Movies Books

WILLOW FILES VOL. 1

By Yvonne Navarro (1999), based on teleplays "I, Robot . . . You, Jane" by Ashley Gable & Thomas A. Swyden, "Phases" by Rob DesHotel & Dean Batali, and "Dead Man's Party" by Marti Noxon

RATING: 4/5 Stakes

SETTING: Seasons One through Three

CAST APPEARANCES: Willow, Oz, Xander, Buffy, Giles, Jenny Calendar, Moloch, Dave, Fritz, Larry, Cordelia, Gib Cain, Angel, Joyce, Principal Snyder, Devon, Pat, Jonathan

BACK-OF-THE-BOOK SUMMARY: "When Buffy the Vampire Slayer arrived in Sunnydale, she befriended a bookish, insecure girl named Willow. As a Slayerette, Will uses her computer prowess for good, hacking into electronic government files and researching obscure rituals on the Web. But Willow's love life is severely lacking, consisting of an unfulfilled crush on her friend Xander and a short-lived fling with a deadly demon she met over the Internet. Through her often life-threatening experiences with the Slayer, Willow gains the confidence to just be herself in the peer pressure-filled world of high school. And when her first real boyfriend, Oz, turns out to be a bit . . . unsual . . . in his own right, Willow is just the girl to prove that love really is blind . . . and a little scary."

REVIEW

Volume One of the Willow Files is one of the best Buffy novelizations to date. The book adapts one episode from each of the first three seasons of the show, with the stories tied together with an original and very well done framing sequence that consists of Willow's journal entries.

Season One episode "I, Robot . . . You, Jane" tells the story of Willow's crush on a boy named Malcolm that she met over the Internet. As can only happen in Sunnydale, the boy turns out to be an ancient demon named Moloch the Corruptor. This was the first episode of the series to center a plot around Willow, and in it we see both her insecurity and her strength. Yvonne Navarro does a good job of adopting the humor of the original script, and she adds more background into how Moloch came into being.

Season Two episode "Phases" is the first revelation that Oz is actually a werewolf. It's an average episode, with the high points being the agonizingly/delightfully slow development of Oz's and Willow's relationship, the jealousy we see Willow and Xander having for each other, and some good moments between Angelus and Buffy. It's almost hard not to cheer out-loud when Willow steels her courage and kisses Oz for the first time.

The final episode adapted is the Season Three episode "Dead Man's Party," which has two main plots: Buffy's return to Sunnydale after running away and a mask that raises zombies. The zombie plot is rather banal, but the tension and drama that arises from Buffy's return is worth the price of reading the story--suffice it to say, Buffy isn't welcomed with open arms.

All in all, Navarro had one strong story and two average episodes to adapt. She came through with flying colors, as the adaptations retain the humor and drama of the originals. The framing sequences are far more interesting than those in other Buffy novelizations, making this book one of the better ones to pick up.

(c) (...)

After reading this book it has effected me in no ways. It is not one of those books that you can't get enough of, and that stays in your mind. I thought that all the action was too normal. Buffy is supposed to deal with supernatural, creepy stuff. Well in my opinion nothing caught my attention. This book yo me was one I would not read unless I was forced to for a grade or something, maybe not even then. After reading about the 3rd chapter I did not want to read anymore because there was no action or any creep. I think it only deserves 2 stars because i thought it was a really bad book.
A little bit about the book is it takes place in Sunnydale, where all theh "supernatural" stuff goes down. Willow is the library nerd, she's in there all the time. She meets this guy over the internet. Their friendship grew and she fell in love with him, so they were going to meet. But there was something she didn't know about him and when she finds out she is going to be shocked!

I like to read a lot of Buffy books, even though some are hard to read, like the adult Buffy books. But this one was scary and fun to read. This is probably one of my favorites, along with Xander Files, Vol. 1. Willow falls head over heels in love with a demon-robot, because Giles scanned this book that had a demon onto the computer. Then she falls in love with Oz, who turns out to be a werewolf. In dead man's party, a bunch of zombies were coming to Buffy's house because of this mask that her mom had. Ooh, creepy. But it's fiction. Willow is great in this book. I recommend it to Willow fans, like me!

"The Willow Files Volume 2" is one of the best novelizations of the Buffy series. It captures three amazing episodes revolving around Willow and tells them wonderfully. I had never seen "Dopelgangland" when i read this, later when i eventually saw it i was a little disapointed as the book had made it even better. This is a must-read for everyone, even if you have already seen the episodes .

Yvonne Navarro manages again to capture the character of Willow as best as anyone could, even better. Navarro took three Willow-centric episodes from Buffy's third season to show how Will has matured in her life as well as her Wiccan ways. The three episodes written in this book also show the strong bond Willow has with her Slayer-esque best friend, Buffy. In the first story, "Gingerbread", the town of Sunnydale is taken back after Joyce, Buffy's mom, discovers two dead children in the playground while uninvitedly accompying her daughter on patrol. When witches and occults are blamed for the deaths, Joyce organizes a group - MOO - that is against all things witchcraft. After Buffy, Willow, and their friend Amy are accused of being witches (2 out of the 3 are) and then captured, it's up to the rest of the gang to save their friends and figure out why Sunnydale is willing to burn 3 innocent people at the stake. In the second story, "Doppelgangland", Vamp Willow from the alternate reality shown in the episode "The Wish" is transported to Sunnydale after Anya and Willow mess up a spell that, unbeknownst to Willow, was supposed to get Anya's power-centered necklace back from that reality, to the present one. "Doppelgangland" is one of my favorite episodes, and also foretells of Willow's newfound sexuality on the show. In the final story, "Choices", Willow is captured by Faith after helping Buffy and Angel retrieve an object that is important for the Mayor (The main villian in season 3) not to have. "Choices" really shows Willow and Buffy's friendship in the end. Navarro excells at tying these stories by using a computer diary of Willow's to explain stuff that has happened in between these episodes and such. I can't wait for The Willow Files Vol. 3!

To me, this book repersents that the character ANGEL is trying to get redemption. In this book to me is most dramtic is where angel finds out that whitney has the personality of a vampire hunter from the days where angel was angelus and not angel. This book has a great ending to it. I have continued to read the rest of the series and now I have finished the eighteenth book and looking forward to the book named FEARlESS.

The story was great. I really enjoyed all the flashback to "Angelus". Highly recommend, especially in you're a fan of the TV show. Hard to put down because the story really pulls you in.

I have to say this is soooooo much better than "Not Forgotten!"

It took me a while to get into it, but once the action started I couldn't put it down! The plot is full of twists and keeps you guessing untill the end. This book has more of a mystery element to it and I like the way the present day story fits in with flashbacks to Angel's past.

It centres around a young, pretty hollywood actress - Whitney Tyler who stars in her own T.V series - Dark Midnight about a female vampire detective. However, the actress soon starts receiving death treats from a cult who believe she is a real live vampire. Angel is called on to get to the bottom of the mysterious threats and deaths - while protecting the woman from further harm. Angel somehow feels Whitney Tyler is very familliar, and he begins to have flashbacks to his past. The actress is identical to a young woman the evil Angelus fought on The Handsome Jack, a ship, hundreds of years ago.

Angel must somehow find what links the two very different women together, and he must do it fast before even more people die at the hands of an evil creature from his past...

I really enjoyed this book. The plot is gripping and is very well thought out - if you enjoy mystery stories this is the Angel book for you. You can also rely on Cordelia and Doyle to bring some humour and comic moments into the book too.

Whitney Tyler has a bit of a problem. She has gotten so good at playing the vampire in Dark Midnight (her TV show) that they has more people trying to stake her then there are chasing Angel. As the problem escalates from a few crackpots to a serious team of assassins intent on major damage, Whitney's producer panics and interrupts Angel's usual vampire slaying to ask him to help keep Whitney's heart in one piece.

Intertwined with Whitney's story is Angel's memory of Moira O'Braonain, who he first encountered in his Angelus the Vampire Pirate days (bet you didn't know that Angel used to swashbuckle a bit). While taking over a ship, Angelus and Darla run into Moira, a deadly fighter who Angel kills. And then has to kill several times over. Whitney and Moira are nearly identical, but it will take time for Angel to work out the connection, and people around Whitney keep dying unpleasantly.

Mel Odom does a great job on his first Angel novel, capturing not only Angel's character perfectly, but the interactions between Cordelia and Doyle as well. The make an interesting counter to what is building between Whitney and Angel. Despite being pure fantasy, Odom's style adds the touch of believability that is necessary if a reader is to stay interested.

This story comes from the short period of time when every Angel story seems to depend on undoing the vampire's actions during the Angelus period, where amends and redemption had a very specific meaning. Unfortunately, the constant flashbacks wear thin after a while. Redemption spends as much time in the past as it does in the present and, despite Odom's writing stills, I'm beginning to twitch every time I see Angelus in a frilly shirt.

Overall, this was a pretty good book. The story was interesting, the dialogue true to the characters (for the most part) and the pacing good. The problem I had with the book is that it read like the author wrote it in one draft and then submitted it for printing without editing. You would read along for a couple of pages, really getting into it, and then a sentence would pop up that was awkwardly written or a descriptive word thrown in that would harshly snap you back to reality. An example of this would be during a fight scene where all of a sudden the author Odom describes Angel as scampering along. Angel may do may things, but he doesn't scamper.

The other problem that I had was with Doyle's character meeting up with a loan shark and a seer. Both of these characters were interesting to a point, and the scenes were well written, but they ultimately had nothing to do with the story. They could have been written out completely and the rest of the story would have remained the same. In fact, the loan shark storyline is completely left dangling. He forgives Doyle's loan as long as Doyle agrees to introduce him to Angel. Interesting, you might think. And then you would read the rest of the book wondering what business this loan shark would have with Angel. But you would never find out, because Odom never goes back to this subplot. It is just left dangling at the end. Very disappointing.

But getting past the occasional misplaced word or sentence and the subplot that goes nowhere, there was a lot of good in this book as well. For the most part the characters read like those in the show (which isn't always the case in tv tie-in novels)and the rest of the plot is pretty tight. The introductory scene hooks you right in, and for a while at least you are intrigued by the mystery woman who Angel had met and fought over a century ago and who is now not only still alive and well, but doesn't seem to recognize him.

I bought this book at a garage sale for a quarter. I got my money's worth. I don't know if I would feel the same if I had picked it up at cover price.

This is one of the best Charmed books ever! It is so well written and fun and not too out there. Its magical - excuse my obxnious pun. It has Prue in it and its great.

Phoebe thinks she has found the love of her life but has she? Read on to find out.

I would definitely recommend buying this book!

The Legacy Of Merlin is a story that is well-written in the usual manner a typical Charmed book is written in, but flawed, plot-wise:


Book's flaws: The plot was rickety-thin and not very informative on what the story's main focus is about.

Secondly, it is mentioned that the sisters have to go back in time, to help their "innocent", who happens to be Niall, the mysterious stranger, which only happens to be for a very short while and only 2 of the sisters do go back in time.

Thirdly (and the most major incomprehension), I don't understand how could Diana and the Driuds to be so possibly powerful that they can summon Niall 1500 years in the past, to the future, just like that. And what Diana wants is to be very powerful???? When she herself doesn't not have much power?!?!?! The fact that she and her group of hypnotized human-sheep could summon someone who is practically an unknown legend in the past, to their own time, is downright hard to believe that all she wants is more power (a baby), with that "unknown legend". Not only does it not make any sense at all, (even in the Charmed universe), the idea of it is far-fetched.

And the ending was predictable AND too, unbelievably simple, which ruined the intrigue of the whole book. Also, at the end, some parts of the story were kind of messed up, going off the main storyline, and might make the reader think at the end, "That's it?!"

Oh yes, there is no major battle, which is rather disappointing as these kind of typical intrigues in a Charmed book makes it worth reading. The Legacy Of Merlin is not.


But despite these major faults that is in this story, I still enjoyed it. If you like Charmed, but don't be surprised if your find yourself getting annoyed with the confusion and blunders in this book.

I Love Charmed, I loved the book Legacy Of Merlin. In the book, Prue and her sisters go to England because Prue is buying books for a collector. So they think it's going to be relaxing, but they're wrong when phoebe meets a guy in a magic bookstore named Niall and has a premanition of a baby. She doesn't know if it's hers so Phoebe and Niall go out on a couple of dates. Meanwhile, Piper is Making love charms that she saw in a book and accidently uses one on this guy Sir Andrew.
So the next day Piper see's Niall and this other woman doing some kind of ritual. So she goes and warns her sisters. Prue Made friennds with an older woman Mrs. Jefferies while she buys fruit from her stand. Piper warns them and Phoebe doesn't believe her. So thats when we find out that Niall is from 1400 years ago. He is the son of Merlin. And that woman is his friends Diana.
The next morning prue goes to get some fruit but Mrs. Jefferies isn't there. Her and Piper go into her house but doesn't find her. So they go to Diana's and She hurts Niall and Phoebe. The Deal Is if Niall doesn't make a baby with Diana by Midnight he will die. So Prue And Piper go back to Nialls time to get a spell Off Merlin. He gives it them and they go back to present time. But Niall wants to go back so hoebe says goodbye to hime and the sisters go back Home.

Ps this book was so good I read it in a day

I love Charmed, and as I have written before in my journal, I don't usually like books based off TV series or books. And I thought I wouldn't read these books because I love the show too much and didn't want to be insulted or something. But the books are really good, and they have great plots.

I also like the legend of Merlin and King Arthur and the Lady of the Lake, you know, so this was the perfect book. Charmed+King Arthur Legends=A Book I REALLY like!

If you're a Charmed fan, this is a really great book. I'm actually reading more books in this series.

Happy Charmed,
Kat

as im british i love the fact that this book is set in the uk plus the fact that it's a good book, makes this a great read

Wrangling teen idols to make a classic movie

If you're into movies, and classics, or more specifically, misunderstood classics, and you have any interest in James Dean, then Lawrence Frascella and Al Weisel's Live Fast, Die Young: The Wild Ride of Making Rebel Without a Cause is required reading.

Of course, as a reformed "Deaner" who's read every biography about the icon, much of the information about 1950s film star James Dean, whose died in a car accident only days after completing his third movie, isn't new.
Yet when woven with biographical accounts of Rebel co-stars Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, and director Nicholas Ray, Live Fast, Die Young becomes compelling reading, mostly through its swift and meticulously researched details (shown in 50 pages of bibliographical notes) that take us sequentially through the pre-production, daily shooting schedule, ups and downs and sometimes lurid behind the scenes drama that took place through the making of a pivotal film that defined the "teenager" in pop culture, and established post-war adolescent angst as a social phenomenon.

Dean, known for his moody temperament, over-the-top method acting, and palpable inferiority complex to contemporary Marlon Brando, gets his now-famous behaviors contextualized. But what has been forgotten among the piles of gossip magazines through the decades, is how Dean, working closely with director Ray, helped shape Rebel into its unique teen-focused originality.

Commentary from surviving actors like Corey Allen, who played Buzz, the gang nemesis of Jim Stark, Dean's character, offers a grounded perspective to the mythologized stories of Dean, Wood, and Mineo, who all died under tragic circumstances. Allen recounts the competitive atmosphere for camera time (Nick Adams being the biggest ham), and the choreography of the opening knife fight (originally shot in black and white, studio executives pushed to move to the then-new color Cinemascope after watching a rough cut. The entire first scene was re-shot).

The three main character's lives reflected strongly on their private lives at the time. Judy's (Wood) advanced sexuality, Jim Stark's (Dean) longing to befriend Buzz rather than fight him, and Plato's (Mineo) adoration of Stark.

Authors Frascella and Weisel, who both thank their male partners in the book's acknowledgements, are therefore presumably gay. But they show a restrained tone in laying proof to the bisexuality of star Dean, focusing on the actual events surrounding the film's subtle successes at revealing the eroticism lurking under the surface of malcontent violent kids.
It's Sal Mineo who shines when he realizes he is, in effect, cinema's first gay teenager. Never exactly in the closet, Mineo's Plato becomes an icon of shy sensitivity and undefined sexuality.

As the book winds through the travails of filming a revolutionary film under the pressures of studio executives, director Ray's own complex personal problems are no less dramatic, ranging from alcoholism to the shame of enduring an affair between his second wife, who seduced his son from his first marriage, to his illegal affair with a teenage Natalie Wood (who was also having a sexual affair with co-star Dennis Hopper).

That the film ever managed to become the classic it was lies largely to this rare collaborative process that Ray nurtured in a time when Hollywood -barely over the dread of McCarthyism and its related blacklist- was anything but collaborative.

While often times abusive and erratic, and even boastful - years later he would take credit for scenes and ideas proposed by screenwriters and actors- Ray is shown as a maverick who made his mark, despite his eventual downfall, by having created more than a great film, but a document of a culture at a pivotal moment. Frascella and Weisel's thorough work shows readers how it happened.

I want to start my review out by saying that I seriously doubt that there will ever be another book like this on Rebel Without A Cause. There certainly hasn't been anything like it in the past.This classic film deserves a book like this and I'm surprised that one was so long in coming.This book is exhaustively researched. Every detail of Rebel from its conception to its filming to its release to its cultural impact is detailed. New interviews with surviving cast and crew members added depth and perspective.The films 3 main stars-James, Natalie and Sal , And Director Nick Ray's experiences making the film are also recounted along with a Chapter each about their lives and fates after Rebel, but the portraits of them are not super deep with perhaps the exception being Nick Ray. The book is more about the evolution and the ultimate impact of Rebel than about the Actors themselves.
The one complaint I have about this book is that at times I think it relied too much on unproven sensationalism about James Dean. Particularly a passage in which an Actor claims that James and Jack Simmons were hitting on him, but what sounded like a perfect innocent invitation to visit the house they were living in to me.
But this is a book that should be on any Rebel fans bookshelf.

Rebel Without a Cause almost defined what teenagers were supposed to be when it appeared in the middle 1950. Here was the complete antithesis of the Father Knows Best type of show. It featured three young starts that seemed destined for greatness: Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, and James Dean. Strangely enough, all three of them died, quite young, and not by natural causes.

This book is about the making of that movie. It features interviews with the surviving members of the cast and crew and the authors had firsthand access to both personal and studio archives.

This is a rather remarkable book in that it was written so long after the film. It reads like the authors knew and were involved with the people making the movie it tells an extraordinary story. It's very well done, so far as I am concerned, the definitive film on the movie.

I loved reading this book, for most of the reasons outlined by the other reviewers. The organization is superb, breaking down the wealth of material into discrete units, sometimes arranged by theme, sometimes by a central event. The intelligence of the sorting out leads to a greater understanding of the events portrayed in the book, from the inception of the general idea (to make a picture about teenagers, then a new subject for film) all the way to the ongoing and continuing myth of REBEL.

One thing leads to another, organically speaking. The book convinces me that the central mainspring of the success of REBEL was not, perhaps, James Dean, but Natalie Wood, desperate to prove she wasn't a child any longer, throwing herself at director Nicholas Ray who, in a crazy display of grand seigneurial privilege, took her as his lover. Was Wood feeling any sexual excitement in this union, or was she just trying to get back at her horrible mother, Maria Gurdin? Ever since Suzanne Finstad's biography of Wood revealed this affair with Nick Ray, together with the story of Wood being raped by a still-living Hollywood leading man, it's hard to look at REBEL without thinking of Judy as the victim of sexual abuse "acting out" her fantasies of sexual liberation and pleasure, but not able to really get any for herself.

I appreciated the care the authors took in interviewing just about everyone connected to the movie, including the gang members, some of whom you hardly notice in the movie. But as it happens, and I wonder if someday the extra footage will turn up, many of the gang members had bigger scenes with lots of dialogue, when the shooting started Warners wasn't going to pay for anything but black and white, and then a third of the way through they decided to scrap the b/w footage and go with color. They threw the baby out with the bathwater in this one, for wouldn't you like to see that black and white material? Wonder where it is now? The authors tracked down Steffi Sidney, who was sort of the Tori Spelling of her day in that her dad was a well known Hollywood institution who managed to get her jobs just by laying down the hammer. He wasn't a producer like Aaron Spelling, but even more fearsome, one of LA's top gossip columnists, a man called Sidney Skolsky. Steffi is particularly observant about the day to day shooting of REBEL, and her pointed comments are always trenchant and super-funny.

I hear today in the news that Warners has unearthed test footage of Marlon Brando playing scenes from a version of REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE that never got made, seven or eight years before the present one! And that they will be issuing this screentest as an extra to the DVD of STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE! I bet the authors of LIVE FAST, DIE YOUNG are kicking themselves that they didn't get to view this footage--indeed they don't seem to have been aware such a test even existed, or that the movie was almost made in 1948! Otherwise they are an omniscient pair indeed.

This is a wonderfully detailed yet easy to read account of the making of "Rebel Without a Cause." The authors did their homework and did a superb job of compiling the information into an interesting story. No matter if you're a fan of James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, you'll be rewarded with a glimpse behind the camera at how it all came together. A must read for fans of the stars, director, the film itself or film students in general.

This novel is intellectual and whimsical. The characters absolutely sparkle and wrap themselves through a wonderful mystery that refuses to take itself too seriously. A mystery, an adventure, poetry, music, and an enduring love; this book has it all!

Michael Larrain is Raymond Chandler's son who received
his slumming angel rose from Rimbaud, fedora from
Neruda, and sea legs from Melville's grammar. Reading
Movies on the Sails you're suddenly swimming in the
middle of a ghost who smiles at you, and with her long
lips or lashes invites you on a surprise-filled
pas-de-deux cruise prospecting for thighs, I mean
dice, dice, that is, that is, Breton's objective
chance, that is, the key to all your unfolding
phantasies. You're suddenly dressed in the colors of a
Rousseau-like jungle and all the various animals on
view are the people you know transformed in their
symbols, regarding you with friendly and luxurious
eyes and fawning all over you. But, more, the Muse of
Language has chosen Larrain as her troubadour and
anywhere out of this world he wants to sail, we sail
too, and for the first time in a long time we don't
say no. This book, despite the secret craving I've had
to see it as a movie by Bunuel and Dali, should never
be made into a film unless it were a singular private
movie for each one of you who reads it entrapped by
its rich and various bewitchments, a long desired
movie your phantasy lover sings to you in fado and
from which you never wish to recover.

Reading Michael Larrain's new novel, Movies On The Sails was a real treat! It is my opinion that this author should be placed in the same league as some of our other literary giants. He describes, in tantalizing detail, life on the glorious Hawaiian islands to such extent that his readers will believe they feel the sea spray or the trade winds on their skins. His intelligent protrayal of somewhat villianous intentions to manipulate, not only the lives of the local dwellers, but also the looming volcanoes of Hawaii, was riveting. Michael Larrain's hot and sexy sub-plots serve to add a little more spice to an already engrossing storyline, while his obvious adoration of women is both delicious and refreshing. It is this readers' opinion that Larrain through his captivating, descriptive storytelling proves himself, over and over again, a most worthy contender to some of our other greats such as Spillane or Hemmingway. Larrain's sense of humor is difficult to overlook, and richly endears the main characters to the readers. This is a book which will have you craving more from its' author. This is a book you will recommend over and over again! I believe the author and his book deserve a resounding "BRAVO" and "WELL DONE!"

Michael Larrain is definitely a fabulous author! Destined to be listed among the 20th Century's great authors. Buy it! Read it!

Michael Larrain is definitely a fabulous author! Destined to be listed among the 20th Century's great authors. Buy it! Read it!

Mark Harris did an amazing amount of work to prepare for this book. He interviewed names big and small, read books, journals, and magazines. However, this does not translate into a book that was interesting to read. The chapters are arranged somewhat chronologically, but it's not clear. There's a ton of information in each chapter and all of the stories are interwoven together about each movie. It's difficult to follow what is going on. The book lacked a table of contents, which would have made the store much easier to follow, as would thematic chapter titles.

But with that said, it was interesting to see how Hollywood has changed over the last four decades. It was worth my time, even if it was a challenge to keep everything straight.

This is an outstanding and very informative book. If you are interested in Hollywood history, then this is the book for you.

This is an insightful book about the 5 movies nominated for Best Picture Oscar of 1967: Bonnie and Clyde - Ultimate Collector's Edition, The Graduate (40th Anniversary Collector's Edition), In the Heat of the Night (40th Anniversary Collector's Edition), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (40th Anniversary Edition), Doctor Dolittle and the times from which they sprang.

If you are a movie insider, this may be too "Old Hat" for you. But, if you were busy being part of the solution, and not part of the problem, and really relate to The Big Chill, then here are some pictures from our revolution and one from the changing of the Old School guard. (In its sheer longevity and incorporation into the cultural venacular, this reviewer mourns the non-nomination and therefore non-inclusion of Cool Hand Luke)

Harris' well-researched and footnoted view tells the tales of the making and marketing of the movies, and the politics involved, in a manner accessible for the masses. See also The Academy Awards: The Complete Unofficial History.

Along the way, we encounter the moods of Minneapolis moviegoers, a 25 year old up-and-coming Roger Ebert, and Father Andrew Greeley in a former gig as reviewer for the National Catholic Reporter.

If it's news to you that Robert Redford was originally preferred over Dustin Hoffman as Benjamin Braddock, or that Mrs. Robinson's song started life as Mrs. [Eleanor] Roosevelt, this book's for you!

/TundraVision, Amazon Reviewer

A tremedously detailed book, kept my interest all the way through. Defintely worth 5 stars.

I read this on my Kindle (LOVE MY KINDLE!) and it had me taking my Kindle with me everywhere as I couldn't put the book down! A very compelling read. His depth of research and current interviews with the key players is remarkable!

SIN CITY is another pretty good CSI read, with dual plot lines. A religious housewife is missing, and Grissom and Brass are pretty sure her husband is behind her mysterious disappearance. At the same time, Catherine and Sara are working on the strangulation murder of an exotic dancer in the stripclub where she worked.

An overall decent and quick read.

Follow your favorite CSI team with two more great investigations. While I enjoy the television program, there are some great moments of character development that are thrust upon the reader in these printed stories. For CSI fans, these works can only really add to fan appreciation of a great team of minds. For a nice evening of mystery and imaginative fun, sit down and get to know Gil Grissom, Captain Jim Brass and the CSI team members.

I'm a huge CSI fan and I found this book to find something good to read. Once I read the first page, I couldn't put it down at all! The author stays true to the characters and the basis of the show that I was very impressed! If you're a true CSI fan like I am, this is great to read to get your CSI fix while it's on break for the summer.

I'm not too ashamed to admit the fact that I am a closet fan of CSI. I watched one episode of the series and I got hooked on how the underappreciated members of the Las Vegas Police Department's Criminalistics Division(the CSI's more common name) use an unorthodox combination of high-tech wizardry and gadgetry along with old-fashioned guesswork and detecting to solve the crimes most other agencies would balk at. My further interest in the series has even led to me purchasing both of the CSI computer games. But this was the first book in the CSI books that I read and it captures the TV style to a T.

The CSI crew find themselves involved in 2 unique cases: the disappearance of a loving wife named Lynn Pierce and the brutal murder of an exotic dancer named Jenna Patrick. The book splits the cases with team leader Gil Grissom taking the case of the missing woman and Catherine Willows (Grissom's unofficial second in command) somewhat reluctantly taking the stripper murder (as CSI fans will know Catherine herself used to be a stripper)

Suspicion grows in both cases as the teams find clues that lead them to believe that the people that were closest to the respective victims (The woman's husband in the disappearance case, and Patrick's close friend and co-worker Tera Jameson in the dancer case) are the ones that may be the most responsible for these ghastly crimes. But can they really prove their hunches?

Sin City is a great read for those who are CSI fans and fans of mystery alike. It takes the CSI TV experience and gives it an innovative written form. Capturing the style and dry wit that has made the show a bonafide hit (especially the very sly game of name switching in the stripper case) is what makes the book worth every penny.

Max Allan Collins continues his second career (in addition to being an award-winning historical mystery writer and graphic novel scripter) of authoring the best TV/movie tie-ins in the business. Sin City repeats everything that was good about Double Dealer -- solid plotting, familiar characterization, loyalty to the format. It's the rare sophomore effort that improves upon its predecessor. That it is also longer makes this feat even more surprising.

Las Vegas earns its notorious nickname when a man's wife disappears and their neighbors suspect the husband, particularly since the wife gave them a secreted cassette tape with the husband threatening to dismember her recorded on it. Meanwhile, a stripper is murdered in the lapdance room at Dream Dolls (where Catherine used to work) and the surveillance cameras point to her boyfriend, who was not only under a restraining order, but also claims he was home watching the game at the time.

Sin City fulfills on all levels and the reader profits from the experience that author Collins has in writing for already-existing television characters. The voices are perfect and one can go from watching the television series to reading the novels seamlessly, which is likely the best compliment one can give to a genre that gains little respect from the literary community but has been vastly appreciated by TV watchers and readers alike for decades.

The TV show sucks. The books do not. They're not great literary masterpieces but they're good for a quick and entertaining read when you just can't be bothered with Stephen King or Jane Austen anymore. And also, Brendan Fehr on the cover makes great eye candy...the same cannot be said for Max. I liked Cameron, I wished that she could have stayed.

In this one the gang tries to figure out Adam, whether he's evil or not, and to decide what to do about him. Michael has fallen for Cameron and she for him (Maria is upset over it), they fight when he discovers the truth about her. Cameron leaves town but comes back to the gang just in time to rescue them at one point.
Eventually the teens discover that the local UFO newspaper publisher isn't just some weird guy, he's the evil stowaway that they were told crashed the ship all those years ago and that he was remote controlling Adam when Clean Slate was destroyed. This guy can teleport himself, and Max learns to do so as well. Dupris (the bad alien) has searched for 50 years for one of the three Stones of Midnight the homeworld has as a sort of power source, he gets the ring (containing one) the gang has. Working with/through the consciousness Max and the gang try to send Dupris back home to his enemies through a wormhole, adopting his appearance as part of their efforts. They manage to send him through with the bounty hunters but discover to their dismay that it was Alex they sent through, the real Dupris escapes with the ring.

This book was pretty good, but ever since they changed the models for the cover to the people form the show i've been mad. Every body has got to admit, the Max on the old cover was WAY better looking than the one on the new cover. Same with Micheal, and Alex too. And they all fit the descriptions too. The new Max has dark eyes not the unusal blue the old one in the book has, IT MAKE ME SOOO MAD! they should at least print a cover with the old models so that some of us can be happy.

This book is awesome as all the others but my favorite is the first one. This one is cute though. And it has a wonderful cliff hanger at the end that really surprised me. These are the best books in the world they really get you hooked. I enjoyed this termendously. They are always good books and this one was great and highly recommendable. READ AND WATCH THE SHOW ON THE WB. YOU WON'T REGRET IT. IT LIKE A BONUS. ROSWELL IS GREAT READ IT.

Something is controlling Adam - using his body. "Ray took something that didn't belong to him. I have to get it back," the controlled-by-something-evil Adam responds when Adam's friends tell him that something's wrong with him. Soon Adam isn't the only one controlled by Whoever. Isabel is hurting people that she would never hurt if she was in control of herself. Max, Liz, Maria, Michael, Cammeron and Alex have to figure this out, pronto. Or else . . .

This book is hysterically funny and has EVERYTHING you'd want re the '80s! I can't recommend it highly enough.

The 1980's are my pop culture reference point, and what better way to go back and reflect time and again with Matthew Rettenmund's reference book, Totally Awesome 80's? Because they were awesome. He covers pop music, movies, TV shows, and trends in my decade.

Yes, the 80's were the Reagan years, the year AIDS entered our vocabulary, MTV, back when it was good, VCRs and thus the video rental boom, the War on Drugs, Yuppies, and given her longevity and legendary status, Madonna. Love or hate her, you gotta admit she was the biggest star of the 80's-sorry Michael Jackson and Prince. But we lost a lot of people who made it big back then. John Lennon, Orson Welles, Mae West, and Alfred Hitchcock, to name a few. And games and pastimes such as Trivial Pursuit, Rubik's Cube, classic arcade hits like Pacman, Frogger, and Q*bert.

The list of 80speak, inspired by valley girl talk, stuff from TV shows, "-o-rama," "have a cow," "space cadet," or "rad," takes me back as well.

In the music section, included are special text sections on Michael Jackson, Duran Duran, Culture Club, Wham!, Madonna, Prince, and others who were essentially 80's figures. The Billboard chart figures for them are also included. However, the section on We Are The World, which lists the reasons for why the artists sang, is a bit jokey, making me wonder if the event's impact isn't as big as it is now.

The list of the top music videos, hit songs, and movies of the decade.

I'll list the Top Five of each:

Music videos:
1. Eurythmics: "Sweet Dreams"
2. Buggles, "Video Killed the Radio Star"
3. `til tuesday "Voices Carry"
4. Duran Duran, "Hungry Like The Wolf"
5. Madonna, "Material Girl."

Quintessentially 80s songs:
1. Prince and the Revolution: "Let's Go Crazy"
2. Kajagoogoo: "Too Shy"
3. Animotion: "Obsession"
4. Asia: "Heat of the Moment"
5. Simple Minds: "Don't You (Forget About Me)"

Quintessentially 80s movies
Ultimate: The Breakfast Club
1. Risky Business
2. Airplane!
3. Raiders of the Lost Ark
4. Flashdance
5. Purple Rain

I'm not sure about the top two entries, but of the ones I really liked, Dirty Dancing came in at #10, Fast Times at Ridgemont High at #19, Ghostbusters right behind it, Back to the Future at #38, insultingly way behind at #62 instead of being in the Top Five, both Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi-like, I'm so sure-and Gremlins at #70. There are sublists of funny movies, hottest movies, horror, action, camp, overrated and underrated movies. And things aren't complete without a small section on the Brat Pack, i.e. the stars of the Breakfast Club. But yes, the 80's were also a decade where the teen market was exploited in a major way, via comedies and horror flicks. The same market is being mined right now, but the output today makes the 80's oeuvre like Oscar winners. And movies that were PG got an extra edge with that PG-13 rating, where there was more violence and other stuff in non-R movies.

Of the TV shows I watched regularly, The A-Team came in at #11, Diff'rent Strokes at #34, my brother watched Knight Rider religiously (#54). And come to think of it, I don't think I ever watched any of the so-called "Disease of the Week TV movies."

The appendix in the back lists the top Academy Award, Golden Globe, Grammy, and MTV winners, as well as a list of who sang in Live Aid, in order.

I find myself in somewhat of a midlife crisis, as much of the music I'm trying to get is stuff from that era that I'm still missing. Hey, I had to undergo the transition from cassettes to CDs unlike many Gen Y whippersnappers out there!

Overall rating: Even though I wasn't cool with the movie stuff, I found it like, totally tubular, in a major way. Done with this review, now it's off to play Pacman, or maybe listen to some Cyndi Lauper or watch some Gremlins or Ghostbusters.

Do you love the 80's like I do? This will bring it all back to you in one book. The topics covered are current events, fashion, music, TV, and movies. Special attention is paid to the last three especially. I think fans of 80's music will love this the most. It covers everything from Lionele Richie, to Madonna, to Depehe Mode. As for movies, don't forget E.T., The Breakfast Club, and Back to the Future. In the realm of TV, The A Team comes on strong, the Dukes of Hazard wreck their car, and Arnold says "Whatchootalkinabout Willis?"

This will be a great gift for anyone who was a TV child in the 80's. If you're a child of the 80's, you should get it for yourself.

It was funny enough, and decently representative of the pop-culture scene that I recall living through.

However there were numerous mentions of homosexual issues and quite a few political comments that I could have done without. I find it tiring when an author grinds his axe about personal issues as much as this one has done. A chapter would have been fine and totally understandale, but the consistent focus on the emerging gay culture wasn't what I was looking for.

I wasn't even born in the '80s and I truly love everything about that era. The fashion the trends, and the music was great! I know more about the '80s then my parents do, and they grew up in the decade! Well this book says it all. It covers everything about the decade and more!!! The kids in my school don't even know what A-track tapes are!!! I think that it is a great thing to know about the '80s even though I was born in 1990. Well get the book! It will teach you loads of stuff!

This is a book set in the Star Trek "Mirror Universe", where almost all of the same characters exist, but in a much darker, more unpleasant and "evil" universe. We get a look at what Kira, Dax, Sisko, Seven of Nine, Worf, Deanna and B'elanna would be like had they grown up in a world that didn't reward decency and honor, a cutthroat world in which it's every setient for themselves. It is not a pretty picture, but it is an interesting one.

I had always loved the "Mirror Universe" episodes from all of the various Trek series. It gave a refreshing respite from the regular Star Trek universe where everyone is always supposed to be so darned high-minded and goody-goody. And the episode featuring evil Kira and Garak was always my favourite of these. So when I saw this book on the store shelves with "Intendant Kira" featured in all her wicked glory right on the cover I knew I HAD to read it.

I was disappointed that evil Garak is actually not in the book much and is just a minor character. Instead this 2-volume story focuses on the female characters of the parallel universe. This story takes place sometime before the DS9 characters rediscover the parallel universe.

It details the backstabbing political intrigues involved as Kira maneuvers for ever more power within the Klingon-Cardassian Empire, which in the parallel universe succeeded in crushing the former Terran Empire thanks to our universe's James T. Kirk having earlier convinced the parallel universe's Spock to spread a pacifist message there.

But there are others vying for the same power that Kira wants, or seeking to keep her from it. Among them are Deanna Troi, who occupies a position of great influence as lover of Worf, head of the Empire. Also Enabran Tain, head of the Obsidian Order, who sends his crack Terran assassin Agent Seven on a mission to infiltrate Kira's power base. And Tain's disgruntled rival Gul Dukat, who also seeks to regain some of his former power.

I thought the first of the two books was great, as we get LOTS of evil Kira, plus the cool spy intrigues of Agent Seven. Book 2 on the other hand.... well, I'll write a review for that one soon too, but just let me say I thought it wasn't quite as good.

But I still LOVE the mirror universe and wish they would write MORE stories taking place there. It's got a lot more gritty atmosphere and has the possibility to tell some very edgy stories.

So should you get this book? Sure, it's just plain a lot of fun. -- But don't get your hopes up too high for a brilliant conclusion. Just sit back and enjoy the ride (especially this first volume).

This is a great crossover novel. I really enjoyed the B'Elanna of this 'reality': she embraces her Klingon half, hates her human half, and befrieds Seven. You should read this, if you like DS9, TNG, OR VOY.

this book is one of the best depictions of the mirror universe ive seen... it caugth me in the first few pages i read it (both volumes) in 3 days...

It would be hard to do better.

Over the years, Susan Wright has proven herself to be an extremely reliable author in the Star Trek universe and this "Dark Passions" duology is no exception to that. I found the entire story to be thoroughly intriguing, extremely well paced and the characterizations to be perfect for what one might expect of these characters in the mirror universe.

With this small duology, Susan Wright took the rather apropos approach of building upon the known and unknown characters in the Star Trek Deep Space Nine mirror universe episodes and created an extraordinary story that actually takes place prior to start of the series, giving her the advantage of having all of the characters to use and giving her the opportunity to create a much more original story to include killing certain characters off. This is an extremely powerful story that involves the majority of the female characters in the current Star Trek universe, proving their "mettle" so to speak and using them to perfection.

The only true complaint I would lodge about this duology falls more into place with the decisions of those at Pocket Books than with the author and that is the fact that this "novel" was broken into two books. Considering the rather standard sized text and the fact that the first book is only 232 pages and the second is 200 pages, this could've and should've been one novel instead of an obvious ploy to ply an extra $6.99 out of "passionate" Star Trek readers; bad on the powers that be at Pocket Books.

The cover art for this novel makes this and the second novel that much more intriguing considering the originality of the story.

The Premise:

As it might spoil the story a bit I won't delve too deeply into the premise of this wonderful story. Suffice it to say, this story involves the majority of the major female characters from "The Next Generation," "Deep Space Nine" and "Voyager" in extremely enlightening roles carrying an extremely original story to fruition through healthy amounts of intrigue and action...

Overall, I highly recommend this and the second book in this small duology to any and all fans of Star Trek fiction and especially to those that thoroughly enjoyed the mirror universe episodes on Star Trek Deep Space Nine. {ssintrepid}