Rating: 
Summary: Hilarious and Perceptive
Review: A good, common-sense look at what's wrong with mainstream American movies. Especially note his evisceration of "Saving Private Ryan", one of the most overrated films of the past ten years.
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious and Perceptive
Review: A good, common-sense look at what's wrong with mainstream American movies. Especially note his evisceration of "Saving Private Ryan", one of the most overrated films of the past ten years.
Rating: 
Summary: Ouch! This collection needs an editor!
Review: As a 25yr vet of Hollywood, I'm often asked for advice by neophyte writers. I always direct them to two things: William Goldman's ADVENTURES IN THE SCREEN TRADE, and any and all of his screenplays. The man is a genius at screenwriting, and ADVENTURES is witty, brilliant, and dead-on about Hollywood. True to form, this new book contains nuggets of sheer brilliance and some great entertainment. But the unedited (apparently) collection of articles is repetitive, and begins to read as a rant. How many quotes from addlebrained movie execs does it take for us to realize that they can't have an opinion without hedging? How many times must we hear that Mr. Goldman would like the Oscar voting scores revealed and why? I wish he or an editor had spent the time to shape this book into what Mr. Goldman's terrific ideas warrant. He's a much better writer than the sum of this book. Buy this one to read by the pool, but buy his others to laugh and learn from a master.
Rating:
Summary: Ouch! This collection needs an editor!
Review: As a 25yr vet of Hollywood, I'm often asked for advice by neophyte writers. I always direct them to two things: William Goldman's ADVENTURES IN THE SCREEN TRADE, and any and all of his screenplays. The man is a genius at screenwriting, and ADVENTURES is witty, brilliant, and dead-on about Hollywood. True to form, this new book contains nuggets of sheer brilliance and some great entertainment. But the unedited (apparently) collection of articles is repetitive, and begins to read as a rant. How many quotes from addlebrained movie execs does it take for us to realize that they can't have an opinion without hedging? How many times must we hear that Mr. Goldman would like the Oscar voting scores revealed and why? I wish he or an editor had spent the time to shape this book into what Mr. Goldman's terrific ideas warrant. He's a much better writer than the sum of this book. Buy this one to read by the pool, but buy his others to laugh and learn from a master.
Rating:
Summary: A not-bad collection
Review: Goldman is always compulsively readable. (If you doubt, track down "Adventures in the Screen Trade," "Hype and Glory," or "The Season," for me his best three books about show biz.) This collection -- and it is very much a collection -- is no exception. If you're a Goldman fan and you missed these short essays in "New York" magazine and "Premiere," the book is worth getting (though perhaps not for the hardcover price Applause is asking -- I'd wait for the paperback myself).Some of the other generally positive reviews on here have made several negative remarks and they're all true. Embarrassing number of typos. Repetitive. Truly terrible book design -- par for the course with Applause. But I'll say this much: The book kept me a lot more entertained than Goldman's most recent book, "Which Lie Did I Tell?," a somewhat unworthy follow-up to "Screen Trade." And it contains, as one of the other reviewers mentioned, a massive smackdown on "Saving Private Ryan" -- perhaps annoying if you loved the film, but absolutely hilarious if you didn't. The only serious flaw or bias I detect in Goldman's attitude is that he romanticizes the movie era when he first fell in love with movies -- say, the '40s and '50s -- and constantly uses the classics of his childhood as a stick to beat modern movies with. The fact is, probably there were just as many stupid movies back then as there are now, deservedly forgotten. Movies as an art form are still so young that it seems inaccurate to say they've gone downhill, when in fact there have been many peaks and valleys over the last 100 years. Goldman never seems happier than when he's saying movies have never been worse. (Then later in the book he says they've gotten worse still.) The fact is, there are movies getting made now that wouldn't have stood a chance 10 or even 5 years ago. So, when reading this autopsy on movies from 1990-1998, take it with a grain of salt. And enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: A not-bad collection
Review: Goldman is always compulsively readable. (If you doubt, track down "Adventures in the Screen Trade," "Hype and Glory," or "The Season," for me his best three books about show biz.) This collection -- and it is very much a collection -- is no exception. If you're a Goldman fan and you missed these short essays in "New York" magazine and "Premiere," the book is worth getting (though perhaps not for the hardcover price Applause is asking -- I'd wait for the paperback myself). Some of the other generally positive reviews on here have made several negative remarks and they're all true. Embarrassing number of typos. Repetitive. Truly terrible book design -- par for the course with Applause. But I'll say this much: The book kept me a lot more entertained than Goldman's most recent book, "Which Lie Did I Tell?," a somewhat unworthy follow-up to "Screen Trade." And it contains, as one of the other reviewers mentioned, a massive smackdown on "Saving Private Ryan" -- perhaps annoying if you loved the film, but absolutely hilarious if you didn't. The only serious flaw or bias I detect in Goldman's attitude is that he romanticizes the movie era when he first fell in love with movies -- say, the '40s and '50s -- and constantly uses the classics of his childhood as a stick to beat modern movies with. The fact is, probably there were just as many stupid movies back then as there are now, deservedly forgotten. Movies as an art form are still so young that it seems inaccurate to say they've gone downhill, when in fact there have been many peaks and valleys over the last 100 years. Goldman never seems happier than when he's saying movies have never been worse. (Then later in the book he says they've gotten worse still.) The fact is, there are movies getting made now that wouldn't have stood a chance 10 or even 5 years ago. So, when reading this autopsy on movies from 1990-1998, take it with a grain of salt. And enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: A not-bad collection
Review: Goldman is always compulsively readable. (If you doubt, track down "Adventures in the Screen Trade," "Hype and Glory," or "The Season," for me his best three books about show biz.) This collection -- and it is very much a collection -- is no exception. If you're a Goldman fan and you missed these short essays in "New York" magazine and "Premiere," the book is worth getting (though perhaps not for the hardcover price Applause is asking -- I'd wait for the paperback myself). Some of the other generally positive reviews on here have made several negative remarks and they're all true. Embarrassing number of typos. Repetitive. Truly terrible book design -- par for the course with Applause. But I'll say this much: The book kept me a lot more entertained than Goldman's most recent book, "Which Lie Did I Tell?," a somewhat unworthy follow-up to "Screen Trade." And it contains, as one of the other reviewers mentioned, a massive smackdown on "Saving Private Ryan" -- perhaps annoying if you loved the film, but absolutely hilarious if you didn't. The only serious flaw or bias I detect in Goldman's attitude is that he romanticizes the movie era when he first fell in love with movies -- say, the '40s and '50s -- and constantly uses the classics of his childhood as a stick to beat modern movies with. The fact is, probably there were just as many stupid movies back then as there are now, deservedly forgotten. Movies as an art form are still so young that it seems inaccurate to say they've gone downhill, when in fact there have been many peaks and valleys over the last 100 years. Goldman never seems happier than when he's saying movies have never been worse. (Then later in the book he says they've gotten worse still.) The fact is, there are movies getting made now that wouldn't have stood a chance 10 or even 5 years ago. So, when reading this autopsy on movies from 1990-1998, take it with a grain of salt. And enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: Quit whining, Goldman!
Review: Goldman's ranting and raving will soon get onto your nerves, especially since he frequently shows himself to be a hypocrite. In several places he speaks of his dislike for special effect-filled blockbusters, then in other places he says how he loved movies like "Independence Day". It also seems odd how Goldman hasn't written a solid screenplay for some time now, and has written a number of scripts for those blockbuster movies, yet he whines about the "junk" screenplays Hollywood uses. (By the way, he's writing the screenplay for "Jurassic Park 3" - even though he voices slams against Spielberg here!) Everything to him seems to be Hollywood's fault, though he never mentions how even before "Star Wars", audiences were starting to stay away from movies like "McCabe And Mrs. Miller". He certainly never mentions how many independent films come out each year that critics love, but the audience doesn't go to. In short, the audience decides what movies get made. If Goldman is reading this, I dare him to answer these charges. But he probably won't - his next book will probably be more whines yet again about how the final votes in the Academy Awards should be revealed, how movies are "worse than ever", yadayadayada. Goldman, put up or shut up - not only for these charges, but the screenplays you write!
Rating:
Summary: Quit whining, Goldman!
Review: Goldman's ranting and raving will soon get onto your nerves, especially since he frequently shows himself to be a hypocrite. In several places he speaks of his dislike for special effect-filled blockbusters, then in other places he says how he loved movies like "Independence Day". It also seems odd how Goldman hasn't written a solid screenplay for some time now, and has written a number of scripts for those blockbuster movies, yet he whines about the "junk" screenplays Hollywood uses. (By the way, he's writing the screenplay for "Jurassic Park 3" - even though he voices slams against Spielberg here!) Everything to him seems to be Hollywood's fault, though he never mentions how even before "Star Wars", audiences were starting to stay away from movies like "McCabe And Mrs. Miller". He certainly never mentions how many independent films come out each year that critics love, but the audience doesn't go to. In short, the audience decides what movies get made. If Goldman is reading this, I dare him to answer these charges. But he probably won't - his next book will probably be more whines yet again about how the final votes in the Academy Awards should be revealed, how movies are "worse than ever", yadayadayada. Goldman, put up or shut up - not only for these charges, but the screenplays you write!
Rating: 
Summary: YOU'LL LAUGH YOUR CLACKERS OFF
Review: i hail william goldman, i really do. he's smart, he writes beautifully ... and he is perhaps the only commentator on hollywood who knows what he's on about. so why oh why did his publishing house break every rule in the book (no pun intended)? godawful jacket design, pathetic type-setting, and typos willy and nilly. a real shame because william "the screen god" goldman deserves better. far better. he's the best damn journalist (i guess it's ok to call him that) on the planet -- pound for pound, that is -- and next time i hope somebody spends $5 extra to do his words justice.
|
