Inside Oscar, 10th Anniversary Edition

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, But Wait For The Next Edition
Review: I'm a HUGE Oscar fan, and this is the greatest Oscar book I've ever seen. But it just doesn't get updated and reprinted often enough. The last printing looks like it was in 1998 - that means it will be missing any information about the past couple of years. If they're still involved in the book, I'd guess that the authors will have to release a new edition sometime soon, so wait for that. If they updated the book every year, every year I'd buy a new one and throw out the old one.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, But Wait For The Next Edition
Review: I'm a HUGE Oscar fan, and this is the greatest Oscar book I've ever seen. But it just doesn't get updated and reprinted often enough. The last printing looks like it was in 1998 - that means it will be missing any information about the past couple of years. If they're still involved in the book, I'd guess that the authors will have to release a new edition sometime soon, so wait for that. If they updated the book every year, every year I'd buy a new one and throw out the old one.

Rating:
Summary: The winner is...."Inside Oscar"
Review: If you enjoy the hype of the Academy Awards, this is the book for you. Plenty of behind-the-scenes action that you're not going to find by simply watching the Academy Awards. It's gossipy, dishy, and dirty...a definite guilty pleasure. Great index of past Academy Award winners and nominees as well.

Rating:
Summary: It's the Oscar buff's Bible.
Review: It's not really meant to be read from beginning to end, though you certainly can. It's a handy reference that will draw you in. You may begin by looking up the last year Bob Hope hosted, but an hour later you'll realize you're in the Billy Crystal era. Lots of fun -- dishy but accurate. Pick it up, turn to any chapter, and enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: A Must-Have For Oscar Lovers And Here's Why
Review: There's lots of books about Oscar but this one's way up there with some of the best of them becuase it's full of new things you probably don't know because even I didn't know some of the things they talk about in the book which is basically covering the more recent ceremonies of the past years not the really early presentations when people like Faye Wray and Janet Gaynor were favorites because even though they were certainly great stars and deserving of awards or at the very least a nomination, we aren't as interested in them as some more contemporary actors or actresses like Audrey Hepburn or Drew Barrymore even though Drew hasn't won an award or even been nominated for that matter but the point is that this book IS about people we are familiar with today, ones we could probably go out and see in a motion picture right now because there likely is a movie currently being screened at the Multi-Plex featuring at least one of them since you can have as many as a dozen theatres in one location and the odds alone of seeing one of your favorites are 2:1 at least. You'll love it and I would definitely recomend buying it (the book, not the Multi-Plex -- like we could really afford 12 movie theatres!).

Rating:
Summary: Oscar Euphoria!
Review: This book is amazing. Its year-by-year descriptions are historical and often suspensful. I remember the first time I read this book, before I knew the outcome of many of the years' awards; each year was a new drama with Mr. Wiley and company setting up the atmosphere of the race. Now, fifteen years later, I own the latest edition of Inside Oscar. It is a constant source of amusement and information. The writing is skillful and clever, and the categorical listing at the back is an invaluable reference. Every year during Oscar season, I will pick up an article by some journalist whose grasp of Oscar history is minimal, and I wonder why they don't just look up who REALLY won in Inside Oscar. I know Mr. Wiley is no longer with us, but I hope Mr. Bona and company continue the great work for future editions. I know I'd love to be a contributor to this tremendous work.

Rating:
Summary: Two thumbs down - way down!
Review: This book was in one word - boring. It talks about the first academy awards...blah, blah, blah...and then the latest. The book is filled with usless babble that isn't even worth knowing! Listen people - DO NOT waste your money buying this book and/or your time reading this book! What a wasteful piece of crap...

Rating:
Summary: A dishy classic, it's the ONE movie book you've gotta own.
Review: Wiley and Bona have created the premier reference work on the Oscars - the complete list of nominees and victors, taking up the book's final 200 pages, is reason enough to buy it. It's the liveliest reference work you'll ever read: Each annual essay contains bite-size recollections of the impact (or lack of same) of movies big and small, at the box office and in the press, full of dishy reviews and catty responses. Each essay year has info that the most dedicated movie buff won't remember or never knew, particularly the fascinating narrations of Tinseltown Oscar campaigns. The level of detail is astonishing, down to which '90s ceremony participants did and didn't wear AIDS ribbons. Lovingly detailed descriptions of ceremony attire, highlights of speeches and host schtick - good and (much more often) bad, and follow-ups to big wins, failed campaigns and Oscar night emabarrassments never fail to fascinate. The book is more than 1,000 pages long, and once it's over, you'll be begging for more. Guys, write about 1995-99! If you have the first edition (which runs through 1987), buy the latest edition (which runs through 1994). The new essays are even more exhaustive, since the source material is contemporary, and, presumably, contains the authors' firsthand reporting. Only one quibble: In a book stuffed with deliciously nasty commentary from film reviewers, Wiley and Bona beg off from relating John Simon's "too cruel" criticisms of Sofia Coppola in The Godfather, Part III. Mason, Damien: You don't pull a punch anywhere else in your masterpiece. WHAT DID HE SAY?