Film Stars! Dancing! Popcorn! At last, a life story with everything but the movie stuff edited out. CONFESSIONS OF A MOVIE ADDICT chronicles a love affair with film from the 1930s through the beginning of the new millennium. In addition to revealing personal movie-related experiences, film critic Betty Jo Tucker describes encounters with such veteran actors as Mickey Rooney and Charlton Heston, as well as with current stars like Angelina Jolie, Billy Crudup, Guy Pearce, and Brendan Fraser. This amusing memoir also contains the following ADDED ATTRACTIONS: a Movie Addiction Checklist; a compendium of books and Web sites for movie fans; selected interviews; photos; and reviews of more than 70 films released during 2000 and 2001 A.D.
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Review
"If Oscars were given out for the funniest book of the year, Confessions of a Movie Addict would win hands down."
~ James Colt Harrison, editor of National Film PreVue Magazine
From the Author
My problem began with Frankenstein. I remember being a frightened six-year-old hiding under the seat at Clyne's Theater in Pueblo, Colorado, hoping for protection from that scary monster on the big screen. Despite my terror, I couldn't stop peeking. Both horrified and amazed, I became hooked on movies then and there. This addiction continued throughout my childhood and adult life. I even fell in love with my husband because he resembled a certain handsome actor, and we named both our children after movie stars. As I enter my seventies, I'm still a practicing movieholic. Luckily, because I write film reviews now, I see more movies than ever.
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More About the Author
Betty Jo Tucker, editor/lead film critic for ReelTalk Movie Reviews and host of Movie Addict Headquarters on BlogTalkRadio, is also the author of SUSAN SARANDON: A TRUE MAVERICK, which received Honorable Mention at the New York Book Festival. In addition, she is co-author of IT HAD TO BE US, an award-winning, bestselling romantic memoir she and her husband wrote under the pseudonyms of Harry & Elizabeth Lawrence. She also writes film commentary for the Colorado Senior Beacon and teaches an online course on writing about movies for the Long Story Short School of Writing.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Insiders Tale Told with Grace, Candor, and Humor,
This review is from: Confessions of a Movie Addict (Paperback)
As a recently retired college professor who can go to more movies now, I was delighted by this substantive insiders tale told with such happy and light-hearted grace, candor, and humor. The sophisticate and the novice, young and old, will find Betty Jo Tucker's "show-don't-tell" approach solid, informative, and entertaining. She charmed the socks off me! Betty Jo takes us into her fascination with this dimensional art form, with her life story deftly stitched into the background. "Because confession is good for the soul," she tells us, "I admit enjoying films mostly for their escapist entertainment qualities. But I also love to be enchanted by cinematic artistry, enlightened by a great story, and inspired by memorable performances." We grow together with this unpretentions, knowledgeable professional hooked on movies as she moves from going it alone, to being mentored by the best, including the famous "UK Critic" Ian Waldron-Mangani--who, she tells us, could have been her grandson. I found "Confessions" to be a great three-in-one deal: HerStory, terrific interviews, and crisp reviews. We meet some of the greatest names in film from the U.S.--directors David Lynch and M. Night Shyamalan, Oscar winners Anjelica Huston and Angelina Jolie, and the legendary Debbie Reynolds, along with top international figures, including British actor Sir Ian Mckellen, French actress Judith Godrech, Japanese filmmaker Masayuki Suo, and Oscar-winning Czech director Jan Sverak. Stellar interviews include those with Annette Bening, Willem Dafoe, Tony Shalhoub, and Aidan Quinn. Among her top reviews are "Chocolat," "Bridget Jone's Diary," "Mouline Rouge," "Planet of the Apes," "Legally Blond," and "Scary Movie." Along the way, she tells some delightful stories on herself: great gaffs--foot in the mouth, clear to the knee, as Josh Wise, one of my former students, once wrote. After enjoying "Confessions," you'll never read a review the way you used to!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
AuthorZone.Com Book Review,
By AuthorZone.Com Book Review (Knoxville, TN United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Confessions of a Movie Addict (Paperback)
Reviewed by Jill Cozzi, Recently I received a press release announcing a Malcolm McDowell retrospective at the Walter Reade Theatre. I forwarded it to a friend, along with a message: "Gee, do you think I should go to this, walk up to Now, of course I would never do such a thing, because such an occasion would reduce me to a babbling idiot. But then, I'm not Betty Jo Tucker. If I WERE Betty Jo Tucker, however, it wouldn't even be an issue, for she would just walk up, make her confession without batting an eye, and two hours later walk away with notes from a truly killer interview. That's just the way she is. Tucker is arguably the most unique presence among the many film critics on the Web today. In a world dominated by snarky teenagers and twenty-something self-anointed cineastes, Betty Jo Tucker is a gleeful, unabashed movie-lover; not a film buff, but someone who loves the experience of filmgoing. At seventy-plus, she retains the same joy in moving pictures projected on a screen as she did that first time she walked into the "picture show" to see FRANKENSTEIN -- in its first run. A critic who came into the business late in life after raising two children, one divorce, one remarriage (to the same husband), and a distinguished academic career, she is an anomaly among Web critics in that she does NOT subscribe to the Alice Roosevelt credo of "If you can't say something nice, come sit by me." In her new book CONFESSIONS OF A MOVIE ADDICT (Hats Off Books), Tucker shares her infectious joy in the moviegoing experience with the rest of us. It is truly "a life story with everything but the movies edited out." Written in a breezy tone, CONFESSIONS is truly a snark-free zone. Tucker, who has set herself up as the premier lobbyist for the Return of the Movie Musical has even managed to find the good in such crap-fests as the Britney Spears vehicle CROSSROADS. She doesn't love everything put on film, but you've got to love a critic who's eligible for Social Security but can still laugh her way through the likes of the surrealistically sophomoric CABIN BOY and who reacts to the ghastly THE PRINCESS DIARIES by remembering to call her granddaughters and tell them how terrific they are just as they are. Where CONFESSIONS OF A MOVIE ADDICT falls short is in Tucker's underestimation of our interest in the journey of a woman through academia, homemaking, and into film criticism at an age when most of us have long since given up our dreams. This may be "a life story with everything but the movies edited out", but many of us would love to see what's left on the cutting-room floor.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderful tale of a moviegoer's life at the cinema!,
By A.J. Hakari (Barron, WI USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Confessions of a Movie Addict (Paperback)
Whether she be recalling a mishap at an X-rated film, admitting she laughed out loud during 'Cabin Boy', or taking an imaginary film festival trip, film critic Betty Jo Tucker's novel 'Confessions of a Movie Addict' will have you envisioning her tales of a life at the movies as if she were talking directly to you. Betty Jo's stories are vivid, enthralling, and quite often amusing. Not only does it provide one wonderfully detailed story after another, Betty Jo's book comes with several of her to-the-point film reviews, a collection of celebrity interviews, a photo gallery, an index of movie-related books and websites, and a checklist to see if you indeed are a movie addict. I have read 'Confessions of a Movie Addict', and as a critic myself, I can proudly assure you that Betty Jo Tucker is one of the finest critics out there and a person who flat-out loves the movies, from the good to the bad. 'CoaMA' is an excellent slice of cinema life.
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