Books, 1/11.

For the New York Times' Janet Maslin, Andrew Morton's "overall impression of [Tom] Cruise makes sense." Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography "describes a controlling, fervent figure ('He was like a walking light bulb,' recalls one observer) whose personal needs dovetailed with the strict hierarchical structure of his newfound faith and who, at some point, decided to dedicate himself wholeheartedly to proselytizing spiritually, emotionally and politically on its behalf."

At Slate, Juliet Lapidos offers a "handy guide straight to the good parts." Pretty amusing stuff, actually. Sorry, but it is. There's the bit, for example, when Cruise is "complaining that he had studied all these years and the whole faith was about space aliens."

For the New Republic, Isaac Chotiner talks with Ian McEwan about Atonement, Saul Bellow, "the Internet, atheism, and why his books are still scary."

"Geoffrey Nowell-Smith's Making Waves: New Cinemas of the 1960s is a brief and concise overview of a complex era," writes Michael Buening at PopMatters. "But while useful as a primer, this slim volume leaves out so much I sometimes wondered what it hopes to accomplish." Via Bookforum.

"Two new books, Stephen Lowenstein's My First Movie: Take Two and Cinema of Obsession by Dominique Mainon and James Ursini, set out to explore the age-old connection between art and fixation," writes Josh Rosenblatt in the Austin Chronicle. "Though Lowenstein's book may sound like the less sexy of the two, with its tales of wide-eyed young filmmakers struggling to get their visions on film and then angling for success, it's actually the one with the best chance of raising readers' temperatures."

Mark Schilling's No Borders, No Limits: Nikkatsu Action Cinema is "an extremely helpful introduction to a genre and studio whose fame has lagged behind the quality of its productions," writes David Austin at Cinema Strikes Back. "Expect Nikkatsu's reputation to grow with the ever-increasing waves of classic DVD releases and the current touring retrospective."

Posted by dwhudson at January 11, 2008 12:33 PM