Just as you don't have to be a fan of the band to love the film Metallica: Some Kind of Monster -- and you might even enjoy it more if you're not a fan -- you don't need to be a headbanger to appreciate Metallica: This Monster Lives: The Inside Story of Some Kind of Monster by filmmaker Joe Berlinger (with Greg Milner), probably the most fascinating making-of book I've ever read. Sure, fans of the band will find even more behind-the-music goodies, like transcripts and descriptions of scenes that didn't make it into the film, that offer additional insight into the musicians and the demons that drive them, inspire them, and fuck them up. But movie geeks will be riveted by Berlinger's perspective on and approach to the filmmaking process, and by his Monday-morning discussion of his relationships with the band members. How close should a documentarian get to his subjects? There's no definitive answer to be found here, but the question underlies the entire book. [buy at Amazon.com]
I met John Muir at I-Con earlier this year, when we both served as panelists at talks on SF and superhero films, and not only is he one of my favorite geeks, the man is a book-writing machine. He published two books this year that no film obsessive should miss: Best in Show: The Films of Christopher Guest and Company and The Unseen Force : The Films of Sam Raimi -- and they are, like John himself, infectiously enthusiastic, incredibly knowledgable, and highly entertaining. Even if you think you know everything there is to know about these two filmmakers, you'll find new and surprising stuff here. John combines tidbits culled from new interviews with friends, family, and colleagues of Guest and Raimi with incisive insight and criticism of their work into what becomes practically psychological autopsies of their films. Forget the backstage gossip and "funny" stories that fill typical making-of books -- John covers not only how a film got produced, but why. I can't recommend these books enough: I came away with deeper appreciations of filmmakers I didn't think I could hold in even higher esteem, and I see their work with an even more informed regard. [buy Best in Show at Amazon.com] / [buy The Unseen Force at Amazon.com]
I'm sure I'm not the only geek suffering from Lord of the Rings withdrawal in this, the first holiday season in three years without a new hobbit flick to occupy my imagination, but I'm finding solace not only in the new Extended Edition of Return of the King, but also in Greg Harvey's The Origins of Tolkien's Middle-earth for Dummies. I kinda hate the "for Dummies" tag -- this is, rather, for the Curious Unenlightened who want to know more about the real-world mythological underpinnings of Tolkien's world, the bases for his many invented languages, the literary function served by characters like Merry and Pippin, and all sorts of other extremely cool and geeky stuff. There's even a rundown of some of the major differences between the books and the films... but then, you'd already figured those out for yourself. [buy at Amazon.com]
I bet no other film critic has a quote on a book of his collected writings from "Jockey Slut Magazine." JSM calls Vern "a menace to society," but they're just jealous. The original badass outlaw online film critic (a fellow member of Cinemarati), Vern has finally gathered together some of his best stuff (not that it ain't all brilliant) in 5 on the Outside: Vern's Writings on the films of Cinema, and the rest of us might as well just pack up our toys and go home, because Vern proves here that he invented the cutting edge of contemporary criticism. From withering dissections of flicks like Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within and XXX to loving but masculine valentines to Bruce Willis, Vern never fails to make you laugh so hard that milk flies out your nose while also finding nuggets of cinematic pop-culture wisdom you didn't think were there to be found. [buy at Lulu.com... and tell 'em I sent you]
