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TALKING PICTURES

Name: TALKING PICTURES
Author: Ann Hornaday
ISBN: 978-0-465-09423-3

HOW TO WATCH MOVIES

by Ann Hornaday ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 13, 2017

If uninspiring, this is a user-friendly, nonintimidating guide to appreciating movies.

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A film critic for the Washington Post offers advice on watching movies.

Hornaday isn’t the first to write a primer about critically assessing films instead of subjectively responding to them as simply good or bad. Avoiding critical jargon, she hopes to guide novice viewers into “appreciating movies more fully when they succeed, and for explaining their missteps when they fall short.” She has conducted extensive interviews with film folk over the years, which adds an informed, insider’s quality to her discussions. Hornaday smartly divides the book into seven sections: screenwriting, acting, production design, cinematography, editing, sound and music, and directing. Within each section, the author poses a number of questions that she then answers (“where was the camera and why was it there?”), giving the book an unfortunate textbook quality. The narrative is also heavily prescriptive. Hornaday is quick to give her likes and dislikes: “I’ve never loved the films of Alejandro González Iñárritu…credibility might be the chief problem.” On acting, “the most fundamental element of cinematic grammar,” she cites John Sayles: “casting the right actors is easily 90 percent of the [director’s] job.” But mistakes are made. Cameron Diaz was “fatally miscast” in The Gangs of New York. One of the stronger sections is production design, often overlooked by general moviegoers. It encompasses backdrops, locations, sets, props, costumes, hair, and makeup. Done well, writes the author, it establishes “the overall look of a film, the sense of richness, texture, and detail.” In the cinematography section, Hornaday confesses that one of the “few things I truly despise in life…[is] 3-D.” She was “awed” by Sandra Adair’s editing work in Boyhood; Raging Bull and GoodFellas are “masterpieces of editing and rhythm.” The section on sound and music is also good, the one on directing poor, and because the author’s picks are very American-centric, the book’s scope is limited.

If uninspiring, this is a user-friendly, nonintimidating guide to appreciating movies.

Pub Date: June 13, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-465-09423-3

Page Count: 272

Publisher: Basic Books

Review Posted Online: April 1, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017

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.