On this day in movie history - The Disaster Artist (2017 movie & book):

The Disaster Artist

directed James Franco,

written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber,

was released in the United States on December 8, 2017.
Based on the book The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell.
Music by Dave Porter.

Cast:

James Franco, Dave Franco, Seth Rogen, Ari Graynor, Alison Brie, Jacki Weaver, Paul Scheer, Zac Efron, Josh Hutcherson, June Diane Raphael, Megan Mullally, Jason Mantzoukas, Andrew Santino, Nathan Fielder, Sharon Stone, Melanie Griffith, Hannibal Buress, Bob Odenkirk, James Dean, Judd Apatow, Kristen Bell, Ike Barinholtz, Adam Scott, Kevin Smith, Keegan-Michael Key, Lizzy Caplan, Danny McBride, Zach Braff, J. J. Abrams, John Early, Joe Mande, Charlyne Yi, Kelly Oxford, Tom Franco, Zoey Deutch, Sugar Lyn Beard, Brian Huskey, Randall Park, Jerrod Carmichael, Casey Wilson, Lauren Ash, Angelyne, Bryan Cranston, Greg Sestero, Tommy Wiseau.

Recommended reading:

The Disaster Artist

My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made

By Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell.

Published by Simon & Schuster.

Published 2013.

Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 1451661193

ISBN-13: 978-1451661194

Description:

From the actor who lived through it all and an award-winning narrative nonfiction writer: the inspiring and laugh-out-loud funny story of a mysteriously wealthy social misfit who got past every road block in the Hollywood system to achieve success on his own terms – the making of The Room, “the Citizen Kane of bad movies.” – Entertainment Weekly.

The hilarious and inspiring story of how a mysterious misfit got past every roadblock in the Hollywood system to achieve success on his own terms: a $6 million cinematic catastrophe called The Room.

Nineteen-year-old Greg Sestero met Tommy Wiseau at an acting school in San Francisco. Wiseau’s scenes were rivetingly wrong, yet Sestero, hypnotized by such uninhibited acting, thought, “I have to do a scene with this guy.” That impulse changed both of their lives. Wiseau seemed never to have read the rule book on interpersonal relationships (or the instructions on a bottle of black hair dye), yet he generously offered to put the aspiring actor up in his LA apartment. Sestero’s nascent acting career first sizzled, then fizzled, resulting in Wiseau’s last-second offer to Sestero of costarring with him in The Room, a movie Wiseau wrote and planned to finance, produce, and direct – in the parking lot of a Hollywood equipment-rental shop.

Wiseau spent $6 million of his own money on his film, but despite the efforts of the disbelieving (and frequently fired) crew and embarrassed (and frequently fired) actors, the movie made no sense. Nevertheless, Wiseau rented a Hollywood billboard featuring his alarming headshot and staged a red carpet premiere. The Room made $1800 at the box office and closed after two weeks. One reviewer said that watching The Room was like “getting stabbed in the head.”

The Disaster Artist is Greg Sestero’s laugh-out-loud funny account of how Tommy Wiseau defied every law of artistry, business, and friendship to make “the Citizen Kane of bad movies” (Entertainment Weekly), which is now an international phenomenon, with Wiseau himself beloved as an oddball celebrity. Written with award-winning journalist Tom Bissell, The Disaster Artist is an inspiring tour de force that reads like a page-turning novel, an open-hearted portrait of an enigmatic man who will improbably capture your heart.

On this day in movie history - The Man Who Invented Christmas (movie & book):

The Man Who Invented Christmas

directed by Bharat Nalluri,

written by Susan Coyne,

based on the book by Les Standiford,

was released in the United States on November 22, 2017.
Music by Mychael Danna.

Cast:

Dan Stevens, Ely Solan, Christopher Plummer, Jonathan Pryce, Simon Callow, Donald Sumpter, Miriam Margolyes, Morfydd Clark, Justin Edwards, Miles Jupp, Ian McNeice, David McSavage, Bill Paterson, John Henshaw, Annette Badland, Anna Murphy, Jasper Hughes-Cotter, Eddie Jackson, Paul Kealyn, Aleah Lennon, Ger Ryan, Cosimo Fusco, Valeria Bandino, Donna Marie Sludds.

Recommended reading:

The Man Who Invented Christmas:

How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits

By Les Standiford.

Published 2008.

Paperback.

Published by Crown.

ISBN 13: 9781524762469

ISBN 10: 1524762466

ASIN: 1524762466

Description:

As uplifting as the tale of Scrooge itself, this is the story of how Charles Dickens revived the signal holiday of the Western world.

Just before Christmas in 1843, a debt-ridden and dispirited Charles Dickens wrote a small book he hoped would keep his creditors at bay. His publisher turned it down, so Dickens used what little money he had to put out A Christmas Carol himself. He worried it might be the end of his career as a novelist.

The book immediately caused a sensation. And it breathed new life into a holiday that had fallen into disfavor, undermined by lingering Puritanism and the cold modernity of the Industrial Revolution. It was a harsh and dreary age, in desperate need of spiritual renewal, ready to embrace a book that ended with blessings for one and all.

With warmth, wit, and an infusion of Christmas cheer, Les Standiford whisks us back to Victorian England, its most beloved storyteller, and the birth of the Christmas we know best. The Man Who Invented Christmas is a rich and satisfying read for Scrooges and sentimentalists alike.

On this day in music history - Let There Be Light, by Tom Moore & Sherry Finzer (2017):

Let There Be Light

Album by Tom Moore & Sherry Finzer,

released November 19, 2017.

Track list:

The Way of the White Clouds; First Light; Timeless Journey; Full Moon Night; A Celebration of Life; Sacred Ground; Waves of Light; Tides of Time; A Deeper Light.

On this day in movie history - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017):

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

directed and written by Martin McDonagh,

was released in the United States on November 10, 2017.
Music by Carter Burwell.

Cast:

Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Abbie Cornish, Lucas Hedges, Željko Ivanek, Caleb Landry Jones, Clarke Peters, Samara Weaving, John Hawkes, Peter Dinklage, Kerry Condon, Darrell Britt-Gibson, Kathryn Newton, Brendan Sexton III, Amanda Warren, Malaya Drew, Christopher Berry, Jerry Winsett, Sandy Martin, Nick Searcy.

Recommended reading - The Movie Art of Syd Mead: Visual Futurist (2017):

The Movie Art of Syd Mead: Visual Futurist

By Syd Mead.

Published by Titan Books.

Published 2017.

Illustrated edition.

Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 1785651188

ISBN-13: 978-1785651182

Description:

Syd Mead is one of the most accomplished and widely respected artists and industrial designers alive today. His career boasts an incredible array of projects from designing cars to drafting architectural renderings, but he is most famous for his work as a concept artist on some of the most visually arresting films in the history of cinema. Since working on Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1978 as a production illustrator Syd Mead has always aimed to render “reality ahead of schedule,” creating evocative designs that marry believable content with a neofuturistic form. It is this ability to predict technological potential that has helped Mead create such a distinctive and influential aesthetic. From his work with Ridley Scott on Blade Runner, to his striking designs for the light cycles in Tron, to his imposing concept art for the U.S.S. Sulaco in James Cameron’s Aliens, Syd Mead has played a pivotal role in shaping cinema’s vision of the future.

The Movie Art of Syd Mead: Visual Futurist represents the most extensive collection of Mead’s visionary work ever printed, compiling hundreds of images, sketches and concept arts from a career spanning almost 40 years, many of which have never been seen in print before. Each entry provides a unique insight into the processes involved in Mead’s practice as well as illuminating the behind-the-scenes work involved in creating a fully realized, cinematic depiction of the future. With such a plethora of images from the many genre-defining films Mead has worked on, this is essential reading for film fans, artists and futurologists alike.

Recommended reading - Film Noir: A Critical Introduction (2017):

Film Noir: A Critical Introduction

By Ian Brookes.

Bloomsbury Film Genres Series.

Published by Bloomsbury Academic.

Published 2017.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 1780933134

ISBN-13: 978-1780933139

Description:

What is film noir? With its archetypal femme fatale and private eye, its darkly-lit scenes and even darker narratives, the answer can seem obvious enough. But as Ian Brookes shows in this new study, the answer is a lot more complex than that. This book is designed to tackle those complexities in a critical introduction that takes into account the problems of straightforward definition and classification. Students will benefit from an accessible introductory text that is not just an account of what film noir is, but also an interrogation of the ways in which the term came to be applied to a disparate group of American films of the 1940s and 1950s.

On this day in movie history - Lady Bird (2017):

Lady Bird

directed and written by Greta Gerwig,

was released in the United States on November 3, 2017.
Music by Jon Brion.

Cast:

Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothée Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein, Lois Smith, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Odeya Rush, Jordan Rodrigues, Marielle Scott, John Karna, Jake McDorman, Bayne Gibby, Laura Marano, Marietta DePrima, Daniel Zovatto, Kristen Cloke, Andy Buckley, Paul Keller, Kathryn Newton, Myra Turley, Bob Stephenson, Abhimanyu Katyal, Chris Witaske, Ben Konigsberg, Gurpreet Gill, Richard Jin, Joan Patricia O'Neil, Robert Figueroa, Carla Valentine, Roman Arabia, Monique Edwards, Matthew Maher, Anita Kalathara, Debra Miller, Georgia Leva, Derek Butler, London Thor, Shaelan O'Connor, Christina Offley, Sabrina Schloss, Connor Mickiewicz, Erik Daniells, Cynthia Cales, Giselle Grams, Ithamar Enriquez, Luisa Lee, Danielle Macdonald, Adam Brock, Bonnie Jean Shelton, Rebecca Light, Adriana Becerril, Joey Bell, Beau Bielski, Stephen Dill, Sheila Ellis, Nick Fenske, Sedona Feretto, Keenan Johnston, Rebecca Knight, Suzanne LaChasse, Elester Latham, Emily Merlin, Maxx Morando, Jessica Nunez-Wood, Brian Sampson, Janet Song, Nicole Torres, Brian VanGeem, Carolyn Wilson, Tomomi Yoshida.