***A NEXT BIG IDEA CLUB MUST-READ BOOK OF NOVEMBER 2024***"A wild success." — Publishers Weekly"A surefire hit." —Library Journal STARRED review"A brilliant star turn." —Andrew O’HaganA riotous and revealing story of Hollywood’s most spectacular flops and how they ended careers, bankrupted studios and changed film history."Failure fascinates, for all the reasons that success is a drag…”From grand follies to misunderstood masterpieces,...

More of the Pulitzer Prize—winning film critic's most scathing reviews. A Horrible Experience of Unbearable Length collects more than 200 of his reviews from 2006 to 2012 in which he gave movies two stars or fewer. Known for his fair-minded and well-written film reviews, Roger is at his razor-sharp humorous best when skewering bad movies. Consider this opener for the one-star Your Highness: "Your Highness is a juvenile excrescence that feels like...

"What if everything you know about the worst night of your life turns out not to be true? Nine years ago, with the world's eyes on her, Charlie Colbert fled. The press and the police called Charlie a "witness" to the nightmarish events at her elite graduate school on Christmas Eve-events known to the public as "Scarlet Christmas"-though Charlie knows she was much more than that. Now, Charlie has meticulously rebuilt her life: She's the editor-in-chief...

Inspired by true events, COMPLIANCE tells the chilling story of just how far one might go to obey a figure of authority. On a particularly busy day at a suburban Ohio fast food joint, high-strung manager Sandra (Ann Dowd) receives a phone call from a police officer saying that an employee, a pretty young blonde named Becky (Dreama Walker), has stolen money from a customer. Convinced she’s only doing what’s right, Sandra commences the investigation,...

The epic human drama behind the making of the five movies nominated for Best Picture in 1967-Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, The Graduate, In the Heat of the Night, Doctor Dolittle, and Bonnie and Clyde-and through them, the larger story of the cultural revolution that transformed Hollywood, and America, forever.It's the mid-1960s, and westerns, war movies, and blockbuster musicals such as Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music dominate the box office....

In the Blink of an Eye is celebrated film editor Walter Murch's vivid, multifaceted, thought -- provoking essay on film editing. Starting with what might be the most basic editing question -- Why do cuts work? -- Murch treats the reader to a wonderful ride through the aesthetics and practical concerns of cutting film. Along the way, he offers his unique insights on such subjects as continuity and discontinuity in editing, dreaming, and reality; criteria...

While going undercover on the set of an adult film to investigate the mysterious deaths of several actresses, Chicago wizard Harry Dresden unexpectedly learns the shocking truth about his vampire friend Thomas.

From actor Cary Elwes, who played the iconic role of Westley in The Princess Bride, comes a first-person account and behind-the-scenes look at the making of the cult classic film filled with never-before-told stories, exclusive photographs, and interviews with costars Robin Wright, Wallace Shawn, Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, and Mandy Patinkin, as well as author and screenwriter William Goldman, producer Norman Lear, and director Rob Reiner.

A quick look at any fiction bestseller list reveals that thrillers make up most of the titles at the top. HOW TO WRITE A DAMN GOOD THRILLER will help the aspiring novelist or screenwriter to design, draft, write, and polish a thriller that is sure to grab readers. Frey uses examples from both books and movies and addresses the following hot topics: *Germinal ideas *Breathing life into great thriller characters *Crafting a gripping opening *Maintaining...

"Fledgling actress Amelia Grant is at rock bottom when offered the opportunity of a lifetime: to star in a biopic about the world-renowned romance author Gloria Diamond, who used her own tragic love story as inspiration for her bestselling books. To prepare for the role, she'll spend a week with Gloria at her secluded Washington estate. It's a chance to get out of LA, away from her cheating ex-boyfriend, and to make her recently deceased mother proud....