''Hooked: Film Writings, 1985–88'' (1989) 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
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
''.
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 Bernard Altman ( ; February 20, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was a five-time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director and is considered an enduring figure from the New H ...
;
Alan Rudolph - for his film ''
Songwriter
A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...
'';
Nick Nolte;
Susan Sarandon;
Melanie Griffith
Melanie Richards Griffith (born August 9, 1957) is an American actress. She began her career in the 1970s, appearing in several independent thriller films before achieving mainstream success in the mid-1980s.
Born in Manhattan, New York City, ...
;
Lesley Ann Warren;
Steve Martin in ''
Roxanne''. And she attacks what she regards as second rate, for example,
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker. Lucas is best known for creating the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founding Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairm ...
, -"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'' is a 1986 American war film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood, who also starred in the film. The film also co-stars Marsha Mason, Everett McGill, and Mario Van Peebles, and was released in the United States on Decembe ...
'' - "It would take a board of inquiry made up of gods to determine whether this picture is more offensive aesthetically, psychologically, morally, or politically."
The films she recommends include:
*''
The Best of Times''
*''
Dreamchild
''Dreamchild'' is a 1985 British drama film written by Dennis Potter, directed by Gavin Millar, and produced by Rick McCallum and Kenith Trodd. The film, starring Coral Browne, Ian Holm, Peter Gallagher, Nicola Cowper and Amelia Shankley, is a ...
''
*''
Sweet Dreams''
*''
Down and Out in Beverly Hills''
*''
Compromising Positions
''Compromising Positions'' is a 1985 American film released by Paramount Pictures and directed by Frank Perry. The screenplay, by Susan Isaacs, was adapted from her 1978 novel. The plot concerns a Long Island housewife and former journalist who b ...
''
*''
My Beautiful Laundrette
''My Beautiful Laundrette'' is a 1985 British romantic comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Frears from a screenplay by Hanif Kureishi. The film was also one of the first films released by Working Title Films.
The story is set in London during ...
''
*''
Mona Lisa
The ''Mona Lisa'' ( ; it, Gioconda or ; french: Joconde ) is a half-length portrait painting by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, it has been described as "the best known ...
''
*''
Salvador
Salvador, meaning "salvation" (or "saviour") in Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese may refer to:
* Salvador (name)
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
*Salvador (band), a Christian band that plays both English and Spanish music
** ''Salvador'' ( ...
''
*''
Club Paradise
''Club Paradise'' is a 1986 American comedy film directed by Harold Ramis and starring Robin Williams, Twiggy, Peter O'Toole, and Jimmy Cliff. Set in a fictional Caribbean banana republic, it follows a group of vacationers' attempts to create a ...
''
*''
Mike's Murder''
*''
Blue Velvet''
*''
She's Gotta Have It''
*''
Re-Animator
''Re-Animator'' (also known as ''H. P. Lovecraft's Re-Animator'') is a 1985 American comedy horror film loosely based on the 1922 H. P. Lovecraft serial novelette "Herbert West–Reanimator". Directed by Stuart Gordon and produced by Brian Yuzn ...
''
*''
Something Wild''
*''
Hour of the Star
''Hour of the Star'' ( pt, A Hora da Estrela) 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. In 1986, the actress Marcélia Cartaxo won the Silver ...
''
*''
The Stepfather''
*''
Law of Desire
''Law of Desire'' ( es, link=no, La ley del deseo) is a 1987 Spanish comedy thriller film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar. Starring Eusebio Poncela as Pablo, Carmen Maura as Tina and Antonio Banderas as Antonio. It was the first film Al ...
''
*''
Raising Arizona''
*''
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
''
*''
Roxanne''
*''
Tampopo
is a 1985 Japanese comedy film written and directed by Juzo Itami, and starring Tsutomu Yamazaki, Nobuko Miyamoto, Kōji Yakusho, and Ken Watanabe. The publicity for the film calls it the first "ramen western", a play on the term Spaghetti Weste ...
''
*''
Eat the Peach
''Eat the Peach'' is a 1986 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.
Filming
''Eat The Peach'' was filme ...
''
*''
The Witches of Eastwick
''The Witches of Eastwick'' is a 1984 novel by American writer John Updike. A sequel, '' The Widows of Eastwick'', was published in 2008.
Plot
The story, set in the fictional Rhode Island town of Eastwick in the early 1970s, follows the witch ...
''
*''
Wish You Were Here Wish You Were Here may refer to:
Film, television, and theater Film
* Wish You Were Here (1987 film), ''Wish You Were Here'' (1987 film), a British comedy-drama film by David Leland
* Wish You Were Here (2012 film), ''Wish You Were Here'' (2012 ...
''
*''
Hamburger Hill''
*''
Hope and Glory''
*''
Weeds''
*''
The Dead''
*''
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
''The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne'' is a 1987 British drama film made by HandMade Films Ltd. and United British Artists (UBA) starring Maggie Smith and Bob Hoskins. It was directed by Jack Clayton (his final theatrical film) and produced b ...
''
*''
Moonstruck''
*''
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
''The Unbearable Lightness of Being'' ( cs, Nesnesitelná lehkost bytí) is a 1984 novel by Milan Kundera, about two women, two men, a dog and their lives in the 1968 Prague Spring period of Czechoslovak history. Although written in 1982, the no ...
''
*''
High Tide''
*''
High Season
High may refer to:
Science and technology
* Height
* High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area
* High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory
* High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift to ...
''
*''
Pass the Ammo
''Pass the Ammo'' is a 1987 American comedy film starring Bill Paxton, Annie Potts, Linda Kozlowski and Tim Curry. The film is a spoof of televangelism released right after the real-life scandals related to Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart. The movi ...
''
*''
Hairspray
Hairspray may refer to:
* Hair spray, a personal grooming product that keeps hair protected from humidity and wind
* ''Hairspray'' (1988 film), a film by John Waters
** ''Hairspray'' (1988 soundtrack), the film's soundtrack album
** ''Hairspray ...
''
*''
Matador
A bullfighter (or matador) is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. ''Torero'' () or ''toureiro'' (), both from Latin ''taurarius'', are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter and describe all the performers in the activit ...
''
*''
Beetlejuice''
*''
Masquerade
Masquerade or Masquerader may refer to:
Events
* Masquerade ball, a costumed dance event
* Masquerade ceremony, a rite or cultural event in many parts of the world, especially the Caribbean and Africa
* Masqueraders, the performers in the West ...
''
*''
A World Apart''
*''
Bull Durham''
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 is an independent publishing company located in Great Britain, publishing books that focus on the humanities and social sciences. The company was formed in 1975. When
Marion Boyars died in 1999, her daughter Catheryn Kilg ...
in the United Kingdom.
References
{{Pauline Kael
1989 non-fiction books
Books of film criticism
Books about film
Books by Pauline Kael
American non-fiction books
E. P. Dutton books