
Karina Longworth is an American film critic, film blogger, radio personality, author,and journalist based in Los Angeles. She is one of the founders of the film culture blog Cinematical and formerly edited both Cinematical and the film blog SpoutBlog and, while living in New York, was heard regularly on the Public Radio International show The Takeaway.[6] She is currently Film Editor and critic at LA Weekly.
by Karina Longworth
Rating: 4.0 ⭐
• 2 recommendations ❤️
In this riveting popular history, the creator of You Must Remember This probes the inner workings of Hollywood’s glamorous golden age through the stories of some of the dozens of actresses pursued by Howard Hughes, to reveal how the millionaire mogul’s obsessions with sex, power and publicity trapped, abused, or benefitted women who dreamt of screen stardom.In recent months, the media has reported on scores of entertainment figures who used their power and money in Hollywood to sexually harass and coerce some of the most talented women in cinema and television. But as Karina Longworth reminds us, long before the Harvey Weinsteins there was Howard Hughes—the Texas millionaire, pilot, and filmmaker whose reputation as a cinematic provocateur was matched only by that as a prolific womanizer.His supposed conquests between his first divorce in the late 1920s and his marriage to actress Jean Peters in 1957 included many of Hollywood’s most famous actresses, among them Billie Dove, Katharine Hepburn, Ava Gardner, and Lana Turner. From promoting bombshells like Jean Harlow and Jane Russell to his contentious battles with the censors, Hughes—perhaps more than any other filmmaker of his era—commoditized male desire as he objectified and sexualized women. Yet there were also numerous women pulled into Hughes’s grasp who never made it to the screen, sometimes virtually imprisoned by an increasingly paranoid and disturbed Hughes, who retained multitudes of private investigators, security personnel, and informers to make certain these actresses would not escape his clutches.Vivid, perceptive, timely, and ridiculously entertaining, The Seducer is a landmark work that examines women, sex, and male power in Hollywood during its golden age—a legacy that endures nearly a century later.
by Karina Longworth
Rating: 3.9 ⭐
There is a voyeuristic thrill in contact sheets, the direct prints used by photographers of the pre-digital age to edit their work. You look directly through the photographer s eyes as each photo gets closer to that perfect shot. And yet, it s often the photos not chosen that best capture the true spirit of their subjects and the life they lead after the director yells cut. This was never truer than in the classic Hollywood era, where behind-the-scenes photos were carefully vetted for marketing purposes and unapproved shots were never expected to be seen again. Hollywood Frame by Frame presents hundreds of never-before-published photos from the sets of some of the greatest films of the twentieth century. Hollywood s biggest stars are caught with their guard down behind the scenes of movie classics from Some Like It Hot and Breakfast at Tiffany's to Taxi Driver and The Silence of the Lambs. A treasure trove for any fan of Hollywood s Golden Age, this rare glimpse of the unseen silver screen will intrigue even movie buffs who think they ve seen everything. First book of movie contact sheets, features never-before-seen photos of screen legends at work, including Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, Audrey Hepburn, Frank Sinatra, Robert De Niro, and Alfred Hitchcock Provides insight into the art of moviemaking, the science of movie marketing, and the nature of stardom Karina Longworth is an author, film critic, and journalist based in Los Angeles and Paris. She has contributed to numerous publications, including the Guardian, LA Weekly, Village Voice, Slate,and many more.
One of the most talented actresses of her generation, Meryl Streep provides a high benchmark by which others are measured. In films such as The Deer Hunter (1978), Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Mamma Mia (2008), and The Iron Lady (2010), Streep has astounded audiences with her ability to fully inhabit characters. She has received 17 Academy Award nominations and 27 Golden Globe nominations - more nominations than any other actor in the history of either award.Meryl Streep: Anatomy of an Actor is a new addition to Cahiers du cinema, a fascinating series from the world-renowned cinema magazine. The book focuses on ten key performances, exploring the unparalleled career of Meryl Streep through narrative and analytical text accompanied by 300 images, including film stills and set photographs, as well as film sequences, script notes, and more. This thoughtful and lively examination of Streep's craft will appeal to film professionals and casual movie fans alike.
George Lucas (born 1944) is a producer, screenwriter and director, who played a major role in the anti-establishment New Hollywood movement of the 1970s and helped define the blockbuster era of the 1980s. He is best known as the creator of the Star Wars space opera and the producer of the iconic Indiana Jones adventure film series. Lucas had directed THX 1138 (1971) and American Graffiti (1973) before launching, in 1977, the first film in the Star Wars franchise. Rapidly a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, this was followed by two The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). Sixteen years later a new trilogy, The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005), was released. The Star Wars series has spawned a range of other media, including TV series, video games and comic books. With this simple yet powerful saga, Lucas has created a brand, a business empire and a technological revolution.
Anatomy of an Actor titles are comprehensive studies on the craft of the world's greatest actors, through the analysis of ten of their most iconic roles. The authors examine why and how these famous actors have become some of the most respected and influential in the film world. Each title is divided into 10 chapters, each one dedicated to a specific role and fully documented with film stills, on-set photography and film sequences.
by Karina Longworth