Movies Books

Heidi's account of her on-going quest to comeback from paralysis is a beautiful statement of her courage, intelligence and spiritual knowledge. I finally got around to reading this book that a friend gave me and I am so glad I did. What she has to say is a message for all of us. A message on inner peace of understanding how we truly work...physically, emotionally, spiritually, mentally. She is a remarkable woman to not give up and to understand that the physical is just one element of who we are. Do yourself a favor and read this book.

I just finished this book, and I would recommend it to anyone with a spinal injury, especially those who were once athletic. If you ever feel like "giving up", then you MUST read this book!! Matter of fact, I plan to read it again. Inspiring! The book reminded me I MUST keep moving!! Never stop!! Don't give up!!! As long as you keep moving, you'll get better, day by day. Don't ever let the "inner you" die; for THAT INNER SPIRIT is what will keep you and your body alive, and make life meaningful.

In November,1994, was wife and I were involved in a motor vehicle accident which left her a C-6 quad. Ever since the accident I have attempted to create a life which may have resembled that which we used to enjoy yet I was never quite able to find the "magic bullet". When I read the review of Heidi's book I felt I had nothing to loose but to purchase it. I have to tell you, it was Good Medicine! My wife poured through the book several times and with each reading felt more inspired to never end for quest for the cure. In addition to a renewed zeal to live life again Kathleen began to exercise religiously and see progressas aeach week passed. kathleen continues to this day to inform me that "Heidi would do this each day and eventually........" In a nutshell "My Soul Purppose" is a painfully truthful account of a young woman who has sustained an injury which only those who too have sustained a SCI can have an appreciation for her personal tale. Rather than painting a picture of woe Heidi provides personal experiences which provides hope and inspirastion for those individuals who have sustained a SCI. To see the smile and sense the inner peace which my wife experienced as she read "My Soul Purpose" made me accutely aware that the healing which occurs after a SCI is clearly more spiritual than physical. Suffice it is to say that this book has provided the direction to heal the psyche, now it is just a matter of being patient for the rest of the healing to occur!

This is a VERY good book for Eragon lovers and movie fans alike. I have read it a bunch and never tire of it. Lots of pictures (With captions.) Defenetly a MUST HAVE. Quotes from the actors and inside stories are all in.

"Eragon",the book,lacks many things--a plot,believable characters,good writing.But how will it fare as a movie?

"Mythic vision:The making of the movie Eragon" by Mark Cotta Vaz provides a fascinating glimpse into Stefen Fangmeier's heroic attempt to make a dull,derivative book into a fun film.Vaz first follows the self-publishing quest of the author,Christopher Paolini,who through the magic of marketing,became an overnight success.Paolini's Montana boyhood is briefly touched upon--but since this is a book aimed at kids,not teens--it doesn't mention how his parents once belonged to the survivalist cult Church Universal and Triumphant headed by Elizabeth Clare Prophet.

Next,Vaz explores technical aspects of the movie.He shows how the battle of Farthen Dur--which is set in a volcanic crater--was filmed in an actual volcanic crater in Hungary.He tells of how a designer for rock stars made the leather pants&armor.

The most interesting part of the book is the exploration of how Stefen Fangmeier adapted the original "Eragon" and took extensive liberties.For example,in the book,Daret is a useless tangent;in the movie,it becomes the setting for Angela's prophecy to Eragon&it is a city built on a lake.In the book,the Urgals look like Minotaurs;in the movie,they look like barbarians.In the book,the Ra'zac are giant ravenlike beings;in the movie,they resemble mummies.Fangmeier took extensive liberties with the book because the original is deeply flawed.

"Mythic Vision" is a great,fun read.

I believe that this movie will be tremendous. I've read both of Mr. Paolini's books several times over and over again. This is going to be a star hit in the movie industry and I cant wait for the next two movies following his Trilogy.

This book is silly and funny and is based on an episode. Squidward tries to stop SpongeBob and Patrick's game where they blow bubble messages to each other. Squidward gets annoyed and he thinks the only solution is to make them stop being friends. The plan works out. Unforutunalty for Squidward SpongeBob and Patrick are fighting over his friendship! (If there was really any) Squidward decides to make another plan to make them friends again. The plan works but Squidward's house blows up. Nonethouless SpongeBob and Patrick become friends again. My favorite part is when the house blows up.

Squidward tricks Spongebob and Patrick that they are no longer friends because Squidward is annoyed with the bubble messages. Unfortunately, these neighbors are too naughty thayt Squidward has a plan to make them friends again!

This book was great motivation to get my 7 year old to read! She loves watching Spongebob Square Pants and remembered watching this episode on TV. The book had a very funny story and my daughter laughed a lot. I think it is a wonderful book for fans of Spongebob Square Pants, but maybe not for children who do not watch the show. I plan on purchasing more Spongebob books because they keep her so well entertained.

The book is called New York Minute the Success of Jane Ryan's. She's doing fine until her hand held organizer was stolen. Then her sister Roxey got into trouble with the police and she was accused of stealing a jacket and got put in jail, but it wasn't her. Then they found out that it wasn't them and let them go. Also she was running for class president and someone was sabotaging it. Mean while she was getting into a relationship with her crush. She thinks he's the one who's sabotaging her but it's really friend because she's jealous of her. At the end she finds everything out and she wins the campaign.


I really liked the book because it's like a mystery. I would recommend this book to girls because boys wouldn't like it. Also for girls that like mystery type of books. Another thing is this is a Mary-Kate and Ashley book so it could be for Mary-Kate and Ashley fans. This was an exiting book and I couldn't keep my eyes out of the book.

The book is called New York Minute the Success of Jane Ryan's. She's doing fine until her hand held organizer was stolen. Then her sister Roxey got into trouble with the police and she was accused of stealing a jacket and got put in jail, but it wasn't her. Then they found out that it wasn't them and let them go. Also she was running for class president and someone was sabotaging it. Mean while she was getting into a relationship with her crush. She thinks he's the one who's sabotaging her but it's really friend because she's jealous of her. At the end she finds everything out and she wins the campaign.


I really liked the book because it's like a mystery. I would recommend this book to girls because boys wouldn't like it. Also for girls that like mystery type of books. Another thing is this is a Mary-Kate and Ashley book so it could be for Mary-Kate and Ashley fans. This was an exiting book and I couldn't keep my eyes out of the book.

She is the kind of girl everybody wants to be(secertly). But everyone is really like Roxy. This book takes you deep into Janes personal life and what she does. You think she's a goody-goody from what you've seen or heard will think agian. she has an adventures side to herself.

This book has the best of both worlds:
- Through the trivia questions, the book is an enjoyable source of entertainment for the film noir lover, and even let me learn some stuff about my favourite movies;
and
- The list at the end of the book serves as a thorough reference to complete one's knowledge of all the film noir movies out there.
Highly recommended!

I am the author of this book and hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. It's a great way to learn more about your favorite films and learn about films you may never have seen. There is also a large section on actors, writers, and directors which gives insights into their lives.

A fun read for fans of film noir, this book compiles trivia for dozens of the top film noir from the 1940s and 1950s. It's a great way to spend some time, testing your knowledge of these films, the actors who starred in them, the writers who wrote them, and the directors who made them. The book concludes with a fairly comprehensive list of film noir, including many foreign film noir movies not listed in some books on the subject.
Truly a must for the classic movie lover.

Tom Schiller has an amazing filmic vision. It was great to read all the details of the making of this overlooked classic film.

I'm an older SNL fan and I do remember seeing several of Schiller's films on SNL. What I enjoyed most about the book is the details provided for every step of Schiller's cinema portfolio. I never realized how involved the filmmaking process was for a short clip. The writing is easy-going and quite engaging. The photos are precious, and I would have preferred to see them on glossy paper as opposed to on regular paper. Any one who loves films and is considering film as a career should pick up the book. The book really provides a bird's eye view of what the industry is really like: the good and the bad. Makes me appreciate Schiller's work even more.

"Nothing Lasts FOrever" gives SNL fans like me an inside account of how the show was put together in the early years. It's sort of a book within a book. The detailed accounts of Shillers short films, combined with a summary biography of Schiller, provide the background for the intriguing inside story of a feature length film, "Nothing Lasts Forever", written and directed by TOm Schiller in 1982. MGM commisssioned the making of the film but decided not to release it. The six chapters dealing with that film leave the reader interested in seeing it. And the choice of the title of Michael Streeter's book makes it clear that at least one of his motivations for writing this very well researched book is his hope that "Nothing Lasts Forever" will not be lost forever.

As a Destination Imagination team manager, I highly recommend this book for its potential as an improv tool. Teams can create an assortment of wild scenarios and enact the scenes, improving their ability to improvise. With 27,000 possible scenarios, it is a resource that will last teams for years!

Kris Bordessa, author
**Team Challenges: Group Activities to Build Cooperation, Communication and Creativity

The Official Movie Plot Generator is an engaging means to generate 27,000 admittedly cliche movie plot possibilities. Not an ordinary book, The Official Movie Plot Generator is spiral-bound and divided into three segments that can be mix-and-match flipped to put together a number of familiar movie hero styles with two possible yet predictible sidekicks, plot twists, or other features. Sample phrases to mix and match including "A cop who doesn't play by the rules" / "fights crime" / "with a mischievous orangutan" and "a fraternity of lovable slobs, misfits, and drunks" / "indulges in beer bashes, toga parties, and an assortment of ill-advised high jinks" / "despite being admonished by a crusty old dean", and many more. A fun and entertaining sourcebook for linking retreaded popular themes into hilarious combinations.

You can literally spend hours flicking through this book, and it never gets old! It's really good fun, and had my entire family begging for more. I would highly recommend it, both for your own entertainment and as a gift for almost any occasion. Highly addictive!

Biographies are a favorite of mine, and this is the best! This memoir covers a maitre'd's lifetime of experience dealing with the rich and famous in rich and famous hotels. What a job! I loved the little insights into the everyday lives of famous (and infamous) people. I also loved hearing about the history of these grand hotels and their owners. Sometimes funny and sometimes poignant, but always interesting. I loved the tales and the teller of the tales who is both funny and kind in his telling.

Jimmy Vollmer's book is full of great anecdotes and insightful memories of a bygone era of Beverly Hills and Hollywood. He spent the better part of a lifetime serving the rich and famous in two of Beverly Hills' (and the world's) greatest five star hotels. His book evokes memories of a generation of celebrities that will never be replaced. You learn not only about the little known side of celebrities when they occasionally "let their hair down", but you also get a very inside look at what true class, style and service meant before the world became predominated by corporate chains and bean counting management. There is much wisdom in this book from a man who has seen a very unique side of this world as a keen observer. After reading this book, you are going to want to dress to the nines, have an elegant meal at the Beverly Wilshire or Bel Air Hotel, and hope against hope that maybe Mr. Vollmer will be the maitre d' there just one more time. A must read!

This is a wonderful book! It gives you a look into the workings of a huge (as Fran Drescher would say) a fancy schmancy hotel. It also is so refreshing to read positive words about entertainers. So many books are filled with dirt. This book is filled with grace, joy, truth, and dignity. You will enjoy page after page of the many delightful stories that Jimmy Vollmer, had with so many entertainers. Jimmy also writes about his good, and bad times in life, and how he was so Blessed, and how he could Bless others. It shows the reader that you can achieve greatness if you just try. It reminds me of the old saying, "If you get knocked down, get up, dust yourself off, and start all over again." This book is truly inspiring.

This is Anthony Quinn's second autobiography. Since he lived to be 86, he apparently felt that he couldn't tell his life story in only one autobiography. He was probably correct in that assumption. As of this moment, I've not read his 1972 "The Original Sin" but it will probably be my next read. Quinn was an excellent writer as well as a visual artist and famous stage and film actor. He was also a very randy fellow he couldn't keep his hands off the beautiful women he attracted like bees to honey. He had thirteen children from his three wives and three known,long-time mistresses. Like most motion pictures stars he had affairs with most of the beautiful actresses he met in his 100 plus motion pictures and plays. One of his affairs involved actress Ruth Warrick in 1945. "Years later, she offered the following comment to a reporter: `Anthony Quinn, in the middle of a love affair with me, once said he wanted to f**k all the women in the world, and impregnate all of them. I never knew he'd get this far.'"
Despite his inability to resist the ladies for whom his addiction and appeal was legendary, Quinn lived a life that could not have been fictionalized to be more interesting. He was born in a Mexican hut to a mother who had only recently been sent home from the front lines of the Mexican Revolution. She had wanted to remain and continue fighting, but her obvious pregnancy resulted in her being sent home. Her husband stayed and continued fighting with Poncho Villa. Years later his father moved to Los Angeles and eventually became an assistant cameraman at Zelig's Movie Studio. Anthony showed a talent for art early in life. Quinn studied briefly with Frank Lloyd Wright through the Taliesin Fellowship he won in a high school architectural design contest. Quinn was sent to have his speech impediment surgically corrected on Wright's recommendation. To further correct his speech he was sent to an acting school. That, combined with his father's friendships at Zelig's, led to Quinn being hired as an extra in the movies.
This second autobiography was published in 1997 when the actor was eighty-two years old. His last two children were born in 1993 and 1996 to Quinn and his third wife Kathy Benvin. Both his first wife Katherine DeMille and his third wife were named Katherine, which is one of those odd coincidences that make his life a bit confusing for the reader.
This memoir is 419 pages long and is written in such a way that the reader never gets bored. The reader may, however, get exhausted because the vehicle Quinn uses to tie his life experiences together is one of his day-long bicycle rides around the steep hills of his Italian Villa. He is constantly climbing another hill or avoiding a swerving truck coming around the next mountain bend. During this physically tiring day of bike riding he reminisces about his long life, his many crazy experiences, the people he has met and many of the women he has loved or bedded. He is old enough to be trying to make sense of his rich life experiences and to understand his purpose in life. As an artist he feels that he must constantly be creating or he will die.
Quinn turns out to be a deep thinker in addition to a talented actor, painter, sculptor and writer. It's useless for me to even attempt to convey some of the wise sage advice and observations that Anthony expresses so eloquently. So I won't try. His book is peppered with fascinating characters he has met. Frederico Fellini who directed him to an academy award nomination in "La Strada" gave him some memorable advice about giving interviews to journalists. "Why do you tell these people the truth?"
"Me, I never tell the truth to a journalist. I always lie. It is like an exercise to me, because when I lie I have to use my imagination...you will read it in the papers the next day."
After reading that summary of Fellini's advice to Quinn I wondered if Anthony might not have taken it too much to heart. I especially wondered when I read the last few lines of the book when Quinn wrote: "I wish to go out in style. There will be no pine box sunk six feet under ground, no urn to be placed on a mantle and forgotten. No...There will be my dozen children, carrying me up a hill in Chihuahua and leaving me to rot in the hot sun. I can picture the scene, transposed over the fertile ground of my youth. (I have the specific hill mapped for my executors.) I will be laid to rest at the top of the rise, a feast for the vultures. My children will go back to the rest of their lives and the birds will pick at what is left of me. They will lift me up, piecemeal, and defecate me out all over the countryside, returning me to the earth from which I had sprung, leaving me forever a part of all Mexico.
"And the dance goes on."
Now the book doesn't tell you if that is what Quinn's executors really did concerning his funeral arrangements. If you are like me, you will head straight to the Internet to find out where and how Quinn's funeral was actually carried out. The reader may be surprised.
The reader definitely won't be bored with this book. Anthony Quinn was a man peddling madly on his bicycle to find the truth of life. He was always in search of the answers to the age-old questions: "Who Are We, Why Are We Here, Where Are We Going?" Remember than Quinn won an Oscar for his role as Gauguin in "Lust for Life." During the filming of that motion picture he felt that Gauguin's ghost had actually taken over his body and soul in order to properly portray his life for the silver screen.
Quinn always leaves the reader of his autobiography wanting to know more. This is one of the most enjoyable autobiographies this reviewer has ever had the multiple pleasures of reading.

Here is a biography worth reading, about a man whose life was worth living and worth hearing about: a man who lived every inch of his life on the edge and to its fullest. Even with its foibles and demented aspects, one cannot read this well-crafted biography without being envious of Quinn's life.

Quinn, a Mexican from Chihauhua, possessed an inner drive and an ego destined to make him larger than life in one arena or another. Although with multiple hidden talents, most of which only to be discovered later in life, Quinn became an actor in order to learn English better. But during a bumpy life course he became much, much more than just an actor, he sculpted, painted, cycled and kept a string of younger ladies and a host of wives and families happy until his death as an octogenarian. All of which required considerable talent.

Had it not been told so well and with such passion and verve, and from Quinn's own deeply passionate and artistic mind, this could have been a very tragic story indeed, but the way the events of his life actually unfolded lent itself to the pure poetry that is exhibited here; and the way they have been collated arranged and sorted out by Daniel Paisner, makes them a "song" to all of those like myself who only knew Quinn vicariously through that "rough but exciting" screen persona, as "Zorba the Greek" and his many other characters.

Unlike the biography of one of Quinn's (and my) heroes, Marlon Brando, which was lifeless to the point of being depressing, this one is alive and sparkles throughout. Both Quinn and Dan Paisner are to be commended for, at the same time raising the level of biographic writing, while also raising the human spirits in a story exquisitely well told.

One of the few books on any subject that is so full of life's dramas and metaphors, that you will love reading it so much that you will want to read it over and over. Fifty Stars.

I really enjoyed this book by Anthony Quinn. At first, I was put off by the way his thoughts jumped around, but in retrospect, I realize that this was just his way of getting his point across, and I became mesmerized by his thoughts and the disparity of his early years. Mr. Quinn did not flower his book with how great he was, or even sound like a celebrity, in the description of his life. In his early years he was very poor, and really let the reader feel his thoughts on his poverty, and how he fought to stay alive. It is a great example of coming from a life of nothing, with seldom having food to eat, to become a great actor, artist, lover, and family man.

Although he would never receive accolades as a husband, he truly loved his family. He mentioned several times, his grief at the death of his son and the loss of father.

He made many friends along the way, and treasured every one. Not caring whether they were paupers or kings.

In 1983, we had the pleasure of seeing and meeting Mr. Quinn on Broadway, in Zorba the Greek. We had invested in several of his paintings and sculptures, and was invited to a party for him at the Helmsley Palace in New York City. We were really impressed with his ability to encompass a room with his presence, while giving every person a piece of his persona.

This book is excellent reading, which keeps the reader waiting for his next thought. The world will truly miss this great man.

What a fun book! Every chapter is thoroughly researched and provides juicy details about each actor's screen debut. Mr. Bona engages you at every turn. He should be at your next dinner party. A must-read for movie afficionados!

James Dean as a boxer's corner man in a Martin-and-Lewis comedy film?
Gregory Peck as a Soviet partisan fighting Nazi invaders?
Sally Field as a Lolita-like teenager on a Westward bound wagon train?
Kevin Costner in a soft-core "T&A" film?
Michael Douglas as an antiwar activist who joins the Army?

Every career has to have a beginning, and acting in films isn't any different, as readers of Damien Bona's Opening Shots: The Unusual, Unexpected, Potentially Career-Threatening First Roles That Launched the Careers of 70 Hollywood Stars will discover when they explore this witty, informative, and even a bit biting tome by the author of Starring John Wayne as Genghis Khan and Inside Oscar: The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards.

Starting with Woody Allen's appearance in 1964's What's New, Pussycat? and concluding with Pia Zadora's debut in that same year's epic Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, Bona, a former lawyer who switched to entertainment reporting (he has contributed film-related articles to TV Guide, Entertainment Weekly, and Premiere), examines and sometimes skewers some of filmdom's greats (and not-so-greats) in their fledgling film appearances.

Of course, Bona points out the good "opening shots" as well as the weird or just-plain-bad ones. Take Robert Duvall's career-starting role of Boo Radley in the 1962 classic To Kill a Mockingbird, where he plays the oft-talked about but not-seen-till-almost-the-end of Robert Mulligan's adaptation of Harper Lee's best-selling novel. He is only onscreen for three and a half minutes (appearing 113 minutes into the film, at that!) and has no dialog, but he does save Jem and Scout from a vicious attack, revealing himself to be not a monstrous freak but just a mentally retarded man with the gentleness of a child trapped in an adult man's body.

Many of the 70 entries deal with short first roles that don't add or detract from a film's positive qualities, but the more fascinating ones involve such possible career-enders as Sally Field's appearance in 1966's The Way West "as one Mercy McBee, a teenager whose personality is entirely defined by her sex drive." Who would have thought that this future two-time Academy Award winner (and TV's cute Gidget) made her film debut as a 19th Century Lolita of the Oregon Trail?

Equally silly was Walter Matthau's villainous turn in Burt Lancaster's only directorial effort, 1955's The Kentuckian, a Western which starred Lancaster, Dianne Foster, Diana Lynn, and Donald McDonald, with Matthau earning fifth billing as a saloon keeper with a very cruel streak. He clashes with Lancaster for various reasons, not the least of which is the fact that they both want the attentions of the lovely Miss Lynn. Now, the idea of Matthau as a heavy is not ridiculous, since he could play cold and unendearing characters (as he did in 1964's Fail-Safe), but the idea of rumpled, New York City-born-and-bred Matthau as a villain in a Western is, sadly, rather ridiculous.

Another surprising first film appearance, considering his later appearances in The Big Chill, The Right Stuff, and Jurassic Park, was Jeff Goldblum as "Freak Number 1" in that Charles Bronson vigilante vehicle, Death Wish (1974). There, the guy Bona characterizes as "an expert interpreter of neurotic intellectualism" has what the author describes as "one of the most unpleasant screen debuts ever, Jeff Goldblum goes through his paces robbing ...and... murdering." (I'll take Bona's word for it; I've never seen this "classic" vendetta-driven flick that started a franchise, and judging by the obscene lines written for Goldblum by screenwriter Wendell Mayes, I don't plan to!)

Debra Winger, she of the sexiest voice (at least to me) in movies and star of the somewhat mawkish but enjoyable An Officer and a Gentleman, made her film debut in a soft-core flick called Slumber Party '57, in which six nymphets gather for a, you guessed it, a slumber party while their boyfriends are out of town. Winger (who omits this film from her official resume) bares her assets and acts poorly in this "sex-ploitation" film that Bona says "is definitely in the running as the worst film in this book." Fortunately, not many people saw this film, much less read the few obscure reviews in the Hollywood trade publications, and Winger went on to other roles until finally catching the audience's imagination in Urban Cowboy.

Opening Shots is a light and entertaining read, and Bona mixes short star biographies, anecdotes (there is, for instance, a list of Hollywood stars who married co-stars they met on sets), and witty asides on the margins of pages. Each entry is presented in alphabetical order and introduced with a major credits box to the "first film," a still, and a Bona-ism (Meryl Streep's for 1976's Julia reads, "Already with the accent") which sets the tone for the short chapter.

What a fun book! Every chapter is thoroughly researched and provides juicy details about each actor's screen debut. Mr. Bona engages you at every turn. He should be at your next dinner party. A must-read for movie afficionados!