Schneider gets in touch with his feminine side to star in ‘The Hot Chick’
Bond is back in bookstores Described as the “definitive guide to the 007 phenomenon,” the beautifully composed volume contains information on the various actors who have portrayed James Bond.
These actors include Sean Connery, Roger Moore, George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan).
It also features illustrations, rare storyboards and facts about the series.
Suggested supplemental gift: “The Spy Who Thrilled Us: A Guide to the Best of Cinematic James Bond” (Limelight Editions; $16.95) by Michael Di Leo, an easy-to-read volume that separates the 007 series into nine categories and analyzes them.
Those include: the villains, the girls, the brass and the action.
Lee on his films
With “Spike Lee Interviews” (University Press of Mississippi; $18), edited by Cynthia Fuchs, the subject is featured in numerous in-depth discussions in which he talks about his many films, including “Do the Right Thing,” “Jungle Fever” and “Malcolm X.” (Lee’s latest picture, “25th Hour,” an R-rated drama about a ill-fated drug dealer, played by Edward Norton, opens Christmas Day.)
“I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to express the views of black people who otherwise don’t have access to power and media,” Lee says in the book, which is part of the university’s “Conversations With Filmmakers” series.
Suggested supplemental gift: “Do the Right Thing” (Criterion Collection; $39.99), a special “Director’s Approved” DVD pressing of the critical favorite by Lee. This 5-inch disc version features a new digital wide-screen transfer, commentary by Lee, behind-the-scenes footage and much more.
A color-filled look at ‘Frida’
Though a box-office disappointment, “Frida,” directed by Julie Taymor (Broadway’s “The Lion King”), offers compelling glimpse into the world of artistically, politically and sexually driven Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Those interested in her life and work should be intrigued by “Frida: Bringing Frida Kahlo’s Life and Art to Film” (Newmarket Press; $35) by Taymor, Kahlo biographer Hayden Herrera and star/producer Salma Hayek (“Desperado”).
Hayek devoted eight years to gathering the funds and talents for “Frida,” which follows the subject and her husband, Diego Rivera, who were larger-than-life painters who became the most acclaimed artists in Mexico’s history. The book, which is illustrated with color photos, contains the screenplay.
“The first time I saw a painting by Frida Kahlo, I was 14 years old,” Hayek says. “A friend of mine showed me a book with these bloody paintings, which I thought were just horrendous. But these images haunted me, and I would return to my friend’s house and ask, ‘Can you show me those horrible pictures again?’
“And so, in the beginning, I was both horrified and intrigued; then slowly, I fell deeply in love with Frida Kahlo and her work, and she has been in my life ever since.”
Suggested supplemental gift: “Red Dragon: The Shooting Script” (Newmarket Press; $18.95) by Ted Tally, based on the novel by Thomas Harris. Compared to the book on “Frida,” this title seems like a no-frills offering, but it follows a similar format by providing a complete screenplay, plus an introduction by Tally, who won a best-adapted-screenplay Oscar for “The Silence of the Lambs,” also based on a book by Harris and featuring Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter (Anthony Hopkins). “He is, quite simply, the greatest villain in modern fiction,” Tally says of Lecter.
The essence of ‘King’
With “The Essential Stephen King: A Ranking of the Greatest Novels, Short Stories, Movies, and Other Creations of the World’s Most Popular Author” (New Page Books; $24.95), Stephen J. Spignesi takes an interesting approach to the horror author. Spignesi, who also penned “The Complete Stephen King Encyclopedia,” lists his favorite 101 works by the subject, currently represented on the best-seller list by his novel, “From a Buick 8.”
Spignesi puts King’s 1986 novel, “It,” in the No. 1 spot, followed at the 101 listing by “The Thing at the Bottom of the Well,” a 1960 story. The pages in between offer an entertaining way to discover the work of the writer, who is quoted in each entry.
King’s 2001 novel, “Dreamcatcher” (which will be released next year as a film directed by Lawrence Kasdan and starring Morgan Freeman), is listed in the No. 26 spot, and Spignesi feels it has particular importance.
“‘Dreamcatcher’ is an interesting milestone for King,” Spignesi notes. “It was the first new, novel-length work King wrote after his near-fatal 1999 accident, and the violence and intensely graphic scenes in the novel obviously served as a catharsis for King.”
Suggested supplemental gift: “Eaten Alive at a Chainsaw Massacre: The Films of Tobe Hooper” (McFarland; 800-253-2187; $45) by John Kenneth Muir. The work of the Texas director – who transformed Stephen King’s “Salem’s Lot” (1978) into a popular TV movie about vampires and King’s short story “The Mangler” (1995) into an uneven fright film about a possessed machine – finally receives serious attention.
Hooper, of course, is most famous for his no-frills horror sensation, “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” His other credits include “Poltergeist” (1982), “Lifeforce” (1985) and the remake of “Invaders From Mars” (1986).
A ‘View’ of Smith
The work of a hot filmmaker who appeals to the young-adult crowd is examined in “An Askew View: The Films of Kevin Smith” (Applause Books; $18.95) by John Kenneth Muir.
The impressive offering by Smith, a writer/director from Red Bank, N.J., range from the no-frills “Clerks” to the controversial “Dogma.” The author became interested in Smith due to the “passion” he sees in works such as “Chasing Amy,” starring Ben Affleck, and the humor in the road comedy “Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back,” which features the filmmaker appearing with his old friend and frequent co-star, Jason Mewes.
“We were trying to do a live action ‘Looney Tunes’ (cartoon) with more dialogue,” Smith says of “Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back” in “An Askew View.” “Scott Mosier, my producer, summed it up best. He said, ‘It’s kind of like “The Muppet Movie” on acid.'”
Suggested supplemental gift: “Video & DVD Guide 2003” (Ballantine Books; $19.95, oversized paperback) by Mick Martin and Marsha Porter. What makes this movie guide superior to the rest? The authors provide the best index for actors and directors, which means you can simply look up the name of someone like Kevin Smith in the back of the book and quickly find a complete list of his films.
An imaginative ‘Wonka’
The history of a colorful 1971 family favorite is told in “Pure Imagination: The Making of ‘Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory'” (St. Martin’s Press; $29.95). Mel Stuart, who directed the musical starring Gene Wilder, wrote the book, which uses more than 100 color and black-and-white photographs, along with interviews, set-design sketches and production notes to chronicle the movie’s history.
According to Stuart, the only reason “Willy Wonka” exists on celluloid is due to his daughter, Madeline, who at age 12 in 1969 took her copy of Roald Dahl’s book, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” to her father and told him to make it into a movie. The filmmaker, who had only directed documentaries such as “The Making of the President, 1960” at that point, claims to have been fascinated “by the bizarre and amusing way a simple thesis was set forth – virtue was rewarded and nastiness was punished.”
Suggested supplemental gift: “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory” (Warner; $24.99) on DVD. The 5-inch disc version features a digitally remastered image and extras such as a behind-the-scenes 1971 featurette, four sing-along songs and the theatrical trailer.
‘Memento’ in the making
“Like one of my favorite films over the past few years, David Lynch’s ‘Lost Highway,’ ‘Memento’ concludes with a narrative loop – or in this case hairpin – that dares to return us, in some senses, to the beginning, exploding questions outwards like shards of flying glass,” Mottram writes.
A double dose of Kubrick
Kubrick personally selected the 800 still images that provide an illustrated guide to 1971’s “A Clockwork Orange,” based on the frightening futuristic novel by Anthony Burgess. Originally published in 1972, this reprinting places dialogue under the photos to provide an insightful look into this still-controversial Kubrick masterpiece about a young British man (Malcolm McDowell) addicted to violence and then “cured” by the government.
“Eyes Wide Shut” is part of the British Film Institute’s impressive “Modern Classics” series in which a single film is the subject of a book. The largely misunderstood R-rated “Shut,” which was Kubrick’s final work, stars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman as a couple whose seemingly picture-perfect marriage is tested by temptations. That’s especially true in the case of the husband, who roams the mean streets of Manhattan at night seeking some form of sexual release in a quest that sometimes borders on being suicidal.
A pleasing ‘Prisoner’
The fabulous Fuller
Much of the director’s view of the world was formed by his World War II experience, and that background led him to create lean and mean combat pictures such as “The Big Red One,” “The Steel Helmet” and “Merrill’s Marauders.” Fuller also created cult favorites such as “Shock Corridor,” “The Naked Kiss” and “Underworld U.S.A.”
A hit and miss ‘Shoot Out’