Saturday, February 18, 2006

A Break: "The Film Snob's Dictionary"


Authors: David Kamp, Lawrence Levi (2006)
If you love movies, go out and get this ASAP. Kamp and Levi have written an insightful, humorous book for movie obsessives and those amused by the pretensions of movie obsessives. Entries include the difference between the terms movie and film (as in, "It's a MOVIE if it's preceded by a trailer for the latest Jerry Bruckheimer epic. It's a FILM if it's preceded by an announcement from a pear-shaped, balding man down in front who introduces himself as 'Michael, the programming director'"); ten "lost" masterpieces," including "Kaleidoscope," an hour-long experiment directed in the 1960s by Hitchcock without sound but with nudity; ten snob-approved sequels, including one of my favorites: John Frankenheimer's "French Connection ll"; and the ten great ubiquitous overweight veteran character actors of the modern American cinema: Joe Bon Baker, Wilford Brimley, Fred Dalton Thompson, Jack Warden, et al. There's lots more. The entires are smart, and many are laugh-out-loud funny.
This is a real gem, just $11.95 at your favorite oversized, ultimately depressing chain book store.

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