Its Only a Movie: Reel Life Adventures of a Film Obsessive Free

FREE ITS ONLY A MOVIE: REEL LIFE ADVENTURES OF A FILM OBSESSIVE PDF

Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. It's Only a Movie by Mark Kermode. Film critic and broadcaster, Mark Kermode, has written a forthright account of a life lived in film. From his favourite movies to rants against Pirates of the Caribbeanand the current resurgence of 3D, there are spirited defences of Hannah Montana and Mamma Mia. Get A Copy. Paperbackpages. More Details Original Title. Other Editions 6. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about It's Only a Movieplease sign up. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Start your review of It's Only a Movie. Especially for a book I bought two years ago to find info that wasn't even in it, this was a lot of fun. The first couple of chapters I liked so much I thought I'd be giving it 5 stars. The nostalgia was perfectly pitched - childhood 70s cinema, 80s leftwing student politics and journalism. That was being a "proper student", because of course, being a kid at the time, that's when my idea of how students were was formed. First time I tried to read it all the way through, it was kind of overwhelmi Especially for a book I bought two years ago to find Its Only a Movie: Reel Life Adventures of a Film Obsessive that wasn't even in it, this was a lot of fun. First time I tried to read it all the way through, it was kind of overwhelming and I stopped after a few pages; this time it was just perfect. It was surprisingly wise about a number of things, not only film. And having not spent much time around film geeks for a while, his enthusiasm was almost as exciting as when, a few days after starting university, a boy said to a group of us in halls "Come up, I've got some great music I bet you've never heard of". Not in the arrogant-hipster way that sounds on paper, but with a naive soft-spoken charm, and the enthusiasm of a friend who really wants you to meet their pets. Odd to have it echoed by a mere book, and by someone who, in it, doesn't display much overlap with my taste - even if, via other media, he did help form it. It must have just been the right moment. Subsequent chapters have rather too much brass neck and ego and sheer stupidity at nearly 30, not to realise that Russia in the early 90s would involve rough and ready conditions and travelling long distances, really? His opinions can be bulldozingly firm, yet he suspects they may also be rubbish, and at one point he describes his writing style as having evolved from 'NME teaboy' to 'pedantic dullard'. Which strikes a chord. Though I think he's considerably more entertaining than that. There are plenty of little things in here I identify with or which remind me of people I know, which made it a very cosy read. He is evidently one of those for whom sheer dumb luck had a substantial role in his becoming famous - though he's clearly also got some quality that made people overlook the initial fuck-ups he made in most of his early, brazenly blagged, jobs. Here he's funny and has an enviable knack Its Only a Movie: Reel Life Adventures of a Film Obsessive making long digressions work. Some GR reviewer has described him as making crap dad-jokes Something that's largely off-screen is his marriage to film professor Linda Ruth Williams. They've been together since university and there's a sense of a great and idiosyncratic dynamic which has at times involved them living in different cities for work, whilst remaining a couple; together it seems they've both a lot in common and skill in living amicably with differences of opinion. Kermode is well-known for his love of gory horror cinema. Whilst I enjoy campy horror, I hate gore, and if ambushed by it in something I'm watching, like to make a sweary and muscular response, such as "that can fuck right off", so as not to feel like too much of a wuss. It turns out he's a vegetarian who refuses to watch anything with unsimulated animal cruelty. I've never quite been able to grok the phenomenon of peaceable, sometimes sweet and quiet, people who love horror, but I've met enough of them to know they are real and that horror fan doesn't usually equate with depraved. For me, Kermode has always been synonymous with the mids Mark Radcliffe show on Radio 1 and I haven't heard a huge amount by him since - mostly written articles. However, to Kermode the Graveyard Shift was a relatively minor point and his greatest professional partnership is with Simon Mayo - it's from those shows and subsequent fame that many more people know him. I got this ebook because I hoped it contained a list of all the films Its Only a Movie: Reel Life Adventures of a Film Obsessive covered in the Cult Film Slot. It didn't, only alluding to a couple, and yet again I regretted throwing away the notebook s in which I'd listed most of the Cult Films and Cult Books from the shows I heard. I always thought someone else would have done the same and put the lists online, but if they haven't by now, they probably never will. It's Only a Movie shows Kermode having such a love of geeky uber-detail and recovering lost fragments that he seems like someone who'd be sympathetic to the question, even if he didn't keep the info, but it won't be me who asks, as I have an abiding dislike of the idea of anything resembling fanmail or bothering famous people. The only fan letter I ever wrote was to Nicky Campbell when I was maybe 13 - his show was in the slot Radcliffe took over. Its Only a Movie: Reel Life Adventures of a Film Obsessive used lots of show-off vocab, including the phrase "bathos and pathos", because he had some sort of word-power type feature on his show. I haven't been able to watch or listen to Campbell since my late teens; even TV trailers induce intolerable cringing. This book can sound a Its Only a Movie: Reel Life Adventures of a Film Obsessive like Kermode's radio delivery, but often I was too caught up Its Only a Movie: Reel Life Adventures of a Film Obsessive the narrative to be conscious of it. I didn't come away with as long a watchlist as I expected, simply enthusiastic reminders to get round to stuff I already wanted to see, especially Slade in Flame and something by Werner Herzog, who here sounds as fascinatingly eccentric as anywhere. Dark Waterthe production that led to his ordeal of a trip to Russia and Ukraine, also sounds intriguing. View all 3 comments. Feb 09, Andy Wixon rated it really liked it. Kermode's book is about as eclectic, not to mention eccentric, as that description of him probably sounds. He, Its Only a Movie: Reel Life Adventures of a Film Obsessive he readily admits, is only really interested in films and his memoir focusses on that to the exclusion of practically all else - his wife and children get mentioned in passing but in virtually no detail, not even the rough dates of their appearance on the scene. He also happily owns up to having an extremely unreliable memory - this faculty somehow managed to mash up the trailers for Cabaret and Battle for the Planet of the Apes - and so it may well be that large sections of this book are utterly mendacious, albeit inadvertantly so. That doesn't stop it being very amusing. Sections deal with Kermode's student years as an extreme left-wing activist, his first visit to the States, a nightmarish journey to a film set in the Ukraine, his radio career, notable barneys with film-makers, and the occasion on which he was interviewing Werner Herzog when his subject was shot in the trouser region by an unknown sniper. It's very funny, for the most part, written with self-deprecating humour throughout even if he isn't the greatest prose stylist in the world. Dr K isn't afraid of going off on a tangent when the mood strikes him - sillier excesses of censorship tend to draw his ire, but he also devotes four pages to giving the boot to Mamma Mia! Rather sweetly, mainly because it seems entirely unintentional, the portrait of Kermode that emerges is of someone with an abiding passion for some of the nastiest films ever made, and whose career largely revolves around ranting into a microphone, but who is also a genuinely nice guy with what I suppose we must call a 'strong moral core'. If you know who Mark Kermode is and have ever enjoyed one of his reviews, I suspect you will enjoy this book a lot. If you don't know who he is - well, there's plenty of his stuff on YouTube; check it out and then decide for yourself. I love the Kermode, make no bones about it. The man is -by some margin- the most engaging and honest voice out there when it comes to films. Whether he be wrong or right. Personally I think the alchemy of the man himself is the most interesting thing about him: A God-bothering Old Trot feminist who loves splatter movies and can easily laugh at himself? How did that happen? And you get to look at that between the lines here, but not nearly as much as I had hoped. When he's talking about himself, h I love the Kermode, make no bones about it. When he's talking about himself, he's not nearly as much cop as he is when talking about his reaction to films, though I'm sure it's a matter of practice. He does commendably little celeb-slurping, his anecdotes about his altercations with The Olympian Few are, if I'm honest, to be expected in the autobiography of a film-critic and you do genuinely believe he's only bringing up the Werner Herzog experience at the end of Its Only a Movie: Reel Life Adventures of a Film Obsessive book because it's a neat and engaging anecdote Its Only a Movie: Reel Life Adventures of a Film Obsessive tidily encapsulates a great Its Only a Movie: Reel Life Adventures of a Film Obsessive of his world-view. As a psychologist of sorts I completely agree with his unwitting description of episodic memory as the human brain playing back a movie that's susceptible to reel-tampering, in particular some of his earlier memories he puts under the microscope and re-examines are really fascinating. Unfortunately, about a half of the book is just that, and Dave Barry he ain't. When he's talking about his ideological clash with Herzog, or the ex- porn theatre that became an arthouse cinema, or his first experience of The Exorcist it's fine, thought-provoking stuff. When he's telling you stories about how he went here and did this with that bloke, it's not. Fans of Mark Kermode will not be surprised or disappointed by this book. Each chapter contains an episode of Kermode's life, told by him as if it were a movie "based on real events". Along the way, he introduces, reviews and rambles-on-about the movies that shaped his life or at least his career as a film critic if you need some inspiration which movies to watch, this is a good guide. The book reads essentially like a long version of Kermode's film reviews, which is a good thing if you like th Fans of Mark Kermode will not be surprised or disappointed by this book. The book reads essentially like a long version of Kermode's film reviews, which is a good thing if you like them. If not, you won't read this book anyway. The only little downside is Kermode's ongoing self-deprecation, which is sort of funny, but he overdoes it; I caught myself thinking frequently "yes yes, I get it, you're no good at anything and it's a miracle you ever made it anywhere, now move on! It's Only a Movie: Reel Life Adventures of a Film Obsessive, By Mark Kermode | The Independent

Uh-oh, it looks like your Internet Explorer is out of date. For a better shopping experience, please upgrade now. Javascript is not enabled in your browser. Enabling JavaScript in your browser will allow you to experience all the features of our site. Learn how to enable JavaScript on your browser. NOOK Book. Home 1 Books 2. Read an excerpt of this book! Add to Wishlist. Sign in to Purchase Instantly. Members save with free Its Only a Movie: Reel Life Adventures of a Film Obsessive everyday! See details. Just as likely, you soon realized that there was only one career open to you—you'd have to become a film critic. Join him as he embarks on a gut-wrenching journey through the former Soviet Union on the trail of the low-budget horror flick Dark Waterscringe as he's handbagged by Helen Mirren at the BAFTA awards ceremony, cheer as he gets thrown out of the Cannes Film Festival for heckling in very bad French, and don't forget to gasp as he's shot at while interviewing Werner Herzog in the Hollywood Hills. Written with sardonic wit and wry good humor, this compelling cinematic memoir is genuinely "inspired by real events. Product Details About the Author. Related Searches. A funny and irreverent look behind the scenes at the Tour de FranceJoin Ned View Product. A Different Sea. Early this century Enrico, a young intellectual, leaves the abundantly diverse Austro-Hungarian city of Gorizia Early this century Enrico, a young intellectual, leaves the abundantly diverse Austro-Hungarian city of Gorizia to spend several years living on the Patagonian pampas, alone with his ancient Greek texts, his flocks and every now and then a woman. Another Mother's Son. Lorna Parry lives with her three sons, each one lurching uncomfortably into adulthood. In the The definitive groundbreaking book on the relationship between birds and humankind, with contributions from more Born to Heal: Guidance and Insight From an. In Born to Heal, Tony Hogan tells us the story of his remarkable life, from In Born to Heal, Tony Hogan tells us the story of his remarkable life, from his colorful childhood in County Wicklow to Its Only a Movie: Reel Life Adventures of a Film Obsessive experiences as one of Ireland's foremost healers. Blighted as a child by life-threatening illness, yet blessed with Collected Stories. Easily Distracted. Born and raised in Manchester in the s, Steve Coogan entertained his family from an Born and raised in Manchester in the s, Steve Coogan entertained his family from an early age. He had first break on Spitting Image, won a Perrier Award as a young stand-up, and it was while working with Armando Iannucci A practical guide to overcoming your fear of flying by top flying experts from British A practical guide to overcoming your fear of flying by top flying experts from British Airways' Flying with Confidence courseDoes the thought of flying fill you with dread? If so, this Random House UK. That Hideous Man: It's Only A Movie: Reel Life Adventures of a Film Obsessive by Mark Kermode

Post a comment. Kermode is a massive fan of the kinds of movies which I most especially dislike, notably horror of the 'evil' or 'bloodbath' type, which I find neither entertaining nor acceptable. Nevertheless, his writing is tremendously witty, amusing, and loaded with beautiful observations, ironies and self-deprecating asides. He writes, the sooner I face up to the fact that my entire adolescent world view was informed by the fairground thrills of exploitation cinema the better. In my formative years, everything I knew about politics I had learned from "Planet of the Apes". Everything I knew about pop music I'd learned from "Slade in Flame". Everything I knew about heartbreak I'd learned from "Jeremy". Everything I knew about religion Its Only a Movie: Reel Life Adventures of a Film Obsessive learned from "The Exorcist". This is a faced-paced, lively and most amusing romp through films, Its Only a Movie: Reel Life Adventures of a Film Obsessive Manchester student politics, love, friendship, broadcasting and Kermode's vociferously held opinions on issues from censorship to Simon Mayo, and everything else in between. Wry, funny and thought-provoking, I don't think Kermode would lexpect the reader to agree with all or any of his wonderful rants, but this is a most entertaining light read. Posted by That Hideous Man at pm. Labels: BooksCultureFilm. No comments:. Newer Post Older Post Home. Subscribe to: Post Comments Atom.