JAMES MOTTRAM -- THE SUNDANCE KIDS

Hot on the heels of Sharon Waxman's like-minded Rebels on the Backlot comes this look at -- as its subtitle states -- "How the Mavericks Took Back Hollywood." And, like Waxman's book, the premise is disingenuous. Mottram tries to make the argument that a group of Sundance-bred filmmakers have actually changed the way Hollywood makes movies today. Uh, not really. It's the same as it ever was -- money trumps artistic merit. About halfway through this 400-plus-page book we get this prescient observation from the immortal Hollywood player Robert Evans: "They're (the films of today) just software. They're not made for the right reasons. We used to make them for their ideas. Now they're made for the presence of marketable elements." But that's not to say Mottram's subjects aren't worthy of investigation as makers of movies that favor unique, creatively-rendered perspectives. The book is framed by the career of Steven Soderbergh, a guy who's seen and done just about everything since his penetrating 1989 Sundance debut, Sex, Lies and Videotape. Soderbergh's evolution from wunderkind to has-been to experimenter to Oscar winner to admirably nurturing producer makes for the book's best passages. It helps that Soderbergh gives the author what seems like unlimited access, something many of Mottram's other subjects have not given as plentifully or as insightfully. The careers of Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, David Fincher, Richard Linklater, Alexander Payne, David O. Russell, Quentin Tarantino and others populate this entertaining but unevenly written look at the perils of modern filmmaking, and Mottram's extensive analysis often reveals intriguing trends in a given filmmaker's creative trajectory. Mavericks? Not quite. Savvy, talented filmmakers? You bet. (Jason Gargano) Grade: B-