MOVIE PRODUCER EVAN GINZBURG'S LOVE AFFAIR WITH THE MOVIES

If anyone were to write a book about his love of cinema, it may as well be Evan Ginzburg, who portrayed himself, acting opposite Academy Award nominee Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler (a movie of which Ginzburg is Associate Producer).

From using his $2.00 allowance as a young man in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, to check out the double-feature in a local theater, Evan might as well have called The Rialto, or The Astor, or any of the other neighborhood movie houses, his second home. One gets the feeling while reading through his latest book (Grindhouse, Arthouse, and Wrestling Flicks) that young Evan was probably as 

GRINDHOUSE, ARTHOUSE, AND WRESTLING FLICKS

My Lifelong Love Affair With The Movies

(Book Review By Steve Ludwig)

comfortable sitting in front of a movie screen, the smell of his popcorn wafting through his nostrils, as he was lying on his living room floor, almost certainly watching movies or wrestling matches, with the familiar scent of mom's cooking replacing the popcorn's sweet aroma.

Ginzburg's absolute affection of film (pretty much all genres) is heart-warmingly evident page after page. One would think with Evan's experience as a movie producer, TV host, et al, that this book may veer into the technical aspects of movies. He may choose to write about that in a future tome, but for Grindhouse..., Evan is our buddy talking to us, a pal who expounds the good, the bad, and the ugly (sorry, I had to) of all things celluloid. 

You can be sure Evan will pull no punches; his beloved Death Wish/Charles Bronson movies come to mind, as the gang warfare in Death Wish 3 (Evan's seen all four) comes across to Evan as "cartoonish."

And that's the point of this review; we readers become assured by the very early pages that Evan's opinions come from the heart, and his emotional investment in each movie is important to him. 

Ginzburg uses his experience as a pro wrestling historian to fine advantage. So very interesting is the chapter in which  he weighs in about those pro wrestlers who made a successful transition to the movies, and vice versa.

Musicals, horror, comedy...you name it, and Evan probably shares his opinion with us.

We readers are given a very generous, and very cool, supply of classic movie posters and photos sprinkled throughout the book. Evan even includes film reviews and editorials by like-minded movie buffs. 

At the risk of sounding unoriginal (yet here I go), I am positive there is something for everyone in Grindhouse, Arthouse, and Wrestling Flicks. It is the type of book that one can flip through for a few minutes or lose oneself within its pages for hours.

Heck, after reading Evan's book, I may finally get into all those martial arts movies I've been avoiding.  

(Click on Evan's book to purchase.)