PositiveAir MailNashawaty frames his book by celebrating the rise of rabid genre fans—\"smart and selective sensation seekers\"—whose Comic-Con gathering is today a studio-sanctioned showcase. But this happy army is never fully fleshed out, and his analysis begs the question: Where were they on Blade Runner, whose thrills wowed even its ornery source novelist, Philip K. Dick?
David Mamet
PanAir MailA free-associative, selectively offensive monologue ... The results can be bewildering ... The connections can be cryptic, and the style staccato (appropriately for Mamet), but among the eye-rolling opinions is the currency of stories and jokes shared for their uniqueness ... The book’s political screeds feel unfortunate, to say the least, and tedious.
Nat Segaloff
RaveAir MailHe remembers the frenzy firsthand. But his new book dwells on production forensics: how the movie and its concept were developed and written and massaged ... Segaloff’s accounting of Exorcist spin-offs and versions is positively Wikipedian in its thoroughness.
Kyle Buchanan
RaveAir MailWe don’t have to imagine what happened out there amid the sandstorms [on set], thanks to Blood, Sweat & Chrome, Kyle Buchanan’s deft and rollicking assembly of recollections by cast, crew, studio suits, and more ... Oral history is perfect for chronicling a film where the extreme is the norm ... Buchanan rounds up more curiosities and what-ifs.
