. . .
Another entertaining hybrid of memoir and screenwriting advice from the two-time Academy Award-winning writer of Butch
Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. This sequel to Goldman's Adventures in the Screen Trade (1983) picks up where the original left off, detailing his Hollywood experiences since the early 1980s and offering new insights into the screenwriter's art. The autobiographical first section ("More Adventures") begins with his "leper" period (1980—85), when the "phone stopped ringing" and no studio would hire him, and goes on to describe his work on seven subsequent films, including both turkeys and hits, from Memoirs of an Invisible Man to The Princess Bride to Absolute Power. In the sections that follow, he turns screenwriting coach, analyzing favorite scenes from such films as Fargo and There's Something About Mary; weighing the merits of various unused story ideas (culled from newspapers, history, and his imagination); and offering an unfinished comedy-adventure script with ruthless critiques by several colleagues. Goldman derides cinematic sequels as "whores' movies" that never compare well to the original, and there is some reason to apply the same principle to this book. It doesn't offer the systematic guide to Hollywood madness that the original did, nor does it have new industry aphorisms on the level of the original's "Nobody knows anything." The writing is flabbier, more prone to profanity and hyperbole. But the updating is valuable, and Goldman remains a virtuoso storyteller, expertly spinning yarns about movies that should never have been made, innocently egotistical stars, careers on the line (including his), and scripts miraculously salvaged. There are anecdotes about his early life, gossipy tidbits about celebrities (did you know Sylvester Stallone is only five-foot-seven?), and plenty of good advice for the would-be scenarist. A fun, instructive look into a veteran screenwriter's workshop.
. . .Pub Date: March 13, 2000
ISBN: 0-375-40349-3
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Pantheon
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2000
This initial entry in an international vegetarian series disproves the myth that vegetarian cooking is always light and healthy. Della Croce (Antipasti, not reviewed) packs these simple recipes with large amounts of oil and cheese. In pasta recipes, her frequent encouragement to use some of the pasta-cooking water to keep things moist is puzzling, since oil-based preparations like walnut sauce and lemon-and-black-olive sauce have more than enough olive oil to coat the noodles. Although the introduction claims that the book contains ``many nonegg and nondairy recipes,'' vegans are pretty much out of luck here. Out of 19 main courses, only two contain no dairy or egg products, and one of those is unsauced polenta. (Several could easily be converted by replacing butter with olive oil, just as several pasta and soup dishes could be served without grated Parmesan sprinkled on top, but neither of these is provided as an option.) The use of animal products itself would not be objectionable, since della Croce correctly notes that many of the vegan first-course pastas and soups are substantial enough for a whole meal, but in main dishes like a zucchini casserole, one pound of mozzarella, one cup grated Parmesan, and four eggs cover up, rather than enhance, the fresh flavor of vegetables. Ultimately, since Italy's food is vegetable-based to begin with, many of these offerings have been covered in general Italian cookbooks by Marcella Hazan and others. Photographs have the rustic-yet-upscale look that is now apparently de rigueur for Italian cookbooks. Nothing new under the sun.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-8118-0458-5
Page Count: 168
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1994
A compelling argument that ``far from being irrational, the emotions have a logic of their own,'' and some advice on how to identify and change counterproductive emotional patterns. According to retired psychology professor Richard Lazarus (Emotion and Adaptation, not reviewed) and his wife, a freelance writer, we feel an emotion when ``we are motivated to gain something or prevent something unwanted from happening.'' Emotions, they argue, are intimately linked to our ability to appraise and interpret actions and events, so it is no accident that humans are both the most intelligent and the most emotional of animals. Each of our emotions, furthermore, has ``a distinctive dramatic plot'': Anger stems from perceiving something as an unfair slight, sadness from experiencing an irrevocable loss, happiness from making progress toward attaining a goal, and so on. Biology hardwires emotions in us; culture acts as our software, programming certain acts to trigger each emotion and teaching us how—or whether—that emotion should be expressed. Differences in personality and experience complete the program, giving each individual a distinct emotional configuration. The authors supply practical advice on when it is best to express emotion and when it is best to suppress it, along with examples of how to do both. For example, in an instance of being angered by one's spouse, they suggest reinterpreting the event to lessen the distress it evokes; one might excuse the spouse's insensitive behavior as being the result of exhaustion or stress. The authors discuss various psychotherapy options for those who need extra help in regulating their emotions. And in sketchier, less convincing chapters, they explore stress and the possible influence of emotional states on physical health. For the most part a helpful, clearly written user's guide to the human emotions.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-19-508757-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1994
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