This collection offers up a sizable chunk of movie-related articles culled from every period of Rolling Stone's existence. And while many of the pieces are revealing and important, the book also unwittingly chronicles the magazine's slow, post-'70s decline. Interviews with reclusive actors and directors such as Marlon Brando and Stanley Kubrick are indispensible, and almost relic-like in relation to both men's subsequent slide into isolation or (in Brando's case) incomprehensibility. The credibility of the book's claim to be a record of "three decades of maverick filmmaking," however, is more than a little stretched by some of the more recent pieces. While it's hard to imagine better coverage of Diane Keaton during the Annie Hall period, or an emergent George Lucas, very little distinguishes the '90s work from that in any other magazine. It's also difficult to fit a Sleeping With the Enemy-era Julia Roberts article, or a post-Top Gun piece on Tom Cruise, within any definition of the word "maverick." Nonetheless, the good contributions outweigh the bad, and judicious skipping reveals some great film writing.