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EITHER YOU’RE IN OR YOU’RE IN THE WAY

Name: EITHER YOU’RE IN OR YOU’RE IN THE WAY
Author: Logan Miller
ISBN: 978-0-06-176314-4

TWO BROTHERS, TWELVE MONTHS, AND ONE FILMMAKING HELL-RIDE TO KEEP A PROMISE TO THEIR FATHER

by Logan Miller and Noah Miller ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2009

Rent Truffaut’s Day for Night instead.

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Identical twins make movie, write boring book about the experience.

“The Bros,” as they refer to themselves, recount their struggle to produce a feature film honoring the life of their father, a homeless alcoholic who died alone in jail. The baseball-players-turned-neophyte-moviemakers had a rough time, learning on the job as they struggled to find financing, negotiate with bureaucrats for permits and deal with inclement weather and skittish actors. They generally flailed about in the manner familiar to viewers of Project Greenlight or any of the myriad films about the difficulties of making films. The authors aren’t covering any new ground here, and the crises threatening the completion of their cinematic roman-a-clef—Touching Home, a title to chill discerning moviegoers’ blood if ever there was one—are decidedly low stakes. Compared to such infamous production snafus as Martin Sheen’s heart attack on the set of Apocalypse Now, the Millers’ picayune setbacks—crewmembers turning up late, equipment malfunctioning, money being mismanaged—fail to generate much drama. Much of the story centers around their successful campaign to secure modest movie star Ed Harris as the lead in their film. If Harris had been a raging diva given to outrageous behavior, there might have been a story here; as it stands, the authors’ effusive paeans to his professionalism and integrity quickly pall. Strangely, the Bros don’t discuss their baseball careers (apparently central to the film’s narrative), their cinematic inspirations, their feelings about acting and directing with no prior experience or Touching Home’s place in the tradition of baseball-themed male weepies. They are content to tell a few mild anecdotes, praise the cast and crew and lament the sad end of their father’s life. This pleasant, bland chronicle of a wearyingly familiar subject provides little of interest for anyone beyond the authors’ immediate circle.

Rent Truffaut’s Day for Night instead.

Pub Date: May 1, 2009

ISBN: 978-0-06-176314-4

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Collins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2009

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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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.