2022 Year in Review Part 4-Best Books About Movies

I really hope you are enjoying the posts this week as the kick-off to my Year in Review. If you missed any, please be sure to go back and check them out at the links below.

• Biggest Surprises of 2022
• Biggest Disappointments of 2022
• Favorite Performances of 2022
• Top Short Films I Watched in 2022
• Top 10 First Time Watches in 2022
• Top 10 Films of 2022

We’re almost done with this first week and today is my new category this year, books about movies. I’m going to split this into two separate groups of books, biographies and behind the scenes. But before I get to that, there is one book I must mention that straddles the categories.

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James Cameron: A Retrospective by Ian Nathan
I just posted a review of this book last month at the time it was published, and we still have just over a week before Avatar: The Way of Water hits theaters. The book is part biography, part interview, and part behind the scenes exploration with tons of set photos and details about every film Cameron has been involved in over his career. And if you really love directors, Nathan has books on Quentin Tarantino, Wes Anderson, Guillermo del Toro, Tim Burton, the Coen Brothers, Ridley Scott, and Peter Jackson with a brand-new volume on Christopher Nolan that just released in November as well (affiliate links).

Biographies

​Finding Me by Viola Davis
To say this is a powerful book is an understatement. We know Davis as a big star today, recipient of an Oscar, an Emmy, and a Tony award, but the stories in this book tell a much different story of her life. From dealing with physical and sexual abuse as a child, to venturing out on her own at a young age, Davis did not have an easy upbringing, which makes her ultimate success that much more inspiring. If she can succeed from where she started, what’s stopping the rest of us?

 Radical Love by Zachary Levi
Levi is another actor who seems to have it all: the lead role in the Shazam!  (affiliate link) franchise, a leading voice role in Disney’s Tangled (affiliate link), and the lead role in the NBC comedy Chuck (affiliate link) which ran for five seasons. But that’s not the story of Radical Love (affiliate link). In the book, Levi tells of the trauma he went through growing up and the strained relationships he had with his parents. He presents an open discussion about therapy and the benefits he found by stripping out the outside noise and finding ways to love himself, and by extension, those around him.

We Were Dreamers by Simu Liu
​I think we have a trend here. Liu’s memoir is generally much more light-hearted than with Davis’s or Levi’s, but the underlying trauma of strained parental relationships is the same. This time from the perspective of an only child burdened with the expectations of his immigrant parents, Liu tells of his antics in school, hatred of working a “real job” in corporate Canada, and eventually finding his passion for acting before his ultimate tweet of manifesting your dreams.

OK @Marvel, are we gonna talk or what #ShangChi

— Simu Liu (@SimuLiu) December 3, 2018

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Part of My World by Jodi Benson
You might not know Jodi Benson by name, but you know her voice. She was the voice of the original Ariel in The Little Mermaid (affiliate link) and while the others on this list are definitely more movie focused, Benson’s career has existed much more in theater and on Broadway. She still fits on this list as the voice of one of the most iconic animated characters of the 20th century. Her story is not as much one of struggle, but of maintaining her faith and trusting God to put her in the right place at the right time.

Somewhere Out There by Don Bluth
​The last biography I want to feature here is sticking with animation, and a name that I remember from my earliest days watching movies. Bluth was a long-time animator for Walt Disney before leaving the House of Mouse to start his own company. He directed animated classics like The Secret of NIMH, An American Tale, and The Land Before Time (affiliate links). Bluth’s story spans 80+ years and he faces similar obstacles to chasing his dream of becoming an animator.

Behind the Scenes

The Godfather, Part II by Jon Lewis
These books are harder to rank, but the best among the rest is this short ~100-page book about the making of The Godfather, Part II (affiliate link). Lewis has done a tremendous amount of research and analysis of the film and has an incredible handle on the subject matter.

Becoming a Warrior by Catherine Hand
I hate to admit it, but I haven’t even seen the film this book is about, though my son has been bugging me to read the book and watch the movie for some time. Hand was the producer on the 2018 film A Wrinkle in Time (affiliate link), and this book chronicles her life-long journey to get the book made into a film.

Dr. No: The First James Bond Film by James Chapman
This one is dense. If you’re a casual movie fan, it’s probably not for you, but for anyone who loves James Bond and the many movies made about the character over the last 60 years, this book is a must have for your collection (affiliate links).

Bring It On: The Complete Story of the Cheerleading Movie That Changed, Like, Everything by Kase Wickman
Originally known as Cheer Fever, Bring It On (affiliate link) was many years in the making. The script alone took several years to come together and at least two directors were considered to lead the film before deciding on Peyton Reed, now famously working on the Ant-Man (affiliate link) films for Marvel. No one expected this to be a teen movie classic, but twenty years later it still holds a firm place in the culture and this book is the definitive story behind making the movie.