edited by Jonathan Doyle

Cloverfield [BLU-RAY] (Paramount Home Entertainment, 6.3.2008) Disguised under deliberately goofy, yet deliciously edible-sounding, aliases such as Cheese and Slusho, Matt Reeves' Cloverfield was produced and rushed into theaters under an equally appetizing shroud of secrecy. From last year's incredibly elusive Super Bowl ad to the film's viral marketing campaign, Cloverfield had everybody scratching their heads and drooling in anticipation. Aside from the as-yet untitled title and the Blair Witch-ian visual style, the film's biggest appeal was the enigmatic creature who was last (un)seen hurling the decapitated head of the Statue of Liberty onto the crowded streets of New York City. All we knew about the mysterious beast was that it was big and angry. Now that the highy-anticipated project has come and gone, one question has fortunately been answered: Cloverfield was a major success. (continued)

Upcoming

August 27

Traitor

August 29

Babylon AD

College

Disaster Movie

Goal II: Living the Dream

I Served the King of England

My Mexican Shivah

Sukiyaki Western Django

Year of the Fish

Young People F*cking

September 3

The Pool

September 5

A Secret

August Evening

Bangkok Dangerous

Everybody Wants to Be Italian

Mister Foe

Ping Pong Playa

Save Me

Surfer, Dude

Coupla Swarthmore Guys

email this story
read comments (20)
post a comment

Asked by Tim Appelo to name his favorite all-time books about Hollywood, author Peter Biskind -- who is still laboring on his Warren Beatty biography, which may (I say "may") be released sometime next year -- has named seven books. Presumably off the top of Biskind's head and obviously less than comprehensive, but here they are:

Peter Biskind

David McClintick's "Indecent Exposure: A True Story of Hollywood and Wall Street," Stephen Bach's "Final Cut: Dreams and Disasters in the Making of Heaven's Gate," Julia Phillips' "You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again," John Gregory Dunne's "The Studio," Leo Braudy's "The World in a Frame," Thomas Schatz's "The Genius of the System" and Lillian Ross's "Picture."

Appelo has allowed two wrongos to slip by, I'm afraid. Bach's book is not called "Heaven's Gate: Dreams and Disasters in the Making of Heaven's Gate." And the author of "Picture" (i.e., not "The Picture," as Appelo has it) is Lillian Ross, not Roth.

I would add the following to the must-read list: Otto Freidrich's "City of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940s", Julie Salamon's "The Devil's Candy," Mark Harris's "Pictures at a Revolution," Jack Brodsky and Nathan Weiss's "The Cleopatra Papers," David Thomson's "Suspects" and "The Whole Equation and "The New Biographical Dictionary of Film," William Goldman's "Which Lie Did I Tell?" and Biskind's own "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls" and "Down and Dirty Pictures."

Original link provided by Variety's Anne Thompson.

Damn Archeologists<< previous | next >>Prophet

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on July 6, 2008 at 12:48 PM

comment #1

Mark G. says ...

Even after many, many years William Goldman's ADVENTURES IN THE SCREEN TRADE is a must read plus Francois Truffaut's HITCHCOCK

Posted by Mark G. at July 6, 2008 2:00 PM

comment #2

George Prager says ...

What about fiction? "The Player", "Day of the Locust", "I"m Losing You" by Bruce Wagner...
And am I the only one who has read the very strange
"Warren Beatty and Desert Eyes: A Life and a Story"
by David Thomson?

Posted by George Prager at July 6, 2008 2:28 PM

comment #3

Josh Massey says ...

They don't get better than Goldman's two "Screen Trade" books. Immensely re-readable.

Posted by Josh Massey at July 6, 2008 2:47 PM

comment #4

scooterzz says ...

the audio version of 'the kid stays in the picture'.....

Posted by scooterzz at July 6, 2008 2:51 PM

comment #5

CarloDennis says ...

Christine Vachon's "Shooting to Kill" and "A Killer Life" are both excellent.

Posted by CarloDennis at July 6, 2008 3:25 PM

comment #6

MPNeeb says ...

No love for 'HIGH CONCEPT', the one about Don Simpson?

Posted by MPNeeb at July 6, 2008 3:41 PM

comment #7

TKC says ...

James B. Stewart's "Disney War" -- the story of how Michael Eisner rose to power and then screwed everything up. It's a fascinating, dispiriting look at the petty, personal, mean-spirited way that decisions in Hollywood sometimes get made.

Posted by TKC at July 6, 2008 3:47 PM

comment #8

gruver1 says ...

Wells to MPNeed: I stand corrected. "High Concept" belongs on the short list. A very, very good book.

Posted by gruver1 at July 6, 2008 4:20 PM

comment #9

Mgmax says ...

My favorite Biskind book, though it may not fit the definition here of "books about Hollywood," is Seeing is Believing. Terrific examination of the political and sexual undercurrents in films of the 1950s, very well informed on all the flavors of left and right in that decade.

Posted by Mgmax at July 6, 2008 4:52 PM

comment #10

lipranzer says ...

If fiction counts, I'd nominate "White Hunter, Black Heart." Even though not a line of it is actually set in Hollywood, it's a great book about the movie business.

As far as non-fiction, of course I'd agree with Goldman's "Screen Trade," and "Pictures at a Revolution." I'd also nominate Richard Corliss' "Talking Pictures: Screenwriters in the American Cinema," Thomas Doherty's "Hollywood's Censor" (the book about Joe Breen), and the collection of interviews with filmmakers at the American Film Institute.

Posted by lipranzer at July 6, 2008 7:12 PM

comment #11

James says ...

I second the nomination for "Disney War." It reads like a grand Shakespearean tragedy with Eisner as a latter-day King Lear. (I guess that would mean Katzenberg is Cordelia.)

Posted by James at July 6, 2008 7:15 PM

comment #12

bagelfilm says ...

MY INDECISION IS FINAL by Jake Eberts
and that book about Terry Gilliam and Munchhausen (sorry, cannot recall the title)

Posted by bagelfilm at July 6, 2008 9:54 PM

comment #13

lazespud says ...

You're right about Devil's Candy... awesome book. There was also a great book about the whole John Landis/Twilight Zone tragedy. I can't remember the name, but it completely turned me off to John Landis forever. He's extremely lucky he wasn't imprisoned (that said, I confess that I did watch and enjoy his documentary "slasher").

Posted by lazespud at July 7, 2008 12:55 AM

comment #14

bachelorcool says ...

That would be "Outrageous Conduct" by Stephen Farber and Marc Green - put me off Landis forever too.

Posted by bachelorcool at July 7, 2008 4:06 AM

comment #15

Doug says ...

Another good one is "Hit and Run: How Jon Peters and Peter Guber Took Sony for a Ride in Hollywood" by Nancy Griffin and Kim Masters.
And "The Last Tycoon," even unfinished, is probably the best Hollywood novel.

Posted by Doug at July 7, 2008 4:56 AM

comment #16

Walter says ...

What, no Hollywood Babylon?

Eric Lax's Conversations with Woody Allen: His Films, the Movies, and Moviemaking, is a good read.

bagelfilm, that would be Losing the Light by Andrew Yule.

Posted by Walter at July 7, 2008 7:34 AM

comment #17

Strangeways says ...

Thank you for including City of Nets! It's a brilliant book and one I frequently give as a gift to friends.

Posted by Strangeways at July 7, 2008 9:09 AM

comment #18

Richardson says ...

No love for 'The Battle of Brazil'?

Posted by Richardson at July 7, 2008 11:25 AM

comment #19

Joshua Mooney says ...

Says Prager: What about fiction? "The Player", "Day of the Locust", "I’m Losing You" by Bruce Wagner...And am I the only one who has read the very strange "Warren Beatty and Desert Eyes: A Life and a Story"
by David Thomson?

No, George, you are not the only one. I've read "Desert Eyes" twice and I know I’ll read it again. I think Thomson's an amazing writer with a unique voice. I don't always agree with his criticism, and yes, he can go overboard as a stylist, but "Desert Eyes" is a work of pure passion and amazing writing. Every page of that book contains a work of art in the form of a sentence. I'd say pretty much the same about Bruce Wagner’s “Force Majeure.” And West’s “Day of the Locust." Three very different writers, but each one, in his own way, describe the real madness for anyone who can be bothered to read it.

Posted by Joshua Mooney at July 7, 2008 2:00 PM

comment #20