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Federico Fellini
Manufacturer: Rizzoli International Publications
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0847818780
Release Date: 1995-07-15 |
Book Description
This is the first detailed appraisal of Federico Fellini's universe. Collected here, in addition to a biography and filmography, is a wealth of previously unpublished material allowing a detailed and often personal view of the master of cinema.
Published for the first time in these pages are the texts for four films Fellini never made, complete with sketches and notes; and the director's correspondence with other filmmakers, artists, and famous writers. Fellini's descriptions of his dreams, accompanied by splendid drawings, allow a glimpse of the subconscious world that contributed so much to the creation of his films. His comic strips of unmade films provide an intriguing account of his activity in the last years of his life. The filmography is illustrated with posters, sketches, and stills from all of Fellini's masterpieces - including his best-loved La Strada, 8 1/2, The Clowns, La Dolce Vita, Roma, Amarcord, and La Voce Della Luna.
Book Description
Catherine Scorsese's tomato-and meat sauce was probably the only recipe ever to receive full billing in the credits of a movie when Martin Scorsese starred the sauce and his parents in Italianamerican, his favorite of all his films. Now, for the first time, all the recipes from the family have been written down for this cookbook, with photos and anecdotes that tell the story of three generations of Scorseses.
Customer Reviews:
Little-bitty cookbook.......2007-04-01
I had heard about this book for years and finally looked it up on Amazon. I read the reviews and ordered it. It arrived very prompty and in pretty good condition. However, I am a little disappointed to note that it is a very limited (read small with few recipes) book. Because it is out of print, I spent some money for it. Really........ not worth it.
The Scorsese Family Rocks!.......2005-05-02
Finally! My search is over....my mother-in-law has searched for this book for over a year now. I bought it as a gift (mother's day) for her, but was sure to copy all the recipes before I mailed it off to her! After reading another review, I went right to the pizza recipe, and made it last night. I must admit, it was REALLY good. This book is filled with wonderful - traditional family recipes that every American-Italian (or anyone who enjoys Italian food) should have!
Italianamerican:The Scorsese Family Cookbook.......2004-12-11
I have been looking for this cookbook for almost a year! What a pleasure to find it. My husband is of Italian decent and I have started a catering business with emphasis on southern Italian cooking. These recipes will enhance the ones taught to me by my husband's grandmothers and aunts and my own mother-in-law. This has made my day.
ChefBove`
Abondanza Again!.......2000-07-03
Without a doubt, this is my most favorite of cookbooks. It's not the most thorough and it's not the most helpful, but it certainly is the most fun. The cover, a snapshot from the movie "Good Fellas" shows Catherine Scorsese (as Tommy's mother) sitting at a table having just served three gangsters a midnight snack; the gangsters are Joe Pesci (Tommy), Robert DeNiro (who, Catherine claims, thinks she makes the best pizza in the world), and Ray Liota. This book is filled with simple Italian-American recipes handed down through the years on both the Scorsese side and the Cappa side (Catherine's family). The most famous of these recipes is the first--tomato sauce with meat--and meatballs--which every good Italian American knows is consumed on Sundays--that's the tradition. There are veal recipes and recipes for soups (Catherine's lentil soup is the best--I've made it). And of course there's the previously mentioned pizza (sausage or pepperoni) about which Robert DeNiro raves. There are also several dessert recipes--the Sicilian Cake, with ricotta cheese and heavy cream providing the center--being the best. There are transcripts included from Scorsese's documentary--"Italianamerican"--from which the title of this book comes. Catherine and her husband Charlie reminisce about life in New York's Little Italy on Mulberry, Mott, and Elizabeth Streets. There are several charming black and white photos of the family through the years--the Scorseses, with little "Marty," standing beside the Christmas tree which the old folks "didn't go for." The anecdotes are sometimes hilarious; Catherine and her sister-in-law, for example, laugh about how they'd go to DiPalo's deli and make fun of the way customers pronounced such words as "ricotta"--it's rigotta--and "capicole"--it's capicoli. The praise on the back of the book, from Francis Ford Coppola, summs it up: "I am very happy that Katie's recipes are being published, so that I can immediately start trying them out." In fact, in Coppola's restaurant in Belize, there is the famous dish, "Mrs. Scorsese's Lemon Chicken."
This book makes a lovely contribution to any cookbook collection. In fact, it's the one guests always seem to pull from the shelf and thumb through. My copy, of course, is stained from years of use. There are tomato sauce stains and cheese smudges. The pages are as tasy as the actual dishes themselves.
Enjoy!
great Italian cooking.......2000-04-03
i found the recepes very good and tasty the family had a great flare for cooking I tried many of them what can I say but God bless the family for puttin out such a great italian cook book
Book Description
A priceless examination of the filmmaker's craft, from the renowned director of Sweet Smell of Success
After more than twenty years in the film industry as a screenwriter, storyboard editor, and director of memorable films such as The Ladykillers, Alexander Mackendrick turned his back on Hollywood and began a new career as the Dean of one of the country's most demanding and influential film schools. His absolute devotion to the craft of filmmaking served as a powerful impetus to students at the California Institute for the Arts for almost twenty five years, with a teaching style that included prodigious notes, neatly crafted storyboards, and handouts containing excerpts of works by Kierkegaard, Aristotle, and others. At the core of Mackendrick's lessons lay a deceptively simple goal: to teach aspiring filmmakers how to structure and write the stories they want to tell, while using the devices particular to the medium of film to tell their stories effectively.
In this impressive volume, edited by Paul Cronin, the myriad materials that made Mackendrick's reputation as an instructor are collected for the first time, offering a chance for professionals as well as students to discover a methodology of filmmaking that is challenging yet refreshing in its clarity. Meticulously illustrated and drawing on examples from such classic films as North by Northwest, Citizen Kane, and Touch of Evil, Mackendrick's elegant lessons are sure to provide inspiration for a new generation of filmmakers.
Customer Reviews:
He changed me.......2007-04-14
When Sandy MacKenrick told my CalArts MFA Thesis committee that my thesis film script was, "long, much too long, and very much too long" and, "doomed to never be completed", I was shocked and terrified.
Sandy was one of the most brilliant and irritating people ever to tell a story or to browbeat an egotistical young film student. His films and lectures convey that contradiction -- his every work is a pearl.
If you were not lucky enough to get Sandy's notes while at CalArts, you must buy this book.
Odds are good, you won't have the genius of Sandy MacKendrick, but you will appreciate how much you could grow as you strive to attain what he found so simple.
I was proud to invite Sandy to the first screening of my thesis film, "Pirate's Dagger", and it still hurts that he was too ill to attend. I wouldn't have gotten it done without his special form of encouragement.
Great man, great book........2007-01-12
Too intelligent to be a director, to make compromises in the craft of film making with the studio system of his time, Alexander Mackendrick only left us a glimpse of his own potential in his body of work. He did however pass his vision and passion for creativity onto the next generation in his teaching. In this book his voice is loud and clear, without being dogmatic. It's like having a drink with a friend in a bar and having him sort out all your problems with scripts, actors and life. No director should be without a copy. From the beginner to the established star everybody can find something in this book and all conveyed in the manner both intense and unpatronising that was uniquely his.
Very, very good.......2006-06-29
Unlike most how-to directing and writing books, Mackendrick was an accomplished director with decades of professional experience. He speaks from hard-won experience, not dubious armchair notions of what makes a successful film or director. He is wise enough to know there are no "secrets" or immutable laws of storytelling, only rules of thumb. Every time I go back to it, I learn something new, and with every film I make, I am struck by points in the book which ring ever more true. This book will not make you a great director by reading it, but Mackendrick has the good sense and candor to know that a book or a course never will, only lots and lots of hard work and dedication.
How To Make Movies, Good Movies.......2005-08-19
Shaw said, "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach." In a strange way, Alexander Mackendrick fits both sides of that dictum. "Sandy" Mackendrick was an accomplished film director. After having worked in advertising, he started making films for the British Government during World War II. After the war he wrote scripts and he began directing. For the Ealing Studios, he made _Whiskey Galore!_, _The Man in the White Suit_, and _The Ladykillers_. Then he came to Hollywood, where he made the wonderfully biting _Sweet Smell of Success_. He could direct fine movies, and he did; but then he slipped into the "can't do" category, not for any lack of talent, but because he was not much of a deal-maker, and resented having to negotiate details with the studios. He started teaching, becoming dean of the film school at the California Institute of the Arts in 1969. He continued teaching until his death in 1993, but now filmmakers and audiences can get a glimpse of what he taught, in _On Film-making: An Introduction to the Craft of the Director_ (Faber and Faber). It is a sampling of his lecture handouts, some illustrated by his own sketches, that he delivered to students over the years, and shows the richness of his thinking on the surprising complexities of artistic decisions regarding even simple shoots on tiny films. Those who enjoy movies, but don't know much about how they are made, will be astonished at how many details of technique the director has to consider before anyone yells "Action!" Those who make movies, or want to, could not do better than to study what Mackendrick has to say.
Mackendrick emphatically agrees with Truffaut, who in his interview book with Hitchcock wrote, "Whatever is _said_ instead of being _shown_ is lost on the viewer." (One of Mackendrick's many slogans: "Movies SHOW... and then TELL.") Always, regard to the audience is paramount: "Try to tell the story while always remembering that the audience has somewhere better to go and something better to do." Like a good storyteller, use curiosity, expectation, and suspense to keep them buttonholed. The reader of this book will want to be familiar with certain films to which Mackendrick returns again and again, like _The Third Man_ or _On the Waterfront_, but not all the cinema is fine cinema. In a chapter titled "Plausibility and Willing Suspension of Disbelief," he discusses the sci-fi film _Them!_ which he says is a "piece of nonsense" but shows solid, simple plot mechanisms, and follows the rule that "we are allowed only one major Incredible Thing" (Giant ants are invading!) while "everything else in the story should actually be logical, even over-logical." There is rich advice about dealing with actors. A student who asked, "How does a director get an actor to do what he wants?" took Mackendrick off guard, as he had never asked the question in those terms. It's the wrong question. "You don't," came the eventual answer, "You try to get the actor to want what you need."
Mackendrick knows you can't teach the art and inspiration that directors have to have intuitively, though there is a useful chapter titled "A Technique for Having Ideas." The craft involved in direction, though, has a possibility of being taught, and he has here covered the craft from scriptwriting through editing. I only sit in audiences for films (and the intimidating muster of factors Mackendrick brings up that the director must consider tells me I am in the right spot in front of the screen, not behind the camera), but I have a much better appreciation for what a director does after reading these fine instructions. I also wish that every director now working would simply follow these rules. The principles here, if followed universally, would benefit directors, audiences, and the quality of Hollywood's output, not to mention its bottom line.
Amazon.com
The author of the best-selling Wiseguy gives us this true and brilliantly-told story of love, marriage, adultery, murder, revenge, and how it led to the Mafia's finally losing its stranglehold on the Las Vegas casinos.
Book Description
With the intensity of a Jacobean tragedy, Casino unfolds its tale of a love triangle between a gambler, his wife, and his henchman amid the glittering, festering Babylon of Las Vegas. The film makes daring use of voice-over and rapidly shifting points of view and time frame, leaving conventional film language far behind.
Customer Reviews:
Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas.......2007-06-06
Book came in the time frame and in the condition specified.
Absolutely Fascinating .......2007-03-08
It has been a long time since I fell on such a good book. Interesting characters intertwine in a decisive decade for Vegas. The story is based on the real life of Frank (Lefty) Rosenthal who left his mark in the gambling industry.
Money, power, greed, lust, and crime with flair intertwine in seventies' Sin City. Pileggi is a natural born story-teller who knows how to make it all work and keep you glued to the book with every turn of the page. The writing is style is spot on. It's so hard to find contemporary literature written with such a simple language, yet capable of conveying an intriguing story.
The fact that I had only seen bits and pieces of the movie, also helped. I could place the faces of De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Sharon Stone behind the characters while still enjoying the novelty of getting acquainted with the story for the real time.
I would recommend this to anybody who is interested in recent history, the mob, and the gambling industry overall.
Great piece on the mob and its Vegas heyday.......2006-05-22
Perhaps a little more well known for "Wiseguys", the book that became the movie "Goodfellas", Nicholas Pileggi is as good as they get when it comes to writing about the Mafia, its people and the drama of living the life. It is unfortunate that he doesn't work very fast - more books would be welcome.
"Casino" is the true story of Vegas in its heyday prior to the mega resort/casinos we see today, like Excalibur, New York New York, The Luxor, etc. Before large corporations turned Las Vegas into a theme park with casinos, the Chicago mob pretty much controlled the then famous casinos of the day, like the Stardust, where the movie "Casino" disguises it with the fictional name of The Tangier. Skimming the profits was the mob's business. Perhaps the greatest handicapper of all time, Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, ran three major casinos and ran them well. Chicago sent out the legendary Tony Spilotro to keep an eye on "Lefty" and protect him and the moolah. Spilotro, however, had ideas of his own and soon became mired in a horrendous mess, dragging Rosenthal and eventually all the mob controlled casinos to their demise with him. Rosenthal still lives, and even has a web site, but Spilotro at books' end learns the hard way that being insubordinate to the mob and skimming their skim has dire consequences.
Pileggi is a master at showing a picture of the lives of these people, the shady deals, the threats from every corner, from the state, other criminals and the Mob, and how difficult life is for those who choose the gambling scene as a way of life.
It's morbid but fascinating reading. A must for fans of organized crime books.
a great read!!.......2005-07-02
This book is really great.Hate to tell that jackass who wrote the olsen casino review but its a non fiction story and it was written long before the movie came out. Anyone interested in the mob or vegas will love this book!
ODDS ARE YOU'RE GONNA LIKE IT.......2005-05-04
I found this book to be a good read since I like reading about mob history. I always find it interesting to read about the different money making oppurtunities that they create, and in Vegas boy did they find a jackpot! Because I have read other mob books I was familiar with some of the names mentioned in the book and their backgrounds. The movie Casino has been around for 10 yrs. and I refused to watch it until I had read the book, well I rented it as soon as I finised the book and was very pleased with how the movie followed the book. It was good to have all the inside info that the book gave me as watched the movie. If you're into mob stuff I have to believe you will like this book.
Book Description
"Tourneur was a great director, fully deserving of the thoroughly researched and perceptive treatment he receives from Chris Fujiwara." -- Martin Scorsese
As the director of Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie, and Night of the Demon, Jacques Tourneur crafted three horror classics which, decades later, have lost none of their power to frighten audiences. And his 1947 film Out of the Past is still acknowledged as the quintessential film noir. Yet Tourneur himself remains underappreciated and his contribution to cinema history neglected. Many of his films, however, reveal a fluid artistry absent from the routine studio fare of the era. Working in a variety of genres, from Westerns (Canyon Passage) and spy films (Berlin Express) to swashbucklers (The Flame and the Arrow) and melodramas (Experiment Perilous), Tourneur imposed a personal cinematic vision that emphasized uncertainty and ambiguity.
In Jacques Tourneur: The Cinema of Nightfall, the first in-depth exploration of Tourneur's career, Chris Fujiwara offers a detailed film-by-film analysis of the director's four French films, his 20 MGM shorts, and his 29 studio productions, as well as his work in television. As Fujiwara shows, mystery, sensuality, and a deliberately restrained expressionism were the hallmarks of Tourneur's style, which frequently overcame the difficult circumstances in which he worked. Informative and immensely readable, this book provides an insightful and comprehensive study of an important and unjustly forgotten director.
Customer Reviews:
A Beauty.......2003-05-12
Chris Fujiwara is one of the world's best film critics. (Look for his soon-to-be-published work on Otto Preminger.) "The Cinema of Nightfall" is specifically about the great(and vastly underrated) Jacques Tourneur, but it is much more than that. It is one of the best books ever written about how to see and experience movies. Fujiwara goes inside the process of just how a film creates meaning, using Tourneur's very subtle genius as his base. The chapters on the more famous works("Cat People", "I Walked with a Zombie" and the immortal "Out of the Past") are the best analyses ever written on those titles. However, perhaps the most impressive part of Fujiwara achievement is his coverage of the more obscure Tourneurs: "Stars in My Crown", "Canyon Passage", "Berlin Express", the shorts. (His chapter on "Nightfall" is worth the price of admission -- a whole film theology in miniature.) "Cinema of Nightfall" is a model of film understanding and film love.
Excellent Guide to Tourneur's Films.......1998-10-05
Jacques Tourneur was a uniquely talented director with a string of distinctive films to his credit, including Cat People, Canyon Passage, I Walked With a Zombie and Out of the Past. Tourneur's best films look and sound like no one else's, stylish, subtle and strangely...quiet. At last there is an intelligent, discerning book on the subject of the talented Frenchman. Perhaps a bit more background on the making of the films would have been appreciated, otherwise this is an excellent and eye-opening bit of original film scholarship.
Amazon.com
True to its title, this book lets Martin Scorsese speak for himself. In what is essentially a long and fascinating interview, David Thompson and Ian Christie encourage Scorsese to recall the whole of his life, from his childhood in Little Italy to the creation of his most recent films. More than any major director working in America today, Scorsese proves himself to be terrifically articulate and wonderfully open when speaking about his life and work.
Scorsese on Scorsese also contains a biography, a filmography and lots of terrific behind-the-scenes photographs.
Book Description
Martin Scorsese's challenging and often controversial films are a record of the most personal achievement in modern American cinema. Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Gooodfellas--these titles conjure up a world and a style of filmmaking that he has made his own, one of a savage beauty of great intensity and truth.
The interviews which make up this book chart the journey that Scorsese has taken across the years in search of new subjects to engage and absorb him, and in the process reveal a man who, like Michael Powell and Francios Truffaut, has an unbridled passion for film--a passion which is evident in every frame of his work.
This new, revised edition includes chapters on Goodfellas, Cape Fear, The Age of Innocence, and other projects up to Casino, thus bringing up to date the story of America's most exciting and articulate contemporary filmmaker.
Customer Reviews:
A Master of His Craft, in His Own Voice.......2007-03-04
Now that Hollywood has finally given Scorsese his due with what amounted to a career-Oscar, the time is ripe to read the revised edition of this superb book. The questions asked of the director are intelligent, not fawning, and his answer's are lengthy and fascinating. The generous space devoted to his childhood and early years help one better understand why Scorsese has been so attracted to a particular genre and how he executes it so well. This director is, of course, immensely knowledgeable about the history of film, and his comments on other directors' work are fascinating. A readable mine of information about one of the most important popular artists of our time.
A Book That Would Satisfy ANY Scorsese Fan.......2002-07-07
I bought this book out of respect and deep admiration for Martin Scorsese. What I got was keen insight into a creative genius. The numerous interviews reveal a side to Scorsese that not many people see outside the camera. It's a lot more personal than that. When he talks about his movies, he ultimately parallels them to what his life was like at that time. So it's a fine blend of his personal life mixed with his professional life. There's also the obvious vibe that this man always was and always will be a student of film; his passion is infinite. Perhaps that's what makes him as influential and well-respected as he is.
You're the best there is, Marty!!
Answers Scorsese Fans' FAQS.......2001-03-30
This reader felt almost privileged to read these interviews, lectures, and conversations with Martin Scorsese. He simply shares everything, and indeed he is, if nothing else, a true fan of movies!
The insightful words of Scorsese, arranged to parallel his filmography up through New York Stories, are annotated by the redoubtable editors Thompson and Christie. Scorsese is arguably the greatest postmodern artist, (and I would have to say the only postmodernist I unhesitatingly adore -with possible exception of Matt Groening), and the reader really gets to see how Scorsese constructs a film. His inspirations are as predictable as directors Pasolini and Powell, yet as diverse as Mahatma Ghandi and Little Richard. He loves all with equanimity and enthusiasm.
That's the joy of this book... the guy loves movies, loves making them, and all that energy just shines through.
Extremely valuable resource for the student of film, but good fun for the humble film buff, too. Bonus: interesting black and white photos you won't find elsewhere. Excellent (though naturally out-of-date) filmography appendix.
A fascinating peek inside the mind of a film master.......2000-12-29
I absolutely devoured this book, essentially reading in two sittings a day apart. A rare and privledged look into the mind of Scorsese in his own words, followers of his work will be thrilled with the insights and anecdotes. Anyone half-aware of the man's work can recognize the thought that goes into it, but these interviews reveal the incredible depth and passion for film and its history that underlies his craft.
An essential read for anyone that considers her- or himself a film buff.
An absolute must for the Scorsese-reverent.......1999-07-06
There are few filmmakers more brilliant than Martin Scorsese, and this book provides wonderful insight into the sources of his obsessions. Almost any book on Scorsese is worth reading, but this volume gives equal time to his less-appreciated, (but no less wonderful), films like The King of Comedy and After Hours. By far, the most informative book on Scorsese yet.
Book Description
With a new Introduction by Martin Scorsese.
If Stanley Kubrick had made only 2001: A Space Odyssey or Dr. Strangelove, his cinematic legacy would have been assured. But from his first feature film, Fear and Desire, to the posthumously released Eyes Wide Shut, Kubrick created an accomplished body of work unique in its scope, diversity, and artistry, and by turns both lauded and controversial.
In this newly revised and definitive edition of his now classic study, film critic Michel Ciment provides an insightful examination of Kubrick's thirteen films--including such favorites as Lolita, A Clockwork Orange, and Full Metal Jacket--alongside an assemblage of more than four hundred photographs that form a complementary photo essay. Rounding out this unique work are a short biography of Kubrick; interviews with the director, as well as cast and crew members, including Malcolm McDowell, Shelley Duvall, and Jack Nicholson; and a detailed filmography and bibliography.
Meshed with masterful integrity, the book's text and illustrations pay homage to one of the most visionary, original, and demanding filmmakers of our time.
Customer Reviews:
An excellent overview of entire Kubrick's career.......2004-01-11
With Stanley Kubrick dead and his final film released, Michael Ciment had the opportunity to update his biography/analysis of the great director's career. Rather than rewrite the entire book, he's decided to update it with new interviews and an additional chapter or two on Eyes Wide Shut. (The previous edition was updated to include Full Metal Jacket.) He's also added a lot more photographs --- stills from the films and images of Kubrick at work. The photos of Kubrick working on EWS are particularly interesting.
Early in the book, after a short biographical chapter, Ciment goes through a list of common motifs in Kubrick's films. These include the use of masks, actors in dual roles, character playing games such as chess and cards within the film, circular set design, and a close shot of a main character's eye. Because this section was not updated to include Full Metal Jacket or Eyes Wide Shut, you can decide for yourself if these motifs were carried on in the those two films. (In my opinion, many of the motifs are not found in his last two films.)
This is followed by an essay on 'Kubrick and the Fantastic,' a dull and pretentious piece that doesn't add much. It leads to the best part of the book, the second half, in which Kubrick and his collaborators are interviewed. Kubrick responds to questions with answers that are full of information, but he's evasive when he describes his own films. Later on, the author explains why: Kubrick felt his movies should be self-explanatory (after multiple viewings) and didn't like the "What's this movie about?" question.
The interviews with actors, set designers, co-writers, and costume designers are very good. Everyone has the same reaction: Kubrick exasperated them as he demanded their best work . . . but they wouldn't trade that experience for anything in the world. It's a testament to Kubrick that he choose people who were not petty. (The only sour note is Frederick Raphael, the co-screenwriter for Eyes Wide Shut. He seems smart, but not in Kubrick's league.)
If you're a casual Kubrick fan, this book is a worthwhile introduction. The photos are very good and, as an overview, it's excellent. It is, however, pretentious at times in the analysis of the films. For the hardcore Kubrick fan who has read (or is planning to read) everything on the director, this book ranks third or fourth. Read Baxter's and Herr's books first.
We were waiting.......2003-08-19
This book has been held in high regard ever since it first appeared. Earlier editions were becoming collectible and were always disappearing from libraries.
I guess it was safe for a reappearance following the passing of Stanley Kubrick and the completion of his body of work. The book has been reworked beautifully, including all of the amazing color photos, essays, and interviews from before plus some new additions, namely chapters on Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut chapters. There are additional interviews with various collaborators.
In short, in the wake of Kubrick books that sprouted up following the director's death in 1999, Ciment's Kubrick ranks right at the top. It's a gorgeous volume, and the interviews (done by Ciment following Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, and The Shining) are some of the most enlightening words from the director.
Highly recommended for the Kubrick fan and the film buff. Also recommended is Thomas Allen Nelson's Kubrick: Inside a Film Artist's Maze.
DEFINITIVE, INDEED!.......2001-12-01
I am glad Mr. Ciment waited until Kubrick's oeuvre was completed before updating what is, indeed, the very last word on this very unique artist's films. Everything is here from the first edition which was out-of-print for quite awhile plus the films that were made after. With Stanley Kubrick's death we now have the very best study of the themes, techniques and recurring visions of a very singular artist. Anyone who wants to understand the evolution of Stanley Kubrick can disregard all the other flawed books out there and put this one on the shelf as a keeper. With detailed analysis and tons of pictures, any serious fan of his films will appreciate this as only the subtitle says it is - the definitive edition.
Most precious visual book about Kubrick........2001-01-02
I have this book. 5,6 years ago, I bought this at second hand book store. So book I have is second handed one, and Japanese special edition. As other reviewers say, it's very very great pity that this book is out of print now. I think some publisher had better make new edition title, added to a visualy wondeful film-Eyes Wide Shut!! If you have found it at bookstore and you are a Kubrician, you must take it, buy it, bring it your home, and enjoy these so many precious fotos or very important his interviews in this book. I have various books about Kubrick, but this Michel Ciment's Kubrick is the best book in published ones ever I think. Do your best for finding one!! All your efforts for this book would not be wasted, EVER!
Glad to see this back and in such fine form........2000-04-21
It's a pleasure to see this book back in print. Although Ciment's analysis is a little heavy on the semiotic side, he does an interesting job of illuminating the various thematic threads in Kubrick's work. Profusely illustrated, the book juxtaposes various stills to show the recurrance of visual motifs in each and every one of Kubrick's films (though he manages to miss my absolute favorite -- the imaculate bathroom). There are roughly two essays in the book, one dealing with Kubrick the modernist and the other on Kubrick's use of the fantastic. However, the real gems of this tome are the various interviews, three conducted with the man himself (four if you count a Q&A conducted by mail) following the releases of Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon and The Shining. Somehow the author got Stan to open up in a way, that I've never seen him do in any other interview (the exception being the one for Playboy in '68). This edition also contains some fine interviews, some recently added, with Ken Adam, Jack Nicholson, Malcolm McDowell, Diane Johnson and Marisa Berenson. There is an added chapter on Eyes Wide Shut (which in part explains why it took him so long to do the film) and a memorial essay which gives a fine and tender goodbye to a great director and good friend.
Book Description
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Widely acclaimed as America's greatest living film director, Martin Scorsese is also, some argue, the pre-eminent Italian American artist. Although he has treated various subjects in over three decades, his most sustained filmmaking and the core of his achievement consists of five films on Italian American subjects - Who's That Knocking at My Door?, Mean Streets, Raging Bull, GoodFellas, and Casino - as well as the documentary Italianamerican. In Gangster Priest Robert Casillo examines these films in the context of the society, religion, culture, and history of Southern Italy, from which the majority of Italian Americans, including Scorsese, derive.
Casillo argues that these films cannot be fully appreciated either thematically or formally without understanding the various facets of Italian American ethnicity, as well as the nature of Italian American cinema and the difficulties facing assimilating third-generation artists. Forming a unified whole, Scorsese's Italian American films offer what Casillo views as a prolonged meditation on the immigrant experience, the relationship between Italian America and Southern Italy, the conflicts between the ethnic generations, and the formation and development of Italian American ethnicity (and thus identity) on American soil through the generations. Raised as a Catholic and deeply imbued with Catholic values, Scorsese also deals with certain forms of Southern Italian vernacular religion, which have left their imprint not only on Scorsese himself but also on the spiritually tormented characters of his Italian American films. Casillo also shows how Scorsese interrogates the Southern Italian code of masculine honour in his exploration of the Italian American underworld or Mafia, and through his implicitly Catholic optic, discloses its thoroughgoing and longstanding opposition to Christianity.
Bringing a wealth of scholarship and insight into Scorsese's work, Casillo's study will captivate readers interested in the director's magisterial artistry, the rich social history of Southern Italy, Italian American ethnicity, and the sociology and history of the Mafia in both Sicily and the United States.
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Book Description
For more than three decades, Bruce Springsteen's ability to express in words and music the deepest hopes, fears, loves, and sorrows of average Americans has made him a hero to his millions of devoted fans. Racing in the Street is the first comprehensive collection of writings about Springsteen, featuring the most insightful, revealing, famous, and infamous articles, interviews, reviews, and other writings. This nostalgic journey through the career of a rock-'n'-roll legend chronicles every album and each stage of Springsteen's career. It's all here—Dave Marsh's Rolling Stone review of Springsteen's ten sold-out Bottom Line shows in 1975 in New York City, Jay Cocks's and Maureen Orth's dueling Time and Newsweek cover stories, George Will's gross misinterpretation of Springsteen's message on his Born in the USA tour, and Will Percy's 1999 interview for Double Take, plus much, much more.
Customer Reviews:
Good Overview Of Writings On Springsteen.......2006-04-25
I really enjoyed the majority of the pieces in June Skinner Sawyers' Racing In The Street: The Bruce Springsteen Reader. Highlights for me include Martin Scorese's (brief) foreward (always figured he was a fan) and, of all things, the excerpts from one Kevin Major's young adult novel Dear Bruce Springsteen, in which my favorite passage in the collection occurs:
"I knew he [the young narrator's father] was into your music a lot. He never listened to it much in the house, mostly when he was driving the old van we used to have. Mostly then by himself. The four of us were in the van once and he put on Nebraska. Mom made him take it off because, she said, it sounded too depressing. He sort of grunted something about she didn't know what good music was and popped out the tape. She said if you're going to spend money we can't afford on music, then you might as well spend it on something that'll cheer you up. He ignored her."
Now tell me - is there a Bruce fan alive that can't relate to that?
Though I would have liked to have seen Tama Janowitz' "You And The Boss" and Richard Meltzer's "The Meaning of Bruce" (both collected in Clinton Heylin's Penguin Book Of Rock & Roll Writing, if you're interested) included for balance, this is a solid anthology of writings on Bruce, and recommended if you're a fan.
PS Also recommended if you're a fan of great music writing (or great writing, period): Lester Bangs' Psychotic Reactions And Carburetor Dung and Mainlines, Blood Feasts, And Bad Taste.
Racing Is A Great Boss Bio Plus..........2006-02-22
Racing In The Street is not so much a great biography about Bruce.
It goes much deeper.
It is a series of very insightful articles pinpointing the appeal Bruce has for so many of his fans.
He is a mega star but it is his struggle to remain normal and humble that is at the heart of this book.
For the casual fan, If you truly want to know why his fans are so intense, this is the book to read.
For his fans that have always tried to figure out why we are so intense, this book puts all that into perspective better than any other.
Highly recommended.
Great book for any Bruce fan!!!.......2005-06-28
This book provides wonderful, informative articles that offer various perceptions of the Boss and his 30+ year career!!! I learned so much about how other people see Bruce, and gained knowledge about his life and work, which was very enjoyable. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves the Boss and wants to gain more insight into his long and amazing career. The maps, discography, timeline, and other extras were also brilliant additions to the collection!
Great bio of the boss!.......2005-02-06
Racing in the Street is a great book and a must for every Springsteen fan.
Good, Diverse Collection.......2004-05-11
How many people do you know who like Bruce Springsteen? If you're like me, probably not very many. Most people cite their dislike of his voice, or find him to be too intense, or don't find his melodies to be that memorable. That's fine- that's their loss after all- but it's not necessarily congruent with the critical praise steeped upon Springsteen. I've always known that Bruce has been a longtime critical darling for Rolling Stone- he doesn't get as much coverage nowdays (he doesn't do that much nowdays to warrant coverage), but back in the 70s and 80s, Bruce could absolutely do no wrong, and was voted "artist of the year" an unprecedented number of times in the mid 80s. Those writings are collected in the Rolling Stone Files anthology, to which this book is an essential companion. If anything, this book has more substance than the RS book, since many of its selections place Bruce's music in its social context. While I know that Bruce is a wonderful guy, I'm not terribly interested in reading about endless fawning over him or how great he is in concert- I know that or else I wouldn't be seeking out written material about him. There's certainly some element to that in this book, but many of the articles are well-written reflections on the meaning of his music and on the social and political influences that inspire and shape it. My favorite is the Lester Bangs review of early Bruce- the music seems to have knocked this rather pretentious (but wonderful) critic down a few notches closer to earth. I also enjoy some of the ficiton writings that contain prominent mentions of Springsteen's music. So for some well-written but well-grounded commentary and reflections on Springsteen's music and the society that inspired him, "Racing in the Street" is an excellent, highly readable anthology that doesn't numb you with syrupy praise but also doesn't burn you out with cynicism and lofty music criticism.
Average customer rating:
- Smart, exhaustive, pretentious, engaging
- One of the best books about post-studio system U.S. cinema
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A Cinema of Loneliness: Penn, Stone, Kubrick, Scorsese, Spielberg, Altman
Robert Kolker
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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ASIN: 0195123506 |
Book Description
In this twentieth-anniversary millennial edition, Kolker continues and expands his inquiry into the cinematic representation of culture by updating and revising the chapters on the directors discussed in the first edition--Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, and Steven Spielberg--to include their most important works since 1988, analyzing those films which have made important advances in the directors' careers and which have given cause for rethinking the films that preceded them. Included is a profile of Arthur Penn's career followed by a new comparative study of Oliver Stone, who mirrors Penn's practice of drawing his films out of historical and ideological currents. Placing the films of Penn, Stone, Kubrick, Scorsese, Spielberg, and Altman in an ideological perspective, Kolker both illuminates their relationship to one another and to larger currents in our culture, and emphasizes the statements their films make about American society and culture. This edition includes a new preface, a requiem for Stanley Kubrick, updated filmography, and 48 images from various films discussed through the text.
Customer Reviews:
Smart, exhaustive, pretentious, engaging.......2001-01-04
Kolker's lengthy opinions sometimes suffer from tunnel-vision -- ideas that support his over-arching theories are stressed while other influnces on/aspects of the films are ignored. But his over-arching theories are penetrating nevertheless, and a lot of light is shed on the filmmakers he discusses. His treatment of Kubrick, whose work lends itself so well to intelluctual deconstruction, is especially good. The discussion of Spielberg is interesting but a little too high-minded for the relatively simple pleasures of Spielberg's movies. Most interesting of all are the author's comparisons of the filmmakers with each other, the culture of their times, and various narrative forms and goals. (Kubrick fans should also check out Michael Herr's "Kubrick", which reveals a human side to the legendarily chilly and cerebral director).
One of the best books about post-studio system U.S. cinema.......2000-07-18
Although I missed the very first edition of this book in 1980, its second edition has been among my favorite film books for a decade. This is despite the fact that most of the film-makers discussed within (especially Scorsese & Altman) had made numerous films since the last ones featured in that edition. Now I have the joyful experience of catching up on their films with one of the finest writers on the topic of American film ever and his third edition of one of the finest books on American film ever published.
Kolker has gone back to his earlier editions and used the newer films to both confirm and refute his earlier evaluations. Many fans of film in general (and some of these directors, in particular) will not agree with many of Kolker's points. What makes this book so wonderful, though, is that you don't have to agree to enjoy it. Kolker understands that film criticism is meant to be a lively art, rather than a process of emalming great works of art. I may not agree with his assessment of each Scorsese picture but his analysis of Scorsese's significance is right on the money. At the same time, his newly added discussion of Oliver Stone is the first writing about the controversial director that gave a fair picture of his artistic strengths (there are many) and weaknesses (fewer but still significant).
Deserving of special note is the book's section on the late Stanley Kubrick. Kubrick's passing makes him the only film-maker in the book whose body of work is completely finished, a matter which Kolkee addresses in a special epitaph. It is indicative of both the quality and bold approach of the book that the author uses Kubrick's final film, "Eyes Wide Shut" as a springboard to ponder how Kubrick's work will fit into the history of cinema in the years to come. He does not make pat, easy judgements but rather admits that the still vital medium is ever shifting and even old works can take on new meanings in hindsight. It's almost enough to make me eager for the fourth edition.
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