Category: Movie books
The Creatures Of Farscape: Inside Jim Henson’s Creature Shop by Joe Nazzaro (book review).
You’d hate to see my bucket list of books I would like to read and some being doubtful that I would even see their dustcovers. Opportunity presented me with the 2004 release, ‘The Creatures Of Farscape: Inside Jim Henson’s Creature Shop’ by Joe Nazzaro. So, if you’re patient enough and look occasionally, you really don’t […]
Cinema Retro vol. 15 #44 Spring 2019 (magazine review).
I haven’t looked at ‘Cinema Retro’ for a few years now but spotting the cover of # 44 and Monica Vitti posing from the 1966 film, ‘Modesty Blaise’ did mean rare photographs, something this magazine is built around. This also applies to the other content, like ‘Fathom’ (1966). Anyway, the whole issue is dedicated to […]
BFI Film Classics: Rosemary’s Baby by Michael Newton (book review).
Nothing makes for a film to get fast tracked than being based off a successful book. In this case, Ira Levin’s ‘Rosemary’s Baby’. Interestingly, it was director William Castle who got the film rights but took up producer status so Roman Polanski could direct it. Interestingly, both Levin and Polanski are agnostic and the latter […]
Cinematography For Directors, 2nd Ed. by Jacqueline B. Frost (book review).
The release of a second edition of Jacqueline B. Frost’s book, ‘Cinematography For Directors’ is, as she explains, to covers changes and development in digital filming. Rather interestingly, the cinematographer isn’t necessarily the cameraman but there does appear grey areas between the three roles. Frost also notes that things can be more effective when all […]
Keep Watching The Skies! American Science Fiction Movies Of The Fifties: The 21st Century Edition: 2 Volume set by Bill Warren (book review).
I think everyone has heard of Bill Warren’s opus ‘Keep Watching The Skies! American Science Fiction Movies Of The Fifties’ over the years. This version, split into two volumes, should make it easier to read than the hardback at 1004 pages. Bear in mind these books are large and double column, then text-wise, you should […]
Ken Adam: The Art Of Production Design by Christopher Frayling (book review).
After reading ‘Nobody Does It Better: The Complete Uncensored Unauthorised Oral History of James Bond’ by Mark A. Altman & Edward Gross back in February, Ken Adam’s name instilled in my head and a check to see if someone had though to do a book on the film production designer. The book cover on-line belies […]
Making Movie Magic by John Richardson (book review).
The sub-title of John Richardson’s book, ‘Making Movie Magic’, is ‘A Lifetime Creating Special Effects For James Bond, Harry Potter, Superman & More’. Quite why ‘Aliens’, more so as it won an Oscar for special effects, wasn’t included on the cover but then you’d be adding a lot more films and there simply isn’t enough […]
Women Of Science Fiction And Fantasy Television by Karen A. Romanko (book review).
The sub-title of Karen A. Romanko’s book, ‘Women Of Science Fiction And Fantasy Television’, is ‘An Encyclopedia Of 400 Characters And 200 Shows’. Any geek-minded person would have to ask how can she be so precise a number or does it make better copy for the cover? She gets around that by having an ‘Honorable […]
Pulling A Rabbit Out A Hat: The Making Of Roger Rabbit by Ross Anderson (book review).
The title of Ross Anderson’s book, ‘Pulling A Rabbit Out A Hat: The Making Of Roger Rabbit’, should clue you into what the subject matter is here. There is an apology in the introduction that Disney wouldn’t play ball and supply photos from the film for the book. Then again, reading how they bought the […]
Fourth Wave Feminism In Science Fiction And Fantasy Volume 1: Essays On Film, 2012-2019 edited by Valerie Estelle Frankel (book review).
Looking at the book title, ‘Fourth Wave Feminism In Science Fiction And Fantasy’, you would have to ask what exactly is ‘Fourth Wave Feminism’? Actually, it is called the Bechdel Test. From their definition it is having more than one female lead and they must talk between themselves about any subject but the men and […]
