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Movies Books sorted by Average customer review: high to low .

The Movies That Changed Us : Reflections on the Screen

Published in Paperback by (2003-11-18)

Author: Nick Clooney

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The Movies as viewed By An Expert

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-30

I own this autograghed book about the movies and the movie stars. What was most interesting to me was Nick's near stardom of his own. He had a very mature voice and looked almost exactly like his son George. 'course I like his white hair. I used to listen to him early every morning on Cicinnati Radio. I miss you, Nick, old friend.

Let's Go To The Movies with Nick, the Perfect Host.

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2004-05-23

This is a marvelous book written by a fabulous guy. He told me the film which changed him was FRANKENSTEIN! But I really think he was pulling my leg a little. In case he was really telling me the truth, I'd suggest he see VAN HELSING. This is a good addition to anyone's library if he has the slightest interest in the film world. Nick had insider information and a life-long interest in movies. After all, his sister Rosemary made many films, as has his son George.

The choices made for this publication were excellent and the accompanying photos added to Nick's commentary. The movie he looked for in vain has been written several times. At least,it seems like I've seen that storyline in more than one film through the years. His personal story of growing up as he did (similar to Civil War times) has been portrayed, but I'd love to see his version put on the big screen. Now that his son, George, is a producer and director, perhaps he could do the script as well and show his dad and two sisters as they were in childhood. All Nick Clooney fans would mob the theater to see the old days.

I miss Nick on the radio. Whatever happened to his Marine Sgt.? Whatever was his name? The same as a popular rock music singer.

Poorly written and edited . . .

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2003-06-19

After hearing the NPR piece about this book, I thought that it had great potential, and my friends and I actually began a movie series to watch all 20 movies on his list. We bought the book to encourage conversation about each work. Unfortunately, Clooney writes poorly and seems more interested in writing about the studios (and their heads) than about the actual impact the movies may have had on the U.S. Other than one or two short paragraphs directly relating to each movie, Clooney rambles on about other, uninteresting topics. It's painful to read. He tries to wrap up each chapter with a momentous sentence, which only ends up seeming hyperbolic.

In addition, this book ought to have been edited more carefully. Clooney roams from topic to topic, without any understandable reason, and there are some egregious errors (e.g. the synopsis for "The Great Dictator" is incorrect). Practically every film has to do with war, and I'm hard-pressed to believe that they are the only ones that impacted our culture. It is also surprising that his list contains nine movies from the '30s and '40s, but only one from the past 25 years.

Underneath it all, there may be some merit to his choices, but the book certainly doesn't help understand why. I learned more from reading the reviews on IMdB.com.

An Unforgettable Pleasure

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2003-02-28

For me to say that Nick Clooney is a skilled, authorative writer, is to say nothing in as much as that is his main occupation, and he certainly doesn't need my approval to keep doing what he seems to have a gift for.It seems meaningless to comment on his choice of subject matter by acknowledging the years he spent hosting a TV production relating to just that subject. However to state that on picking up the book, opening it randomly, and not being able to put it down for two chapters might give you an indication of his ability to captivate the reader. The easy flow of the narrative was as though he was sitting there telling you the story in person. The last time I was so absorbed by a book, It was written by his sister, Rosemary (Girl Singer). Perhaps it's in the genes.

A Nifty Concept, Poorly Executed

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2005-09-16

Few movie fans will dispute Nick Clooney's underlying point: That some movies change the way we, the audience, looks at the world. A wonderful book could be written around that idea, each chapter tracing the impact of a different movie. _Movies That Changed Us_ is, unfortunately, not that book.

Clooney's grasp of historical context--or, to be charitable, his presentation of it--is too narrow and too shallow to do justice to the points he's trying to make. If you're going to make the case that a movie "changed us" you have to be able to draw the Before and After pictures in convincing detail. You also have to be able to show that the movie itself was a catalyst for change . . . not just an indicator of larger forces that actually brought the change about. Clooney (especially when writing about changes outside of the movie business) frequently fails to do this,

The chapter on _The Graduate_ suggests that Clooney recognizes this problem. He argues that the movie (with its jaded view of romance, sex, marriage, and social norms) "killed the romantic comedy." It's an interesting argument, but what if the same shift in attitude that made _The Graduate_ incomprehensible to the middle-aged parents of 1967 made the romantic comedies of the 1930s, 40s, and 50s incomprehensible to their kids? Clooney never even considers the possibility.

The same problem sinks the chapter on _The Big Parade_, one of a cluster of films from the twenties and early thirties that painted war as bleak, unheroic, and tragic. Clooney credits such films with making the West slow to move against Hitler . . . but couldn't the too-fresh memories of 10 million young lives lost in a pointless war have been behind *both* the films and the hesitancy to go to war again? Clooney never stops to ask.

The book also suffers from sins of omission: Connections that seem so obvious and important you can't imagine why Clooney doesn't mention them. Why argue that the "Omaha Beach" scene in _Saving Private Ryan_ is powerful because of its realism, and *not* contrast it with the far more "Hollywood" battle scenes later in the picture? Why spend a chapter on the 1964 anti-war movie_Dr. Strangelove_ and not connect it to the nuclear-disarmarment movement that had been gaining strength since 1946? Why write about the impact of _Star Wars_ and talk only about computer-controlled cameras . . . not the "summer blockbuster" category that it (and _Jaws_) more or less created?

I study and write about popular culture for a living, but when I bought this book I *wasn't* expecting a scholarly tome. I was looking for something entertaining and thought-provoking to read at lunch . . . unfortunately, it isn't even a good lunchtime book.

A Pound of Flesh: Perilous Tales of How to Produce Movies in Hollywood

Published in Paperback by Grove Press (1993-02)

Author: Art Linson

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Perilous Tales of How to Produce Movies in Hollywood

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2005-03-12

A Great read. As entertaining as is is informative, this is one of the better books on producing that I have read. The book is broken down in the same way a producer goes about putting together a project. From conception to birth, this covers it all. Many great stories and personalities are covered (esp. good is the section on the Untouchables and not being able to get David Mamet to write anymore because he was off working on his own film House of Games). Pick this one up and enjoy.

Much Better than Lydia Obst book

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2002-07-29

I have read this book and one by Lydia Obst ("Hello, He Lied"). I preferred the Linson by a mile - Obst is too full of herself (she even disses Linson!). Linson discusses the role of producer and his contribution to films such as "Car Wash" and "The Untouchables". There's a revelatory look at a film he worked on the DIDN'T get made, called "Arrive Alive". Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in the process of motion picture production.

Fun read, but not necessary....

Helpful Votes: 10 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 2000-12-21

I saw bits and pieces of an interview with Linson on the new FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH DVD and when I found out he had a book out I decided to check it out. He's been involved as a producer with some of my favorite movies (HEAT, THE UNTOUCHABLES, FIGHT CLUB). This was a quick and enjoyable read. You'll learn a little about what a producer does. What I gleaned from the book was that a producer:

A) Brings the elements (writer, director, cast) together
B) Pitches the project to the studio and helps secure financing
C) Greases the gears to keep a film production going.
D) Takes a lot of crap from different creative prima donnas

Can you learn these things any other way? Sure, talk to a real Hollywood producer. But if you don't have access to one, pick up Linson's book. There are some really fun anecdotes in here, like dinner with Hunter S. Thompson, talking wardrobe with DeNiro, and wrangling re-writes out of David Mamet.

"A Pound of Flesh" will be of interest to aspiring producers and those who enjoy finding out what happnens before and while the cameras roll.

Not a necessary read for all, but for those into the film world. Linson's writing style is highly conversational and pleasurable to read.

Entertaining and Informative

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 1999-05-21

This book is about 100X better than Lydia Obst's egotisticalpiece. Indeed, Linson is remarkably ego-free - and he's worked with DeNiro, De Palma, Mamet, and others. His tales are entertaining, at times harrowing, and best of all, he describes the process of assembling all the elements to produce a picture. Not a knockout, but a solid, informative piece of work. I'd like to meet Linson one day.

The Producer's Primer

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2000-02-08

In an honest, engaging, and pithy memoir, Art Linson manages to convey not only what a producer is and does in modern Hollywood, but also why that individual is so important both in the creation and final success of the product. If American film stands at the nexus of creativity and enterprise, the producer is the individual who must mediate the inevitable clash between these immutable forces, and Linson openly recalls his successes as well as his failures. It's not always pretty, but it's always good.

In fact,the book's great strength is Linson's success in divorcing himself - or his ego - from his topic, allowing the reader to learn with the author, rather than from him. The entire process of the creation of a film, from pitch to production to premiere, including unpleasant diversions like Turnaround Hell and rites like Test Screenings, is laid before us through Linson's formative years as a producer.

What the reader ends with is an understanding of the filmmaking process that no textbook could convey, and that few insiders would be willing to impart to a tyro.

This is truly a primer on movie production that belongs on the shelf of everyone from development executive to film student to movie-lover.

King of Cannes: Madness, Mayhem and the Movies

Published in Hardcover by Algonquin Books (2000-04-21)

Author: Stephen Walker

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Hilarious and Insightful

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2004-02-01

I found this book randomly in my local library, and being fascinated by the film industry I decided to give it a go. So glad I did. Clever and colorful, this book details the logistics and lunacy of aspiring filmakers running the gauntlet that is Cannes. I was inspired and touched by the subjects, awed and entertained by their tenacity and turmoil, and laughing throughout. A great read for anyone even remotely interested in the movie biz

King of the Cannes a gem of a book

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2001-04-22

This book was fabuously written. It brings together the work and comedy element of the Cannesfilm festival and the characters portrayed within. I laughed all the way through.

Warning: this book is not canned!

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2000-05-22

A lot of supposedly funny books are tiresome because their authors are trying so hard to be funny, but this book is not one of them. Stephen Walker has written a really funny book because he knows how to put what's funny in front of you and then get out of the way. He has a great sense of timing and an ear for the spoken word but his book isn't just about all the wild stuff that happens during the making of his documentary. Walker is willing to show you himself making a fool of himself, the traditional soul of comedy, but he does more than play the clown. You see the drive of the documentary filmmaker in his need to understand what's going on inside the heads of the filmmakers he's filming. His connection to his filmmaker-subjects is a tilt-a-whirl checkerboard of empathy and distance. The troubles he runs into are funny, awful, pathetic, outrageous, goofy, tragic, stupid, dumb, hilarious. I like Walker because he doesn't force anything. The things he finally doesn't understand are allowed to remain as rough and puzzling as they really are. It's definitely a funny book, a really funny book--because the tears are as real as the laughs. So what I'm saying already is buy the book, Walker should laugh all the way to the bank.

LUSTY, OUTRAGEOUS AND THOROUGHLY AMUSING

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2005-05-05

If you're a film buff with a "Saturday Night Live" kind of humor, King of Cannes is the book for you. This lusty tale of an outrageous wannabe film maker fairly explodes with wisecracks, double entendres, and anatomical references.

Related in diary form, these are the angst loaded revelations of Stephen Walker, a British film maker who gives added meaning to neuroses and is obsessed with not only going to but making a splash at the Cannes Film Festival.

Walker wants to make it big with a documentary. He attributes this drive to his "mum," a mother who "brought him up in a house of locked doors. The downstairs loo was always locked. If my mother was in the kitchen, she'd lock the door to her bedroom."

Well, you get the picture.

Just why restricted access to the rooms in his house spawned an interest in documentaries remains unexplained.

There is much in King Of Cannes that remains unexplained, but it is often hilarious as Walker bamboozles a backer into investing cash in a proposed film. Walker's intention is to document the experiences of four unknown but ambitious film makers who will stop at nothing to succeed at Cannes. He wants "the most dangerous, the most unhinged, the most daring, the ones who kill their grannies to get their movies made or sold."

With no performers, no story and 74 days until Cannes, Walker's quest for inspiration and cast members takes him to the Berlin Film Festival, which he finds as appealing as a brick shopping center and the films shown less than interesting - bizarre but uninteresting.

Dublin's Film Festival is also unrewarding, but the pubs are warm and friendly.

Walker's road to Cannes is more than rocky, but once there he is surrounded by total lunacy. He participates in meetings that resemble The Mad Hatter's Tea Party, discovers which pavilions have free booze or gratis Ray-Bans, and finds an indescribable cast of characters. There is Zonca, a French director, the "next Truffaut," who takes ten minutes to mount the twenty-two red carpeted steps to the entrance of the Palais as he savors his "orgy of adulation."

Of course, there are Brits, such as the creative group who motor to Cannes in a van decorated with a mammoth marijuana leaf. Their hope is to find funding for a film titled "Amsterdam." Another Englishman commandeers a vacant phone booth for his office.

An Oxford graduate and film director, Walker lives in London. In reality, he has just completed a documentary on Cannes, "Waiting For Harvey."

He writes, "I'm waiting for Harvey Weinstein to buy the rights so I can make the movie of the book of the movie. Who knows? Maybe I'll get to Cannes."

If he does, it is hoped that he'll keep a diary.

'Frankly' dishonest

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2003-10-03

While often amusing, documentary maker Stephen Walker's account of his attempted manipulation of a handful of filmmakers at the Cannes Film Festival is ultimately a fundamentally dishonest book. Despite making a memorable if over-directed 'Everyman' documentary on veterans of the Somme, the author proved hopelessly out of his depth when faced with an industry that failed to conform to his often facile preconceptions. Walker set out to mock a group of hopefuls trying to launch their careers for comic effect, only to be occasionally frustrated in his attempts to manoeuvre them into stereotypical situations by (most of) the filmmakers' inherent professionalism and dignity. Absurdly uninformed on his subject and held in growing contempt by his own production team, he cut one duo of filmmakers out of the programme because, to his dismay, they had a successful series of meetings, only to be blown out himself by another who turned out to be a major award winner who saw through him in moments.

While often telling stories against himself and stressing his own inadequacies as a documentarian (he makes no bones about not knowing the first thing about his subject), it's often to cover up worse transgressions. In the resulting TV documentary, 'Waiting for Harvey,' one of his 'victims' produced a video tape shot before their meeting detailing exactly how Walker was going to try to get easy laughs out of his attempts to sell his feature, hitting the nail on the head with astonishing accuracy, but whereas Walker admits to all kinds of minor offences, you'll find no mention of his unmasking here - maybe his ego couldn't handle it.

It's an easy, gossipy read, but don't mistake it for the truth.

The Ultimate James Bond Fan Book

Published in Paperback by Sterling & Ross Publishers (2006-11-17)

Author: Deborah Lipp

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Average review score:

Ultimate? Naww

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2007-08-10

I'm a huge Bond fan. After reading this book, I found nothing that I was looking for. All that is in the book is charts and rankings. There is not even a fact page...like...Best selling book film or what not.
I think they should take off the "Ultimate" in "Ultimate James Bond Fan Book" and just put "Just another James Bond Fan Book."

For what it is supposed to be it is very good.

Helpful Votes: 10 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 2006-12-09

The Ultimate James Bond Fan Book is interesting, though not "ultimate" for people who have been reading books about Bond for years. I have a collection of books on both the James Bond films and the novels and this has perhaps prejudiced my view. If you love a repeat of plots, an analysis and critique of all the Bond characters in film and enjoy statistics this may be the book for you. There is certainly an ample supply of lists and enough ratings to fill a graduate textbook on statistics. Having experienced the latter I feel I can say that.

Where the book suffers, and author Deborah Lipp is very upfront on this, is the personal opinions. She is very honest about this and actually has two ratings for every aspect of each film. Ms. Lipp relies heavily upon fan websites and suveys that either she or others have made. Then she expresses her own feelings, sometimes in agreement and sometimes the opposite. She is very candid that Bond fans, like Trekkies and Sherlockians (I am in all three categories) will disagree on a number of points. My biggest problem is that once she gets into a film she goes off into lists and ratings of which there are many. I would have preferred the listings to have been at the latter part of the book. At times there is no apparent reason why a list will pop up at the end of a particular film being described.

I will also confess that I did not take the author's suggestion to refer to certain sections as I felt moved rather than reading it straight from cover to cover. By the end I felt very bogged down and wished that I had only read it in parts, with an interlude between. There are many excellent books of analysis out there on the Bond films, encyclopedias in some cases, many with great pictures from the films. I would suggest the reader of this review check out the listing on Amazon. If you enjoy this book you will likely find others that you will like even better. I have had to do this for years as I have used the Bond films in the classroom and written articles about some of them.

I don't regret that I bought this. I have had the good fortune as a teacher to have met a number of the main stars Ms. Lipp has named, three of which have become close personal friends of my wife and myself and who I will be asking to autograph this book as they have others in my collection.

I do appreciate the very strong feelings the author has about various Bond films, we all do. I did not rate this book on whether I agreed with the author on every film, but on its usefulness to a long time fan.

A different take on familiar material

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2007-02-26

Unlike other books about the Bond films, this one does not just review what the movies are about, but compares, contrasts, and critiques them over the last 40+ years. Perhaps a better title would have been "The Ultimate James Bond MOVIE Fan Book." There is minimal discussion of the literary 007 here. I enjoyed the ranking system, although some of the time I don't agree with the author's opinions, which Lipp admits may occur straightaway. Nonetheless, it's entertaining reading taking the movies from a different perspective. My only significant complaint is the complete lack of photographs, but these can be found elsewhere. For example, if you can't remember Stromberg (Curt Jergens) from The Spy Who Loved Me, you aren't going to see a picture of him in this tome. With the recent release of the Ultimate Editions on DVD, this is a timely and handy companion.

A Step Above Other Bond Movie Books

Helpful Votes: 8 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2006-10-06

While there will be several James Bond books available around the time of the new Bond movie (Casino Royale) release, I recommend you get this one.

This book is very easy to read (even for people who only like photo books), and is extremely well-researched. The author very cleverly mixes in "Top Ten" and "Best/Worst" lists within each chapter describing a particular Bond movie in detail.

The author makes clear her prejudices and preferences for various films, characters, moments, etc., but balances this to a large degree with citings, quotations, and comments from fan pollings. A sore spot with other Bond books (avoided here) was the feeling their authors were trying to get in good with EON Productions (Owners/Producers of the Bond movie franchise) or other Bond movie P.R. people.

Of course, I don't agree with every opinion in this book (come on, "on Her Majesty's Secret Service" ranked in the LOWER third of Bond movies?); when presented in an entertaining manner (like in this book), these opinions are great for movie buff/Bond fan dispute, discussion, and debate --- what a good read is supposed to accomplish.

Five stars.

The title is not just hype: this really IS the ultimate

Helpful Votes: 9 out of 10 total.
Review Date: 2006-11-10

The title is not just hype. This really is the ultimate book on James Bond movies; I can't imagine anything more authoritative or more entertaining. Whether you use it as a reference book, browse through it, or read it from cover to cover (as I did), it will reward you with a wealth of facts and informed opinion. This book is a great addition to anyone's movie bookshelf, and it's an absolute gotta-have for fans of James Bond - casual fans and super fans alike.

Deborah Lipp's strategy in organizing her material works extremely well. Each Bond movie gets its own chapter, which is divided into sections devoted to synopsis, analysis, and evaluation of the movie's strength and weaknesses, as well as a ranking of where the movie stands in the Bond canon. Interspersed with these discussions, you get irresistible nuggets of information: quotes, polls, rankings, milestones, facts & figures, high points & low points, cars & gadgets, goofs, awards, and more. I especially enjoyed the many Bond lists that Lipp compiled for the book, such as "Best Explosions in Bond Films," "Best Stunts," "Best Car Chases," and "Best Villains." Another highlight is an extensive survey of the actors who have portrayed Bond on screen, comparing the strengths and weaknesses of their performances.

Lipp's love of movies shines through every page. Her writing style is witty and literate, and her knowledge of 007 lore will blow you away. "The Ultimate James Bond Fan Book" is sure to become the standard work on 007 movies. Every Bond fan and every movie lover should put this book in their shopping carts.

With All Despatch (The Bolitho Novels)

Published in Paperback by McBooks Press (1999-04-01)

Author: Alexander Kent

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Average review score:

Smugglers' Cove

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2004-01-16

Two years after the American Revolution, and the British Navy is still licking its wounds. Bolitho, after finally recovering from a serious illness encountered in the South Seas, haunts the Admiralty, looking for a new command, his beloved frigate Tempest laid up for repairs.

The Admiralty awards his past heroism with a squadron of three small topsail cutters, and directs him to assist the revenue service against the often brutal smugglers who are using the Kentish coast, apparently with assistance from powerful patrons.

This is another story of intrigue, violence, and treachery as Bolitho--saddled again with incompetent superiors--struggles to fulfill his duty.

Joseph (Joe) Pierre, USN(Ret)

author of Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenance
and other books

disappointing

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2000-07-09

Of the first 8 Bolitho books, this is my least favorite. The story is permeated with sadness, hurt, bitterness, and amoral villains. I found it very depressing and had to force myself to finish it.

Stand by the guns! Loosen the t'gallant and jib!

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2001-12-13

Although not one of the best in the series, this novel captures the grim life at sea and the struggle against nature. In this book, brutal smugglers ply the English Channel between Holland, France and England. The central characters are well written and alive with problems, dialog and several seem destined to re-appear in future Bolitho novels. However, Mr. Kent seemed to have Bolitho dwell in his past too many times. A dark, brooding side of the naval hero seems to fill many pages, but it does make Sir Richard that much more of a fleshed out character. He does feel for his dead friends, former ships and in some cases, former enemies. That aside, the tale moves along like a nimble sixth-rater with all sheets unfurled in a southern wind. The action is swift and brutal as Bolitho gives battle to the smugglers and their allies. Stormy weather, plenty of thunderous cannon fire, smashed bulkheads, parted ratlines and terrified crewmen. The author once again details the sea as an angry foe without mercy. The battle at the end of the book between a couple of corvettes and three cutters is suberb Kent writting. A welcome addition to the collection none the less. Well worth reading and blends seamlessly into the very next novel. An excellent series that has re-defined nautical fiction.

A troubled Bolitho

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2002-01-24

Bolitho is feeling distraught. It is peacetime 1791 and he's on the shore. He's recovering from fever. His romance in the South Seas has ended. Of Viola he has only a gold watch. France is under the Terror. Then Bolitho gets his first multi-ship command, a flotilla of topsail cutters with the newly installed Smashers (nasty short-range carronades), but hardly the frigate he deserved. He's in charge of the hated press gangs at the Nore, site of a later fleet mutiny. His loyal coxs'n Allday deserts him! And he suspects his superior and a captain or two of collusion with English smugglers, who are taking heinous advantage of refugee French women. Life is ugly all around, and dominates the dark mood of this novel. Bolitho races about on many filthy errands, in foul seas, and against big odds. That, at least, is nothing new.

Deja vu: the story line is reminiscent of "Midshipman Bolitho," once again chasing smugglers. Again the smugglers have a deadly intelligence system and protection from a mystery authority. Nominally in command of his destiny, Bolitho encounters a master politician who sends him on highly dangerous secret missions into Holland. Curiously, for all Bolitho's empathy and respect for his crews, he never seems to invite his officers to dinner. There's little in this series of the sumptuous larders most captains supplied.

Kent includes nice bonus appendices, one on the specialist warrant officers, the other on the origins of some naval customs. But nary a word on the possible historicity of the events told here.

Bolitho Battles North Sea Smugglers

Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2001-01-08

With All Despatch is chronologically the last of Kent's pre-Napoleonic Wars Bolitho novels. It is also the most recently written depicting that era. As such it is one of his most polished if somewhat familiar.

Kent has used the structure of With All Despatch before. Essentially he has written the novel in two linked sections with a mini-climax in the first followed by the major climax and denouement in the second. In Gallant Company was particularly effective using this format and in With All Despatch the two sections are linked even more solidly.

In this entry Bolitho who is still mourning the loss of his lady must obtain men for His Majesty's service while battling smugglers on England's North Sea coast. Complicating the matter is possible collusion between a senior officer and the smugglers. The head smuggler seems unreachable and there is an obvious parallel with organized crime and drug cartels of today. As the novel progresses it is also obvious that France and England will be at war soon. Can Bolitho meet all of his objectives and defeat his enemies? To provide a clue, the series will continue with many more novels for 23 more years.

In spite of being a popular series the reader has to know that Richard Bolitho is a tragic figure. The chronology in most books shows his death in 1815. By With All Despatch Bolitho has lost both his parents and his brother who turned traitor before dying. His faithful sidekick Stockdale was killed after nearly 10 years with him and Bolitho notes that his replacement Allday has been with him for 10 years. The reader has to be waiting for the other shoe to drop with Allday. The series could be really depressing if Kent didn't fill the novels with nail biting tension and thrilling action sequences. Kent's obvious knowledge of sailing and love of the sea also provide charm to the series.

With All Despatch is one of Kent's most polished. Perhaps it doesn't have the fire and intensity of earlier offerings but it is still good. While the entire series is violent some of this novel is particularly gruesome. I wouldn't recommend With All Despatch for younger readers unlike the earlier novels.

Based on a True Story: Fact and Fantasy in 100 Favorite Movies

Published in Library Binding by Rebound by Sagebrush (2005-02-01)

Authors: Jonathan Vankin and John Whalen

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Average review score:

Fun Read but....

Helpful Votes: 16 out of 17 total.
Review Date: 2005-02-01

"Based on a True Story" is an immensly enjoyable mini-survey of the "real" story behind many of the fact-based films of our time with particular emphasis placed on how much "fact" there is at each films base. The breezily written accounts of these films are always fun to read and, if they don't "expose" many new factual mis-steps (How many film fans are there who don't already know how "fictional" the purportedly fact-based "A Beautiful Mind" is?)they do offer intelligent, brief, discussions of films that (wonder of wonders!) actually merit them. One major quibble though: For a book that is dedicated to exposing falsehoods in films of all sorts, it perpetuates one of the greatest. This is not the first book that attributes the line from "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" ("When the legend becomes fact, print the legend") to John Ford. Ford DIRECTED the movie. The screenplay was by James Warner Bellah & Willis Goldbeck, from a story by Dorothy M. Johnson. While it is notoriously hard to tell who did what in a film, one would think that the Screenwriters should at least be credited with the DIALOGUE!

Informative and Accurate

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2006-05-03

Great book because it gives the other side of the "based on a true story" movie. Makes you look at movies in a different light.

Disillusioned - Over and Over Again

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2005-08-25

The authors do meticulous research and supply ample source footnotes in their reviews of one hundred movies dating from the seventies to many quite recent releases. Their analysis is so straightforward despite the liberal interjection of sarcasm that it is impossible to conclude that the great majority of Hollywood filmmakers couldn't honor truth if you paid them to, even though in many cases they apparently enjoy pretending to while being paid.

If you are a movie fan and look at cinema as a strong forcefor "truth and beauty" in the world this book will cause you to thing again. Is it possible that all the failed would be blockbusters are an indication that the audience has enough continuous access to viewing video products that even the most uncaring are better able to instinctively sniff out obscured incredibility and turn their noses up?

The fascination with mere flickering images may be over. We will see what happens as the means of production goes all digital and the price of entry into movie making goes down by orders of magnitude. It may be that everyone can get a shot at being a star. We also may be on the receiving end of many opinion pieces masquerading as documentaries. Yes I know, at least Michael Moore cares and believes passionately about his subject matter.

If you really want to hear about an instance of dishonest and ludicrous audience manipulation do an internet search on "lemmings to the sea" and find out about Disney's cruelty and venality in the 1958 production "White Wilderness". Suffice to say that lemmings never hurled themselves off cliffs committing suicide.

It Needed More "True Story" and Less Opinion

Helpful Votes: 5 out of 10 total.
Review Date: 2005-04-07

Based on a True Story tells the "real facts" behind dozens of movies that are supposedly based on real people and stories - from blockbusters like Erin Brockovich to more obscure films. The stories are often fascinating and revealing. But the authors' analysis often left me frustrated - they obviously give certain films more leeway than others when it comes to bending the truth. One film might ignore inconvenient facts, and it's dismissed as "blatant pandering", but another movie might do something almost identical and it's called "fulfilling the director's vision". It's quite obvious which types of movies the authors like and which ones they don't. I enjoyed the backstories behind the films, but after a while I started skipping over the authors' harangues.

An antidote for psychic pain at the multiplex

Helpful Votes: 9 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 2005-08-15

As an historian who is also a film buff, I try to be lenient when faced with a movie that bends the facts more than necessary. Anyone who has ever tried to write a screenplay, even one based on a novel much less on a real person's life or a real historical incident (and I have), knows you do indeed have to adapt a story (or real life) to the medium of film -- but there's a limit, and some flicks are just too much to take. The authors, talented entertainment-journalists, know this, for the most part. They obviously loved *Shakespeare in Love* and admit that it stuck close to the exceedingly few facts that are known about Shakespeare; likewise *Girl with a Pearl Earring* (a gorgeous film), since almost nothing is known about Vermeer. And they'll accept the rather minor biographical changes made in *Erin Brockovich* and *Norma Rae* as being simply unavoidable. But they really rake Mel Gibson over the coals (deservedly, I think), both for the perversion of English history committed in *Braveheart* (the Christ-like martyrdom of Wallace, they suggest, was practice for *The Passion*) and for the equally perverted treatment of the American Revolution in *The Patriot* (which pissed off a lot of people on the other side of the Atlantic with its suggestion of Nazi-style behavior on the part of the British). They come down hard on *The Hurricane* for claiming that Carter won fights that he actually lost, merely to reenforce the theme of racism, nor have they anything good to say about *Elizabeth*, the 1998 version, in which Cate Blanchett portrays a young queen so insipidly naive and trusting, "she wouldn't have lasted longer than a fortnight (or whichever ye olde calendar notation ye prefer)" -- in which they'll entirely correct. (I hated that movie.) They don't have much use for Spike Lee's egotism, either, especially in *Malcolm X*. They reserve real venom for the fact that *Amistad* not only jerks history around, the production company, Spielberg's Dreamworks, actually had the nerve to send out study guides to schools promoting wholly made-up characters as actual historical models to be emulated. In other cases, the authors simply wonder why liberties with real people were taken unnecessarily, as in *Seabiscuit* or *The Elephant Man*. Some of the biopics the pair analyze, such as *American Splendor*, probably don't belong here (Harvey Pekar is hardly "historical"), and some, like *Communion* and *The Mothman Prophecies*, don't belong anywhere, but they presumably had to come up with an even hundred. However, the film that led to this book being written is Oliver Stone's *JFK*, the most vilified film ever made -- before it was even released. As the subsequently published "documented screenplay" demonstrates, every voiced opinion in Stone's film came out of forty years of assassination research. "To its critics, *JFK* was a film that offended their deeply held view of the world. Stone questioned their religion." This is a good book to keep at hand while browsing through your DVD collection.

Dare to Be Yourself: How to Quit Being an Extra in Other Peoples Movies and Become the Star of Your Own

Published in Paperback by Ballantine Books (1994-06-14)

Author: Alan Cohen

List price: $14.95

New price: $3.73
Used price: $0.01

Average review score:

A Journey to the Mountaintop of Self-Awareness

Helpful Votes: 13 out of 14 total.
Review Date: 2006-06-26

Whatever we concentrate on, expands and increases. ~Alan Cohen

All of Alan's books are healing, beautiful gifts that allow you to see a reflection of your current self within the pages. Alan has the amazing ability (very rare as far as I can tell) to see deep spiritual lessons in even the most negative situations.

To Alan, life is a reflection of his inner world. This has become more apparent to me lately and there have been moments when I've spoken my intentions out loud or just thought them silently and my life changes or moves in positive directions. The same can happen when you think negatively as I have proved to myself time and time again.

Alan is a man before his time and his love of quotes and movies is a highlight in "Dare to Be Yourself." The truth is, Alan is comfortable being himself and as Ingrid Bergman once said: "Be Yourself. The world worships the original." He has divided his book into five main sections:

1. The Return of the Golden Buddha - How to chip away the mask and reveal more of your golden nature.

2. Dare to Love Yourself - Do you respect yourself and believe in yourself?

3. Dare to Live Now - How to turn scars into stars and let yourself experience life on the human level. It is fine to change your mind, be wrong or let go. Alan also discusses forgiveness and how to live in the moment.

4. Dare to Be Yourself - How can you take your power back? How to say NO!

5. Dare to Move Ahead - Taking risks, moving through fear, doing the impossible and living your vision.

Alan Cohen mingles practical advice with spiritual insight and weaves popular cultures into deep lessons. I always learn something new about life. There is a fascinating story about Monarch Butterflies on page 45. The original idea of the "Blessing Extractor" and "Wish-fulfillment machine" made complete sense to me and then I was very amused by the cute story of "The God in Chocolate."

His insightful observations about Marilyn Monroe shed light on her life and he also discusses how when you feel like you are dying, you are going through a spiritual birthing process. As your old self dies, the new self is born. This can happen over and over again. I have been through this a few times myself and now I finally understand what was happening to me. I loved his creative ideas for making space for joy and enjoyed quotes by Albert Einstein, Yogi Amrit Desai and Ramana Maharshi.

Reading Alan Cohen's books are truly a vacation for your soul and his writing is refreshing in that he looks at life from an uncommon perspective.

This book even has a workbook section with each chapter- to encourage you to apply the principles and open new doors in your life.

~The Rebecca Review

A book that changes lives for the better!

Helpful Votes: 52 out of 54 total.
Review Date: 1999-02-28

I read this book years ago, and it's still one of the firstbooks I recommend to people. It helps one realize that negative thinkingabout yourself is not only non-productive, it's harmful and keeps you from progressing in life as you want to; giving one the ideas and tools to become more positive-minded. Alan Cohen has written with a style that contains very powerful insight that is an easy read, and I like the one-liners at the beginning of every chapter; they help one focus on issues about to be covered.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who has had a "Dark Night of the Soul," feels despair, needs a new outlook on life, and could use helpful advice on new ways to think, thereby changing to a more positive life instead of always focusing on the negative.

A truly WONDERFUL book!

Read this book and change your life!!

Helpful Votes: 54 out of 55 total.
Review Date: 1998-06-12

I went to the bookstore looking for something to satisfy my craving for inspiration and higher consciousness. I came upon Alan Cohen's book, "Dare To Be Yourself", in the new age section (although, upon reading it, I'm not sure why).

Anyway, everything about this book is profoundly life-enhancing, from the cover straight through to the last page. Mr. Cohen's writing style is conversational, and easy to follow. He gives many examples and analogies to clarify his points. As I read, I couldn't help but feel he was speaking directly to me, although, I suspect anyone reading this book will feel similarly.

As I continued to read, I knew that I would never be the same after finishing this book. In fact, people have told me I seem happier, and I attribute that to lifting the self-imposed limitations I've lived with up until to this point. It may sound funny, but it's as if the author has given me "permission" to just be me! Reading this book has been a major liberating experience for me. I've been recommending it to everyone I know, and I'm sure I will continue to do so. I can't wait to read his other books. Alan Cohen has a wonderful gift which he has chosen to share with the world, and I, for one, am extremely grateful. And now, I'm off to share MY gifts with the world! : )

Dare To Be Yourself

Helpful Votes: 7 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2005-07-23

Stupendous, can't say enough about Alan Cohen and the way in which he clearly and concisely gets to the root of it. If you are doing some soul searching, this is the book to help you navigate your way to greener pastures.

Too Spiritual

Helpful Votes: 7 out of 55 total.
Review Date: 1999-08-21

More spiritual than I would want. I am sensitive to spirituality in books since it is so dependant on the individual.

Fantastic Four 2: Rise of the Silver Surfer

Published in Kindle Edition by Pocket Books (2007-04-24)

Author: Daniel Josephs

List price: $7.99

New price: $6.39

Average review score:

A Fantastic Book

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-08-07

This is a very good book i liked it alot and i think people will like it as well as i did. If you like the f.f. then you'll like this book. and don't forget to read Fantastic Four the movie novel by Peter David.

Disappointing

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-26

Warning, this may contain spoilers for the book if you are planning on reading it.

The Silver Surfer was introduced in Fantastic Four comic #48... The sequence played over the new few months to culminate in a final confrontation between the FF and Galactus, which caused the surfer to be bound to Earth. There are a lot of differences between the original story and this story, but we have seen that in all the recent Marvel movie adaptations.

The book itself appeared to be rushed to make it out when the movie hit the streets. The editor did a poor job of catching sentence structure and tense. The author did a poor job of keeping time sense and story content together as the book moved on (why else would he not want his real name associated with this book).

One chapter declares the FF have 48 hours to save the world. Later in the same chapter, they talk about several days passing since that deadline is mentioned.

Another section describes Johnny's powers swapping at touch, but yet he hugs Ben at one point and no power swap. Then later he touches all, including a dying Susan, to absorb all their powers and somehow retains his own for the upcoming fight with Victor Von Doom. Sounds like Super Skrull was inserted here.

Also, earlier we saw how the surfer transmuted Victor from the fight to another location because he was a pest, not because he was doing any real damage to the surfer, but when Victor had these same powers and was demonstrating powers that the surfer hadn't thought about, he seemed unable to pull off the same transmutation on Johnny when this fight was going on.

Also during this fight, Victor loses full track of Johnny as he becomes invisible, but Norrin Rad senses Susan in his cell even separated from his board.

Finally, Galatus (spelled Gah Lak Tus in the book) appears on the scene to absorb the world, but instead leaves to chase the surfer with no intervention from those on Earth. Very inconsistant since there is no reason found in the book to demonstrate why he should leave before absorbing all life from the planet.

In the midst of all this story, you have Victor Von Doom fighting for power and showing extreme jealousy of Reed and his love of Sue Storm. The original comics had it better with the contest of science between Reed and Victor (which is also mentioned in this series as a side note and secondary).

And rather than credit Reed's inventions and contributions as the means to financially back the FF (as in the comics), the book seems to think there is no money in science and instead makes Johnny the money maker with marketing ploys of FF merchandise.

The story is ok, but could have been much better if they had taken the time to edit it properly and remove the inconsistancies and grammer found throughout the book.

Obviously I think it could have been great if they had adapted the original line in the comics over that which I found here, but can acknowledge that some changes in the story are necessary over the years. I just wish they had thought them through before introducing them here, so there wouldn't be the rushed feeling found in the book.

Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-18

It was good i love to F.F comic and movie...so any book of the F.F is always a good read.

Decent book

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-06-27

The book didn't (I think) add a whole lot to the story as presented in the movie, but it was a good read.

Wowwwwwww

Helpful Votes: 5 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2007-04-15

This book is truly a story that belongs in the marvel comic universe. The Silver Surfer who is one of my favorite characters finally made it to the big screen. This story has great appeal and great action. I recommend it to everyone. Galactus the planet eater is also part of the story which gives this new story even more zest and excitement. I will see the movie when it comes out in june. Can't wait!

Handbuilt Tableware: Making Distinctive Plates, Bowls, Mugs, Teapots and More: (A Lark Ceramics Book)

Published in Hardcover by Lark Books (2001-06-30)

Author: Kathy Triplett

List price: $29.95

Used price: $45.55

Average review score:

A Terrific Handbuilding Book

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-22

This is a terrific book with really detailed instructions for building one-of-a-kind pottery. I believe that the ideas generated by the author, along with her instructions will help any beginning potter to put some finesse into their pottery. What it does for someone like me, a potter with 16 years experience, is to give me a little dose of inspiration since I know most of the techniques. However, don't pick up this book and expect to become an expert handbuilding potter.

Great resource for potters

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-08-06

This a a great resource for the functional potter or ceramic artists. Full of images and inspiration, as well as detailed inspructions of many items. A must have.

Handbuilt pottery book

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-12

Good pottery book for hand building. Some interesting and workable ideas.

Quirky tableware in an otherwise well-written book

Helpful Votes: 56 out of 58 total.
Review Date: 2001-06-28

I was misled by the cover of this book thinking that the tableware inside would be clean, simple and elegant. I couldn't be more wrong. I find many of the pieces featured looking weird and overly-decorated. Maybe that's what the author means by "distinctive". This is my greatest misgiving about the book. Otherwise, the author did quite a good job explaining the basics of pottery (with helpful tips along the way), guiding the reader on how to make tableware to suit the four seasons, and demonstrating the surface decoration styles of four different artists. There is a glossary at the end of the book and appendices detailing cone-firing ranges and glaze formulas.

Sparked new ideas for my own work

Helpful Votes: 7 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2004-08-02

The technical information in this book is excellent: well presented, illustrated and explained. While I agree with the other reviewer that most of the actual projects shown are not fitting with my taste, the ideas and techniques presented have proven helpful to me. I also found myself wishing that the cover art was included in the how-to projects (which it is not). My only other criticism is that darting is not covered, but great examples of it are, so the reader never gets the explanation of how such forms are achieved.

Overall, this is one of the best technique books I've come across. I would recommend it, especially for the hobby or beginning potter. If you have a formal education in the ceramic arts you will know most of these tips already and find the suggested projects lacking in sophistication. It may however spark some new ideas for your own work.

Lights, Camera, Hairballs!: Garfield at the Movies (Garfield (Unnumbered))

Published in Paperback by Ballantine Books (2006-06-06)

Author: Jim Davis

List price: $12.95

New price: $4.99
Used price: $0.05

Average review score:

A Humorous review of movies

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-03-24

Its too bad we don't use Garfield for movie reviews because it would make choosing the right one easier.

Great Gift

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-10

I bought this book for my 9-year-old son, and he loves it! He loves recognizing many of the movies mentioned in the book, and we talk about the other movies he doesn't know. This book has given him hours of laughs, and he loves sharing it with his friends.

Garfield & the Movies

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-12-27

My 8 year old son wanted this book because he loves Garfield. This is a very good book and it helps him to read different types of letters. My older son (11) read the book and liked it as well. I think it is a very funny book. It does help that we all like Garfield.

Garfield Treasury

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2007-03-23

I teach second grade that there is no bigger movitater to reading than Garfield books. So I spent a fortune of my classroom funds buying new ones only to have them fall apart and be useless.Not just one Garfield book, but all of the ones I had bought...maybe 4 or 5 of them. When I complained to Amazon they said they had no control over workmanship and it was "too bad" that that had occurred, but there was nothing they could do. Anyone who reads this needs to buy only library bound copies, as the customer has no way of knowing of this malady until it's too late and you have a pile of pages in your classroom library.
Kathy Carbone

Garfield Theater!

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-11-06

This is great! Garfield gives his review of "Garfield Style" movies. I love all the puns and inside jokes. You have to love movies to enjoy this book.