Most Helpful Customer Reviews
44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Handsome to Look At, but Sloppily Edited, March 19, 2005
As an Academy Awards fan, I was pleased to receive this book as a birthday present. My version goes through 2001 and "A Beautiful Mind." It's a handsome book -- big, heavy, but nicely designed. For each year presented, brief bios of winners and photos of each are accompanied by facts and figures, as well as a short overview of that year. Unfortunately, it's filled with errors from beginning to end. Perhaps these were caught in later editions, but it was embarassing. As I was reading it, I kept a running list of mistakes ... and they ranged from small to large. For example, in the write-up for Katharine Hepburn's first Oscar, it claims that she "went on to win eight Academy Awards by the end of her career." While she is the all-time acting champ in terms of wins, she won four, not eight. Marie Dressler's birth date is listed as 1838 in her bio ... which would mean she was 92 when she made "Min and Bill"! The correct date, I believe, is 1868. The description for Melvyn Douglas' win in 1979 is almost word-for-word the same description for his 1963 win! Shirley MacLaine's bio in 1983 lists films for which she was nominated but did not win, including two for which she was not. Then it says she was nominated six times, when in reality it was five. I could go on and on. The factoids called "Sins of Omission" list actors, actresses and films that failed to win a nomination. But every so often, it lists a person or film that WAS nominated. And in a complete headscratcher, under "Sins of Omission" for 1998, it lists as movie called "Sight Unseen" as an omitted best picture nominee. I'm fairly movie savvy, and I've NEVER heard of a film called "Sight Unseen." The point is that these errors are presented as fact. And for readers unfamiliar with the Oscars, they will not realize that these errors exist. Again, I hope that later editions of this book clean up these errors. Otherwise, I'd go with another book on the Oscars if you're interested in learning about them.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
a very poor effort, November 20, 2006
This book is not only poorly edited and proofread, as a previous reviewer said, it is INCREDIBLY poorly edited and proofread. Also, it is not well written. Some entries are very sparase--it seems that the writers know nothing of the movie being honored, or the actor or actress winning the trophy, or the role for which they are winning. Did these writers even bother to see "A Passage to India"? You wouldn't know it from their discussion of Peggy Ashcroft's best supporting actress win. They wonder at Dianne Wiest forgetting to thank Woody Allen when she won her first Oscar for "Hannah and Her Sisters" remarking that Wiest was a frequent star of Allen's movies--but "Hannah" was her first movie with Allen. A lot of similar nonsense throughout the book, but it seems to get worse as we get closer to the present, and the carelessness becomes more and more enfuritating.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Quite a book for film fans, August 1, 2006
I checked for the errors in the 2006 update of this book that BGK noted in his previous review. Most of the errors are corrected. I don't think the write-up on Melvyn Douglas constitutes an error. A number of people won multiple Oscars, and some duplication of copy is inevitable. The only error I've found in this edition so far is that Michael Caine's name is put in bold for ALFIE in 1966, which indicates he won best actor. As the page before it notes, Paul Scofield won for A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS. But with this much factual info, it's almost impossible for something not to be wrong, and at least the authors and publisher have been willing to correct errors. The book has great pix, many in color. It doesn't replace Damien Bona's INSIDE OSCAR and INSIDE OSCAR 2 for sheer wealth of info, but it's an easily browsed reference that almost any Oscar fan would enjoy. By the way, it covers the Oscars all the way to the 2006 ceremony, when CRASH trumped BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN for best picture--a travesty that will echo through Hollywood's history.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192250339_.gif){kind=small}
