A tremendously welcoming survey of modern movie classics.
A master gives a guided tour of Hollywood films in the second half of the 20th century.
Legendary actor and director Reiner (Alive at Ninety-Five, 2017, etc.) begins the second of his captivating two-volume pictorial memoir in 1950, when he joined Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca on the TV series Your Show of Shows. The author continues through the highlights of modern Hollywood history, closing out in the 2010s with films like The Wolf of Wall Street, The King’s Speech, and Ocean’s Eight, in which Reiner reprises the cameo role of Saul Bloom he originated in the 2001 George Clooney remake of Ocean’s Eleven. As in the previous volume, the author here reverses the usual pattern of memoirs, presenting page after page of set photographs and striking movie posters and adding only minimal text comments, a feat of restraint that becomes all the more remarkable when his tour reaches classic films he directed, like That Old Feeling, The Jerk, and Oh, God! As he approaches the rawer and raunchier topicality of modern movies (including Blazing Saddles, the hilarious 1974 comedy directed by his frequent collaborator Mel Brooks), he refers to his own favorite contention: “Any sexy, dirty, racist or offensive joke is totally acceptable as long as it’s funnier than it is dirty, sexy, racist or offensive.” And he allows himself the occasional nod to industry scandal, as in the case of Sunset Boulevard: “On screen, Gloria Swanson played a vixen and off screen, she was a bit of a vixen, having an ongoing affair with the scion of one of America’s wealthiest and most prestigious families.” Throughout the book, there’s a tone of enthusiastic invitation, an undimmed sense of exploration (“If you haven’t seen the documentaries on the careers of Rita Moreno and Chita Rivera, get copies of them, invite some friends over and you’ll thank me”). The cumulative effect should convince readers that they are in the presence of one of the world’s oldest—and most passionate—film geeks.
A tremendously welcoming survey of modern movie classics.Pub Date: Dec. 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9995182-1-2
Page Count: 421
Publisher: Random Content Publishing
Review Posted Online: Jan. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Vacation travelogue that, despite its pretension to social commentary, will make readers want to pack their bags.
Quaint traveler’s tale attempting to masquerade as hard-hitting reportage on modern China.
Weiss reunites with his old Army buddy, Hal, to travel to the Far East, finally submitting to decades of haranguing from Hal’s father, the Confucius-styled sage Pop Kam. Weiss chronicles his journey in a diary replete with scenes of the seeming absurdities of this foreign land. In its early stages, the text mostly resembles a blow-by-blow account of the author’s culture shock. But further along, his confusion about things like unrestrained public urination or vendors converting tomatoes into dumplings adds human detail to the narrative without rankling of condescension. Weiss never forgets that he is the outsider, and his humor is always self-deprecating. His account often risks becoming a tiresome itinerary of wondrous sites, reminiscent of a clueless uncle’s overlong slideshow of vacation photos. But enough history is interspersed between the charming yet repetitive descriptions to remind readers of the awe-inspiring marvel of such wonders as the Great Wall or the terra cotta warriors of Xi’an. Weiss writes with a literary flourish that at times makes his adventures sing, but it can just as easily sink to depths of overwhelming melodrama. He provides useful tips for those who might wish to follow in his footsteps: his experience with altitude sickness in Tibet, which showcases Weiss’s humility before nature, alerts others to the need to acclimate before ascending the Himalayas. His two-month trip in spring 2007 took place as China dove headfirst into preparations for the 2008 Summer Olympics, on which Weiss hooks an analysis of the nation’s struggle to modernize. The connection feels awkward and artificial, and the facts he incorporates about Tibet’s cultural suppression, pollution and the one-child policy can be easily gleaned from the Internet.
Vacation travelogue that, despite its pretension to social commentary, will make readers want to pack their bags.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-4363-1523-4
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Invaluable insights–this compelling text leaves no stone unturned.
Career ecologist Wittbecker’s (REviewing, REthinking, REturning, 2005, etc.) ninth book condenses a trove of knowledge and observations into an abridged course of action for global sustainability.
There’s presently much at stake in our fight to reverse damage to the environment, contends Wittbecker, and considerably more that must be done to correct the consumer-driven phenomena of global warming, animal extinction, deforestation, carbon emissions and population growth. But the author has no illusions, stating very clearly that it could be too late–that we may have already reached the turning point on the slippery slope of complete ecological destruction. Yet with no empirical way to gauge this impasse, Wittbecker asserts that we have a responsibility to take action in slowing and/or amending the detrimental effects of human events (termed “catastrophes”) now creating major imbalances on a global scale. Unlike other environmentally focused authors, rather than take a defensive stance to prove or disprove theory with reams of footnotes, the co-founder of the G.P. Marsh Institute for Research in Ecology simply states the obvious and backs it up with deft analysis. With four decades of scholarship in ecological research, writing and lecturing, Wittbecker wears the hat of Confucian adviser quite comfortably, offering hundreds of definitive solutions on individual, community and government levels. From proposing taxes based on destruction of resources and pollution emissions, to suggesting that governments destroy nuclear arsenals, the volume is essentially Earth’s bill of rights with policy directives for human responsibility. Comparing capitalism to an aberrant cancer, Wittbecker describes wanton consumerism as a means to fill the bottomless void of “placelessness.” Expanding on his long advocacy of creating “eutopias” (good places), Wittbecker argues that our policies and attitudes must be geared toward longevity and species equality, as well as humans’ harmonious interaction with their ecosystems. This common goal is the only answer for sustainability–cultural, physical, social or otherwise. Some of Wittbecker’s proposals may seem sensationalist and unattainable, but they’re never reactionary. The hook–the earth’s well-being–is delivered with upbeat neutrality and confidence.
Invaluable insights–this compelling text leaves no stone unturned.Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2006
ISBN: 978-0-911385-32-0
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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