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Genre I TV I Biographies I Practical I Reference
Films by Title
Blade
Double Indemnity
Elizabeth
The Script of Elizabeth
Tomb Raider
House Calls
Monty Python's The Life of Brian
One True Thing
The Planet of the Apes Chronicles
Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho
Ratcatcher
Robinson in Space
Saving Private Ryan
Stagecoach
Blade
Novelisation
by Mel Odom, based on David S, Goyer's
screenplay.
Boxtree.
1998. Pbk. 343 pages. £4.99.
A hybrid human/vampire wages war on Vampires to save our skins. The war is conducted on city streets with swords and shotguns. Vampires are trendy, be afraid, be very afraid. Beware of Blade 2.
Elizabeth
Novelisation
by Tom McGregor, based on Michael Hirst's
screenplay.
Boxtree.
1998. Pbk. 301 pages. £5.99.
The Script of
Elizabeth
Michael
Hirst. Boxtree. 1998. Pbk. 128 pages.
£12.99.
The novel is a fast-paced read that brings the Elizabethian Age to life for a contemporary audience. The script is full of colour pictures that show the rich-ness and splendour of the movie.
The intrigue and torture is pretty brutal (pardon the pun) and the film has been criticised for its lack of historical accuracy (what film is not guilty of playing fast and loose with the facts?), yet it does show how British history can be entertaining without being twee or reverential.
House
Calls
Patch
Adams, M.D.
Robert D.
Reed Publishers, USA, 1998. Pbk. 162 pages.
£8.99.
Patch Adams provides us with wacky yet practical advise on how to heal yourself and others. He acts and literally dresses as a clown and follows the philosophy that if you laugh the whole world will laugh with you. The outright optimism he displays can he weary to us , cynical Europeans. To help the medicine go down this book has cartoons by Jerry Van Amerongen, which sugar-coat the serious nature of this work which contains an impressive 29 page bibliography. 'Unconventional' just about sums up Adams and his ideas. You can see why Robin Williams was the ideal choice for playing Patch Adams in the film of his life story.
Monty Python's The Life of Brian
Graham
Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle,
Terry Jones and Michael Palin.
Metheun.
2001. Pbk. 101 pages. £7.99.
What has Monty Python every done for
comedy? Their tale of Brian who coincidentally had a
life much like Christ but with funny bits, is
probably their best movie. Is that all? They
memorably sing Always Look on the Bright Side of
Life as they suffer crucifixion. When the film was
released in 1979 they certainly had to look on the
bright side as it got roasted for being blasphemous.
Now it has escaped the critics and entered the
realms of cultdom Metheun seem able to rather
cheekily release this edition of the screenplay in
the Easter of 2001. What a naughty lot.
One True
Thing
Anna
Quindlen.
Arrow.
1999. Pbk. 298 pages. £5.99.
The issue
of mercy killing and painful truths is movingly and
sensitively examined. Get the box of Kleenex
ready.
Available
from Gazelle Book Services Ltd. Queen Sq Lancaster,
LA1 1RN. Tel: 01524.68765
Robinson in Space
By Patrick
Keiller.
Reaktion
Books, 1999. Pbk. 240 pages. 221 colour illus.
£16.95.
Robinson is a fictional character who travels across Britain. On his journey he discovers the features, facts, trivia and economics of British life. The whimsical text is supported by factual footnotes and evocative colour pictures. It makes you look at our familiar country as if from the perspective of a visiting spaceman. The book is based on Keiller's 1997 film of the same name, and it contains an interview with this architect turned filmmaker.
Saving Private Ryan
Steven
Spielberg with photographs by David James.
Boxtree.
1998. Pbk. 96 pages. £12.99.
Spielberg has explored World War II before, in 1941, Empire of the Sun and Schindler's List, but Saving Private Ryan has made the biggest impact of them all.
The large colour and black and white photographs in this book, are simply brilliant, they make you want to see the movie but they also stand as a significant evocation of the war and the movie in their own right.
The book
is divided into three parts: The Men, The Mission
and The Movie. Each section is dominated by the
photographs which are accompanied by quotes from
real D-Day soldiers in the first section, short
segments of the screenplay in the middle section,
and quotes from the actors and filmmakers in the
last section. A glossy yet thoughtful book.
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