Movies Books

These cards have lingo from classic b/w gangster films on one side, and an explanation with a film still on the other. The cards also give the character's and star's names, the movie, the release date, and the director. Example: Button = Face with a still of of James Cagney smashing a half-grapefruit in Mae Clarke's face at the breakfast table. The box is nice, it has a ribbon to lift the cards out without forcing or bending them.

Okay.. for those of you who are expecting to add this card set to your postcard collection... like I was until I opened this box... they are just normal flash cards. They are not postcards. If you are a postcrosser like me, you dont want to get these cards.

Getting an education in tough guys and bad behavior doesn't get more retro than this. This is a set of flashcards, each featuring a famous one-liner and movie still from all the classic gangster flicks. Fatten up on the skinny on the films and you'll be on top of the world, you dirty rat!

The Midwest Book Review, offered for this no doubt highly polished lens upon a world whose penchant for vapid self-indulgence makes philosophical solipsism seem a team sport, claims that "insightful observations, along with the revelations that rocked Hollywood, make fascinating suggestions about the old studio star system and its abuses -- as well as today's financial pressures and changing morays." Out in the tall corn the average wholesome looby might lose sight of the fact that morays are unchangingly eels and only eels. Mores would be the thing the MBR wants and that Hollywood affects to mirror.

This book is positivly fantastic! It is such a fascinating subject. And Sinclair definitly does it justice. I have read it so many times its falling apart. I am the process of ordering a new one. As soon as I can afford it. Oh, BTW. Ms. Sinclair my name is Laura Gasparac, I recently wrote you a letter complimenting your book. I hope you got it and I'm waiting for the reply, hint, hint. Thanks again!

I enjoyed reading Hollywood Lolita up to the next-to-last chapter. It is filled with gorgeous photos and being quite young there were several personalities I had never heard of (like Mary Pickford who played little-girl roles until she was 32!!). I also enjoyed the chapter about Shirley Temple, but the Brooke Shields / Jodie Foster part of the book really deceived me.

Being a huge Brooke fan, the constant ridiculing tone the author used while describing Brooke's roles and talent was infuriating. I also wished Mrs Sinclair would have skipped the moralist comments (aka : Oh the big bad mom who let her 3 year old bare her behind for a Coppertone commercial). Maybe the author wishes she'd have been a child star instead of a rather unknown author ? Who knows !

In any case, if you're interested in cinematography and young actresses, buy this book. Read the bios, look at the pictures and skip the author's sore comments.

I was hoping for larger photos, maybe even larger pages, but there is a fine representation of movie posters in this book.

Being a fan of the B grade movies that get shown in the annual Incredibly Strange Film Festival, this book was an obvious purchase and I wasn't disappointed. There is a feast of all that's good and bad about these movie genres. The reproduction is superb and the selection thoughtful. My only criticism is that there is no logic and probably only the author's personal preference as to how big or small each poster gets presented - on some pages there is only one poster, on others there are 5 - I would have preferred one per page, but I guess that would have more than doubled the price. I only hope that there will be a second volume soon!

Bruce Hershenson has managed over several books to enlighten many of us who are involvred in collecting movie posters. From his Crime Movie Posters, Horror Movie Posters,Academy award winners and a whole rope let alone string in his ever increasing catalogue we are able to gain great reference for the discerning collector. Also for those who perhaps cannot afford to invest into some great titles Hershenson has enabled those with a tight budget to appreciate the poster art from the twentieth century at a very reasonable cost.

The content is laid out in a similar fashion to his previous books starting with early titles from the silent era, Homer's Odyssey 1909 right up to 1999's Sleepy Hollow, covering a multitude of titles, actors and actresses and subjects all coming under the heading of Horror, Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Such recognisable titles as Dracula, Batman and Raiders of the Lost Ark to lesser known titles such as Phantom From Space and The Green Pastures with an image to cover each year.

The quality is very high with great colour on all the pages and at such a reasonable price this is truly a bargain, for a collector, a fan, a movie buff or just someone who likes to sit and watch a late night movie this is an excellent buy.

Perhaps the only critcism for any of these books is the lack of text on the artists that produced the great artwork. A history on the film is all well and good and has probably been produced elsewhere, even if it is in Halliwell's but for the poster the artist is the all important person. It would be nice to know to whom the credit should go for such evocative art work. An impossible task perhaps, although if there were only a dozen images explained then this and all of Bruce Hershenson's book's would receive 5 stars and two thumbs up.

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 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.

- Gail Cooke

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.

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.

Every parent should own this book, especially parents who THINK they know what "bad" content is. No parent in his or her right mind would allow a preschooler to watch programs featuring murder and mayhem, but sensitive parents realize that the most seemingly innocuous content can produce unexpectedly strong reactions in kids. By way of example, I'm reminded of a friend who was so frightened by a coconut that had a face carved in it (in a G-rated movie) that he refused to visit the grocery store produce section for months! This didn't go over well with his mother, as you can imagine. Cantor's book explains why such a thing occured by reviewing her extensive and rigorous program of research on the types of stimuli that produce fright reactions in children of different ages. It helped me understand why my husband had such strong fright reactions to nuclear war movies as an adolescent in the 80s, and why I was so afraid of clowns in the early 70s. The idea is that perceptual differences exist among kids in different developmental stages, and these differences can put them at risk for significant fright reactions that parents cannot always see coming. Cantor's book also deals with the most effective coping strategies for kids of different ages, thereby empowering parents to help their kids deal with fright reactions that couldn't be prevented (given that parents can't always preview what their kids see and that a G rating is no guarantee of fright-free content). With so many parents allowing their kids to watch the news these days, this book is more important than ever.

I was not prepared for what I learned when I read this book. Dr. Cantor is very forthright in telling parents and caregivers the effects of television and movies on children. She reminds us that very young children process the world in a very different way from adults, and we, as adults, have to be very aware of that difference as we choose TV shows and Movies for our kids. She herself was surprised by some of the results of her research, and that honesty was refreshing.

Most interesting to me was the fact that some of these events were singular, ie, happened once, and the now-college aged students remember vividly their fear and their reactions to their exposure to certain shows.

It makes me, as a parent, realize that it is up to ME to serve as the filter through which my children's TV and Movie choices come. If I don't protect them, no one else will.

With the movie and TV ratings guided more by the bottom line than than a concern for our children's emotional welfare, it is even more vital that all parents become aware and actively involved in their kids' viewing habits.

I highly recommend it, but you may not like the conclusions you will probably draw from it. As for us, the tube is off, for now.

I don't need a book to tell me what my children should not watch. They watch what I put on for them to watch. Half the families in America today put television sets hooked up to cable/sat. in their children's rooms. These are the same parents that get their children internet access in their rooms. Later they want to complain that their children see violence on T.V. and sex on the internet. By the way, these are also the parents that complain about violent video games. Common sense is a beautiful thing and parents need to start using it. If you don't want your children to see "bad" movies, don't let them go to the movies. If you don't want them to see certain things on the interent, don't give them access. Hate video games? Easy, don't buy them, don't allow your children to have a game system at all. My personal favorite, if you are having a hard time keeping your children away from "bad" T.V., take away the T.V. Cancel your cable and rent family friendly dvds. Please stop allowing your children to run you and make their own choices. Learn to tell them "No, you can't always get what you want."

This guy is a hack.

In spite of what you might hear to the contrary, you are better off to simply obtain a copy of the Chicago Reader - a free newspaper and this guy's primary vehicle - or see it on the web: chireader. Simply find any of his reviews and read backwards and you will quickly spot patterns. He generally uses history as a crutch and typically attacks directors and actors directly rather than addressing the actual films - ESPECIALLY when the films might be more politically oriented.

His examples are generally trite and frankly you'd be better finding out about this guy's politics before you bother reading anything he writes claiming to be "political". I feel sorry for any film students out there that have this as course material and more so for anyone who was self-motivated to seek this out.

Jonathan Rosenbaum is a rare film critic. He writes with an understanding of film theory and history, and also with a perspective of culture and politics, which is emphasized in the selection of these essays. At the same time, he never gets academic to the point of dryness, though many complain precisely about this point. Always, there is a respect for the intelligence of the reader, and he does what I think a film critic should do, which is to teach the reader something about a film, and to help him/her see it in a deeper way. This is not the method of "I recommend this movie / I do not recommend this movie" critiquing.

The films he covers in this book range from those that most moviegoers have seen (Schindler's List, Star Wars) to those that even dedicated film lovers may have missed (Black Girl, Tih-Minh). Of course, it helps a lot to actually see the film before reading the essay on the film, and it's worthwhile to try doing so. Still, some of the films are hard to come by, and even reading Rosenbaum's essays without seeing the film(s) referred to can be a learning experience. He supplies you with information about the film, the director, history and culture, and the film production process, and in reading him, you can't help but begin to integrate all these elements into your film viewing experience.

This book is entertaining and informative, and has deepened my appreciation for film. The Chicago Reader's film column has gained a fan.

Rosenbaum is easily the most interesting film critic writing in english these days, and this is the most accessible collection of his work available. Refusing to succumb to the mindless thumbs-up-or-thumbs-down tactic so common among non-academic critics, while avoiding the endless mire of carrying on a dialogue within the confines of the Ivory Tower, Rosenbaum's writing and analyses are engaging and pursuasive. I certainly don't find myself agreeing with each turn of his discourse -- but nor do I feel insulted. Rather, as often as not, such disagreements serve to inspire thought -- a pleasure that too little writing about film seems to induce.

The Iroquois believe that before man walked the earth there was a great tribe of sky people who lived without worry or pain on a floating island. One day Sky Woman became pregnant with twins and was pushed by her murderous husband from their happy island home. Instead of plummeting to her death she was caught by birds and carried to safety. There was no land for her so they sprinkled earth on the back of a turtle and placed Sky Woman there.
Sky Woman gave birth to two healthy boys. She named her first son Sapling and he made all that is good and right in the world. He made the trees green and heavy with fruit. He made the waters cool and potable and he filled them up with a bounty of fish. Sky Woman's other son represented all that was dark in the world. He made the rivers flow away and turned the fruit to rot. He salted the earth where he walked and burned the forests to ash. He was the unmaker, the despoiler, the scourge and bane. He was VINEBERG and VINEBERG he remains. He'd like two of the Lucky Millions scratch-offs, please.

VINEBERG is going to climb Everest just to steal George Mallory's corpse. VINEBERG watches NASCAR for the crashes. VINEBERG forgot to leave off the pickles and he has hidden the complaint box. VINEBERG is a first responder. He's going to press his ear to your face and listen to your eyes glaze over. VINEBERG is going to taste your tears.
When the tempest crashes against the lighthouse and the beacon leads the ships aground, VINEBERG will be there riding on his trusty octopus Mephisto. VINEBERG is preoccupied with knitting. VINEBERG can fly but he prefers to travel as an airborne pathogen from host to host. VINEBERG is mutating the avian flu because he likes chickens better than you. VINEBERG loves kudzu, enough to marry it.

There are only two certain things in life: death and VINEBERG, taxes can take a hike. VINEBERG invented hide and seek to lure unattended children into abandoned refrigerators. VINEBERG wore a yarmulke when he traveled through time and beat up teenage Hitler. VINEBERG is digging up a pet cemetery and calling UPS with your address. The Chinese keep crickets as pets and VINEBERG keeps the Chinese as pets. VINEBERG has forbidden dancing on the weekend. VINEBERG is anaerobic.

VINEBERG is running a fraudulent cancer wig program to make sweaters for rich German eccentrics. VINEBERG is using Comic Sans. VINEBERG is opening the attachment. VINEBERG is entrusting a Nigerian with your banking information. VINEBERG just said "LOL" out loud just because he knows you hate it. VINEBERG is framing an expired gift certificate from Burger King. VINEBERG just blamed it on the dog.
VINBERG is sewing dolphin fins to amputees at Walter Reed. Don't blame VINEBERG, he voted for LaRouche. VINEBERG'S car is made entirely out of magnetic ribbons. VINEBERG supports the troops but not the war. VINEBERG is issuing a fatwah.

We would all die alone if it weren't for VINEBERG. VINEBERG is rowing you across the River of Death on your journey to the Kingdom of the West. VINEBERG is weighing your heart in the Hall of Osiris. VINEBERG knows a shortcut across the Lake of Fire. VINEBERG isn't telling. VINEBERG will be confronting his baby mama on Jerry Springer. VINEBERG just threw a baseball game because a terminally ill kid's final wish was that he win. VINEBERG is turning state's evidence.

VINEBERG is not permitted to live within 500 meters of a uranium centrifugal isotope sluice. VINEBERG is selling loose nukes to Syria. VINEBERG just bought up the world's stockpile of tungsten. He's building something, but no one is sure what.

VINEBERG is the sole financier of the hemp lobby. VINEBERG knows his rope. VINEBERG is handing out the brown acid. VINEBERG is having an old-fashioned freak out.

Behind the black door he toils and works. Flashes of welding and mechanical jerks. Ozone stink fills the hall and pounding hammers shake the wall. The loops of cable spill out like hair but no one knows what he's building in there. One day the door is open, the serpents come and the seals are broken. He has fused himself to his creation. The rising tide of blood drowns the coast and the skies are filled with fire. VINEBERG rises up on three mechanical legs and howls at the coruscating light that burns down the stars. He is god and betrayer, the unmaker, the despoiler, the scourge and bane. He is the end and the beginning and he is looking for a great deal on rust proofing.

Imagine writing a book and titling it NO Surprises, Please! That gives you an idea of how hip this author is. The book is dull, the insights are slight and the prose style is irritating. I stumbled upon this book in a library jumble sale... The concept for the book is so lame that it really should have been contained within an article in a university publication or some staid periodical for an audience of dullards. It's out of print now, mercifully, and is already so dated feeling that it's doubtful it will ever see the light of day again, but just in case you find another copy lying around in a pile or see this author's name on another book (please, no) you have been warned!

This book is perhaps the best thing to happen to the cinema since Godard, and the best thing to happen to American cinema since God saw fit to mix amino acid with soul. When Emerson wrote about a new American poet carrying on his legend, he was not prophesying Whitman, he was shouting loud to the reverberate hills the name of Vineberg. The structure of this book is flawless, its insights sublime, its witticisms sharp, and its footnotes helpful. I've heard in various circles challenges to the authors hipness. Hemingway was not hip my friends. Hemingway may have been hardcore, but he did not know the words to this Mitch Miller hit, or that bee bop and skat tune. Steven Vineberg is both hardcore and hip, having memorized the lyrics to Eminem's smooth rap anthem, "Lose Yourself." In fact, Steve Vineberg is Marshall Mathers. His hatred of such 80s classics as The Breakfast Club and Ghostbusters II brought him to a level of rage unseen in white rap since Ed Isser screamed to Jon Tobin, "No one can be as intense as me." You can see the influence of filth like Mannequin in his lyric, "You don't wanna mess with Vineberg, cuz Vineberg will tear you paper up." Seriously, though, Vineberg is a meticulous writer and the most discerning critic of our day. A coincidental acronym for this professorial entity is "never, beg invest," and I implore my Amazon brothers and Sisters to never beg, but invest your hard earned 2.94$ in this book and help unseat J.K. Rowling. By the way, Vineberg likes Cuaron, the director of HP3, and he is my choice to direct HP7, "Harry Potter and the search for Macdougal's last paper."

As someone from a New Age background, I found it refreshing to see accurate potrayal of a New Age character in Christian literature. But the main bad guy was the only character who was well developed, and I think the story could have used better character development throughout.

I loved the plot line, however. I found it interesting to read about Christians on Mars. I also found the decay of Christianity leading to the New Age-style global religion hauntingly realistic. That and the fast pace of the novel helped keep me interested despite the two dimensional main characters.

Seddon has some good ideas, but he can't write his way out of a paper bag. The characters were one-dimensional and uninteresting; the New Age bad guy was laughably stupid. I enjoyed this book's novel premise and how Seddon tried to focus on religion in the future (which, in SF, is usually not a hot topic.) You can see how Seddon is extrapolating anti-Christian trends in today's society to his future world, which is very interesting and makes it more plausible.

Seddon should have sub-contracted his ideas to an author who could really make an interesting story out of them.

Excellent plot if you like science fiction. Excellent portrayal of Christians under persecution.

A couple of criticisms though: The beginning is unnecessarily confusing when introducing characters - he gives the identity of the character after the description. A couple of unnecessarily strong scenes make it unsuitable for children.

Steven Pulchaski, whose fanzine and website "Shock Cinema" offer reviews of the most obscure and bizarre films ever released, has fallen flat on his desire to please mainstream territory. Every film in this book is available at Blockbuster, and while this may be a benefit for novices, most people interested in a book called "Slimetime" want to hear more about the buried treasures of the sleaze era. Also, it's clear that Pulchaski hasn't seen all the films he writes about, a sin for film fans that is almost unforgivable. Buy "Sleazoid Express" instead, or at least check out Pulchaski's web site. The man's brilliant, but you'll find no evidence of it here.

what is wrong with you? all of these in Blockbuster? what Blockbuster are YOU going to? (And, what are you doing going there in the firstplace? No sleaze/trash film fan would ever even look upon a Blockbuster, let along go IN!) Puchalski has OBVIOUSLY seen al the films HE reviews (can't speak for his guests). This book is amazingly fun. Get it and enjoy!

400 pages of PURE GOLD!! Steve Puchalski started out in the publishing world producing a zine called SLIMETIME. Along with GORE GAZETTE and SLEAZOID EXPRESS it was one of the best publications of its type around in the 80's. Now he has compiled all those early issues into one amazing tome that will bring a sentimental tear to older horror, cult and sleaze fans like me, and open the eyes of a whole new audience to much cinematic cheese that they may not be aware of. This book has something for everyone, be they gorehound, arthouse, tv, transgressive or even mainstream fans.
This updated version also includes a review of a live performance of Hunter S Thompson and lengthy essays on biker, drug and blaxploitation films.
Puchalski is still involved in publishing, with his great SHOCK CINEMA magazine. Discover his roots with this book and you'll quickly be sending off a subscription cheque to that publication.
In a word, this book is ESSENTIAL.

A must have for every filmmaker, motion picture historian, movie reviewer, and film fan. Absolutely everything you wanted to know about what goes into making movies work the way they do.

-- Reni Bor-Nevets

Your book is to long per thought. Hard to read, and some of the words you used are not even in the dictionary.

I've used this book in teaching film courses (I'm a former student of Professor Gollin myself) and find this a very readable introduction to the study of film. Prof. Gollin takes the reader through the production process as well as explaining various academic and critical approaches to film studies. I would recommend this to any serious film viewer who is looking for a place to begin a deeper understanding of this popular art form.