Customer Reviews

A Year at the Movies : One Man's Filmgoing Odyssey

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

For those of you who don't know, Kevin "Tom Servo" Murphy took it upon himself to "go to the movies" at least once a day for the entirety of 2001, and to put that experience down on paper. Given the amount of garbage that was passing for entertainment that year, this may seem like a fearsome challenge. But Murphy appears to have relished the opportunity to get paid for what most of us consider a relaxing leisure-time activity. And even acknowledging the aspects of movie-going that he disliked, one gets the impression that he at least enjoyed complaining about them.

A YEAR AT THE MOVIES is a collection of essays written during that year-long adventure. Fifty-two chapters, one per week, detail everything that he felt worth mentioning. Murphy engages in several gimmicks during the course of his book. He attempts to find the smallest theatre in the world (apparently it's squeezed into some guy's house, and is an actual licensed and legal cinema). He brings six different women to the same date movie on consecutive days (his wife is described on the back cover as "long-suffering"). He smuggles in an entire turkey dinner on Thanksgiving Day (the man fits a table under his coat - if there was an Academy Award for table-sneaking, he'd deserve it). He attempts spending a week eating nothing but concession stand food (again, his wife is described as "long-suffering").

However, as entertaining as these exploits are, I was more interested in the day-to-day things that Murphy picked up on during the year. He contrasts the service and attention to detail present at mom-n-pop, independent theatres to the impersonal, uncaring experience one might expect to see at the nearest massive movie multiplex (which Murphy humorously refers to as "googolplexes"). He looks at the reactions and discussions created by the small independent films, and counterpoints those thoughts with the ennui that seems to sweep over the audiences of the summer blockbusters, who become so uninvolved and distanced that they go merely to observe, to be vaguely distracted, and then to leave, never to think of the film again.

That said, I was definitely amused by some of his goofier antics. Getting into multiplexes without paying, and pretentious folks who haunt his local movie theatre on Hong Kong Cinema Morning are just two of the subjects that meet with his brand of comedy. Murphy was a writer on the ever-witty television show, MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000, and a lot of those clever one-liners and quick humor are on display here. There's even a cameo by former MST3K host Michael J. Nelson, who gets dragged along to a viewing of Corky "Y'guys want some cookies?" Romano. Pity them. Or laugh at them. I did both.

The only really negative thing I have to say is that there was no table of contents, and no index. So, when I look back, I have to randomly flip my way around the fifty-two essays to find exactly what it is that I want to reread. Unless I managed to remember the date, I'm simply lost. The book is written in chronological order of his cinema-going year, but the vast majority of the essays aren't time or season specific. It's a minor quibble to be sure, yet it would be handy to have a quick way to find his essay on, say, why movies about rich people are usually lousy, or on the best way to sneak into the Cannes film festival, or on what it's like to see films in the land of the midnight sun.

I found A YEAR AT THE MOVIES to be a fun and occasionally thoughtful travelogue that maintains a good balance between being amusing and reflective. Murphy is definitely a fan of the movies, so his comments come from a love of the craft, and a sense of frustration when it doesn't live up to its potential. He comes across as a faintly snobbish curmudgeon in parts, but a very likeable guy all the same. He's definitely an aficionado of most aspects involved with movie watching, and I found his enthusiasm contagious.

As Kevin Murphy recounts his movie-a-day filmgoing year, I was afraid the story might start to drag somewhat, or that he would feel the need to review every film he saw. Instead, I got drawn into a book that, while relatively long (about 350 pages), was still intelligible, and enjoyable both in small doses and in longer, more concentrated, readings.

Murphy divides his epic, sensibly, into 52 week-long essays. The films he sees that week inform the topic of his essays, but seldom *are* the topic. Instead, we get interesting, and highly personal, looks at all different aspects of the filmgoing experience, ranging from travelogues to Italy, Finland, or Australia, to a few hours working at a multiplex theater, to meditations on genres like kung fu, fantasy, or horror films. There are also insightful and well-informed meditations on the state of American filmgoing, the impact of the multiplex and the near-demise of arthouse cinemas, and a useful chapter on the difference between film reviewers and film critics. There's an awful lot in this book, and it's nearly all good stuff.

Kevin Murphy clearly knows and loves films, and he is a fine writer. A comparison with the two books by his former MST3K colleague Michael J. Nelson (who makes a brief cameo in this book) might be in order: I found both of Mike's books really funny, but frankly haven't found myself in a big hurry (yet?) to go back and re-read them. Kevin's, on the other hand, isn't intentionally funny "humor writing," but still has a lot of entertaining stories, asides, and turns of phrases. And I could see myself re-reading it a lot more easily.

I waited impatiently to get a copy of this book (in part -- I'm obliged to say it -- because I loved Tom Servo), and it definitely paid off the wait. Film fans and MST fans both will, I think, come to the same conclusion.

The book is about the whole moviegoing adventure. He is not just talking about the movies, like the first Harry Potter flick, or just about the stars, like Jackie Chan, but everything. The theater, the audience, the food, the seats! He goes to film festivals in France and Finland, drive-ins in the desert, theaters in the South Pacific, Italy and in Australia. He talks about films from Hong Kong and films from before the invention of sound. He talks about the smallest commercial movie theater, where the owner sells the tickets out of his bedroom window, to the multiplex, the sing-along film, the club cinema and the cinema grill. He deals with the food, even trying to live on popcorn, individual pizzas and shrink-wrapped sandwiches for a week. He deals with movies in the park, movies in the museums and movies in Hollywood! He deals with the people too. The critics, the fanboys, the kids and the people who work AT the movies.
It is funny, yet has serious points. One whole chapter is on September 11. It so happens I was reading this while on the bus to the Pentagon. This chapter was so powerful that I started to cry.
The book reminds me of the greatest movie I ever saw. Star Wars. My family saw it when it first came out in a drive-in theater. My brother and I sat on top of the car, a station-wagon, and watched this great sci-fi flick on a background of real stars. AND it will never happen again. Drive-ins are few and far between. The movie itself has been CHANGED and even cars are different. I don't trust any of this tiny models to hold up my own weight (or even that of my brother's young kids).
Each chapter is a week, with the list of the films he saw and where he saw them (which makes a nice list of movies you might wish to rent or buy in the future).
Flip open the book, get a bucket of butter-flavored popcorn and ENJOY!

Once you wrap your head around the fact that this is not a book of movie reviews, per se, it becomes a very enjoyable read. Murphy's talking about the human experience of going to the movies, not about the movies themselves.

I for one think this is a pretty cool idea. There are more than enough books out on the market that fill the, "Golden Turkey," category, and I bet that Murphy realized this as well. To write a book of snarky movie reviews would be cheap, fast, and easy.

But to write a book about what it is to sit in a dark theater, and share 2 hours of your time with an audience full of people, and some images on a screen...Now that's a challenge. To steal a phrase, it's like dancing about archetecture.

And boy, can Murphy dance. This isn't a funny book. It's got many funny moments, as Murphy is a funny guy, but it's an emotional book, a thoughtful book, and a very human book. Murphy is a gifted storyteller, and I use "storyteller" in a guy-sitting-next-to-you-in-a-bar sense of the word.

If anything, I found the format a little limiting. I'd love to see him take a bigger journey, like Michael Palin in "Pole To Pole" and "Around the World in 80 Days." This book put me in mind of both of those projects, and I'd gladly follow Murphy on whatever journey he decides to take next.

Kevin Murphy, AKA Tom Servo on the classic movie series Mystery Science Theater 3000, has turned his considerable comic and writing talents towards more literary ends. A combination of Bill Bryson travelogue and Dave Barry commentary, Murphy's "A Year at the Movies" is both a love letter to Hollywood and a controlled rant against the rampant overcommercialization and pretentiousness in that industry. The gimmick is that he's going to see one movie a day, in a theater (or other form of public exhibition, such as an airplane for travel) for an entire year. And, with one minor exception, he succeeds.

Each week, Murphy pens an essay about some facet of the movie industry and his experiences with it. "AYATM" is basically a collection of essays about the state of public moviegoing. They run the gamut from the hilarious (smuggling an entire Thanksgiving dinner into a theater) to the populist (well-deserved rants against Sundance and Cannes) to the emotional (spending the week of 9-11 in the Cook Islands, at one of the most remote theaters in the world). Murphy is overly sentimental at times, and overly cynical at others, but he manages to keep on track and provide as fair a report as a movie-lover can give.

Murphy loves movies. He loves theaters. In fact, he loves the entire filmgoing experience, and that's what "AYATM" is about. Readers complaining because he pans some movies and likes others are missing the point of the book. His prose offers a smooth read in an accessible style, successfully circumventing the same kind of film snobbery he loathes. For film lovers, Murphy's book is a welcome respite from the typical fanboy discussions on the Internet, and offers a cheeky kind of solace for those who don't take themselves - or their films - with complete seriousness.

Final Grade: B

First off as I always do in my reviews the people this book is not for: Anyone who is looking for reviews from a years worth of movies. anyone who does not understand the transformation that cinema has undergone over the years and lastly those who are not interested in the movie going experience.

Now that those people are out of the way on with the review.

This is a great book that any fan of movies should read. This book really goes through all sorts of differant experiances in a person can undergo in the movie theatre. this includes everything from where to sit where to go. and all points in between. From the Googleplexs that are the cancer of the cinema experiance to the discount cinemas that can bring more joy that one can know. This book goes through then all.

I always feel the need to rebut some of the low reviews I read on amazon and let me begin by saying that yes Kevin does go through a lot about what is bad in the cinima today and it does seem like a lot of repetitve sayings. But that is not all he offers. He also offers some solutions and answers that can help in reaturing movies and the cinema experiance to their former glory. This is a book that you must read if you are not a slave to the masses and want to be set free to see a movie in a comfortable and enjoyable way for very little money.

I cannot say enough good things about this book and plead that every one of you that read this review get this book so that you can understand what the big deal is all about.

Writer and performer of the rotund, ruddy robot Tom Servo on "Mystery Science Theatre 3000", Kevin Murphy spent 2001 travelling the globe, vowing to take in a movie a day, every day in some of the best- and worst- circumstances imaginable. Murphy doesn't so much review the films, but the experience: picture and sound and the film's quality are important to him, but so's the food and drink available, the company he keeps, the atmoshere and decor of the theatre, the service the staff provide and the behaviour of his fellow movie-goers.

Whether sitting through yet another miserable in-flight movie, smuggling Thanksgiving dinner into his nephew's first trip to the multiplex or schmoozing at the Cannes and Sundance festivals, Murphy is never less than passionate about cinema and committed to his mission. Even his health is at stake: pre-empting Morgan Spurlock by a wide margin, he vows to live on nothing but concession-stand food for a week!

The nicest surprise about the book is how different Murphy's authorial voice is from his colleague Michael J Nelson. Working cheek-by-jowl on MST3K for a decade, and obviously sharing the same sense of humour, I'd feared Murphy's book would come off a pale copy of Nelson's "Movie Megacheese" or "Mind Over Matters". In fact, Murphy is less wry and far saltier, subversive and overtly political than Nelson. The book is part travelogue, part journal, but mostly it's a manifesto, written by a man with clear ideas on how great the experience of cinema can be, and no doubt about who's spoling it.

It's often laugh-out-loud funny, as you'd expect (Murphy's description of time spent in a darkened theatre, being groped and sat on by passing patrons is hilarious), but also touching. Murphy was far from home and alone on September the 11th. His thoughts on the role movies can play in times of grief are powerful. Later, he wonders if there's still such a thing as a "date movie" in the 21st century. His efforts might leave him despairing of Hollywood, but reaffirm his love for his wife.

Highly recommended for anyone who believes that in this age of dvd, pay-per-view and broadband piracy, the best place to see movies remains the big-screen, popcorn in hand.

If you're a fan of MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000, if you like to go to the movies just a little TOO much, or if you find the phrase "a lake of urine on the men's room floor" funny, 'cause it's true, you need to read this book.

Kevin Murphy, the voice behind the wise-crackin' gumball machine with soul, Tom Servo, for more than a decade on MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000, has finally come forward to reveal the man behind the puppet.

With A YEAR AT THE MOVIES, Kevin Murphy reveals himself to be: a.) a movie nut (of course), b.) a little bit of a curmudgeon, unafraid to voice his opinion, c.) an excellent writer, capable of capturing on the page the minutiae of any given experience in a way that truly makes the reader a part of it all, and d.) an avid hater of Adam Sandler and Rob Schneider and everything they stand for.

In A YEAR AT THE MOVIES, Kevin Murphy sets out to watch a movie in a theater with an audience every single day, for a whole year, and then write about the experience. And Kevin isn't just satisfied with going to the local cinemaplex down at the mall. Sure, that's part of the experience, but so is finding and tracking down the world's smallest theater, the world's only theater made completely of ice and snow, the art house theaters, the foreign theaters, IMAX theaters, theaters at the Cannes Film Festival, etc.

Every part of the movie-going experience is lived, breathed and sometimes humorously, sometimes poignantly dissected on these pages. If you're fan of movies, if you're a fan of life experience (and, ironically enough, that's what most movie-goers are chasing), you've got to get this wonderfully funny, and surprisingly affecting book.

Kevin Murphy is a true fellow citizen of celluloid and patron of popcorn, and if you're like me, you'll see enough of yourself reflected in these pages to make you feel like you were along for the whole crazy ride.

Based on Kevin's work with MST3K, some people would expect this to be a book of movie reviews, in which he would apply his sarcastic wit to tear apart a bad movie every day for a year. A few were evidently disappointed because the book is something different. It's a series of essays on the moviegoing experience in various locales. But it's very, very entertaining. He does go in for numerous sideswipes on certain films and actors (ex- Saturday Night Live performers get a special dose of his vitriol) and can be hilarious. He covers a broad range of topics and makes his various encounters very human. The sections on being far from home on 9/11 and playing Santa, for example are very touching.

Some of the posters here complain that Kevin is a bit of a movie snob. They don't point out that he doesn't spare himself and explores the inherent contradictions of being a movie snob and a movie fan. In the end, his love for the medium does come across, despite his continual frustations with the industry. You won't always agree with him (he takes a jab at my beloved progressive rock, for example, I don't see the virtues of continually watching downbeat documentaries). But, he'll make you think, and he'll make you laugh, all done in a very well written, informative, and accessible style. Well worth the time.

Kevin Murphy takes up the plight of movie goers everywhere (and travels nearly everywhere to do it) in his romp around the globe to see a movie every day for a year. The book is a humorous look at one of America's favorite past-times, excellently told by someone who loves movies and wants to lead the charge for movie makers to remember the audience and forget the Hollywood formulas.

The satire is first rate and the story-telling is superb. It really puts you in the seat next to the author. My particular favorite centers around taking a nephew to his first movie ever while smuggling an entire Thanksgiving dinner into the theater at the same time. Kevin Murphy has a wonderful first book and it was a delight to read. Recommended for movie fans everywhere.