Mark Kermode is a rare individual. It is impossible to predict his film reviews: a work comes out that has all the hallmarks of being anathema to him, and he'll praise it; another will have garnered praise from all quarters and MK will deflate it. Were this to be sheer perversion, it would soon become tedious but, he manages to argue his case eruditely and, even if one disagrees, his words cause healthy reflection.

It is, therefore, interesting to see the manner in which the mind behind these pronouncements works. Kermode, it transpires, is a small 'c' conservative. He rues the passing of projectionists, argues for the silent black and white films original purity of genre and claims the Exorcist to be the greatest film ever made.

I'm not sure that I agree with any of that but, it was interesting to take the trip and Mr Kermode puts his case well. He also writes well: it is rare for a book to cause me to laugh out loud, but his description of sneaking into adult films (no, NOT that sort of adult film!) as a youth are genuinely laugh out loud funny.

If one has any interest in modern film, Mark Kermode is a figure that cannot, and should not be ignored. Thank you, sir; I look forward to reading more of your work. ( )

After reading two of Mark Kermode's books (and thoroughly enjoying both of them), I was really looking forward to reading this one - where Kermode discusses (or rants) about the state of cinema today, or at least the state of Hollywood blockbusters today. I wasn't disappointed - when it comes to film criticism or film discussion, Mark Kermode is pretty much my go-to author. He's funny, honest, self-deprecating, and makes a lot of valid points.

In various chapters, Kermode talks about how blockbusters basically cannot fail to make a profit, no matter how bad they are, and crucially, no matter how bad their reviews are. He uses the much maligned film Pearl Harbor as an example - as much as it was trashed by critics and the public alike, it still turned a profit. Basically if a film has a big name star, and appears in cinemas even if only for a short time, it will make money - if not on the big screen, then certainly on DVD. So, if blockbusters can't really fail no matter how bad they are, then why not make a really good one?

In other chapters, Kermode discusses 3D, which has been trialled and trashed several times before, but which keeps rearing it's ugly head (thanks for that James Cameron), and even questions what use film critics actually are to the industry. The most entertaining chapter for me was where he discussed the recent trend for Hollywood to remake foreign language films - often drastically changing characters, setting and indeed storylines - and why the often vastly inferior remakes still do better in cinemas than the original 'source' movies.

Anyone who has listened to Mark Kermode will be able to hear his voice in their head while reading this book - he is an intelligent and passionate narrator, and makes his points eloquently, and with a lot of humour. He is clearly in love with his subject, despite all his complaints about the current state of cinema, and this makes for an engaging, entertaining rant, all in the style of a conversation which you could imagine having in a pub while downing a few pints.

In essence - if you like Mark Kermode's radio show, or have enjoyed his previous books, or indeed just enjoy reading about cinema or Hollywood in general, then I would definitely recommend this book. ( )

Loved this book. No surprises here for anyone who is a regular listener to the good Doctors regular Radio 5 review show, but he makes his point well and I must say I agree with most of what he is saying. Why oh why does he not do the BBC film 2012 instead of that awful duo they have on at the moment.(less) ( )

Loved this book. No surprises here for anyone who is a regular listener to the good Doctors regular Radio 5 review show, but he makes his point well and I must say I agree with most of what he is saying. Why oh why does he not do the BBC film programme instead of that awful duo they had on and everyone seemed to hate. ( )

As Sharif approaches, two competing images of him wrestle with your right and left eye, messing with your head, which could quite happily have worked out from a monocular image that what you are looking at is not a man and a camel magically growing in size but a man and a camel gradually getting nearer and nearer. How would your brain know this? Well, loads of ways, including focus, depth of field, occlusion (nearer objects getting in the way of further objects), comparative colour saturation (distant objects being naturally desaturated in comparison with nearer objects), comparative brightness (ditto) and – perhaps most obviously – comparative size. Oh, and sound. All the ways, in fact, in which movies have been telling us whether something is near or far away for over a century. And all without having to wear those bloody silly glasses.

I have been an avid listener to Kermode and Mayo's Wittertainment podcast over the last few years, so the contents of some of the chapters were very familiar to me. I have often heard Mark Kermode ranting about 3D and decrying the decline of the projectionist, but those chapters were interspersed with others containing less familiar material. I found the chapters "What Are Film Critics For" and "Why Blockbusters Should Be Better" especially interesting; Apparently it is now impossible for a blockbuster movie with a big name star not to make a profit. Even if a blockbuster underperforms at the box office, it will do well later on, as people are a lot less fussy about what they watch at home. However, Mark Kermode says that there is one big exception to this. Comedies that aren't funny will lose money no matter how big the star or how exciting the special effects.

This is a very funny book, and passed the Wittertainment laugh test with ease, and I could hear Mark's voice as I read, especially in the ranty parts, so I wouldn't want to listen to it as an audio book unless the author had narrated it himself. ( )