Customer Reviews

Five Stars! How to Become a Film Critic, the World's Greatest Job

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Other reviewers have gone into great detail about what's in this book so I won't repeat their efforts. Simply put, this book is written by a critic, Christopher Null, which knows movies and can put that knowledge on paper in an informative and still entertaining way. Each point he makes in this book includes at least one movie as an example and it's obvious by the movie titles he lists that he has watched thousands of them. This is a must buy for anyone that wants to be a film critic (or already believe they are one) and a highly recommended purchase for those of you, like me, that simply love watching movies.

If you're one of the millions who dream of turning your love of cinema into a lifelong vocation, you need to read Five Stars. This is the only book on the market today that tells you, step by step, exactly how to break into this business.

Without weighing you down with a bunch of worthless theory that means nothing in the real world, Five Stars quickly gets down to the nitty gritty. In this book, Christopher Null, one of the most widely published and respected movie critics on the internet, walks you through every phase of your personal development on the path to a successful career.

The tips in Five Stars clearly show you how to:
-Educate yourself about the larger world of cinema
-Become a smarter and more active movie goer
-Communicate your thoughts coherently
-Write lively, entertaining movie reviews
-Find outlets to publish your work

Even with the best guidance in the world, becoming a successful film critic isn't easy. But Five Stars will arm you with the knowledge you need to roll up your sleeves and put your talent to work. Whether you're a young upstart with a passion for movies or an established critic with years of experience, this book is a must-have for your personal library.

"Five Stars" deserves five stars.

I read an early edition from Sutro Press, and "Five Stars" is truly a marvelous guide to making your dreams a reality, without any film school snobbery to weigh it down. The book surveys all the stuff you need to know to write credibly about movies, coaches you through the writing process, and even provides excellent tips on how to get your words published.

The author is a web entrepreneur, a seasoned magazine editor, and even a novelist, so he really knows what he's writing about, and that really comes through in the book. Whether you want to pursue film review as a career or even as an occasional hobby, or you just want to go see a lot of new movies and DVDs for free, this book is a fabulous way to start.

Five Stars! gets five stars from me. Tells you how to break down a movie ,write a synopsis ,and how to break into the business.

normally, i wouldn't want to be a film critic but christopher null makes you really think about it. a great critic...he's interesting and inventive--and has an appreciation for the out of the ordinary... just check out his wacky website. [...]

I love movies. I love to criticize movies. But I really just want to share my criticism with my friends, and I really don't care to be eloquent about it. Take the movie "Four Brothers" for instance. My review would run something like this: "WTF??? I gotta see that again!"

Now, if Christopher Null had written about how to become a food critic, I'd be all over that. I wonder if it would work to just replace words like "film" and "movie" with "food" and "eats", or "actor" and "actress" with "meat" and "potatoes". But then I would have to come up with all kinds of substitutes, and that would get complicated. Would I pick "flambe" or "brussel sprout" to replace "director", "chef" or "gourmet" for "producer", or "curry" or "whip cream" for "writer"? No I guess it wouldn't work.

Hopefully, Mr. Null has a food critic friend who will write a similarly great book entitled "Five Stars! How to Become a Food Critic, The Galaxy's Greatest Job." Let's face it, film critiquing may be great, but food critiquing, what could be better than eating for a living?