Hollywood Migraine: The Inside Story of a Decade in Film (Paperback)

by Ray Greene (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
The former editor of Boxoffice magazine and contributor to ABCNews.com and the now-defunct L.A. Village View, Greene has gathered 66 of his articles scrutinizing American moviemaking in the 1990s. Among the performers and filmmakers he dissects are Clint Eastwood, Mel Gibson, Demi Moore, Tom Cruise, Jackie Chan, Quentin Tarantino, John Singleton, Spike Lee, and Elia Kazan. He takes on such topics as technology, minority filmmakers, Westerns, Disneyfication, independent cinema, political films, the impact of Chinese cinema, marketing, and sf. It's a discerning and ultimately depressing record. See, for instance, Greene's chapter "The Long Slow Fade to Black," in which he empathizes with veteran critic Richard Schickel's despair over the cult of celebrity. Or consider "Exeunt Omnes," where he finds that Hollywood's biggest flaw is that it is "morally inert." In "The Anniversary Waltz," he shows how Warner Bros. ignored its own sterling heritage and celebrated its 75th anniversary by reissuing Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz both MGM movies. Very welcome are general and film-title indexes. Highly recommended. Kim Holston, American Inst. for Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters, Malvern, PA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description
As editor of Boxoffice magazine, Ray Greene had access to all of showbiz's top names-actors, directors, and industry executives. Here he presents his take on everything from celebrity culture and movie trends to the darker side of the film business and its politics. Many of these collected essays originally appeared in Greene's Village View column, and they cover business developments and industry scandals, major cinematic works and mass-market ephemera, the rise of independent cinema, and the cult of stardom. This is an eyewitness account of how the film industry has changed over the last decade of the century.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 335 pages
• Publisher: Merlin Publishing (October 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1903582008
• ISBN-13: 978-1903582008
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,952,105 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good one for contemporary film fans, October 21, 2001

By	Thomas Clooney - See all my reviews

I was surprised by this book, which I bought on a trip from Europe to the USA and read on the plane, and afterward. I was looking for something to read that wouldn't be too taxing. The dust cover copy made me think I was buying a book about celebrities, but there's actually a lot more going on here than that. The majority of the content is a thoughtful grouping of essays about the business and aesthetics of Hollywood in the 1990s - what the movies claimed to be about, what they were actually about, and how they shaped their arguments in such a way as to reflect, sometimes unintentionally, the tenor of the times. The writer has made me think differently about what I assumed to be a trivial era of moviemaking, and see the period with new eyes. And the book, while long, is easy to read, at times quite humorous, at times rather surprisingly serious.

I would recommend that anyone purchasing this book use the glossaries as a way of organizing their reading. Although this book is arranged in sections, each individual chapter within a given section is complete within itself, and can therefore be read in whatever sequence the reader chooses based on his or her interests. I reread some essays, skipped a few entirely. By and large, I found "Hollywood Migraine" quite instructive, even though I consider myself already knowlegeable as a film fan.

5.0 out of 5 stars Covers a decade in the life of Boxoffice Magazine, November 11, 2001

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This autobiography covers a decade in the life of Boxoffice Magazine: a period during which Greene had access to the top names of Hollywood, from actors to executives. 1990s Hollywood history is revealed from an insider's viewpoint, providing articles of both personal reflections and encounters with industry leaders.