Category Archives: Movies

A sampling of St. Martin’s Press new releases . . actors, rock ‘n roll, cake and the biggest liar since Nixon

Fear not.
There’s another great book  about Adolph Frump: Mr. Trump’s Wild Ride: The Thrills, Chills, Screams, and Occasional Blackout of an Extraordinary Presidency($28.99). CBS News Chief White House Correspondent Major Garrett  shares his unique insider’s perspective in this authoritative and entertaining account of the most important and wide-reaching events of the asshole’s first year in office. Mr. Trump's Wild Ride: The Thrills, Chills, Screams, and Occasional Blackouts of an Extraordinary PresidencyAs Entertainment Weekly wrote in a preview of the book, “CBS News’ Major Garrett is a more careful journalist than Fire and Fury author Michael Wolff, but the conceit of his book—the first year in the Trump White House—is similar enough to have us plenty intrigued.”


Just because we can’t stand him doesn’t mean William Shatner shouldn’t have even more attention paid to him. After a brief health scare in 2016, the veteran actor offers one piece of advice to live a long and good life: Don’t die.
Live Long And . . .: What I Learned Along the WayIn Live Long And…: What I Learned Along the Way, he uses a combination of pithy humor and thoughtful vulnerability to reflect on his unique and fascinating life. Booklist says, ” . . . fans will enjoy Shatner’s musings on his passions and adventures.”


Just how much does Jeff Bridges like his friend, Gary Busey’s, new book? “Get to know Gary Busey, who once told me he was an angel in an earth suit. Indeed he is, giving us messages he’s received from on high, messages that inspire and support us in living a beautiful fulfilled life. Get to know my dear friend Gary Busey, read Buseyisms.”
Professional actor and semi-professional wildman Busey has done more things in his life, ranging from the impressive to the insane, than most people have done in ten lifetimes, and he’s still going.

Through it all, Busey has kept a positive outlook, even as he’s endured more extreme highs and lows then one would think possible. He’s rubbed elbows with cinema legends, partied with the rich and famous, and even toured with a hit band. It’s all in Buseyisms: Gary Busey’s Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth ($24.99), along with some sage words from a real character.


Regarded as one of the greatest drummers of all time, Kenney Jones has seen it all, played with everyone, and partied with all of them. He’s enjoyed the highs, battled the lows, and emerged in one piece.
Let the Good Times Roll: My Life in Small Faces, Faces, and The WhoLet the Good times Roll ($29.99) is the long-awaited memoir of the legendary drummer’s life and times in the bands Small Faces, Faces and The Who. Jones has penned a breathtaking immersion into music past that leaves readers feeling as if they lived it too.SS moving memoir from one of ESPN’s top football reporters, Kirkus Rviews says that Adam Schefter’s The Man I Never Met “is affecting not only for the story it tells of how the author learned to honor his wife’s husband as ‘the fifth member of [his] family,’ but also for how it shows a man growing into a mature understanding of the true meaning of love and sacrifice.” The Man I Never Met: A Memoir|
Super Bowl-winning coach and author Tony Dungy calls  “a story every American should read” and New York Times bestselling author Mitch Albom hails this memoir as, “A fresh and triumphant take on the aftermath of 9/11.”


The duo behind Delicious Poke Cakes and Delicious Dump Cakes is back with another book of quick and easy desserts. Delicious Bundt Cakes: More Than 100 New Recipes for Timeless Favorites
In Delicious Bundt Cakes, ($19.99), Roxanne Wyss and Kathy Moore unlock the secret of the Bundt cake. The book features more than 100 recipe—made completely from scratch, as well as recipes based on boxed cake mixes—and color photos throughout, along with all the hints and tips you’ll need to make a spectacular Bundt cake every time.  Chocolate Peanut Butter Tunnel Bundt Cake anyone?

Shout Select reissues “City Slickers” on Blu-ray. Hop aboard!

Looking to hitch on something Slick . . . other than grace? How about City Slickers, the uproarious 1991 buddy comedy,starring  Billy Crystal, Bruno Kirby, Daniel Stern and Jack Palance, The slick flick is being reissued by Shout Select on a treasure-laden Blu-ray featuring a new 4K scan, audio commentary from director Rob Underwood, Crystal and Stern, oodles of specially-created featurettes and deleted scenes. The film is released October 16; order from shoutfactory.com and receive a free 18-inch by 24-inch rolled poster featuring brand new artwork.
This insightful, delightful comedy about cowboys, careers and midlife crises stars Crystal as 39-year-old New Yorker Mitch Robbins, who’s tired of his job and bored with his life. So he and his two best friends (Kirby and Stern) trade their briefcases for saddlebags and set out to find freedom and adventure herding cattle under the wide New Mexico sky. But what they discover instead is scorching sun, sore backsides . . . and more about themselves and each other than they ever thought possible.  Aside from the trio of fish-out-of-water urbanites, City Slickers also stars the inimitable Jack Palance, who won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role as leathery trail boss, Curly.

Arrow shoots some nifty DVDs right into fervid film fans’ hearts

Fall into autumn with a wonderful selection of DVDs from Arrow.

The hot, hot summer heat is finally starting to come to a close with the cool, crisp days of autumn right around the corner. To help you deal with the seasonal shift and welcome in the colors of fall, Arrow is giving viewers seven new films to keep you nice and cozy.

The slate begins with a couple of new entries from Arrow Academy starting with Tomu Uchida’s Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji.

Bloody Spear At Mount Fuji

This road adventure set during the Edo period is equal parts comedic and dramatic. A samurai and his two servants go on an epic journey is this hidden gem finally getting out to a wider audience.

From the Far East to the far west we shift with the release of the Peter Fonda directed western, The Hired Hand. Initially disregarded by critics and audiences, the film experienced a bit of a renaissance in 2001 thanks to a release from the Sundance Channel and is now considered a western classic. The film stars Fonda alongside Warren Oates.

The Arrow Video side brings out the reds of the season with two new horror titles starting with a brand new 4K restoration of Dario Argento’s horror masterpiece Deep Red. Long regarding as one of the greatest Italian horror films of all time, this edition comes fully loaded with bonus features to cure your Argento fever. Joining Deep Red is the extremely bizarre horror entry, The Baby. This strange look at an eccentric family and the social worker assigned to deal with them is sure to leave an impression. This release of the film includes a new retrospective from film professor Rebekah McKendry.

If you’re looking for a different brand of cult, Arrow has you covered with Horrors of Malformed Men and The Pyjama Girl Case. The former is a Japanese horror film from 1969 about a medical student that is perfectly sane but somehow ends up in an asylum. This classic is praised for its stylistic approach that lands all over the map.

Pyjama Girl Case, TheThe latter comes from director Flavio Mogherini and is the only giallo to take place in Australia. Following the true story of an unsolved Australian murder about a young girl that turned up dead on the beach in distinctive pajamas, this haunting giallo is sure to send a chill up your spine.

Arrow brings September to a close with Fred Zinnemann’s classic, The Day of the Jackal. Based on a novel written by Frederick Forsyth, this political thriller was nominated for 6 BAFTA awards, winning for best editing, and earn an Oscar nod.

Day Of The Jackal, The

The Day of the Jackal received a 4-star review from legendary critic Roger Ebert, who wrote that the film is “not just a suspense classic, but a beautifully executed example of filmmaking.”

 

Stars keep shining all-year with the delicious “Hollywood Beach Beauties: Sea Sirens, Sun Goddesses, and Summer Style” 

Summer may be winding down, but nothing still sizzling is the delicious and sexy Hollywood Beach Beauties: Sea Sirens, Sun Goddesses, and Summer Style 1930-1970 (Dey Street Books, $30).

Renowned independent curator and photographic preservationist David Wills commemorates the golden age of Hollywood and beloved starlets of the past with a book that must be in every film fan’s library.

Joan Crawford on Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, 1949

With more than 100 vibrant color photographs this book commemorates both the allure and joy of the coastline as well as the women of the stage and silver screen who spent time there. Inside the book, you will find candid and stylish photographs of movie star greats such as Elizabeth Taylor, Rita Hayworth, Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot, Sharon Tate, Edy Williams, Linda Christian, Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford and Nancy Sinatra.

We don’t always remember these icons from this carefree and sun-soaked perspective, and this book is the perfect keepsake for those who love the beach, old Hollywood, summer fashion, and glamour.

Don Graham takes a “Giant” and riveting look into the film that takes a wide-angle look of America

As I was doing research for my new book, Judy Garland Slept Here (to be published in September 2019 by Running Press), I read a most fascinating book which I dug into earlier: Giant: Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Edna Ferber, and the Making of a Legendary American Film (St. Martin’s Press; $27.99). Don Graham takes a larger-than-life narrative of the making of the classic film based on Edna Ferber’s controversial novel. Taking a wide-angle view of America—and Texas—in the Eisenhower era, Graham reveals how the film and its production mark the rise of America as a superpower, the ascent of Hollywood celebrity, and the flowering of Texas culture as mythology.

Featuring James Dean, Rock Hudson, and Elizabeth Taylor, Giant dramatizes a family saga against the background of the oil industry and its impact upon ranching culture—think Spindletop Hill in Beaumont, Texas and the fabled King Ranch in South Texas.

Isolating his star cast in the wilds of West Texas in the summer of 1955, director George Stevens brought together a volatile mix of egos, anxieties, sexual tensions and talent. Stevens certainly had his hands full with Hudson’s latent insecurities, Taylor’s high diva-dom, and Dean’s rebellious antics. Yet he coaxed performances out of them that made cinematic history, winning Stevens the Academy Award for Best Director and garnering nine other nominations, including a nomination for Best Actor for James Dean, who died before the film was finished.

In this compelling and impeccably researched narrative history of the making of the film, Graham chronicles the stories of Stevens, whose trauma from witnessing the horrors of World War II intensified his ambition to make films that would tell the story of America; of Edna Ferber, a considerable literary celebrity who meets her match in the imposing Robert Kleberg, proprietor of the vast King Ranch; and of Glenn McCarthy, the Errol Flynn lookalike who became the most famous wildcatter in Texas history and the builder of Houston’s grand Shamrock Hotel.

Drawing on archival sources, Graham’s book is a comprehensive depiction of the film’s production, showing readers how reality became fiction and fiction became cinema.

Arrow Video shoots straight to the horror heart of Halloween with these fab releases

Forget that summer has slowed down.

Before you trick, Arrow Video brings you treats for Halloween.

A sampling . . .

Arrow Video releases a pivotal work in the career of director Kinji Fukasaku with the release of Street Mobster.
Street Mobster

A street wise punk with untamed anger and a lack of respect for authority gets caught in a bloody street war in hopes of securing turf for the remnants of a gang he once belonged to.

For fans of Italian horror you’ll want to take note as The Cat O’Nine Tails and What Have They Done to Your Daughters? come to Blu-ray.  The former is the middle entry in the “Animal Trilogy” from the maestro Dario Argento, and is the tale of a newspaper reporter and retired, blind journalist that join forces to solve a series of killings connected to a pharmaceutical company’s top-secret projects.

The latter is director Massimo Dallamano’s story of a police investigation into teen suicide that uncovers the dark details behind a teenage prostitution racket. Both films are landmark entries in Italian genre cinema.
Then there’s The Gore Gore Girls, a darkly comedic spatter fest from legendary filmmaker Herschell Gordon Lewis follows a young reporter as she attempts to solve the murder of a Chicago stripper.
Gore Gore Girls, The
The last film Lewis would make before returning 30 years later, it marked the first time he submitted one of his films to the MPAA where it would receive an X rating

Tideland is  a controversial film from visionary director Terry Gilliam that follows a young girl who is left alone in a decrepit country estate where she is forced to live within her own imagination.
Tideland
Responses to this dark fantasy have been divisive across the board, but one thing that can be agreed upon is that you won’t soon forget it.

Dope beats, unfriendly fire and the biggest, nastiest snake you’ve ever seen star in the hiss-terical comedy “Snake Outta Compton”  

Expect the unexpected a mere week before Halloween when Snake Outta Compton arrives on DVD, Digital and On Demand from Lionsgate.

It’s a great day in South Central: Cam and his hip-hop crew are all set to sign a record deal that could change their lives. But their jealous friend Vurkel wrecks their plans when he creates a giant, mutant snake that quickly lays waste to the city of Compton, eating everyone in its path. Soon Cam, Pinball, Neon, and Beez Neez cook up a crazy scheme to stop the monstrous, munching menace: Aided by two corrupt cops, a crazed gangster and a mad scientist, the band has one thing to do before getting the record deal they need–get that motherfuckin’ Snake Outta Compton!
Prepare yourself for dope beats, unfriendly fire, and the biggest, nastiest snake you’ve ever seen in this outrageous hiss-terical comedy.

“That Summer” offers the first glimpse into the lives of Edith and Edie Beale

Welcome to Grey Gardens . . . as you’ve never seen it.|

Three years before Albert and David Maysles’ landmark documentary introduced the world to Edith and Edie Beale—the unforgettable mother and daughter (and Jackie O. relatives) living in a decaying dream world on Long Island—renowned photographer Peter Beard chronicled life at their crumbling estate during the summer of 1972.

For the first time ever, in That Summer (IFC Films), director Göran Olsson assembles this long-lost footage, featuring glimpses of luminaries like Andy Warhol, Mick Jagger and Truman Capote, into a one-of-a-kind family portrait bursting with the loving squabbles, quotable bon mots and impromptu musical numbers that would make Big and Little Edie beloved cultural icons.

Great, gossip and a bit garish.

Please heed our advice: Book your vacation before you watch “The Ninth Passenger”

Looking to book a vacation? One suggestion: Do it before you watch The Ninth Passenger, now on DVD, Digital and On Demand from Lionsgate. The intense edge-of-your-seat thriller centers around eight lusty, partying college kids who hijack a billionaire’s yacht for a midnight cruise.

Sensible Jess (portrayed by Alexia Fast) meets hunky Brady (Jesse Metcalfe), a corporate spy posing as a mechanic. Near a mysterious island, an evil “ninth passenger” slips aboard and starts slaughtering the party crowd. Jess and Brady find evidence of the gruesome scheme behind the killings…but are they already in over their heads?

Five hot new books from Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, worthy of another round

Applause! Applause!

A marvelous crop of new books published by Applause Theatre & Cinema Books.

Made in Mexico: Hollywood South of the Border
 ($19.99)
For more than a century, directors from both sides of the border have chosen Mexico as the location to create their cinematic art, leaving an indelible imprint on the imaginations of moviegoers and filmmakers worldwide. Now, for the first time, this tome presents a comprehensive examination of more than one hundred Hollywood theatrical feature films made in Mexico between 1914 and the present day.

Made in Mexico

Lavishly illustrated throughout, Made in Mexico examines how Hollywood films depicted Mexico and how Mexico represented itself in relation to the films shot on location. It pulls back the curtain on how Hollywood filmmakers influenced Mexican films and Mexican filmmakers influenced Hollywood.


Defying Gravity: The Creative Career of Stephen Schwartz, from Godspell to Wicked ($29.99)
From his writing of Godspell‘s score at age 23 through the making of the megahit musical Wicked and beyond, Defying Gravity: The Creative Career of Stephen Schwartz, from Godspell to Wicked takes readers into the world of the legendary Broadway and film composer-lyricist. In this authorized biography, drawing from her interviews with Schwartz and his collaborators, author Carol de Giere focuses on the behind-the-scenes stories for Schwartz’s hits and disappointing flops.

Defying Gravity

Readers will find colorful anecdotes and insights for his licensed musicals Children of EdenPippin, Working, and others. Defying Gravity also includes Hollywood stories, beginning with a new foreword by composer Alan Menken.


Accidentally Like a Martyr: The Tortured Art of Warren Zevon ($24.99)
Warren Zevon songs are like chapters in a great American novel. Its story lies in the heart of his–and our–psyche. The lines are blurred. We never seem to know if we are looking in a mirror or peering through a window; we only know that when we listen we see something.

Accidentally Like a Martyr

The music sets the scene – his voice a striking baritone, its narrator our guide through a labyrinth of harrowing narratives. The plot unfolds without subtlety; each musical and lyrical arc awakens imagination.


Stowaway Ukulele Revealed: Richard Konter & the Byrd Polar Expeditions is the unlikely and compelling story of a globe-trotting, ukulele-strumming, Brooklyn sailor named Richard Konter and his famous autographed instrument. At the height of the ukulele craze, Konter was a go-to arranger for Tin Pan Alley composers and publishers.
In 1926, Konter shipped out as a member of the crew of the Byrd Arctic Expedition. As a riveted world followed their progress (and that of their arch-rival, Roald Amundsen, the world’s greatest polar explorer), Konter managed to get his ukulele aboard Byrd’s plane for the first successful polar flight.

A Stowaway Ukulele RevealedA keen contributor to history in the making, Konter managed to obtain the autographs of more than 150 individuals, both famous and unknown, all of whom respected the importance of Konter’s North Pole ukulele. Later, Konter accompanied Byrd to Antarctica and later married, for the first time at age 80, the love of his life.
For the first time,  details the marvelously diverse cast of characters who autographed this little instrument, presenting mini-biographies and photographs to illustrate the interconnected web of lives brought together by Konter.


“Other people locked themselves away and hid from their demons. Townes flung open his door and said, ‘Come on in.’” So writes Harold Eggers, Townes Van Zandt’s longtime road manager and producer, in My Years with Townes Van Zandt: Music, Genius, and Rage ($29.99)– a gripping memoir revealing the inner core of an enigmatic troubadour, whose deeply poetic music was a source of inspiration and healing for millions but was for himself a torment struggling for dominance among myriad personal demons.

My Years with Townes Van ZandtTownes Van Zandt often stated that his main musical mission was to “write the perfect song that would save someone’s life.” However, his life was a work in progress he was constantly struggling to shape and comprehend. Eggers says of his close friend and business partner that “like the master song craftsman he was, he was never truly satisfied with the final product but always kept giving it one more shot, one extra tweak, one last effort.”

A vivid, firsthand account exploring the source of the singer’s prodigious talent, widespread influence, and relentless path toward self-destruction, My Years with Townes Van Zandt presents the truth of that all-consuming artistic journey told by a close friend watching it unfold.