THE BIG GOODBYE: CHINATOWN AND THE LAST YEARS OF HOLLYWOOD by Sam Wasson (Flatiron Press) Having given us a great biography of Bob Fosse, important books about Blake Edwards and Paul Mazursky, and an engaging account of the making…
THE MOVIE MUSICAL! By Jeanine Basinger (Knopf) I promised myself a gift for the holidays: time enough to read Jeanine Basinger’s 634-page book about movie musicals. I’m so glad I made good on that promise. What a wonderful addition…
There’s never enough time to read, so please consider this a survey rather than a series of reviews. I’ve only included books that interest or intrigue me. THE MOVIE MUSICAL! by Jeanine Basinger (Knopf) In addition to…
LETTERS FROM HOLLYWOOD: INSIDE THE PRIVATE WORLD OF CLASSIC AMERICAN MOVIEMAKING Compiled and Edited by Rocky Lang and Barbara Hall; foreword by Peter Bogdanovich (Abrams) This is, quite simply, one of the finest books I’ve ever read about…
Normally I review only film-related books on this site, but I’ve just devoured two volumes written by friends that I can’t resist writing about. One is a work of fiction, the other non-fiction. When I finished reading them I…
As always, books arrive on my doorstep at a faster pace than I can possibly read them, so with a few exceptions these are not reviews but a survey based on browsing. I look forward to spending more time…
Next year will mark the fortieth anniversary of my book Of Mice and Magic: A History of Animated Cartoons. I feel lucky that it’s still in print; that’s because it has been adopted by high school and college courses covering…