by Ann Hornaday ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 13, 2017
If uninspiring, this is a user-friendly, nonintimidating guide to appreciating movies.
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
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by William Strunk & E.B. White ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 15, 1972
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
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
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