Roger Ebert's Book of Film

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely the best
Review: I know, 10's a little high, but come on, where else am I gonna read Klaus Kinski's version of his hellish Aguirre shoot? Or Ebert's own interview with Lee Marvin, itself a small masterpiece of literary journalism. I was glad to see Kael's glowing review of "Last Tango" balanced with Mailer's vulgar ripping of same. The chapter from Kurosawa's autobiography led me find the entire volume at the local library. This book not only highlights our love for the movies, it inspires a new passion for the written word -- and a greater appreciation for film criticism of all types. (And, of course, there's a chapter devoted to "Pulp Fiction" -- of course!)

Rating:
Summary: Two thumbs up, 'way up...
Review: If you love the movies, if you love good reading and if you love the combination of the two like I do, you will *loooooove* this: a collection of notes, essays, interviews and memoirs by the movie makers, critics and reveiwers, about the icons, the good, the bad and the dirty of Hollywood and the movies.

There's so much good stuff in this, I don't know where to start
to inform you about it. Let me try the bullet approach.

*The important movie critics, of course, are here. Pauline Kael

does a tango with Norman Mailer on the flick "Last Tango in Paris", Sarris and Tynan as well as Editor Ebert are included
here.

*There's a great Truman Capote piece where he and Marilyn Monroe
(in anti-Monroe drag) hang out and dish the dirt. Capote tries to get her to admit that she's seeing writer Arthur Miller.

*Julia Phillips tells of the coked up, spiked up, hyped up days before and after the time she won the Oscar for her producing The Sting.

*There's hilarious sections on WC Fields and Baby Leroy (WC spikes Leroy's orange juice bottle with gin--"the child was more or less restored to consciousness, but in the scene that followed Turog (the director) complained of his lack of animation.") and Groucho Marx' letters to Warners Bros. executives about what "A Night in Casablanca" entailed. (The executives took umbrage to the use of Casablanca in the title.
Groucho, took umbrage to how absurd these guys were so he took the absurdity to another level.)

*There's the Spike Lee "Do the Right Thing" notes which basically outlines the entire film, but are extremely interesting none the less, there's the infamous Gleave and Forest FAQ on Quintin Tarintino's "Pulp Fiction".

*John Waters dishes the dirt on the polyester, back door, wrapped in cellophane and tossed in the dumpster LA. Funny stuff

*Janet Leigh on Hitchcock and the infamous shower scene, Hitchcock on Hitchcock's style of directing, Mamet on Mamet's style of directing.

*Peter Bogdanovich does a excellent piece on Humphrey Bogart and the Bogey Mystique. You are gonna luv that one, trust me.

*Terry 'Waiting to Exhale' McMillian tells us what growing up in Michigan and having the "Wizard of Oz" come on television has meant to her and her family.

And I haven't even scratched the surface of the many pleasures of this great undertaking. There's Mae West, there's Doris Day, there's Orson Welles, there's Frederico Fellini, there's Cary Grant and there's essays from the great novels Hollywood Babylon, Get Shorty and The Player.

There's hours and hours of reading pleasure in this fantastic book. "For me, no other art form touches me the way movies do", says Ebert. I heartily concur and I appreciate that his love of the movies has inspired him to put together this collection.

Rating:
Summary: Uninspired Trifle
Review: Pulitzer prize winning author of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Roger Ebert won't be remembered much longer then his late cohort Gene Siskel when all that coagulated pasta around his midsection catches up with him. Franchise greedy distributors, who often have the same owners of the newspaper/TV. media who give critics their free tickets slather quotes from Ebert and his one liner reviews on their products as if they were apologizing for it. Least buyer resistance conscience studios find Ebert's politically correct social palliatives congenial to their profits.

Rating:
Summary: Hmm...
Review: Roger Ebert's a very good writer of critical analysis, and I read his reviews every week religiously. However, there's something that just doesn't seem right about this book. It just seems like there wasn't much effort put into it. Ebert pieced together a book made from essays and chapters from other books by other people, and he gives an unenlightening introduction to each of them. There are some good pieces in here (I especially like the ones by Klaus Kinski, Charlie Chaplin, Woody Allen, and John Waters), but it's hardly a major work by the respected film historian.