Hooked
Encyclopedia
Hooked is the ninth collection of movie reviews by the critic Pauline Kael
, covering the period from July 1985 to June 1988.
All articles in the book originally appeared in The New Yorker
.
She reviews more than 170 films giving rich praise to the work of directors and performers she admires - in this collection for example, Robert Altman
, ("When he's working in top form there's nobody who can touch him. They can't even get near him"); Alan Rudolph - for his film Songwriter
; Nick Nolte
, Susan Sarandon
, Melanie Griffith
, - ("Has anybody ever looked better in smeared lipstick?"); Lesley Ann Warren
, ("one of the great beauties of the screen"); Steve Martin
in Roxanne
, - ("seems to crossbreed the skills of Fields and Buster Keaton
, with some Fred Astaire
mingled in. He's a wonder"). And cool to what she regards as second rate, here for example, George Lucas
("George Lucas should believe less in himself - he keeps trying to come up with an original idea, and he can't"); and the film Heartbreak Ridge
- ("It would take a board of inquiry made up of gods to determine whether this picture is more offensive aesthetically, psychologically, morally, or politically.")
Her trademark witty style pervades the collection, - the telling use of metaphor - ("Robert Downey Jr.
, whose soul is floppy-eared.."), - the jamming up of oppositions against each other to suggest the complexity of things - ("she's both a small-town cartoon of sexual magic and the real thing." - "Big
isn't about kids wanting to be big; it's about grown-ups feeling little"); - remarks with epigrammatic force, - ("Shallow entertainment helps keep us sane"); - the deft undercutting of a word or statement by the following word or statement - ("She's an innocent, deeply conventional woman who loves being rudely awakened." - "Top Gun
is a recruiting poster that isn't concerned with recruiting but with being a poster." - "He's the kind of actor John Wayne
would have been if he'd been an actor.")
The films she recommends include:
The title refers to her film 'addiction'. "I got hooked on movies at an early age, (around 4 or 5 , when I saw them while sitting on my parents' laps), and I am still a child before a moving image. Movies seem to me the most mysteriously great of all art forms."
The book is out-of-print in the United States, but is still published by Marion Boyars Publishers
in the United Kingdom.
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael was an American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991. Earlier in her career, her work appeared in City Lights, McCall's and The New Republic....
, covering the period from July 1985 to June 1988.
All articles in the book originally appeared in The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
.
She reviews more than 170 films giving rich praise to the work of directors and performers she admires - in this collection for example, Robert Altman
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
, ("When he's working in top form there's nobody who can touch him. They can't even get near him"); Alan Rudolph - for his film Songwriter
Songwriter (film)
Songwriter is a 1984 film, directed by Alan Rudolph.The film concerns Doc Jenkins, , a country and western composer and the devious tricks he employs to extricate himself from his legal entanglement with a Nashville gangster entrepreneur who takes all the profits from his songs...
; Nick Nolte
Nick Nolte
Nicholas King "Nick" Nolte is an American actor whose career has spanned over five decades, peaking in the 1990s when his commercial success made him one of the most popular celebrities of that decade.-Early life:...
, Susan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon is an American actress. She has worked in films and television since 1969, and won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 1995 film Dead Man Walking. She had also been nominated for the award for four films before that and has received other recognition for her...
, Melanie Griffith
Melanie Griffith
Melanie Richards Griffith is an American actress. She is an Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner for her performance in the 1988 film Working Girl...
, - ("Has anybody ever looked better in smeared lipstick?"); Lesley Ann Warren
Lesley Ann Warren
Lesley Ann Warren is an American actress and singer. She has been nominated once for an Academy Award and Emmy Awards and five times for Golden Globe, winning one....
, ("one of the great beauties of the screen"); Steve Martin
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer....
in Roxanne
Roxanne (film)
Roxanne is a 1987 comedy film directed by Fred Schepisi. It is a modern retelling of the 1897 verse play Cyrano de Bergerac, written by French author Edmond Rostand, and stars Steve Martin and Daryl Hannah.-Plot summary:...
, - ("seems to crossbreed the skills of Fields and Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the...
, with some Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...
mingled in. He's a wonder"). And cool to what she regards as second rate, here for example, George Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
("George Lucas should believe less in himself - he keeps trying to come up with an original idea, and he can't"); and the film Heartbreak Ridge
Heartbreak Ridge
Heartbreak Ridge is a 1986 American war film, starring Clint Eastwood and Mario Van Peebles, surrounding the 1983 U.S. invasion of Grenada, West Indies. A portion of the movie was filmed on the island itself....
- ("It would take a board of inquiry made up of gods to determine whether this picture is more offensive aesthetically, psychologically, morally, or politically.")
Her trademark witty style pervades the collection, - the telling use of metaphor - ("Robert Downey Jr.
Robert Downey Jr.
Robert John Downey, Jr. is an American actor. Downey made his screen debut in 1970 at the age of five when he appeared in his father's film Pound, and has worked consistently in film and television ever since. During the 1980s he had roles in a series of coming of age films associated with the...
, whose soul is floppy-eared.."), - the jamming up of oppositions against each other to suggest the complexity of things - ("she's both a small-town cartoon of sexual magic and the real thing." - "Big
Big
Big is a 1988 romantic comedy film directed by Penny Marshall and stars Tom Hanks as Josh Baskin, a young boy who makes a wish "to be big" to a magical fortune-telling machine and is then aged to adulthood overnight...
isn't about kids wanting to be big; it's about grown-ups feeling little"); - remarks with epigrammatic force, - ("Shallow entertainment helps keep us sane"); - the deft undercutting of a word or statement by the following word or statement - ("She's an innocent, deeply conventional woman who loves being rudely awakened." - "Top Gun
Top Gun
Top Gun may refer to:* Top Gun is a 1986 film starring Tom Cruise.**Top Gun , soundtrack to the movie**Top Gun , a number of games based on the movie...
is a recruiting poster that isn't concerned with recruiting but with being a poster." - "He's the kind of actor John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
would have been if he'd been an actor.")
The films she recommends include:
- The Best of TimesThe Best of Times (film)The Best of Times is a 1986 American film starring Robin Williams and Kurt Russell.-Plot:Robin Williams plays Jack Dundee, a banker obsessed with what he considers the most shameful moment in his life: The moment that he dropped a perfectly thrown pass in the final seconds of the 1972 high school...
- DreamchildDreamchildDreamchild is a 1985 British drama film produced by Verity Lambert, directed by Gavin Millar and written by Dennis Potter. It stars Coral Browne, Ian Holm, Peter Gallagher, Nicola Cowper and Amelia Shankley and is a fictionalized account of Alice Liddell, the child who inspired Lewis Carroll's...
- Sweet Dreams
- Down and Out in Beverly HillsDown and Out in Beverly HillsDown and Out in Beverly Hills is a 1986 American comedy film based on the French play Boudu sauvé des eaux, which had previously been adapted on film in 1932 by Jean Renoir. Down and Out in Beverly Hills was directed by Paul Mazursky, and starred Nick Nolte, Bette Midler and Richard Dreyfuss...
- Compromising PositionsCompromising PositionsCompromising Positions is a 1985 film released by Paramount and directed by Frank Perry. The screenplay, by Susan Isaacs, was adapted from her 1978 detective novel. The plot concerns a Long Island housewife and former journalist who becomes involved in a murder investigation...
- My Beautiful LaundretteMy Beautiful LaundretteMy Beautiful Laundrette is a 1985 British comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Frears from a screenplay by Hanif Kureishi. The story is set in London during the period when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, as shown through the complex—and often comical—relationships...
- Mona LisaMona Lisa (film)Mona Lisa is a 1986 British film about a petty criminal who becomes entangled in the dangerous life of a high-class call girl. The movie was written by Neil Jordan and David Leland, and directed by Jordan. It was produced by George Harrison's HandMade Films...
- SalvadorSalvador (film)Salvador is a 1986 war drama film which tells the story of an American journalist in El Salvador covering the Salvadoran civil war. While trying to get footage, he becomes entangled with both leftist guerrillas and the right wing military...
- Club ParadiseClub ParadiseClub Paradise is a 1986 American comedy film directed by Harold Ramis starring Robin Williams, Peter O'Toole, and Jimmy Cliff. The film reunites director/co-writer Ramis with most of his SCTV co-stars -- SCTV cast members Andrea Martin, Eugene Levy, Rick Moranis, Joe Flaherty, and Robin Duke play...
- Mike's MurderMike's Murder (film)Mike's Murder is a 1984 film, written and directed by James Bridges, and stars Debra Winger, Mark Keyloun and Paul Winfield.-Synopsis:In Los Angeles, bank teller Betty Parrish has a one-night stand with a young tennis instructor named Mike, but then has only random contact with him over the course...
- Blue Velvet
- She's Gotta Have ItShe's Gotta Have ItShe's Gotta Have It is a 1986 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Spike Lee. It was also Lee's first feature-length film. The film stars Tracy Camilla Johns, Tommy Redmond Hicks and John Canada Terrell. Also appearing are cinematographer Ernest Dickerson as a Brooklyn resident and...
- Re-AnimatorRe-AnimatorRe-Animator is a 1985 American science fiction horror film based on the H. P. Lovecraft story "Herbert West–Reanimator." Directed by Stuart Gordon, it was the first film in the Re-Animator series. The film has since become a cult film, driven by fans of Jeffrey Combs and H. P...
- Something Wild
- Hour of the StarHour of the StarHour of the Star is a Brazilian film directed by Suzana Amaral and released in 1985. The film is an adaptation of a book by Clarice Lispector with the same name...
- The StepfatherThe Stepfather (1987 film)The Stepfather is a 1987 American thriller film starring Terry O'Quinn in the title role. It is loosely based on the life of mass murderer John List, although the plot is more commonly associated with slasher films of the era than a true story. It was directed by Joseph Ruben and written by Donald E...
- Law of Desire
- Raising ArizonaRaising ArizonaRaising Arizona is a 1987 comedy film directed by the Coen Brothers and starring Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter, William Forsythe, John Goodman, Frances McDormand and Randall "Tex" Cobb. Not a blockbuster at the time of its release, it has since achieved cult status...
- BrazilBrazil (film)Brazil is a 1985 British science fiction fantasy/black comedy film directed by Terry Gilliam. It was written by Gilliam, Charles McKeown, and Tom Stoppard and stars Jonathan Pryce. The film also features Robert De Niro, Kim Greist, Michael Palin, Katherine Helmond, Bob Hoskins, and Ian Holm...
- RoxanneRoxanne (film)Roxanne is a 1987 comedy film directed by Fred Schepisi. It is a modern retelling of the 1897 verse play Cyrano de Bergerac, written by French author Edmond Rostand, and stars Steve Martin and Daryl Hannah.-Plot summary:...
- TampopoTampopois a 1985 Japanese comedy film by director Juzo Itami, starring Tsutomu Yamazaki, Nobuko Miyamoto and Ken Watanabe. The publicity for the film calls it the first ramen western, a play on the term Spaghetti Western .-Plot summary:Tampopo begins when a pair of truck drivers, an experienced one named...
- Eat the PeachEat the PeachEat the Peach is a 1986 British-Irish comedy film, directed by Peter Ormrod. The title derives from the T.S.Eliot poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. It was written by Peter Ormrod with John Kelleher...
- The Witches of EastwickThe Witches of Eastwick (film)The Witches of Eastwick is a 1987 American horror comedy based on John Updike's novel of the same name. Directed by George Miller, the film stars Jack Nicholson as Daryl Van Horne, alongside Cher, Susan Sarandon, and Michelle Pfeiffer as the eponymous witches...
- Wish You Were HereWish You Were Here (1987 film)Wish You Were Here is a 1987 British drama/comedy film starring Emily Lloyd and Tom Bell. The film was written and directed by David Leland. The original music score was composed by Stanley Myers.-Plot:...
- Hamburger HillHamburger HillHamburger Hill is a 1987 American war film about the actual assault of the U.S. Army's 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, part of the 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division 'Screaming Eagles', on a well-fortified position, including trenchworks and bunkers, of the North Vietnamese Army on Ap Bia...
- Hope and Glory
- WeedsWeeds (film)Weeds is a 1987 American drama film about a prison inmate who writes a play that catches the attention of a visiting reporter. The film was directed by John D...
- The Dead
- The Lonely Passion of Judith HearneThe Lonely Passion of Judith HearneThe Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne is a 1987 drama film made by Handmade Films Ltd. and United British Artists starring Maggie Smith and Bob Hoskins. It was directed by Jack Clayton and produced by Richard Johnson and Peter Nelson with George Harrison and Denis O'Brien as executive producers...
- MoonstruckMoonstruckMoonstruck is a 1987 American romantic comedy film directed by Norman Jewison. It stars Cher, Nicolas Cage, Danny Aiello, Vincent Gardenia, and Olympia Dukakis....
- The Unbearable Lightness of BeingThe Unbearable Lightness of Being (film)The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a 1988 American film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Milan Kundera, published in 1984. Director Philip Kaufman and screenplay writer Jean-Claude Carrière show Czechoslovak artistic and intellectual life during the Prague Spring of the Communist...
- High Tide
- High SeasonHigh Season (film)High Season is a 1987 British romantic comedy film directed by Clare Peploe. It is a comedy about tourism, set on the Greek island of Rhodes; vacationers from rich countries taking over the most spectacular scenery at the most desirable times of the year. There are nine principal characters, a...
- Pass the AmmoPass the AmmoPass the Ammo is a 1988 film starring Bill Paxton, Annie Potts, and Tim Curry. The film is a spoof of televangelism released right after the real-life Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart scandals. The movie's working title during production, "...And Pass the Ammunition," references the phrase "praise...
- Hairspray
- MatadorMatador (film)Matador is a 1986 film by Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar about a student matador, Ángel Jimenez , who confesses to murders he didn't commit. Themes include sex, death, and religion.- Plot :...
- BeetlejuiceBeetlejuiceBeetlejuice is a 1988 American comedy horror film directed by Tim Burton, produced by The Geffen Film Company and distributed by Warner Bros...
- MasqueradeMasquerade (1988 film)Masquerade is a 1988 film; a psychological thriller starring Rob Lowe and Meg Tilly. It is directed by Bob Swaim.-Plot:The story centres on the unfolding relationship between Hamptons heiress Olivia and yacht skipper Tim who are introduced soon after the death of Olivia's mother, which has left...
- A World ApartA World Apart (film)A World Apart is a 1988 anti-Apartheid drama, written by Shawn Slovo and directed by Chris Menges. It is based on the lives of Slovo's parents, Ruth First and Joe Slovo. The film was a co-production between companies from the UK and Zimbabwe, where the movie was filmed...
- Bull DurhamBull DurhamBull Durham is a 1988 American romantic comedy baseball film. It is based upon the minor league experiences of writer/director Ron Shelton and depicts the players and fans of the Durham Bulls, a minor league baseball team in Durham, North Carolina....
The title refers to her film 'addiction'. "I got hooked on movies at an early age, (around 4 or 5 , when I saw them while sitting on my parents' laps), and I am still a child before a moving image. Movies seem to me the most mysteriously great of all art forms."
The book is out-of-print in the United States, but is still published by Marion Boyars Publishers
Marion Boyars Publishers
Marion Boyars Publishers is an independent publishing company located in Great Britain, publishing books that focus on the humanities and social sciences.-External links:*...
in the United Kingdom.