Two more days… Not just the Daylight Savings time change (spring forward!), but the 96th annual Academy Awards ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood takes place this Sunday. Did your invitation get lost in the mail? Yeah, mine too. That’s O.K.—the ceremony will be televised (earlier than usual) at 4 p.m., on ABC.
Even if we aren’t eligible to receive a shiny gold Oscar and are not invited to party among the stars, we can find quite a few new books about movies at Smiley Library with which to console ourselves. There’s a great variety too—including movies, critics, the film industry, and the awards themselves.
Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears Michael Schulman, author of New York Times bestseller Her Again: Becoming Meryl Streep, delves into the gripping history of the Academy Awards, some stories never before revealed, often connecting incidents to a broader cultural change. The publisher notes, “The road to the Oscars may be golden, but it’s paved in blood, sweat, and broken hearts.”
The Academy and the Award: The Coming of Age of Oscar and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Author Bruce Davis, former executive director of the Academy for over 20 years, was given unprecedented access to its archives for this book, and was able to discount many long-held myths, including how the Oscar got its name.
Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel and Ebert Changed Movies Forever You may remember a time when film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert ruled the television airwaves with their movie review show (late 1970s-1990s). Each renowned in their work for rivaling Chicago newspapers, they were often diametrically opposed in their opinions making for lively discussions, but oh, the rare occasions when they gave it “two thumbs up!” Author Matt Singer goes behind the scenes of the show learning from its staff, and other sources, how the rivals, and eventual friends, transformed critique-as-opinion into critique-as-discussion, a whole new way of viewing the art of movie-making.
Steven Spielberg: All the Films: The Story Behind Every Movie, Episode, and Short Spielberg fans will enjoy this comprehensive, detailed, and photo-filled account of the prolific director’s life and work, from his early direction of television episodes to his more than 30 feature-length films. The three film journalist authors especially shine in highlighting Spielberg’s use of visual symbolism which viewers may have been previously missed.
Other new books break down genres such as horror, Monsters on the Couch: The Real Psychological Disorders Behind Your Favorite Horror Movies, and comic book – superhero – science fiction, MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios, or eras like Hollywood and the Movies of the Fifties.
And to get the inside scoop on these three classic movies: The Exorcist Legacy: 50 Years of Fear; No Crying in Baseball: The Inside Story of A League of Their Own: Big Stars, Dugout Drama, and a Home Run for Hollywood; and Surely You Can’t Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane!
Check out the movie DVD to watch while you’re reading the book: The Exorcist, A League of Their Own, and Airplane!
