{"product_id":"now-playing-at-the-valencia-pulitzer-prize-winning-essays-on-movies-9780743261258","title":"Now Playing at the Valencia: Pulitzer Prize-Winning Essays on Movies","description":"\u003cb\u003eFrom Pulitzer Prize-winning movie critic and \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author Stephen Hunter comes a brilliant, freewheeling, and witty look at the movies.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eEvanston, Illinois, was an idyllic 1950s paradise with stately homes, a beautiful lake, a world-class university, two premier movie houses, and one very seedy movie theater--the Valencia.\u003cbr\u003e This was the site of \u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e film critic Stephen Hunter's misspent youth. Instead of going to school, picking up girls, or tossing a football, Hunter could be found sitting in the fifteenth row, right-hand aisle seat of the Valencia, sating himself on one B-list movie after another. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe Valencia had a sticky floor, smelly bathrooms, ancient popcorn, and a screen set in a hideously tacky papier-mache castle wall. It was also the only place in town to see westerns, sci-fi pictures, cops 'n' robbers flicks, slapstick comedy, and Godzilla. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eNow Playing at the Valencia, \u003c\/i\u003e the bestselling thriller author Stephen Hunter has compiled his favorite movie reviews written between 1997 and 2003, bringing to the discussion the passionate feelings for cinema he discovered in the '50s, a time when genres were forming, mesmerizing stars played unforgettable characters, and enduring classics were made. While filmmaking has changed tremendously since Hunter first frequented the Valencia, the view from the fifteenth row, and the thrill of down and dirty entertainment, has remained the same.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eStephen Hunter is creator of the Bob Jee Swagger novels as well as many others. The retired chief film critic for \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e, where he won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Criticism, he has also published two collections of film criticism and a nonfiction work, \u003ci\u003eAmerican Gunfight\u003c\/i\u003e. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Simon \u0026 Schuster","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50845089202450,"sku":"9780743261258","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_177c100e-6a5f-4dd0-8863-5a77e71f945d.jpg?v=1737341291","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/now-playing-at-the-valencia-pulitzer-prize-winning-essays-on-movies-9780743261258","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}