Short Cuts: Introduction to Film StudiesWhile the idea behind the "Short Cuts" series is sound, this introduction to film studies never seems to know what it wants to be, and what kind of introduction it wants to deliver. Lacking a strong focus and a strong editorial hand, and many times weighed down by dense writing, the series vacillates on a book-by-book basis from great primers to pedantic essays.3/14/2002 9:57pm PT
Engulfed, The Death Of Paramount Pictures And The Birth of Corporate HollywoodMore "Hollywood Boardroom" than "Hollywood Babylon," Bernard F. Dick's corporate biography tracks Paramount Pictures from a gleam in Adolph Zukor's eye to a state in the Viacom nation. "Engulfed" does a fine job of detailing the death of a studio and its reincarnation as a subsidiary of a conglom.6/17/2001 5:15pm PT
In The Name of Justice, The Television Reporting of John PilgerI've always had a very strong sense of justice and injustice," said television journalist and documentarian John Pilger. "In the Name of Justice: The Television Journalism of John Pilger," Anthony Hayward's excellent account of Pilger's work, shows how that sensibility has driven Pilger.4/14/2001 11:00pm PT