If Loder weren't Loder, this book would be exactly where it belongs: online, as part of a blog.
Lackluster collection of movie reviews from Loder (Bat Chain Puller: Rock and Roll in the Age of Celebrity, 1990).
A presence on the music scene since the late ’70s, the author is one of music and pop culture's most knowledgeable and likable writers. Best known for his print work with Rolling Stone and his small-screen work with MTV, Loder has proven to be both a trustworthy news reporter and an incisive rock tastemaker, so one would assume that when he turned to film criticism, his opinions would be sharp and compelling. Unfortunately, in this overlong collection, that's far from the case. Part of the problem is that the era of films on which he focuses is one of the most creatively feeble in showbiz history, so it's little wonder that the majority of the essays take a negative tone (hence the book's title). Loder relies on glib jibes that fail to provide illumination or insight—e.g., of the romantic comedy Valentine's Day, he writes, "It has the radiant glow of a Hollywood pitch meeting”; of the prehistoric comedy Year One: "the picture's desperate, teen-baiting assemblage of fart jokes, dick jokes...and urine inhalation are a dreary reminder that no matter how far removed the setting's supposed to be, the land of lame Hollywood japery is always near at hand.” The author tries to justify his lightweight approach by explaining in the introduction that he's not a film critic, but rather a movie reviewer, but that's a cop-out. If you criticize something, you are, by definition, a critic; unfortunately, this talented and charismatic scribe isn't a particularly notable one.
If Loder weren't Loder, this book would be exactly where it belongs: online, as part of a blog.Pub Date: Nov. 8, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-312-64163-4
Page Count: 560
Publisher: Dunne/St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2011
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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