Movies Books

I'm almost finished reading this book and I must say that it is one of the best books about the Kennedy assassination. It has everything from the detailed history of the Zapruder film to a 16 page color section that includes the famous photos by Mary Moorman, James Altgens and Phil Willis, to over 100 black and white photos and diagrams of Zapruder frames and rarely seen photos and still frames from other movies made that day. I took the advice of another review on this board and bought the book with the DVD 'Image of an Assassination'. When the book references frames from the Zapruder film you can view the DVD to see exactly what it is the author is talking about. What else can be said about a book that comes in it's own wrapper. Probably a lot. A treasure.

Richard Trask's objectivity must be maddening to the conspiracy nuts since he clearly doesn't give credence to their silly theories, while at the same time he doesn't openly criticize their ideas. He isn't looking for a fight. He simply researches the objective photographic history and refuses to jump on the bandwagon of insanity currently awash in the country by those claiming the Zapruder film has been altered. I was glad that he did not spend a lot of time in this arena, it would have cheapened the high quality of work Trask is known for. ALong with "Pictures of the Pain" Trask must be ranked among the great photographic historians of this case. I highly recommend this work

I whole-heartedly agree with Mr. Von Pein's extremely comprehensive review. If you are into the photographic and film record of the Kennedy Assassination, as I am, than Mr. Trask's published works will satisfy your desire for an in-depth analysis of the major photos and films taken during the November 21st-November 22nd period of time. All three of his books are worth the investment for the wealth of photos they contain and the analysis of those photos.
As to NATIONAL NIGHTMARE, I liken it to that first cup of cold water after a long run. It is satisfying and quenches the thirst. Mr. Trask approaches the history of the film and his analysis of it with no agenda. He is not out to change anyone's mind as to "who dun it," unlike David R. Wrone, who does a good job of describing the history of the film in THE ZAPRUDER FILM: REFRAMING JFK'S ASSASSINATION, but then goes off into the wacky world of Zapruder film tampering by unknown conspirators. I consider myself a historian, an as such, am much more impressed with Mr. Trask's objective approach to his subject. One gets the impression that he discounts the conspiracy theories in favor of the Warren Commission findings, but it serves as an undercurrent, not as a presumptious raison d'etre for the existence of the book. Mr. Trask simply presents the photographic record in wonderful detail, leaving the theories for the reader to muddle over.
This is really an extaordinary book, and my hope is the Mr. Trask (I hope you're reading this, sir) publishes a book of all 400+ frames of the Zapruder film in the largest, clearest, most colorful format that technology can provide and takes a page to analyze each frame of the film. One frame per page accompanied by a page of analysis would amount to a holy grail of sorts for me and no doubt for all those who understand the importance of analyzing the history of November 22, 1963 through the numerous photographs and films taken on that day.

I love reading Richard Trask's books about the JFK assassination; and this one, published in late October 2005, is certainly no exception. It's very informative and definitely a worthy addition to anyone's collection of written materials surrounding the shocking murder of President John Kennedy in November of 1963.

"National Nightmare On Six Feet Of Film: Mr. Zapruder's Home Movie And The Murder Of President Kennedy" is a softcover volume containing 392 pages packed with just about every conceivable piece of information revolving around the infamous 26-second color motion-picture film taken by Dallas dress manufacturer Abraham Zapruder on November 22, 1963, which is a film which shows, in all its morbid detail, the assassination of an American President in broad daylight on a city street in Dallas, Texas.

Mr. Trask details the full history of the film and provides a good deal of background and biographical information on Mr. Zapruder, an ordinary Dallas businessman, born in Russia, who, by pure happenstance and coincidence, turned out to be the amateur filmmaker whose name will forever be associated with the death of JFK.

But, if it weren't for the prodding of his secretary, Lillian Rogers (who encouraged Zapruder to go back home and retrieve his 8mm Bell-&-Howell movie camera shortly before the President's motorcade arrived in Dealey Plaza), that brief and awful 26 seconds in history would probably have never been captured through Mr. Zapruder's lens.

Like Richard Trask's other books on the JFK assassination which focus attention on the photographic aspect of the tragedy, the text of "National Nightmare" is ever-readable, easily-understood, and refreshingly-non-biased when it comes to taking a "Conspiracy vs. No Conspiracy" position by the author. Mr. Trask lays out the facts and leaves it at that.

This book's endnotes/footnotes are all positioned at the back of the book in one separate section, so as to not clutter up the main text of the volume. (So keeping two bookmarks handy is recommended, because a lot of interesting info can be gleaned from some of these endnotes too.)

One big surprise to this writer when perusing this book was seeing a COLOR version of the Robert Croft photograph printed on Page 67 (within a 16-page spread of mostly all-color photos and Zapruder Film frames). I had never seen the Croft picture in color previously. And it's an excellent-quality print of that famous amateur photo that I found in this volume, too. The picture is needle-sharp and the color is virtually perfect.

The Croft photo, by the way, depicts the President's limousine on Elm Street, just after the car has made its sharp left turn from Houston Street in front of the Texas School Book Depository. It was taken at a point equivalent to Zapruder frame #161 (per this book's text and captions), which is just about the time the first gunshot was being fired in Dealey Plaza.

Other highly-recommended publications authored by Richard B. Trask (centering on the photography of President Kennedy's assassination) ..... "Pictures Of The Pain" (1994) and "That Day In Dallas" (1998). The latter is a condensed version of the former, focusing attention on just three of the photographers who took pictures in Dallas on the day JFK was killed (Cecil Stoughton, James Altgens, and Jim Murray).*

* = Although condensed into a smaller number of pages than that of its predecessor "POTP", "That Day In Dallas" does contain "revised and enlarged" material throughout its limited number of chapters. And the specific photographs represented within that volume are unrivaled in their clarity and quality of physical presentation, in this writer's personal opinion.

I truly enjoyed both of those books, and was very glad to see "That Day In Dallas" come out a few years after "POTP", because "That Day" provides a larger-print format for many excellent-quality assassination-related photographs, including several pictures you're not likely to see in any other book on the subject.

As a companion piece to "National Nightmare", I would also recommend highly the MPI Home Video DVD "Image Of An Assassination: A New Look At The Zapruder Film" (released in the summer of 1998), which contains four "digital" versions of the entire 26-second Zapruder Film in various formats, including "zoomed-in" variants and a previously-unseen "Widescreen" version of the movie, which includes the imagery between the "sprocket holes" from Mr. Zapruder's "camera original" film.

That DVD also contains some valuable and collectible "bonus" video programming, including interviews with Zapruder associates, as well as the March 1975 "Good Night America" program (hosted by Geraldo Rivera), during which U.S. audiences first saw the horrifying images of Mr. Zapruder's movie. The DVD also has a crystal-clear video copy of the Live interview that Abraham Zapruder gave on WFAA-TV just hours after he had filmed the assassination.

Many of the above-mentioned items from that "Image Of An Assassination" DVD are also referenced by Mr. Trask throughout the well-written pages of "National Nightmare".

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In "National Nightmare On Six Feet Of Film", Richard Trask has admirably filled in yet another in a seemingly-never-ending series of pieces of subject matter that comprise the wide and varied fabric that form the mosaic of literature covering the topic of the John F. Kennedy assassination.

Nowhere can be found a more detailed and fact-based history of Abraham Zapruder's historic film than that which resides within these 392 pages.

My four year old is trying to learn to read. These books with familiar characters and word icons help him read on his own. He wants to read all the time now. I like the convenience of several books in one package.

These books contain simple words and sentences for the beginning reader. Nothing special, unless you have a Nick Jr. fan. There are 2 Dora books, 2 Blue's Clues, and 2 Oswald books. They are called pre-level 1 books, as opposed to the level 1 books which have rebus pictures and more of a storyline.

My four-year-old daughter loves rebus stories. This little pack, contained in an easy-to-carry suitcase, is just right for her. These books have gone with us everywhere. If your child loves Dora and is just starting to read, these are a nice addition to your home library. We read them almost every day and I've found she is starting to be able to recognize some words in addition to the rebus pictures.

This is a great set for kids who love Dora, Blue and Oswald. My son loves all three and these books are good for those just learning to read. They are simple and have repeating phrases to help kids learn to read sight words.

I first read the book because I had seen a play based on it, and it (the play) had made no sense. However, the topic of the book sounded good, so I wanted to find out more. So I picked up one of the FUNNIEST books I have ever read. If anyone is interested in WWII, or any aspect of war, and want some comedy, this is the book for you.

You WILL laugh out loud. Will Stockdale vs. the U.S. Army. Not a fair fight in this hilarious book. Naive hillbilly, reduces military to shambles. Drafted into the army and meets up with foreign-to-him culture, this story chronicles the military's efforts to round him up, put him through boot camp, test him psychologically, send him on suicide mission, etc. He lives through hazing, bureaucratic bungling, bombs and many other riotous adventures. Much, much funnier than the movie.

I read this book while serving in the Air Force and while serving a temporary duty assignment in Saudi Arabia. On more than one occasion I was amused to see an NCO's reaction to the book I was reading.

Having been a member of the only military fighting force in the world that isn't too proud to make fun of itself, this book is easily one of the most memorable pieces of literature I had the pleasure of coming across during my enlistment. Will Stockdale, backwoods redneck/draftee, is the Huckleberry Finn (with a bit of Forrest Gump mixed in) of modern military fiction. One of the funniest dialogue exchanges occurs when Will and his pal Ben - a short bespectacled gent whose chief ambition (initially) is to bust into infantry - are talking about how horrible it would be if they got selected to go into the Air Force.

"...Will, do you know what they call men in the Air Force?"
"No, I don't think I heered say."
"They call 'em...airmen. By dog, Will, don't you see? How'd you like to be called an airman?"
"By God, I just don't think I'd stand for it..."

But Will and Ben's ambitions later tend to change when considering (among other things) the many decorations one may receive in the Air Force and how easily they can be acquired. It's especially humorous when Ben points out,

"I believe you stand just about as good a chance of getting [medals] in the Air Force as any place...Why, today, you can get a medal by just not doing anything wrong..."

It was at this point that I began to wonder in the other American military branches - or those of our allies - award their brave men and women the Good Conduct Medal (the recipient earns this by not getting demoted); the Longevity Medal (serve for a minimum of four years); and other awards and honors just for showing up. NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS - written by a former officer of the U.S. Army Air Corps - made it clear that some things in our military are just downright hilarious if you can look at them from the right perspective.

Even if you don't have the military experience, this short, lighthearted, and reader-friendly book is sure to please as it brings to mind reminders of FORREST GUMP, GOMER PYLE, and...oh yeah...NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS (starring Andy Griffith as Will Stockdale).

I don't remember when I first read this book, but I do remember laughing out loud during certain parts (something I rarely ever do!) If you've seen the movie starring Andy Griffith you have the basic idea as to what it's about, but the book adds a lot of little things which I found immensely amusing. Needless to say, it's not complimentary to the military, but it's more of an attack on the bureaucracy surrounding the armed forces than it is on anything else. A very funny book!

I think that book was very interesting and I think we should get the second one. I really really enjoyed it and I think it was very fun and I think the part that was interesting was when Nancy caught the other girl from erasing her name and putting another name. In the end, the other girl was nice to Nancy.

All the girls in River Heights sure would love to be part of the big ice show! It's a chance for even a third-grade student to get her name on the list of flower girls! You can skate out on the ice and pick up all the flowers that fans throw to the champions!

But somebody has no sense of sportsmanship, erasing Nancy Drew's name from the list of girls to participate. Who can the cheater be?

It's only a matter of time, and logical investigation for America's favorite spunky girl detective to pull out her trusty blue notebook and find out who is Not Nice on Ice!

Carolyn Keene has produced yet another tantalizing mystery for young readers, with a fun and exciting setting that girls will all love!

Recommended!

I THINK THAT THIS BOOK IS AMAZINGLY WRITEN BY CARYOLN KEENE AND THERE NOT NICE ON THAT ICE BUT AT THE END ITS NICE ON ICE!!

I really liked the book .It is now my favorite book. I think this book teaches you not to cheat.I have read other books about Nancy Drew and I really like them. Also Iwant to congratulate the author for a great book.

What a wonderful book! I love watching the old horror programs on television, such as Karloff's Thriller, The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits. What I enjoy most is watching each program, and then spend a few minutes reading up on the production history and trivia about the program, thanks to books like this. I just spent the last three years reading "The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Companion" by Grams and Wikstrom and watched each and every episode of the Hitchcock TV series one by one. What a fascinating program. So logically, I purchased this book and am done the first season. With each viewing I turn to this book and find out trivia I did not know, and other neat facts. That's what tells me if the book is a good book or not. A must-have.

Newly Revised and expanded The new OL companionis incredible! Over 400 pages and 100's of photos.GNP CRESCENDO did a great job!

An excellent book that describes all the episodes and gives behind-the-scenes facts about each one and how the series started. Well written and entertaining.

David J. Schow and Jeffrey Frentzen have done a wonderfully thorough job of documenting the history and impact of 1960's science-fiction series "The Outer Limits." This well-researched book includes exhaustive interviews with series creator Leslie Stevens and show mastermind Joseph Stefano, as well as the writers, directors and technicians responsible for the individual episodes. Each episode is reviewed, with representative stills and rare production information. Schow and Frentzen display an admirable affinity for the series, and their insights into the underlying concerns of this unique show are both enlightening and entertaining. This is the standard by which all other television series tomes should be measured, and is long overdue for a reprint.

In the Bible, the Israelites were ordered by the Pharaoh to make bricks without straw. Similarly, Blaisdell had to create visually interesting and workable monsters on short notice with virtually no money. He succeeded admirably despite having the deck stacked against him. Anyone remotely interested in genre movies will be fascinated by this thorough, excellent book. Highly recommended.

Gives a great insight into Paul's work, in some cases you'd think you were there with him. The conditions that Paul worked under was amazing and his commitment and materials used.
His wicked sense of humour and support from his friends in this
then under exposed art of effects and monster making. Still think Technicians behind the scenes should get more support and recognition - grin. This book tops up your enthusiasm to do more

Randy Palmer eloquently invokes the fun-loving spirit of Paul and his funky, renegade creations. Paul certainly was a rare breed; capable of creating fiercely original monsters under less than thankless conditions. Paul's monsters are as endearing as they are memorable, imbued with a soulfulness that few possess. Technique can be learned - imagination can't! Like most gifted artists Paul possessed this and met a tragic end. Randy Palmer sets the record straight and Paul is finally given his due. Randy's book is a MUST own for monster lovers/makers everywhere! A big "Beulah" thank you to Randy...and of course Paul.

For those of you who don't know, Paul Blaisdell designed and built some of the most memorable movie monsters of the late fifties operating under incredible time constraints and a budget laughable even for American International Pictures. Remember the carrot creature from It Conquered the World? How about the pulpish titular antagonists from Invasion of the Saucer Men or the anatomically correct She Creature? While other special effects men of the time, such as Ray Harryhausen, went on to acclaim and respect in the Hollywood establishment Blaisdell was ignominiously fired upon asking for a little respect in an industry that treats its unknowns even worse than its shining stars. The only information available on the man has been from an old article in Cinefantastique magazine and in the reminiscences of his friend and champion, Bob Burns. This well researched biography can be seen as a celebration of a forgotten special effects man and as another cautionary tale of the Hollywood fringe (a great companion piece to the Ed Wood biography, The Nightmare of Ectasy). Some of his notable creations may be so for the wrong reasons but they had more heart than a good majority of the slick and forgettable monsters made these days. Mr. Palmer's book is a wonderful addition to the bookshelf of any fan of fantastic films and their creators.

A little boy who doesn't like to read much is entranced by these Jack Sparrow books. They're well written for kids with a sense of adventure. Like the Hardy Boys or a dozen other series before them, they deliver a consistent and familiar character in cleverly worked plots. The one thing I'd like to change would be to add few more illustrations. All you get here is the illustration on the cover.

The shipment was on time. Honest description of the product. I got what I was hoping to get, it was received sooner than anticipated. My 11year-old son for whom this book was purchased, was especially happy to get the book wihtin three days. Will most likely purchase other products from this seller.

Both my son and I love this series. Even as a young man Captain Jack is true to himself. He hasn't changed a bit!!!!

I question whether Rob Kidd actually exists. For the Disney people to have come up with William Kidd would have been too obvious. So they came up with Robert, which is just as 17th century sounding a name as William.

This being said my nephew seems to love these books, which is good. He seems to have little interest in the true literary swashbuckling classic "Treasure Island," which is unfortunate. I do not think, however, that we should blame Disney and its team of Kidd writers for that...yet.

As I said, my nephew loves this series and while they are not R. L. Stevenson they are mildly entertaining and not long, so no a lot of time is consumed reading them. There are some definite holes in the plots and inconsistencies but they are not the kind of thing that 9-year-olds typically tend to overlook.

I would love to be reading something of more literary merit with my nephew but that is not to be, not at this time anyway. In the end it is not the worst book you could choose to bond with a child over.

I give the Jack Sparrow series a big thumbs up,( exept for the 9th because it was it was a little cheesy.)I just really want Robb Kidd to make Constance change into a girl again! Jean is one of my favorite charactors in the series, so it would be so awsome to learn more about his sister.And then Jack would have a lass( I think it's so unfair that Arabella has a boyfriend but Jack doen't have a girlfreind.They could have been the perfect match!) READ THE JACK SPARROW: POSEIDON"S PEAK!

As always Rob Kidd provides a well written and entertaining read for young and old. Jack makes a new friend, finds some old ones again, and gets in even more trouble. The return of Constance the cat was a pleasant and hilarious surprise.

Jack Sparrow is floating in a small boat, not even worthy of being called a dingy, as he begins his next strange, unusual and always exciting adventure. Once he lands upon a very small island, he meets a very bloody, very broken man who has no idea who he is or how he got there. The only thing he knows is...Jack.

Jack, of course, is full of sarcasm, but helps the beaten and bloody man all while trying to help him figure out how the man knows him. During this, the two encounter the natives of the island who worship a cat...a very familiar cat. Jack and the man, finally known as 'Bloody Billy,' along with 'the familiar cat' are whisked into a new adventure. In so doing, Jack comes face to face with even more familiar faces who are after the very thing Jack intend to capture.

Poseidon's Peak is a great adventure, one that my 10 year old and I loved to dive into. We've read the other young Jack Sparrow books and very much enjoyed them together. Jack once again had us on the edge of our seats (or the edge of the bed) and laughing loudly along the way.

Loved every word...as usual!

A little boy who doesn't like to read much is entranced by these Jack Sparrow books. They're well written for kids with a sense of adventure. Like the Hardy Boys or a dozen other series before them, they deliver a consistent and familiar character in cleverly worked plots. The one thing I'd like to change would be to add few more illustrations. All you get here is the illustration on the cover.

This book is not only a real work of art, but great fun for my grandson and his sisters.

Marguerite Culhane

This pop-up book was purchased for my 7 yr. old nephew who is an avid fan of anything related to Pirates of the Caribbean. This pop-up ship has great detail. When completely opened, the front and back cover are back to back and are fastened with ties. Also included are cardboard characters to play with. The characters from the movies were easily recognizable to my nephew and he annouced their names with great excitement. When finished, everything folds back up neatly and can fit on the bookshelf.

It's a fabulous ship, coming out of the book...and with lots of paper pirate characters to pull out and play with! AMAZING!!!!!

The book opens up into the Black Pearl and it has paper characters that you pop out to play with. My two boys (who are generally VERY hard on things), actually love this and have been very careful not to tear it (which just shows how much they love it!) It is great to bring on trips because it is like a compact action toy for them, since it has their favorite characters and the ship. The only thing that I wish they had done was install some sort of pocket to store the characters in once they are "popped out".

Paul Thomas Anderson, writer-director of the absorbing Sundance fave HARD EIGHT (1997), the brilliant, sprawling 70s epic BOOGIE NIGHTS (1997) and the utterly enthralling, 3-hour mosaic of pain, sickness, death and loneliness in the San Fernando Valley MAGNOLIA (1999), returns to form yet again with his utterly bizzare and very fascinating sounding 90 minute dark romantic "comedy" PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE (2002). The film stars Adam Sandler and Emily Watson as two nearly insane people. Sandler plays Barry Egan, a lonely businessman (his only friend seems to be a co-worker named Lance, played by Anderson comic relief fave and ensemble lover Luis Guzman) with 7 abusive sisters. Watson plays Lena Leonard, a quirky young Englishwoman who is one of his sister's (Mary-Lynn Raksjub--love her!) friends from work. They get (jokingly) set up on a blind date (I believe they meet first, then go for dinner), and love is in the air. He plans to buy lots and lots (and lots yet again) of pudding for a chance to win frequent flier miles in a contest. This will lead to a Hawaii trip that would go right, but Barry's depressing recent past stands in the way. He was conned upon calling a phone sex line (to a woman named Georgia)--seems she wants more money than he should have to pay and this leads to a dangerous group of Utah thugs coming to the Valley to collect for their sleezy pimp leader (played by the great Philip Seymour Hoffman, the only actor yet to be in all 4 P.T. Anderson pictures). This all combines to what sounds like one of the best new films of the fall season, and possibly one of the best of the year. Ebert and Roeper loved it and it was a hit at many film festivals it attended. Sounds great. Anderson's script is shorter than MAGNOLIA's 194 pages or BOOGIE NIGHTS' 152, and even his debut HARD EIGHT'S (no script published yet--the running time was 101 minutes!). This (literal) change of pace for the Altman-Scorsese-Demme-influenced young auteur promises a "joy ride" of epic proportions, if not length. His scripts (including this) are published as "Shooting Scripts". This means it's gone through some changes since the "Reading Draft(1st draft)", but Anderson thinks visually, directs very much in that vein, and has been known to write very much like that. His scripts contain much camera description and as little scene description as possible. As he said in the BOOGIE NIGHTS script book introduction, "I've come to realize that my function as a director is to be a good writer...My obligation as a director is to deliver the actors a good script, thus making my job as a director describable as 'hanging out' and watching them go. No good actor needs direction beyond 'Let's do another one' and 'Keep it simple.'...There is no flour and sugar...this is a script written for actors. An actor does not need a full description of their character...This is how most screenplays are written... This sort of thing must be written by writers who have no interest in meeting or socializing with actors. If you have written this and you can find an actress to play this part, as described, you will have a bad actress. Actors do not need this, they don't want it. Don't give it to them; they will not read it anyway. This is writing for studio executives. Studio executives do not make movies. They pretend that they make movies. This is a script written for the people who really make the movie, people who physically put it into existence, and all they need are the facts. Pure and Simple." This is a philosophy that is rare and much needed in Hollywood and Independent Cinema nowadays...Scripts rely too much on the "telling" of a story and not enough on the "making" of a story. People who know where their story is going before they pick up a pen, type one letter, or even think of an idea, will never write a great screenplay that way. You have to let it unfold for you and for the audience...

Paul Thomas Anderson, writer-director of the absorbing Sundance fave HARD EIGHT (1997), the brilliant, sprawling 70s epic BOOGIE NIGHTS (1997) and the utterly enthralling, 3-hour mosaic of pain, sickness, death and loneliness in the San Fernando Valley MAGNOLIA (1999), returns to form yet again with his utterly bizzare and very fascinating sounding 90 minute dark romantic "comedy" PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE (2002). The film stars Adam Sandler and Emily Watson as two nearly insane people. Sandler plays Barry Egan, a lonely businessman (his only friend seems to be a co-worker named Lance, played by Anderson comic relief fave and ensemble lover Luis Guzman) with 7 abusive sisters. Watson plays Lena Leonard, a quirky young Englishwoman who is one of his sister's (Mary-Lynn Raksjub--love her!) friends from work. They get (jokingly) set up on a blind date (I believe they meet first, then go for dinner), and love is in the air. He plans to buy lots and lots (and lots yet again) of pudding for a chance to win frequent flier miles in a contest. This will lead to a Hawaii trip that would go right, but Barry's depressing recent past stands in the way. He was conned upon calling a phone ... line (to a woman named Georgia)--seems she wants more money than he should have to pay and this leads to a dangerous group of Utah thugs coming to the Valley to collect for their sleezy ...and leader (played by the great Philip Seymour Hoffman, the only actor yet to be in all 4 P.T. Anderson pictures). This all combines to what sounds like one of the best new films of the fall season, and possibly one of the best of the year. Ebert and Roeper loved it and it was a hit at many film festivals it attended. Sounds great. Anderson's script is shorter than MAGNOLIA's 194 pages or BOOGIE NIGHTS' 152, and even his debut HARD EIGHT'S (no script published yet--the running time was 101 minutes!). This (literal) change of pace for the Altman-Scorsese-Demme-influenced young auteur promises a "joy ride" of epic proportions, if not length. His scripts (including this) are published as "Shooting Scripts". This means it's gone through some changes since the "Reading Draft(1st draft)", but Anderson thinks visually, directs very much in that vein, and has been known to write very much like that. His scripts contain much camera description and as little scene description as possible. ...

One of my new favorites, "Punch-Drunk Love" is a unique and spectacular story about a man who doesn't know how the face the world around him. That man is Barry Egan. He has seven sisters who have verbally abused him since he was little, causing him to, now all grown up, get into violent outbursts. Barry's a quiet and shy guy, but if his button is pushed things can get out of control. He meets Lena, a very strange and peculiar girl herself. Love falls upon these two, but Barry's even facing more problems after being blackmailed by a phone-sex operator. But when all else fails, he knows that he has a love in his life in this very oddball and dark comedy.

I'm glad they came out with a script version of the film that you can buy. Paul Thomas Anderson has written a magnificent picture that's so easy to relate to , it's scary. The stuff that occurs you can see happening in real life. It's realistic and surreal at the same time.

This is the shooting script, on blue, pink, and yellow colored pages that symbolize when the revisions were made. Technical terms such as camera angels are included as well since it is a shooting script. Even little changes are mentioned as well. I love the dialogue that was written and you can tell that P.T. had Sandler in mind for the part, because nobody else would've been able to pull it off. While it's not your typical comedy, I thought it was hilarious. It pretty much follows the movie, although some things aren't there or changed due to changes that occurred during the shooting. It's pretty much all there for the most part.

"Punch-Drunk Love: The Shooting Script" is a great purchase for anyone who loved the film. It may not had been the most popular movie to come out of 2002, but it's #2 on my list. The pages fly by with ease, and when you're done with it you want to read it again. I can't wait for this movie to come out on DVD. I'm counting the days. A spectacular script for a spectacular film.

I love being able to read P.T. Anderson's shooting scripts. His films are fabulous. I believe one of the negative reviewers partially misses the point when harping on the misspellings, the rambling monologues and how PTA's scripts are saved by the actors. The whole point of a script is that it is the first rough draft -- the framework -- upon which a movie is built. Of course there are going to be improvements between the script and the final product. The reason to buy this, or any, shooting script is to see how the project evolved from script to screen. In the case of Punch-Drunk Love -- much more so than Boogie Nights or Magnolia -- it's fascinating to find that almost every important scene was tweaked, sometimes in a major way, before this wonderful film reached the screen. ... It's a great chance to get some insight into the stages of the creative process of one of America's finest directors. ... BOTTOM LINE: Does this book have all the bells and whistles of the Boogie Nights and Magnolia shooting scripts? NOPE. Is it essential for the PTA fan? YUP.