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Nicole Kidman
by David Thomson
Film critic David Thomson chronicles the life and career of the Australian actress.
Knopf, 304 pages
09/05/2006
$24.95
ISBN: 1400042739
Nonfiction
Biographies & Memoirs
Entertainment & Media
All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...
The Independent Tom Rosenthal
This is the most illuminating book about a film star that I've read.
Booklist David Pitt
By putting his subject's life in its professional and historical context, and by shooting straight from the hip, the author gives us a full-size, honest portrait of Kidman--and a revealing look at Hollywood movies and the stars who make them. [1 Aug 2006, p.5]
New York Observer Scott Eyman
Like her or not, like the book or not, "Nicole Kidman" will make you sit up and think about this specific actress, and about actressesâ careers in general. Which is, after all, the criticâs job: to make you think.
San Francisco Chronicle Cecile Alduy
Bold, provocative, irrepressibly funny -- and never PC, Thomson's book will manage to anger feminists and right-wingers alike, and will delight those who enjoy a book that has guts and brains.
The Globe And Mail [Toronto] David Weaver
So with the greatest respect for David Thomson's considerable abilities as a writer, it's my suggestion that his secret ambition is to direct a film, a film that would quite obviously have to star Nicole Kidman. This book is sometimes a poor substitute for that ambition.
Los Angeles Times Tara Ison
Far more interesting than her love life, her travels or her skin and hair are Thomson's incisive studies of her films, performances and range of roles; he is fascinated by, and fascinating on, the evolving trajectory of both her craft and her career. [10 Sep 2006, p.R9]
Library Journal Jim Collins
Unfortunately, Thomson moves from insightful erudition to peculiar asides in the space of a few pages, which ultimately leaves his book disjointed and frustrating. One wishes he had focused on more traditional criticism or expanded his sometimes eloquent and personal thoughts on the nature of stardom and our bonds with celebrity and film into a full book. [15 Sept 2006, p.62]
Publishers Weekly
Omnivorous movie buffs might appreciate Thomson's take on Hollywood, but US Weekly readers won't have the stamina for his blend of star worship and criticism. [7 Aug 2006, p.49]
Washington Post Louis Bayard
Ardor, at least, hasn't swamped his critical faculty. He sifts through Kidman's catalogue with persistence and jagged bolts of insight.
Sydney Morning Herald Peter Galvin
This is not a book about Nicole Kidman. It is a book about the idea of her. The distinction is crucial to understanding this odd, and oddly beguiling, piece of film criticism.
Daily Telegraph Catherine Shoard
Thomson's crush is not the type that makes him desperate for all the info on Kidman he can find. Rather, he shows an almost complete lack of curiosity in his subject. This does not make for the most gripping biography.
Entertainment Weekly Michael Sauter
This isn't so much a life story as a decidedly subjective critical appreciation, built on Thomson's premise that our deepest connection to movies is the one we make with the actors on screen.
Houston Chronicle Steven E. Alford
This book pioneers the Too Much Information School of Film Criticism, pulling off the feat of being simultaneously pompous and creepy, like some visiting relative in a Hitchcock film.
The Guardian Peter Bradshaw
This book is simply a rhapsody on the theme of how David Thomson feels about Nicole Kidman, the Nicole Kidman he worships, and I do mean worships, in the dark of the cinema auditorium.
The New York Times Book Review Lawrence Levi
Ostensibly a critical biography, it comes off as a weird and unseemly mash note.
The New Yorker
What begins as an analysis of stardom ends up as a case study of fandom.
The Observer Peter Conrad
Starting with Movie Man in 1967, Thomson has written some of the best books about film; Nicole Kidman is, I suppose, a forgivable bout of elderly nympholepsy.
Daily Telegraph Lynn Barber
So at least one is warned from the outset that one is in the hands of a madman. Thomson is actually a highly acclaimed film critic, but I do sometimes wonder if the whole world of film buffery is intrinsically unhinged.
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