A compelling take that depressingly suggests movies fit more and more into a bigger picture: the age of unreality.
A solid analysis of the movie business that shows why today’s movies are so bad and why Hollywood is—literally—becoming a land of make-believe.
How did Hollywood get from Gentleman’s Agreement, a trenchant, well-acted, well-written, well-directed film for adults, to The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, a largely computer-generated fantasy for children? Both films copped the Oscar for best picture, in 1948 and 2004, respectively, and in the intervening years, Epstein (Dossier, 1996, etc.) finds much disconcerting information about the making of movies today. Culling myriad sources in an impressive feat of reporting, Epstein first explains the machinations of Hollywood up to 1948. The scenario is familiar: Major studios made films and sent them to their theater chains; audiences filed in, and, often as not, the films showed profits. Anti-trust legislation, the end of block-booking, and the rise of television ended that successful system in the late ’40s. Business conglomerates and new moguls moved in, their formula largely derived from Disney: When Mickey Mouse and his ilk (i.e., characters that appealed to pre-teens) fail to pull in crowds, you make up the deficit with movie tie-ins—toys, T-shirts, video games, CDs, DVDs. Sell a filmic assemblage of car chases and fight scenes light on dialogue to airplanes, cable companies, and overseas markets. Get the star on magazine covers and TV talk shows, which are often owned by the film studios’ parent companies. And if Cruise, Pitt, or Kidman get difficult, create characters, entire scenes, even entire films by computer. These largely inhuman product packages make billions—and films like Gentleman’s Agreement are gone with the wind.
A compelling take that depressingly suggests movies fit more and more into a bigger picture: the age of unreality.Pub Date: Feb. 22, 2005
ISBN: 1-4000-6353-1
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2004
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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