<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: comment from L.A. Times reviewer
Review: "... you may have missed 'What Just Happened?' when it came out last year. Now it's in paperback. Don't make the same mistake twice." -- Susan Salter Reynolds, reviewer, Los Angeles Times Book Review Section May 2003
Rating:
Summary: comment from L.A. Times reviewer
Review: "... you may have missed 'What Just Happened?' when it came out last year. Now it's in paperback. Don't make the same mistake twice." -- Susan Salter Reynolds, reviewer, Los Angeles Times Book Review Section May 2003
Rating: 
Summary: For the Hollywood-curious
Review: I couldn't put this book down once I started it -- not such a problem, since it's pretty small. Linson aims for deliberate frankness from the very first quote to the final credits. The book is a series of conversations between Linson, the producer of such movies as Great Expectations, The Untouchables, and Fight Club, and an ousted movie studio exec, in which Linson relives all of his recent Fox Film "failures" (including GE, The Edge, Fight Club and Pushing Tin). Linson works hard to look like he's pulling no punches, and the anecdotes he does share are bizarre and funny - Alec Baldwin's beard tantrum, the stunned studio reaction to Fight Club, etc. Don't let the conversational style fool you, though. This isn't a documentary; it's a highlights reel, cuts from Linson's life that show the best story. The book is, if nothing else, extremely self-interested. Linson gives a sort of overview of what producers actually do in films mostly as a justification for his own job. Beyond that, the book reads a bit like a therapy session and a bit like a report Linson cooked up to show his own "blamelessness" in the four "failures" described within. WJH is a good, short, gossipy book for behind-the-scenes nuts, but shouldn't be regarded as much more than the popcorn version of the events behind any of these films.
Rating:
Summary: For the Hollywood-curious
Review: I couldn't put this book down once I started it -- not such a problem, since it's pretty small. Linson aims for deliberate frankness from the very first quote to the final credits. The book is a series of conversations between Linson, the producer of such movies as Great Expectations, The Untouchables, and Fight Club, and an ousted movie studio exec, in which Linson relives all of his recent Fox Film "failures" (including GE, The Edge, Fight Club and Pushing Tin). Linson works hard to look like he's pulling no punches, and the anecdotes he does share are bizarre and funny - Alec Baldwin's beard tantrum, the stunned studio reaction to Fight Club, etc. Don't let the conversational style fool you, though. This isn't a documentary; it's a highlights reel, cuts from Linson's life that show the best story. The book is, if nothing else, extremely self-interested. Linson gives a sort of overview of what producers actually do in films mostly as a justification for his own job. Beyond that, the book reads a bit like a therapy session and a bit like a report Linson cooked up to show his own "blamelessness" in the four "failures" described within. WJH is a good, short, gossipy book for behind-the-scenes nuts, but shouldn't be regarded as much more than the popcorn version of the events behind any of these films.
Rating:
Summary: The short version of how movies are made
Review: I like books on Hollywood biz and this one fits the bill by a real pro, Art Linson. Anyone involved with classics like Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Fight Club and Heat knows his way around the business and how it has changed in the last 30 years. Linson throws one kink in the normal Hollywood tell-all. He introduces a fictitious former studio head that has lunches with Linson generating a lively dialog of the business by to former players. While I enjoyed this book, I have one major complaint. There are only four Hollywood stories in the book. It's like Linson has found his hit and can issue many sequels so he does so little at a time. The book is only 180 pages and is a very fast read. Also, the stories are not in great depth. For example, he describes the movie The Edge with Alec Baldwin and Anthony Hopkins. He does a good job describing how these two are selected and the great respect he has for both actors. But the story line quickly ends as Baldwin shows up overweight and with a long beard. Linson has to deliver the bad news that he must change his appearance. End of story. Let's move on to the next. While this story is anticlimactic after a flirtation with Robert Deniro in the movie, I like Linson's writing style for the subjects. It's short, uncomplicated and humorous. Other stories covered include Pushing Tin, Great Expectations and The Fight Club. All interesting stories but all written about very briefly. Irrespective, I still recommend this book if you enjoy reading Hollywood stories. Linson had a great career and I'm sure there is another book coming in the future.
Rating:
Summary: If you like insider Hollywood stories, this is for you.
Review: I read What Just Happened in one breathless sitting. Couldn't put it down. It is funny, well pace and amazingly well written. It is a gritty, honest look at an outrageous and often ridiculous world. You think you know everything there is to know about Hollywood? You don't. Read this book. It will change the way you think about the movies.
Rating:
Summary: If you like insider Hollywood stories, this is for you.
Review: I'm a Hollywood junkie, so I enjoyed this book. Art Linson isn't nearly the natural storyteller that William Goldman is, meaning the book isn't quite the joy Goldman's books were to read, but, on the other hand, Art is a PRODUCER and he sees films further through than Goldman and his stories are a deeper vision. The device used in the book, of the author talking to another has-been, is (as it was noted) very, VERY annoying and I suggest you just skip it by (it adds nothing). The book is a quick, one-sitting read, and it's as frivolous as a cookie wafer. Art certainly whines -- and I'm sure "Great Expectations" bombed because it was a bad movie, not because "Titanic" had the same scene in it (Art even implies the naked-drawing idea was stolen!) -- but if Art wasn't a whiny guy who took no responsibility...he wouldn't have written this book. So the trade-off is okay with me.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, Bitter Pamphlet
Review: What Just Happened consists of behind the scenes tales of the making of The Edge, Great Expectations, Pushing Tin, and Fight Club from film producer Art Linson. The stories are pretty great. Bitter and specific to a degree not usually found in Hollywood books not written by Julia Phillips, these have the nasty ring of truth, and are very funny. The only problem with this book is that it barely qualifies as one. There's barely enough text here to fill an ambitious pamphlet. Surely there was more to be written about the making of the wildly controversial Fight Club (like how it managed to get made in the first place) than just describing how the finished product power-freaked the Fox marketing department. Also padding out the length is a bizarre framing story wherein Linson is telling these tales to a memorably creepy ex-studio head. Pitch black as these segments are, they feel both repetitive and vaguely untrue, a bit of theatricality whipped up to hammer home Linson's bitter points. The book doesn't need them, but I guess they added a few more pages.
<< 1 >>
| 
