the heart of America.

This easy to read, well researched, entertaining book will appeal to professional moviemakers as well as the average moviegoer

Maryanne Raphael, Writers World

Tom Stempel is professor of Cinema at Los Angeles City College and draws upon his considerable expertise to examine the complex relationship between the audience and the movies. In addition to examining box office statistics, Stempel surveyed more than 150 moviegoers about the human side of "going to the movies", and the public side of movies as distinct and separate from critics or directors perceptions on the film industry. Stempel notes the viewers' varied responses and personal recollections to some of the great classics of film as he looks at each of the great eras of movie making from the glory days of studio dominance in the 1940s through the bleak years studio system collapse in competition with the advent of television, to the rise and diversity of the independent and contemporary film makers of today. American Audiences On Movies And Moviegoing is very highly recommended and unique reading for students of film history and American popular culture.

A book that motivates you to fill your sketchbook with subjects you can find all around you.

Included are recommendations for sketching materials and even instructions for making your own sketchbook.

The book is filled with sketches and the techniques used. Tips are also scattered throughout. Topics covered: people, animals and birds, the interior, landscape and architecture.

Albany is a wonderful artist, the book description is accurate, but doesn't tell you how good this guy really is. Not only does he demonstrate various techniques, his sketches and drawings are truly masterful and provide tremendous inspiration for where you can go as an artist or illustrator. This is another book I use for examples to provide my students and as a guide for myself in my own sketchbook journals.

I take ballet as a supplement to my gymnastics training. This book is a great help, and has thourougly guided me along the way. All ballet dancers will find this book has a fantastic resource, with tons of helpful info and advice. My favorite part, like always, has to be the section with all the ballet moves. It provides detailed instructions with full-color photographs to explain each move. This book also has advice on what to wear, which ballet school is right for you, and how to sew ribbons on pointe shoes. It also includes a chapter on pointe work skills. All and all, this is a terrific book, and I think all ballet dancers will love it.

This book is great for children with a dream of being a ballet dance good for boys and girls!!!! I give it 100 stars!!

The movie "BarFly" is based on three days on author's Charles Bukowski's life when he was 29 years old. I have seen this movie numerous times (at least 50) and still get something new out of each time. One of my buddies once said of the movie, "I felt like taking a shower after watching Barfly." Exactly!!! While some may find it too gritty, I find the movie an honest look at a troubled man's life. Henry Chinaski is like you or me but he is a raving alcoholic. There is a sweetness to him that comes out throughout the film and that is what I see and what I like to focus on. He finds his match in Wanda, also an alcoholic, and together they try and make an honest go of their reltionship. What follows is drunken mistakes and a bond that is held together by a Scotch and water. There is a purity and beauty to their relationship and it is evident that they truly care for one another but problems arise because of their drinking. To me Henry is an almost "Buddah" like character who lives in the moment and dosen't seem to hold too many regrets about his life. I admire his honesty and generosity throughout the movie. At first glance you may say he is out for himself but if you really watch old Henry you'll see flashes of kindness and sweetness. He's a man who dosen't seem to fit in to 9-5p.m. society and he makes no excuses for it, or as Jim the bartender said to Lilly the barfly, "he's as right as any of us." Keep an eye out for Bukowski himself who has a cameo in the film, a bar scene where Henry and Wanda first meet. I lived in L.A. for 10 years and have been by some of Bukowski's old haunts and the film captures the "working man's" bar scene in L.A. These types of places exist, you just have to do a little searching to find them. Henry Chinaski is a beautiful man in an ugly world. I highly recommend Barfly and suggest you view it with an open mind and an open heart. As Henry says in the last scene of the movie as he buys the bar numerous rounds of drinks, "to all my friends, to all my friends." If you would like a look at an honest, but troubled, man's life I highly suggest you check out the movie "Barfly."

or at the very least rent it. It's great-if you like buk. if not you'll probably hate it, my girlfreind did. There's a two second shot of the man himself sitting in the bar drinking and looking all grizzled(he talks about this in HOLLYWOOD). one complaint-Frank Stalone!

Wonderfully written, phenominal charactors, beautiful photography...this book has it all. I only hope the film doesn't butcher this incredible masterpiece.

A young white girl gets involved with a black teacher/coach at a Catholic Junior High? A Lolita rip? Not at all! This story is very different. The author portrays this relationship in a unique and original way. I was most interested in the tension between Mary (the young girl) and Carol (the friend/coach/teacher/former lover of the man). After a few chapters it becomes apparent that the two are on very even terms and know their respective weapons of love. I found this to be an incredibly honest view of love and life, far removed from the hysteria of child sex and pedophilia we're bombarded with by the media.

The book is written in screenplay format with nice black and white photos in the insert. It's very visual. I also liked the attention to detail, e.g. the girl's descriptions of her childhood, the little things the main characters say to each other in passing. I was very much wrapped up into the story and was sad when I got to the last page.

I just recently obtained this book. It is quite fun and most informative. I am choosing to read this book in random order. In other words, I am randomly selecting various years and songs that are most interesting to me, and am reading it in that manner. Mr. Funnell's book really succeeds on two fundamental levels. On the one hand it is a genuinely informative, insightful, and probative study of a vitally importart body of American music. I believe that , in time, it will be regarded as one of the essential books on this topic. Yet, as valuable as the book is to the study of this important sub-genre of the American Songbook, it never bogs down into the pseduo-intellectual type of rhetoric that unfortunately typifies a lot of "serious" works on popular culture. "Best Songs of the Movies" is an engaging and lively book. This is just the sort of book that prompts one to want to curl up in a comfy chair , put on a cd of "That's Entertainment" or other suitable movie musical compilation, and read through the vaious years and songs profiled in the book. By the way, I especially appreciate Appendix 1, which provides brief capsule bios on the songwriters. Of course, we know to expect to see Irving Berlin, Harold Arlen, Harry Warren, etc. However, it is also nice to see such lesser lights as Ralph Freed, Johnny Marvin, and Allie Wrubel sharing space with the aforementioned luminaries.
In sum, this is one of the best books on American music and American movies to reach publication in quite some time.

`Best Songs of the Movies' is a superbly written reference on popular music. It is full of fascinating, detailed information and insightful comments about the songs nominated for the Oscar in the first 25 years of the award.

I found this `page-turner' very hard to put down. It's wonderful to dip into, and it will settle any argument you may have about the great songs from the movies. It is full of information that, up until now, was not easily accessible. For example, I learned from 'Best Songs' that there were two songs called `Linda'. I was intrigued to learn about the Oscar nominated `other Linda' and the movie in which it appeared. I challenge you to sing this song!

It seems there's not much interest in the Best Song Oscars these days but this book makes it clear that this was not always so. The fascinating introduction shows the historical process by which changes in popular music have led to a decline in the significance of the Best Song Oscar.

It's very clear that the author has meticulously researched the subject. The book has a very attractive design with well-chosen stills from many of the movies discussed. The Appendix, giving biographical details on all the songwriters mentioned in the book, is especially valuable.

'Best Songs of the Movies' is a delight to dip into and an indispensable guide for movie buffs and anyone who has any interest in American popular music. If you want to impress your friends with your comprehensive knowledge of popular music, you should get `Best Songs of the Movies' (but, don't tell them about the book!).

This is an extremely well researched book regarding the African-American film industry, which is a very neglected area of the business. I highly recommend it.

This book chronicles the evolution of Black Film and Black people in films from the racist depiction of Blacks in Griffith's Birth of a Nation through the Black Diaspora to Spike Lee.

A great read