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Film books

March 2026

  • Liza Minnelli as Sally Bowles in Caberet.

    Kids, Wait Till You Hear This! by Liza Minnelli review – a heady brew of gossip, glamour and defiance

  • Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg

    Book of the day
    The Last Kings of Hollywood by Paul Fischer review – the rise and reign of Spielberg, Lucas and Coppola

December 2025

  • MARY POPPINS 1964  Walt Disney Productions films with Julie Andrews and Dick Van DykeDMYEBH MARY POPPINS 1964  Walt Disney Productions films with Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke

    Book of the day
    Making Mary Poppins by Todd James Pierce review – the musical brothers behind the movie magic

    Bob and Dick Sherman take centre stage in this well-researched account of how Walt Disney created a classic

November 2025

  • Michael J Fox, right, with Christopher Lloyd in 1985’s Back to the Future.

    Future Boy by Michael J Fox review – secrets from the set of a definitive 80s movie

    The actor’s account of his big Hollywood break – and how it almost never happened

October 2025

  • John Russell Taylor
Taylor knew the film director, Alfred Hitchcock.
Taylor has storyboard sketches for a Hitchcock film, one  by Salvador Dali, on the wall at his home. He “found” the sketches in a yard-sale.
Taylor at home, Brentford, west London
23-02-2024
Photograph by Martin Godwin

    John Russell Taylor obituary

    Film and art critic and cultural historian who wrote an authorised biography of Alfred Hitchcock

September 2025

  • Andrea Sabbadini found the European Psychoanalytic Film Festival in 2001

    Andrea Sabbadini obituary

    Psychoanalyst and writer who explored connections between film and the unconscious in a festival and several books

June 2025

  • 2017, CALL ME BY YOUR NAME<br>TIMOTHEE CHALAMET &amp; ARMIE HAMMER Character(s): Elio Perlman, Oliver Film 'CALL ME BY YOUR NAME' (2017) Directed By LUCA GUADAGNINO 22 January 2017 SAT78092 Allstar/SONY **WARNING** This Photograph is for editorial use only and is the copyright of SONY and/or the Photographer assigned by the Film or Production Company &amp; can only be reproduced by publications in conjunction with the promotion of the above Film. A Mandatory Credit To SONY is required. The Photographer should also be credited when known. No commercial use can be granted without written authority from the Film Company.

    It Used to Be Witches by Ryan Gilbey review – an idiosyncratic guide to queer cinema

    This engaging and experimental book explores the complex politics of LGBTQ+ representation in film

January 2025

  • Elle Fanning as Sylvie Russo and Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan in James Mangold’s new film, A Complete Unknown, out this week.

    Embracing X and a turn by Timothée Chalamet: how Bob Dylan is capturing gen Z

    As Chalamet plays the singer in the acclaimed biopic A Complete Unknown, the man himself has taken, at 83, to posting on X

December 2024

  • Eddie Redmayne as Alexander Duggan in a scene from the TV adaptation of The Day of the Jackal.

    A vulnerable assassin and a tech bro target: how I put a modern spin on cult 1970s thriller to make The Jackal

    Screenwriter Ronan Bennett on his mission to adapt Frederick Forsyth’s novel for the hit TV show starring Eddie Redmayne

November 2024

  • ‘Plangently autobiographical’: Nobody’s Empire by Stuart Murdoch.

    In brief: Nobody’s Empire; Cocktails With George and Martha; Never: The Autobiography – review

  • Rex Harrison rides a giraffe in Doctor Dolittle (1967).

    Book of the day
    Box Office Poison by Tim Robey review – Hollywood’s fascinating flops

October 2024

  • Al Pacino in Scarface (1983).

    Book of the day
    Sonny Boy: A Memoir by Al Pacino review – from fish out of water to Hollywood star

    The method actor traces his path to success, spending as much time on the films that flopped as the greatest hits

July 2024

  • Halle Butler.

    In brief: Banal Nightmare; Feeding the Monster; Burning Angel and Other Stories – review

    Midlife millennial angst abounds in Halle Butler’s sardonic novel, while Anna Bogutskaya bites into our love of horror films, and Lawrence Osborne spans the globe with gripping tales

June 2024

  • Griffin Dunne with his best friend, the late Carrie Fisher.

    Observer book of the week
    The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne review – a Hollywood insider with an outsider’s eye

    The actor’s star-studded memoir-cum-account of his sister’s murder could have been a clunky read, but his self-awareness, honesty and humour make the nephew of Joan Didion and son of Dominick Dunne an engaging narrator

May 2024

  • Ian Penman.

    Ian Penman’s ‘glittering’ book about Fassbinder wins Ondaatje prize

  • 25th Critics Choice Awards – Photo Room – Santa Monica, California, U.S., January 12, 2020 - Quentin Tarantino poses backstage with his Best Original Screenplay award for "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood\<br>25th Critics Choice Awards – Photo Room – Santa Monica, California, U.S., January 12, 2020 - Quentin Tarantino poses backstage with his Best Original Screenplay award for "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood". REUTERS/Danny Moloshok

    The Missing Thread; Table for Two; Cinema Speculation – reviews

April 2024

  • 2024 AACTA Awards Ceremony Presented By Foxtel Group - Red Carpet<br>GOLD COAST, AUSTRALIA - FEBRUARY 10: Rebel Wilson attends the 2024 AACTA Awards Presented By Foxtel Group at HOTA (Home of the Arts) on February 10, 2024 in Gold Coast, Australia. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images for AFI)

    Rebel Wilson memoir: entire chapter on Sacha Baron Cohen redacted from book in Australia

  • Kubrick looks toward camera and gestures over the top of a film camera

    ‘He erased the entire project’ … the book Stanley Kubrick didn’t want anyone to read to be published

February 2024

  • Julia Ormond and Brad Pitt in Legends of the Fall (1994)

    Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions by Ed Zwick review – the director’s cut

    A Hollywood veteran dishes up irresistible servings of industry gossip, as well as tips for surviving the movie-making process

January 2024

  • Stanley Kubrick, right, on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1966.

    In brief: Kubrick: An Odyssey; The Book of Days; Toy Fights – review

    A biography of the storied director brings revelations, Francesca Kay’s witty fourth novel recalls Iris Murdoch, and Don Paterson’s Dundee memoir is a gripping ride
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