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The "Movie related" Books recommendation thread...(hopefully not already done)

post #1 of 21
8/5/08 at 7:54pm
Thread Starter 
Share with others which books about movies you have read and loved, and how the've changed the way you look at a film or genre (I believe Empire or Total Film did an article about this early this year).
I'll go first with "The greatest sci-fi pictures never made", by David Hughes, which has taugh me two things; A) Making a Sci-fi movie is a hellish experience is a harrowing experience on most cases, B) I respect Alien3 a lot more after getting to know what a clusterfuck its development was.
What are your picks?
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post #2 of 21
8/5/08 at 7:56pm
Simple answer to this question: Easy Riders Raging Bulls
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post #3 of 21
8/5/08 at 8:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ryoken View Post
Share with others which books about movies you have read and loved, and how the've changed the way you look at a film or genre (I believe Empire or Total Film did an article about this early this year).
I'll go first with "The greatest sci-fi pictures never made", by David Hughes, which has taugh me two things; A) Making a Sci-fi movie is a hellish experience is a harrowing experience on most cases, B) I respect Alien3 a lot more after getting to know what a clusterfuck its development was.
What are your picks?
If you enjoyed that, I'd advise you to get 'Tales from Development Hell' also by David Hughes.
I enjoyed both these books, but I wouldn't say either is a revelation for anyone who follows film-making in the digital/internet age.
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post #4 of 21
8/5/08 at 8:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by EdHocken View Post
Simple answer to this question: Easy Riders Raging Bulls

And the other definitive answer: Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman
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post #5 of 21
8/5/08 at 8:56pm
Agitator: The Cinema of Takashi Miike by Tom Mes is probably one of the most fascinating books I've ever read. You've literally got someone attempting to discuss thematic resonance across the majority of Miike's 70 film filmography and it ends with excerpts from Miike during his Ichi the Killer shoot.
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post #6 of 21
8/5/08 at 9:13pm
Peter Biskind's follow up to "Easy Riders" about the 50's, "Seeing is Believing" is also quite good.
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post #7 of 21
8/6/08 at 1:24am
There's a book called Down and Dirty Pictures which is supposedly the Easy Riders of the 90s but I never could get into it.
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post #8 of 21
8/6/08 at 1:28am
Zeroville by Steve Erickson. Very post-modern fiction, but it's set in late 60's Hollywood and uses real people and events as a backdrop. John Millius is a main character. Fascinating book for film nerds, especially fans of that era. Highly recommended.

For non-fiction, I highly recommend Pauline Kael's For Keeps. Even if you don't agree with her, it's great reading and covers a broad spectrum of reviews and editorials from her entire career.
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post #9 of 21
8/6/08 at 1:37am
Here and here.
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post #10 of 21
8/6/08 at 1:48am
Spike Mike Slackers and Dykes or Spike Mike Reloaded, whichever edition you can find, by John Pierson is one I'd consider essential. It stars with Stranger than Paradise and Jim Jarmusch and ends with Clerks and Kevin Smith in chronicling the rise of independent cinema.

If you find the book slow to start with wait until you get to the chapter about Spike Lee and She's Gotta Have It. I was bored stiff with that book until I read that chapter and I fell in love.

The Jaws Diary by Carl Gottlieb (apologies if I misspelled that name)

The thread really does begin and end with Easy Riders, Raging Bulls though.
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post #11 of 21
8/6/08 at 2:12am
Thread Starter 
Ok, found the magazine (Total Film's summer 2008 issue, Wall-E on the cover)...Ill try and update some of their 40movie books list here, but I leave you with their #1 pick:
"High Concept: Don Simpson and the Hollywood culture of excess"
Their take: "The producing partner of Jerry Bruckheimer, Simpson ate, snorted and fucked (in both senses) his way through 80's LA and ultimately to an early grave.
Quote for making a point: "What Don and the dominatrix did to this girl should have gotten them both thrown in prison".
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post #12 of 21
8/6/08 at 2:13am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jakespeare View Post
Spike Mike Slackers and Dykes or Spike Mike Reloaded, whichever edition you can find, by John Pierson is one I'd consider essential. It stars with Stranger than Paradise and Jim Jarmusch and ends with Clerks and Kevin Smith in chronicling the rise of independent cinema.

If you find the book slow to start with wait until you get to the chapter about Spike Lee and She's Gotta Have It. I was bored stiff with that book until I read that chapter and I fell in love.

The Jaws Diary by Carl Gottlieb (apologies if I misspelled that name)

The thread really does begin and end with Easy Riders, Raging Bulls though.
There's also "The Stanley Kubrick Archives", but that fucker was expensive as hell and is now out of print.
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post #13 of 21
8/6/08 at 2:23am
Quote:
Originally Posted by EdHocken View Post
There's a book called Down and Dirty Pictures which is supposedly the Easy Riders of the 90s but I never could get into it.
Ah, yeah. Everyone is all domesticated and licking their wounds from "Raging Bulls" in this. All the wackiness happens behind closed doors- no Rip Torn-Dennis Hopper knife fights, but lots of petty words exchanged. Also, the infamous Matt-And-Ben-Didn't-Write "Good Will Hunting" rumor.
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post #14 of 21
8/6/08 at 2:33am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Parker View Post
Zeroville by Steve Erickson. Very post-modern fiction, but it's set in late 60's Hollywood and uses real people and events as a backdrop. John Millius is a main character. Fascinating book for film nerds, especially fans of that era. Highly recommended.

For non-fiction, I highly recommend Pauline Kael's For Keeps. Even if you don't agree with her, it's great reading and covers a broad spectrum of reviews and editorials from her entire career.
Thanks for the Erickson tip. Sounds cool. And all the Kael books should be essential.
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post #15 of 21
8/6/08 at 6:37am
I think I made a thread like this once. I've read a lot of books lately on film noir style, relating mainly to the costume and lighting design... titles are escaping me, so I'll post them tomorrow.
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post #16 of 21
8/7/08 at 1:53am
Just finished a great book called [I]Rebels on the Backlot[I]. it details the emergence of a new breed of director during the mid-to-late 90's (Tarantino, Fincher, P.T. Anderson, David O. Russell, etc.) and chronicles each as they struggle to get their repective films through the antiquated, conservative Hollywood system. Filled with one-on-one interviews and cool, behind-the-scenes anecdotes. Sorry; can't remember the author.
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post #17 of 21
8/7/08 at 2:07am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by pacsboy View Post
Just finished a great book called [I]Rebels on the Backlot[I]. it details the emergence of a new breed of director during the mid-to-late 90's (Tarantino, Fincher, P.T. Anderson, David O. Russell, etc.) and chronicles each as they struggle to get their repective films through the antiquated, conservative Hollywood system. Filled with one-on-one interviews and cool, behind-the-scenes anecdotes. Sorry; can't remember the author.
Sharon Waxman, published by harper Collins, its #18 on Total Film's book list.
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post #18 of 21
8/7/08 at 2:36pm
Don't have anything to add to the discussion other than Kael and Ebert got me started on how films are made.
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post #19 of 21
8/7/08 at 7:57pm
Dark eye- the films of David Fincher by James Swallow is an excellent book about Fincher's films and Burton on Burton which i think was covered on another thread. Also If chins could kill:confessions of a B movie actor by Bruce Campbell
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post #20 of 21
8/7/08 at 10:23pm
Thread Starter 
Campbell's book is also on the list that inspired this thread.
Good call on the Fincher one; I'll add "Lynch on Lynch", which is essential reading if you ask me...only bad thing about that book is that Lynch again doesnt explain how they made the baby in "Eraserhead", thus confirming my suspicions that theres something horrible beyond words behind it.
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post #21 of 21
8/7/08 at 10:52pm
If you like Argento, then Broken Mirrors, Broken Minds by Maitland McDonough is quite good. As a bonus, it was written in the early 90's, so it only covers Argento's good movies.

And, quite honestly, Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-in is pretty essential geek reading, too.
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