Tim Blake Nelson

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Superhero by Tim Blake Nelson is a dark humor novel about the trials and tribulations of making a superhero movie while navigating Hollywood’s cinema machine where millions of dollars and many careers are at stake. Mr. Nelson is a character actor whose face will be familiar to any cinephile.

Power couple Peter Compton, A-list actor and recovering addict, and Marci Levi, wife and producing partner are about to make the next show more huge superhero movie, Major Machina. They are in for making millions and having their star rise, as well as elevating Sparta’s cinema glazy to another level.

Production, however, is quickly becoming a disaster. Peter has no faith in the director, the cinematographer is an artist, and his ego clashes with Peter’s and the whole set is tense. Once Peter’s meltdown goes viral, the video and the response threaten the movie, it’s investors and Peter and Marci’s marriage.

This is a novel written with talent, self-confidence, and authority of an insider. In an industry where big money and big egos collide with artistic talent things are simply bound to clash at some point.

Superhero by Tim Blake Nelson is a dark comedy of how a movie of such scale even comes to fruition. The author does not minimize the role of the hundreds (thousands?) of people it takes to bring such a feature film extravaganza to your local movie theatre.

Each one of the characters gets their own history and identity, which explains their motivation and the way they view the production. We view the work through the artists’ eyes, as well as through the eyes of business and the decisions, as well as compromised each has to make. While the compromises are painful, the reader certainly understands why, and the circumstances which they were made under.

I thought the stories of ego and ambition reflect everything I heard, read, and saw when it comes to the entertainment industry in general, and the movie industry specifically. The flawed characters bring those points to the forefront of the story.

The novel, I thought, was a bit too wordy in some places, while I appreciated the author’s great talent, a rant going on for several pages, intellectual or not, just grinded the pacing to a halt. I very much enjoyed the offshoots, side stories, and nuanced character histories.

This is an entertaining, clever, and engaging book. I felt like a fly on the wall of entertainment getting an engaging perspective from all sides of the moviemaking industry. show less

Excellent film.
Great acting by Edward Norton.

1944, nel campo di sterminio di Auschwitz Birkenau si sterminano numerosi ebrei. In esso sono operanti anche gli Sonderkommando, squadre particolare di internati giudei che vengono costretti dagli aguzzini nazisti ad attendere al regolare funzionamento delle camere a gas. Se si rifiutavano morivano, altrimenti avrebbero vinto qualche mese di vita in più. Nonostante questo tentano di mettere in piedi una rivolta, la sola mai tentata nel campo.