Movies Books

I read this to our son, sadly, after he "out grew" these books, they were passed on. Happily, after searching all over I found these treasures on Amazon and now have a new collection for our beautiful grand daughter to enjoy.

Don't miss out on having a copy of this reissue of the original 1950's version of Walt Disney's Peter Pan. The illustrations are amazing. The color is vibrant. The story is absolutely timeless.

What an excellent book to share with your children!

If Disney has any sense they would completely raid their vaults and start reprinting all of this vintage artwork in bang-up special editions. Animation and illustration today completely lacks so much of what was done in the 1950's and 60's by the Disney studio. The art in this edition of Peter Pan says it all. Yet, all of the art produced in that time period for Golden Press has the same warmth and eye-popping color! Children of today should be exposed and have access to these vintage Disney masterpieces of yesteryear...

How can you go wrong with Peter Pan and Little Golden Books?! My daughter (2 years old) wanted very badly to read her mother's vintage Disney Storybook version of Peter Pan. But we didn't want that 30+ year old book to get messed up, which it would in the hands of a well-meaning but enthusiastic toddler. So I went on a search and found this Little Golden Book that has the identical art and text as the original Disney hardback, but in the inexpensive and toddler friendly Little Golden Book format. Now my daughter can read about Pan, Hook, and Tiger Lillie to her heart's content!

Sleeping Beauty was, of course a good movie for those Disney fans who love the great artist's works. The three good fairies, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather offered a single gift to the newborn princess. But the evil Maleficent crashed the party and cursed Aurora by pricking her finger to the venomous spindle of a spinning wheel and die at her 16th birthday. As a Disney fan, I'm considering that this beautiful young princess will be saved at last by the third of the fairy trio, Merryweather, who had given to her this almost tiny gift: When Aurora pricks her finger into evil witch Maleficent's spinning wheel, she cannot die. Instead of death, the princess will sleeping into a deep slumber until a charming prince wake her with the true love's kiss. So Maleficent turns herself into an evil black fire-breathing dragon to stop Prince Phillip to rescue sleeping Aurora. But the good fairies combine their magic to the mighty Sword of Truth, chanting "Now, Sword of Truth, fly swift and sure. That evil die and good endure!", and the prince throw his magic sword straight as an arrow into the dragon's heart. I'm sure that's a nice movie and I strongly recommend it to all the children beginning from 5 to 12 years old.

This book is a real treasure. Based on Walt Disney's widescreen animated fairytale epic "Sleeping Beauty," this is a nostalgic exact reprint of the storybook created for the film in 1959. It is illustrated with original artwork created especially for storybooks. It is a shame that more people have not discovered this wonderful book. It's one of those books that you can read to your children at bedtime and they can be captivated by the illustrations. It is one of those books that you keep in your bookcase after the children have gown up and you can pull it out from time to time and just reminisce.

This is a beautiful book. It is reminiscent of the images and style of children's books published at the time when Disney originally released SLEEPING BEAUTY. This is a real tribute and a cherished edition to have from one of Disney's best and often overlooked fairy tale classics. It has a real place in my heart.

This is a beautiful book. With Amazon not carrying a picture of it, I was a little afraid to order it, fearing what I might get. I am so pleased with it. The illustrations are very stylized, very 1950's era. The colors are brilliant, even to the endpaper. I love the angles of the characters' faces and shoulders. To get a general idea what the book looks like, check out "Walt Disney's Classic Storybook" and imagine a ten times more beautiful version. Enjoy!

This is a fascinating book! It tells at least three stories simultaneously: the birth pangs of television; American cultural and political history in the 1950s; and the relationship between Jack Gould and both his employers and his media. There's an excellent introduction which introduces Jack Gould, and his biography by itself is interesting. Most absorbing for me, however, was reading Gould's take on the nascent medium of television: was it better for news or art? was it the same as theatre? did it have a duty to the American public to cover certain events? what were its educational limits? Some of his criticisms of tv are astonishingly contemporary. Others are clearly of a different era. The book is spiced with personalities that many of us know--Elvis Presley, Lucille Ball, Howdy Doody, David Brinkley--and Gould's take on them is fun to read.

Also illuminating are Gould's views of historical events: the quiz show scandals, the blacklist of the Red Scare, the "rise and fall of Edward R. Murrow." Gould championed actress Jean Muir, who was dealt an unfair hand in the 1950s, and his columns help explain how the blacklist worked from the inside. I particularly liked questions Gould asked about children's television programming and the responsibilities of the news shows.

Mostly, though, this book is marvelous to read because Gould was such a lively writer. His columns are full of real zingers that run side by side with his ruminations on American society, culture, politics, and values in the Cold War era. Despite the age of the columns reprinted here, the book provides much to ponder today, which is why I'm buying this for many people on my holiday list. People who lived through the 1950s will be just as interested as folks in their 20s and 30s. I highly recommend this book; even if you've never considered reading about television or cultural critics before you will get so much out if it. It will make you think about what's on your set today, and it's just _so_ wonderfully written!

Since I was born well after Jack Gould's retirement..it was exciting to feel the development and growing pains of the medium..through the columns Gould published. Lewis Gould's profile of the man and his life added to the sense of connection I felt to him..

You feel television's evolution...as if you were there.

Jennifer Salem
Antioch California

Born well after Jack Gould's retirement..it is exciting to feel the development and growing pains of the medium..through the columns Gould published. Lewis Gould's profile of the man and his life added to the sense of connection I felt to him..

You feel television's evolution...as if you were there.

Jennifer Salem
Antioch California

I have spent a delightful day reading this book, which brings together more than seventy columns written by the late Jack Gould, television critic for the New York Times from 1947 until his retirement in 1972. Not being from New York or a regular reader of the Times until after Gould retired, I must confess that I had never previously read any of his media criticism. This book has been a most welcome surprise.

The critic's son, Lewis Gould, a distinguished scholar in American history, selected the reviews that appear in this volume and also provided a remarkably candid and objective assessment of both his father and his influence. Insights about television, political figures--American culture in general--can be found throughout. Among the topics that Jack Gould considered were Edward R. Murrow, the quiz show scandals of the fifties, blacklisting, and live drama. As a baby boomer, I particularly enjoyed reading about two of the most memorable television performers of my childhood, "Miss Frances" of "Ding Ding School" and the inimitable Pinky Lee. Perceptive, too, is his assessment of the phenomenon that was--and is--Lucille Ball.

Some months ago the TODAY show celebrated, with much fanfare, its fiftieth anniversary on the air. But what was the show like in its earliest days? Gould tells us, in a no-holes-barred critique that NBC executives later admitted spurred changes in the program's format and presentation. Readers will find here in its entirety the review that Gould wrote in January 1952 in which he bluntly said that TODAY "needs a lot of work." "Thus far," he concluded, "TODAY has been excessively pretentious and ostentatious and unreasonably confusing and complex." Gould did not throw softballs!

In September 1952 Gould recognized that Nixon's so-called Checkers Speech, while "effective," might herald a turning point in the nature of political campaigning. Gould praised the embattled Nixon (who was on the ropes because of allegations that he benefited from an illegal "slush fund") for his "earnest" and "persuasive" presentation of his side of the story. Unfortunately, "the second half of the program saw Senator Nixon succumb to theatrics," as he attempted to grab the audience's heart with his tale of the cocker spaniel that had been given to his two young daughters. In Gould's judgment "there is a very real danger in superimposing the methods of show business in politics." He cautioned that the American public should "hold the line against television turning politics into a coast-to-coast vaudeville show or a daytime serial."

Any reader interested in television, media studies, or America at mid-century would find much of value in this collection.

I started buying products in Amazon this year and i'm very satisfied with your service. It's easier and cheaper than our products here in Portugal. I'll be back soon on amazon!

Lázaro Silva

São Mateus, Terceira Island
Azores, Portugal

i am writing this for the benefit of non US readers especially those from my country india which makes 900 films every year.i am in the process of writing a book on screenplay in my native language Telugu and i have been devouring every book that's available.I was thrilled to read about the 'belatedness' Bordwell describes as i share the same dilemma.his summing up of the film writing & film making arts is very usefully informative and inspiring,too.Tollywood( Telugu film industry) churns out around 200 films every year,but nobody here treats screenwriting as something one could learn, and excell if one had the creative talent.I am glad Mr.Bordwell applauds the value of screenwriting books in helping keep the narrative standards from falling.wish guys from my film industry read this book.

David Bordwell is one of the most widely read film scholars around, and not without reason: he writes with ease and ellegance, his insights are often deep and almost always relevant, his starting points are usually essential for better understanding cinematic art. Is he always right?
Of course not, he is not a religious profet or Jacques Lacan (Oops!).

However he usually describes the area of his study quite well, cites references and data he would like you to check in order to see whether he is right and, well, does serious scholarly work. Not a small achievent in a fastly globalizing (and fastly "mcdonaldsizing") academic community of cultural gurus who know everything about everything... Therefore, when you disagree with him (as I sometimes do), you usually know what your are disagreeing about and why.

This book is another Bordwell's insightful contribution to the study of American and global cinema (styles in cinema are basically more international/global than in literature; probably less than in classical music or jazz), explaining how contemporary cinema develops from older stylistical patterns. From the era of silent movies or Slavko Vorkapic's experiments for Frank Capra to modern-era (greatly digitalized) blockbusters, Hollywood's manners and procedures of telling a story can be compared with quite a fruitfull result.
Ofcourse, simple description of stylistic trend or procedure does not directly serve as a proof of aesthetic value, but the subject of this book is, basically, style, not aesthetic value or anything else that can be connected to (and is intertwined on many levels with) style.
This book is equally useful for scholars, teachers and (thanks to his nice style and clear argumentation) students of cinema and all other educated art lovers.

Like the author's other works, this is a highly meticulous and empirical study of the way contemporary Hollywood films function. Paying close attention to selected films by intensive frame analysis, Bordwell calls into question many contemporary "sibboleths" concerning the status of "post-Hollywood" which he reveals as having more connections with its classical counterpart than most critics believe. His attention to fine detail and references to "American Cinematographer" and screenwriting manuals reveal that he has really done his homework. He challenges his contemporaries to do likewise before they engage in problematic "post" judgements whether they be on the realm of postmodernism, post-colonialism, and post- anything which may become academic equivalents of those formerly fashionable platform shoes or flared trousers that often date episodes of the 1970s British cop series THE SWEENEY.

The references to contemporary Hong Kong cinema and analysis of films such as Johnny To's A HERO NEVER DIES are also valuable components of this book. Like DRAGNET's Sergeant Joe Friday, Bordwell insists that we supply facts based on viewing the evidence ourselves. We should not ignore important empirical aspects before we begin to make meanings that may eventually prove to be non-substantial. Those who choose to avoid the well-researched findings of this book should be issued with speeding tickets and forced to attend a scholarly version of "community service" or "boot camp" involving the detailed viewings of as many films as possible, reading interviews with film directors, and studying important journals such as AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER. This is equally important for those newly converted "film experts" in English Departments of postmodernist persuasion who recently discover Laura Mulvey's 1975 essay on "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" and regard it as a "gospel" truth which remains unaltered today! These feelings are more akin to non-linguistic theological studies and not the highly textual, linguistic based explorations of biblical and near eastern studies that relay on studies in pre-semitic studies, Canaanite, Aramaic, and Arabic studies to reveal key empirical structures influencing "holy writ."

This is another indispensable work by an important scholar that every serious professor and student should learn from even if it only involves better interpretation and a more professional "making of meaning."

I have found this to be one of the clearest, most concise books on Jungian dream interpretation that I have ever found. It is also perhaps the best introduction to Jungian analysis itself, for such analysis is essentially educating people to hear their inner voice and follow it with the help of dreams.

As for those who dismiss dreams as trivial things that reflect their own wishes, or worse yet, mere static and ephemera from their daily lives- why then do so many dreams deal with what we hate hearing? Why do dreams carry eternal archetypical symbolism of which the conscious mind has absolute ignorance? No, dreams have a superior intelligence to them that goes far beyond that possessed by the conscious mind.

Dreams take us into mysteries of nature absolutely strange to our rational mind. Thank God, that they do, for our hyper-rational, materialistic, mass-statistical worldview is killing us- both as individuals and as a viable civilization. Dreams are the way that our inner center, our Self, can make connection with our ego consciousness. This connection is always an attempt to tell us how we are off-balance. The central message is always what path that we need to follow to balance and stabilize our personality.

The basic fundamentals of Jungian theory are fully explained in the text: the basic archetypes of the shadow, the anima, the animus, the Self; the concept of complexes; the goal of individuation, etc. The greatest part of the book is involved in case studies of actual dreams, however. While there is a danger of applying individual case studies to other unique cases this danger is pointed out. Every dream is unique, because every dreamer is absolutely unique.

If you're looking for an introduction to the symbolic life lived close to the unconscious, it doesn't get much better or more concise than this. In a question and answer format, you'll find an easily accessible introductory guide to analytical psychology and Jungian dream analysis.

"The Way of the Dream is based on an extraordinary series of films made by Fraser Boa, who collected first-person accounts of dreams in street interviews with ordinary men and women in various parts of the world. He then asked the eminent psychoanalyst Marie-Louise von Franz to interpret these dreams on film, just as she would in a private analytical session. The resulting text is a primer explaining and demonstrating the art and science of dream analysis for the general public. The material covered includes dreams of men, dreams of women, what dreams tell us about ourselves and our relationships, the historical significance of dreams, and dreams about death and dying. Dr. von Franz concludes that one of the healthiest things people can do is pay attention to their dreams: 'Dreams show us how to find meaning in our lives, how to fulfill our own destiny, how to realize the greater potential of life within us.'"

This book was a very interesting, readable, understandable introduction to Jungian psychoanalysis. Reading like the transcript from Boa's documentary film, it introduces von Franz' comments between quotes from everyday people about their own dreams. Fascinating dialogue and question/answer format makes this easily understandable and prompts an appetite to learn more. For everyone who ever had a dream and wondered about its possible meaning, this book is a treat and can set you on a journey of self-discovery that is both fun and challenging.

Extremely pertinent, extremely easy-to-read, extremely helpful - and a superb introduction for persons learning about the importance of dreaming to our daily lives.

We absolutely love this book along with every other Charlie and Lola book and movie!!! ABSOLUTELY!

Christmas gift for my 9-year old niece...Easy order process and quick delivery!

Thanks!

My son who is 3 1/2 loves Charlie and Lola. Perfect content for this age.

My 2 and a half year old LOVES this book!!!!! Charlie and Lola are favorites of hers and this episode always brings giggles galore! Now that she has the book at least once a day she "reads" it herself. It has traveled with us everywhere and I am going to have to get a spare just in case something happens to the one that she has... it is a keeper!!!!

While I had to use this book for a class I particularly wasn't interested in - Western and Cowboy Art - with this book, I have actually began to appreciate its contents for what they are. The book has some amazing paintings and sculptures included as well as details about the artists and information about the art included within the book as well as some other art by the artists. It has a good sampling of Western art from George Caleb Bingham to Frederick Remington and has a wide variety each artists work so the reader can get a good idea of how the artist worked and what sorts of pictures they favored. I only gave it 4 stars because of the subject matter, but all in all, a very good book.

An outstanding work by an outstanding scholar. I too am a former student of Dr. Goetzmann -- twenty years or so ago. His work really changed the way I look at America -- American history and American landscape. Try to rent or buy the PBS television show this book went with....

I first read this book as a student in Dr. Goetzmann's undergraduate class at the University of Texas at Austin. Although not an Art History major, this is the best course I have ever taken. The book is an excellent compilation of the influence of History/Culture on the Art of the American West. There is also a PBS series which accompanies this book. I highly recommend both. I keep this book on my coffee table, and enjoy reading it regularly.

As of this writing (Aug. 2002) this fine book is out of print, and shouldn't be. It is an informative and well illustrated survey covering almost 200 years of pictorial representations of the American frontier.

Because of my interest in the mythology that developed around the cowboy, I found the chapters on Frederic Remington, Charley Russell, and Buffalo Bill Cody especially absorbing. Magazine illustrators who further developed imagery of the "wild west" are represented here in discussions of N. C. Wyeth and Maynard Dixon.

On a parallel track, the authors give a chapter to the early silent Westerns, highlighting the careers and contributions of Tom Mix and William S. Hart (a precursor of Clint Eastwood). Another chapter is devoted to the Hollywood Western during the sound era noting similarities between Remington's imagery and that of director John Ford. There's also a discussion of the evolution of western movie themes from "The Virginian" (1929) to "The Ballad of Cable Hogue" (1969).

This book is a rewarding study of the American West as its visual artists inspired the imaginations of people around the world. Definitely worth having.

An excellent way to savor the brilliance of the television show. Witty, insightful, intelligent dialogue...pristine story structure.

It begins with the idea, the vision, then the words go down on paper. Without the words, all an actor can do is stand there and emote, maybe. Without the words, all the crew can do is sit around and play with their equipment and watch the money fly away. Without the words, the studio has nothing to offer. It's the words first. Always.

This is an easy review, a simple review.
Buy this book to see how the words made the show.
Buy this book to see how a television script looks.
Buy this book to read excellent television scripts that became excellent television in the hands of a cast and crew of talented people.
Buy this book to get a taste of the wider political times out of which the series came and to which the series spoke volumes. It is all here in the words.

This is as good as a Master's Class in writing screen plays. Style, form, manuscript format, plot, character, how the background of the set can become a character itself, how the sum of the parts can definitely become greater than the whole. Great companion to the DVDs. Read the script first then watch the show. Then watch the episodes with the script at hand to see what went up on the screen. Annotate your copy, make notes, study and there's your class.

Tuition? $13.57 plus shipping (or not - could be free.)

Other ideas: The West Wing Script Book


Enjoy. It's the Words first.

Excellent service. No complaints. Product looks great! Exactly what I expected.

"The West Wing Seasons 3 & 4" is a must for fans of this show. With eight scripts accumulated from the third and fourth seasons, not to mention black and white photos from the set, the biggest fan of the show will be in paradise. If the pace of the show is too fast for you, reading it at your own speed will clarify what went on in the episode. If you own "The West Wing Script Book" then you must get this with it. I recommend.

The Mom's Choice Awards® honors excellence in family-friendly media, products and services. An esteemed panel of judges includes education, media and other experts as well as parents, children, librarians, performing artists, producers, medical and business professionals, authors, scientists and others. A sampling of the panel members includes: Dr. Twila C. Liggett, Ten-time Emmy-winner, professor and founder of Reading Rainbow; Julie Aigner-Clark, Creator of Baby Einstein and The Safe Side Project; Jodee Blanco, New York Times Best-Selling Author; LeAnn Thieman, Motivational speaker and coauthor of seven Chicken Soup For The Soul books; Tara Paterson, Certified Parent Coach, and founder of The Just For Mom Foundation(tm) and the Mom's Choice Awards®. Parents and educators look for the Mom's Choice Awards® seal in selecting quality materials and products for children and families. This book has been honored by this distinguished award.

If you want to engage in a meaningful dialogue with your child, buy "What Kids Really Want to Ask". I had this book in the car when my 13-year-old daughter and I were driving to pick up my nephew. She began reading the questions in the appendix and at first thought they were a bit silly. When she realized they were questions kids like her had asked, she became a bit more serious. She began reading the questions aloud and when she paused, I knew it was a question she really wanted answered. It was a fun, light-hearted way for us to have a meaningful conversation. Other times she would voice how sad it was that a child had to ask something like, "Do you love me and would you ever give me up?" This opened another level of dialogue and brought out a sense of empathy in my daughter. She recognized many of the movies discussed in the books, and we are going to re-watch them and use the book as we do. A great book for helping your child through those difficult middle-school years!

As the mother of an 11 1/2 year old boy, I loved this book. I loved the basic parenting of pre-teens advice in the beginning. Honestly, nothing was new AND I was grateful for the reminders as they helped me remember what I already knew and believe in. I loved the reviews and all the detailed information provided about the movies they recommend. For the movies I have seen, they were very accurate. And for the movies I have not yet seen, I appreciated the information the authors provided...very relevant to what I would want to know about a film I was planning to watch with my son for the sake of a deeper conversation about ourselves and what he was curious about. Probably my favorite part of the book was the research about the 12 basic themes that youth this age are interested in. Some I wouldn't have imagined...like that he'd be interested in our extended family or about me as a child. I always thought I was supposed to ask the questions about him...show I was interested in his world. This was a different perspective. I like that they chose movies as a way to relate...but even if someone didn't want to watch any of the films...there are great questions/prompts for richer conversations. And if someone has already seen the films with their child...it might be a way to begin talking about some of the themes. The other things I like is that by just having the book in my home, my son sees that I am wanting to have meaningful conversations with him...my guess is that he'll pick up the book himself and probably ask to watch some of the films we haven't seen together.

I'm grateful that I heard about this book and read it while my son was still entering into this period in his life. I know I will re-read it and use it throughout our relationship during this time.

Thank you, Margaret adn Rhonda for connecting the dots between film, pre-teens, questions, and parenting!

A very clever approach to opening up important conversations with kids that's based on solid university research and written by two seasoned Moms with stellar educations and backgrounds. Each chapter focuses on questions from one theme, and gives lots of points for discussion based on a movie selected to bring out that theme. Both kids and parents are given lots to think about and share with one another. Chapters end with great suggestions for creative activities to further facilitate conversations.

As a psychologist, as much as I love getting paid to have deep, meaningful conversations with kids, I much prefer kids to connect with their own parents in that way. This book offers a fun and practical way to do that in a busy family.

Any and all chapters can be used in any order. Also a great quick reference for numerous topics bound to come up between parents and kids because each chapter begins by answering many questions parents may really want to ask about kids. Even after years of counseling families and kids, I was surprised and delighted by some of the questions kids had. It's worth the price of the book just to read the 450 questions printed out in the appendix.

My daughter just turned two and she is a huge wiggles fan. She absolutley loves this book. The pictures are bold and bright. The lift the flaps feature makes for great interactive fun. This is a must have.

This book is my(...)daughter's favorite, but my (...) son still likes it, too. You don't have to be a Wiggles fan to enjoy the bright pictures, the fun lift-the-flaps, and the cute story. My daughter delights in finding Wags at the end of the book, no matter how many times she's done it before. This is a great book for the car because it keeps her occupied for a while on her own.

We bought this book for my 18 month old who is in love with The Wiggles. It was perfect for her. She loves the lift the flaps and they were durable enough that they are still intact after quite a few readings. The text was just the right length per page so she will sit and listen to it the whole way through. And the pictures are colorfuland hold her attention. One of her favorites!

We got this for my daughter who is two and is a huge Wiggles fan. Her favorite characters are Wags and Dorothy, so we thought this would be great for her. It is time for their show and Wags is late. You help the Wiggles search for Wags. The flaps are sturdy and live through our toddler pulling on them. This has been added to our bedtime book list.