For Keeps: 9thirty Years at the Movies

In this mammoth anthology, former New Yorker film critic Kael skims the cream from 10 of her previous review compilations published between 1965 and 1991, adding a generous excerpt from The Citizen Kane Book (1971). In more than 275 pointed, wisecracking, sometimes maddening, always engaging reviews, Kael deflates pretensions, skewers schlock and zeroes in on what makes good movies work. She files opinionated, often politically incorrect put-downs of Dances with Wolves, Platoon, Rain Man, Fellini Satyricon, West Side Story, The Color Purple and Lenny, while revealing her eclectic, unpredictable taste in plaudits for Lolita, Prizzi's Honor, Tootsie, Z, The Magic Flute and My Beautiful Laundrette. Kael resolutely approaches film as an art form that must be understood on its own terms, yet her reviews depict precisely how movies interact with life, popular culture and the collective psyche, making this a treasure trove of some of the best film criticism available. First serial to the New Yorker. (Oct.)