Acclaimed playwright, screenwriter and director David Mamet gives us an inside look at Hollywood and answers questions about virtually every aspect of filmmaking, from concept to script to screen.
Critic Reviews
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Outstanding
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Kirkus Reviews
A sleek and hardboiled seminar on cinema's glorious highs and hellish lows. [15 Nov 2006, p.1163]
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Favorable
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The New York Times Janet Maslin
Some of Bambi vs. Godzilla is painfully contorted. ("What shibboleth, you wonder, will I list to augment your umbrage?") Some of it goes nowhere. But most of this sharp, savvy book is amusing and reassuring.
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Favorable
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Wall Street Journal Sonny Bunch
Whatever one makes of Doctor Mamet's diagnosis, it is certainly an example of how unfettered his opinionizing can be. In general, the lack of caution in Bambi vs. Godzilla is bracing.
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Favorable
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Publishers Weekly
As usual with Mamet, each word is precisely chosen for maximum effect, and nearly all hit their mark.
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Favorable
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San Francisco Chronicle Joseph Di Prisco
It is funny and angry and intemperate and passionate enough to tell the truth about movies and the desires that go into our making and loving (very, very few of) them.
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Favorable
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Chicago Sun-Times Hedy Weiss
Matters of genre (murder stories, cop stories, film noir, religious films) are deftly analyzed.
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Favorable
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The Globe And Mail [Toronto] Maya Gallus
Bambi vs. Godzilla is ultimately a lament for the death of the artist in Hollywood, and Mamet is at his best when he aligns himself with the underdog. Like his characters, he's at the top of his game, yet clearly fighting for his soul. Now that's a writer.
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Mixed
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The Onion A.V. Club Noel Murray
Yes, he can be a crank, and his understanding of "art" seems to eschew the truly contemplative in favor of the direct and plotty, but Bambi Vs. Godzilla is always entertaining and frequently spot-on.
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Unfavorable
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New York Observer Scott Eyman
My objection isn’t so much to the content, diffuse though it is; my objection is to the attitude the author projects. He’s the stern parent and we’re the errant teenagers, stubbing our toes in the carpet and looking abashed while what we’re assured is his authoritative brilliance floods past, even though none of it can be substantiated by his own films.
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Unfavorable
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Entertainment Weekly Benjamin Svetkey
For a guy who writes such succinctly explicit dialogue, his prose can get grossly verbose.
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Unfavorable
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The New York Times Book Review Walter Kirn
Given his achievements in the movies, Mamet has our respect from the outset in these essays, but his insistence on coaxing yet more respect from us through a combination of lofty locutions, abrasive pet theories and brawny folklore causes one to wonder after a while if he’s as tough and disgusted as he makes out or if he’s putting on an act.
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