Book review - "The Book of Sheen" by Charlie Sheen (2025)

 Starts off interestingly - the son of Martin Sheen, growing up in Malibu, hanging out with the Penns (Chris more than Sean), being on set in Philippines for Apocalypse Now, discovering paid sex on the streets of Santa Monica (!), a rapid rise to acting work - a part in Grizzly 2 (which meant he had to turn down the lead in Karate Kid), a strong experience on Red Dawn and Ferris Bueller then the casting in Platoon. After that the book wobbles with Sheen whining incessantly about his work on Wall Street then it goes into free fall with tales of drugs, and women, and rants. Sheen comes across as a completely unpleasant person - a narcissist like so many junkies who brags about all the drugs they took and interventions they've had and wagons they've fallen of, who dribbles away about his suffering.  He clearly lives in a world with too many jesters and has little respect for his craft of acting. He's constantly disparaging the films he appears in - ego trips, badly written, etc - though he has some nice words for the writers and co stars of Spin City and Two and a Half Men. He owns some of his mistakes but only some and basically just dribbles.

Despite the people he's worked with some character sketches come through - Johnny Depp trying to seduce him into smoking on Platoon, Oliver Stone's tension trying to make the movies, Chris Penn, his parents. But so many people are vaguely drawn incuding his own brother. The book also assumes the reader knows about many of the incidents - maybe that's true for a typical reader but some context wouldn't go astray. Also the spelling of "dood" and "fukken" gets wearying. Like Sheen and this book.

Book review - "Chasing the Panther: Adventures and Misadventures of a Cinematic Life" by Carolyn Pfeiffer

 I read this because I was keen to read about Pfeiffer's adventures as a producer in the 80s with Alan Rudolph, Chris Blackwell, Shep Gordon etc but there is very little of that. This memoir is mostly about her time in Europe in the 60s - as a student, then working in Italy as Claudie Cardinale's assistant, meeting people like Burt Lancaster, Visconti, Delon and Fellini, then working for Delon (being raped by one of Delon's dodgy bodyguards), then Omar Sharif as an assistant (shagging Robert Bolt), being friends with Nathalie Delon and Geraldine Chaplin, becoming a publicisit then eventually working for Shep Gordon, hanging with Robert Altman, dope with Blake Edwards. 

It's pretty interesting stuff - having Sean Connery put his hand on her leg while Diane Cilento was there, a fling with photographer Terence Donovan etc. There is heart break - a daughter (son of an affair with a married man) dies as a child, she finds true love with a journalist who dies of a heart attack. I wish there had been more on her work as producer. But I enjoyed the book.

 

Book review - "We did okay, kid" by Anthony Hopkins

 Is Hopkins a great actor? He's been great - Silence of the Lambs, Howard's End - but  a lot of dreck. Hollywood thinks he's great - Hollywood is like that. It was Hollywood who kept his career going when he walked out of the National in the 1970s.

Hopkins always seemed like he had his head in the clouds. This confirms it. Internal. Quiet. A loud alcoholic.

The book livens up in some spots - being sledged by Paul Sorvino making Nixon, discussing his process in Silence of the Lambs. I wish there had been more of that. But I think he lives in Hopkins land. This is low on anecdotes and actors insights. 

Book review - "How to Survive a Killer Musical: Agony and Ecstasy on the Road to Broadway" by Douglas J. Cohen

 The story of writing and producing a musical based on William Goldman's No Way to Treat a Lady 0 I was unaware this existed, as in the musical, although I'm a Goldman fan. It has had several productions around the world and made some coin.

The book is kind of interesting - no big epic dramas, not really, a lot of trudge and hard work, some personality clashes. Cohen's always pushing sh*t uphill basically. The work is always being tinkered with.

Goldman plays a decent part in the book - he asks for a big fat cut of the money, though he does ease off later on to help out. And he makes a creative contribution. People like Sondheim and Frank Rich offer thoughts. 

A welcome addition to Broadway books because it does feel more realistic. It's mostly about a lot of hard work and medium success rather than a huge flop or a huge bomb. 

Movie review - "Take It Or Leave It" (1981) ***

 I'll give it to Madness - they had some hits then decided to blow it on their own film. The movie kind if disappeared, weird for a popular band - I don't think it had enough distribution. That's a common excuse but fans of the film will enjoy this as it tells their story from 1976 to 1979. The script is a series of vignettes all based on reality.

I'm not sure it's for people other than fans - it's hard to tell them apart. I recognised the songs towards the end - some bigger hits up front might've helped. 

Book review - "The Uncool" by Cameron Crowe (2025)

 Superb memoir. Focuses on Crowe's childhood and career as a rock journo - winds up after he writes Fast Times at Ridgemount High apart from a book end of Almost Famous musical because that incorporates his mother's death. Not a lot of film stuff but plenty of rock stars - Bowie (didn't realise they were such friends), Allman Brothers, Kris Kristofferson etc. Also that random appearance in Other Side of the Wind.

Essential fact check against Almost Famous. Great read. Hope there's a second volume on the films. Why doesn't he do a second autobiographical film, like about him being a more established journo, or going to high school to write a book? 

Book revue - "Future Indefinite" by Noel Coward

 Coward's adventures in the war makes compelling reason in part because he simply went so many places - Poland, Russia, Finland and Norway before the war, Paris after it started, Australia.

Book review - "Ready When You Are, Mr. Coppola, Mr. Spielberg, Mr. Crowe" by Jerry Ziesmer

 Memoir of an assistant director has some decent moments but needed an edit. Too much Apocalypse Now and schedules not enough personalities. Fun sketches of Sly Stallone (nutty but endearing), Cameron Crowe (all positive), Tom Cruise (hyper), Robert Redford (charming but a c*nt), Babs (into everything), Peter Bogdanovich (didn't expect Illegally Yours to be made), Otto Preminger (a bully who was a pussycat).

Most memorable bit is fact Ziesmer's son killed himself. I did like him schmoozing extras on The Way We Were. I guess it's interesting how they did Superbowl in Black Sunday.  

Book review - "Dickens and Prince: A Particular Kind of Genius" by Nick Hornby

 Fantastic extended essay full of fresh insights, written with warmth but also some criticism. Inspirational, funny. Really great. Loved it more than Fever Pitch because I got the references more.

Book review - "Fever Pitch" by Nick Hornby

 Very well written. Lovely observations. Probably too many references to people, games and clubs I didn't know. I followed it. I just know it would've meant more if I'd known them.

Book review - "Best Possible Place, Worst Possible Time" by Barry Sonnenfeld

 Hugely entertaining second volume of memoirs, more fun than the first because it's just about movie stars and he doesn't go on as much about his wife (sorry to be blunt, it just gets wearying). 

Great stories about self hating Gene Hackman, fun but mercurial Will Smith, lazy John Travolta, difficult Walter Parkes. No punches pulled, it seems.

Book review - "The Girl on the Balcony" by Olivia Hussey (2018)

 The sort of book I expected Hussey to write - sweet, a bit scatty, full of love and emotion. She was Argentinian but went to England as a girl, didn't have a lot of money but was blessed with beauty. Had a long stage run in The Prime of Miss Jean Bodie then got Romeo and Juliet. Admits she didn't take her chances -blew True Grit and Anne of a Thousand Days and did All the Right Noises, was prone to taking off long slabs of time but developed a niche for being in ensemble pieces such as Death on the Nile and was especially good at played scared girls. She seems like a lovely person.

Book review - "The Director Should've Shot You" by Alan Dean Foster

 Memoir of a novelist - but someone better known for novelisations. Most film buffs had a Foster on their shelves back in the day - I'm glad he's still at it. Lively account of his life and times. A lot of hours spent in front of the typewriter so not a huge amount for a personal life, at least according to this. 

Some interesting experiences - the challenges of John Carpenter's Dark Star, the generosity of George Lucas giving a percentage on Star Wars, disliking Alien 3 and changing the story (letting Newt live) and being scolded by Walter Hill, getting involved in a actor-director fight on Chronicles of Riddick, working for JJ Abrams (no goss he sounds decent). Too much whining over lack of science in sci fi. But the talk of craft is interesting. Made money from Star Trek log books in the seventies.

Book review - "Junior Bonner: The Making of a Classic with Steve McQueen and Sam Peckinpah in the Summer of 1971" by Jeb Rosebrook

 Memoir by Rosebrook who wrote the script for Junior Bonner. The story of the making of this film actually isn't super interesting despite the involvement of drama magnets Steve McQueen and Sam Peckinpah - there was no recutting, no massive bust ups, it was so Major Dundee or coke riddled Convoy. McQueen liked the script, Peckinpah liked doing something non violent. Peckinpah did some mild (by his stands) bullying, firing people who didn't deserve it, McQueen was basically the boss, but people generally behaved.

Still it is an interesting book because of the director and star and also characters like Ida Lupino (whose role was intended for Susan Hayward who wanted to do it but they all got drunk and forgot to offer it to her and she got annoyed), Robert Preston (who as usual everyone loved), Barbara Leigh (an engaging unpretentious model who just had affairs with everyone from Elvis to McQueen to James Aubrey) and rodeo riders. Also the book acts as a memoir for Rosebrook's career which wasn't amazing but was entirely decent. He wrote a script for James Coburn, who sounds like a gentleman, and did a lot of TV. Rosebrook was a producer so has an engaging appreciation of below the line workers which a lot of writers don't.

Book review - " The 007 Diaries: Filming Live and Let Die" by Roger Moore (1973)

 I don't know if Moore actually wrote this or if it was ghosted but it definitely feels like him, the wry humour, the self deprecation. He lived a glamorous life, lots of lunches and dinners, and exotic locations. Did plenty of charity work, especially for a "spastic" association as it was called then. I do think that generation had a greater public service aspect, at least in Britiain. His wife Luisa is often mentioned as a figure of fear especially when doing love scenes.

Antics with Jane Seymour and Gloria Henry, a good relationship with Guy Hamilton, hints at an unhappy Yaphet Kotto (who clashed with Hamilton; Moore says he played a joke on Kotto listing a black entertainer that Kotto criticised on the call sheet). Refers to a film that he hoped to direct, written by Bryan Forbes based on Moore's own story. 

The references to other incidents in Moore's life are interesting such as a one night appearance on Broadway, acting with Lana Turner. Filming the Bond movie has some accidents but is pretty smooth. 

Moore would have been pleasant to deal with after Sean Connery. He praises Connery, makes jokes about Harry Salztman beating him at cards. His behaviour may have been boorish if you weren't in the mood, but most people have nice things to say about Moore.

Entertaining.

Book review - "True Indie" By Don Coscarelli

 I don't know that much about Coscarelli despite him making some cult faves - Phantasm, Beastmaster, Bubba-Ho Tep. He had an amazing career, his first DIY feature picked up by a major studio as was his second. And Phantasm was a huge success. I wonder why he didn't do more. He was going to do Silver Bullet but it didn't work out he turned down Conan the Destroyer and Nightmare on Elm Street 2.

Interesting book. Perhaps overlong (could've done with less on screenings and the later films.)

Book review - "Sailor and Fiddler" by Herman Wouk

 I once read a lot of Wouk - well the war novels, Marjorie Morningstar, Youngblood Hawk. I sensed even then what was autobiographical.

Easy to read semi memoir. Well written (no surprise). Useful summary of his career. Enjoyed the account of workin in radio and getting into the navy via the fact he worked for Fred Allen. Mentions the drowning death of his young son. His wife is all wise all knowing - she'd just died. Not a lot of in depth analysis of his self. But useful and short.

Book review - "I'll be in My Trailer" by John Badham and Craid Modderno (2006)

 I don't think of Badham as an actors' director but his films tend to be well acted. Full of good advice, some of it common sense but even that it's ideal to hear again. A lot of testimonies from people who are now cancelled or cancelled ish eg Frank Langella, James Woods, Stephen Collins, Mel Gibson. I liked the stuff about bad behaviour the most.

Book review - "Desperately Seeking Something" by Susan Seidelman

 Entertaining book about a director who was a big deal in 1985 but then had a few under performing films then went to movie prison and never quite got out of it although she had a strong career including the pilot for Sex in the City. Written brightly. Maybe could've done with a few trims (there were a lot of bits where she says she couldn't remember the name of something). Seidelman was middle class, so isn't as traumatised - her parents subsidised her lifestyle, which every director needs, and she married well, had a kid etc. I don't meant to be dismissive, just pointing out it adds to a life.

Madonna stories are the best, offering to go down on Barbara Boyle, munching faces as she auditions love interests. Rosanne Barr offered to go down on Seideman too.

Random observation - Seidelman doesn't seem to repeat key collaborations. What happened to the writer of Susan? Why didn't she work with the same stars again? Really wish she and Rosanna Arquette worked together again (although Seidelman admits they butted heads).

Also I think the good luck that greeted Smithereens and Susan vanished later on. She didn't have the stars to make her films non-ignorable, except arguably Meryl on She Devil. Making Mr Right and Cookie needed bigger stars I feel.

Loved the story about Gary Oldman flaming out on Dylan. Had no idea about Seidelman's later movie work.

Book review - "Sonny Boy" by Al Pacino (2024)

 Fun. Actor-y. Rambles. I listened to the audio book. Helped a lot. He's a man child. A creature of Greenwich Village. Thought nothing of playing gay characters in the 70s. Loves the process. Keeps dating actors (good taste: Diane Keaton, Beverly d'Angelo, Tuesday Weld, Marte Keller, Jill Clayburgh, Kathleen Quinlan). Hopeless with money. As in, a kid. Bumbles through life. Loves his craft.

Some great stories like Diane Keaton going to Pacino's accountant after he was broke "don't you know who this man is? He's an idiot! A child!" Pacino going to the Oscars stoned.

Leaves out stuff, like Lyndall Hobbs.

Enjoyable read.