Movies Books

This is the journal that got me hooked on quality. Wine-colored cover with small 'Turner Movie Classics: King Kong' poster reproduction. Endpapers are pale navy blue, with a band of tiny diamonds. Pages are creamy, with white lines. Holds up beautifully to any kind of quality pen. Library guards will mistake it for a library book, and other people in coffeehouses will drool with envy.
As an art history student, I found it useful both for notes and sketches (the lines are very discrete), and have filled three so far.

OK.....I write this with my dunce cap cemented firmly to my head. I'd ordered this thinking it was some kind of "Journal", as in a documentation journal OF THE MOVIE KIND detailing the film, considering it *IS* listed as the KING KONG JOURNAL, in the book section. Well, dear folks, it *is* a journal with King Kong's picture on the cover and the rest of the pages are for your own thoughts & words etc etc. Get it? I didn't. That plane flew right past my head.
If you're looking for a movie book, I recommend SPAWN OF SKULL ISLAND, since this ain't what it seems. If you want a cool, rather small, blank journal for your own observations, this might work. And though I'm a little disappointed, I'm going to use this as a take-along sketch diary since the lines are a faint white over cream colored pages. It's really not bad if you are looking for a journal. I just wish it were a little more clearly stated as such and not jumbled in with the real books, which accounts for the weird rating I'd given.

Legendary War Movies is a good book full of interesting facts about countless war movies throughout movie history. Covering such famous ones as Battleship Potempkin to Apocalypse Now, from Bridge on the River Kwai to Birth of a Nation, this book does cover most of the well known war movies. However, it leaves out several notables including The Great Escape, Kelly's Heroes, A Bridge too Far, and several others of my favorites. Another interesting aspect of the book was the quizzes you could take about which war a movie was about, famous lines, stars' careers before the movies, and a couple others. This isn't the definitive book about war movies, but it is very enjoyable with plenty of facts about our favorite war movies.

I'm a huge fan of war movies, and while this is far from a definitive guide, it does have plenty of great trivia from some of the best war movies ever made. It has great behind-the-scenes info about such classics as "All Quiet on the Western Front", "Spartacus", "Patton", "Glory", and many others. The best parts of the book are the trivia pages, with such things as match the actor with the famous line. My main problem with the book is the historical errors, especially about the American Civil War. The author claims that as many as 700,000 Americans were killed in combat during the war, which is totally ludicrous. Fewer than 210,000 from both sides combined were either killed in action or mortally wounded. The majority of deaths during the Civil War were from disease, not combat. What's even more insulting is that the author claims that 40,000 died in the battle of Antietam!!! Actually, the Union army reported 2,108 of their own as killed; the Confederates reported 1,546 of their own as killed. With such errors as these, I cannott give the book 5 stars (actually 4 stars is a generous rating!). But, the info and photos from some of my favorite war movies was very enjoyable so I recommend it to fans of war movies. Just be aware that there are far better books available on the subject!

For her 1988 collection, "Emerald Ice: Selected Poems 1962 - 1987," Diane Wakoski was awarded the Poetry Society of America William Carlos Williams Award. That award is a fitting tribute, for Wakoski draws on Williams' book-length poem "Paterson" as a model for this 1990 volume, "Medea the Sorceress."

"Medea the Sorceress" - volume one of a longer work entitled The Archeology of Movies and Books - is a more ambitious project than Wakoski's initial attempt at a book length work, the ongoing Greed poems. Wakoski draws upon Williams example of incorporating short lyric poems, letters to various friends, prose fragments from other authors and meditations on various subjects (notably the new physics and Hollywood movies) into a layered verse structure. And like "Paterson," Wakoski enables a specific geography to speak to larger concerns.

However, Wakoski's specific geography (outlined by a map in the beginning of the book) is not an actual location but a poetic locale that expands across two continents and the poet's own lifetime. As in the short imagistic and lyric poems for which she is well known, Wakoski utitlizes the material of her own life in the creation of a personal mythology. The result, in "Medea the Sorceress," is an original work that expands upon earlier attempts at the long form.

The proposed title for this multi-volume work - The Archeology of Movies and Books (which is also the title of a remarkable poem in the present volume) - suggests the unearthing of personal meaning found in film and literature. The title hints at what the art critic Donald Kuspit calls "archaeologism," or post-modernism as excavation. Kuspit - linking such a practice to Freud's use of the archeological metaphor to explain the psychoanalytic method and Michael Foucault's archeological analysis - sees archaeologism as a method of establishing meaning from the discursive, fragmented depths of the unconscious. "Medea the Sorceress" may be read in this dusty light. Come prepared with trowels that dig at metaphor.

I'm not someone who normally buys poetry collections, although I do like poetry, and have several collections on my shelves (including a complete works of ee cummings that I'm still working my way through and a battered hardback of the complete poetry of T.S. Eliot). So why did I pick up this collection by Wakoski? A correspondent turned me onto this passage:

"My model is your double world reality in Sleeping In Flame, which people can conveniently interpret as the physical and the psychological if they wish to ignore magic."

She is, indeed, referring to the novel by Jonathan Carroll, and this collection is full of a strange interpretation influenced by and predicated on Carroll's novels. Like the best poetry, it is so much more, as well.

The structure is unlike any other poetry collection I've ever come across. Intermixed with the poems are letters purportedly from Wakoski to Carroll and a young protege named Craig--I say purportedly because I doubt that what we see are the same words that Wakoski actually might send these two--and quotes from Nick Herbert's Quantum Reality: Beyond the New Physics. The combination is appealing to a jaded, sound-bite audience, with its quick jumps from one style and tone to the next. We may not be sure what the hell Wakoski is trying to get at, but it is kind of fun to take the ride with her. And, every once and a while, the poetry truly shines, as in the self-effacing "My $15 Lily," wherein Wakoski details a purchase mistake, or the personally-revealing "Men's Eyes," in which she starts with those famous eyes of movie stars, but somehow ends up with those eyes of her husband.

I picked up this volume because of the Carroll connection, but I plan to pick up the successor to this (a planned trilogy of volumes under the heading "The Archaeology of Movies and Books") because Wakoski is interesting in her own right.

The new Pink Panther movie tells the story of how the world's worst detective, Jacques Clouseau, first achieves the rank of inspector, sleuths the murder of a famous soccer coach, and recovers the Pink Panther diamond. Max Allan Collins' novelization follows the movie's shooting script closely. But most fans of the new movie realize the film's original release date was delayed when Columbia Tristar decided the movie required extensive reshoots. Max Allan Collins' novel is filled with jokes, some of them hilarious, that didn't make the final cut of the movie. Many of them were too risqué for the target audience.

Max Allan Collins is a pro when it comes to murder mysteries and humor, so he's a perfect choice to write a novel based on this more mystery-geared Pink Panther story. The prose is seamless. Collins also provides insights into the characters that make them more empathetic during the story's sentimental scenes and that suggest Clouseau might not be quite as bumbling as he appears, adding a little more realism to the climax in which Clouseau actually does solve the murder. Also, the novel pays tribute to the original Peter Sellers Pink Panther films in ways the movie does not. Several quirks that Peter Seller's brought to the role are described even though they were nixed from the new film, and fans of the original Pink Panther films might be excited to learn Professor Auguste Balls designed the camoflauge Clouseau wears when he traps the killer in the book's climax.

Unfortunately, the novel is missing the benefit of Steve Martin's brilliant performance, one of the movie's strongest assets. Also, many of the jokes are less funny read in prose after being seen acted out on the big screen. Still, fans of the Pink Panther movies might find this book worth a look.

I have to admit I had very low expectations when I picked up Max Allan Collins' novelization of Steve Martin's prequel to Peter Sellers' classic film The Pink Panther. In fact, the only reason I gave it a chance at all is because of Collins' name on the cover. Since I read Two for the Money last year, Collins has quickly topped my list of favorite authors. I will read anything he writes, and if anyone could make something out of what is sure to be a travesty (this poor attempt to reignite a dead franchise), it would be Max Allan Collins.

The Pink Panther is a very quick read. At 250 pages, it flies by; Collins' prose is smooth and easy to read, flowing quickly through the all-too-familiar plot to a surprisingly appropriate finishing one-liner. It's fun, provided you don't think about it too much.

The problem seems to be that Collins didn't have all that much to work with. The body of The Pink Panther's storyline (script by Len Blum and Steve Martin from a story by Blum and Michael Saltzman) is weak and relies on pratfalls, bad-accent humor, and completely unsubtle sexual innuendo for its laughs. Physical comedy is hard enough to perform properly, and Collins is stuck with the thankless task of trying to describe it.

It is therefore not surprising that little humor remains. While Collins may be a superb comic writer, he is not a comedy writer; mysteries are his forte. Sadly, the "mystery" as such is of little consequence in The Pink Panther; the purpose is solely to witness Inspector Jacques Clouseau's bumblings toward eventual -- if probably undeserved -- success.

After reading The Pink Panther, I am not likely to see the film -- not that I had planned to in the first place. It just seems like so much of a waste of time -- even though, given how long the film's release was delayed, there is probably a good deal that is different in the finished film from the script that Collins used as his source. But it's rarely a good sign when poor audience testing requires reshooting scenes or reediting the film.

No, if anything, I'll just get out my well-worn copy of A Shot in the Dark and try to recapture some of the magic of the legendary Blake Edwards / Peter Sellers team, while Max Allan Collins' novelization of The Pink Panther is relegated to its rightful place in my Collins collection but unlikely to be opened again.

I purchased this book expecting some of the mythologies of the film to be collected in some sort of encyclopedic format. Instead I was pleasantly surprised to find this filled with many anecdotes about the filming of many of the great classic horror films.

The text is very dry and matter of fact, and many of the stories are ones told a thousand times over. The pictures are well worth the price of admission with some rare candid shots and many publicity stills that are getting tougher to find. Some of the anecdotes and quotes were new to me so it was a fairly pleasant read overall.

There are better books on the subject but this one gets a passing grade for a horror buff.

This book is a very good book, i like scary movies and stories. This is definetly a top pick in my choice.

This book is small but its contents are Big. On records like Evol & Daydream Nation, Lee would spew forth words "@ breakneck speed, every bolt rumbling", things from real life & beyond whilst the band cranked it up perfectly. On paper it seems different but it helps to read it out aloud yrself. Of course a large part of this has been recorded for a record called Dirty Windows that came out last year, but still it is good to have in this form. In the Kingdom #19 is longer than the song itself was, & you find out what it is about, how THE CAR & DRIVER take over everything in certain moments of raw power & the landscape of rural or urban America. A lustful side of his personality is revealed in New Condo, Me & Jill [appeared on Ciccone Youth: the Whitey Album many years ago] & Angels. Some of the poems are contemplative, others are violent & passionate. Sonic Youth fans [i.e. anyone w/ 1/2 a brain] should enjoy this on some level, maybe fans of modern poetry will too. LEE IS FREE!

I bought Road Movies at a spoken word performance by Lee Ranaldo and Jim Carrol at the Landsdowne Street Playhouse in Boston, MA. In performance, Ranaldo's Road Movies comes alive. The Sonic Youth guitarist played to a pre-recorded tape of guitar affects, while playing live guitar and reciting his poems. Leah Singer, Ronaldo's wife, was on hand to project her dusty-rural road scenes as a backdrop and accompanyment. The performance was truly animated and exciting. But on paper Ranaldo's words and Singer's photographs come across rather blandly. I don't regret the purchase and I do refer to the book from time to time, but for someone who is not a Sonic Youth fan (or a fan of Ranaldo's solo works, for that matter), I'm afraid I wouldn't recomend Road Movies. Many of the poems featured in Road Movies can also be found in alternate versions on Ranaldo's various recordings with jazz drummer William Hooker.

I like a good crime movie. I also like reading about good crime movies, so getting The Rough Guide to Gangster Movies was an easy choice. And for the most part, after reading it, I found it to be a good choice too.

Like the other Rough movie guides, this book is divided in several sections. We get a brief history of the genre, a "canon" of fifty movies that are - in the author Lloyd Hughes opinion - essentially gangster film viewing, a look at the key people and trademarks at the genre and a world tour of gangster films in other countries.

For the most part, the Guide is a fun read, giving the readers some new insights into films they've seen and some ideas of new directions to explore. On the other hand, the Guide has its flaws: there are occasional typos and, more seriously, incorrect descriptions. In addition, at times, Hughes is sometimes a little too casual in his writing, using slang and abbreviations that may not be clear to many readers.

Even with these issues, it still rates four stars. It may not be a perfect book, but it will give people unfamiliar with the genre a good first look at gangster/crime movies; for those more experienced with these films, it will give the readers a little bit more to chew on.

The Gangster Rough Guide is great if you are looking for a certain gangster film, or just browsing. As for the reviews, skip them. Is there a ganster movie that Lloyd Hughes actually liked? It falls into the nitpicking category- yes, some of these films weren't exactly screen gems, but the level of negativity is simply off-putting. Worth a read, but you should decide for yourself about whether the movies are actually good.
THREE STARS

This book contains over 600 carefully selected, cleaned and restored frames from the actual movies, with dialogue captures. A rare find for the true collector.

There is only so much that can be put together and rehashed before it becomes boring to even the most ardent of fans. This book is a compilation of some of their funniest moments in their movies including the famous 'why a duck' scene from 'The Cocoanuts' This book is for the avid Marx Brothers fan who wants to have their famous moments in writing. I was disappointed that it had nothing more than script segments that I already have in other books. Buy this book as a first in your collection, not to finish a collection off.

This is a nice dictionary for woodcarving students, but judging from the title, I was expecting a 'how-to' book of "Tricks, Tips & Shortcuts". It isn't. Lots of descriptions, photos & explanations, but no procedures, technique or instruction laid out for beginning carvers, as in Richard Butz's book, "How To Carve Wood".
Given a proper title, the book would earn more stars, in my opinion, because the author obviously knows his subject matter, so I feel awkward giving him a low rating. I'd rather direct my low rating toward a book editor who titles a book "Problem Solver', when the book format is not one that poses problems and their solutions. But I honestly was disappointed that I did not get the book that I thought I had ordered.

I am the author of the Woodcarver's Problem Solver. This unique book answers nearly four hundred questions that are most often asked by both my professional and hobby students. The questions cover many technical issues about workshop tools and equipment and problems about carving technique.

Each item is alphabetically listed, and hundreds are color illustrated with captions. Where they are related, entries are cross referenced with one another making this illustrated workshop reference very easy to use. Together with my other book "Decorative Woodcarving - the Complete Course", this book creates a substantial self learning workshop package.

I have been reading a lot of Sue Grafton lately and loving them all. This was the first one that I found I wasn't enjoying as much as the rest. After reading reviews here, I see that I am not alone. It's really quite strange. The main plot is fairly slow moving and not very captivating. I agree with other reviewers who said they liked the subplot with Kinsey trying to find a new office space better. Most of the reviews mention the peculiar ending. This book really needs a better conclusion than what we are given. I can understand Grafton's desire to try something new, but it's odd since it is part of a series and it's really more irritating that anything else because it just doesn't work. I would be curious to hear Grafton discuss this book in detail to better understand her process in writing it.

I've to date read every book in the series (except "I" and "Q" which I'll read soon). Of these reads, this one is the most uninteresting book I've encountered. It's as if the author tired of the subject and decided that 350 pages was enough and... oh, well. At least the characterization of Kinsey is still intact. I'm sorry - I don't wish to write a negative review but the weak ending (and the lack of the "Respectfully Submitted" report) is what ruined the read for me.

What was that? I've enjoyed Sue Grafton's A through O books over the past year, but this was sub-par. I kept waiting for something interesting to happen, but it never did. The book just (mercifully) . . . ended.

It is very difficult to review this book as I have not received it. I could review how long it has taken to figure out how to let you know that it has not been received. It was the only book coming from Amazon -- Customer Service asked that I return the book sent in error. I DIDN'T receive anything from Amazon. It wasn't shipped, according to USPS. And now, as I understand it I am unable to get it because of a mistake Amazon made. Yes, they graciously agreed to refund my money -- but since I didn't receive the book and had paid for it, Amazon should refund my money.

I will probably not order any more books from Amazon. Trying to get this straightened out has been quite a trial.

Judy Comstock

I read Q firt then read N, R, D and a few others. I just finished P and boy was I disappointed. The ending as others have stated is not tied up nicely like usual. In a few of the other novels there were a few strings left hanging which I can forgive. This one there were way to much information found out at the end that didnt figure into the ending at all. What about the sister of the juvie friend? What happened to her? Maybe I missed it. I am pretty good about going back and finding details I may have missed. I did not like the character development in this one. I was surprised that a PI like Ms. Millhone would not do thorough background checks on people that come into her life, professionally or personally.

I like to find an author and read a book. If I like it I get more of them waiting in the wings. This one was a disappointment and had it been the first letter I picked it would be the last.

Sorry Ms. Grafton, this just wasn't the best hours of reading I have had.