Book picks similar to
Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2000 by Roger Ebert
journalism
film-drama
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movie-reviews
Let's Face It: 90 Years of Living, Loving, and Learning
Kirk Douglas - 2007
As Kirk Douglas has grown older - he turned ninety in December 2006 - he has become less impetuous and more reflective. In this poignant and inspiring new memoir, Douglas contemplates what life is all about, weighing current events from his present frame of mind while summoning the passions of his younger days.Kirk Douglas is a born storyteller, and throughout Let's Face It he tells wonderful tales and shares favorite jokes and hard-won insights. In the book, he explores the mixed blessings of growing older and looks back at his childhood, his young adulthood, and his storied, glamorous, and colorful life and career in Hollywood. He tells delightful stories of the making of such films as Spartacus, Lust for Life, Champion, The Bad and the Beautiful, and many others. He includes anecdotes about his friends Frank Sinatra, Burt Lancaster, Lauren Bacall, Ronald Reagan, Ava Gardner, Henry Kissinger, Fred Astaire, Yul Brynner, John Wayne, and Johnny Cash. He reveals the secrets that have kept him and his wife, Anne, happily married for more than five decades, and talks fondly and movingly of times spent with his sons, Michael, Peter, Eric, and Joel, and his grandchildren.Douglas's life has been filled with pain as well as joy. In Let's Face It, he writes frankly for the first time about the tragic death of his son Eric from a drug overdose at age forty-five. Douglas tells what it was like to recover from several near-death episodes, including a helicopter crash, a stroke, and a cardiac event. He writes of his sadness that many of his closest friends are no longer with us; the book includes many moving stories such as one about a regular poker game at Frank Sinatra's house at which he and Anne have been fixtures along with Gregory Peck, Jack Lemmon, and their wives. Though many of the players are gone, the game continues to this day.In Let's Face It, Douglas reflects on how his Jewish faith has become more and more important to him over the years. He offers strong opinions on everything from anti-Semitism to corporate greed, from racism to Hurricane Katrina, and from the war in Iraq to the situation in Israel. He writes about the importance in his life of the need to improve education for all children and about how we need to care more about the world and less about ourselves.A must-read for every fan, this engrossing memoir provides an indelible self-portrait of a great star - while sharing the wit and wisdom Kirk Douglas has accumulated over a lifetime.
Star Wars: Republic Commando: Volume 1
Karen Traviss
And the Republic commandos are the best of the best. As the Clone Wars rage, victory or defeat lies in the hands of these elite squads, stone-cold soldiers who go where no one else will, and do what no one else can....Hard Contact: It is three months after the Battle of Geonosis. On the backwater planet Qiilura, a Separatist scientist has created a nanovirus designed to kill clone soldiers, and it will be up to four Republic commandosthe Omega Squadto apprehend her and sabotage her research. When Darman, the squad's demolitions expert, gets cut off from the others during planetfall, he meets up with Etain, a stranded Jedi Padawan who has lost her Master. He expects her to be a competent commander, but that hope vanishes once she admits to her woeful inexperience. A long dangerous journey lies ahead, through hostile territory brimming with Trandoshan slavers, Separatists and suspicious natives. A single misstep could mean discovery...and death. Triple Zero: A year after Geonosis, the Republic commandos are being deployed on missions that take them beyond the battlefield and further into sabotage and intelligence operations in Separatist territory. Now, after a close brush with death, the Omega Squad is sent to the toughest terrain in the galaxy: Coruscant. Teaming up with Etain, now a Jedi General, and their legendary training sergeant Kal Skirata and his Null commandosa secret force even the Kaminoan cloners deem too dangerous to unleashthey pursue Separatist terrorists in the treacherous skylanes and labyrinthine underlevels of the world city. It's a critical mission unlike any they've ever tackledand it will test their courage and their friendship to the limit.
Traction City (Predator Cities)
Philip Reeve - 2011
Hidden in its vast superstructure is a murderous creature that severs the right hands of its victims. A rebellious young aviatrix and a secretive scavenger boy are about to come face to face with a robotic Stalker that is terrifyingly out of control.
The Hellraiser Chronicles
Clive Barker - 2004
The Cenobites soon returned, and their leader, the chilling Pinhead (played by Doug Bradley), became an worldwide icon.The Hellraiser Chronicles is a beautifully produced, full colour photographic companion to Hellraiser, Hellbound: Hellraiser II and Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth. It features stunning, specially shot portrait photography unavailable elsewhere, plus script extracts, design sketches, behind-the-scenes stills and interviews. The only official Hellraiser book, it is a must for all fans of the series.Time to play"
Fates Worse Than Death
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - 1982
Here we go again with real life and opinions made to look like one big, preposterous animal not unlike an invention by Dr. Seuss...--Kurt Vonnegut, from Fates Worse Than Death
McCain's Promise: Aboard the Straight Talk Express with John McCain and a Whole Bunch of Actual Reporters, Thinking About Hope
David Foster Wallace - 2000
It was a moment when Mccain was increasingly perceived as a harbinger of change, the anticandidate whose goal was "to inspire young Americans to devote themselves to causes greater than their own self-interest." And many young Americans were beginning to take notice. To get at "something riveting and unspinnable and true" about John Mccain, Wallace finds he must pierce the smoke screen of spin doctors and media manipulators. And he succeeds-in a characteristically potent blast of journalistic brio that not only captures the lunatic rough-and-tumble of a presidential campaign but also delivers a compelling inquiry into John McCain himself: the senator, the POW, the campaign finance reformer, the candidate, the man.
The Silver Saddle
Stephen Michael Hundley - 2016
High cliffs and black timber forests lead onto dangerous trails which twist and turn all the way to its violent and natural conclusion. Will and Evaline Garrison settle in Colorado and with young sons Gabe and Ransom built their ranch on lands hunted by ancient tribes of Indians for centuries. After many battles Garrison finds himself once again losing his family and hard won land. Bigger battles loom as an expanding railroad pushes onto the ranch despite Garrison's battle against it. His fight grows into epic battles and as friends and foes die his young sons are forced to take up trails of vengeance. On a ride for revenge Gabe found May Horn with a bloody knife in a darkened street. Pursued by twelve railroad trackers they run for days across towering cliff trails. Sharps rifles, Winchester carbines and Colt pistols do their talking for them and many die on their bloody trail. A warm romance buds and pushes up thru the ashes as the characters fight to survive. Readers will find their own brand of justice, as they ride bound to characters, so good or so evil. The Silver Saddle, a full size original Western saga is written in an old style, with deadly consequences of our unforgiving desperate migrations into the Old West. No emotion will be left untouched!
The Eon Series: Legacy, Eon, and Eternity
Greg Bear - 2017
One of the world’s preeminent New York Times–bestselling authors of hard science fiction mesmerizes readers with a mind-expanding, three-volume masterwork about the creation of an alternate universe that breaks down all barriers of time and space, and its consequences for future and past generations. Legacy: In the stunning prequel to Eon and Eternity, an agent of the masters of the Way—a man-made tunnel through countless dimensions—follows a renegade fanatic and his four thousand acolytes to a remarkable world of flora/fauna hybrids, where he is plunged into the terrible chaos of a raging civil war. Eon: As nuclear tensions rapidly reach a breaking point in a volatile twenty-first century, a hollowed-out asteroid appears, mysteriously hovering above the Earth’s surface. The asteroid contains the remains of Thistledown, an abandoned city that was once home to survivors of a nuclear holocaust. Scientists must race to unravel its secrets before the human race is annihilated in the impending apocalypse. Eternity: A devastating war has left Earth a nuclear wasteland. Orbiting the planet is an asteroid-starship containing the civilization of Thistledown, humanity’s future descendants. For decades, they have worked to heal their world and its survivors, but their resources are finite. They need to reopen the Way, a gate that would not only benefit Earth but also help the asteroid’s residents return home. Greg Bear’s classic Eon trilogy is an astonishing feat of the imagination that combines humanism, cutting-edge science, and brilliant extrapolation. This masterful science fiction saga has no equal in contemporary speculative fiction.
Mad Men Carousel: The Complete Critical Companion
Matt Zoller Seitz - 2015
This book collects TV and movie critic Matt Zoller Seitz’s celebrated Mad Men recaps—as featured on New York magazine's Vulture blog—for the first time, including never-before-published essays on the show’s first three seasons. Seitz’s writing digs deep into the show’s themes, performances, and filmmaking, examining complex and sometimes confounding aspects of the series. The complete series—all seven seasons and ninety-two episodes—is covered. Each episode review also includes brief explanations of locations, events, consumer products, and scientific advancements that are important to the characters, such as P.J. Clarke’s restaurant and the old Penn Station; the inventions of the birth control pill, the Xerox machine, and the Apollo Lunar Module; the release of the Beatles’ Revolver and the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds; and all the wars, protests, assassinations, and murders that cast a bloody pall over a chaotic decade. Mad Men Carousel is named after an iconic moment from the show’s first-season finale, “The Wheel,” wherein Don delivers an unforgettable pitch for a new slide projector that’s centered on the idea of nostalgia: “the pain from an old wound.” This book will soothe the most ardent Mad Men fan’s nostalgia for the show. New viewers, who will want to binge-watch their way through one of the most popular TV shows in recent memory, will discover a spoiler-friendly companion to one of the most multilayered and mercurial TV shows of all time. It's the perfect gift for Mad Men fans and obsessives. Also available from Matt Zoller Seitz: The Oliver Stone Experience, The Wes Anderson Collection: Bad Dads, The Wes Anderson Collection: The Grand Budapest Hotel, and The Wes Anderson Collection.
Footprints on the Moon
Seth Godin - 2017
He wants you to step up, level up and make a difference. And, as usual, he's telling us stories we won't soon forget.Entrepreneur called Seth a marketing wizard. Bono picked one of his TED talks as a personal favorite. And Business Week said he was "the ultimate entrepreneur for the information age." But most of all, Seth is a teacher, an inspiring narrator of our best possible future. Footprints on the Moon challenges each of us to make a difference. Now more than ever.
The Standard of Living
Dorothy Parker - 1941
Would they buy a silver fox coat, or mink?
The Powder Mage Trilogy: Promise of Blood, The Crimson Campaign, The Autumn Republic
Brian McClellan - 2019
Check out the complete Powder Mage Trilogy in this omnibus edition, a series that Brandon Sanderson called "Just plain awesome!"
In Promise of Blood: Field Marshal Tamas' coup against his king sent corrupt aristocrats to the guillotine and brought bread to the starving. But it also provoked war with the Nine Nations, internal attacks by royalist fanatics. Stretched to his limit, Tamas is relying heavily on his few remaining powder mages, including the embittered Taniel, a brilliant marksman who also happens to be his estranged son, and Adamat, a retired police inspector whose loyalty is being tested by blackmail.
In The Crimson Campaign: Drastically outnumbered and pursued by the enemy's best, Tamas must lead his men on a reckless march through northern Kez to safety, and back over the mountains so that he can defend his country from an angry god, Kresimir.
In The Autumn Republic: Field Marshal Tamas returns to his beloved country to find that for the first time in history, the capital city of Adro lies in the hands of a foreign invader. His son is missing, his allies are indistinguishable from his foes, and reinforcements are several weeks away.