Movies Books

The twins in this story are much, much, trouble!! The funny part is when the twins lock Alex out of the house. Then she I think either used her telekinesis or morphed into a puddle and got back into the house using the back door. The best part is at the HAUNTED HOUSE, she scares the twins using her telekinesis to move stuff around. They were so, so, scared!!! Now that taught them a lesson!!

I thought the book was EXCELLENT! I read it during one of my classes and I couldn't stop! I suggest anyone who likes Alex Mack books read it!! -Ashley M.

I liked the title but I think it could have been more creative. THE book really kept me reading though. I always would read it at night after I was suppose to be asleep. And I liked it so much I read it twice! My favorite part was when Alex was in the Hanted House and started to pick up all the furniture aand scare the kids out of their wits!! I love the ALEX MACK SERIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was such a good book. It was funny and I learned a lot about moviemaking. I now know what a best boy and a dolly grip do.I am afraid this is one of those books that won't get much publicity and therefore not many people will read it. It that happens it will be a shame because a lot of people will really enjoy this book.

Flew through this in less than a day. Well written and quite witty - a perfect vacation read that will have you laughing (LOL). Plus an informative look behind the camera into those not-well known jobs listed at the end of every movie. Highly recommended. You won't be disappointed.

What a terrific read! Finished it two days. This is a very enjoyable book, with characters that are unique but also very relatable. I laughed out loud throughout. I highly recommend it! This is one book I think virtually anyone would enjoy.

Sorry, I haven't read the book, but I was wondering if there is any movie stills of Cillian Murphy (without the mask) in this book, or if I would be better off with "The Art of Batman Begins"? E-mail: kayjeckel@yahoo.com

First, ignore the review by the guy from Chile. He can't articulate the language, what makes me think he knows what he's talking about regarding Batman Begins? With any big budget blockbuster comes the inevitable parade of merchandise. Few films other than Star Wars can match the marketing juggernaut of the Batman films. Batman Begins is the long awaited beginning to a new series of Batman films, revived back to life after Joel Schumacher and George Clooney nearly killed the franchise. The official movie guide is a great scrapbook and companion to the film. It features dozens of photographs from the film, absolutely brilliant photography. There are snippets of the script as well as several short pieces detailing Batman's origins, as well as interviews. Not just a throwaway marketing item or a piece of fluff, this is definitely a collectible you'll want to have. It's informative and entertaining.

If some people spent half as much time proofreading their reviews as the did spewing bile maybe they wouldn't look like they were written by a disgruntled 8 year old. This is a very informitive look at a great movie. Very highly recommended.

Terry McGinnis patrols Gotham City as Batman. Drawn to an attack on a building, he flies down and sees Shriek. While they fight, Batman has to save a young deaf boy from falling rock. Batman tracks Shriek down, but their fight again involves young Tommy. Part of what makes Shriek evil is his own deafness, and Batman knows that.

Scott Peterson has written and edited several Batman stories for DC Comics. He's also written another Batman Beyond book for young readers: BATMAN BEYOND: NEW HERO IN TOWN.

BATMAN BEYOND: HEAR NO EVIL is written like a comic book. The use of panels and word balloons draw an early reader's eye on, and the layout makes the story fun to read out loud. The art is really well done, showing lots of action and color.

This book is recommended for young fans of the BATMAN BEYOND cartoon.

Terry McGinnis patrols Gotham City as Batman. Drawn to an attack on a building, he flies down and sees Shriek. While they fight, Batman has to save a young deaf boy from falling rock. Batman tracks Shriek down, but their fight again involves young Tommy. Part of what makes Shriek evil is his own deafness, and Batman knows that.

Scott Peterson has written and edited several Batman stories for DC Comics. He's also written another Batman Beyond book for young readers: BATMAN BEYOND: NEW HERO IN TOWN.

Terry McGinnis patrols Gotham City as Batman. Drawn to an attack on a building, he flies down and sees Shriek. While they fight, Batman has to save a young deaf boy from falling rock. Batman tracks Shriek down, but their fight again involves young Tommy. Part of what makes Shriek evil is his own deafness, and Batman knows that.

Scott Peterson has written and edited several Batman stories for DC Comics. He's also written another Batman Beyond book for young readers: BATMAN BEYOND: NEW HERO IN TOWN.

BATMAN BEYOND: HEAR NO EVIL is written like a comic book. The use of panels and word balloons draw an early reader's eye on, and the layout makes the story fun to read out loud. The art is really well done, showing lots of action and color.

This book is recommended for young fans of the BATMAN BEYOND cartoon.

ISBN 0689831013 - I'm having a hard time finding a board book that doesn't deserve 5 stars for one reason or another and Bear here is no exception. From the soft, board-reinforced cover to the bright, glossy pages, it's a winner.

Bear loves opposites - and introduces the young reader to many of them. Play indoors (checkers) or outdoors (soccer); have fun getting dirty, and then have fun getting clean... and much more!

These are the simple sort of opposites that little children can understand and Bear and friends, particularly for fans of the TV series, provide an extra reason for enjoying the book. They'll want the rest of the set - and so do I!

This instructive "Bear in the Big Blue House" book is based loosely on the television episode "As Different as Day and Night." In this story, Bear is exploring opposites. There are all sorts of opposites to explore --- black and white, indoors and outdoors, big and small / tall and short and even clean and dirty (Pip and Pop covered in brightly colored paint and then in the bath.)

The colors on this are wonderful and charming. Each and every page is fully illustrated and the text is simple enough for the youngest readers. Another winner for "Bear in the Big Blue House" fans.

This is a Super-Chubby board-book and easy to hold on to. I bet this is probably one of those books that wouldn't even get damaged if it was taken into the bath, not that I would try it.

I've just started incorporating a night time read into my eight month old son's bed-time routine and Bear is a big part of this. He loves the bright colours, the warm characters (he waves to Bear and Tutter on the cover every night), and I love the scope the pictures give me to make my own additions to a story.

This is a great series of books. I know I'm buying more of them!

I use this script to teach screen writing. It is a small size and easy for students to carry.

It was very painful for me too keep reading this document until the very end. Someone who I love with all my soul apprised the moral value of the end movie and I had to see it for myself. The fact of the matter is this is a true story. Here we have a man who has a dream and who is so persistent to see it realized that he fails to see the many great blessings God has brought to him. You see, God is more persistent. Whether Nash realizes it or not no one is excluded from imperfection and it still doesn't matter because God loves us all the same and he gave us that capability as well. The great lesson I see is love yourself and those around you and you'll want to see tomorrow. Oh, and, don't forget to count your blessings.

I tend to admire the work that goes into forging a screen adaptation from a book. In this case Goldsman has created a truly compelling script which, as we all know, won the academy award. Worth reading? (in addition to seeing the movie?) Yes. Because you will see so much more. The movie is the product; this is the raw material that gets worked. You'll gather what was specified and what was originated by the actors, how much the scenes were designed and envisioned beyond just the words. In a way it is thrilling to read a screenplay, enabling you to go behind the polished fantasy of film, back to ideas and possibilities.Another discovery is the screenplay's direct or economical way of conveying such complex emotions as those of Nash and Alicia in very few words, and with these words the actors generate their own filmic magic. It is a treat to have the script in hand like this.

Little to tell, you have to buy it. the book contains not only excellent reviews of films by critics, but also subject analysis, data concerning film creators, history of cinema and certainly has picked to review many of the great films of the decade.

Excellent photos, movies and information. Very nice. I loved this Taschen's collection.

I cannot believe that for around $10, you get an absolutely beautiful, high-quality hardcover with amazing photos and well-written, critically insightful text. It's just a steal. Great to pick up and locate a film you've just watched for additional details. I just did it for Robert Altman's "Nashville."

I had read this when it was first published and liked it. I liked it when I read it this time, too, though maybe for different reasons. I was glad to see the pictures and have the names of the actors who portrayed the characters in the movie. Tommy Lee Jones (a younger version) will always be Angelo in my mind. Enjoyable fast read, though a bit dated in style, as should be expected for a book written more than 30 years ago.

As with most of the Harold Robbins books that I have read this one was action packed and kept me interested all the way through. This Book is about a shrewd and cunning business minded race car driver who rises to meet the challenges of building a product against all odds. I saw the movie and then I read it again, It was interesting to visualize a younger Tommy Lee Jones as Angelo Perino. I found I enjoyed the book just as much the second time through. 5 stars

To me, Harold Robbin's 'The Betsy' is about finding true love. I kind of skipped through the corporate wheeling and dealing pages and focused on Angelo's personal angst and love life. I loved Angelo. He is at the same time an every man and a hero. I found Betsy highly energetic, optimistic, and the ending, just beautiful. This is a far cry from his usual gritty and grim novels.

This is a terrific table top book, that actualy provides very interesting , in-depth reviews of each biker film, providign lots of unkown triva, and numerous photos. A great purchase!

Award-wining writers who ar especially known for their insightful movie commentaries, John Wooley and Michael H. Price present The Big Book Of Biker Flicks, an erudite scrutiny of 40 of the best motorcycle movies of all time. Black-and-white and a handful of color photographs illustrate the discussions of biker movies such as "Angels Die Hard!", "Werewolves on Wheels", "Rebel Rousers". The reflections not only discuss plot and themes, but also the conditions behind the movies' creation, the models of bikes portrayed, the level and useage of violence in such films, and more. A fascinating tour of how Hollywood has glamorized and demonized motorcycles and the people who ride them, The Big Book of Biker Flicks is a welcome addition to personal and academic Cinematic History reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

I picked this book up at the local library and I must get my own copy. Tons of pictures and movie posters and sufficient commentary information, including background information. A lot of research was expended to obtain many interesting inside tidbits and on the film-making process. Best of all, there are many sexy pictures of the actresses of these films. In fact, I believe there are more pictures of the women than the men. That's a plus for me.

The author makes no attempt to trash any of the films. For example, for the film She-Devils on Wheels, the author writes, "among those who love low-budget and exploitation films ...". I am old enough to have seen the films of the 60's-70's-80's, low budget films that are barely made anymore. Thanks to Blockbuster (or Lackluster) that stopped stocking these films to concentrate on just the hits. And high ticket prices hurt as well. But, what you saw on the screen was more real than the special effects laden, blue screen, whimpy men & women, boring stuff we now get geared for the 13 year old. I was never a big fan of biker flicks, but now we have 40 cult films because nothing has come on line in the past 30 years to make these films obsolete. Afterall, what studio is going to put a $5 million actor on a motorcycle?

Back to the book, the 40 films are listed by release date. An alphabetical cross-reference of film titles is missing, my only nitpick.

May is American Studies Prof. at U. of MN,& wrote: "Screening Out-the-Past" He dislikes Bob Hope-Bing Crosby's.."mindless' Road pictures,also Ronald Reagan,(head, Screen Actors Guild)for stifling emerging "left-wing",independent producers,& all those who were not 100% anti-communist. Hopefully, he'll prove his points by updating with coverage of post 60's Hollywood....

This book is a well researched account of Hollywood during the Depression, World War II and at the beginning of the Cold War. It is a must for everyone interested in the history of Hollywood.

"The Big Tomorrow" depicts Hollywood as a 'populist and progressive world that offered a vision of an egalitarian and humanitarian world in film' before the 1950s. The author demonstrates this on the example of actor Will Rogers, a Cherokee Indian, director Frank Capra, and others. May shows that not only film content had changed but the theatres as well. The central themes were gangsters, fallen women and ribald comics while the language and dialects of the folk were used. The theatres underwent a change from lavish, sumptuous ones, where seating was divided between the high-paying and low-paying, to democratic movie houses. The author uses several photographs to illustrate the changes. Inside Hollywood actors, directors etc. formed unions that supported New Deal reforms. The second part of the book explains why World War II and the Cold War reshaped politics and moviemaking in Hollywood. May discusses censorship and the role of CIA agents in Hollywood. Films presented a 'new' woman now. Female characters focused ultimately on a home life that preserved traditional gender roles, symbolized in the rise of 'patriotic domesticity' while during the Depression female characters of 'empowered women' fulfilled themselves. May also points out the change in the portrayal of African Americans and Asians. The rise of anti-communism and its effects are dealt with. Those who wouldn't or couldn't prove their belonging to the communists were suspended. However, they found a new market for a dark 'film noir' that challenged the consensus and set the stage for a youthful counterculture in the 1950s and 1960s.

This is one of those books that is difficult to over praise. Over and over while reading this book, May helped me gain new insight into aspects of Hollywood cinema from the thirties, forties, and fifties, and continually suggested to me new areas of research to undertake. In the long run, I believe that his book is going to have a profound effect on the way that I view movies from those decades.

Before I move on to the considerable praise I want to heap on this book, let me dwell briefly on a couple of negatives. I think this book has a much broader appeal than the author might believe. The book takes an essentially popular subject, and couches it in an overly academic style. As someone with a strong graduate school background (albeit in philosopher rather than cultural studies), I managed to always make sense of his argument, but sometimes only with difficulty. There was also a too-heavy reliance on statistical data for my taste. Clearly he feels that the data gives greater force to and to a degree validates many of his arguments. But I feel that it also caused the book to drag at points.

But overall, this book is a stunner. The thesis of the book is a complex one, and any attempt to state it briefly will distort it to a degree. I will try to minimize my distortion. May begins by arguing that there was a radical shift in social and political outlook in Hollywood in the 1940s. The effort in Hollywood to eliminate political dissent and to promulgate a monolithic vision of America is well known. May argues that this was a break with the legacy of the thirties, in which the Hollywood talking film had developed as a mode of expressing an egalitarian, anticapitalist, and multicultural affirmation of the New Deal. Thirties films were highly critical of big business, with representatives of big business frequently appearing as villains in films. As America entered WW II, however, and began to unify in order to oppose first Hitler and Japan and then the Red Menace, movies reflected a different order, which was nonegalitarian, pro-big business (with big business disappearing as a villain in films), and nondissenting.

May attempts to tell this story in several ways. His brilliant first chapter dwells at length on the movie career of Will Rogers, who articulated a vision of America that varied greatly from the Anglo-Saxon dream that looked to Europe for models of success and social ordering. As May quotes on several occasions, in response to the New England social elite, Rogers, who identified with his Cherokee heritage, wrote, "My ancestors didn't come over on the Mayflower--they met the boat." The second chapter of the book continues this to display many example of multicultural republicanism that permeated 1930s filmmaking. He then proceeds, in perhaps my favorite chapter in the book, to demonstrate how this egalitarian vision of America profoundly influenced American movie theater design. Rejecting the theater palaces that dominated 1920s theater design and which represented an affirmation of the social layering of the European model--with different prices of admission for various areas and separate entrances--American designers moved to a conception where all viewers paid a uniform price and seating was not restricted, with all viewers entering through the same entrance.

The second half of the book deals with the undermining of the egalitarianism of the thirties by a new vision of Americanism in the forties. The first of two chapters devoted to this displays this by articulating the vision of a white consumer culture, where individuals look for freedom in a private realm emphasizing family and material comfort. The second chapter deals with the politics in Hollywood to help eliminate all those who dissented from this vision or who had a political history that did not conform to this vision. These were painful chapters to read, with the ruthless suppression of political dissent. May deals in some degree with the history of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), which in the 1930s strongly affirmed the ideals of the New Deal and egalitarian ideals. In particular, the career of the first appointed president of the SAG (in the 1930s, the president of the SAG was elected by the membership), Ronald Reagan (i.e., he was not elected by the membership at all) is dealt with at length. May ends his book with a discussion of film noir and its attempt to express dissent from the accepted and sanctioned cultural norm.

Anyone interested in cultural studies, the political climate and culture of the US in the thirties and forties, or the history of Hollywood should read this book. Easily one of the more compelling books I have read on film in the past two or three years.