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Silver Screen Fiend: Learning About Life from an Addiction to Film Hardcover – January 6, 2015

by Patton Oswalt (Author)

4.1 608 ratings

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New York Times bestselling author, comedian, and actor Patton Oswalt shares his entertaining memoir about coming of age as a performer and writer in the late ’90s while obsessively watching classic films at the legendary New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles.

Between 1995 and 1999, Patton Oswalt lived with an unshakeable addiction. It wasn’t drugs, alcohol, or sex. It was film. After moving to L.A., Oswalt became a huge film buff, absorbing classics and new releases at least three nights a week at the New Beverly Cinema. Silver screen celluloid became Patton’s life schoolbook, informing his notions of acting, writing, comedy, and relationships. Set in the nascent days of the alternative comedy scene, Oswalt’s memoir chronicles his journey from fledgling stand-up comedian to self-assured sitcom actor, with the colorful New Beverly collective supporting him all along the way.

Ideally timed for awards season, when everyone’s mind is on Hollywood, Silver Screen Fiend follows up on the terrific reception of Oswalt’s New York Times bestselling debut, Zombie Spaceship Wasteland. Already a beloved fixture on the comedy stage, on television, and in film—not to mention his 1.87 million Twitter followers—Oswalt announces, with this second book, that he’s also here to stay on the page.

Print length

240 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Scribner
Publication date

January 6, 2015
Dimensions

5 x 1 x 7 inches
ISBN-10

1451673213
ISBN-13

978-1451673210
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Patton Oswalt is one of the most brilliant comedy minds of a generation. This book confirms it.” -- Ricky Gervais

"I loved this book. It feels like a great one sided conversation from your funniest friend. It made me feel less alone in the precious hours I read it. But now it's gone and I have nothing." -- Amy Schumer

“Silver Screen Fiend is both a love letter to artistic obsession and string of caution tape around it. Patton describes the ecstatic demands of the arts (in this case, Stand-up and Film) with insight, fond pity, and unfailing humor. This is a book for anyone who strives to be great, or is bored in an airport.” -- Joss Whedon

"Smart and pointed. [Oswalt] is a colorful writer." ― NPR

"A funny and sentimental read.... deep, passionate, and personal." ― The Daily Beast

"Immediate and vital... [Silver Screen Fiend is] enough to make any reader seek out the many films that made him hibernate in the first place. ― A.V. Club

Oswalt's prose is sparkling.... A coming-of middle-age meditation, Oswalt's homage to films is both hilarious and heartfelt." ― USA Today

"Hilarious.... [Silver Screen Fiend] shows Oswalt's maturity as a writer and a thinker." ― Philadelphia Inquirer

"Oswalt is...a formidable storyteller....A love song to the silver screen." ― Paste Magazine

"Vivid and funny." ― Entertainment Weekly

"[Oswalt has] a set of synapses like a pinball machine and a prose style to match....Oswalt's writing gives off the hallucinogenic shimmer of the true obsessive, packing all the sharpness and bite of his stand-up." ― New York Times

"Clever and readable...Oswalt’s encyclopedic knowledge and frothing enthusiasm for films (from sleek noir classics, to gory B movies, to cliche-riddled independents,to big empty blockbusters) is relentlessly present, whirringin the background like a projector." ― Boston Globe

"A must for fans of comedy and film." ― Ithaca.com

Oswalt is a great conveyer of his real-life (and reel-life) experiences....great insider stuff." ― Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Entertaining and maniacally informative." ― Tampa Bay Times

"[An] astute, acerbic, and footnote-crazy chronicle of life as a "movie freak mole man." ... Oswalt is a true cinephiliac, equally appreciative of the artistry of Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast and Doris Wishman's Bad Girls Go to Hell." ― Philadelphia Inquirer

"Anyone who loves movies...will be better for reading this enjoyable and funny memoir." ― Columbus Dispatch

About the Author

Patton Oswalt is the author of the New York Times bestseller Zombie Spaceship Wasteland. He has released four TV specials and four critically acclaimed comedy albums, including the Grammy-nominated My Weakness Is Strong. He put together the Comedians of Comedy tour and television series. Oswalt has also appeared on many television shows and in more than twenty films, including Young Adult, Big Fan, and Ratatouille. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scribner; First Edition (January 6, 2015)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1451673213
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1451673210
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 1 x 7 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,565,710 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,883 in Humor Essays (Books)
- #5,782 in Popular Culture in Social Sciences
- #12,416 in Actor & Entertainer Biographies

Customer Reviews:
4.1 608 ratings

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Patton Oswalt

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Hey, my publisher asked me to do this Amazon Author Page. So here it is. My name is Patton Oswalt. I do stand-up comedy and sometimes I act in television show and movies. And, since 2009, I've been a published author. I've published two books and, over the years, I'm going to write more. So join this page and watch me age and eventually die. Oh, and buy my books. The money goes to me. After I'm dead, my wife and daughter. We live in an age of wonder.

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P Kim

A memoir, an ode to the arts, and above all - a coming of age story.

Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2015

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As someone who is also a (self-proclaimed) cinema-addict and also as someone who has done some time on the open-mike stage, this book absolutely resonated with me. Emotionally, intellectually, and simply as a fan. I have been a huge fan of Oswalt's stand up material so I was a bit weary if this book was going to be a rehash of his jokes (i.e. Jim Gaffigan books (regardless, that are still amazing)). He does very occasionally recall some of his stand up material but most of the memoir were new insights about Patton and his four year obsession with cinema.

What REALLY enticed my reading in this book was that he also incorporates his struggles as an actor and stand up comedian as well as a wanna-be film director (I don't think he'd argue that last sentiment). This book is in so many ways a coming-of-age story as well as an ode to the performing arts. Some might argue that the book is a little aimless but I really didn't see it that way. Every chapter, line, and word is an act of self-expression that helps the reader understand what it means to be literally "addicted to cinema."

My favorite chapters are "My First Four Night Cafes" (which tells and amazing story about Vincent van Gogh and develops the central theme of the story), "Amsterdam" (which involves a cool story about Louis CK), and "The End of an Addiction" (which pulls the entire theme together). The book is a very fluid and quick read. I consistently found myself pondering my own passions and life choices as I read the book and also long after I put the book down.

One person found this helpful

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Keith Moser

Great look at a film addiction with a lot of filler

Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2015

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Not your garden variety celeb tell-all memoir about addiction, Patton Oswalt's Silver Screen Fiend tells about his crippling addiction to film.

As an ex-sprocket fiend myself, I loved reading about someone who considered seeing five films in a day normal. Oswalt's second memoir (haven't read his first, Zombie Spaceship Wasteland) uses a structure of several Night Café moments—instances of revelation; figurative (and literal) rooms one enters and leave a changed man.

From seeing Nosferatu (1922) at five years old in a library run by idiots, to making one comedian laugh during his first abysmal five-minute set at a comedy club, to bombing in a room full of comics and wanting to be an artist, to visiting the New Beverly Cinema and wanting to be a director!

The book is a quick read but don't expect a lot of jokes—this isn't your garden variety comedian's memoir either. There are a lot of references to both cult films and classics (I'm gonna try to cue up a specific scene from Apollo 13) with some tame looks behind the curtain that is Hollywood/TV (stories from the set of Down Periscope or the pilot taping of The King of Queens) but nothing too shocking (one chapter is written about a comedian I'd like to see more of—his style sounds intriguing—but the chapter uses a pseudonym because he kinda comes across as "Misguided" (p. 146).)

The novel did make me miss the years where I saw over 200 films in theaters (not counting movies on TV or DVD) which is probably the exact opposite feeling Oswalt would want to create in his readers. His fifth Night Café was the birth of his daughter. No longer does he want to waste time in "flickering movie temple[s]" when "the wide-angle world" (p. 185) has so much more, but I suppose I haven't completely squashed that sprocket fiend demon living in my head...

Thirty-four pages (over 15% of the book!) are dedicated to listing every film he watched over the main 4 years he wrote about. I skimmed these pages looking for a few notes written in certain sections, but seriously, what a waste of ink. Another 12 pages in the one epilogue are dedicated to a fictional, beyond-the-grave film festival he created for a friend who passed away in 2007. It was fun to read about these films that never were and imagine what could have been and the section reminded me about how awesome Flicker by Theodore Roszak was.

Overall, it was a decent read but felt like it was quickly put together with a lot of filler to make a certain page or word count...

One person found this helpful

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Larry Hoffer

Film lovers and comedy fans, this one's for you...

Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2015

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I'd give this 3.5 stars.

I've been a big fan of Patton Oswalt for some time now. I think he's a pretty good actor (he particularly gave a terrific performance in Charlize Theron's Young Adult a few years back), and I love his comedic observations as well. One friend of mine says that Oswalt and I share a similar sense of humor, although clearly only one of us is making a living off of it.

One thing I didn't know I shared with Oswalt was an obsession with the movies. Those of you who know me well know I've been a huge movie fan for almost my entire life, and at the very least, see everything nominated, or in contention, for Oscars each year. And thanks to a year-long American film class in college, I consumed a healthy diet of classic movies as well.

Oswalt's Silver Screen Fiend isn't your typical celebrity memoir, although it does chronicle a period of his life when he dealt with a serious addiction—to going to the movies. From 1995-1999, while focusing on his career as a stand-up comic and dreaming of one day acting and directing, Oswalt went to the movies at least several times a week, often at the New Beverly Cinema, watching classics and lesser-known films as well as new releases. While watching movies brought him pleasure, expanded his cinematic horizons, and stimulated his creativity and his desire to one day see his work on the big screen, it also caused him a great deal of stress, as he planned comedy sets and other work, as well as social obligations (when he had them) around movie times. (And the constant diet of movie concessions wasn't good for his waistline either.)

"Movies—the truly great one (and sometimes the truly bad)—should be a drop in the overall fuel formula for your life."

And if just seeing that many movies each week and planning his life around them wasn't enough of an obsession, he also compulsively felt the need to "check off" each movie he saw in one or more of five film reference books, chronicling the location, date, and time he saw each film. This action became a routine he couldn't shake—it's almost as if seeing the movies didn't count if he didn't record seeing them.

As Oswalt provides background on each movie he saw, and places it in the context of his personal and professional life, he also chronicles the evolution of his career, from first getting the comedy bug while doing an internship in Washington, DC, to dealing with the ups and downs of good and bad performances, to his time both as a writer for MADtv and his tenure on television in The King of Queens. He struggles with jealousy of other comedians who achieve the success he craves, and worries about being able to realize his ambitions.

I enjoyed this book very much, as Oswalt did a great job informing, entertaining, and making me think. While I had heard of many of the movies he mentions in the book, there are a number I wasn't familiar with, so I enjoyed his perspective on those films. I did feel that the book was a little disjointed at times, as he occasionally shifts from one subject to another rather abruptly. But in the end, I found this tremendously appealing. (My favorite part of the book was a tribute to the late owner of the New Beverly Cinema, in which Oswalt imagined a month-long film festival, creating twists on popular movies with classic actors and directors.)

If you're more than simply an occasional movie watcher, or interested in the path some comedians follow toward success, you'll enjoy Silver Screen Fiend. Oswalt writes with humor, heart, and a whole lot of film trivia.

4 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

This is a Christmas gift which the person really wanted

Reviewed in Canada on December 15, 2022

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I am unable to write a review as it is a present for someone else

Sz

Five Stars

Reviewed in Australia on March 21, 2015

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Hilarious, touching, and educational.

Kharnifex

One Star

Reviewed in Australia on October 12, 2016

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It's such a shame Patton has fallen in with the SJW cuck crowd. RIP>

S.R. Liddle

Silver Screen Fiend

Reviewed in Canada on February 4, 2015

Verified Purchase

I am a huge fan of Patton. I think of him is a kindred spirit given our mutual love of many things including movies. I completely enjoyed his previous book, Zombie, Spaceship, Wasteland, so when I heard this new book was due for release, I ordered it months in advance. I wasn't at all dissatisfied. It isn't as "fun" a book as the previous but certainly is well worth the read.

One person found this helpful

Amazon Customer 32

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 26, 2015

Verified Purchase

A pleasant read, he says celluloid way too much, made me feel weirdly sick after a while.

3 people found this helpful

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