''Taking It All In'' is the seventh collection of movie reviews by the critic

Pauline Kael Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael often defied the conse ...

and contains the 150 film reviews she wrote for ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' between June 9, 1980, and June 13, 1983. She writes in the Author's Note at the beginning of the collection that, "it was a shock to discover how many good ones there were", as well as observing that only a very few of the movies she liked were box office successes - ''

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (or simply ''E.T.'') is a 1982 American science fiction film, science fiction film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Melissa Mathison. It tells the story of Elliott Taylor, Elliott, a boy w ...

'', ''

Tootsie ''Tootsie'' is a 1982 American satirical romantic comedy film directed by Sydney Pollack from a screenplay by Larry Gelbart and Murray Schisgal and a story by Gelbart and Don McGuire. It stars Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Teri Garr, D ...

'', '' Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan''. She laments that, "in the '80s, films that aren't immediate box office successes are instantly branded as losers, flops, bombs. Some of the movies that meant the most to me were in this doomed group - ''

The Stunt Man ''The Stunt Man'' is a 1980 American satirical psychological black comedy film starring Peter O'Toole, Steve Railsback and Barbara Hershey, and directed by Richard Rush. The film was adapted by Lawrence B. Marcus and Rush from the 1970 nove ...

'', '' Pennies from Heaven'', ''

Blow Out ''Blow Out'' is a 1981 American independent mystery thriller film written and directed by Brian De Palma. The film stars John Travolta as Jack Terry, a movie sound effects technician from Philadelphia who, while recording sounds for a low-bud ...

'', '' The Devil's Playground'', ''

Melvin and Howard ''Melvin and Howard'' (stylized as ''Melvin (and Howard)'') is a 1980 American comedy-drama film directed by Jonathan Demme. The screenplay by Bo Goldman was inspired by real-life Utah service station owner Melvin Dummar, who was listed as th ...

'', ''

Shoot the Moon ''Shoot the Moon'' is a 1982 American drama film directed by Alan Parker, and written by Bo Goldman. It stars Albert Finney, Diane Keaton, Karen Allen, Peter Weller, and Dana Hill. Set in Marin County, California, the film follows George ...

'', '' Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean''." The collection starts up after a gap of a year, part of which Kael spent in Los Angeles and what she learned during those months is summed up in the piece "Why Are Movies So Bad?" This essay, (in which she takes on the Hollywood money men whose love of swift and easy financial returns she believed led to the too many truly bad films on show at the time), is also included in the collection. (
"Why Are Movies So Bad? Or The Numbers"
. The book is out-of-print in the United States, but is still published by

Marion Boyars Publishers Marion Boyars Publishers is an independent publishing company located in Great Britain, publishing books that focus on the humanities and social sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the b ...

in the United Kingdom.

Editions

*Henry Holt & Co., 1984, hardbound () *Marion Boyars, 1986, paperback () 1984 non-fiction books Books of film criticism Books about film Books by Pauline Kael American non-fiction books Henry Holt and Company books {{film-book-stub